This guys is pretty amazing... through years of coaching and teaching baseball players, the one thing that was the MOST insulting was when a clearly dominant Team stopped putting forth their best effort. No one wants to lose big, but when you are clearly outmatched, you want to play against the best the other team has so as to find where you need to improve yourself and your team. Sure, Geno could have told his players to not block shots, not go for steals, not put their hands up on defense (never going to happen), and not to shoot open shots when UConn had the ball. The score would have been closer...maybe... but what would that have taught the team from St. Francis? What would that have done for UConn in preparing for later rounds in the tournament?
Sure, It's UConn's fault that they work so hard at being the best that they can be. But it's not something they should be shamed for...and when the #1 Ranked Team in any Tournament in any sport plays the Last Ranked Team to get in (i.e., the #64 Ranked Team), a resounding victory by the #1 Team should be expected. VERY RARELY does a last ranked team (i.e. UMBC) find a way to even make it close, let alone beat a First Ranked Team (i.e. UVA). Normally it's a
40+ point victory...especially in WCBB where the overall depth is not as strong as in MCBB.
I suppose the writer was one of those kids who played a youth sport and was always on the team that came in last in the league, year after year...and just never got over it. He proudly displays his "participation trophies" in his home office as inspiration!
