Yes, Rocky, old buddy, I think you are off base. Geno has 12 people with limited practices and training together to make a run to a gold medal. At UConn he has the same team for a year to work towards an NCAA championship.
At UConn, if UCWBB loses, the state goes into a faint. If USA basketball loses, the whole country is irate. He has much less control over his team and his outcome in Rio than he does in Storrs.N
And the pressure of being a naturalized citizen in charge of this large endeavor might be pressure enough without all the rest of it.
Go Geno!!
Naturalized is a good talking point but if he is like my Dad, who lived here since age 10 and naturalized at 20, he was all American afterwards. He was proud, as I am, of his French Canadian heritage and spoke fluent Canadian French and American English. If asked he would say (chest pushed out) I'm an American.
I suspect Geno is all American who came from Italy.
Back to Dissing Uconn and Uconn Fans--Bull Pucky-!!!! It was an acknowledgement of how hard it is to represent the whole of USA the pressure to win is there by nearly 300 millions. It is almost an impossible task to bring together 14 or so professional talents and egos in a matter of weeks and get them to buy into not being the focus of attention--work like a team.
I'm not surprised by Geno's abilities to get them to buy into playing as a team and not as an individual---that's the Geno style and the Uconn style--and it is the secret to Uconn's success.
Go USA--go for the GOLD!!!