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You do know they are still in the AAC? BE is 2020
Get ready for Geno's best coaching job....(ever?)
- Thread starter DavidinNaples
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I think that Geno is going to enjoy this year much more than some others. He has a mix of veterans, young players and transfers. I think he looks like this as a challenge more so than many other years and Geno has always welcomed a challenge.
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No matter who earns the 5 starting positions the only thing I hope for each season is that the girls are healthy, no serious injuries or illnesses the whole season! Then let the chips fall where they may!
With the best coaching staff in Division I and a bunch of athletic girls if healthy, anything is possible!
With the best coaching staff in Division I and a bunch of athletic girls if healthy, anything is possible!
bballnut90
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View attachment 45291
In 1985, Geno's first year at UConn, the Huskies went 12-15 and finished 7th in the Big East. That was Geno's only losing season. What followed was 1,050 more victories, 11 National Championships and more recently, 12 consecutive trips to the Final Four. What could possibly make this upcoming season Geno's best, given 9 AP Coach of the Year awards, membership in both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and an overall winning percentage of 88.4 % at UConn?
First, a housekeeping note. Any reference to Geno carries the implied inclusion of CD and the rest of the fine UConn staff over the years. Geno gives them tons of credit for his record and championships.
Second, before explaining why this might be Geno's toughest coaching job in years, let's eliminate the excuse that the two best players graduated. Yes, Napheesa and Lou are gone and took with them 45.2% of Uconn's scoring (1,422 points), 40% of UConn's rebounds (626) and 35.5% of UConn's assists (266) from last season. But that happens all the time. When Kia, Gabby and Z left a year ago, 43.7% of the scoring graduated. When Stewie, MoJeff and Tuck graduated, it was worse at 48.8% of the total points. Someone always steps up and fills the void. In 2012-13 the Huskies averaged 82.5 pts per game. Last season, it was 82.8. In between, it has been as high as 89 and as low as 82. Not an issue...
Three factors that could make this Geno's most challenging coaching year, in a long time, are the number of new players, the killer schedule and the pressure of 12 straight Final Fours & being every opponent's biggest game. It is not just that 4 players are new and replacing the 2 that graduated. A case can be made for any of them emerging as a starter with the Core Four (Crystal, Megan, Christyn and Olivia). Geno has a freshman who is probably the most athletic player since Gabby, two transfers who led their previous COLLEGE teams in scoring and a 19-year-old with 2 years of playing pro basketball in Europe. Add in the unknown of whether 1 of the transfers can even play this season and you have the Rubik's Cube of personnel decisions. Figuring out who starts and when subs come in will be harder for Geno than it has been in a long time.
The schedule is ridiculously hard, just the way Geno likes it. UConn will host the other 3 teams from last year's Final Four. Yes, Oregon, Notre Dame and Baylor all play the Huskies this year. When was the last time that happened? Throw in tough games with South Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma along with Tennessee and California. The final year of AAC opponents may not be particularly hard, but the travel is brutal with trips to Florida (2), Texas (2), Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina. Geno will have plenty of "teachable moments" to get ready for April.
On a team with one probable Senior starter and 4 fresh faces, the pressure to win will take a toll. UConn's record since Stewie's sophomore year is an incredible 223-6. Last season's 3 losses equaled the previous five seasons. Geno doesn't feel pressure, but his challenge will be keeping the young Huskies from being distracted by all the banners on the wall & possible missteps along the way to Final Four #13.
In summary, blending in 4 new talented players, navigating the hardest schedule in decades and keeping the pressure from impacting play on the court will make 2019-20 the hardest coaching job for Geno in quite a long time. Reaching another Final Four and possibly winning NC #12 might make the case for Geno's best coaching job. Or maybe not...
Thoughts??
Go Huskies..!!
Disagree with a lot of this. The schedule is on par for a normal schedule. Calling Ohio State or Oklahoma "tough games" is laughable. Tennessee is a total wild card, ND is a wild card with losing everyone, and Cal likely isn't going to be very good. Tough games are Oregon, Baylor, South Caroline and Tennessee/Notre Dame as wild cards. AAC will be awful once again.
Starting lineup is not going to be difficult to decipher either, especially when you have ONO, Williams, Walker and Dangerfield as locks. If Westbrook is eligible, she gets the 5th spot. The HS rankings on those players are #5, #1, #1, #3 and #2 from their respective classes. That would be the most stacked starting 5 based on HS ranking in NCAA history. Chances are it starts out as Irwin if Westbrook is ineligible.
The lineup doesn't feature 4 fresh faces either. Walker is an upperclassman who had 14/8 in the Final Four last year and averaged double figures. Williams had 19 in the Final Four vs Notre Dame and was a double figure scorer as a frosh. ONO played extremely well against ND both meetings. The lineup features potentially 1 fresh face if Irwin doesn't start, and it is an All-SEC player in Evina Westbrook. UCONN's starting lineup will be stacked.
If anything the pressure is much lower on this squad than it has been the last 3 years. The past 3 seasons you've had:
2017-the 100+ game winning streak and the pressure of going undefeated
2018-preseason #1, everyone expected UCONN to run the table. The pressure caught up to them in the Final Four
2019-KLS/Collier were storied players with their last chance at a title
2020 the pressure is off. UCONN is no longer unbeatable. Them losing a game isn't the biggest story in sports anymore. They're still a goliath but if anything it'll be easier to play without a ton of pressure to win a championship since more eyes will be on Oregon/Baylor. I don't think anyone is too caught up on the Final Four streak either...it's extremely impressive, but I am guessing it isn't something that players are worried about having snapped compared to the long win streaks.
This will be the first time in a while that UCONN has to play on the road in regionals though. They wont have homecourt advantage all the way to the Final Four for the first time since 2014.
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If those four are beaten for starting positions then UConn will put an unbeatable team on the floor. Not going to happen.
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The pressure on UConn will be extremely high in 2020! They will have Sr Walker(#1), Sr/RS Jr Westbrook(#2), Jr Williams(#1), Nelson-Ododa(#5) Soph Griffin(#21), Soph Makurat, Frosh Bueckers(#1), Frosh Muhl(#1 INT), Frosh Mclean(#32). That team will be extremely stacked, with the possibility of adding a couple more pieces for 2020.
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nwhoopfan
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You have an interesting definition of tough games. Other than South Carolina, all of those teams were mediocre last season. Some may improve, but some are going the opposite direction. Cal lost almost everybody from their team. That should be an absolute blowout for the Huskies. Most of those are home games, where UConn just doesn't lose. Oklahoma had no business keeping the game as close as they did last year in Norman, that should be another blowout win for the Huskies this season. Ohio St., don't see that one being competitive either.
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Knowing the NCAA, Westbrook will be eligible. Of course, the decision won't come until mid-April but will be retroactive back to November.
HuskyNan
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If you think Geno will sit a senior (one that is far better and more valuable than you say) for a freshman, you know nothing about Geno
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Well,....2 cents worth. There are a lot folks here that remember the two years after Sue Bird et. al. graduated and Taurasi led the team to two National Championships. I would submit that these years were challenging for the Man just as well. I also agree with some of the other expressed thoughts about difficult challenges for the Coaching Team as well. This year Coach did gather up some talented folks. The challenge as stated is making them a team.
In so far as Westbrook is concerned, I am hopeful as I am that she and CD will be in good health to participate on this team.
In so far as Westbrook is concerned, I am hopeful as I am that she and CD will be in good health to participate on this team.
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JoePgh
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Megan will be a junior in 2019-20, not a senior, but otherwise I agree with the point that you are making. Even if Jingo is right (which I doubt) that Aubrey has more physical ability than Megan, there is still the issue of the learning curve for the UConn offense and defense. It took Megan a full year to learn that, and it is quite conceivable that it could take Aubrey a similar amount of time.
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Another famous French philosopher said, "Je pense, donc je sui." This translates to Rene Descartes famous quote "I think , therefore I am." There is a seldom heard corollary which applies here. It is "Je ne pense pas, donc je ne suis pas."To quote John McEnroe..."Tu ne peux pas etre serieux.." (You can't be serious...)
This corollary allows one to ignore much of what is said!
diggerfoot
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We project what we would consider to be difficult coaching on what Auriemma would consider. If I can accurately imagine what goes on in Auriemma's mind, a difficult schedule would not make his job difficult in the least. Ironically, my impression is that Auriemma cares much more about player development and pursuing excellence than wins and losses.
Reminds me of when my oldest daughter declared, somewhat in shock, that I had become a good cook. My secret was I did not care what the food tasted like, I started using spices that were good for brain health. My doing that the food tasted good. But I digress.
By pursuing player development and excellence the wins follow. A difficult schedule facilitates player development and the pursuit of excellence. If anything I agree with what some have pointed out, the schedule is not difficult enough for Auriemma's goals in coaching. It may contribute to doing a masterful job, but in the opposite way that the OP intimated.
What stands out to me as presenting difficult challenges for Auriemma already has been pointed out. One was the "lean year," where we could not go beyond the Regionals. C. Houston was specifically cited, but more challenging I imagine was losing an entire class of three, including a 6'5" center and a player who could have played point. It's one thing to plan for known lean years of recruiting; it's a whole other level to have that suddenly sprung on you.
The other difficult challenge was a year like 2001, in which there was so much talent that chemistry and likely playing time became an issue. We performed nowhere near the talent potential that year, indeed, we performed better once the roster thinned a little. I don't wish that ever on players, as I am sure Auriemma doesn't, but I agree with posters who point out a stacked roster as presenting a particularly difficult challenge for a coach like Auriemma. Hence, this year could be one of his greatest challenges, as the roster will be stacked with talent, though the inexperience of some may actually help with the chemistry.
A little off topic, but "on thread," there is a poster that hails from the same region as the long gone HoopDreams. That handle itself was a new revival of someone who hailed from that area. Our history with Ossining players has not been sterling, which has led to some discontent in that area. Making a claim based on physical talent, highly unlikely to come true because of the mental and learning aspects of the game, is a good way to set the table for assigning blame later. Just sayin'.
Reminds me of when my oldest daughter declared, somewhat in shock, that I had become a good cook. My secret was I did not care what the food tasted like, I started using spices that were good for brain health. My doing that the food tasted good. But I digress.
By pursuing player development and excellence the wins follow. A difficult schedule facilitates player development and the pursuit of excellence. If anything I agree with what some have pointed out, the schedule is not difficult enough for Auriemma's goals in coaching. It may contribute to doing a masterful job, but in the opposite way that the OP intimated.
What stands out to me as presenting difficult challenges for Auriemma already has been pointed out. One was the "lean year," where we could not go beyond the Regionals. C. Houston was specifically cited, but more challenging I imagine was losing an entire class of three, including a 6'5" center and a player who could have played point. It's one thing to plan for known lean years of recruiting; it's a whole other level to have that suddenly sprung on you.
The other difficult challenge was a year like 2001, in which there was so much talent that chemistry and likely playing time became an issue. We performed nowhere near the talent potential that year, indeed, we performed better once the roster thinned a little. I don't wish that ever on players, as I am sure Auriemma doesn't, but I agree with posters who point out a stacked roster as presenting a particularly difficult challenge for a coach like Auriemma. Hence, this year could be one of his greatest challenges, as the roster will be stacked with talent, though the inexperience of some may actually help with the chemistry.
A little off topic, but "on thread," there is a poster that hails from the same region as the long gone HoopDreams. That handle itself was a new revival of someone who hailed from that area. Our history with Ossining players has not been sterling, which has led to some discontent in that area. Making a claim based on physical talent, highly unlikely to come true because of the mental and learning aspects of the game, is a good way to set the table for assigning blame later. Just sayin'.
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Aubrey, I have great expectations, may have leaping skills better than ANYONE on this team but MEGAN is a talent, not just a stand still shooter, who rebounds and defend ---that little word has amazing impact on GENO--DEFENSE--Megan won't sit (regularly) for Griffin. I do however believe Aubrey will play lots of minutes after December. That time may come for 3 or 4 players. This belief goes for Ania/Anna too. Geno will have the pleasure of running 6 or 8 kids in and out once they get their Game shoes on in late December.
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While your first paragraph is fun to read and mostly true as in para 2. The belief that Geno cares less about wins and losses than player development has a flaw. Geno more than anything hates to lose. Please review about 1500 games his teams have played and take particular attention to the losses---especially in the handshake lines and a bit prior. He cares about Freshman and Sophs (his words) development that's true--would he choose this over a win?? I have very serious doubts.
diggerfoot
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Instead of "my impression" perhaps I should have written "Auriemma has stated" that he prefers a loss where they play the right way than a win when they do not. He has stated this repeatedly, to the point where I believe him.
As for the handshake line, Auriemma is one of the more gracious coaches in the handshake line that I've seen after a loss, particularly when he feels the other team has played well. I guess we each see what we want to see. In any case, since Auriemma has not coached 1500 games it would be hard to review them all.
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If you follow all the words spoken by Geno you will find he often speaks words that contradict word spoken or to be spoken. Not a dig on Geno. He is human and humans, by their very nature, change their minds or their view if ONLY for the moment they are in. His comment about preferring a loss to get better play is just plain smoke being sent to players to get a rise out of them and better play from them. Don't dwell on Geno's words. If you do for ever stated comment about a subject you will usually find the opposite spoken elsewhere. Most humans tend to do that. If they don't they are very rigid and won't make good coaches, good people to be around. Flexible is the real nature of most humans. Yet politicians get hung for changing their views from 30 year previous--go figure!!Instead of "my impression" perhaps I should have written "Auriemma has stated" that he prefers a loss where they play the right way than a win when they do not. He has stated this repeatedly, to the point where I believe him.
As for the handshake line, Auriemma is one of the more gracious coaches in the handshake line that I've seen after a loss, particularly when he feels the other team has played well. I guess we each see what we want to see. In any case, since Auriemma has not coached 1500 games it would be hard to review them all.
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