How big is the gulf b/w UConn and everyone else?

[hoophuskee]

Next year there will be at least 4 beasts. And as long as each of the 4 teams are true beasts - then even though let's say UConn has more talent - in a one-and-done one game setting --any of the 4 are a huge threat. A great team has a better chance to play "out-of-their-minds." And unlike a good team playing out of their minds, a great team like UCONN can eventually wear them down. When you are great -- much tougher for just one game - to not have that team play super great for 1 game. Because it is in their capability to do so.

UCONN
ND
USC
Tenn

 

[Suebird10fan]

Next year there will be at least 4 beasts. And as long as each of the 4 teams are true beasts - then even though let's say UConn has more talent - in a one-and-done one game setting --any of the 4 are a huge threat. A great team has a better chance to play "out-of-their-minds." And unlike a good team playing out of their minds, a great team like UCONN can eventually wear them down. When you are great -- much tougher for just one game - to not have that team play super great for 1 game. Because it is in their capability to do so.

UCONN
ND
USC
Tenn

Baylor will be better than TN next year.

 

[hoophuskee]

Sad but somewhat true, we can only hope what was supposed to start changing a decade ago will do so soon. As much as nobody on this site would want to admit it this is not good for the game or our team.

Ohh so this is where it all started.

Well count me in the mass of one that doesn't give a darn about "what's good for the game." When I'm 80 -- I'll have memories of watching unbelievable basketball. I won't give a hoot whether the seats were filled or not. There could be one fan at the game and if it is me jumping up and down - I am going to love it. I'm blessed to watch such supreme basketball play and the dominance is a beautiful thing to watch. How sickening to watch your team just throw away a game playing god-awful-sloppy when they could have won it easily.

In general, our Huskies stomp on the opposition's throat. Of which we can infer even the coaches and players say inward "I give up." As of right now it's so beautiful to watch the great hoop/dominant play. Today for example, 4-5 passes leading to a layup. Supreme ball movement. Three's reigning down. Just beautiful. The ball movement. The cutting - the shooting.

Instead I'm supposed to watch that crap in the men's game of weeks ago between Kentucky vs South Carolina when either team was disgusting from the floor and wound up having like 15 assists total combined in one or two overtimes with God-Awful free throw shooting? I'm supposed to pretend to like that garbage? IMO there are certain fans that are more "close game fans" than fans of "basketball."

 

[hoophuskee]

Baylor will be better than TN next year.

Okay - I know Tenn will be tremendous next year with Diamond coming. Then add Baylor you got 5.

 

[Woof 101]

Woof,
no malice here either. It took me a while to understand what you were saying and here is why I disagree.
The nature of the competitive person is to press an advantage. You don’t see any good boxers deciding to take a few rounds off because they won last five rounds. Why? Because he might get his head knocked off. The equivalent of a boxer getting his head knocked off for Geno is not losing a game. For him a few minutes of not giving max effort is equal to getting his head knocked off-See the yanking of Stewie and Morgan. To quote Geno at the beginning of the season (Geno was really paraphrasing General Patton) “we are not trying to defend anything, we are attacking the rest of the country”. Empty seats, full house, nationally televised, parents only in the stands, at the local YMCA , coming off a loss, does not matter to the architect of this dynasty- you will always get UCONN max effort. That max effort is what determines the margin of victories of most UCONN games.
Empty seats is a WCBB problem, unrelated to UCONN dominance in my opinion.

Again no malice but it is probably on me that I think I can say something anyone else would understand. My comment without going into deep blah blah was about the sad state of the game. Nothing I said was to trash the path of our program, team or coaches. That or winning games. You do not understand what I was saying and that is on me.

 

[UcMiami]

UC- if we took Tenn, So Car & N Dame's starting 7- would they really b that different? Heck duke had Gray and Liz Williams- 2-1's? Lindsay Allen was pt gd rt behind Mo Jeff i think! Tenn's Sr pt gd was # 1 in country. Would be interesting. I don't think we are 30 PTs better than the other top programs- I could be wrong. I appreciate your detailed RSVP!

Not too sure how to equate points based on HS but when you look at simple ranks, yes I think some teams are good but not that close, but.
Stewart like Maya and Parker for example are not simply #1 players but so far above the standard #1.
And Uconn has a senior #1, a junior #1 and #2, that were I believe the only '98' ranked players in that year by HG when their rankings were a little more critical, and three year sophomore #6 to go with a freshman off a pretty good Canadian Senior National team that has been playing against the best guards in the world (not college guards) for two years. (Being schooled by Sue and DT before your freshman year is not typical!)
ND has Jewel and a freshman #2 and some others. SC has a #1 freshman, and some nice freshman and sophomores, Duke - has a senior #1 not in the same transformative league as Stewart and some high ranked recruits but no other #1s.

So it is not just ranking but also maturity for the players in question. Moriah as a junior is not the same as a #2 freshman guard - 2 years experience plus the HS skill makes a difference.

Not saying coaching doesn't make a difference, and Uconn does better with better than anyone else ever has! Just that Geno really has been getting really really good HS talent. Don't know how many times other schools have gotten the #1 kid in consecutive years but Geno has done that a few times.

 

[Bayareahusky]

Working on the end of Miami's point..... coaching I think makes all the difference in the world..... just witness Coach P at Duke and Holly at UT..... they have great talent, yet do not develop their players for whatever reason...... Eliz Williams for an overall #1 hasn't shown up for her career essentially, and i do not think that is too tough an assessment..... UT has had several recruits come in recent years who were going to take LVs to the promised land..... Stricklen was supposed to be the "it" person.... Pat Summit sang Massengale's praises to the moon....telling her guards they would see a "real" guard the following year... to the point of guaranteeing her starting slot...... now it is Diamond..... that gal has special talents.... we all know that.... but how is Holly going to develop her.... and perhaps as important... what will she demand of her.....

After Geno and staff, who are far and away the best at coaching top talent, I still like Muffet..... give her the McBrides and Peters' and Achonwas, she knows how to build them.....

 

[cabbie191]

There could be one fan at the game and if it is me jumping up and down - I am going to love it. "

Hoop - this is a bit OT to your comment but also speaks to it. Many years ago, I ran a nature center and had a colleague who was the director of another nature center that was owned by the same non-profit organization as owned mine.

One night Brad arrived at his center to give a presentation on birding, and only one person showed up to hear him speak. A bit awkward to be sure but Brad told the guy that since he came prepared to give his lecture, and since the man came prepared to hear the lecture, why not go ahead with it. The man agreed and Brad did his presentation. And that man was so impressed with it that he became a volunteer and the center's largest financial donor.

Brad did his best despite the circumstances and it paid dividends. And that is exactly why UConn is so dominant right now - they do their best under any and all situations.

 

[hoophuskee]

Hoop - this is a bit OT to your comment but also speaks to it. Many years ago, I ran a nature center and had a colleague who was the director of another nature center that was owned by the same non-profit organization as owned mine.

One night Brad arrived at his center to give a presentation on birding, and only one person showed up to hear him speak. A bit awkward to be sure but Brad told the guy that since he came prepared to give his lecture, and since the man came prepared to hear the lecture, why not go ahead with it. The man agreed and Brad did his presentation. And that man was so impressed with it that he became a volunteer and the center's largest financial donor.

Brad did his best despite the circumstances and it paid dividends. And that is exactly why UConn is so dominant right now - they do their best under any and all situations.

Awesome.

 

[Tonyc]

Why other teams cant compete with UConn is simply this. UConn plays as a unit as a team unit while many other teams trust the ability of their players to go one on one. Many other teams don't play as a team unit they depend on having their players create their own shots. In many instances the rest of the team stands around an watches. Now UConn does develop their team unit to play together with their individual talents, Their passing is quick and crisp. Very little dribbling. Geno is very picky on who he recruits. Number 1 they have to be coachable. If you heard his response to Aja Wilson when she asked Geno what was he looking for in an up and coming player to make the USA team his response was just that. Unselfish, team player who is willing to do what ever it takes for the team including sitting the bench. He continued by saying there are a lot of good players out there that will never play on Team USA. Just like every great golfer cant play every great golf course well, just like every great home run hitter cant hit every pitcher well. That goes for BB players. They sometimes cant play well against certain teams or certain arenas etc. BB is a team sport and many players, parents and coaches feel if they have the best players, tallest players experienced players they can win. They might be able to against less talented teams but not against a team unit.

Right now everybody on UConn is shooting the ball so well that UConn can score as many points as they want, if Geno doesn't call off the dogs. Saniya has her confidence back, Gabby is gifted. This team is shooting the ball better then any team Ive seen in a very long time and they play suffocating defense. UConn is almost impossible to keep up with let alone beat.

 

[UcMiami]

You know the offense is pretty and very effective and when clicking beautiful - MoJeff had a couple of just brilliant passes on the break last night - but the attention to defense is what is really amazing. Most teams go off a screen and expect to be wide open, but Uconn plays screens and pick and rolls really well. The help side is always (almost) on time, the close out on shooters is great, and the overplaying to force offensive players into traps/help defense is really impressive. The description of Geno working the 'new kids' over and over on close outs starting with a foot in the paint in one of the news links points to the kind of detailed coaching going on.
BayArea - I wasn't trying to diminish coaching at all, but Geno and co. get really good raw material to work with! And I agree, Muffet does very well with her team as does Jeff and Tara. I don't think they get quite the level of consistent talent that Uconn has for stretches of the last 20 years.

 

[j66kicker]

Why other teams cant compete with UConn is simply this. UConn plays as a unit as a team unit while many other teams trust the ability of their players to go one on one. Many other teams don't play as a team unit they depend on having their players create their own shots. In many instances the rest of the team stands around an watches. Now UConn does develop their team unit to play together with their individual talents, Their passing is quick and crisp. Very little dribbling. Geno is very picky on who he recruits. Number 1 they have to be coachable. If you heard his response to Aja Wilson when she asked Geno what was he looking for in an up and coming player to make the USA team his response was just that. Unselfish, team player who is willing to do what ever it takes for the team including sitting the bench. He continued by saying there are a lot of good players out there that will never play on Team USA. Just like every great golfer cant play every great golf course well, just like every great home run hitter cant hit every pitcher well. That goes for BB players. They sometimes cant play well against certain teams or certain arenas etc. BB is a team sport and many players, parents and coaches feel if they have the best players, tallest players experienced players they can win. They might be able to against less talented teams but not against a team unit.

Right now everybody on UConn is shooting the ball so well that UConn can score as many points as they want, if Geno doesn't call off the dogs. Saniya has her confidence back, Gabby is gifted. This team is shooting the ball better then any team Ive seen in a very long time and they play suffocating defense. UConn is almost impossible to keep up with let alone beat.

Yup. That, AND (OBTW) we have better players than everyone else....

(See UcMiami's post above)

 

[Buzzyboy]

Some discussion in this thread of UCLA/Wooden vs. UConn/Geno.

One of the amazing things about the UCLA 88 game streak is that they DID have a lot of close games. A whole bunch where the margin was less than ten. Does this make them less dominant? I suppose, but in my mind it magnifies what Wooden accomplished.

Wooden did a magnificent job of coaching the best team that a booster could buy! Were it not for the goodies that the booster (whose name I don't recall) gave to recruits, a good portion might never have considered attending UCLA and without them, we might not have heard a lot about John Wooden. I don't think Geno's girls were (or are) getting a whole bunch of payola for attending a small rural college that's susceptible to winters like the one that Connecticut's getting this year. Wooden was a great coach but it helped that he had a fantastic facility, great California sunshine and warmth and that booster who blatantly offered kids cars, money and other goodies to attend UCLA! As someone mentioned, his OOC schedule wasn't anything resembling what Geno plays and he won those championships long before there was a 64 team tournament. There was also regional rounds of the tournament where only teams from that region competed. Much easier to get to the Final Four without fear of an upset.

 

[Geno-ista]

Not too sure how to equate points based on HS but when you look at simple ranks, yes I think some teams are good but not that close, but.
Stewart like Maya and Parker for example are not simply #1 players but so far above the standard #1.
And Uconn has a senior #1, a junior #1 and #2, that were I believe the only '98' ranked players in that year by HG when their rankings were a little more critical, and three year sophomore #6 to go with a freshman off a pretty good Canadian Senior National team that has been playing against the best guards in the world (not college guards) for two years. (Being schooled by Sue and DT before your freshman year is not typical!)
ND has Jewel and a freshman #2 and some others. SC has a #1 freshman, and some nice freshman and sophomores, Duke - has a senior #1 not in the same transformative league as Stewart and some high ranked recruits but no other #1s.

So it is not just ranking but also maturity for the players in question. Moriah as a junior is not the same as a #2 freshman guard - 2 years experience plus the HS skill makes a difference.

Not saying coaching doesn't make a difference, and Uconn does better with better than anyone else ever has! Just that Geno really has been getting really really good HS talent. Don't know how many times other schools have gotten the #1 kid in consecutive years but Geno has done that a few times.

Thks for the detailed RSVP- I really appreciate it!

 

[hoophuskee]

Wooden did a magnificent job of coaching the best team that a booster could buy! Were it not for the goodies that the booster (whose name I don't recall) gave to recruits, a good portion might never have considered attending UCLA and without them, we might not have heard a lot about John Wooden. I don't think Geno's girls were (or are) getting a whole bunch of payola for attending a small rural college that's susceptible to winters like the one that Connecticut's getting this year. Wooden was a great coach but it helped that he had a fantastic facility, great California sunshine and warmth and that booster who blatantly offered kids cars, money and other goodies to attend UCLA! As someone mentioned, his OOC schedule wasn't anything resembling what Geno plays and he won those championships long before there was a 64 team tournament. There was also regional rounds of the tournament where only teams from that region competed. Much easier to get to the Final Four without fear of an upset.

Quite a few coaches have cheated. Belichick was another one.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

While watching TN vs KY today I got the feeling both teams offenses were who ever has the best shot shoot! Not a whole lot of offenses run by either school! And KY's 40 minutes of dred is another way of saying "I don't know how to play defense!"

 

[UcMiami]

Just to follow on the talent question ... Next years recruiting class is ranked #3, but that is because of numbers for the #1 and #2 classes I think. Uconn is getting a three player class of very high talent vs. 4 or 5 player classes with less strength at the very top.

Uconn doesn't need 5 players so 3 is just about perfect. And moderate talent at Uconn sometimes has a hard time dealing with reduced minutes and the demands of practice - better that the class is 3 than that it be 5 with two transferring out after a year.

 

[uconnfan68]

Quite a few coaches have cheated. Belichick was another one.

cries the Jets fan

 

[Brad Palmer]

Big difference is that Kentucky has had some scares/close games, thus adding to the intrigue and it's by no means a lot that they'll win the NCAA title.

While it may bring in the casual fan and it's certainly not UConn's fault, it's definitely not good for the game to have your top team never challenged.



What's not good about it? What you believe (which you are entitled to) is another myth perpetuated by people who don't like UCONN (mostly started by orange fans I would think).

Why is UCONN being way better than anyone else bad for the game? It's not like this will last forever. Last year undefeated UCONN faced undefeated ND in the NC game. Ratings were sky high. When UCONN has a perfect season, it's all over ESPN. When UCONN had its' 90+ game winning streak, it was all over ESPN. UCONN blew out SC and yet it was a very well "watched" game from an eyeballs perspective. And not just locally in Connecticut...

I would say that a UCONN juggernaut is actually good for the game because if you have a bunch of simply above average teams, it's not nearly as newsworthy. Who cares about a NC game between aTm and ND? Or Baylor and Michigan State?

Look at all the press Kentucky men are getting as they are undefeated. Think that's bad for the game? I guarantee you if UCONN were still undefeated, there would be even MORE publicity about our team. You don't think that may help young girl hoops players and their families tune in to see UCONN play and try to understand why they are so good?

If you want to believe that it's not good for the game, that's up to you of course. If you want to claim that "As much as nobody on this site would want to admit it", you would need to provide some empirical evidence to support that claim IMHO... For me, I just don't buy that a great UCONN is "bad for the game".

Griner's 40-0 season when Baylor and Griner/Simms dominated - that was everywhere in the news. Was that bad for the game? No way. If it is a story and creates interest then it's good for the game.[/QUOTE]

 

[hoophuskee]

cries the Jets fan

Nope.

Not at all.

 

[Zorro]

How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?

 

[bbsamjj]

UConn will continue to dominate as long as Geno continues to get the best players--and no one can argue that Geno is not getting the best players right now. Does he get all of them? Of course not. And of course he develops them. But as his current rate he's getting the #1 player every two years, and many top 5 players in addition, which means he almost always has two #1 players on his roster at all times, and the #1 players are usually very good. Is that always the case? No, there are some busts, or players who are very good but turn out to not be the best in their class. In fact, when that last happened at UConn (Strother), it was the last time UConn was out of the national championship conversation.

 

[DobbsRover2]

It's good for WCBB to have a big name dynasty like UConn in the news, and it's also good to have a credible challenger like ND last year, and USCar and maybe ND this year to add intrigue and excitement to the season. It doesn't hurt WCBB's popularity if UConn wins it all in the end because that just builds the dynamics for next year's battles, but the rest of the country is more drawn in if the other coaches can do their jobs and put together teams that present a real challenge to UConn in March. Last year BYU, Texas A&M, and Stanford kept the UConn halftime margin to 1, 11, and 4 in the Rounds 3, 4, and 5, in last year's Tournament, so there was some tough action for UConn even before they claimed their 9th NC with the win over ND to go 40-0.

That was a great story, and it needs a similar type retelling this year.

 

[hoophuskee]

UConn will continue to dominate as long as Geno continues to get the best players--and no one can argue that Geno is not getting the best players right now. Does he get all of them? Of course not. And of course he develops them. But as his current rate he's getting the #1 player every two years, and many top 5 players in addition, which means he almost always has two #1 players on his roster at all times, and the #1 players are usually very good. Is that always the case? No, there are some busts, or players who are very good but turn out to not be the best in their class. In fact, when that last happened at UConn (Strother), it was the last time UConn was out of the national championship conversation.

And he gets the best players because he plays/coach's a style that the best players want to play.

 

[Huskies Rule]

And because he can make the best players even BETTER and help them win NC's.