Can someone explain to me why Chris Daly can't

[DaddyChoc]

Auriemma has said several times that one of his toughest jobs is to figure out what a player responds to. Some people respond to a carrot, some to the stick.
I'm not going to second guess how he treats a player, especially considering how Stokes seems to be responding.

well said

 

[Olde Coach]

Because Tiff blew the coverage. At least that is what Geno or CD said.

JMHO: Tiff was confused (in part) by the intentional fouls she was asked to commit on the inbounds play.

As well as I can remember it from just one live shot ---- UConn had two fouls to give; and Geno apparently told Tiff to use the two "free" fouls to run a little clock. Tiff intentionally (and quickly) fouled the inbound pass receiver on the first inbound play. But then, before the 2nd inbound play, Tiff made some communication with Geno (or one of the other coaches) that she had 4 fouls and couldn't foul again. She walked away from the area and player she was defending with a shrug of her shoulders and a look of confusion. She was heading in the general direction of the top of the key the last time she was on camera. Exactly where she went on the floor and who she picked up for coverage was not on camera. Bria (IIRC) came out to cover the receiver, and ( off-camera) I assume that Tiff picked up whoever Bria was covering.

Whatever the details, the expected defense with Tiff on the inbound pass receiver was "screwed up." How much this confused other UConn players is impossible to discern; but I was immediately nervous about the play and the coverage and, most important, the focus of the UConn players. I think the whole confusion of "using the fouls" (which UConn does not do very often) was certainly a factor in some players switching (and blowing) coverage on the biggest defensive play of the year.

FWIW -- Tiff and Bria(?) both fouled the inbound pass receiever too quickly -- so that very little time was run off the clock. I think the seconds on the shot clock was in the mid-20's. In the end, the few seconds that were run off the clock came out of UConn's hide, not St. John's. St. John's scored with 8 seconds remaining. So it was UConn's possession that was most hindered by a short clock.

Bottom line: The decision to use the two free fouls was not productive.

 

[meyers7]

Auriemma has said several times that one of his toughest jobs is to figure out what a player responds to. Some people respond to a carrot, some to the stick.
I'm not going to second guess how he treats a player, especially considering how Stokes seems to be responding.

Exactly

 

[pap49cba]

JMHO: Tiff was confused (in part) by the intentional fouls she was asked to commit on the inbounds play.

As well as I can remember it from just one live shot ---- UConn had two fouls to give; and Geno apparently told Tiff to use the two "free" fouls to run a little clock. Tiff intentionally (and quickly) fouled the inbound pass receiver on the first inbound play. But then, before the 2nd inbound play, Tiff made some communication with Geno (or one of the other coaches) that she had 4 fouls and couldn't foul again. She walked away from the area and player she was defending with a shrug of her shoulders and a look of confusion. She was heading in the general direction of the top of the key the last time she was on camera. Exactly where she went on the floor and who she picked up for coverage was not on camera. Bria (IIRC) came out to cover the receiver, and ( off-camera) I assume that Tiff picked up whoever Bria was covering.

Whatever the details, the expected defense with Tiff on the inbound pass receiver was "screwed up." How much this confused other UConn players is impossible to discern; but I was immediately nervous about the play and the coverage and, most important, the focus of the UConn players. I think the whole confusion of "using the fouls" (which UConn does not do very often) was certainly a factor in some players switching (and blowing) coverage on the biggest defensive play of the year.

FWIW -- Tiff and Bria(?) both fouled the inbound pass receiever too quickly -- so that very little time was run off the clock. I think the seconds on the shot clock was in the mid-20's. In the end, the few seconds that were run off the clock came out of UConn's hide, not St. John's. St. John's scored with 8 seconds remaining. So it was UConn's possession that was most hindered by a short clock.

Bottom line: The decision to use the two free fouls was not a good one.

Geno said in his press conference that Bria committed the second foul way too early... He thought she got over-anxious.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Kiah was interviewed by WTIC after the game. She was their player of the game. She sounded remarkably mature for a freshman. Actually, mature for a college student.

Mine, too!

 

[Samanthabrown3]

That's right - I remember when he didn't even hug her when she came out at the end of the '09 NC game her junior year when she played like a beast. I remember either Maya or KG shaking their head. I thought that was a little petty, even though he was probably trying to make a point since she had only just then started to play at the level he knew she could reach. I seem to remember him denying that he avoided hugging her, but I didn't buy it...

I just saw the tape of that recently and wasn't sure if Geno was avoiding hugging Tina or going over to tell someone about the next play.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Its possible that Geno and Chris think (know) that as important as the contribution of Kiah is on evenings such as tonight, all we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg of a monster talent that can completely dominate the paint on both ends of the floor. I still see in Kiah's performances an occasional passive moment and rarely the kind of fierceness, grit and steely determination that all great post players display. Say 50% of her ability gets you what we say tonight, they want more, much more!

Sometimes I see a sleeper Tina there!

 

[meyers7]

Sometimes I see a sleeper Tina there!

Wouldn't that be something.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I would settle for a JMo but I think Stokes can be better.

 

[HuskyNan]

Boy, haven't you people ever heard of literary hyperbole? My reference to "nasty stare" was a way of emphasizing CD's recent reluctance to give credit to Kiah. I wasn't the first person to notice this. And in the interview, Meghan had to push the point to get anything positive out of CD.

Meg: I thought Kiah gave some good minutes.
CD: Yeah, she did.

??

 

[vtcwbuff]

I think people are reading something into the pause that Dailey took before answering that maybe wasn't there. The criticism that I heard from Daily was not directed at Stokes.

 

[boontonbomber]

There are times when a pat on the back accomplishes a whole lot more than a kick in the butt.

well put, spoken like an old coach. i can't imagine how a pat on the back can do damage. it's not like it will make kiah think that she's going to be starting the next game, though that might not be a bad idea.

 

[vtcwbuff]

How does everybody know that Stokes didn't get "a pat on the back"?

 

[jsloanjr]

IMHO, the coaching staff has not done a very good job the past 2 years developing the post position. Heather Buck has not developed, Stef is going backwards........Kiah has been the bright light even without coaching......The Post is the weak link the past few years and Geno allows it happen. Yelling at them only causes them to regress and not play with confidence. The Answer is PK 90.........

 

[Kevin G]

IMHO, the coaching staff has not done a very good job the past 2 years developing the post position. Heather Buck has not developed, Stef is going backwards........Kiah has been the bright light even without coaching......The Post is the weak link the past few years and Geno allows it happen. Yelling at them only causes them to regress and not play with confidence. The Answer is PK 90.........

Maybe Geno can talk Jamelle into coming back

 

[Olde Coach]

IMHO, the coaching staff has not done a very good job the past 2 years developing the post position. Heather Buck has not developed, Stef is going backwards........Kiah has been the bright light even without coaching......The Post is the weak link the past few years and Geno allows it happen. Yelling at them only causes them to regress and not play with confidence. The Answer is PK 90.........

Well -- Steph improved a whole lot last year. Heather has improved slowly but steadily; and the problems are mostly in her head, not in her post moves. And Kiah has improved to a level that no one I know expected to see this year. So -- I reject your assumptions that the coaches have been generally ineffective. This said -- Stef has regressed this year.

As with Heather, that lack of progress has been centered more often in her head than on her footwork.

What is PK 90?

 

[Timeout]

Lots of great comments here and obvious that we love Kiah. I think it's up to us to keep singing Kiah's praises while Geno does what he feels is necessary to bring the "Tina" or the Stokes pedigree out of Kiah. Geno recruited her and we love what we are seeing out of Kiah. This girl plays both ends - wiping the the glass for offenses rebounds and throwing us a block party on the other end - and those lapses will become fewer and fewer with increase playing time. I also don't think it matters much to Geno that we make him the heavy so boo hoo you Geno and much love to you Kiah. You got fans.

 

[Bestiarius]

There are so many possible interpretations of CD's attitude. All I know is the coaches seem to get superior results and the players seem to love them.

As Geno said, they keep track of every shot in practice and probably lots of other stats too. Their insight into how closely a player's performance mirrors their capability is much more refined than ours. Since we only get a partial picture (games and interviews), I support CD and Geno's behavior and enjoy Kiah's (to my eye) good play.

We fans know Kiah is a wonderful basketball player. So, she can get her positive reinforcement from us, while the staff does the difficult job of developing the players to their full potential.

 

[HuskyNan]

IMHO, the coaching staff has not done a very good job the past 2 years developing the post position. Heather Buck has not developed, Stef is going backwards........Kiah has been the bright light even without coaching......The Post is the weak link the past few years and Geno allows it happen. Yelling at them only causes them to regress and not play with confidence. The Answer is PK 90.........

Yeah, that Tina Charles really sucked, didn't she? Too bad she didn't get any better while at UConn.

As for getting yelled at, from Jim Fuller's blog:

"Getting yelled at is not embarrassing, you should have enough pride and enough care for our teammates to not want to let them down," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "That is biggest part about being here at UConn, your team is first before anything.

"That is what everybody says in this program, that if you are not getting yelled at then that is when you should start worrying."

Her teammates have been there before as they have drawn Auriemma's ire as he pushes them to reach a level of play that they didn't know they were capable of.

"He just always expects big things from you, he wouldn't be on you if he didn't think you could do it," sophomore guard Bria Hartley said. "You just have to fight back. If he is telling you not to turn the ball over, then don't turn the ball over. You just have to make a shot, make a play or do something to make our team better."

 

[justML]

Could be she doesn't want to jinx her ...

You know, like when Piccozi says "She's been perfect from the line", the next shot is a miss 98% of the time.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

 

[jsloanjr]

The loss last night was a total team loss.........Coaches and players did a bad job of getting the team ready and allowed SJ to dictate the place and push UCONN back on its heals and commit silly fouls and allow them too many open looks....

 

[Icebear]

Geno said in his press conference that Bria committed the second foul way too early... He thought she got over-anxious.

Tiff's was fine because it accomplished burning SJ's last timeout but Bria's definitely came too soon.

 

[Icebear]

I just saw the tape of that recently and wasn't sure if Geno was avoiding hugging Tina or going over to tell someone about the next play.

That was exactly what I thought happened. He was involved in something else at that moment. Coaching the kids on the floor.

 

[Icebear]

I think people are reading something into the pause that Dailey took before answering that maybe wasn't there. The criticism that I heard from Daily was not directed at Stokes.

I don't think so either.

 

[vtcwbuff]

IMHO, the coaching staff has not done a very good job the past 2 years developing the post position. Heather Buck has not developed, Stef is going backwards........Kiah has been the bright light even without coaching......The Post is the weak link the past few years and Geno allows it happen. Yelling at them only causes them to regress and not play with confidence. The Answer is PK 90.........

Here we go again.
How do you know that? How do you know that Dolson's problems are because she is being yelled at? How can you say that Stokes is a "bright light even without coaching"?
BTW - The post has not been the weak link the past "few years". Two years ago Tina Charles dominated. Last year freshman Dolson seemed to be on her way as her game improved throughout the season.

"That is what everybody says in this program, that if you are not getting yelled at then that is when you should start worrying."

I think I have heard that from a dozen players over the years.

 

[UConnCat]

Hard to believe there's this much angst over a halftime interview of CD in a game the team was losing. Maybe Meghan needs to stop asking CD to single out a player for praise during halftime. Meghan does it a lot and I tend to think that CD doesn't want to focus on a single player but rather on how the TEAM is playing and what will make the TEAM player better in the second half. I'm sure that CD is also quite disappointed in the overall post play (yes, more Stef than Kiah at this point) inasmuch as post play is her responsibility. Consistent post play is this team's biggest weakness at this point. Geno said on his show last night that Tiffany and Kelly are the team's best post players. CD has said that as well. Although Kiah gave good minutes, which CD did acknowledge per Nan's quote above, Stefanie did not and I'm sure her hesitancy or "mean stare" reflected the current state of affairs with the post.

I never coached a sports team so I can't quite put myself in CD's shoes. But I have to say that as much as some here cringe that CD is stingy with compliments toward Kiah during halftime interviews, I cringe when I hear Meghan once again seek compliments for a single player on the team, particularly when the team is not playing well, or in the game last night, losing at the half.

 

[Fiftyish]

bring herself to say a single nice word about Kiah Stokes?

Kiah has been playing some really good basketball for the past month. But every time Meghan Culmo says something in praise of Kiah, CD just shrugs her shoulders, looks dissatisfied and grumpy, and refuses to offer any compliments.

I have seen/heard this in a number of recent interviews with CD. It makes no sense to me. In fact it infuriates me. Kiah and Kaleena (the freshmen) kept UConn in tonight's game for the whole 1st half. And Kiah clearly outplayed Stef for most of the time she was in the game.

Just wondering why the lack of encouragement.

OC, I agree completely. In the last thread on this subject back on Feb 2, I said CD just can't bring herself to give Kiah any props. What's up with that? Pretty easy thing to do I would think and would probably pump the kid up. But that's me and what do I know?

 

[DaddyChoc]

OC, I agree completely. In the last thread on this subject back on Feb 2, I said CD just can't bring herself to give Kiah any props. What's up with that? Pretty easy thing to do I would think and would probably pump the kid up. But that's me and what do I know?

and you dont dont think she's been pumped up lately?

 

[msf22b]

One way you get pumped up is to get minutes, especially crucial ones. Kiah has.