Look at what former UConn players Lauren Englin (Boston College) and Michala Johnson (Wisconsin) are doing at their new schools. Making significant contributions on decent teams. Geno and his coaches develop players!
Yeah, wouldn't it be nice for UConn to have, like a seven game schedule each year. What sheer nonsense. Our job is to insure the game isn't competitive by bringing together outstanding talent and then coaching the hell out of them and then having them play to their potential for forty minutes. That should be the mission of every basketball coach in America. Even if your talent level is less, you can still do the last two items on the list. When Geno first got to UConn we were one of those teams with minimal talent and not very well coached (I assume) where we almost never had a winning record even while playing in a non competitive league. By maximizing their abilities, coaching fundamentals to the hilt and having them play intensely for 40 minutes, we started moving up, getting better and starting to draw the interest of better players. Voila, here we are, a perennial powerhouse and if we could do it, other programs can do it, or at least improve radically and become a really good and competitive program. It's not magic, it's hard work and patience that will help teams be able to compete against very, very good teams and have a chance to become a possible top 10 team that might push and compete with one of the "giants" of women's basketball with regularity.
You know, of course, that UConn's "job" isn't putting people in the seats, it's playing basketball to the best of their abilities and making efforts to improve every day. They aren't the UConn Globetrotters whose mission is to amuse and entertain their audience. I think they want to entertain people by playing to their upmost and helping make others strive to improve themselves. If a team beat me bloody, it would motivate me to start working harder and making myself into a more complete player and helping my teammates maximize their abilities, as well. If Olympians or people striving to be Olympians had to concern themselves with not being too much better than their opponents because it might hurt their feelings, some of the magical moments that the Olympics provide, might never take place. Who wants that??????
What I understand ETT to be saying - and I happen to agree - is completely separate from your point. UConn should go out and beat the crap out of anybody they can - almost everyone out there at the moment. It is neither UConn's problem or fault that they are a lot better than almost everyone.
They ended the season at 221. I don't know what they were at the time of the game.
This point was made by Fat Lew about 10 years ago ...
Yeah, yeah, we know, and we've been hearing from all the MCBB chauvinists for years how bad the WCBB play is and how every other game is a blow-out, while there are upsets galore and all the games are so competitive in MCBB. Sure, universities don't support their WCBB teams much and many teams are poorly coached. Been there, heard that.
However, there is a major downside. As the father of a loving, trying autistic son who also has muscle tone issues and cognitive challenges, I've seen the joy of receiving a trophy that he would have no way of even competing for with typical kids. I also saw how receiving a trophy helped increase his understanding of both receiving and giving recognition for performance. He has grown from being somewhat indifferent about getting trophies to proudly reading each new one he receives aloud, while beaming, to my wife and I. He participates in special-needs baseball, basketball, fall soccer, spring soccer and bowling – that's a lot of trophies every year. And that leads to the downside ... every week or two my wife "reminds" me that it's almost time to build trophy shelves in his room, as available space is running out on top of his dresser and chest. And that's an assignment I can't find a way to weasel myself out of.