Geno Talks State of Womens Game and His Future

[RockyMTblue2]

Podcast.

UConn Insider Podcast: Geno Auriemma On The State Of Basketball, His Future With UConn Women

Gotta hustle chores and listen to this later.

Some edited transcript:

“We talk about this a lot. I go watch kids play and there’s a lot of talent out there. These kids can play. I remember watching 20 years ago and then watching today -- it’s like night and day. It’s remarkable, the ability that these kids have. I’m watching kids in ninth and 10th grade that would’ve been really good college players back 20 years ago. The level of talent is so amazing relative to 20 years ago. But the level of disrespect for the game, for their coaches, for their teammates, is at an all-time high. The level of involvement by their parents, the circus show that the parents and the other people put on that are around these kids just really leaves a lot to be desired. Here you are out there watching some of the best kids out there ever and you’ve got to deal with the whole ridiculousness that goes along with it — the show and the kids trying to brand themselves and how many people are trying to get involved. Unfortunately that’s just symptomatic. It’s there on the men’s side to an even greater degree. It’s there on the women’s side, and it’s there in the WNBA. So the players, I think, have to remember that this is a game and they have to get better. They don’t have to do anything else other than get better. You don’t have to be a YouTube sensation, you don’t have to send 15,000 Twitter messages every day. You just have to get better as a basketball player and be a great teammate. You’ve got to want to go to school because you want to accomplish something. So the players have got to get better at being good basketball players. They already have the talent, but they’ve got to get better as basketball players ...”

 

[BostonCanuck]

That's a great excerpt, one that I think perfectly expresses the values embedded in Geno's program, and the type of players that fit best in his system.

 

[winlots]

Podcast.

UConn Insider Podcast: Geno Auriemma On The State Of Basketball, His Future With UConn Women

ROCK: you consistently come up with such interesting links etc. Always appreciated. Stay well.

 

[eebmg]

Just adding the second excerpt

Now that it’s been a few months, can you talk about the way last season ended?

“I’m so over all of that to be honest with you — the whole ‘what do people think?’ There’s a segment of the population that you’re never going to make understand just what this all entails and how this all evolves and how it comes to pass. The internet is the worst thing that’s ever been invented for people who have absolutely the least amount of information, but have the most to say about what they think they know. Sometimes some of the stuff that I read, I laugh because they’re so wrong. They’re so completely out of touch with what the real thing is that you almost start to think that it’s actually made up. It can’t be real, this idea that anytime we lose it’s a failure by the coaches or a failure by the players. In any other place in the world losing three games in four years in overtime would be something where people would shake their head and say, ‘You must be making that up. That must be part of a sports fantasy novel.’ And yet here it is in real life and 99.9 percent of the people in Connecticut understand and all over the country understand, and whatever criticism there comes is based on so little information that those people have. But it’s the world that we’ve created, and I’ve just always tried to shield my players from it and let them understand that what we do is way different than what anyone else does. The world that we’ve created is way different than anybody else’s. For our players it’s a chance to look back on either last season for the freshmen or their careers for our seniors and look back on what they’ve accomplished and just say, ‘I can’t believe I actually was part of this.’ So when you’re going forward and saying, ‘What do we take from last season?’ Well, if you’d said to me, ‘Listen, you’re only going to coach at Connecticut x number of years from here on out, and every single year you’re going to be in the semifinals of the national championship tournament and you will have been undefeated when you get there, and you’re going to have a chance to win the game at the end and you might lose, what do you think?’ Well, I think every coach in America would say sign me up. We’re good enough and fortunate enough to put ourselves in that situation year after year after year after year and we look back on last season as another one of those great years we’ve had at Connecticut. Unfortunately we came up short, and that’s that.”

 

[JordyG]

And here I thought from the title Geno would talk about positionless basketball and golf.

 

[Charliebball]

I'm not sure how to take the following sentence:

"It can’t be real, this idea that anytime we lose it’s a failure by the coaches or a failure by the players. "

Aren't all teams judged and their successes and their failures?

There's no doubt that sometimes the other team just flatly out plays you despite your best efforts but is Geno saying that the players and the coaches are never responsible for a loss?

For example, if Gabby makes that layup in the Big Tournament UConn may win that game.............technically it was a failure on her part................of course players are humans and humans fail.................that's sports and that's life........

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I'm not sure how to take the following sentence:

"It can’t be real, this idea that anytime we lose it’s a failure by the coaches or a failure by the players. "

Aren't all teams judged and their successes and their failures?

There's no doubt that sometimes the other team just flatly out plays you despite your best efforts but is Geno saying that the players and the coaches are never responsible for a loss?

For example, if Gabby makes that layup in the Big Tournament UConn may win that game...technically it was a failure on her part......of course players are humans and humans fail.......that's sports and that's life...

This seems appropriate here, with no bad intent:

 

[TitleTown]

Podcast.

UConn Insider Podcast: Geno Auriemma On The State Of Basketball, His Future With UConn Women

Gotta hustle chores and listen to this later.

Some edited transcript:

“We talk about this a lot. I go watch kids play and there’s a lot of talent out there. These kids can play. I remember watching 20 years ago and then watching today -- it’s like night and day. It’s remarkable, the ability that these kids have. I’m watching kids in ninth and 10th grade that would’ve been really good college players back 20 years ago. The level of talent is so amazing relative to 20 years ago. But the level of disrespect for the game, for their coaches, for their teammates, is at an all-time high. The level of involvement by their parents, the circus show that the parents and the other people put on that are around these kids just really leaves a lot to be desired. Here you are out there watching some of the best kids out there ever and you’ve got to deal with the whole ridiculousness that goes along with it — the show and the kids trying to brand themselves and how many people are trying to get involved. Unfortunately that’s just symptomatic. It’s there on the men’s side to an even greater degree. It’s there on the women’s side, and it’s there in the WNBA. So the players, I think, have to remember that this is a game and they have to get better. They don’t have to do anything else other than get better. You don’t have to be a YouTube sensation, you don’t have to send 15,000 Twitter messages every day. You just have to get better as a basketball player and be a great teammate. You’ve got to want to go to school because you want to accomplish something. So the players have got to get better at being good basketball players. They already have the talent, but they’ve got to get better as basketball players ...”

When people ask "Why isn't UConn recruiting this player or that player", this is the reason why.

 

[Charliebball]

This seems appropriate here, with no bad intent:

Ok.................I'll bite Lucy................please explain with the easiest words possible what this simpleton missed............

 

[Bronx23]

Let me once again preface my coming comments and criticism with full agreement that pretty much every other coach and team in the country would gladly take reaching the national semi-finals every year and with a chance to win at the end of the game. Yes, this surely is what happened these last two years. And yes these were huge accomplishments and should never be taken for granted or seen as a given. To just have developed and maintained such accomplishments is a dream of others and sometimes reached with a huge amount of effort, team work, sweat and tears and occasionally a bit of good fortune.
I'm though certain that U Conn is not any other program and on numerous levels Geno, CD and the coaching staff and players do work harder, longer, smarter and expect more. I'm not sure if he truly believes that essentially the last two years outcomes are ok, or that somehow that is a PR move. The manner in which they lost the last two years, which in many ways was quite similar to each other should and I'm sure it was analyzed and re-analyzed by them over and over again. If he doesn't believe or see, some issues, problems, mistakes in preparation and in game strategy I'd be even more concerned. While I wont go again into my perceptions of the issues and areas that need examination and some adjustments (and of course what do I or anyone else who has questions and concerns really know) mistakes were made and both of these were very winnable games against teams many believe U Conn should have beaten.
Yes I would love to see them get back to the final four and have a chance to win at the end. I surely don't think it's a given.
I hope the game itself won't play out almost exactly like the last two times, as that might just indicate little or nothing was learned from the two prior games. I hate to end on sarcasm, but success in anything and life itself is or should be based on all that the U Conn program and success was built on, which is working harder, being in better physical and mental condition, being better prepared for the game, making the necessary adjustments as it unfolds.
And yes again for maybe the hundredth time this is the greatest coach, coaching staff and program ever in almost any sport over a long protracted period.
Bronx23

 

[RockyMTblue2]

The real news here is UConn has hired jamelle Elliot in some capacity and per Geno she's done with coaching. My fav line of the whole thing: "The world that we’ve created is way different than anybody else’s."

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Ok.......I'll bite Lucy......please explain with the easiest words possible what this simpleton missed..

I just could not/cannot fathom where you got this: " but is Geno saying that the players and the coaches are never responsible for a loss?"

 

[Charliebball]

I just could not/cannot fathom where you got this: " but is Geno saying that the players and the coaches are never responsible for a loss?"

while you can learn from them, any time you lose it's a failure...............you didn't win..........that's the case whether you lose once in a season or every game of the season.........the difference with UConn is that their failures are so rare that when they lose it's headline news...............most of us were disappointed with the outcomes the past two seasons but I don't know of anybody that doesn't appreciate their accomplishments despite those losses.........

 

[RockyMTblue2]

while you can learn from them, any time you lose it's a failure.....you didn't win.....that's the case whether you lose once in a season or every game of the season....the difference with UConn is that their failures are so rare that when they lose it's headline news.....most of us were disappointed with the outcomes the past two seasons but I don't know of anybody that doesn't appreciate their accomplishments despite those losses....

Reminds me of a little 30 second or less event last Friday. We were passing through Ennis, MT (fishing town USA) around noon and stopped to grab lunch at the town's classic luncheonette. We were sitting waiting for our order when a family of 8 strolled in and walked by our table, with the family patriarch bringing up the rear. His eyes lit on me and he pointed and said "the women I bet" or words to that effect. I was nonplused, then realized I was wearing a Huskies T. 'Yes." I said. And he grinned and said "the best basketball there is anywhere."

Fans of great basketball just are Husky fans and they are everywhere.

 

[Charliebball]

Reminds me of a little 30 second or less event last Friday. We were passing through Ennis, MT (fishing town USA) around noon and stopped to grab lunch at the town's classic luncheonette. We were sitting waiting for our order when a family of 8 strolled in and walked by our table, with the family patriarch bringing up the rear. His eyes lit on me and he pointed and said "the women I bet" or words to that effect. I was nonplused, then realized I was wearing a Huskies T. 'Yes." I said. And he grinned and said "the best basketball there is anywhere."

Fans of great basketball just are Husky fans and they are everywhere.

I wear those regular UConn grey T-shirts quite often and I'd say I get a comment almost every weekend where they mention the women's basketball team............the men's team must have an inferiority complex by now.......

 

[shizam]

Let me once again preface my coming comments and criticism with full agreement that pretty much every other coach and team in the country would gladly take reaching the national semi-finals every year and with a chance to win at the end of the game. Yes, this surely is what happened these last two years. And yes these were huge accomplishments and should never be taken for granted or seen as a given. To just have developed and maintained such accomplishments is a dream of others and sometimes reached with a huge amount of effort, team work, sweat and tears and occasionally a bit of good fortune.
I'm though certain that U Conn is not any other program and on numerous levels Geno, CD and the coaching staff and players do work harder, longer, smarter and expect more. I'm not sure if he truly believes that essentially the last two years outcomes are ok, or that somehow that is a PR move. The manner in which they lost the last two years, which in many ways was quite similar to each other should and I'm sure it was analyzed and re-analyzed by them over and over again. If he doesn't believe or see, some issues, problems, mistakes in preparation and in game strategy I'd be even more concerned. While I wont go again into my perceptions of the issues and areas that need examination and some adjustments (and of course what do I or anyone else who has questions and concerns really know) mistakes were made and both of these were very winnable games against teams many believe U Conn should have beaten.
Yes I would love to see them get back to the final four and have a chance to win at the end. I surely don't think it's a given.
I hope the game itself won't play out almost exactly like the last two times, as that might just indicate little or nothing was learned from the two prior games. I hate to end on sarcasm, but success in anything and life itself is or should be based on all that the U Conn program and success was built on, which is working harder, being in better physical and mental condition, being better prepared for the game, making the necessary adjustments as it unfolds.
And yes again for maybe the hundredth time this is the greatest coach, coaching staff and program ever in almost any sport over a long protracted period.
Bronx23

I follow L’ville ONLY when they play well and I was excited as heck to see them advance to the final four. The last three to four years I would lose interest because the brand of basketball they played was not good. The record was better than the team. It was revealed in losing to Baylor by 33 in the Sweet 16 or by one at home to DePaul in round two or being dominated by Dayton by 16 in another Sweet 16. Games like that confirmed the team was just a pretender. L’ville needs to reach the Elite Eight to have a successful year. They aren’t a Final Four or bust program. They are an Elite Eight or bust. UConn needs to win everything. That’s just the world they created.