Geno's Post-Game Comments About Stewie and Morgan | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Geno's Post-Game Comments About Stewie and Morgan

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Hongster said:
LOL, you really bought into Genoism. It's what Geno wants not Uconn.
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Come again? Without Geno, there is no UCONN dynasty. Unless Geno does something unethical or illegal, I think pretty much UCONN wants Geno do to whatever pleases him.
Hongster said:
I love Geno. I've been defending Geno ever since I started watching Uconn women and men basketball back in the day when Cliff Robinson was our first star.
For a person to be on her best at every minute of the game, days in and days out is impossible, and therefore his demand is unreal. And to be benched over that on TV is a little embarrassing, Just my opinion, no more no less.
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I HOPE it was embarrassing for Stewie, Morgan and Kiah. And Geno has NEVER said he expects a player to "be on her best every minute of the game, days in and days out". What he DOES expect is for them to give 100% effort during their 2 hour daily practices, and for the 20-30 minutes most of the top kids average in any given game. I hardly think that's asking too much.

Geno does not expect Tierney or Polly to be able to "do" the same things on the court as Stewie, KML, Moriah, etc etc. But what he does expect is the effort. Laziness, taking a play off, or playing an incorrect way when they know better is unacceptable, and is one reason Geno's not only the best ever, but has more records than anyone in the history of the game.
 
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sarals24 said:
I mean...all of UConn's games are on TV. So Geno can never bench his players during games because of TV? That seems ridiculous. These aren't little kids. They are elite athletes on the best team in the country.
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You're very tough aren't you?
ffg53 said:
If you've actually been a fan of UConn women's hoops for as long as you claim, then yes, I would expect you to know the reference.
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I'm very bad with names. Especially, Western names.
 
Geno is the coach and his standard for effort, no matter how arbitrary, is the standard his players must meet. In the Uconn WBB world, fail to meet Geno's standard and you will have ample time to consider the efficacy of that standard on the bench.

My concern is not about the coach's prerogatives. Rather, my concern is why three players who have demonstrated remarkable effort throughout the season chose to "take a day off." Could it be that the godawful level of competition in the AAC is finally getting to the players? How much intensity should we expect when, notwithstanding the benching of three stars, the Uconn reserves still won by 46 points? Geno's is the boss but his players are human. They are also not stupid. Playing in a conference where the "competition" is at a Division II or maybe even a Division III level has already gotten to the fans. Perhaps it is now the players' turn.
 
You don't have much faith in the emotional resilience of Stewie and Morgan, do you? They are not shrinking violets, and they are not 12 years old. As Geno said on another occasion, soldiers their age are facing combat in Afghanistan.

They are being expected to carry their team to a National Championship. If what happened today is going to stress them beyond endurance, then they are not the ones to be given that responsibility.

But of course, they are strong and they will get through this and take it as it was intended.
 
Hongster said:
IMO what Geno did will have a negative effect to future Uconn recruits.
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Hongster said:
I love Geno. I've been defending Geno ever since I started watching Uconn women and men basketball back in the day when Cliff Robinson was our first star.
For a person to be on her best at every minute of the game, days in and days out is impossible, and therefore his demand is unreal. And to be benched over that on TV is a little embarrassing, Just my opinion, no more no less.
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Honk, I am going to keep this friendly as I realize you are some sort of fan. Having said that your comments during the game and since do not make you sound like a very informed one. The level of womans basketball being played now and when Cliff played for the men who I watched before Cliff is not to be compared.
Any recruit that would have a problem with what Geno did today would not even make it through a practice here. Any fan that feels the girls should be cut some slack should maybe pick a much lower tear school to root for. You want championships but not what it takes to get them?

Again this is not a personal attack. Geno has the toughest job in all of basketball right now with an elite team in a conference that does not provide enough compitition at this time and it is showing. Any player at any level can fall into the dreaded playing down to the opponents level situation. If you actually follow this team you would have seen this by now.
These players have played AAU, national teams etc. If these players are embarrassed by sitting on the bench on TV it might just have been the time out they needed to realize just how lucky they are to be here. A time to think of the many past teammates that would love to play hard the entire game just to play with a uniform that said UCONN or on TV.

What Geno did will have a positive on recruiting for the school and the budget. Not every great player is cut out to come here and this sends the message, if you do not want to play hard every minute you are on the court you will not be on the court. The program is about championships, if that and becoming the best possible player you can be is not a personal goal, do not return your letter of interest. Please save the school the money and the staff the time.

In closing here I just can't understand your line of thought on this. You claim to go back over 40 years but seem to have missed what Geno has done. Ya know the small dog poop, Hall of Fame, national championships, Olympic Gold etc. Not sure what makes you think you know more than the coach on this but I would love to hear what you have to back up the comments. Would love to eat crow on this one.
P.S. Cliff Robinson (I love him) was not our first basketball star.
Again no malice, and Go Huskies !!!!!
 
Buckaroobanzai said:
My concern is not about the coach's prerogatives. Rather, my concern is why three players who have demonstrated remarkable effort throughout the season chose to "take a day off."
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It was more like 4-1/2 minutes off for Tuck and Stewart. That whole starting group looked sluggish early which is why I'm not quite sure why only two were benched the rest of the game. I get sending messages, but it didn't seem to me that those two were demonstrably less interested than the other three in those early minutes. I'll have to watch the game again though.
 
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Buckaroobanzai said:
Geno is the coach and his standard for effort, no matter how arbitrary, is the standard his players must meet. In the Uconn WBB world, fail to meet Geno's standard and you will have ample time to consider the efficacy of that standard on the bench.

My concern is not about the coach's prerogatives. Rather, my concern is why three players who have demonstrated remarkable effort throughout the season chose to "take a day off." Could it be that the godawful level of competition in the AAC is finally getting to the players? How much intensity should we expect when, notwithstanding the benching of three stars, the Uconn reserves still won by 46 points? Geno's is the boss but his players are human. They are also not stupid. Playing in a conference where the "competition" is at a Division II or maybe even a Division III level has already gotten to the fans. Perhaps it is now the players' turn.
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You have no idea what you are talking about. East Carolina won 20 games regularly in their previous conference; what are they doing now? The AAC is by far and away the best of the rest; UConn would be winning by 50 against three quarters of the teams in the Big Five. As for the Div. II-III reference?! My daughter played for one year on a D3 team that won a National Championship while she was a student; SMU would have beaten them by 60 or 70 points. There is NO COMPARISON in the athleticism of D1 versus D3 players. It sucks that UConn isn't in the Big10 or ACC, but hyperbole won't fix it.
 
I'm very bad with names. Especially, Western names.[/QUOTE]

Are you the North Korean who hijacked Tony's account?
 
Hongster said:
Geno's expectation on his his players is unreal. Maybe he's forgetting that these are young people, young people don't have the same mental toughness as his.
I would give them a slack here and there not embarrass them on TV.
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Wow, I wouldn't want someone like that working for me. If someone won't perform, someone else will. I'm not speaking about UCONN basketball, I'm talking about the game of life.
 
boreifs said:
You have no idea what you are talking about. East Carolina won 20 games regularly in their previous conference; what are they doing now? The AAC is by far and away the best of the rest; UConn would be winning by 50 against three quarters of the teams in the Big Five. As for the Div. II-III reference?! My daughter played for one year on a D3 team that won a National Championship while she was a student; SMU would have beaten them by 60 or 70 points. There is NO COMPARISON in the athleticism of D1 versus D3 players. It sucks that UConn isn't in the Big10 or ACC, but hyperbole won't fix it.
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Fine, enjoy your ad hominem attack on me. I have been a season's ticket holder for over 15 years. I am not blind and I will not engage in self delusion. The Uconn wbb games are painfully non competitive. If you think that these terrible games will have no impact on the fans and the players, then I guess that we will simply have to agree not to agree.
 
Watched the first 4-1/2 minutes again and while the Huskies were annoyingly off their game, I can't see any reason that Tuck and Stewart should've been benched for anything approaching the rest of the game. Geno seemed to be putting the blame on them for the sluggish beginnings to the past three games, but no-one in that starting lineup did much early. And I didn't see a lack of effort save for maybe that one time Stewart didn't fly down the court, and even that is stretching it. He claimed later that the "upperclassmen" had to show more, but KML was the only senior out there and she didn't do anything of quality in those 4.5 minutes either.
 
Sluconn Husky said:
Watched the first 4-1/2 minutes again and while the Huskies were annoyingly off their game, I can't see any reason that Tuck and Stewart should've been benched for anything approaching the rest of the game. Geno seemed to be putting the blame on them for the sluggish beginnings to the past three games, but no-one in that starting lineup did much early. And I didn't see a lack of effort save for maybe that one time Stewart didn't fly down the court, and even that is stretching it. He claimed later that the "upperclassmen" had to show more, but KML was the only senior out there and she didn't do anything of quality in those 4.5 minutes either.
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See my post in the other thread on this subject. I think he may have been sending a number of messages, including that Stewie and Morgan were the only ones who WERE playing well in those first five minutes, so he wanted to give everyone else a challenge by removing them from the picture and forcing the rest of the team to win the game on their own.
 
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Look no one is immune to being benched by Geno...I remember he benched DT for her wisecracking at the wrong time. If he could bench DT he could bench anyone.
 
JoePgh said:
See my post in the other thread on this subject. I think he may have been sending a number of messages, including that Stewie and Morgan were the only ones who WERE playing well in those first five minutes, so he wanted to give everyone else a challenge by removing them from the picture and forcing the rest of the team to win the game on their own.
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It's an interesting take but doesn't explain his halftime & post-game comments which were clearly aimed at Stewart and Tuck. You don't rip into players who did nothing wrong as reasoning for letting other players try to swim on their own.
 
Hongster said:
Geno's expectation on his his players is unreal. Maybe he's forgetting that these are young people, young people don't have the same mental toughness as his.
I would give them a slack here and there not embarrass them on TV.
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It is hard to argue ways of motivation against someone who has won over 900 games!
 
Hongster said:
Geno's expectation on his his players is unreal. Maybe he's forgetting that these are young people, young people don't have the same mental toughness as his.
I would give them a slack here and there not embarrass them on TV.
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That's more than a little strange to hear. Is there any difference between these kids and all the other kids who came through Geno's program previously who continually worked their butts off both in practice and in games who were of a similar age???? They seemed to have the mental toughness to contend with Geno's demands! How is it they had the mental toughness to deal with him by when and isn't everyone saying, that if anything, Geno is not as tough on these kids as he used to be?
 
Buckaroobanzai said:
Geno is the coach and his standard for effort, no matter how arbitrary, is the standard his players must meet. In the Uconn WBB world, fail to meet Geno's standard and you will have ample time to consider the efficacy of that standard on the bench.

My concern is not about the coach's prerogatives. Rather, my concern is why three players who have demonstrated remarkable effort throughout the season chose to "take a day off." Could it be that the godawful level of competition in the AAC is finally getting to the players? How much intensity should we expect when, notwithstanding the benching of three stars, the Uconn reserves still won by 46 points? Geno's is the boss but his players are human. They are also not stupid. Playing in a conference where the "competition" is at a Division II or maybe even a Division III level has already gotten to the fans. Perhaps it is now the players' turn.
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Do you really think that there is a big distinction between UConn playing in their present conference and playing in the ACC or even the SEC? Who wouldn't they be beating badly in these conferences? They wouldn't be beating the Kentucky's and the North Carolina by bunches? There's few teams in women's basketball that wouldn't get clocked by this team because of the talent on the team and the unwillingness of the coaching staff to accept anything but a maximum effort. As long as the effort is there with Geno, you are pretty good to go. When you play down to your competition, he feels you are doing a disservice to the team and the game of basketball. It's that simple! It's that pursuit of excellence continually that's helped make UConn the preeminent women's basketball program in the country EVER!
 
Sluconn Husky said:
You don't rip into players who did nothing wrong as reasoning for letting other players try to swim on their own.
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In one look I didn't see anything wrong either. Not going to look again, as you did, Slu, because I'm not that concerned.

I chalked it up to him seeing more subtleties and looking at a longer time frame -- including practices and the past few games -- than I was seeing.

And I also chalked it up to something else. Now, looking to the second game in three days, and perhaps not coincidentally:

  • he's got three bigs (5, 4 and 8 min.; no one's talking about Kiah);
  • who should be at least as feisty, focused and fresh as their counterparts tomorrow; and
  • which counterparts, as a big and talented front line, happen to be their team's strength.
On the other hand, maybe he's just irrational.
 
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I don't think Stewie and Morgan's actions in the game was the primary reason they were benched. I suspect its what's happening in practice over the last week or so, that has Geno bummed out. They may not be putting forth the effort in practice or other tasks related to the program. Geno wants Stewie and Morgan to lead by example and I'd guess they aren't. In all probability the coaches have talked to Morgan, Stewie and maybe others before yesterday's game and Geno still wasn't satisfied with the efforts the players were exhibiting. So he decided to set the example, do it the UConn way or don't play.

What they are not doing in practice could be the reason they have started the last three games sluggishly. At least Geno and the coaches think so.
 
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Buzzyboy said:
Do you really think that there is a big distinction between UConn playing in their present conference and playing in the ACC or even the SEC? !
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Without question.
 
Take a look at Geno on the bench before the game and during the first five minutes. I don't think he was happy before the game even started. His countenance is sour from the start. I don't think the lesson he was conveying necessarily only involved the sluggish start.
 
Much to do about nothing. All coaches bench players in- and for a game (or 2). I seriously doubt that he will do so on Monday- that would warrant the real discussions. My take is that he and the other coaches had nothing to gain from having these players on the floor against Tulane but, you can't sit them because it would send the wrong message to them, Tulane and the AAC and the team. So you kill 3 birds with one stone: rest them, find something (however trivial to scold them on, give real game time some other players who have been playing well, and Tulane a chance at something.
Equally, given our weak conference the coaches cannot afford for players to start pick and choose which games are worth 100% and which others only 90%. That would be our Waterloo.
 
Icebear said:
Take a look at Geno on the bench before the game and during the first five minutes. I don't think he was happy before the game even started. His countenance is sour from the start. I don't think the lesson he was conveying necessarily only involved the sluggish start.
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I agree. Didn't Burke say that during the 1st timeout it was Moseley doing all the talking - and it sounded like she wasn't happy either? My guess is that Auriemma saw a carryover from recent practice in his front line and he decided to send a message. NBD.
 
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