Coaching [Merged thread]

[bpear1600]

Geno's strengths are in recruiting and preparation. I never considered him a great bench coach. When his offense doesn't work he has no answers.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Geno's strengths are in recruiting and preparation. I never considered him a great bench coach. When his offense doesn't work he has no answers.

Interesting...I thought he made a number of defensive adjustments during last night's game that got us back into the game after a bad start...

 

[FairView]

Geno's strengths are in recruiting and preparation. I never considered him a great bench coach. When his offense doesn't work he has no answers.

Apparently you don't remember the years before UConn was so far superior to the competition. Back in the old days when games would be tight in the first half and then Geno would make adjustments at half time and UConn would break away. Or how about the zone last week, which kept UConn in the game? He's not perfect and he makes mistakes sometimes, but to disparage entire elements of his contributions because of single events is crazy.

 

[meyers7]

Geno's strengths are in recruiting and preparation. I never considered him a great bench coach. When his offense doesn't work he has no answers.

Somewhat agreed. Geno's strengths are definitely in preparations. Years ago, he stayed with that even to the detriment of the team. I think in his mind he had the game plan that would win, it was just a matter of carrying it out. If things were not working, it was because the game plan was not being carried out, not because of a problem with the game plan.

However, I thought in more recent years, he had done better with in game adjustments. And not that he is bad at it, but it's not necessarily his strength. But this year, he doesn't seem as good. Or maybe it's that Muffett just might be better at in game adjustments??

He is a very good X/O coach, but sometimes seemed rather reluctant to make changes in his game plan. Something he had worked on and had a lot of faith in.

 

[easttexastrash]

To me, it looked as if KML was falling out of bounds due to the fact that the pass from Stewart was so far into the corner. It is hard to blame KML for not calling a timeout when she was busy trying to secure the ball.

I will have to rewatch the last few seconds where Diggins was fouled and it WASN'T called for a change. I suspect that unless she was really hacked that the refs didn't want to put themselves into determining the outcome at that point in the game.

 

[Forty_four]

Somewhat agreed. Geno's strengths are definitely in preparations. Years ago, he stayed with that even to the detriment of the team. I think in his mind he had the game plan that would win, it was just a matter of carrying it out. If things were not working, it was because the game plan was not being carried out, not because of a problem with the game plan.

However, I thought in more recent years, he had done better with in game adjustments. And not that he is bad at it, but it's not necessarily his strength. But this year, he doesn't seem as good. Or maybe it's that Muffett just might be better at in game adjustments??

He is a very good X/O coach, but sometimes seemed rather reluctant to make changes in his game plan. Something he had worked on and had a lot of faith in.

Somewhat on this line of thinking, my personal observation of Geno from afar is that when he calls a play and the execution of that play is not what it should be, that he gets so fustrated that he momentarily stops coaching, sits down and rubs his head instead of adjusting on the fly to hopefully correct the situation.

 

[uconnfan68]

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.

According to the players and coaches, they tried to foul 3 times but the officials didn't call it. If you make it obvious, it's an intentional and you don't get the ball back.

 

[CCinCT]

To me, it looked as if KML was falling out of bounds due to the fact that the pass from Stewart was so far into the corner. It is hard to blame KML for not calling a timeout when she was busy trying to secure the ball.

I will have to rewatch the last few seconds where Diggins was fouled and it WASN'T called for a change. I suspect that unless she was really hacked that the refs didn't want to put themselves into determining the outcome at that point in the game.

The pass into the corner was from Faris, not Stewart.

 

[Kibitzer]

A reminder. In wcbb the coach can call a time out, provided only that his team is in possession of the ball. I will support the OP's contention that a time out could have and should have been called in those critical waning seconds of the ND game, either by a player or from the bench.

I must disagree with CD about not wanting a time out for fear of not being able to inbound the ball. Surely a team with UConn's talent should be able to make an inbounds pass.

Since UConn had two timeouts, they could have used one even before inbounding the ball. Put he players on the court, check the ND defensive scheme, call time out and adjust. OR. . . put the players on the court deceptively (maybe a different inbounds passer, maybe players positioned differently), then change them after using that first time out. And still have one to use.

I believe that failure to use one or both time outs was a major error, more by the coaches than the players.

I most certainly can't coach like Geno, and I hasten to acknowledge how easy it is for me to second guess after a good night's sleep.

 

[easttexastrash]

The pass into the corner was from Faris, not Stewart.

Oops. I was wondering how long it would take for me to be corrected. I realized that too late to correct myself.

Anyway, hard to fault KML when the pass was too far into the corner.

 

[meyers7]

Somewhat on this line of thinking, my personal observation of Geno from afar is that when he calls a play and the execution of that play is not what it should be, that he gets so fustrated that he momentarily stops coaching, sits down and rubs his head instead of adjusting on the fly to hopefully correct the situation.

I can understand he's frustration having coached a little myself. Sometimes you get to the point of "if they are not going to listen and do what I've asked them to anyway, what's the point of telling them something else?"