Geno's role in the loss

[ctkaiser]

I was really baffled by some of the key mental mistakes that KML made last night.
May be the fact that Brian Agler from the Seattle Storm was present to scout her as a possible first pick
put too much pressure on her.

I tend to think it was more the tall Stanford player that did a real good job defending her most of the night. I doubt KML sees that kind of defense from that tall a defender for the rest of the season. I think she was frustrated and the mental mistakes grew out of her inability to get off her usual offense. I was stunned myself by the mental mistakes of the entire team. On the 5 second call they were not even close to getting the ball inbounds.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Worse yet, after all the time the refs spent looking at that replay -- which was shown on the mid-court Jumbotron -- they made the wrong call. The ball was not kicked by anyone, Moriah lost it out of bounds. But, the reason she lost it was that a Stanford player on the floor rolled into her legs and caused her to nearly fall. The Stanford fans around me were astonished at the call, too.

They missed the foul.

You're wrong. They overturned it because it was obviously kicked out by the Stanford foot. The ball changed direction instantaneously. No question it was affected by the Stanford players foot.

 

[Buzzyboy]

RADY: pathetic

I totally agree with you that Geno is not perfect. The suggestion that if he made a mistake, he'd have said that he did after the fact, is strange. I'm sure that with his candor, he would admit to an error (if he felt it was an error) but the problem is sometimes not recognizing that you made a mistake. Geno is exceptional in so many ways and he's done such a magnificent job with this program that it's unprecedented. I agree and his record shows exactly that. Geno has talked recently about the fact that he's continually talking with fellow coaches both pro and college, men and women both, always looking for insight and a different perspective that could help him and thus help the team become even better. That suggests he knows he's not perfect and may not always have the best answer for a given situation but is willing to continue to learn and strive for perfection. Hopefully, in the wake of this loss, he will resolve a few of the issues that arose in the game so we can start another streak of perfection.

 

[RadyLady]

I totally agree with you that Geno is not perfect. The suggestion that if he made a mistake, he'd have said that he did after the fact, is strange. I'm sure that with his candor, he would admit to an error (if he felt it was an error) but the problem is sometimes not recognizing that you made a mistake. Geno is exceptional in so many ways and he's done such a magnificent job with this program that it's unprecedented. I agree and his record shows exactly that. Geno has talked recently about the fact that he's continually talking with fellow coaches both pro and college, men and women both, always looking for insight and a different perspective that could help him and thus help the team become even better. That suggests he knows he's not perfect and may not always have the best answer for a given situation but is willing to continue to learn and strive for perfection. Hopefully, in the wake of this loss, he will resolve a few of the issues that arose in the game so we can start another streak of perfection.

Listen to the post game presser

 

[RadyLady]

Geno's post game press conference...

Click on this LINK for the audio from both pressers...when you get to the web page,.approximately one inch under "No Streaking Allowed" you'll see "Press Conference Audio: Stanford / Connecticut" Click on either for that team's complete presser.

 

[pvdoggy]

I tend to think it was more the tall Stanford player that did a real good job defending her most of the night. I doubt KML sees that kind of defense from that tall a defender for the rest of the season. I think she was frustrated and the mental mistakes grew out of her inability to get off her usual offense. I was stunned myself by the mental mistakes of the entire team. On the 5 second call they were not even close to getting the ball inbounds.

If she thinks that is tough defense, how is she going to handle WNBA ?

 

[NorCalHuskie]

On the 5 second call they were not even close to getting the ball inbounds.

Maybe my view in the gym was different from the televised view, but.. Kiah was positioned along the lane, 7 feet in front of KML, with her defender screened low. Kia had her hand up high, and was calling for the lob pass the entire 5 seconds.

 

[UCAP_Fan]

Yeah. Geno must go. I don't think I can stand 4 more years of losing a game every other year. Fire him now.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Maybe my view in the gym was different from the televised view, but.. Kiah was positioned along the lane, 7 feet in front of KML, with her defender screened low. Kia had her hand up high, and was calling for the lob pass the entire 5 seconds.

Yeah, there was an opportunity to get the ball into Stokes over the top. Either Kaleena didn't see her or panicked and decided in her head not to risk it. Course, it's better to risk it than get called for 5 seconds.

 

[UConnChapette]

Yeah. Geno must go. I don't think I can stand 4 more years of losing a game every other year. Fire him now.

Sarcasm meter just exploded. Nicely done.

 

[ctkaiser]

If she thinks that is tough defense, how is she going to handle WNBA ?

Well we shall see how she handles it and guys like Agler will judge how high to draft her. I don't think the WNBA defense is consistently good. It seems to vary by team but admittedly KLM seems to struggle to get her own shot.

 

[Deadrody]

All I can say is, I highly recommend reading the thread on the Men's Board titled, "OT: Patriots". The basic gist is (or was, rather) that some genius proposed that the Patriots stink and would be better off with Jimmy G at QB. I suggest a little foreshadowing of this season for you all commenting here about Geno Auriemma's alleged coaching faults in reading that thread.

 

[meyers7]

A lot of us suck at dealing with a loss.

That's not a bad thing. You don't want to get good at losing.

It is impossible to win every game.

True, but we can still want to. And be very unhappy when we don't.

At what point do we move on?
This isn't a "let's stop beetching" post. It's a serious question about how long will it take us to get this out of our collective system?

Sunday, 11/23/14 at 1:00 PM.

 

[Striper69]

Maybe my view in the gym was different from the televised view, but.. Kiah was positioned along the lane, 7 feet in front of KML, with her defender screened low. Kia had her hand up high, and was calling for the lob pass the entire 5 seconds.

The announcer noted that Saniya was running one way and Geno told her do something else. Maybe that threw them off.

 

[JoePgh]

On further reflection, I think the nagging aspect of this loss is that a less talented team beat a more talented team.

After all, Stanford does not have any players as talented as Stewie or KML, and based on overall performance last season I don't think most people would say that either of their guards are as talented as Moriah. But they have a talent level just below that which goes 9 or 10 deep on their bench. (UConn's bench may be as talented, but they are not as mature or experienced and can't be expected to contribute meaningfully in a game such as this.)

Based on talent, UConn should have won by about 15. UConn was ahead by 10 with 6:30 or so left to play, which is consistent with that 15-point margin.

Usually when a less talented team beats a more talented team, it is attributable to the quality of coaching. No one can reasonably say that Tara is a better coach than Geno overall, but on that night she was better. Getting a whole team to learn a new offense and run it effectively against the #1 team in the country is no small feat. Geno's job was smaller -- replacing 2 graduated players with two other players who had been their understudies for at least a year (referring to Kiah and Saniya). But the evidence was that he didn't do his job as well as Tara did hers. It happens.

Do you remember when Buffalo beat the Patriots 33-0 (or close to that) in the season opener, and then lost to the Patriots by about the same score later in the season? It is entirely possible that something like that will happen again.

I remember St. Johns beating UConn during the season, and losing by about 20 in the Big East tournament. I remember DePaul nearly beating UConn and then losing by about 25 in the tournament. On the other hand, I also remember Stanford losing to UConn by a big margin in a Thanksgiving tournament and then winning in the National Semifinals after Mel and Kalana got injured.

I think we can count on superior talent winning NEARLY all the time when Geno is the coach.

 

[Icebear]

Tara's decision to move to a guard oriented motion offense may well be because of ND's success against UCONN. Using a motion philosophy means your team practices everyday against UCONN's style offense and you learn how to disrupt it and make it ugly.

 

[RadyLady]

the nagging aspect of this loss is the people nagging about it - just saying

 

[j66kicker]

I think we can count on superior talent winning NEARLY all the time when Geno is the coach.

...or when anyone else is coach. Recruiting is one of Geno's fortes. As he says, you win with great players.

 

[RadyLady]

...or when anyone else is coach. Recruiting is one of Geno's fortes. As he says, you win with great players.

Are you suggesting that any team with great players will win, and the coach is secondary? Is that what you mean?

Students, even as great players need guidance. They need someone to evaluate their game and set up a training program to improve where improvement is needed. Look how geno has expanded the games of Maya Moore and now Stewey and likely Gabby going forward.

Students, great players need a coach to put the team together on the floor and teach them to play as a team, otherwise you have mayhem on the court. A great examples of this is Tennessee of the last 5 years or so.

have I misinterpreted your statement?

 

[j66kicker]

Are you suggesting that any team with great players will win, and the coach is secondary? Is that what you mean?

Students, even as great players need guidance. They need someone to evaluate their game and set up a training program to improve where improvement is needed. Look how geno has expanded the games of Maya Moore and now Stewey and likely Gabby going forward.

Students, great players need a coach to put the team together on the floor and teach them to play as a team, otherwise you have mayhem on the court. A great examples of this is Tennessee of the last 5 years or so.

have I misinterpreted your statement?

Joe said, "I think we can count on superior talent winning nearly all the time when Geno is coach." I just think this is also true nearly all the time whoever is coach. I didn't say is is true if the players get no coaching, which isn't a realistic scenario anyway (Possibly excepting Duke - heh heh). But a huge part of Geno's coaching success has been recruiting - hit the big time after landing Lobo, etc, etc...

 

[RadyLady]

Joe said, "I think we can count on superior talent winning nearly all the time when Geno is coach." I just think this is also true nearly all the time whoever is coach. I didn't say is is true if the players get no coaching, which isn't a realistic scenario anyway (Possibly excepting Duke - heh heh). But a huge part of Geno's coaching success has been recruiting - hit the big time after landing Lobo, etc, etc...

Ok....I am just thinking about other big players who went elsewhere...and got nuttin'

That's all.

 

[Icebear]

Tennessee has always had great talent. That has not worked out well recently.