Geno's view on losing...

[DavidinNaples]

Since UConn is predicted, by some, to lose so many games this season, I thought it might be helpful to review Geno's attitude about losing. In the interest of full disclosure, I've never met or spoken to Geno. This is my opinion of Geno's attitude about losing, from what I have read, observed, etc...

1. It doesn't matter one bit if you lose during the regular season.
2. Execution of the game plan AND the effort players make is more important than the score.
3. Some times UConn does what they do well, but the other team does what they do better.
4. Learn from every game, especially loses.
5. Get better every day, every practice, every game, every week, every month, to set up #6.
6. Don't lose in late March or April.

I welcome any comments...

 

[ChicagoGG]

Nailed it right on the head, David!

 

[JoePgh]

I think that I have heard Geno and others distinguish between "losing" and "getting beat". The latter is tolerable but the former is not. You can bring your A+ game and still get beat by a team that has superior talent or is playing even better. That probably happened last year to DePaul, South Florida, and Oregon State when they played UConn last season, or to Dayton when they played UConn in the 2015 Elite Eight.

Losing, on the other hand, means one or more of giving up, not following the game plan, taking possessions off, messing up things that you practiced when you prepared for the game, not concentrating on the instructions during a timeout, etc. A few years ago, UConn LOST several games to Notre Dame that way. LOSING in that way is not acceptable.

And he has acknowledged that UConn can LOSE because of poor coaching decisions, such as not taking late timeouts (one Rutgers loss that I remember) or not recognizing the opponent's defensive plan (against LSU in the 2007 Elite Eight). It is to Geno's and CD's credit that they acknowledge those occasions when they occur, and they don't occur very often -- unlike one blue devil of a coach that we probably remember.

 

[BroadwayVa]

David you are usually right. And Joepgh's view on losing or being beating is interesting.
From watching him and his reaction to losing--GENO HATES LOSING--
Lombardi (I think) said: Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser!! Geno is NOT a good loser.
The most recent loss--a bad loss--a game that should not have been lost--Geno picked the game apart and had the team digest those details--
The losses to ND in the most recent past were hard losses--none in my opinion were losses caused by uconn's lack of preparedness or lack of effort--a case for injuries could be made--a care for time-management could be made--as a Uconn fan I hated them--

 

[Shorty Dee]

Geno hates losing, and he hates overtime.

 

[huskyd]

A comment in this morning's Washington Post struck me: ". . . if winning is the only concern, find another activity." (Jennifer Rubin) It's not possible to fully enjoy victory w/out at least a passing acquaintance with defeat. Kipling called winning and losing two "imposters" to be treated just the same. As David points out, how you play the game still counts for mucho.

 

[Sonny44]

How does one define a bad loss? To me it means losing to an obviously inferior team. The three losses to ND and the one to Baylor then do not qualify as bad losses. I mean we weren't exactly 20 point favorites. Could we have won? Clearly, yes. Should we have won, not so sure, the teams were pretty evenly matched.
One of things I have appreciated over the years about Geno's teams is that they only extremely rarely lose games they should have won. My most glaring exceptions were the loss to Stanford three years ago and a complete aberration against St. John's much further back.
Usually when I turn the TV on I know I'm going to have a nice evening.

 

[cbraarj]

Geno wants to win more than he hates to lose. When you hate to lose and it is a close game some players tighten up and play not to lose.They lose their confidence. when a player plays to win all the time and is confident in themselves and plays relax and stays loose in the tight games. This goes for coaches also and he is the best.