Kia to Start over Saniya on Sunday

[rocky rococo]

Just my opinion Kib, the play that mainly stands out is where Orrange attacked the basket from her right hand side going to her left, which was no surprise and Chong just opened up and let her go even though she was on the left side and could have stood for a charge or kept her on her right side.

That was a team-wide phenomenon, it happened over and over, with multiple players. I was dismayed to say the least to see such poor defensive execution by UConn. It was not just Saniya, I even saw the much-praised Nurse do exactly the same. Also MoJetts and K.

 

[Bgillon]

Starts, shmarts.
The important thing is that Saniya has been publicly humiliated (after she scored 20 points).
How she responds is the key.
If you ask me (don't have to), it should…(how about might)…have been handled differently.

How did Kia do with her first start of the season? Thankfully Geno is more objective than some of our posters and plays the women who he believes give UCONN the best chance to win.

As far as how Geno handles his players, it is amazing how he gets by without the insight of our Saniya posters. I would love to see the BY support the transition from last year's team to a work in progress team and stay away from trying to help him manage the players' egos.

 

[OssiningPride]

Never said that it wasn't eventually going to happen. You just lost Chong. Hope everybody stays healthy.

 

[Zorro]

???

 

[OssiningPride]

What i was saying is that Nurse was eventually going to start.
Probably should have started her from the start,
Hall of fame coach or not he handled the whole thing poorly.
If someone goes down and he needs Chong she might not rebound from this.

 

[HoopsFan21]

What i was saying is that Nurse was eventually going to start.
Probably should have started her from the start,
Hall of fame coach or not he handled the whole thing poorly.
If someone goes down and he needs Chong she might not rebound from this.

Chong is an adult. I'm sure she'll be OK.

 

[UConnChapette]

What i was saying is that Nurse was eventually going to start.
Probably should have started her from the start,
Hall of fame coach or not he handled the whole thing poorly.
If someone goes down and he needs Chong she might not rebound from this.

If Saniya is that fragile that she lets being replaced in the starting lineup destroy her confidence in the manner you seem to be suggesting, she came to the wrong program. I truly hope this isn't the case. I tend to think she will be fine and adapt to her sixth man role quite well.

And how do you know how Geno handled it? Perhaps he sat down with Saniya and explained his reasons for the change and she said "sure, coach, I will be ready when I get in the game" instead of "oh man, he thinks I suck. I will never be any good so what is the point? Unless I start I'm not even going to try." Seems to me you should give your hometown girl a little more credit on her strength and character.

 

[OssiningPride]

I hope so.

 

[Bgillon]

What i was saying is that Nurse was eventually going to start.
Probably should have started her from the start,
Hall of fame coach or not he handled the whole thing poorly.
If someone goes down and he needs Chong she might not rebound from this.

How do you know how he handled it? Unless of course you mean he didn't call you and get your advice first. You said Nurse probably should have started from the start. If he did that you would have complained about not giving Chong a chance. I get confused by some posters about the objective of the UCONN program this year. I am hoping for a well run program that emphasizes team over any particular player's ego, whether it be Chong/Nurse/Williams/Edwards/Ekmark or even Stokes.

 

[watanabe]

What i was saying is that Nurse was eventually going to start.
Probably should have started her from the start,
Hall of fame coach or not he handled the whole thing poorly.
If someone goes down and he needs Chong she might not rebound from this.

I'd be disappointed if Geno carried a player simply because he felt sorry for her not being able to commit.

 

[j66kicker]

Never said that it wasn't eventually going to happen. You just lost Chong. Hope everybody stays healthy.

Oh please. If her confidence was that fragile, then she probably wouldn't have the mental toughness to be an elite athlete in the first place and would probably do better to be playing intramural ball somewhere. Historically with Geno if you don't play defense you don't play. Why should she be an exception?

 

[easttexastrash]

Chong has the rest of the season to earn the starting position back. She will either step up her game and get better or she can float along at her current level and be a role player. Hopefully she will show a competitive spirit and do all she can to improve.

 

[hoophuskee]

Never said that it wasn't eventually going to happen. You just lost Chong. Hope everybody stays healthy.

What?

You can't be serious? You're being funny, right?

 

[msf22b]

What? By losing, By not playing defense, by Geno for not starting her? Give us something to respond to.

i was going to start a new thread entitled mind games.
You want something to respond to: here it is.
Saniya's game today was as inevitable as the stars coming out at night.

You take a kid…a major basketball talent, who has shown fragility in the past
And virtually all but blame her for the loss at Stanford (after she score 20 points).
Nothing about Mo (for example), who wasn't exactly an all-star on that occasion.
Now, i've read in the thread that she's a grown-up, that if she's not tough enough to take it…whatever.'
All a lot of crap in my view.

If he wants to start Nurse, fine, she's a great player
But destroying S's confidence is surely not a necessary corollary .
Some day there's going to be a kid…a talented kid like Saniya
Whose going to tell Geno to F-off, I'd rather go somewhere where I'm appreciated…now, today !

And (with all thought's to Cat, who corrected my factual errors with regard summer activities).
These sort of problems seem to occur when Geno accepts other responsibilities.
As I said earlier; this (the whole situation) might have been handled more sensitively.

 

[watanabe]

Not sure this is Geno's style. Just recently he said the he's not against paying bball players, but then he'd also like to have the right to fire them. And, he does have quite the track record in this sport to validate his style. Chong has a chance to be great. Let's see if she has the maturity to keep fighting for it. We're all pulling for her, but we are not the NC winning coach of this team (maybe in my dreams...Nah! I'm a fan, not a coach).

 

[UConnChapette]

Geno can't win. If he decides to replace a starter and ssys "I have reasons that I am not going to share" or simply " I am doing what I feel is best for us to win" people will say he owes an explanation why. When he says the reason why, he gets criticized for being insensitive. You can't have it both ways.

Geno is nothing if not brutally honest. He has been around long enough that is a fact that is well established. Kids know this coming in. My feeling is those who are claiming, in essence, Saniya's confidence has been shattered are short changing her grit and strength, and her team first attitude. You know, if I am Saniya and I hear that fans feel that I am not strong enough mentally or emotionally that I can't accept the change or that my confidence is destroyed, that would be more hurtful.

Saniya played more minutes than Kiah Stokes and only one minute less than Moriah -two starters. While she didn't score any points, none of her shots were bad shots, she didn't hesitate to take shots, she hustled on both ends. At least two of her shots were part way down before they came back out. If Geno felt she was a liability, she would have seen fewer minutes - Creighton or not. She played hard and did not look any less confident then she did against Stanford. To me anyway.

I don't get why some posters feel she isn't
tough enough to accept this move or use it as motivation to improve where Geno feels she needs to improve. She is a tough kid. I don't really think any permanent or long term damage was done to her psyche. Kind of sad that some of you don't have confidence in her adaptability.

 

[hoophuskee]

i was going to start a new thread entitled mind games.
You want something to respond to: here it is.
Saniya's game today was as inevitable as the stars coming out at night.

You take a kid…a major basketball talent, who has shown fragility in the past
And virtually all but blame her for the loss at Stanford (after she score 20 points).
Nothing about Mo (for example), who wasn't exactly an all-star on that occasion.
Now, i've read in the thread that she's a grown-up, that if she's not tough enough to take it…whatever.'
All a lot of crap in my view.

If he wants to start Nurse, fine, she's a great player
But destroying S's confidence is surely not a necessary corollary .
Some day there's going to be a kid…a talented kid like Saniya
Whose going to tell Geno to F-off, I'd rather go somewhere where I'm appreciated…now, today !

And (with all thought's to Cat, who corrected my factual errors with regard summer activities).
These sort of problems seem to occur when Geno accepts other responsibilities.
As I said earlier; this (the whole situation) might have been handled more sensitively.

I hate how some of you look upon these players as little china dolls like they are 5 year olds. But its your perogative. And the day they take your attitude - I will stop being a fan. But again your perogative.

But were you the one that said Chong is now "lost" for the season?

 

[hoophuskee]

Geno can't win. If he decides to replace a starter and ssys "I have reasons that I am not going to share" or simply " I am doing what I feel is best for us to win" people will say he owes an explanation why. When he says the reason why, he gets criticized for being insensitive. You can't have it both ways.

Geno is nothing if not brutally honest. He has been around long enough that is a fact that is well established. Kids know this coming in. My feeling is those who are claiming, in essence, Saniya's confidence has been shattered are short changing her grit and strength, and her team first attitude. You know, if I am Saniya and I hear that fans feel that I am not strong enough mentally or emotionally that I can't accept the change or that my confidence is destroyed, that would be more hurtful.

Saniya played more minutes than Kiah Stokes and only one minute less than Moriah -two starters. While she didn't score any points, none of her shots were bad shots, she didn't hesitate to take shots, she hustled on both ends. At least two of her shots were part way down before they came back out. If Geno felt she was a liability, she would have seen fewer minutes - Creighton or not. She played hard and did not look any less confident then she did against Stanford. To me anyway.

I don't get why some posters feel she isn't
tough enough to accept this move or use it as motivation to improve where Geno feels she needs to improve. She is a tough kid. I don't really think any permanent or long term damage was done to her psyche. Kind of sad that some of you don't have confidence in her adaptability.

Great post.

 

[msf22b]

I hate how some of you look upon these players as little china dolls like they are 5 year olds. But its your perogative. And the day they take your attitude - I will stop being a fan. But again your perogative.

But were you the one that said Chong is now "lost" for the season?

No, I don't necessarily think that.
But she sure looks sad out there (watching the game).

 

[hoophuskee]

No, I don't necessarily think that.
But she sure looks sad out there (watching the game).

You and I were wathcing different games then. As Uconnchap says - all her shots were good shots. I hardly call it sad- maybe her shooting awful but to call her play "sad."?. If you were a coach and evaluated every game of a player if they hit shots - you'd be a lot meaner than Geno imo. Unless you mean she was sad - like "crying sad?"

SO your evaluation of today from SC was sad-awful play. Let's see if we can find quotes from Geno to see what he thought of SC.

And what does "I don't necessarily think that"mean? You either do or you don't.

 

[pvdoggy]

Geno is nothing if not brutally honest.

It's one thing to be brutally honest, but it's another to exaggerate (like SC responsible for 30 of Stanford pts)
to make a point. I am not sure if that was necessary.

 

[msf22b]

And what does "I don't necessarily think that"mean? You either do or you don't.

No I didn't make that remark, someone else did.

And I don't necessarily think that Chong is lost for the season….Is that unclear?

But I do think that the whole episode was not handled in the best manner.
And I do think that Chong's offensive woes tonight were directly related to her being scapegoated for the loss.

 

[Tonyc]

I would think that Geno and the coaches sat the kids down and talked to them about Kia starting and Saniya coming off the bench. Its hard for me to accept that they would do anything hurtful to Saniya after having such a great game. Im reading a lot of hurtful posts in this thread from both sides. I hope the players don't feel that way. Im sure they don't. Watching Saniya Mojeff and Kia play together they looked good today. They are team mates. I really hope for everybodys sake that nobody feels as bad as Im reading they might. I didn't see that today at the game. Hey Kia had a terrific game today and Saniya had a great game against Stanford. Thats great for UConn and great for both of them. I sure hope everything is fine in Storrs.

I will say that I never thought this team would miss Stef and Bria as much as they do, but they do. This team is growing and there will be more changes before the end of the season because they are growing together and they have a new identity. One thing they do have is a lot of talent with more coming in next season and there will be more adjustments next season too. We have a lot of underclassman which includes Morgan. The future is bright for this Kia and Saniya as well as this years class and next years class. There is a deeper bench this season and as far as ball handling guards its Mojeff Saniya Kia and Sadie. Ek and Gabby are not ballhandlers. So watching todays game Saniya and Kia got a lot of minutes and a lot of minutes together. Starting and playing and finishing games are all in one. Some games you will start some you will finish and some you may not play. Thats just the way it is. Both Saniya and Kia are great ball players and I am happy we have them both. They both will play as we have seen this season, some games they may not play as much however we cant nick pick everything Geno does with the team. There is so much going on behind the scenes we don't know about. If you think Im wrong go back and read Mel Thomas's book. So lets let this play out and see how the season goes.

 

[TRest]

No I didn't make that remark, someone else did.

And I don't necessarily think that Chong is lost for the season….Is that unclear?

But I do think that the whole episode was not handled in the best manner.
And I do think that Chong's offensive woes tonight were directly related to her being scapegoated for the loss.

Funny, I thought KML was the scapegoat. I'm pretty sure Chong is mentally tougher than some of her fans.

 

[calpedaler]

I'm flashing back to the Moriah Jefferson soliloquy of 2013.