It's ASJHA! | Page 3 | The Boneyard

It's ASJHA!

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One things that drives me nuts is fans that don't at least ask themselves why a coach or committee makes a decision before complaining about it. At least think about how the decision could be reached without ulterior motives.

I thought why Asjha made the team over Dupree, Brunson, and Young was rather obvious if you just ask what makes Asjha different from the other three? Size!

Asjha's wider body carries more weight than any of the others. Asjha can defend centers where the others are basically pure power forwards. That difference is significant on a roster with only three other true post players. Throw in Asjha's extensive resume playing on top European teams and you have a very logical reason to go with Asjha even if she is not the best individual player in a vacuum. The national team committee making sure there is someone with the size to defend centers in an emergency is a precedent that far precedes Geno becoming head coach.
 
Scotter said:
One things that drives me nuts is fans that don't at least ask themselves why a coach or committee makes a decision before complaining about it. At least think about how the decision could be reached without ulterior motives.

I thought why Asjha made the team over Dupree, Brunson, and Young was rather obvious if you just ask what makes Asjha different from the other three? Size!

Asjha's wider body carries more weight than any of the others. Asjha can defend centers where the others are basically pure power forwards. That difference is significant on a roster with only three other true post players. Throw in Asjha's extensive resume playing on top European teams and you have a very logical reason to go with Asjha even if she is not the best individual player in a vacuum. The national team committee making sure there is someone with the size to defend centers in an emergency is a precedent that far precedes Geno becoming head coach.
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All excellent points. There are other factors, too:
1. Asjha is very versatile. She can make other PFs come out of the paint to defend her. I wonder if Geno will let her shoot from the perimeter like she did in college?
2. She's familiar with Geno's system and with most of the other players on the Olympic team. That means a shorter learning curve, which is important as the team doesn't have a lot of time available for practice.
 
HuskyNan said:
All excellent points. There are other factors, too:
1. Asjha is very versatile. She can make other PFs come out of the paint to defend her. I wonder if Geno will let her shoot from the perimeter like she did in college?
2. She's familiar with Geno's system and with most of the other players on the Olympic team. That means a shorter learning curve, which is important as the team doesn't have a lot of time available for practice.
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I was thinking of the part I bolded as well. Half of the Olympic team are going to be very familiar with Geno and how he works. Like putting on a pair of old, comfy sneakers.
 
doggydaddy said:
You're kidding, right?
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I didn't think it was bad. A couple pissy posts. Heck there were more posts here about their pissy posts than actual pissy posts there.
 
And I'm reminded how fortunate for her career that she escaped the WNBA's woeful Washington franchise.
 
It's great she is on the team, and I hope she gets that Gold medal. That would be a great memory/reward for her. However, we do have to realize, the the 11th and 12th players are not going to get a lot of playing time. They may not even be used in the medal rounds.

One reason I think they may have taken Jones. She's mostly going to be a practice player, not someone they rely on. So you get a practice player who knows the system, works hard and works well with the coach.
 
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We all know the details, but Mechelle's list of championships won by this group is staggering. A very impressive group!
 
MilfordHusky said:
We all know the details, but Mechelle's list of championships won by this group is staggering. A very impressive group!
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By my count, just based on college accomplishments:
  • Six total NCs
  • Three undefeated seasons, of which all but two games were by doube digit margins. Think about that. Only TWO games in three seasons were even by single digits (Virginia Tech 2002, NC game against Stanford 2010). By contrast, Baylor just finished one undefeated season with five single-digit victories.
  • Nine final fours
  • 160 combined consecutive wins, 153 of which were by double digits.
  • Six seasons worth of NPOY awards (2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011)
  • Six top five WNBA draft picks
And by the way, the reason UConn has so much success? Look at where these six women are from:

  • Sue- Long Island by way of CTK
  • Swin- Pittsburgh
  • Asjha- Jersey
  • Diana- Cali
  • Tina- NYC
  • Maya- Atlanta 'burbs
No reliance one area for recruiting. Yes, Geno focuses heavily on New York and Pennsylvania, but if you're good, he's going to find you and recruit you. That's a big part of what makes UConn such a special program- the relentless, national/international pursuit of talent.
 
Not sure if it's been posted. It may even have been in this thread, but i'm to tired to read back. Check out this video of Top ten highlights from the euro league. Asjha, Maya and Diana are all on there.

 
alexrgct said:
No reliance one area for recruiting. Yes, Geno focuses heavily on New York and Pennsylvania, but if you're good, he's going to find you and recruit you. That's a big part of what makes UConn such a special program- the relentless, national/international pursuit of talent.
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Actually I think causation runs the other way. Success allows you to recruit nationally.

Geno's first big non-NEastern recruit didn't come until Tammy Arnold (HS 1995).
 
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Perfect selection of a perfect Olympian...Congrats Asjha. I am loving this team! :)
 
vowelguy said:
Actually I think causation runs the other way. Success allows you to recruit nationally.

Geno's first big non-NEastern recruit didn't come until Tammy Arnold (HS 1995).
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Yes and no. Yes, Geno leveraged the success had with Northeastern (primarily New England) girls to recruit the bejesus out of everywhere else. But he gets credit for having the cajones to do it. A lot of schools stay/stayed primarily regional.
 
vowelguy said:
Actually I think causation runs the other way. Success allows you to recruit nationally.

Geno's first big non-NEastern recruit didn't come until Tammy Arnold (HS 1995).
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Actually, considering how Tammy really turned out, I would say that you would have to go a couple of years later, to Shea, Paige and Stacy to find non-NE recruits that made solid contributions (much more than solid, in Shea's case).

Also, there was Amy Duran, maybe in the same class as Arnold. Amy was solid.
 
alexrgct said:
Yes and no. Yes, Geno leveraged the success had with Northeastern (primarily New England) girls to recruit the bejesus out of everywhere else. But he gets credit for having the cajones to do it. A lot of schools stay/stayed primarily regional.
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I don't know how much cojones it took. Pretty much any coach will leverage local success to recruit nationally.
 
I agree with those that note that arguments in The Summit are for the most part reasonable and not overly abusive.

What's interesting to me is that some of Scotter, Nan's and Mechelle's points are virtually the same as those on the UTENN board, but taking the other side of the argument.
If one of the main reasons that Asjha was taken was her familiarity with a system within a short practice period, than one has to understand that there is a natural flip side to that argument that others may choose to pursue.

At the end of the day, IMHO, Asjha's strength in the paint both offensively and defensively was probably the deciding factor over Candice, whom I favored, obviously for other reasons; her pure explosiveness.
 
speedoo said:
Actually, considering how Tammy really turned out, I would say that you would have to go a couple of years later, to Shea, Paige and Stacy to find non-NE recruits that made solid contributions (much more than solid, in Shea's case).

Also, there was Amy Duran, maybe in the same class as Arnold. Amy was solid.
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Tammy was the #3 recruit I believe, so it was a huge coup for Geno. He showed that he was starting to compete on a national scale.

Amy was from Maryland, so still a Northeasterner.

Shea/Paige/Stacey were from the following year.
 
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vowelguy said:
the 12th Olympian

Congrats!
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They are having a hissy fit over on the Vol's Slummit, saying it's Geno's choice to select his former UConn players. I visit their myopic message board from time to time. I enjoy their jealousy of everything UConn women's basketball. All they think about is UConn!
 
If Dean Smith can pick all of his own guys, so can Geno.
 
Giovanni - I agree with you..... they are obsessed over there about us, while still maintaining that they are the penultimate in WCBB to the exclusion of all comers. Their jealousy is intense.... and for this particular chapter of TN talk, the Olympic picks are blatant bias, and Geno is the puppeteer behind the scenes lending all the influence. It borders on the amusing to witness.
 
Waquoit said:
If Dean Smith can pick all of his own guys, so can Geno.
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Dean had 4 of his UNC players on the 1976 team (Ford, Davis, Kupchak and LaGarde). Dean also selected his Carolina Asst Coach Bill Guthridge as an asst on the USA team. Back then, of course, only collegians played so those guys were current UNC players. I have no memory of eyebrows being raised by the selections, though it would be hard to argue with Ford and Kupchak for sure. Most everyone back then was focused on winning the gold after the controversial loss 4 years earlier. The USA Men's team won the Gold Medal in 1976.

Each of the 6 UConn players on the current team have gone on to establish themselves professionally (WNBA and Europe).


EDIT: Upon further research, there indeed was controversy over the selection of 4 Carolina players on the Men's National Team. Boy does this sound familiar:

"North Carolina’s Dean Smith, who was 45 years old in 1976, was selected to fill that role by a committee that included Iba, Red Auerbach, Pete Newell, Wayne Embree and Dave Gavitt. The Tar Heel coach picked his good friend John Thompson and his right-hand man at UNC, Bill Guthridge, as his assistants.

Picking the 12-man roster for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team was far more controversial. When the team was announced after tryouts on the N.C. State campus in Raleigh, it included seven ACC players, including four from Smith’s own UNC team.

“I didn’t select the players; the selection committee did,” Smith later wrote in his autobiography. “I had a single vote. I was allowed to advise the committee on the type of players I was looking for, but that was no guarantee that I would get the players I wanted. In fact, I lost several arguments.”

Nevertheless, Smith became the target of critics who claimed that he stacked the team with his own players. He was blasted for cutting Marquette big man Bo Ellis, who actually quit during the second lap of Smith’s required mile run, while keeping his own Tommy LaGarde, a big man who had played second fiddle to UNC’s Mitch Kupchak during the 1975 season.
 
msf22b said:
I agree with those that note that arguments in The Summit are for the most part reasonable and not overly abusive.

What's interesting to me is that some of Scotter, Nan's and Mechelle's points are virtually the same as those on the UTENN board, but taking the other side of the argument.
If one of the main reasons that Asjha was taken was her familiarity with a system within a short practice period, than one has to understand that there is a natural flip side to that argument that others may choose to pursue.

At the end of the day, IMHO, Asjha's strength in the paint both offensively and defensively was probably the deciding factor over Candice, whom I favored, obviously for other reasons; her pure explosiveness.
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I am confused by this, as Candice is on the Olympic team.....see USA basketball site for roster.
 
A great chose.Watched her from her freshman year at UCONN ,never a better competitor!
 
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msf22b said:
I agree with those that note that arguments in The Summit are for the most part reasonable and not overly abusive.

What's interesting to me is that some of Scotter, Nan's and Mechelle's points are virtually the same as those on the UTENN board, but taking the other side of the argument.
If one of the main reasons that Asjha was taken was her familiarity with a system within a short practice period, than one has to understand that there is a natural flip side to that argument that others may choose to pursue.
Expand ...

What exactly is the flip-side to wanting to compensate for the lack of available practice time by choosing players who are familiar with the coach and familiar with the other players?
 
vowelguy said:
I don't know how much cojones it took. Pretty much any coach will leverage local success to recruit nationally.
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The Texas programs aren't doing it like they could be. Baylor got Alexis Prince, but that's one of they few examples. Seemed like the feeling was, well we're winning with Texas kids, so let's keeping focusing almost exclusively on that.

Geno branched out immediately and kept pushing. The Deep South was a tough nut to crack, but that didn't keep him and CD from trying and trying until they had success. Even in 2012, UConn is getting its first Texas kid. That's the relentlessness that's unique.
 
ChicagoGG said:
I am confused by this, as Candice is on the Olympic team.....see USA basketball site for roster.
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Dupree was on the initial list of finalists. But the final 12-member Olympic team is listed here
 
UConnCat said:
Dean had 4 of his UNC players on the 1976 team (Ford, Davis, Kupchak and LaGarde). Dean also selected his Carolina Asst Coach Bill Guthridge as an asst on the USA team. Back then, of course, only collegians played so those guys were current UNC players. I have no memory of eyebrows being raised by the selections, though it would be hard to argue with Ford and Kupchak for sure. Most everyone back then was focused on winning the gold after the controversial loss 4 years earlier. The USA Men's team won the Gold Medal in 1976.

Each of the 6 UConn players on the current team have gone on to establish themselves professionally (WNBA and Europe).


EDIT: Upon further research, there indeed was controversy over the selection of 4 Carolina players on the Men's National Team. Boy does this sound familiar:

"North Carolina’s Dean Smith, who was 45 years old in 1976, was selected to fill that role by a committee that included Iba, Red Auerbach, Pete Newell, Wayne Embree and Dave Gavitt. The Tar Heel coach picked his good friend John Thompson and his right-hand man at UNC, Bill Guthridge, as his assistants.

Picking the 12-man roster for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team was far more controversial. When the team was announced after tryouts on the N.C. State campus in Raleigh, it included seven ACC players, including four from Smith’s own UNC team.

“I didn’t select the players; the selection committee did,” Smith later wrote in his autobiography. “I had a single vote. I was allowed to advise the committee on the type of players I was looking for, but that was no guarantee that I would get the players I wanted. In fact, I lost several arguments.”

Nevertheless, Smith became the target of critics who claimed that he stacked the team with his own players. He was blasted for cutting Marquette big man Bo Ellis, who actually quit during the second lap of Smith’s required mile run, while keeping his own Tommy LaGarde, a big man who had played second fiddle to UNC’s Mitch Kupchak during the 1975 season.
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Great find, Cat. That quote from Smith is the best insight I have come across into the way USA's olympic team selection actually works, and it's probably reasonable to assume it still works that way for both the men's and women's teams.
 
Dawson said:
Not sure if it's been posted. It may even have been in this thread, but i'm to tired to read back. Check out this video of Top ten highlights from the euro league. Asjha, Maya and Diana are all on there.

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Great stuff. Lots of USA Olympians in that video - it's going to be a great summer of USA hoops.
 
alexrgct said:
The Texas programs aren't doing it like they could be. Baylor got Alexis Prince, but that's one of they few examples. Seemed like the feeling was, well we're winning with Texas kids, so let's keeping focusing almost exclusively on that.

Geno branched out immediately and kept pushing. The Deep South was a tough nut to crack, but that didn't keep him and CD from trying and trying until they had success. Even in 2012, UConn is getting its first Texas kid. That's the relentlessness that's unique.
Expand ...
Just to add to this, the rift between Pat and Geno wasn't really about how Geno recruited so much as that he was successful doing so. The "how" part was just a convenient straw man. When UConn and Tennessee first played, the LVs had Marciniak, a high school NPOY from Pennsylvania, and in the next year's recruiting class a girl from CTK named Chamique Holdsclaw. It rapidly became difficult for Pat to get those kinds of players from those states of Geno wanted them. So Geno had the northeast, Pat had the Deep South, and everywhere else was a battleground. But when Geno got Maya out of Atlanta, that really changed the power dynamic in WCBB. And that's when Pat was done. She might not be able to stop UConn, but she wasn't going to help by playing that annual game. I can't prove this obviously, but I am firmly convinced this is at the bottom of it.
 
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