Coaching [Merged thread]

[Rb335]

Geno Auriemma is known for being the top coach in WCBB. From what I have seen of his late game management over the past few seasons, I find one rather annoying flaw that drives me insane.

When a player is in trouble, CALL A TIMEOUT. Geno allowed this team to go into the locker room with 2 timeouts. When KML is stuck in the corner, call timeout, when the play is going nowhere, call a timeout. There is no reason to lose this game in regulation with the ball and the shot clock off. Geno had the opportunity to bail out this team and regroup, but he did not do that. I blame him for the final possession, not the entire game.

Geno has been notorious for wanting the team to do things for themselves, however, he is also a part of the team. Step up and do your part.

Not saying Geno isn't hall of fame coach, but he too needs help at closing out games.

This is by far the most frustrating uconn loss I can remember.

 

[HuskyNan]

Cripes, nothing like a loss to bring out the worst part of the Boneyard.

 

[luckyhusky7]

Frankie says relax!!!!

I did not realize we had such a bad head coach (sarcasm on)

 

[FairView]

I hate it when people pile on.
Perhaps it makes you feel better.
But it is really low.

 

[Rb335]

Cripes, nothing like a loss to bring out the worst part of the Boneyard.

Honestly, you can't even argue with my post. Geno didn't even inform his team there was a foul to give. He has been out coached this season. I love everything about UCWBB and Geno, but this was unnecessary.

Even the ESPN highlight commentators said "and uconn still had 2 timeouts!"

 

[HuskyNan]

Honestly, you can't even argue with my post. Geno didn't even inform his team there was a foul to give. He has been out coached this season. I love everything about UCWBB and Geno, but this was unnecessary.

Even the ESPN highlight commentators said "and uconn still had 2 timeouts!"

Well, if ESPN said Geno is a sucky coach it must be true!

 

[Pete]

It is a bit harsh, but I was screaming for a timeout when i saw Kelly dribbling and going nowhere

 

[Rb335]

Well, if ESPN said Geno is a sucky coach it must be true!

Geno is a hall of fame coach. I think he is in the top 5 in WCBB every year, many years being the best. He has created a dynasty.

I am saying, late in the game, this is not the first time he has failed to utilize tools and coach his team to a win. I said he made a major mistake tonight, and its not the first time he has made it. Geno is at fault for the final possession.

ESPN said they had timeouts left, not that Geno is a sucky coach. I didn't say geno is a sucky coach, my title says he is the worst part of this team, its call exaggeration.

 

[nan linds]

Perhaps he is trying to be more "laid back" as noted in some previous posts. He used to wear tie and jacket... at least to start games. Now he dresses like Waltz. It is a new identity and coaching style?

 

[chrissaran]

This one is on the players, not Geno, Not Shea. THE PLAYERS! How many times are they going to make the same mistakes. Blown layups, bad passes, rushed shots. It's like a comedy of errors. Once maybe.
Twice shouldn't happen. Three times in the same season, to the same team. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. This one belongs to the players and only the players. What a waste of a terrific effort by the bigs. Good luck in the tournament. Next year Moriah and Saniya will play the point. Bria can go back to playing what she's always been and what she will always be, a shooting guard. Don't bother criticizing me. The players deserve it.

 

[superjohn]

How can anyone disagree with what the original poster said, Geno was absolutely horrendous during the final possession. It doesn't mean he's not a great coach but he has been flat out bad at the end of games lately.

 

[HuskyNan]

How can anyone disagree with what the original poster said, Geno was absolutely horrendous during the final possession. It doesn't mean he's not a great coach but he has been flat out bad at the end of games lately.

I changed the name of the thread which was originally "Geno is the worst part of this team".

 

[asuwish]

Geno Auriemma is known for being the top coach in WCBB. From what I have seen of his late game management over the past few seasons, I find one rather annoying flaw that drives me insane.

When a player is in trouble, CALL A TIMEOUT. Geno allowed this team to go into the locker room with 2 timeouts. When KML is stuck in the corner, call timeout, when the play is going nowhere, call a timeout. There is no reason to lose this game in regulation with the ball and the shot clock off. Geno had the opportunity to bail out this team and regroup, but he did not do that. I blame him for the final possession, not the entire game.

Geno has been notorious for wanting the team to do things for themselves, however, he is also a part of the team. Step up and do your part.

Not saying Geno isn't hall of fame coach, but he too needs help at closing out games.

This is by far the most frustrating uconn loss I can remember.

interesting point because KML should have also thought about using it instead of throwing the ball toward the other basket. With nothing to lose but overtime many different option were at Uconn's disposal. I also agree that Uconn should have fouled Diggins because they had one to give and when play is so hectic it's hard to know where everyone is and that is exactly what happened.

 

[Rb335]

How can anyone disagree with what the original poster said, Geno was absolutely horrendous during the final possession. It doesn't mean he's not a great coach but he has been flat out bad at the end of games lately.

Thank you. Just think to last years final four, takes out Kiah Stokes, puts in KML. ND gets offensive rebound, layup, OT. He says, I made a mistake, I knew I needed rebounding and I took out one of my best rebounders.

3OT loss to ND, he didn't get his players to make free throws, thats on the players. Then up 3 he neglects to foul to prevent any chance of a ND win and instead allows McBride the opportunity to walk up and hit a 3. Granted poor defensive coverage by KML, but Geno had the opportunity to not even allow that to happen.

Proof is in the pudding people. Geno needs some coaching on late game management.

 

[meganmatthews]

Geno Sucks! I hate him! (just trying to keep the venom flowing . .)

 

[ASweet3781]

This one is on the players, not Geno, Not Shea. THE PLAYERS! How many times are they going to make the same mistakes. Blown layups, bad passes, rushed shots. It's like a comedy of errors. Once maybe.
Twice shouldn't happen. Three times in the same season, to the same team. ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. This one belongs to the players and only the players. What a waste of a terrific effort by the bigs. Good luck in the tournament. Next year Moriah and Saniya will play the point. Bria can go back to playing what she's always been and what she will always be, a shooting guard. Don't bother criticizing me. The players deserve it.

He absolutely gets blame. Absolutely. If this team is doing the same exact things wrong at the end of the game he absolutely takes blame.

 

[Bigpetunia]

We lost for a lot of reasons, not least of which being that, simply put, they're currently better than we are. They play smarter, and with more aggression at gutcheck time. But I cannot agree with Chris that this one was all on the players. We were clearly outcoached, most glaringly in the final minute, when Geno suffered a major brain lapse. Our defense is normally what saves us time and again, but theirs was much more smothering than ours in all three games. Our future remains quite bright, of course, but this does not look like a championship caliber team this year....way too prone to succumb to the repeated mistakes that Chris mentioned.

 

[tomcat]

There's not a lot of point in would'a, could'a, should'a, but now that you mention it, a time out would have been a logical thing to call there. I'm not qualified to say whether one coach was better than the other, but that seems like something that could have been done differently.

It would be interesting to know what was going through his head at the time, whether he thought the shot could be made, the pass could be made, etc. Besides, if blame is the name of the game, there is plenty of it to go around among the coach and the players. While I really disagree with the people who deal with the critics by defaulting to "you must be a better coach than Geno, huh?" I'd just suggest the blame game is kinda pointless, at least in this case. The sum total of UConn's tremendous team effort fell short of the sum total of ND's. Period.

 

[JoePgh]

Geno acknowledged during the post-game interview that he probably should have called a timeout when Breanna started dribbling after the catch. He also said that they were aware that they had a foul to give and tried to foul Diggins after the steal, but the refs wouldn't call it. Looking at the replay, I agree that a foul should have been called on Bria after the steal.

CD also discussed the same point in her postgame interview. She said a timeout might have been in order, but there was a risk that the team wouldn't be able to inbound after the timeout.

I think the key mistake was KML's in making the pass that Diggins stole. She could have called a timeout herself if she saw no better option.

Even so, I feel better after this game than after the 3-OT game a short while ago. Coming back from a 13-point deficit, and then again from a 4-point deficit in the last minute, showed real character. Breanna's performance in all 3 tournament games, as well as Stef's consistency in the biggest game yet of her career, are very good signs. (Aside: The game proved that Stef can spend most of each offensive possession at the high post and still get plenty of layups and putbacks -- in that respect, the offensive design worked very well.) I think Bria is about 90% back to last year's level, despite her mistakes. And Kiah made a solid (if brief) contribution from the bench -- she would have played more if Stef hadn't been having one of her best games.

I am a little surprised that Morgan did not get more playing time, especially with KML having a hard time and getting no 3-point opportunities. I was also surprised by Morgan's limited minutes in the Syracuse game the previous night.

Most important, it was a great game for women's basketball, viewed hopefully by a lot of people who may decide to take more of an interest in this sport.

 

[meyers7]

Perhaps he is trying to be more "laid back" as noted in some previous posts. He used to wear tie and jacket... at least to start games. Now he dresses like Waltz. It is a new identity and coaching style?

Maybe he should go back to the tie and jacket....it's all about the mojo.

 

[Blakeon18]

This business of fouling the ball handler when up by three late....as in the game at ND with Kayla coming down court. It's just not that clear a call.
If I have the ball and am stereaking upcourt and a defender approaches me...with the seeming clear intent to foul....I initiate contact [if need be] or just wait for contact and throw one basket-ward.
It in all probability won't go in....but if it does I have chance for a 4 point play to win. If it doesn't go in....very, very likely....I may well get 3 free throws to tie.

If I am a ref and the intent of the defender is to foul, it would be hard not to simply call that foul. The defender would have to be sure the shooter was not in the shooting motion...maybe back turned to the basket.
The situation....to foul or not....might or might not be obvious.

 

[CONNFAN23]

Cripes, nothing like a loss to bring out the worst part of the Boneyard.

Why was that comment the worst part of the boneyard Nan? I thought we were all entitled to our own opinions {some of ours closer to reality than others} but obviously I was wrong. If you say anything that is critical of players or coaches you are constantly attacked. Some of you people need to realize that UCONN is not perfect and Geno is in fact capable of screwing up and when they do they should be held accountable.

 

[Icebear]

What was wrong in the defense in the last regular season game against ND was that given ND needed three points the defenders needed to set up a 12-18"outside the line fronting and forcing any stop and pop 3 like the one McBride took out to 24' plus. Kaleena made the error of backing up well inside the line before trying to reverse direction while McBride took the shot. Basically the defensive set should be to force the shooter to take an abnormally long 3 or blow by you and take a 2 inside the line which does them no good what so ever.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Here's a little idle speculation...let's say Geno's seen his guards get stripped all night by a couple of very athletic guards and he's leery about inbounding the ball to them with the game on the line...especially since he may think the referees have swallowed their whistles or are missing some clever stripping tricks that might or might not be hard to stop...and maybe he thinks he has to try to isolate a player with an incredible wingspan on a smaller player down low to offset his backcourt handling problems...and let's say he doesn't call a quick timeout, because he thinks the inbound plays are the point of highest risk of turnover...remember, he didn't even call that last timeout, it was a clock issue...so he's a bit late when a bad pass is thrown because players don't come to the pressured ball handler and show themselves...something I noticed a lot in our turnovers to ND in all 3 games...

 

[OneTrickPony]

UCONN is not perfect...

What...?