Kiah and SC

[uconnever]

Didn't need her

 

[JoePgh]

I was at the game, so I may have seen something that was not shown on TV. Soon after Kiah entered the game in the first half, there was a loose ball on the court near where Kiah was standing. Several players from both teams jumped on the floor to grab it. Kiah stood next to it and reached down with her arms to put her hands on it and get a jump ball call, but she did not dive for it. Geno, obviously irritated, immediately turned to Morgan (who had been sitting for a very short time) and sent her to the scorer's table to re-enter the game for Kiah. Kiah did not see the floor after that until well into the second half.

Geno saw a little bit of sluggish effort, and sent her back to the bench because of that. I'm about 99% convinced that was the reason.

 

[CocoHusky]

Stewart-Tuck-KML is THE best frontcourt in WBB and it's not close. When they are playing at, or near a level they are capable, unless there are foul issues, there is no reason to sit them for any length of time beyond a quick blow, especially since it's obvious they don't get gassed.

I don't care how many "intimidating" bigs SC, Duke, or Tennessee tries to throw at UConn, when those 3 are on their game, they'll will shred any other post group in the land.

I love Stokes and believe her to be the top defending/shot blocking/rebounding post combination in the country, but when you have the skillset of the 3 players UConn starts, there is no way a coach is going to interrupt that group when they are rolling.

Genetic & Others,
see how many people will get this reference.
Would you say "Stewart-Tuck-KML is THE best frontcourt-Hands Down" ?

 

[trisailin]

... but Geno was coaching to win the game.

Basically agree with what you wrote except the excerpted statement above. I think we as fans all see it as a game, Geno sees it as a "performance". He has alluded to this performance aspect when the team has traveled to NYC and gone to Broadway.
To Geno - performing at the peak is the goal - the win will take care of itself.
This is also potentially a partial reason why it doesn't seem to bother him nearly as much as the fans concerning the level of competition - good performance is good performance regardless.

 

[JFC613]

I was at the game, so I may have seen something that was not shown on TV. Soon after Kiah entered the game in the first half, there was a loose ball on the court near where Kiah was standing. Several players from both teams jumped on the floor to grab it. Kiah stood next to it and reached down with her arms to put her hands on it and get a jump ball call, but she did not dive for it. Geno, obviously irritated, immediately turned to Morgan (who had been sitting for a very short time) and sent her to the scorer's table to re-enter the game for Kiah. Kiah did not see the floor after that until well into the second half.

Geno saw a little bit of sluggish effort, and sent her back to the bench because of that. I'm about 99% convinced that was the reason.

I agree. I was at the game also and noticed the same thing and said to myself he looked irritated at that.

 

[geneticrex]

Genetic & Others,
see how many people will get this reference.
Would you say "Stewart-Tuck-KML is THE best frontcourt-Hands Down" ?

Burdick's laughable quote???

 

[Jonathan Husky]

I was at the game, so I may have seen something that was not shown on TV. Soon after Kiah entered the game in the first half, there was a loose ball on the court near where Kiah was standing. Several players from both teams jumped on the floor to grab it. Kiah stood next to it and reached down with her arms to put her hands on it and get a jump ball call, but she did not dive for it. Geno, obviously irritated, immediately turned to Morgan (who had been sitting for a very short time) and sent her to the scorer's table to re-enter the game for Kiah. Kiah did not see the floor after that until well into the second half.

Geno saw a little bit of sluggish effort, and sent her back to the bench because of that. I'm about 99% convinced that was the reason.

I agree with you. In addition to failing to dive for the ball she was also outrebounded by SC posts. Geno didn't like the effort and at the same time Breanna, Morgan and Kaleena were really putting out and having super games. It was the same type of decision he made when he didn't like Kia Nurse's play and replaced her with Saniya Chong.

 

[CocoHusky]

Burdick's laughable quote???

Yes!!!!! Made even more laugable by the fact that it included Dolson ( Nothing against Morgan mind you) but Dolson was widely regarded as best center in NCAA going into the season.

 

[geneticrex]

Yes!!!!! Made even more laugable by the fact that it included Dolson ( Nothing against Morgan mind you) but Dolson was widely regarded as best center in NCAA going into the season.

Sweet.

Sometimes I scare my neighbors, sometimes I scare myself!!!

Today, I did both.

 

[jimazee]

A lot of good analysis above...as stated there were probably many contributing factors before and as the game unfolded. Another,more subtle(?), was with the team on fire, Geno wanted to make a statement, and show both them and WCBB how good they really are....and that American Athletic Conference results aren't all about the opposition.

Early warning for Final Four and National Championship opponents.

 

[CocoHusky]

A lot of good analysis above...as stated there were probably many contributing factors before and as the game unfolded. Another,more subtle(?), was with the team on fire, Geno wanted to make a statement, and show both them and WCBB how good they really are....and that American Athletic Conference results aren't all about the opposition.

Early warning for Final Four and National Championship opponents.

Jimazee, you may very well be on to something here. Kiah might have been caught in a little bit of gamesmanship on Geno part- as in "I am not gonna show you everything in case I have to play you again. " I also think Dawn anticipated certain matchups and Geno gave her something else. Dawn stuck to her usual sub pattern Coates & Wilson at 14:00 mark and Cuevas and Wilson as a pair same time in second half. Dawn might have anticipated Geno countering two new fresh post with one fresh post (Kiah) and Geno chose not to. Cuevas and Chong came into the game at the same time, again I don’t know if Dawn was anticipating Chong guarding Cuevas but Geno took Jefferson off Mitchell and put her on Cuevas and Chong went to guarding Mitchell. Chong did an excellent job guarding Mitchell by the way. Moriah made a And1 style video ( pun intended) while Cuevas was attempting to guard her.

 

[Huskies Rule]

I agree with you. In addition to failing to dive for the ball she was also outrebounded by SC posts. Geno didn't like the effort and at the same time Breanna, Morgan and Kaleena were really putting out and having super games. It was the same type of decision he made when he didn't like Kia Nurse's play and replaced her with Saniya Chong.

Appreciate your Stokes observations. I agree Stokes problem was her less-than-aggressive play. But Kia Nurse was replaced for the opposite reason- her play was too frenetic and out of control at times (bad fastbreak pass to Tuck, several well-intentioned but out of control drives to the hoop, one of which was an incredible make). Kia's energy and was (and is) outstanding, always at the highest level. I'd love to see Stokes play with that same combative, attacking energy. She'd be fearsome.

 

[Geno-ista]

Probably for the same reason TLaw, Ek, and Polly played so little? Geno had a game plan, and their skills weren't needed to execute it. Geno's game plan as he said on the pre-game show on ESPN was he wanted to run South Carolina out of the gym. The guys that played the least were not going to help do that.

He figured if he could score a certain # we would win. Then he didn't risk taking his foot off the petal- I think!

 

[Zorro]

I had the same question (i.e why no Kiah), during the game. I called a friend at halftime who is very knowledgable about BB. In fact my friend was a manager of the BB team. The answer was "Geno wants scorers in the game. For this game Geno's strategy isn't to play better defense by blocking more shots. Geno's strategy is to score more points so he left the scorers in." FWIW but it came from a knowledgable source.

Sounds right.

 

[hoophuskee]

Joepgh and jfc613 nailed it which is first and foremost. Geno wants players to be aggressive- you even heard Stewie said so in the postgame. She wasn't being aggressive enough. Watch when Stewie and Tuck got pulled --- the 1st play Gabby comes in - she gets an offensive rebound. IMO that "sealed it" - to Geno-- these players -- according to Geno were content - and it set Geno off.

If you were a coach and undoubtedly told Stokes you wanted her to be more aggressive and you've told her and told and told her- and then you bench her for a good amount of time - the next game she doesn't dive on the floor - i.e. doesn't go agressviely after the ball -- what are you going to do as a coach?

You can go back 6-7 years ago -- there were comments made by Geno after a game in which he benched Tina Charles for a lot of minutes in favor of Meghan Gardler because he was disappointed with her rebounding. If he was concerned about USF's rebounding back then - then you're damn straight he was concerned about USC's recently. And as he says there are no bad wins below -- but he says -- "On the game:"--- “We are trying to get these guys to understand that there are certain things to do every night to make it worth while."

He is doing the same thing he did many years ago. To paraphrase "do what I say or you don't play." And secondly "Don't be content." IMO he felt Stewie and Tuck were content (and imo he probably feels that's Stokes gets content just to block shots and grab some boards.). and it was probably highlighted to him the second Gabby came in and got an offensive rebound while the others didn't or could have done more. Offensive rebounding is EFFORT. And in the USC game - IMO he felt Stokes was content and the fact she didn't go hard after that loose ball -- he wants her going hard all the time which was the purpose of the benching the game before vs Memphis. Right before his eyes she didn't do it- so she got sent back to the bench. Here is what was said years ago and imo still rings true today:

Does this feel like a win?
“Yes, every win feels like a win but some wins are better than others. Some are great wins; some are good wins, never a bad win.”
What did you see as the major problems in the game tonight?
“We won by 20 and you ask if we have problems; so what if we are number one, sometimes Tiger Woods only wins by one or two strokes. Do we have to win every game to prove that we are a good team? It is pretty good that we sucked and won by 20. Why did we play bad? Some times it catches up to you that you do not have enough guys to put in. When guys struggle or are not all there mentally or physically and you don’t have enough people to put in, then you have to get through nights.”
On the game:
“We are trying to get these guys to understand that there are certain things to do every night to make it worth while. We told them and worked on it; South Florida is a good rebounding team; they don’t make a lot of shots but they go hard to the boards but they out rebounded us.”
On Tina Charles:
“You have to be good every night if you want to be great; if you want people to talk about you like an All-American then you have to be good every night. You don’t have to be great every night but you have to be good and there are too many nights where she is just content and that bothers me.”
On Meghan Gardler:
“When the shot goes up, you go after it instead of letting them come to you and maybe because Meghan knows that if I don’t do it I won’t play. Since she knows she has to, she does it; catch the ball at the high, post dump the ball down, lay-up. Why because if I don’t do it Coach Auriemma won’t play me.”

 

[JSB60]

Also, I think Geno didn't feel like he could tolerate mistakes, quick hook for Stokes on the loose ball, quick hook for Nurse on the bad fastbreak pass to Tuck. But most of all, Stewie was able to be the rim protector so they could have another offensive player. I do note that Kiah made a pretty nifty post move in the second half, though.

 

[manfredonia]

Has anything been said about why Kiah played so little against SC?

If we were out rebounded and/or giving up inside baskets she would have played a lot more.