Geno's Plan for the Year

[PhillyCoach]

Well, we now know that UConn's defense is still devastating and on point!! Four Championship returners combined with a defensive 5th starter (Serah or K9) are smokin already. The 4 champs all have quick feet AND quick hands. Again, all of them (Azzi, KK, Ash and Sarah) have that quick flick to up-tick the ball away from an opponent. Those steals are pretty! It's funny-- Azzi, KK, Ash, & K9 have fast twitch quick, but Sarah has a SMOOTH quickness. It's a tad different.
Serah was the 5th starter and did a very good job as the 5th wheel. She is still on a learning curve, but on D she knows how to play. It's the Switching Shtick that slows down the new comers. Nevertheless, as a top sub K9 melded in seemlessly. When she is on the floor as the 5th starter; the team speed and D speed is off the charts. Indeed, the defenders were flowing with Mojo.
KEY POINT HERE - Geno wanted to prove to himself and the team that they could play tough D and score enough to be ahead by 20 at half time. The team accomplished that goal so they could play more relaxed in the last half. BUT, if someone was making a surge back, then they would turn on the tough D again.
So Geno's plan for the year is to duplicate the first game of the season. Uconn wants to lead by 20 at the half. Keep it simple. Since Geno/CD/UConn are 396 and 0 with a 20 point half time lead--the odds look good.

 

[EricLA]

I know this is kind of obvious, but Geno's plan generally is to improve every game, build towards the post season, win the BE, BET, and NCAA tournaments. How he gets there with PT distribution will be interesting to see.

I think one of the biggest things fans will be watching for over the course of the season is playing time. Geno said early on he wanted to have a core group of 8-10. Vs. L'ville, we saw that (sans Blanca), however, Ice (9 minutes), Jana (8) and Allie (5) didn't get double digit minutes. They may have, had UConn been able to maintain it's 20+ point lead, but of the subs, only Kayleigh (23) got substantial minutes.

For this game, at least, the question of putting in Caroline, Ayanna, or Kelis was answered. No PT for them. Even when the lead was pushed almost to 30. UConn's opponents coming up are Florida State, Loyola, Ohio State, Michigan, Utah, then Xavier. Only Michigan is currently ranked in the top 25 (13), but FSU, OSU, and Utah are all P5 teams and usually near the top of their leagues.

When Blanca comes back I expect to see more of like what we saw in L'ville - the core 10, and depending on the genetics of the opposition, players may get more or less PT than against others. Geno may surprise us, but I don't think we will see Kelis, Caroline, Ayanna, or Gandy in any of those games.

BTW I would not be surprised to see Caroline come back next season as a graduate assistant. She has coaching in her future for sure IMHO.

What will be interesting is what he does in the Loyola Chicago game. Loyola ended last season with a 20 point loss to George Washington. In their first game they earned a 4 point win against Milwaukee. I don't expect Loyola to be good. A 60 point win is not out of the question. For THIS game what will the PT look like? We all have opinions, but none other than Geno's matters and we will see soon enough how he plays it.

 

[BBallF]

He has to get the starting 5 plus perhaps K9, Blanca and Jana, into playing seamlessly together. That is the first step. He is looking for combinations that work in the press, half court offense, and that can shoot 3s with a solid percentage using his better players that are not a liability on defense. We all know now that K9 is in several of those combinations. I think that who plays depends upon how the players practice and of course their physical status. I don't think that the playing time will not be more generously given as we go forward.

 

[Boreifs]

Geno plans one practice ahead! Yearly plans happen in losing programs.

 

[Zarathustra]

He has to get the starting 5 plus perhaps K9, Blanca and Jana, into playing seamlessly together. That is the first step. He is looking for combinations that work in the press, half court offense, and that can shoot 3s with a solid percentage using his better players that are not a liability on defense. We all know now that K9 is in several of those combinations. I think that who plays depends upon how the players practice and of course their physical status. I don't think that the playing time will not be more generously given as we go forward.

I "seem" to hear a pattern here. I like what I hear and agree with
BBallF and FSHERMVIKES! Go BONEYARDERS! It just seems "right".
GO HUSKIES beat Seminoles!

 

[ucmiami2]

Couple of thoughts here (could have posted in the post game thread)
1. Uconn shot I believe 68% in the first Q that include 60% from 3 - easy to press when the other team is pulling the ball out of the basket. Much harder off a rebound - a situation the got more frequent in the second Q and second half.

2. Louisville had something to do with how Uconn played - they went to more zone defense and Uconn needs work on their zone offense which often looked a bit disjointed. And they were throwing bricks from 3 which allowed Louisville to stay in zone and squeeze the lane.

3. This early in the season Geno is coaching for the long term - the defense and offense are works in progress, and game specific tweaks take only a little time to install, while the scouting of the next opponent is limited because for the most part they are looking at very few games against over-matched teams. How much film did they have for Louisville?

4. And with a team like Geno has this year, getting them up to speed with how he wants them to play on both ends is more important than how they play against their next opponent. They aren't looking two or three games ahead, they never do, at this time they also aren't spending much time looking ahead at their next opponent. Serah, K9, Jana, Allie, et al are still being integrated into Geno's systems and Geno is still figuring out which lineups work well together.

 

[Bigboote]

2. Louisville had something to do with how Uconn played - they went to more zone defense and Uconn needs work on their zone offense which often looked a bit disjointed. And they were throwing bricks from 3 which allowed Louisville to stay in zone and squeeze the lane.

Yeah, Geno doesn't like zones. OTOH -- The zone is good on defense against teams that want to pound the ball inside, although it isn't good for defensive rebounding. But the small team with both KK and Kayleigh as the slashers, Azzi and Ashlynn (or Allie) as three-point and midrange threats, and Sarah who can do anything, should under most circumstances be a really good zone-busting team.

Geno doesn't practice the zone defense that much*, but maybe practicing the zone 5-on-5 would both help UConn be a better zone-defending team and zone-attacking team.

*In the last couple of years I remember him saying at least once that "We suck at zone, we have probably the worst zone defense in the country," or something to that effect. But they have a lot more tools now.

 

[Cuango]

I don’t know what happened to our three point shooting against Lou.? Was it something they did , just a bad day? Whatever it was, I’m fairly confident it won’t continue. I’ve seen a few silly videos on YT about how we’re way overrated and people have put too much stock in Sarah & Azzi and I’ll just say this, everybody has an off day, and perhaps Louisville really was affecting us. It’s not like Jeff Waltz is chopped liver.

Also, it was the first game with a rotation that is still completely in flux! I feel pretty confident those same naysayers will be wondering who’s going to beat us a few weeks from now! I do think it’s going to take some time for Geno to figure out the optimal groupings on the court but somehow, I think he’ll “muddle through” until then. I do hope he has them working on three point defense as it seems to me we’ve given up a lot of open looks in the three games so far.

 

[Bone Dog]

In the last couple of years I remember him saying at least once that "We suck at zone, we have probably the worst zone defense in the country," or something to that effect. But they have a lot more tools now.

I think the rationale behind this remark isn't really a critique of his teams or his coaching. It's that he builds teams with a primary focus on high-energy defense, and zones tend to be low energy. Relying too much on zones would not be a good use of the chemistry and intensity he tries to create.

 

[Skeets]

I think the rationale behind this remark isn't really a critique of his teams or his coaching. It's that he builds teams with a primary focus on high-energy defense, and zones tend to be low energy. Relying too much on zones would not be a good use of the chemistry and intensity he tries to create.

Absolutely. A zone slows everything down. UConn wants high energy. They don't play (much) zone on defense and don't want to see it on offense. However, if the practice players can be coached up to play a good zone defense, it might be a good thing to practice against. Opposing teams watch film, and if they have 3 working brain cells, they will notice that a zone defense might be their best bet.

 

[and one]

I don’t know what happened to our three point shooting against Lou.? Was it something they did , just a bad day? Whatever it was, I’m fairly confident it won’t continue. I’ve seen a few silly videos on YT about how we’re way overrated and people have put too much stock in Sarah & Azzi and I’ll just say this, everybody has an off day, and perhaps Louisville really was affecting us. It’s not like Jeff Waltz is chopped liver.

Also, it was the first game with a rotation that is still completely in flux! I feel pretty confident those same naysayers will be wondering who’s going to beat us a few weeks from now! I do think it’s going to take some time for Geno to figure out the optimal groupings on the court but somehow, I think he’ll “muddle through” until then. I do hope he has them working on three point defense as it seems to me we’ve given up a lot of open looks in the three games so far.

I hate watching bad 3 point shooting games but know that this happens to all teams all the time. I've seen many, many NBA teams shoot 15% for a game. The best bball players in the world shooting 🧱s. It happens. Good teams like UConn can still win.