GENO ~ Has Lost his recruiting touch...
- Thread starter LouS
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It is amazing with a lot of UConn fans that with even the slightest critique--not criticism, mind you--of Geno, it is polarized into an all out blitz on Geno. For the record, let me say that I have several times stated out here that during the last two seasons, UConn has lacked depth and size on their bench, and not such much as Geno has done a poor job, but other programs are catching up with him in recruiting and are doing better a job.
A lot of us point out that in the last two Final Fours with Notre Dame, we had a lead coming down the stretch but lost it. Could it have been the extreme amount of minutes that our starters played due to a lack of a bench and depth, and fatigue set in. You can't tell me that the preeminent program in WCBB demonstrated its superiority in recruiting the last few years. Yes, I am aware that UConn can't get every single top tier player, but how about some suitable replacements that Geno can trust to rest his starters? By his own admission, he hasn't had that the past few years.
Why is it that Notre Dame could lose their top big in Turner, yet still win a NC? But when we lose our top big to early entry in the WNBA, we're not anywhere near the same team anymore, and we have the UConn faithful bemoan: "IF only we would have had "Z"... I'm sorry but that's showing a serious lack of depth...
Yes, I am liking what I am seeing in the recruiting this year, and I am seeing the initial development of a strong bench and possibly of a second team; however, other programs--particularly SC and Oregon--are doing great things as well in recruiting... I sincerely believe we're back on track and we'll be hoisting a 12th title quite soon.
A lot of us point out that in the last two Final Fours with Notre Dame, we had a lead coming down the stretch but lost it. Could it have been the extreme amount of minutes that our starters played due to a lack of a bench and depth, and fatigue set in. You can't tell me that the preeminent program in WCBB demonstrated its superiority in recruiting the last few years. Yes, I am aware that UConn can't get every single top tier player, but how about some suitable replacements that Geno can trust to rest his starters? By his own admission, he hasn't had that the past few years.
Why is it that Notre Dame could lose their top big in Turner, yet still win a NC? But when we lose our top big to early entry in the WNBA, we're not anywhere near the same team anymore, and we have the UConn faithful bemoan: "IF only we would have had "Z"... I'm sorry but that's showing a serious lack of depth...
Yes, I am liking what I am seeing in the recruiting this year, and I am seeing the initial development of a strong bench and possibly of a second team; however, other programs--particularly SC and Oregon--are doing great things as well in recruiting... I sincerely believe we're back on track and we'll be hoisting a 12th title quite soon.
TheFarmFan
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I don't think it was about minutes, because in both of those games the Domers had essentially a six-woman rotation with very few bench minutes. Indeed, ONO played more minutes than the entire Domer bench combined in the semifinal this year.
I think the larger issue is that Geno has traditionally wanted only players who come through his system and fit his mold, and that makes it harder to use transfers. However, because players these days all want playing time, it's really hard to keep a deep bench year-to-year, so a lot of the first-off-the-bench players players are transferring (see, e.g., Coombs, Gordon, AEH, Eckmark, Edwards, or Oregon's four transfers this past season) and that allows schools to reconstruct an ideal starting five every single season (look at Baylor and MSU!)
If you're not playing the transfer game, and you're not able to cultivate your 6-9 players to grow into being starters their junior and senior year (I think Williams and Nurse are the most recent examples of this for UConn), then it puts a ton of pressure of your starting 5 to fill all your needs, not get injured, etc., which hasn't happened for UConn in terms of having the bigs or avoiding some nagging injuries (Lou).
I do think Geno's starting to embrace the transfer thing more, and that was what was intended with The Stevens Project, but I don't think Geno is ever going to be comfortable with one-and-done transfers, and that is increasingly how teams are rebuilding season to season. That means some years you have classes like Stewwie-Mo-Tuck that stick together and win you 4 championships, and some years you have classes like Eckmark, Edwards, etc., and no one sticks around long enough to become a starter or at least provide valuable bench minutes. The disparity between UConn's starting 5 and the next 5 is so vast compared to schools like Stanford where sometimes, honestly, the bench players looked as good as the starters.
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They need to win a title this year or else Crystal, Molly, and Kyla will be the first class to leave without one in over a decade.
UConnCat
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#FireGeno
DefenseBB
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Very!....well you did ask
meyers7
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Probably because some people on here say really dumb things like
Hoopgurlz Class Ranking 2015 - UCONN #3
Hoopgurlz Class Ranking 2016 - UCONN #14
Hoopgurlz Class Ranking 2017 - UCONN # 2
Hoopgurlz Class Ranking 2018 - UCONN #2
That's pretty superior. Even the "off year" wasn't too bad, and Bluestar and PN had them ranked higher.
Really? How'd we do with her? FF, losing in the Semi.
How'd we do without her? FF, losing in the Semi.
How is that not near the same team?????? Granted she might have pushed us over the top. But we got as far without her as we did with her.
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Well seeing as the future of power forward will have went from 6’1 to 5’11, maybe he has lost his post recruiting touch just a little.
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It is because we are back in the Big East... Right???
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It just shows you that when you are an elite team, 1 "bad" recruiting year brings you back to the pack (3rd or 4th in the country) in this case.
IMO the only thing Geno needs to evolve on is that you have to go at least 8 deep in most, if not all games and I mean meaningful minutes, not mop up time. Even if you don't "trust" them. It will pay dividends later on. You can practice all you want, but there is no substitute for meaningful game minutes.
IMO the only thing Geno needs to evolve on is that you have to go at least 8 deep in most, if not all games and I mean meaningful minutes, not mop up time. Even if you don't "trust" them. It will pay dividends later on. You can practice all you want, but there is no substitute for meaningful game minutes.
meyers7
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I think what brought us "back to the pack" was not having a super class (TASSK or Stewart like). But those only come around maybe (maybe) once a decade.
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I agree, but if the 2016 class could have produced another starter it would have made a world of difference.
I do think though
The
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I thought at the time that Uconn made the move to the AAC that recruiting might face a small decline. The only thing that kept us afloat was the outside schedule that, and make no mistake about it, Geno is responible for. The fact that we never lost one game in the AAC is proof personified that it was a weak league for woman's basketball, not conducive to recruiting the best of the best. Our move back to the Big East has already profited the recruiting process. I cannot begin to imagine the number of coaches who pray every night that Geno will lose his touch.
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It gets me how the misinformed measure the quality of a recruiting class simply by their overall rankings, primarily predicated by their HS performance which has a great deal of subjectivity involved due to the wide variance of the level of competition.
For example, let's take a look at the UConn 2017 recruiting class: ranked as the No. 2 overall recruiting class by Hoopgulrz according to meyers7: Let's seeeeee--there's Megan Walker, a contributing starter, Lexi Gordon, who largely contributed zilch; there was Andra Espinoza-Hunter who contributed little or nothing, but is showing some promise at Miss State; and lastly, Mikayla Combs, who contributed little or nothing to the program, and but who knows what she'll do at Georgia--I'm guessing not much offensively because she is god-awful at shot-positioning. But on paper, they all were highly-touted prospects.
I see them as a poor recruiting class for UConn, but I guess you can say I'm stupid to say this because, hey they were ranked as the No. 2 class by Hoopgulrz, and Geno did an exceptionally bang up job of recruiting, when I'm seeing a bust for this recruiting class, except for Megan. I again ask what are you using to measure? I use the overall performance and contribution to the program, not simply number assignment by a rating system. So again, if that was an exceptional, No. 2 recruiting class for UConn, I'm not seeing it...
For example, let's take a look at the UConn 2017 recruiting class: ranked as the No. 2 overall recruiting class by Hoopgulrz according to meyers7: Let's seeeeee--there's Megan Walker, a contributing starter, Lexi Gordon, who largely contributed zilch; there was Andra Espinoza-Hunter who contributed little or nothing, but is showing some promise at Miss State; and lastly, Mikayla Combs, who contributed little or nothing to the program, and but who knows what she'll do at Georgia--I'm guessing not much offensively because she is god-awful at shot-positioning. But on paper, they all were highly-touted prospects.
I see them as a poor recruiting class for UConn, but I guess you can say I'm stupid to say this because, hey they were ranked as the No. 2 class by Hoopgulrz, and Geno did an exceptionally bang up job of recruiting, when I'm seeing a bust for this recruiting class, except for Megan. I again ask what are you using to measure? I use the overall performance and contribution to the program, not simply number assignment by a rating system. So again, if that was an exceptional, No. 2 recruiting class for UConn, I'm not seeing it...
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Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it. Tell me what you do when a top recruit you want does not want to play for you?? You can pick numerous high ranked high school players who never pan out.
I personally think the recruiting rankings after the top 20-25 is a crap shoot.
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This type of thread comes up about 2-3 times every year. Each time it gets more and more ridiculous.
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What amazes me is how negative a person can be when reviewing a program that has made 12 straight final fours, unprecedented in sport, has the longest active home winning streak, produces top quality players AND people who contribute in Hoop and in life.
Throttle back your criticism with a bit more perspective on the fact 353 other schools also participate in this sport and enjoy the journey with the rest of us. Or you can go over and join VolNation- you will fit right in.
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tchalla1's point in his post was not necessarily about Geno being bad recruiter but a response to the Those that used the Hoopgirz class recruitment rankings as a litmus test for how well Uconn recruited. He was giving an example of how even though that specific year Uconns class was rated #2, the reality turned out to be different. In that respect, hindsight is very relevant.