Everybody Happy Now? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Everybody Happy Now?

Some of you are wondering how the scrubs confidence can be built back up. These ladies have been told for the last 8-10 years that they are the greatest. And they have succeeded with bad habits and an incomplete understanding of the game. Once they understand that they are in a paradigm shift, that what they believed to be the gospel is not true, then they will be adaptable to learning.

I believe Geno understands basic behavior modification. First you impress people that they really do not know what they think they know, i.e. how to play basketball. Then when they do something right in practice he will tell them "Good job" and then reiterate what they did that he liked to reinforce positive reactions. That is coaching. And Geno/CD/Shea/Marissa is the best coach in the country.
 
hipressure said:
Honestly they look terrible...the subs I mean. I am glad he let them play, but they just showed why they don't play much, if at all. The terminology which comes to mind is self-confidence. Geno is a great coach, but he cannot make his players confident. You either have it or you don't. I really hope Meagan can finally breakout at some point and become that seventh player in the rotation.
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Cell phones, ipads, social media Major changes, that are hard to watch unfold ! Do whatever you feel like doing shoot whenever you want ! A VERY Disappointing display last night.
 
Think of it this way: you were asked to attend the prestige women's basketball program in the USA because you demonstrated potential skills in your high school years. Now, there is difficulty in accepting the "system of excellence" that has become the UConn program. Those skills are not automatic; they have to be earned and demonstrated. How that is done, I certainly don't know how to do that in College Sports especially in today's society. Are we looking at the future of Connecticut? Is this the mediocrity that we should expect? And, these are suppose to be young people with high potential. I certainly understand what is going on in Geno's head. But, then again, that is why he gets paid the big bucks.
 
Agreed.
eebmg said:
It was weird. I thought in the first 2-3 minutes, there was some continuity and good post entry passes and Z held them together. Then it all started to break down as Tulsa made some shots (3's _ penetration) , you could see whatever confidence they have just melt and they went into quick shot HS mode. You need to put the best bench players in 1 or 2 at a time with the starters to try to get useful integration.
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Husky fanatic said:
Can they still play without uniforms?
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Without game uniforms? Yes, I believe they had to play in practice uniforms a few years ago when some luggage got lost on one of their road trips.
 
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DICKG said:
I don’t agree. I think he has a lot to with their confidence. Maybe he should stop putting them down in the press; that surely does not instill confidence.
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Yea, your missing the idea of UCONN confidence. It has to come from inside the player. Such that it is not affected by outside pressure. Regardless of what the fans say, the coach says, or the scoreboard says, they know who they are and what they can do.
 
You can speculate all day on what Geno's strategy was, but IMHO the best move may have been to just work Megan in, to get that one more player in that he needs. Of course there's the injury factor that even got worse last night, so maybe a little time for Molly would have helped. Throwing all five players out there at the same time didn't seem to work out so good, though it may have worked a little better if they had made a few shots that just didn't drop. My personal gripe has been giving Azura the green light from the outside, whether it's a two or three. When she takes her threes it seems rare that anyone gets an offensive rebound, especially since you can almost count on one being there for the asking. Apparently she makes them in practice, but for now I'd rather see anyone else take that shot.
 
HuskyBandDad said:
Subs in early. Never saw Geno do this. Ever.
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I'm more than Happy---so many POSITIVE things to take away from that game---the bad and ugly was predictable---you can't compare 7 months of Div exposure to 4 year, 3 year,18 months of playing together--thats an unfair comparison but one made--wrongly.\ Any one any where who expected the frosh left to sink or swim--to look like Gabby, KLS, Danger, Kia, --don't live in the real world.

To me it was a fun game--I only wished the new kids got to work their way out of the hole dug---with a time out to coach them to the win. I like Geno coaching Coombs on the side line--big plus.
I'd like to see more of this--but with coaching from the sideline for the whole second string in the game.
Great fun game. Lets do it again and again throughout the AAC.
 
PhanTom said:
You can speculate all day on what Geno's strategy was, but IMHO the best move may have been to just work Megan in, to get that one more player in that he needs. Of course there's the injury factor that even got worse last night, so maybe a little time for Molly would have helped. Throwing all five players out there at the same time didn't seem to work out so good, though it may have worked a little better if they had made a few shots that just didn't drop. My personal gripe has been giving Azura the green light from the outside, whether it's a two or three. When she takes her threes it seems rare that anyone gets an offensive rebound, especially since you can almost count on one being there for the asking. Apparently she makes them in practice, but for now I'd rather see anyone else take that shot.
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It didn't work out great in terms of making spectacular plays during the game. Whether it works out well in terms of what is learned from the experience, remains to be seen.
 
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Longtime fan said:
Not only that, but what the 4 substitutes did was feed the ball to either "Z" or Collier for the shot/score.
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Not so - the bench (less Stevens) took 13 shots - and missed 12 of them! That's a FG % of <8.
 
Woof 101 said:
They got enough film, it would not be fair to the starters to take a loss for no real reason. Geno once again being Geno proved his point.
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He had to prove a point not only to the bench players(prob enough proof already during the practice) but also to some of the BYers here who want his job (quite a few of them, I suppose)
 
Longtime fan said:
Not only that, but what the 4 substitutes did was feed the ball to either "Z" or Collier for the shot/score.
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They got open. Would it have been better to NOT pass it?
 
DICKG said:
I don’t agree. I think he has a lot to with their confidence. Maybe he should stop putting them down in the press; that surely does not instill confidence.
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Curious for those who were there. Unlike the starters, didn't seem that Geno coached the subs, just made faces. Normally Geno and other coaches coach spacing, defensive assignments and other aspects of game that affected flow. From what I saw, he just let them play.
 
I was not as disappointed in the bench play as some on this board are. What I did see is a team that is mentally and physically beat up. Frankly, I am most concerned about the mental aspect. The substitute plan last night was designed for " the coach " to get a point across, not to help players who rarely have played to develop confidence. There are 2 players in the starting 5 who are capable of creating their own shots, KLS and Danger. Everyone else relies on ball movement , screens and transition to score. I really liked the few glimpses of MW earlier in the season. She is athletic and create her own shot. Z can score at will in the lane, but do we really need her taking 3's 10 seconds into the shot clock? Gabby , as fun as she is to watch, just has not put in the gym time to improve her shooting nor confidence in shooting beyond 8 ft. of the basket except for the occasional shot. KLS is getting beat up, Phees is being pushed farther away from the rim. At this point what I see is a glaring problem is the husky defense. Certain players keep hunting for steals instead of playing lock down man defense. So far this season I give Coach Geno a C- . He recruits the players, runs the practice. How about coaching during the game , instead of just turning around and showing dissatisfaction to the rest of the staff. Last night , it was mentioned that because of the schedule certain drills have not been employed because of time constraints. And who exactly makes out the schedule ?
 
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HopJim said:
Curious for those who were there. Unlike the starters, didn't seem that Geno coached the subs, just made faces. Normally Geno and other coaches coach spacing, defensive assignments and other aspects of game that affected flow. From what I saw, he just let them play.
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First the disclaimer, I wasn't there, I just saw it on TV. Like you I thought that he was not actively coaching the subs. And I think that was the point. To project what may have been in Geno's mind, "OK, you guys think your so smart. I"m gonna let you do it your way. Let's see how that turns out for you."

Again, only surmising, I haven't developed any telepathic powers.
 
scubadog said:
I was not as disappointed in the bench play as some on this board are. What I did see is a team that is mentally and physically beat up. Frankly, I am most concerned about the mental aspect. The substitute plan last night was designed for " the coach " to get a point across, not to help players who rarely have played to develop confidence. There are 2 players in the starting 5 who are capable of creating their own shots, KLS and Danger. Everyone else relies on ball movement , screens and transition to score. I really liked the few glimpses of MW earlier in the season. She is athletic and create her own shot. Z can score at will in the lane, but do we really need her taking 3's 10 seconds into the shot clock? Gabby , as fun as she is to watch, just has not put in the gym time to improve her shooting nor confidence in shooting beyond 8 ft. of the basket except for the occasional shot. KLS is getting beat up, Phees is being pushed farther away from the rim. At this point what I see is a glaring problem is the husky defense. Certain players keep hunting for steals instead of playing lock down man defense. So far this season I give Coach Geno a C- . He recruits the players, runs the practice. How about coaching during the game , instead of just turning around and showing dissatisfaction to the rest of the staff. Last night , it was mentioned that because of the schedule certain drills have not been employed because of time constraints. And who exactly makes out the schedule ?
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Wow, a lot of points to address in one paragraph!

I disagree that the substitution plan was designed to get a point across. There were many different variations tried, not one. If you watch you'll see that Molly got a lot of time because she was getting more done than most of the others. He mixed in different starters to try and find something that would work - there was just not a lot of good execution. They were out hustled a lot - look at rebounding - almost even, watch which team were down on the floor for loose balls first. These are effort types of plays that you don't coach.

Geno's offense relies on ball movement, screens etc. to score. They do not want to rely on individuals having to create their own shot. That's what teams like OSU do with predictable results. The problem was the poor execution on both ends.

I think of all the players, Gabby once again stood out as bringing the most energy. You can put down her shooting (although I think the stats will prove you wrong - she's hitting a lot more from the foul line range this year) but she is devastating on drives to the basket where she is almost unguardable. In Geno's system you always look for the high percentage shots and Gabby going to the basket is the high percentage shot.

Regarding players hunting for steals - Geno wants an aggressive defense, so yes they do want to hunt for steals. This is nothing new, the big difference between now and previous years is that there is no big shot blocker waiting if the guard gets beat going for the steal.

Blaming the coach who has proved year over year that he can find ways to motivate players and turn out one great team after another, year after year seems a little biased. They are one of only three unbeaten teams and have played almost all the top teams in the country.

Schedules are dictated primarily by TV, other teams schedules etc. If you want to work in marquee games, then you need to find ways to fit them into the schedule. Thinking that Geno sits back and decides he wants to play this game on this day is a little unrealistic.
 
hipressure said:
Honestly they look terrible...the subs I mean. I am glad he let them play, but they just showed why they don't play much, if at all. The terminology which comes to mind is self-confidence. Geno is a great coach, but he cannot make his players confident. You either have it or you don't. I really hope Meagan can finally breakout at some point and become that seventh player in the rotation.
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It appears that Megan is further along in achieving that breakout than any of the other reserves. The rest of them have it, but as it's been throughly discussed before, it usually takes UConn freshmen a full year. They're only half way through their first year. As you know, there are some things that can't be rushed. I vividly remember how Crystal was chided and criticized here last season for her inability to consistently perform at this high level. We're doing it again with this new batch of freshmen. Some things (people) just can't be rushed, no matter how badly we want to.
 
scubadog said:
I was not as disappointed in the bench play as some on this board are. What I did see is a team that is mentally and physically beat up. Frankly, I am most concerned about the mental aspect. The substitute plan last night was designed for " the coach " to get a point across, not to help players who rarely have played to develop confidence. There are 2 players in the starting 5 who are capable of creating their own shots, KLS and Danger. Everyone else relies on ball movement , screens and transition to score. I really liked the few glimpses of MW earlier in the season. She is athletic and create her own shot. Z can score at will in the lane, but do we really need her taking 3's 10 seconds into the shot clock? Gabby , as fun as she is to watch, just has not put in the gym time to improve her shooting nor confidence in shooting beyond 8 ft. of the basket except for the occasional shot. KLS is getting beat up, Phees is being pushed farther away from the rim. At this point what I see is a glaring problem is the husky defense. Certain players keep hunting for steals instead of playing lock down man defense. So far this season I give Coach Geno a C- . He recruits the players, runs the practice. How about coaching during the game , instead of just turning around and showing dissatisfaction to the rest of the staff. Last night , it was mentioned that because of the schedule certain drills have not been employed because of time constraints. And who exactly makes out the schedule ?
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Just as an aside- if Geno gets a C- what do all the other coaches whose teams aren’t undefeated or ranked #1 in the nation get in your grading system?
 
Twolf said:
Just as an aside- if Geno gets a C- what do all the other coaches whose teams aren’t undefeated or ranked #1 in the nation get in your grading system?
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My reasoning is Geno has a relatively seasoned team with 3 all americans, add Z, certainly a player that can start on any team in the nation, and MW , the top high school player last season. Molly and Kyla are into their second season. You are either in the TEAR DOWN or BUILD UP camp . Interesting that you want to compare Geno to other coaches. I want to compare Geno to Geno. I have been watching him coach since the beginning. This is not one of his stellar jobs , so far..... but ?
 
scubadog said:
I was not as disappointed in the bench play as some on this board are. What I did see is a team that is mentally and physically beat up. Frankly, I am most concerned about the mental aspect. The substitute plan last night was designed for " the coach " to get a point across, not to help players who rarely have played to develop confidence. There are 2 players in the starting 5 who are capable of creating their own shots, KLS and Danger. Everyone else relies on ball movement , screens and transition to score. I really liked the few glimpses of MW earlier in the season. She is athletic and create her own shot. Z can score at will in the lane, but do we really need her taking 3's 10 seconds into the shot clock? Gabby , as fun as she is to watch, just has not put in the gym time to improve her shooting nor confidence in shooting beyond 8 ft. of the basket except for the occasional shot. KLS is getting beat up, Phees is being pushed farther away from the rim. At this point what I see is a glaring problem is the husky defense. Certain players keep hunting for steals instead of playing lock down man defense. So far this season I give Coach Geno a C- . He recruits the players, runs the practice. How about coaching during the game , instead of just turning around and showing dissatisfaction to the rest of the staff. Last night , it was mentioned that because of the schedule certain drills have not been employed because of time constraints. And who exactly makes out the schedule ?
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Tough critique.
Is there a problem with the schedule? Geno will play anyone anywhere.
 
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scubadog said:
My reasoning is Geno has a relatively seasoned team with 3 all americans, add Z, certainly a player that can start on any team in the nation, and MW , the top high school player last season. Molly and Kyla are into their second season. You are either in the TEAR DOWN or BUILD UP camp . Interesting that you want to compare Geno to other coaches. I want to compare Geno to Geno. I have been watching him coach since the beginning. This is not one of his stellar jobs , so far..... but ?
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Not one of his stellar jobs?
They have not lost a game this year playing arguably the toughest schedule of any team.
Expectations on this board are insane.
 
HuskyBandDad said:
Subs in early. Never saw Geno do this. Ever.
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Watching him before, during, and after some recent games, I don't see him enjoying himself at all. He said he would stop coaching when he did not enjoy doing it.
 
scubadog said:
Gabby , as fun as she is to watch, just has not put in the gym time to improve her shooting nor confidence in shooting beyond 8 ft. of the basket except for the occasional shot.
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I'm curious how you know how much time Gabby has put into her shooting. My firm belief is Gabby is always looking for someone with a better shot and often passes up shots she should take. Look at the number of assists she has per game. I wish one of the stat gurus could put something together that would give a clearer picture of her percentages at various ranges.

My guess is Geno got what he wanted out of last nights game. Geno has made it very clear that he expects a certain level of effort/results to get playing time and apparently he is not willing to lower those standards to have more substitutes. This may be why he has 11 championships.
 
HuskyBandDad said:
Not one of his stellar jobs?
They have not lost a game this year playing arguably the toughest schedule of any team.
Expectations on this board are insane.
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Just saying: ! 1) At half time Geno was asked how he thought the bench performed in the 2nd quarter ? After rolling his tongue around for 5 seconds, his reaction was " Our starters will be in for the 3rd quarter " REALLY
 
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