Geno's Legacy: Sue Bird

[UcMiami]

The dread Notre Dame semi-final! Plenty of heart break to go around. DT's dreadful shooting - and subsequent tears on the bench, with coach kneeling in front of her. Bird's poor second half. And coach - as another poster offered - stuck like a deer in the headlights, apparently stunned into catatonia by what he was seeing. Reminded me of John Wooden just sitting there as UCLA lost the lead, the game and the winning streak against Notre Dame (them again?!?!?). Except Coach Wooden remained seated in his chair, rolled up program in hand, while Coach just stood, apparently dumbfounded. Proof that even the greatest of all time have their moments!

Bridgeport - another glorious memory (not!). Massively valiant if inspirational effort from Barbara Turner, fighting through cramps and just willing UConn to stay in the game. 19 points. 11 rebounds. And unmatched grit and determination.

Back to topic - 2 criticisms:

1. 
   [ ]Should have been longer - 90 minutes (or 30 in 3 parts) would have done nicely. At least 60!!! Less than 30 minutes (with commercial breaks) is just way too short!
   
   [ ]Coach is still learning as an interviewer, as sometimes we feel as though we're eavesdropping on a private conversation. At least two occasions of inside jokes where they'd discuss something intimate between them, but failed to elaborate for the audience as to what actually transpired. The incident previously discussed in this thread (Bird's tears) is a prime example. another was coach declaring her freshman start was among the best ever, while Bird herself categorized it as poor. Some discussion thee would been interesting...

Otherwise, massively brilliant to see the normally strictly composed, carefully worded (even pithy) Sue Bird let down the walls a little. The conversation on her "soccer dive celebration" (and the teams subsequent reaction to it) was worth the price of admission alone, though again, I'd liked to have seen coach press her to detail "the bet!"

Even the non-verbal communication between them - the looks she'd shoot his way as he developed a question, or chided her for whatever, were quite fascinating if illuminating.

Fantastic 30 minutes. Here's hoping DT and Maya each get 90 - or at least 60!!

Actually thought the editing failed SNY at least on the tears moment as I think they had cut the lead-in. I can't fault them on much as the production values are just great, but ..

 

[UcMiami]

For all his bluster, Geno checks to see if he is being a jerk. I like that. Wish he had tried that a little with Charde.

He has his prime Jerk Alert Meter sitting right next to him on the bench - CD keeps him grounded.
And I don't blame Geno or Charde for what transpired - it just didn't work out quite right and neither could quite figure the other out. I am so pleased Charde has had a good professional career and the few things she has said about her Uconn time have been positive. The biggest single issue with her game seemed to be more of a men's game interpretation of the walk call, or even just a few years too early on that.

 

[David 76]

I think Geno was very tough on Charde.

 

[Geno-ista]

The dread Notre Dame semi-final! Plenty of heart break to go around. DT's dreadful shooting - and subsequent tears on the bench, with coach kneeling in front of her. Bird's poor second half. And coach - as another poster offered - stuck like a deer in the headlights, apparently stunned into catatonia by what he was seeing. Reminded me of John Wooden just sitting there as UCLA lost the lead, the game and the winning streak against Notre Dame (them again?!?!?). Except Coach Wooden remained seated in his chair, rolled up program in hand, while Coach just stood, apparently dumbfounded. Proof that even the greatest of all time have their moments!

Bridgeport - another glorious memory (not!). Massively valiant if inspirational effort from Barbara Turner, fighting through cramps and just willing UConn to stay in the game. 19 points. 11 rebounds. And unmatched grit and determination.

Back to topic - 2 criticisms:

1. 
   [ ]Should have been longer - 90 minutes (or 30 in 3 parts) would have done nicely. At least 60!!! Less than 30 minutes (with commercial breaks) is just way too short!
   
   [ ]Coach is still learning as an interviewer, as sometimes we feel as though we're eavesdropping on a private conversation. At least two occasions of inside jokes where they'd discuss something intimate between them, but failed to elaborate for the audience as to what actually transpired. The incident previously discussed in this thread (Bird's tears) is a prime example. another was coach declaring her freshman start was among the best ever, while Bird herself categorized it as poor. Some discussion thee would been interesting...

Otherwise, massively brilliant to see the normally strictly composed, carefully worded (even pithy) Sue Bird let down the walls a little. The conversation on her "soccer dive celebration" (and the teams subsequent reaction to it) was worth the price of admission alone, though again, I'd liked to have seen coach press her to detail "the bet!"

Even the non-verbal communication between them - the looks she'd shoot his way as he developed a question, or chided her for whatever, were quite fascinating if illuminating.

Fantastic 30 minutes. Here's hoping DT and Maya each get 90 - or at least 60!!

Great analysis- longer would be great! We could all go for a mini - series on each one of our Fav's!

 

[Wally East]

DT and Svet used to go at it one on one and keep score of who won the games in their lockers. pretty sure that is what sue eluded to when she said keeping score cant be that good for a team.

Without knowing, I knew this. There was no way it was anyone but the two of them.

It's interesting how the chemistry seemed to go: 99 seemed to be horrible after Sue's injury. 00 seemed to be great. 01 apparently wasn't great. 02 was obviously fantastic.

I'd love to re-watch some of those early games from the '98-'99 season, including when they beat UCLA while still giving up over 100 points