Geno is happy

[pap49cba]

According to John A.:

Geno very happy with the way the NCAA seeded teams. No complaints from him #UConnwomen

 

[UConnCat]

Geno was on WTIC with Bob Joyce. Here's what he said:

• In the BET, team extended defense and allowed team to get transition game going which gave them energy;
• Late in season, too much walking it up the court slowly; getting opponents to play fast was good for the team and getting better shots
• Keeping ND off the free throw line and offensive boards was important
• ND is good at getting to the line and have convinced officials they're good at it
• UConn didn't get called for fouls against ND this time, not to say if play again ND won't go to the line 25 times;
• On KML, he is encouraging her to take the ball to the basket and posting up and get offensive rebounds
• He doesn't like to see her make a bunch of 3s in practice; he knows she can do that already
• When she posts up and goes to basket, she'll be a handful to guard
• On Bria, the coaches always try to stress pull up jumper with players; Sue and Renee were very good; When guards can hit pull up jumper, tough to guard
• Only shot Bria struggling with is the 3-pointer; she made all of her 3s in practice today
• Geno okay with bracket; sees nothing that makes him think unfair
• Could flip-flop Ky and Miami and no one would quibble
• Bracket looks like a good balance of teams

 

[easttexastrash]

According to John A.:

Geno very happy with the way the NCAA seeded teams. No complaints from him #UConnwomen

With good reason. UCONN got a hall pass.

 

[triaddukefan]

With good reason. UCONN got a hall pass.

and the hall is lined with assorted cakes.

 

[speedoo]

With good reason. UCONN got a hall pass.

You wanna trade semi final matchups?

 

[EricLA]

With good reason. UCONN got a hall pass.

how so? some look at Kentucky as the team who lost by 37 to tennessee. they also beat ND and had a pretty stellar season. Miami is the strongest of the 3 seeds by far IMHO. aTm? SJU? Delaware? they will get killed by their respective 2 seeds. but i could see Miami upsetting Kentucky. i think it's an interesting matchup.

 

[rocky rococo]

We'll make sure Miami understands that Duke consider them cupcakes...

 

[jsloanjr]

NO TRAVEL..............Favor UCONN

 

[alexrgct]

how so? some look at Kentucky as the team who lost by 37 to tennessee. they also beat ND and had a pretty stellar season. Miami is the strongest of the 3 seeds by far IMHO. aTm? SJU? Delaware? they will get killed by their respective 2 seeds. but i could see Miami upsetting Kentucky. i think it's an interesting matchup.

ND beat UK. Kentucky did beat Duke, though.

 

[Phil]

NO TRAVEL..............Favor UCONN

No travel prior to FF, then if seeds hold, they'll travel the furthest.

 

[triaddukefan]

how so? some look at Kentucky as the team who lost by 37 to tennessee. they also beat ND and had a pretty stellar season. Miami is the strongest of the 3 seeds by far IMHO. aTm? SJU? Delaware? they will get killed by their respective 2 seeds. but i could see Miami upsetting Kentucky. i think it's an interesting matchup.

Im hoping for a KY-Miami matchup. That would be probably the most entertaining sweet 16 game.

 

[Wonkster]

With good reason. UCONN got a hall pass.

Yeah, but that sort of thing tends to come with seniority. The Huskies have had to eat scraps off the plate plenty of times.

I'm particularly looking forward to whipping the Kentucky Wildcats. Maybe Samarie Walker will ask for a transfer back.
.

 

[easttexastrash]

Yes, Kentucky is the team that lost by 37 to Tennessee. They limped into the tourney and will not even be around for UCONN to play.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

We'll make sure Miami understands that Duke consider them cupcakes...

It's okay rocky, they won't meet again this year

 

[MilfordHusky]

We'll make sure Miami understands that Duke consider them cupcakes...

And we'll wait until January to point that out.

 

[HuskyNan]

Yes, Kentucky is the team that lost by 37 to Tennessee. They limped into the tourney and will not even be around for UCONN to play.

Kentucky beat Tennessee, too. So did Virginia, a team that's not even in the tourney.

Between Feb. 5-16, KY lost 3 games to LSU, Tenn, and Alabama. Between Jan. 23 to Feb. 9, Tenn lost 3 games to So. Carolina, Vandy, and Arkansas so I guess they're limping, too. But, hey, it's the SEC - they're all on crutches.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Kentucky beat Tennessee, too. So did Virginia, a team that's not even in the tourney.

Between Feb. 5-16, KY lost 3 games to LSU, Tenn, and Alabama. Between Jan. 23 to Feb. 9, Tenn lost 3 games to So. Carolina, Vandy, and Arkansas so I guess they're limping, too. But, hey, it's the SEC - they're all on crutches.

One of the articles I read described the SEC as strong or something to that effect. The writer may not have been looking around over the past 4-5 years. Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, and Seimone Augustus are long gone.

 

[Waquoit]

how so? some look at Kentucky as the team who lost by 37 to tennessee. they also beat ND and had a pretty stellar season. Miami is the strongest of the 3 seeds by far IMHO. aTm? SJU? Delaware? they will get killed by their respective 2 seeds. but i could see Miami upsetting Kentucky. i think it's an interesting matchup.

Oh come on. It really couldn't be a better draw. No travel, a team they already beat in the semis. Don't have to face Baylor until the finals. Baylor will probably face a team in the semis that they haven't played this year. Why couldn't you just say, yeah it is a gift but we earned it?

 

[easttexastrash]

Oh come on. It really couldn't be a better draw. No travel, a team they already beat in the semis. Don't have to face Baylor until the finals. Baylor will probably face a team in the semis that they haven't played this year. Why couldn't you just say, yeah it is a gift but we earned it?

Agreed.

ESPN has deemed Baylor's region as the toughest. And that is fine. You have to beat 'em all. But hardly a reward for the season that they had. Come on, 17th ranked Ohio State in the second round? Every other 1 seed gets an unranked opponent in the second round.

But you guys are way too intelligent not to recognize that UCONN did not get a gift this year. Kentucky faded at the end of the year and will be an easy out for UCONN. I am guessing a 40 point win, should KY even get there.

 

[HuskyNan]

Agreed.

ESPN has deemed Baylor's region as the toughest. And that is fine. You have to beat 'em all. But hardly a reward for the season that they had. Come on, 17th ranked Ohio State in the second round? Every other 1 seed gets an unranked opponent in the second round.

Princeton is ranked in the AP poll. But, yes, UConn's got a great bracket in its own back yard.

 

[easttexastrash]

Princeton is ranked in the AP poll. But, yes, UConn's got a great bracket in its own back yard.

I guess Kim shouldn't have run her mouth so much last year. She may have been punished a bit.

 

[HuskyNan]

I guess Kim shouldn't have run her mouth so much last year. She may have been punished a bit.

Maybe they didn't want to stress Geno out before the Olympics

Seriously, though, I think it was a numbers (RPI, record, etc) and location thing rather than any kind of vendetta against someone. I don't believe the Committee would say, "Let's give Ohio State a bad seed and put them in Baylor's bracket to make it tougher for them". I just don't see it happening. The conscious decision to lower or raise a team in the brackets was to spread things out geographically, not politically, so to speak.

 

[EricLA]

Oh come on. It really couldn't be a better draw. No travel, a team they already beat in the semis. Don't have to face Baylor until the finals. Baylor will probably face a team in the semis that they haven't played this year. Why couldn't you just say, yeah it is a gift but we earned it?

huh? you make no sense. and by the way the experts disagree with you too. and they have no agreement across the board either.

Charlie Creme says the hardest regional is Kingston (UCONN). of the other 5, 2 chose Raleigh and 3 chose Des Moines.

but more interesting is who they think has the easiest bracket. NONE of them said Kingston. not a single one. for the easiest bracket, 3 said Raleigh, 2 said Fresno, and 1 said Des Moines. so we got a hall pass? and i shoulda just said that? nope. and btw, Miami is probably the best 3 seed out there. aTm and SJU? those are teams that UCONN beat by a ton. (i think the SJU win over us was a fluke). just like WVU's win over ND. and Delaware? if Tennessee doesn't beat them by 20+ i'll be shocked. but i think you could have argued that Miami should have been the 2 seed in our region. KY the weakest 2 but Miami the strongest 3. how do you think Miami woulda done against aTm, SJU or Delaware? not much separated Miami from MD or Duke this year.

and a team we already beat in the semis? you mean ND who beat us 2 out of 3 times this year? that's better than playing Stanford, who we beat in our only matchup?

Frankly i'm not upset at all by our bracket. i actually think the committee did a really good job spreading it out across the board. there are some seedings i disagree with (aTm and Del shoulda been 4 seeds and PSU and Purdue shoulda been 3 seeds, and i think RU was too low at 6 and OSU was too low at 8), but it's really nit picking. and the RPI probably coincides with what the committee did, with the probably exception of Rutgers and OSU.

and by the way i think Stanford is the most improved top team across the board. fans who were salivating at meeting them in the final 4 should realize that we beat them by only 12 or something, and that was without Nneka for about 10 minutes in the first half for them. also, Laroque and Greenfield no longer start for them. it's Tinkle and Camp (or Orrange i forget which). i think they are a far different team than we faced in December. and frankly, i think they have a good shot at beating Baylor should both teams get there. i really think not much separates the top 4 teams, in spite of Stanford's "easy" schedule.

 

[HuskyNan]

I guess Kim shouldn't have run her mouth so much last year. She may have been punished a bit.

Here's what Geno had to say about the brackets:

“Is the purpose of the tournament to match the best teams up against each other, place teams regionally, put fans in the seats or make money? Sometimes, all those things don’t necessarily go together.”

 

[Icebear]

Maybe they didn't want to stress Geno out before the Olympics

Seriously, though, I think it was a numbers (RPI, record, etc) and location thing rather than any kind of vendetta against someone. I don't believe the Committee would say, "Let's give Ohio State a bad seed and put them in Baylor's bracket to make it tougher for them". I just don't see it happening. The conscious decision to lower or raise a team in the brackets was to spread things out geographically, not politically, so to speak.

That and a guy headed the committee this year.