Hunting down a Geno quote from 2003 post

[ThisJustIn]

'nova loss .... and reflecting on how he changed his attitude/tone with the team as they moved into the tourney... It was something like:

I apologized to them because I realized I was treating them as if they were the 2002 team. And they weren't.

Was it on the CPTV disc? ESPN? Paper?

 

[ThisJustIn]

bump - where are the "I remember every moment fans," ?

 

[pinotbear]

TJI, I went to check "Geno: In Pursuit of Perfection", and, weirdly, I found something almost the exact opposite. After the 'Nova loss, but before the 2003 championship game, on page 241 Geno writes "I walk into the locker room when my players aren't there, and write down the names of last year's starters: Sue, Asjha, Swin, Tamika, and Dee...I call them in and I say to Jessica Moore, "Jess, this is not you playing against Tennessee. This is you doing everything that Asjha taught you to do. She's going to be right there with you, the entire 40 minutes." Then, I say to Barbara Turner, "Barbara, this is not just you playing against Tennessee. This is Swin, and everything she stands for. It's you and Swin." I do the same with Maria. It's Maria and Sue."

Your quote sounds familiar, too. I looks like Geno managed to balance the distinction between the two teams, without divorcing the two teams, if that makes any sense. Two parts of one whole, if you will.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Geesh, TJI. You are pulling me away from valuable writing time on that other real sport (running), but this link to ESPN article includes a lot of comments by Geno, Harry, and Foster that touch on the post-loss expectations.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1526258

such as "I don't worry about the pressure we put on players and the pressure they put on themselves. But I don't want them to feel it's the end of the world if they don't win the championship. I want them to enjoy the process."

or from an NYTimes article:
"'They are young and they don't understand forming good habits and building on things. I'm always trying to get them to forget the score, just to keep playing the same way every possession, every day. For this team, that's not easy to do. As they get older, they'll understand. Right now, we go on emotion. If our emotions are good, we're good. If our emotions are not good, we're not good.''

Other than that, there are a lot of old links for March - April 2003 from that sketchy womens-hoops-blog site that mainly don't work (how can a site put up so many bad links???) but do have hints to possibly something in the Courant at that time. In the main, Geno told them to relax, March begins a new season, forget that you're mainly a bunch of freshmen, and give DT the ball.

And yow, if you ever need someone to get you fired up as a UConn fan to pound on at tourney time, Rick Adelson's the man: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1527568 -- also from that sketchy womens-hoops-blog

 

[Samanthabrown3]

And yow, if you ever need someone to get you fired up as a UConn fan to pound on at tourney time, Rick Adelson's the man: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1527568 -- also from that sketchy womens-hoops-blog

Thanks for the link! Shows you that even those who write about sports for a living get it dead wrong sometimes.

He does refer to Geno's coaching style as "a well-oiled frenzy that usually overwhelms opponents."

"A well-oiled frenzy." I love it!

 

[DobbsRover2]

Thanks for the link! Shows you that even those who write about sports for a living get it dead wrong sometimes.

He does refer to Geno's coaching style as "a well-oiled frenzy that usually overwhelms opponents."

"A well-oiled frenzy." I love it!

Yeah, though the "well-oiled" remark kind of has a bit of smack in it. I think intentional snark.

But he was right that the Huskies were lucky to get past the national semis. They just happened to have a lot more plain dumb luck than the other teams. And truly, getting by Texas was a monumental effort and I can remember being very much afraid until the Longhorn guard lost control of the ball in front of DT with a few seconds to go. It came down to the final dribble.

 

[Mike144]

'nova loss .... and reflecting on how he changed his attitude/tone with the team as they moved into the tourney... It was something like:

I apologized to them because I realized I was treating them as if they were the 2002 team. And they weren't.

Was it on the CPTV disc? ESPN? Paper?

There was something like your quote in the 2003 "Back to Back" Cptv DVD. The DVD was game by game analyzation leading to the championship finale.

Ann Strother stated in the video that after the Villanova game the team talked for about an hour and half. During the talk she said that Geno said, "That he felt that he had been treating us like last years team and this years team was different and he started to realize that, and wanted us to know that he knew we weren't like last years team and we were going to win in a different way than last years team won."

 

[RadyLady]

Geesh, TJI. You are pulling me away from valuable writing time on that other real sport (running), but this link to ESPN article includes a lot of comments by Geno, Harry, and Foster that touch on the post-loss expectations.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1526258

such as "I don't worry about the pressure we put on players and the pressure they put on themselves. But I don't want them to feel it's the end of the world if they don't win the championship. I want them to enjoy the process."

or from an NYTimes article:
"'They are young and they don't understand forming good habits and building on things. I'm always trying to get them to forget the score, just to keep playing the same way every possession, every day. For this team, that's not easy to do. As they get older, they'll understand. Right now, we go on emotion. If our emotions are good, we're good. If our emotions are not good, we're not good.''

Other than that, there are a lot of old links for March - April 2003 from that sketchy womens-hoops-blog site that mainly don't work (how can a site put up so many bad links???) but do have hints to possibly something in the Courant at that time. In the main, Geno told them to relax, March begins a new season, forget that you're mainly a bunch of freshmen, and give DT the ball.

And yow, if you ever need someone to get you fired up as a UConn fan to pound on at tourney time, Rick Adelson's the man: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1527568 -- also from that sketchy womens-hoops-blog

Wow - hmmm....I wonder how Adelson took his crow? Grilled...or broiled, maybe with fries on the side...

 

[DobbsRover2]

Wow - hmmm....I wonder how Adelson took his crow? Grilled...or broiled, maybe with fries on the side...

Actually, I misprinted the name above slightly, it was Eric Adelson. And he took his crow in the usual ESPN columnist way by shrugging the feathers off his shoulder as though they never been there. Three weeks later he's writing this after UConn's thrilling victory over Texas in the semis:

And Tuesday night's final -- the third time in four years UConn and Tennessee have met in the Final Four -- should be just as memorable. The Lady Vols will have to somehow stop a player that has always saved her best for them. "I'm looking forward to it," Taurasi said. At this point, who isn't?

in an article at: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney03/story?id=1534912

Hey, no harm, no foul, especially when DT is ready to punch some more orange and Maria goes bombs away.

 

[RadyLady]

Actually, I misprinted the name above slightly, it was Eric Adelson. Hey, no harm, no foul, especially when DT is ready to punch some more orange and Maria goes bombs away.

LOL!!! Those were heady days!!

 

[ThisJustIn]

Thanks, all -- especially to you, Mike...

and HI DOBBS -- was just thinking you'd gone missing...like some sorta old link or somethin'

 

[DobbsRover2]

Thanks, all -- especially to you, Mike...

and HI DOBBS -- was just thinking you'd gone missing...like some sorta old link or somethin'

Just to busy writing about girls who like to run up summits instead of dismantling them. But April's always too special a time to miss.