"I Can't Manufacture Any Kind Of Solution"

[SVCBeercats]

Kalana Greene was the ultimate role UCONN role player. In high school She averaged 17 points per game as a freshman; by the time she was a senior, she averaged 28 points, 18 rebounds, nine steals and eight assists per game. At UCONN she was at best the 4th option. Her role was defense and rebounding among the "trees." A tall order at 5'10" considering in her junior year she seriously damaged her LCL and ACL. Geno was quoted as saying he thought this could be the end of her career.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Did he say he was mad?

Define MAD.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Geno wants to clear up any mis-perception on anyone's part!

“People have this perception that coaches love a short bench,” Auriemma said. “I don’t know any coach that wants to go into any game feeling like they don’t have a lot of options. I can’t manufacture any kind of solution. ... Our younger players have to get better.

“You could say all you want about the reasons. I am patient up to a point and my patience has about run out. At this point this is the way it is going to be for the rest of the season. If these guys want to change that, they have an opportunity every day to come here and change that.”

Lack of depth an issue facing No. 1 UConn

One would think ---if a change is required or demanded--its it within the coaches authority, job description, to make the change as required??

 

[BroadwayVa]

Define MAD.

MAD---demented MAD--angry your choice pick one.

 

[JustinesGuy]

How is he doing her disservice? You mean it's only about "minutes?" And that's what Geno promised her? In addition you don't think she knew coming in that she was going against other h/s all-americans that she probably wouldn't break into the rotation in her 1st two years? And how often have we heard that a kid according to the coach when they first coach her is "more athletic than we thought?" Or "is more skilled than we thought?" Geno has to see them in practice. If some are "worse than you thought" when you recruited them then there are also some that are "better than you thought" too. And has Geno done a disservice to Molly Bent too?

And are we arguing the same thing? You asked why Irwin isn't playing more. I'm not arguing what she is "going to be." I'm arguing what she is right now. You spoke of playing right now. As for athleticism, Kaila McLaren wasn't athletic but she got minutes. Heck there was a stretch of time Geno had her ahead of Tina Charles. And in Doty's senior year she got minutes even though her athleticism was gone. I don't think we are arguing the same thing. I specifically addressed your question as to why she isn't playing at this moment. Just as DOty and McLaren weren't athletic - they got more minutes - so can kyla in big games down the road.

I was wondering if you could answer a couple of questions for me? You just said that Kyla is going to be good. She only got 7.8 minutes last year. Yet what you're saying is that she is going to be good (I am not arguing with you on this as to what she will become). So she has improved enough to make you believe the non h/s all-american is going to be good even though she played just under 8 minutes. So a freshman can improve playing under 8 minutes and still turn out to be good, right? And reading from your posts you don't seem ot think the freshmen are that good otherwise you wouldn't be so concerned about the future as much as you have said previously. So-- are you saying you believe Kyla will be a better player than all of the freshmen? Two of the freshmen? One of the freshmen? If you think Kyla is going to be good, in order to be concerned about the future, are you saying you saw from the start of Kyla's career and even maintain right now that Kyla is going to be better than the freshmen in the future? I don;t understand prior points of your concern for the future especially since only 7.8 minutes lats year you already see that Kyla is going to be good.

Let me try to answer your questions:

First of all when Kyla was a freshman I saw a girl with potential. I saw flashes of a tough kid, that didn't look completely overwhelmed, as well as a kid that had the confidence to take and make a shot. Coming into her Soph year I saw how much work Kyla put into getting into better shape. In limited minutes I've seen a girl that has showed more leadership and confidence. Again I am not the coach and don't see practices but in my heart I believe that if Kyla were given minutes she would flourish. Now another poster countered me and said there is a log jam at 4-5 and he was right.. Out of the sophomore class clearly I was one of the few that stressed that Danger is/will make the jump and if she does she will start. I think 2 of the 3 sophomores are solid players. I personally don't think Molly will evolve into a great or even a trusted role player. Again its just my opinion and I can be wrong.

Will Kyla be better than the Freshman? Im hoping Megan Walker turns out to be special, like a cut about a solid player... I would think Megan has more potential with the skills she possesses.. I thought AEH was going to be special, a lot better than others think on this board. I expect really good things from her and actually think her transfer was a good sized loss for the program.. Its hard to compare a 2 and a 4 but I think Kyla has more talent than Lexie and maybe coombs... Not sure I really haven't seen enough Coombs to have a true GUT feel...

I think as a soph Kyla has paid more dues and been in camp Geno longer than the Freshman and that is helpful.

I think that the 6 starters should not play the entire game(minus last 4 minutes of a blow out). I think the bench should be worked in after the first few minutes of each half. How dare Geno have KLS in the game in the 4th quarter up by 25-35 points with 4 minutes to play like he did last week( 2 games ago)?? Especially with her ankles and propensity to get shoved and hacked. She went up for a layup at the 4 1/2 minute mark in the fourth and got destroyed.. Really I need to see that??

Its ok to disagree with me this is all just my opinion.

 

[HopJim]

Is it the chicken (coach) or the egg (freshmen)?

With all due respect to one of my favorite coaches of all time, all great coaches evolve. Belichick uses new approaches every game, Saban hires new coaches to accelerate offense, etc. Geno doesn't match the frosh to the team, its still Geno 1995. Understand why-unparalleled results but factors do change. Every season and match up different. Not sure he has any downside using a sub with a 30-40 point lead other than admitting he is changing. Had for an Italian from Norristown, PA to do so.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Agreed. They have to play not being afraid to make a mistake. When you play afraid that's when mistakes are made.

Geno isn't playing the freshmen because of a confidence issue. I recall Moriah Jefferson as a freshman being afraid to make a mistake. Whenever she did something even remotely wrong she looked to Geno to see his reaction. He played her even though she was not playing with the same unbridled confidence she had in high school. Apparently she has some talent that warranted playing her for meaningful minutes. I guess she was better than any of today's freshmen. Perhaps the 2017-18 freshmen are one big recruiting mistake. We will find out at season's end. I hope not because in my mind at least two need to step up for UCONN to win the NCAA. Has UCONN ever recruited high school POY who has played as few minutes as Walker has?

 

[Rocket009]

With all due respect to one of my favorite coaches of all time, all great coaches evolve. Belichick uses new approaches every game, Saban hires new coaches to accelerate offense, etc. Geno doesn't match the frosh to the team, its still Geno 1995. Understand why-unparalleled results but factors do change. Every season and match up different. Not sure he has any downside using a sub with a 30-40 point lead other than admitting he is changing. Had for an Italian from Norristown, PA to do so.

I think the question is when did the factors change? As a rule, freshmen have always been challenged by UCONN's system. This year it appears it is taking them a little longer to adapt than normal. If anything, it is likely that the complexities of the system are increasing making it harder to adapt to rather than the freshman changing.

The coaching staff constantly look at changing what they do. The drills and methods they used in 1995 are not the same as what they do now. They evolve, take out or modify what is not working well and look to enhance the things that are working well. If they kept everything the same, they would not be winning national championships. (See TN).

 

[SVCBeercats]

Had for an Italian from Norristown, PA to do so.

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were the only non-Italian family in an Italian neighborhood in a PA coal town. I loved just observing the older folks in particular. I learned a lot of "sign language." When my father asked me why I ate more often at the Dello's and not my grandmother's, I learn the hard way tack is a good thing and I should not have responded Mrs. Dello's food is better.

 

[meyers7]

I sorely miss the freshman swagger of DT - or even the over confidence of Abrosimova - the aggressiveness of Shea Ralph.
They all seem very timid to me. It's not like they didn't know what playing for Geno would be like. It's not a mystery since he's been in the limelight for years now.

I think that might be Geno's biggest complaint with the bench.

 

[meyers7]

If he recruits a girl that is so unathlethic that she can't see the court in her first two years why bring her here to ride the pine.

I find Kyla to be a leader, knows the system, confident,

I think you may have answered your own question as to why Geno would bring her in.

 

[CocoHusky]

I think the question is when did the factors change? As a rule, freshmen have always been challenged by UCONN's system. This year it appears it is taking them a little longer to adapt than normal. If anything, it is likely that the complexities of the system are increasing making it harder to adapt to rather than the freshman changing.

The coaching staff constantly look at changing what they do. The drills and methods they used in 1995 are not the same as what they do now. They evolve, take out or modify what is not working well and look to enhance the things that are working well. If they kept everything the same, they would not be winning national championships. (See TN).

Meg Culmo, Rebecca Lobo, and Geno himself have been quoted as saying the opposite recently.

 

[JustinesGuy]

I think you may have answered your own question as to why Geno would bring her in.

Yeah. I was responding to another posters point saying Kyla cannot see more minutes because she's not athletic.

No surprise I've been a huge Kyla supporter for almost two years now. I think she can help the team now and in the future.

 

[Rocket009]

Meg Culmo, Rebecca Lobo, and Geno himself have been quoted as saying the opposite recently.

I think that's true at a high level, but on several shows over the years you see the assistants and Geno discussing how to change drills to make them better. In one Geno discusses how the staff are expected to come up with new ideas, and critique what they are doing to always try and improve it and prevent it from getting stale. (I'd point you to the shows if I could remember). I think it was part of the HBO series (maybe).

 

[CocoHusky]

I think that's true at a high level, but on several shows over the years you see the assistants and Geno discussing how to change drills to make them better. In one Geno discusses how the staff are expected to come up with new ideas, and critique what they are doing to always try and improve it and prevent it from getting stale. (I'd point you to the shows if I could remember). I think it was part of the HBO series (maybe).

The UCONN staff most definitely takes the approach of continuous improvement (tweaking) wherever possible.

 

[Twolf]

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were the only non-Italian family in an Italian neighborhood in a PA coal town. I loved just observing the older folks in particular. I learned a lot of "sign language." When my father asked me why I ate more often at the Dello's and not my grandmother's, I learn the hard way tack is a good thing and I should not have responded Mrs. Dello's food is better.

I, like you, learned about tact the hard way. My parents sternly told me that “tact” was the ability to shut your mouth before someone else wanted to. BTW, tact doesn’t work with certain game officials, and a more direct approach is called for. Knowing which ones are which is always the tricky part of the equation.

 

[HuskylnSC]

The word I continue to hear Geno use about playing time is "trust". Now I would like to know the context of how he is using that. Trust them to do the right thing at the right time with maximum effort. Trust them to do the right thing most of the time?

When I have seen the freshmen come into the game. They have no difficulty on the offensive end. On the defensive end it is a different story. They wait too long to find their man or in transition to find the correct man. Notice how many times Geno has the seconds playing with Kia for a good portion. Kia instructs them on who to play and where to go. And if Kia doesn't do it, you will see Kyla gesturing and telling them what they should already know. Geno has said many times he knows all these girls can score (Saniya was the highest scorer in New York State), they don't know how to pay basketball. When they play basketball every day in practice they can play in games.