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Message: [QUOTE="bleeckerhusky, post: 2421067, member: 5960"] In the words of the master motivator, on page 278 of "Geno, In Pursuit of Perfection" But what I remember most about that day is the morning of the game. I piss Svetlana off at shootaround. She is getting on my nerves, which she does a lot, and it costs us. I really rip into her at the shootaround and she's ticked off. The game goes back and forth, one great shot after another, one great play after another. Randall makes an impossible shot for Tennessee, and we're down one with about 10 seconds left in the game. We inbound the ball to Sveta, because I know she can get end line to end line in about four seconds. To my amazement, they let us inbound the ball to her. Sveta gets the ball and takes off. She's inside the circle. I've coached this girl for so many hours at this point that I can tell you that never--not once in a million years--would I expect her to pass up the shot. But she does. She passes the ball. Tamika Williams, who is moving to go up for the offensive rebound, is startled by the pass, and can't handle it. We lose the game by one point. I'm convinced to this day that Sveta passed up that shot because she was pissed at me, or feeling insecure from what happened that morning, or had lost her confidence. I say to her after the game, "why did you pass the ball?" She says to me, in her Russian lilt. "Eh,, she was open." I say, "Bullshit. There have been people wide open your whole career and you never passed them the ball when you were open,, especially in that situation." What can you say? You've got to live with it. I was okay with how it ended. We put the ball in our best player's hands, and the kid decided to pass. If she shoots and it goes in, we win. If she shoots and it doesn't go in, we lose. It's like giving your quarterback the ball on fourth and 10 on the 20-yard line, and you need a touchdown to win. Whatever he's going to do, you've got to be okay with it, because you've given him the ball. The best thing about Sveta is it is forgotten the next day. I have to give her a hard time. She knows that. It is part of this ongoing Russian-American war we are having. Motivation. Did anyone else notice the brief sound clip before the Mississippi State game in which Gen said something like "of course we deserve to be here and we're going to win it all." A little too late to try to build up the confidence of his team after telling them all season long that it was only a matter of time before they would lose. I'd love to know what went on in the huddle before the fateful, final offensive play. Perhaps Justine Ward will ask Geno some tough questions in the first "Geno Auriemma Show." He did admit in an ESPN interview with Kevin Agandi that he should have done some things differently in the final game, such as upping the tempo rather than play at Mississippi State's pace. It will be a long time before I am "okay" with that semi-final game. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach