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Message: [QUOTE="VAMike23, post: 2057277, member: 150"] I think a distinction needs to be made with respect to Maya and the others in this group when it comes to "hard-headedness" vs. "effort, drive, discipline, focus" or however you want to phrase it. Maya was hard-headed. Still is to some extent, I'm sure; most of the great ones are. She famously decamped to Geno's office after the FF loss to Stanford her freshman year, where she announced an epiphany she'd had, that she "could not win the game all by herself." Which Geno had been trying to tell her. The others listed (DT, Stewie, Sveta, possibly Tina) also were hard-headed in their own way. [B]However,[/B] When it comes to the issue of Crystal needing to ramp up the intensity, and give 100% on a consistent basis--at the UCONN WBB level that Geno expects--this is very much par for the course for players in their freshman year. Almost everyone that has stepped through the door has had their eyes opened to what it really means to sacrifice, perform and give the real 100% all the time, consistently. Particularly for many of the uber-talented, since they have been able to do so much at a lower level of intensity than Geno demands at the college level. It's a shock to the system. Geno & Co. push them to reveal what their true 100% really is. This is a process. But this is where Maya set herself apart. To my knowledge, she came already equipped in this respect. (Possibly Kelly Faris as well.) She always always always gave her true 100%, for every minute, in every drill, in every moment, in every play, in every situation, from day 1. Not day 50, or day 100, or day 200, but day 1. I'm not saying that Maya didn't grow, didn't develop and didn't need coaching just as anyone else ever has. But her drive was singular, and it never wavered. Further, it pushed others to greater heights. [U]Edit[/U]: OK - I have to qualify what I just said ... :) there was one (and only one) time that I saw Maya's energy and effort at less than 100%. It was late in the streak-busting loss to Stanford. I remember distinctly a few moments where she was no longer hustling and busting her ass the way she normally did. It might not have been noticeable with mere mortals but with her, it definitely was. She showed she was human! The rest of the time at UCONN, she was in Geno's words, "like a Corporation." [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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