Geno's Tough Love Starts Early

[RockyMTblue2]

Motivator or simply the obvious truth? This one got by me last Friday and I don't recall seeing it here.

“We’re a lot thinner than we have been in the past,” Auriemma said. “We’ve got to make sure that we get more than just the returning three starters from last year.”

“When you think back to what our bench looked like when Lou and Pheesa were freshmen, and what it looks like today, it’s completely different,” he said. “To be able to find more contributors other than the three starters from last year is going to be more of a challenge here than it has in a long, long time.

“We’ve got players that are going to have to embrace specific roles,” he said. “That’s evident already. You’re not going to ask Kyla (Irwin) and Molly (Bent) and Mikayla (Coombs) — who didn’t play hardly at all during the summer and almost the whole end of last year — to come in and go, ‘Hey guys, when I sub you guys in, I don’t want anything to change between Lou, Pheesa, Crystal and you guys.’ I mean, that’s not realistic, not even one bit. I just think that’s the reality of it.”

Of course there are just 6 players mentioned here and I'm not exactly buying "we're a lot thinner".

Auriemma says role players need to step up for UConn to be successful

 

[Huskee11]

It is completely different from 2015-2016, but that was one of the best teams in UConn history. In 2016-2017, we played 7 against Mississippi State (with Butler going 6 minutes), and we played 6 against Notre Dame in the 2018 Final Four. So we have been thin for a while now. Anyone else remember that awful game against Tulsa at the XL Center last season, when Geno put the bench in the second quarter? Ugh. Sorry I brought that up.

Maybe the bench will be a pleasant surprise this year, who knows. How quickly will CW and ONO adapt; will the real Batouly please stand (step) up; is Mikayla healthy and able to contribute; and did we write Gordon off too quickly? Somebody is going to have to play. It`s October, we can hope.

 

[Blaneylover]

It's always interesting to see how HCGA works in the new people. It seems to me that Walker, Camara, Ono, and Williams will be called upon to contribute. Walker has to show improvement. I think Irwin and Bent will be put in positions where they can contribute to the maximum of their abilities, but you just don't know what that max will be. It's early. The fun is just beginning.

 

[donalddoowop]

It is completely different from 2015-2016, but that was one of the best teams in UConn history. In 2016-2017, we played 7 against Mississippi State (with Butler going 6 minutes), and we played 6 against Notre Dame in the 2018 Final Four. So we have been thin for a while now. Anyone else remember that awful game against Tulsa at the XL Center last season, when Geno put the bench in the second quarter? Ugh. Sorry I brought that up.

Maybe the bench will be a pleasant surprise this year, who knows. How quickly will CW and ONO adapt; will the real Batouly please stand (step) up; is Mikayla healthy and able to contribute; and did we write Gordon off too quickly? Somebody is going to have to play. It`s October, we can hope.

I never wrote Gordon off. How many UConn recruits who were not top ten ranked excelled as freshmen? I believe Gordon will prove to be a valuable player.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Motivator or simply the obvious truth? This one got by me last Friday and I don't recall seeing it here.

“We’re a lot thinner than we have been in the past,” Auriemma said. “We’ve got to make sure that we get more than just the returning three starters from last year.”

“When you think back to what our bench looked like when Lou and Pheesa were freshmen, and what it looks like today, it’s completely different,” he said. “To be able to find more contributors other than the three starters from last year is going to be more of a challenge here than it has in a long, long time.

“We’ve got players that are going to have to embrace specific roles,” he said. “That’s evident already. You’re not going to ask Kyla (Irwin) and Molly (Bent) and Mikayla (Coombs) — who didn’t play hardly at all during the summer and almost the whole end of last year — to come in and go, ‘Hey guys, when I sub you guys in, I don’t want anything to change between Lou, Pheesa, Crystal and you guys.’ I mean, that’s not realistic, not even one bit. I just think that’s the reality of it.”

Of course there are just 6 players mentioned here and I'm not exactly buying "we're a lot thinner".

Auriemma says role players need to step up for UConn to be successful

They certainly are a lot thinner than Napeesa's frosh year. In any year that you have 2 or 3 players that played most of the last 3 years and in top games as a frosh and 8 who haven't had that experience, it is extremely unlikely for any of that 8 to seamlessly sub for any of the top 3. The idea is to DEVELOP quickly from your pool those that make the fewest mistakes and contribute the most from your untried 8. Sometimes base philosophies need to be adjusted.

 

[Goodgood]

I really don't know. Who recruited them? Not me or anyone here. Obviously, complaining about a thin bench when you are the one who is responsible is not really fair. Why recruit them in the first place if you can see their limitations after watching them play a few minutes as Geno claimed? No one hits the lottery every year.
I think the bench will be fine since Geno typically plays 6-7 kids in competitive games anyway.

 

[Mlb0814]

“We’ve got players that are going to have to embrace specific roles,” he said. “That’s evident already. You’re not going to ask Kyla (Irwin) and Molly (Bent) and Mikayla (Coombs) — who didn’t play hardly at all during the summer and almost the whole end of last year

We know they didn’t get playing time at the end of last season and that Mikayla was not released by the dr, but is he calling the others out for not taking ownership over the summer?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

We know they didn’t get playing time at the end of last season and that Mikayla was not released by the dr, but is he calling the others out for not taking ownership over the summer?

No. Geno has said he feels a different ("better") sense of ownership or commitment from the summer "experiment."

 

[Longtime fan]

Motivator or simply the obvious truth? This one got by me last Friday and I don't recall seeing it here.

“We’re a lot thinner than we have been in the past,” Auriemma said. “We’ve got to make sure that we get more than just the returning three starters from last year.”

“When you think back to what our bench looked like when Lou and Pheesa were freshmen, and what it looks like today, it’s completely different,” he said. “To be able to find more contributors other than the three starters from last year is going to be more of a challenge here than it has in a long, long time.

“We’ve got players that are going to have to embrace specific roles,” he said. “That’s evident already. You’re not going to ask Kyla (Irwin) and Molly (Bent) and Mikayla (Coombs) — who didn’t play hardly at all during the summer and almost the whole end of last year — to come in and go, ‘Hey guys, when I sub you guys in, I don’t want anything to change between Lou, Pheesa, Crystal and you guys.’ I mean, that’s not realistic, not even one bit. I just think that’s the reality of it.”

Of course there are just 6 players mentioned here and I'm not exactly buying "we're a lot thinner".

Auriemma says role players need to step up for UConn to be successful

Can you expand on your comment that Kyla, Molly and Mikayla " didn't play hardly at all during the summer?" How do you know that? What did they do?

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Can you expand on your comment that Kyla, Molly and Mikayla " didn't play hardly at all during the summer?" How do you know that? What did they do?

It's Geno's comment and the didn't hardly play this summer has sole reference to Mikayla, who the physicians would not green light because of the DVT she suffered in the Spring. I know it's confusing ...it is a Geno ramble which is clearer when heard and seen rather than read.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

At the American Athletic Conference’s media day on Monday, the longtime coach was blunt about the reality of this season’s team. They aren’t good defensively, they’re not great passers and they’re far more different than any team he’s coached in quite a while.

...

“I don’t think we’ve had a team that’s going to be challenged defensively as much as this team since I can remember,” Auriemma said. “It’s been a long, long time. I actually don’t remember… I don’t. So we’re going to have to invent some ways to figure out how to stop people. We basically have to change our style of play a lot this year. We can’t just do business as usual. We just can’t.”


Geno Auriemma Says UConn Losing Wouldn't Be The Worst Thing For The Huskies

 

[Longtime fan]

We know they didn’t get playing time at the end of last season and that Mikayla was not released by the dr, but is he calling the others out for not taking ownership over the summer?

Has Mikayla been deemed " fully recovered?" Is that even possible from her illness? My fear is that she will never be able to play.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Has Mikayla been deemed " fully recovered?" Is that even possible from her illness? My fear is that she will never be able to play.

Late in the summer, we heard that Mikayla was only running and shooting but was close to being cleared for full contact. She fully participated on First Night. I think she’s good to go.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Has Mikayla been deemed " fully recovered?" Is that even possible from her illness? My fear is that she will never be able to play.

DVT in the young can usually be tied to a bone break or serious muscle injury, generally in the leg. But, if I had to guess, in Mykala's case I would suspect that her ACL injury and treatment/surgery in her sophomore HS year created the vein injury that would later become a DVT. Love to see her thrive this year as the UConn mini-mights tear up women's basketball.