Deadspin Is Heard From

[RockyMTblue2]

A short and not much piece, but they sound the first trumpet on "good for the game?"

"We need a word that multiplies the impact of the word “juggernaut” to describe the UConn women’s basketball team. * * * * * That UConn stands a good chance of winning 100 games in a row is a great occasion for fans of the Huskies, but the issue of competitive balance in NCAA women’s basketball is hard to ignore. But what can you do about that, really? Recruits want to play for Auriemma, and who can blame them?" http://deadspin.com/uconns-womens-basketball-still-hasnt-lost-a-game-since-1790624982

Nice problem to have huh?

 

[HuskyBandDad]

If Uconn was not #1 and undefeated and on an 86 game win streak would there have been 17,000 fans at the game? No. This gets attention for the womens game which it needs. So yes it is good for the game.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

If Uconn was not #1 and undefeated and on an 86 game win streak would there have been 17,000 fans at the game? No. This gets attention for the womens game which it needs. So yes it is good for the game.

Yep, averaging 9300 on away games. Sold out USCe last year too.

 

[PacoSwede]

...
'Recruits want to play for Auriemma, and who can blame them?"
Nice problem to have huh?

That's misleading. Yes, some recruits want to play for Geno, but many don't. It's not as if all the best players go to UConn when they have the opportunity. Despite all the evidence for this, the baked-in-the-pie media narrative simply can't accept the plain facts. We've still hearing that 'Geno wins simply because he gets the best players' -- absurd beliefs die hard.

 

[bags27]

"I've never given UConn a thought -- that's not the school for me. I want to make a name for myself and my team and do something that's never been done before. That would be fun. -- Destiny Slocum

Isn't it a bit hypocritical of the press (quelle surprise!) to have trumpeted this as the year to beat UConn because other teams appeared to have stronger players than UConn. And then because UConn has upped its game, the press suddenly claims again that it's due to UConn having recruited better players?

Right, Gilda. It always seems to be something besides UConn just having better coaching and its players being more committed to a disciplined game.

 

[iamcbs]

Why isn't "competitive balance" an issue with Kentucky or Duke in the Men's game? It's never an issue when discussing the NE Patriots. It isn't an issue for the Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers who between them have won half of the championships in NBA history. It wasn't even an issue during the run of the late Pat Summitt and her Tennessee Vols. "Competitive Balance" only seems to be an issue as it relates to WCBB and Connecticut, that tells me all I need to know about that discussion.....

 

[UcMiami]

iamcbs - actually, it is an issue with the NE patriots - otherwise why would they trump up a bogus scandal, pay millions of dollars for a bought 'independent' investigator who paid a known scam scientific lab to create a pseudo-scientific report, and then sanction the team and their QB, and keep the arbitration in the commissioners hands so he wouldn't get overturned again by some outside arbitrator. Got to knock those Patriots down to the level of everyone else.

But agree - in their own competitive universes, there have been a number of dynasties that were 'good for the game'. And Alabama in football is very similar to Uconn right now. But it is women, and a lot of people who weren't interested in the first place can cite it as the reason they still aren't interested.

 

[Florida Fan]

That's misleading. Yes, some recruits want to play for Geno, but many don't. It's not as if all the best players go to UConn when they have the opportunity. Despite all the evidence for this, the baked-in-the-pie media narrative simply can't accept the plain facts. We've still hearing that 'Geno wins simply because he gets the best players' -- absurd beliefs die hard.

Geno gets the best from his carefully chosen recruits. But Notre Dame, Stanford, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, Baylor and the upstarts from Syracuse and Corvallis also get good players. But the word is out, you will work your butts off in Storrs and maybe some athletes would rather play for a less intense program. If the other good recruiters were tougher and better organized, Uconn would not again be approaching 90-plus consecutive wins, AAC or not. But only the ignorant and envious can say Geno's success is exclusively dependent on getting the country's best players. We can't discount CD, Shea and Marisa, their expertise, the good cop/bad cop synergy, the toughness with a heart and the honesty that tells our players that only the hardest work they'll ever experience can help them reach their individual and team aspirations. Add the awareness of the tradition of excellence and expected greatness they share with all who have come before and will come later, and you are going to be hard to beat, not unbeatable, but you better bring your "A" games.

 

[UconnMark]

Florida Fan said: "Geno gets the best from his carefully chosen recruits. But Notre Dame, Stanford, South Carolina, Duke, Texas, Baylor and the upstarts from Syracuse and Corvallis also get good players." Great example of this is Baylor a few years back when they had Griner & Simms, two AA, players that dominated at their positions plus a very good supporting cast. That group produced ONE NC and that was it. It is not just talented players that win championships. If it was just talented players that won championships, there should be different teams winning it every other year or so. As this hasn't happened much lately, there must be something else going on that leads to all these victories over some of these other talented teams. Perhaps Geno & the coaching staff's greatest accomplishment is getting talented players to leave their ego in the locker room and play as one for a full forty minutes if necessary (plus another 20 minutes or so if there are multiple overtimes.) It's not really a "secret"; it's just really, really hard to do.

 

[Bretski]

and other than the one brutal alzheimer's joke in the comments section, both the piece itself, and the comments, are fair, if not a little uninformed.