CD Clarifies Geno's "I Had To Threaten Her" Statement

[JoePgh]

I was driving home from today's Creighton game and listening to Chris Dailey's postgame interview with Bob Joyce on the radio. She said something that I think is important about what Geno said after Paige's announcement on Friday night.

You may recall Geno saying (almost verbatim), "Paige is bad at making decisions. She is so bad that I had to threaten her during the recruiting process before she would make a public commitment."

What CD said today about that is that Paige had already privately committed to UConn, but was having a hard time making the decision to announce it publicly. That's very different than what Geno has done in the past with other recruits (e.g., Bria Hartley), threatening to shut down the recruiting process with that player and look elsewhere if the prospect won't state even a private commitment.

Certainly making a public announcement (if your name is Paige Bueckers) makes the commitment more irrevocable (for practical purposes), but from what CD said, it sounded as if there was never a question that Paige would come to UConn; her hesitation was probably for other reasons, like not wanting to divert attention from the rest of her high school team's accomplishments while she had another year to play in high school. But it's possible that Paige recalled her hesitation about public commitments when she was in high school, and decided to avoid that stress by making her announcement on Friday when she did.

 

[Longtime fan]

I was driving home from today's Creighton game and listening to Chris Dailey's postgame interview with Bob Joyce on the radio. She said something that I think is important about what Geno said after Paige's announcement on Friday night.

You may recall Geno saying (almost verbatim), "Paige is bad at making decisions. She is so bad that I had to threaten her during the recruiting process before she would make a public commitment."

What CD said today about that is that Paige had already privately committed to UConn, but was having a hard time making the decision to announce it publicly. That's very different than what Geno has done in the past with other recruits (e.g., Bria Hartley), threatening to shut down the recruiting process with that player and look elsewhere if the prospect won't state even a private commitment.

Certainly making a public announcement (if your name is Paige Bueckers) makes the commitment more irrevocable (for practical purposes), but from what CD said, it sounded as if there was never a question that Paige would come to UConn; her hesitation was probably for other reasons, like not wanting to divert attention from the rest of her high school team's accomplishments while she had another year to play in high school. But it's possible that Paige recalled her hesitation about public commitments when she was in high school, and decided to avoid that stress by making her announcement on Friday when she did.

I think her senior night decision was far less complicated than that. She loves UCONN and feels she has been cheated out of playing there, due to the injuries. She wants healthy year with her friend, Azzi Fudd. And she love the fans and the culture. She could see this was the moment to declare her love. And she did.

 

[Performance]

This is Geno people! Why does everyone have to read more into it than there is?

 

[darrell]

This is Geno people! Why does everyone have to read more into it than there is?

Because they don’t like him for whatever reasons and hatefully assume the worst.

 

[Blond D.]

Because they don’t like him for whatever reasons and hatefully assume the worst.

well THOSE sad sacks aren't Geno's People.

 

[maple]

This is Geno people! Why does everyone have to read more into it than there is?

There are people intentionally misinterpreting it on social media because they have nothing better to do.

 

[Aluminny69]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I am curious: Has Azzi earned ( or is eligible ) for a red shirt year?

 

[Tufkas]

This is Geno people! Why does everyone have to read more into it than there is?

Because words matter, and not everyone in the basketball community (e.g. the NCAA) are Husky Hardcores / Auriemma sycophants.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I know this is slightly off topic, but I am curious: Has Azzi earned ( or is eligible ) for a red shirt year?

Yes, she played only 2 games at the beginning of the season. She has potentially 2 years remaining, as does Paige.

 

[GoUconn7961]

I told the new beat writer Emily something, that I knew she probably wasn't thrilled covering the UConn beat, but the faster she understood Geno's sarcasm the easier it would be.