First night video posted | Page 2 | The Boneyard

First night video posted

It seems to me that a lot of the complaints here have forgotten that this was NOT for us. It was to get the student body psyched up to attend the games and be huge vocal supporters. I'm sure the basket problems sure hurt that experience for the students. They still got to watch their teams a bit being themselves. We got at least interviews to help placate us. I agree that the prep was not handled well. That basket should have been in place before it started and the activities worked around it. From the noise it seemed the crowd got at least some of what they were wanting to see.
 
Previous "first nights" were great. Autographs before hand, UNCONN legends MC'ing the event, Ray Allen participating in a 3 point shooting contest (and losing), professional quality all around. I guess the people who put those first night events are all gone...
 
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Zinethar said:
It seems to me that a lot of the complaints here have forgotten that this was NOT for us. It was to get the student body psyched up to attend the games and be huge vocal supporters. I'm sure the basket problems sure hurt that experience for the students. They still got to watch their teams a bit being themselves. We got at least interviews to help placate us. I agree that the prep was not handled well. That basket should have been in place before it started and the activities worked around it. From the noise it seemed the crowd got at least some of what they were wanting to see.
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Not for us, really? Of the 8000 people that packed Gampel, how many will attend games this year, especially the womens games? The biggest fan base is US and the other thousands that buy season tickets. If it wasn't for us, why would they televise it? I don't think many students were tuned into CW20 to watch with such total crazy anticipation like we did. Don't let anyone fool you, this was as much for us as it was for the students. Too bad they screwed it up.
 
Bald Huskie said:
Not for us, really? Of the 8000 people that packed Gampel, how many will attend games this year, especially the womens games? The biggest fan base is US and the other thousands that buy season tickets. If it wasn't for us, why would they televise it? I don't think many students were tuned into CW20 to watch with such total crazy anticipation like we did. Don't let anyone fool you, this was as much for us as it was for the students. Too bad they screwed it up.
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I was referring to first night not the broadcast. The broadcast was totally for us to encourage us to buy tickets. That was badly messed up. First night itself is a student pep rally and is NOT designed for us. It is to create a buzz on campus so that the students will pack home games and create a vibrant home atmosphere. Yes they want our money but they want the students to create the frenzy that is a home crowd. I haven't seen too many in our (in general) age group shirtless with UCONN painted on our chest at games :D.
 
Jim said:
If this event was for “you” and not the students, how come only students were allowed to attend in person?
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Jim, I think the First Night is for all UCONN WBB fans! I think this year inviting only UCONN students were for Covid-19 concerns.
I think the talking suits are still forming the Covid-19 policies that will be fair and less burdensome for inside events.
 
Jim said:
If this event was for “you” and not the students, how come only students were allowed to attend in person?
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This is not an either or issue, it was mostly for diehard Uconn basketball fans, be they students, seniors, state residents or fans that live thousands of miles away. Between allowing just students locally and TV and video feed, all those fans were supposedly covered. But instead we got an incompetent production. If it was one isolated issue maybe you say you know what happens.

But it wasn't one problem it was many problems. Was it like a pep rally? sure so what! It is a reflection on the state, university, basketball program, and is often used as a major recruiting tool, as it is at other Universities. Some recruit on another visit will probably hear, why would you want to go to Uconn, they can't even handle First Night.

Is it a monumental issue? No, but if you want to be known as a top flight program, you want that to be shown in everything you do. This was an avoidable black mark on that reputation, and just saying hopefully next year will be better, without taking concrete steps to fix the issues, would be negligence in a major way.
 
oldhuskie said:
I hate to say it but the whole "First Night" show was mismanaged IMO. It wasn't one technical screw-up it was many. The video feed of course. During the introductions when some of the players came out they were in the dark, you couldn't see them well. The bit between Evina and RJ was an ill conceived waste of time. Then one basket is broken, so they do interviews instead of actually showing us what the people there are seeing.

When the little girl does her dancing/gymnastics move, of course the camera didn't follow her the first time and they had to do a second take. The questions to me were not that good, but as it turns out a few boring interviews were the highlight of the night. No backup plan for the rim, no scrimmage, no dunk or three point contest, and not much reason to go or watch.

The entire process needs to go under the microscope and changes made. Some of the people involved this time should not have anything to do with it next year. They failed completely. The fans, particularly since it was just students showed great support and deserve better.
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Wow, I thought that was may be a little harsh, but the production value was stunningly bad. I’m sure they’re licking their wounds a little bit now, but what they ought to be doing is watching back the video and taking notes on the failed to correct them for next time. I doubt they will.
 
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Carnac said:
Believe me, you're not alone in your assessment. I haven't seen the video yet. After reading some of these posts, I'm sure I want to. Sounds like a waste of time. Thanks for the heads up. I share your concerns oldhuskie. If they can't put on a production if this magnitude, and pull it off so that it looks like it was produced by adult professionals that know what they're doing, then hire it done by an "outside" production company that does this type of thing for a living. That FARSE last night does not shine a positive light on anyone associated with it. It had the look of pure amateurism from start to finish. :confused:

How about this..................each team would be given 60 minutes. Let the women go first. Start on time!! Start the live feed at 6:59 pm. The first player introduction is a 7:00 pm sharp. The women's 60 minute clock is running. Introduce the roster, run warm up lay up lines for 2 minutes, then start the 3pt shooting contest. After that's over, run the scrimmage for 20 minutes. When the horn sounds the women are done. They wave good night to everyone as they exit the floor.

At the crack of 8, bring on the men. For fans that are not interested in seeing the women, they can tune in at 8:00 pm, and don't have to sit through the women's portion of the program. For those fans that are not interested in the men's team, they can say good night and tune out. This way, EVERBODY is happy. Fans get to watch their team's program for a full 60 minutes. If you're a fan of both teams, great!! Either way Everyone enjoys the show. :)
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Agree strongly!!! I have absolutely zero interest in the Men's team and had to sit through the entire show watching that program eat up time I hoped to be watching the Women's team. If you are going to do a consolidated "show", and I imagine that might be best, then focus entirely on one team and then the other.

As poorly as the show was done, has anyone heard a reason why actual basketball action, even if only 4 x 4 at one end of the court, wasn't shown instead of the poorly done interviews of the HC's and two players?
 
Who was that little girl? And was she the one up on the stage with the players?
 
I've been reading the back-and-forth from everyone about who the show was for, etc. etc.
Who cares? Let's just judge it as a show for a minute, ok?

In the show's first two minutes -- the very first two minutes -- they had a chance to introduce the coaches of the two teams, and the PA announcer did so, and the crowd cheered. But no one could see the coaches as they were introduced. Why? because these introductions happened in total darkness.
Wait...what?

To me, at least, this -- and some of the other stuff that followed -- is an indication of a show producer who doesn't know what he/she is doing, or who hasn't planned out the program very successfully. IMHO, you cannot excuse it by saying it's just a show designed for the students, as if they don't deserve any better than amateur-level production values. Its quality certainly is not at the level that UConn basketball deserves.
 
who was in charge of production and who put him/her in charge? or maybe there was no one in charge? if so, who was responsible for that?

i would say everyone agrees there were a lot of embarrassing screw-ups even if the kids had fun in the end ... i thought the failing mics during the evina v cole bit was intentional and part of the bit -- and hilarious; apparently not?

but if was obvious, on camera at least, that lighting and timing during intros was godawful. and having a backboard botch was ridiculous. ETC.

i'm curious how all this came about. some yahoo(s) must have been responsible. were rank amateurs not doing their jobs? was there lack of communication? bad planning? where'd the buck stop? will there be accountability or will such failure be accepted elsewhere at the flagship university? it hasn't been typical of its basketball program and shouldn't reflect on it.
 
hoopsfan22 said:
Why?
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Don't want to turn this into a back & forth, but yes, First Night is for the students and players, but it's also a recruiting tool, both for in-person recruits and those who watch it later. For those reasons it deserves to be at the same level as the program itself. Come on, crappy lighting, broken basket, limited shots of players on-court, horrible camera work and a so-so interviewer. Just bring it up a notch or two.
 
I could have sworn someone posted about no shots of Kiki Rice. Must be in another thread. That was a major oversight. They should have had her face (and Ice and AP) up on the big board.

One last point: The announcer pronounced Mir as "Mer" instead of "Meer." She's named for the space station so I wonder if "Mer" is actually correct. I was thinking it was an acronym in Russian so "Mer" might make sense.
 
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CTBballfan243 said:
UConn should just eliminate the whole first night thing. It’s just a waste of time and really no reason for it. Just have UConn post a few more video clips from a few practices. That would more than suffice.
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First night is for the students not for us on the boneyard lol
 
Well I will take a slightly different approach. Talk first about what they did right (which wasn't much admittedly).

They PACKED Gampel with students. Nothing against us older farts, but there is NO energy like student energy. Just watch the Cameron Crazies (students) on the first 10 or so rows of the sideline seats. Best and most creative fans in MCBB and WCBB.

The intros were fun. The announcer was super stoked for each and every person. While I was bummed some of the players (both guys and gals) seemed "shy" (they came out and waved and that was it), kudos to the players who danced or did something fun - Dorka and Nika with their flags was cool, but Amari set the tone with her worm dance. That was AWESOME.

Other than that, maybe a "meh" event. In the future, I'd suggest having the players come out from the home team tunnel. They can set up whatever kind of entryway they want without disrupting the baskets. I get they wanted everyone to "see" the players, but have them run out to a little area partway onto the court so everyone can see.

And get the players stoked. Maybe have their teammates waiting for them egging them on. Good grief - the intros of any regular season game has more energy from the players than the first night intro festivities.

The whole Evina vs. whoever spoke for the guys team was unnecessary. "My guys have 11 NC's and your guys have what - 2?". She knows full well it's 4, but pitting the guys against the gals for a "funny" moment - I'd rather see the women celebrating like crazy the 4 amazing NC's the men have won and vice versa.

I'm glad they didn't try to do a scrimmage of men AND women on the same team - mixing them up. Much better to see a 10-15 minute scrimmage of just the guys, then the same for the gals. Obviously the basket was a big fail.

I like the idea of interviewing Geno and Dan live. But why not have them speak to the crowd? They do hundreds of interviews so why waste time in a pep rally where no one can hear them? And why not put answers to questions from the players up on the big jumbo-tron? Is there any reason to interview players live? They could pick out better "moments" to put up for everyone to see and not put the players on the spot with lame questions. Or was all that done while they were trying to fix the baskets?

Why not do what they do on ESPN for all star games and what not? Have a short 3 point contest and dunking contest? That could be better organized.

Who was the little girl? I'll be honest - I have no interest in seeing a her interviewed, I don't care if she was Geno or Dan's granddaughter. It's a pep rally about crazy fans, the team, and high energy, not a platform for cuteness from a little girl.

Anyway just some random thoughts. I'll admit i did not watch the entire thing. Just the intros.My $.02...
 
That little girl is apart of the women’s basketball team. She has been at many events for the women, she has some sort of life threatening disease. I thought the interview was really cute. The team loves her and I’m sure she looks up to them.
Here are some articles more in depth on her..

uconnhuskies.com

Daniela Ciriello from Team IMPACT is our Newest Husky - University of Connecticut Athletics

STORRS, Conn.— The UConn women's basketball teamed added one final piece to their 2018-2019 No. 2 ranked squad on Sunday afternoon with six-year-old Daniela ...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

www.nbcconnecticut.com

UConn Women's Basketball Team Gives Girl Surprise Of A Lifetime

The Uconn Women’s basketball team will take on the University of Arizona Friday night in the Final Four in San Antonio Texas and the Huskies will have a very special fan in the stands. The team gave one little girl from Southington a big surprise. Through a Zoom call, the team told Daniela...
www.nbcconnecticut.com www.nbcconnecticut.com
 
Heytherego said:
That little girl is apart of the women’s basketball team. She has been at many events for the women, she has some sort of life threatening disease. I thought the interview was really cute. The team loves her and I’m sure she looks up to them.
Here are some articles more in depth on her..

uconnhuskies.com

Daniela Ciriello from Team IMPACT is our Newest Husky - University of Connecticut Athletics

STORRS, Conn.— The UConn women's basketball teamed added one final piece to their 2018-2019 No. 2 ranked squad on Sunday afternoon with six-year-old Daniela ...
uconnhuskies.com uconnhuskies.com

www.nbcconnecticut.com

UConn Women's Basketball Team Gives Girl Surprise Of A Lifetime

The Uconn Women’s basketball team will take on the University of Arizona Friday night in the Final Four in San Antonio Texas and the Huskies will have a very special fan in the stands. The team gave one little girl from Southington a big surprise. Through a Zoom call, the team told Daniela...
www.nbcconnecticut.com www.nbcconnecticut.com
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Thanks for posting this.
 
.-.
EricLA said:
Well I will take a slightly different approach. Talk first about what they did right (which wasn't much admittedly).

They PACKED Gampel with students. Nothing against us older farts, but there is NO energy like student energy. Just watch the Cameron Crazies (students) on the first 10 or so rows of the sideline seats. Best and most creative fans in MCBB and WCBB.

The intros were fun. The announcer was super stoked for each and every person. While I was bummed some of the players (both guys and gals) seemed "shy" (they came out and waved and that was it), kudos to the players who danced or did something fun - Dorka and Nika with their flags was cool, but Amari set the tone with her worm dance. That was AWESOME.

Other than that, maybe a "meh" event. In the future, I'd suggest having the players come out from the home team tunnel. They can set up whatever kind of entryway they want without disrupting the baskets. I get they wanted everyone to "see" the players, but have them run out to a little area partway onto the court so everyone can see.

And get the players stoked. Maybe have their teammates waiting for them egging them on. Good grief - the intros of any regular season game has more energy from the players than the first night intro festivities.

The whole Evina vs. whoever spoke for the guys team was unnecessary. "My guys have 11 NC's and your guys have what - 2?". She knows full well it's 4, but pitting the guys against the gals for a "funny" moment - I'd rather see the women celebrating like crazy the 4 amazing NC's the men have won and vice versa.

I'm glad they didn't try to do a scrimmage of men AND women on the same team - mixing them up. Much better to see a 10-15 minute scrimmage of just the guys, then the same for the gals. Obviously the basket was a big fail.

I like the idea of interviewing Geno and Dan live. But why not have them speak to the crowd? They do hundreds of interviews so why waste time in a pep rally where no one can hear them? And why not put answers to questions from the players up on the big jumbo-tron? Is there any reason to interview players live? They could pick out better "moments" to put up for everyone to see and not put the players on the spot with lame questions. Or was all that done while they were trying to fix the baskets?

Why not do what they do on ESPN for all star games and what not? Have a short 3 point contest and dunking contest? That could be better organized.

Who was the little girl? I'll be honest - I have no interest in seeing a her interviewed, I don't care if she was Geno or Dan's granddaughter. It's a pep rally about crazy fans, the team, and high energy, not a platform for cuteness from a little girl.

Anyway just some random thoughts. I'll admit i did not watch the entire thing. Just the intros.My $.02...
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Your $.02 is trading at no more than $.01 now. The "little girl" has been a "Team Impact" member of the team for the past two years, although less visible last year with the pandemic. She did attend last year's final four (to no avail) but perhaps she will be the extra spark needed to bring home a NC this year
 
Paraphrasing here, but the last question to Paige...

"What's your favorite thing to do?"

"Just get the ball to my teammates. Everyone eats."

What a person.
 
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