NY Post writer says Geno is a cruel-hearted meanie

[DefenseBB]

Why waste our time dealing with an idiot. Let’s all just shake our head in disgust and move on to “NEXT”...as Bob Weir once famously said when asked about the Grateful Dead and what he could do to sway the the critics to like the “Dead”, his comment was “I like pistachios and when we started out, I would try to open every pistachio regardless of how hard it was to crack, now, with our abundance of pistachios I just eat the ones that open easy and don’t waste my time on the ones unwilling to open easy”. Point being is so many do “get it” and to try and waste time on those who don’t, it is not worth the effort. Same here.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of the 2017-18 UConn road to their 12th national title...

 

[Centerstream]

He's written a lot of stupid columns but I was loathe to link them. I didn't want to drive any more traffic to the tabloid Post, honestly.

Excellent decision! I applaud you.

Well Done Applause GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

 

[Sluconn Husky]

From today's article on Megan Walker's trials and tribulations:


“I try not to put players with bad habits on the court for long minutes, so that is why we look so good a lot of times,” Auriemma said after a semifinal victory over Cincinnati, a game UConn led 43-5 at halftime. “Obviously we want to win, but we want to improve. So if you are on the court doing dumb stuff and not improving you will not see a lot of minutes.”

 

[BigBird]

It's just the Post being the Post.

 

[my2cents]

The other point that this writer and others of his ilk miss is that UCONN starters play the LEAST minutes of any major program. The semi final game, most of the starters were out mid way thru the third qtr.
All the points, rebounds that they don't get because of limited playing time means they sacrifice career totals in comparison to their peers in WCBB.
Geno says you don't come here to score the most points, just the most WINS.

 

[Buzzyboy]

He’s a junk writer. He should be yanked after the first paragraph in favor of the new kid who covers little league baseball Play the bench.

Shouldn't everybody get a trophy????????

 

[huskyd]

Geno has his own rationale for playing his stars as much as he does. Coach says that those are the people the fans come to see. Even though many outcomes are preordained, Geno feels that he is providing entertainment and that means playing his best players as long as is reasonable (to him). He also cares about the quality of the play; he will not tolerate embarrassing spectacle. Often he will work his regulars when he thinks they need the work due to prior let downs. Given his track record, whatever he decides is ultimately for the best.
I do like the name "Mushnick"; sounds like Nudnick, a fool in Yiddish.

 

[Carnac]

After a search I see this is a common theme with Mr Mush. How did we not know about this guy?


UConn women 116-55 over Albany, Saturday. Two UConn starters played over 30 minutes; two subs played five, another played three. That stinks. Again. But that Geno Auriemma? What a coach, what a champ!

https://nypost.com/2017/03/20/two-plays-that-show-just-how-ridiculous-the-ncaa-has-gotten/


Geno Auriemma is still at it. In UConn women’s 93-36 win at Memphis, Wednesday, he played one kid four minutes, another just two. Jim Calhoun was similarly nurturing when he coached UConn’s male student-athletes.

https://nypost.com/2018/01/29/mlb-now-going-out-of-its-way-to-celebrate-bat-flip-immodesty/


Geno Auriemma’s Connecticut women’s team had it won extra early Tuesday on SNY. They led Cincinnati, 89-38, with 7:40 left.


Still, Auriemma must have been worried UConn’s No. 1 ranking and winning streak were in peril, as he played his starters a minimum of 29 minutes each. Among the 10 young women he played, one — a senior described in player profiles as a superior student — first entered with two minutes left and UConn up, 94-46. He does such a lot.

https://nypost.com/2017/02/09/the-falcons-demise-was-just-like-another-infamous-collapse/


BTW, on that last one, the player who saw two minutes was Tierney Lawlor. I guess walk-ons are supposed to play mucho minutes, not that he had any clue she was a walk-on.

Those that can, DO. Those that can't criticize. Those of us that follow the program very close year round, know the real deal. We don't need an uninformed "outsider" to glance over the program, and tell us what we're looking at.

 

[Carnac]

No, he's not. He's been laughed at by the rest of the media forever.

Like we're laughing at him NOW!!!

 

[Charliebball]

I'm sure there are plenty of opposition coaches and fans that don't appreciate UConn playing starters into the fourth quarter of an incredibly lopsided game.....................if the shoe was on the other foot perhaps we might feel the same way..................the fact that the writer doesn't understand Geno's philosophy is understandable since he doesn't follow the program..................that's on him.......................certainly not worth getting upset about it..........

 

[JordyG]

Let's just say that The New York Post is most famous for their front page headline, "Headless Women Found In Topless Bar", and their back page headline, which is reserved for sports, "Coke Free Sugar", which referred to Sugar Ray Richardson's test results. 'Nuff said.

 

[Kevin G]

This guy is an IDIOT!! Like I'm going to listen to a person who has watched alL but 5 minutes of WCBB

 

[Waquoit]

What's the problem? Geno does run up the score, often.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Geno has his own rationale for playing his stars as much as he does. Coach says that those are the people the fans come to see. Even though many outcomes are preordained, Geno feels that he is providing entertainment and that means playing his best players as long as is reasonable (to him). He also cares about the quality of the play; he will not tolerate embarrassing spectacle. Often he will work his regulars when he thinks they need the work due to prior let downs. Given his track record, whatever he decides is ultimately for the best.
I do like the name "Mushnick"; sounds like Nudnick, a fool in Yiddish.

As you suggest, it sounds like a pretty good word to use: "Some mushnick left the lights on again."

Maybe we can make a concerted effort to use it here on the BY and it will eventually go viral.

 

[Roger G]

Shakespeare put these words into the mouth of his character, Hamlet: "I must be cruel, only to be kind."

Geno's seeming cruelty makes his players better, makes his opponents strive to be better, and makes women's basketball better. When there is nothing but niceness in the world, we will see that the human spirit is dead. Life is messy, sometimes ugly, but without the tussle between light and dark, life and sports would be much less fun.

 

[Stinger92860]

Seems every end to the season brings the spotlight on UConn and the yahoos come out pretending they have profound knowledge of the head coach's evil ways.

I give you Phil Mushnick:


Again, I don’t care if Geno Auriemma’s UConn women’s teams win 9,000 straight, he’s cruel. Cruel but fair. He’s practiced at humiliating both UConn’s opponents and the kids on his bench.

With 3:30 left in the game, UConn up 50 in what would be a 75-21 final, Auriemma first put in the last kid on his short — six subs — bench. Perhaps he wanted to rest her for practice.

...

But such cruelty has been tradition at UConn. Former men’s coach Jim Calhoun was at least as cruel. In a 2005 game versus Texas Southern, UConn led 111-47, with 55 seconds left, when he first put in four subs.

One of Calhoun’s former assistants, Tom Moore, several years ago explained on WFAN that Calhoun allows his top recruits to pad their stats against patsies. Moore, then coaching Quinnipiac, seemed to find that comical, part of Coach Calhoun’s wily, winking charms.


Those ostensibly at UConn’s wheel — the president, for example, although paid far less than Auriemma is and Calhoun was — are good with that, too.


Scroll down:

https://nypost.com/2018/03/09/ncaa-puts-profits-first-while-preserving-student-athlete-con/

I don’t agree with Mushnick on this, but I still think what Geno did to the freshman class of 2010 was wrong and bordered on cruel. They love him now, of course.

 

[Uhuru]

There was a time when articles from writers like this would be in demand, but alas, few of us have outhouses these days.

 

[ASweet3781]

I honestly thought Mushnick was dead.

 

[CMC'72]

I give you Phil Mushnick:

Some men establish great teams and increase their audience through creating and maintaining excellence...

Other man try to increase their audience by pointing out flaws, having no chance at greatness.

Which do you choose to follow?

 

[Bama fan]

As you suggest, it sounds like a pretty good word to use: "Some mushnick left the lights on again."

Maybe we can make a concerted effort to use it here on the BY and it will eventually go viral.

Our first(to my knowledge) neologism! Use it often. Give it wings. I like it a lot.

 

[PhillyCoach]

What I found funny was, for a few pages of posts, it was open season to demean and trash Mr. Mush and the Post. It was kind of surprising that many posters that I look forward to reading-- had the knives out & were kinda harsh. Mr. Mush was way off base in my opinion and the Post is a newspaper like many others--lower journalistic standards.
I don't want to get on the bad side of some of youse guys.

 

[diggerfoot]

I'm sure there are plenty of opposition coaches and fans that don't appreciate UConn playing starters into the fourth quarter of an incredibly lopsided game......if the shoe was on the other foot perhaps we might feel the same way...the fact that the writer doesn't understand Geno's philosophy is understandable since he doesn't follow the program...that's on him........certainly not worth getting upset about it.....

As I consider you one of our most knowledgeable posters, the sentiment expressed here and in your "prove a point" post surprises me. I can think of at least three occasions where opposition coaches made a point of praising Auriemma for "calling off the dogs," including once this year. The most famous incident was by Therese Grentz (sp?), who I believed coached Iowa at the time. Both Tennessee and UConn played and beat her team badly in the same year (ah, those were the days). Yet she acknowledged and praised Auriemma for easing up, in a manner that left no doubt she also was criticizing Summitt, which is what made this such a memorable incident.

It appears that you actually have less appreciation than "opposition coaches" for what Auriemma does once the game is "incredible lopsided." Though I'll grant you that if we were opposition fans we would not appreciate Auriemma for late game tactics, because that is how opposition fans feel despite whatever evidence presents itself. However, writers should be more like coaches than fans in basing their opinions on the actual evidence.

There were some lean roster years when Auriemma had to play starters in the fourth quarter despite an "incredibly lopsided" margin, but it seldom happens when he has plenty on the roster. When he does, it's usually just one of the most experienced players, which I suspect was for the sake of stabilizing the performances of the less experienced as they ran half court offense, a completely understandable goal. This year, I believe Nurse is often the last one left in, even in the fourth, for the sake of guiding and stabilizing the performance of the bench.

 

[HuskyNan]

NO POLITICS. Geez. Read the rules tacked to the top of the board.