Memphis line for Stewart, Tuck , and Stokes

[winlots]

((First off, didn't we have about six points as a team when Stewart and Tuck were benched?
If we did, apparently those two had them all. I realize that points are not the whole story, but they do count a lot.))

Re the line for the three, extrapolating from their minutes played to forty minutes on the court:

Stewart: 32 points, 8 R, 8 B, O A, O TO, O S
Tuck: 20 P, 20 R, O B, 10 A, O TO, O S
Stokes: 0 P, o R 10 B 0 A 0 TO 0 S

Inviting comments on this. (Personally, I don't have a problem with what Coach did tonight; I just think these stats are kind of interesting. Pretty nice lines? )

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Yes, I noticed that too. Stewie did miss a chippy, and Morgan made an ill-advised
pass that resulted in turnover, but based on the numbers alone it doesn't look like
they did too badly.

But coach is perceptive when it comes to what his kids are doing on the court, and
he obviously didn't like what he saw. Evidently numbers don't tell the whole story.

 

[JoePgh]

I just watched the game on replay. I agree that selecting Stewie and Morgan for apparent punishment is slightly strange if you just look at their minutes at the beginning of this particular game. When they were pulled (and they were pulled at exactly the same time, so I don't understand how their minutes can be different), UConn was ahead 6-2 and all 6 points had been scored by those two players. Morgan made 2 free throws after being fouled on a drive, and Stewie made two field goals with Morgan assisting on both of them. Morgan had also gotten a rebound and was running the floor as she should.

On the very first possession, Morgan did make a lazy pass to Stewie, and Stewie did not move to the ball. The end result was a turnover. That was the only obvious example of sluggishness on their part.

Geno referred at least twice to the fact that the sluggish start did not only occur today, but in all of the last three games. He said something about the team expecting the games to be easy, which might account for the sluggishness.

So I'm now thinking that this was meant not as a specific message to those two players, but to the team as a whole. He was saying, "If you think these AAC games are easy, then I can certainly make them hard. Let's see how you do without your two best players!" It was also a message to Stewie and Morgan, not exactly about their own play, but about their leadership. "Hey, you are the leaders of this team. If the team is sluggish at the start of three consecutive games, then you have to own that." And also it was a message that a lot of coaches (and bosses) like to deliver on occasion: "You can be replaced." He let the big players know that the team can win without them, so he is not going to be forced to play them just because he needs size on the floor. Maybe he thought that they (including Kiah) were getting a little too comfortable with the fact that their minutes were basically guaranteed.

So the end result is that the other six scholarship players are all fully warmed up for extended minutes on Monday if they are needed -- Nurse / Chong / Williams / KML / Jefferson all got 30+ minutes and Courtney got 17. Presumably they also got confidence that they can play a credible UConn basketball game at both ends of the court, score points, rebound, and defend, without relying on their "big" sisters. So IF foul trouble, sluggishness, or poor shooting is a problem for any of the UConn bigs on Monday, they will get a quick hook and we will see some of what we saw in today's second half. After today, it seems less likely that UConn will lose if they have to play a small lineup for extended minutes against the Gamecocks.

It's even possible that Geno decided that the problem was with everyone EXCEPT Stewie and Morgan. Maybe he thought that in the first five minutes of the Memphis game, the other players were slacking off and were relying on those two to win the game. So he figured they would be fine for Monday, and he wanted to put some stress on everyone else.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

Joe, did you see Geno's halftime comments? He was clearly angry with Tuck and Stewart. I think he's been frustrated with recent starts and he found two, or three, to take it out on. The yelling by one of the coaches for Stewart to run probably played into it too. Here he is frustrated by a third slow start and his assistant coach screams at Stewart for not running even though it was not a fastbreak or loose ball situation.

In those first 4-1/2 minutes, Stewart tried to score inside three times which I thought was a great improvement over the Temple game where she kept chucking long jumpers. She also came out and blocked a shot near the 3-pt line. I just didn't see any huge lack of effort. Maybe the effort wasn't sparkling but that was the case with the entire starting unit.

 

[hoophuskee]

IMO the stats don't matter much. Geno used to do similar thing to Tina Charles. Like he used to expect her- a sophomore - to get a halftime double-double every game.

It's no accident the 3 UCONN the posts were benched today while Dawn benched one of her star posts from USC a few days earlier. Both coaches looking for an edge heading into the Feb 9th game. We all heard the postgame which Kara asked Meg - to paraphrase "did the players look bad or does Geno do this sometimes before a big game?" IMO Meg was being politically correct and wouldn't say that was the case for this game BUT to paraphrase she said "she asked him the same question a while back and while he said no she said she didn't believe him some of the time." This is from TWO former Geno players. They know a bit how he thinks.

He's done this benching before to fire up a player.

It's just way too much to swallow that miraculously before the big game of number vs number 2 that two coaches all of a sudden - one team benches really their top low post scorer and UCONN benches their top 3 pf/c in which the game coming up will be primarily decided in the paint (i.e if USC can dominate the paint.), that it just so happens these 4 players ALL ABOUT AT THE SAME TIME were falling at such a low standard to their respective coaches that they "HAD" to bench them "REGARDLESS" of the big game coming up.

 

[Sonny44]

((First off, didn't we have about six points as a team when Stewart and Tuck were benched?
If we did, apparently those two had them all. I realize that points are not the whole story, but they do count a lot.))

Re the line for the three, extrapolating from their minutes played to forty minutes on the court:

Stewart: 32 points, 8 R, 8 B, O A, O TO, O S
Tuck: 20 P, 20 R, O B, 10 A, O TO, O S
Stokes: 0 P, o R 10 B 0 A 0 TO 0 S

Inviting comments on this. (Personally, I don't have a problem with what Coach did tonight; I just think these stats are kind of interesting. Pretty nice lines? )

So it's much to do about nothing?

 

[winlots]

ED: agreed. JOE: terrific post....lots of interesting and provocative thoughts there. SLU: agreed again. Just a day or so ago I had put up a thread about Stewart and Chong, which took specific note of the former's tremendous display of energy.
HOOP: agreed. SON: maybe yes, maybe no.....just thought the stats and the fact that the two main "benchees" had all the teams points when they were taken out were interesting factoids. Probably gives credence to the "motivation" theory on here. Coach does have a lot of arrows in that motivation quiver, and he's shot this one numerous times in the past.

 

[EricLA]

I also think it has to do with not only the last 3 games, but what they do in practice. Geno is seeing something he dislikes from those 3 and given they aren't freshmen, as he said, they either need to get it, or sit on the bench.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

I also think it has to do with not only the last 3 games, but what they do in practice.

Well that would at least make a little more sense if that's the case. Because benching the two for that early stretch doesn't, imo.