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Message: [QUOTE="BostonCanuck, post: 3835978, member: 6931"] Look, I wouldn't mind if Geno had made these points once or twice to help his players feel better after a tough loss. But he's repeated it over and over in recent years, to the point where it has become a defining mantra of the program. And frankly, it's toxic. This is not how a head coach hungry to win his 12th should speak. If you keep telling your team how hard it is to win a national championship, is it any wonder they have trouble closing out games at the Final Four? You'd think they might actually have come to believe him. I know I'm being tough here, but the he sooner Geno permanently retires this kind of messaging, the better. Contrast it with Pat Summit's rousing half-time locker room speech in front of Candace Parker at the 2007 Final Four semi-final. Or with Geno himself early in the 1994/5 season when he said, "We want to win a national championship. Not everybody has the same opportunity. I don't know if we're going to have the opportunity, but right now that's what want to do". Night and day. Fortunately, there was some evidence last season after that third loss that Geno had perhaps finally had enough, and had decided to make some adjustments to team culture from the top down. And then COVID... [/QUOTE]