Olympic Controversy Redux | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Olympic Controversy Redux

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Fairfield - let it go. Parker didn't get selected for the Olympic team and you see it as an injustice. And like everyone else, you entitled to your opinion but it is just that - an opinion. You have no more information on the selection process than the rest of us.

Keep pushing it and you will not have many, if any, friends here. But maybe that's what you want.
 
This thread still going ?

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Fairfield Fan said:
Last night, Candace Parker scored 28 points, and Nneka Ogwumike added 12, as the LA Sparks defeated Minnesota for the WNBA championship.

Neither Parker nor Ogwumike was selected to represent the United States on the Olympic basketball team. Parker was rumored to not be a team player. Yet she managed to lead her team to the WNBA championship.Ogwumike was voted the MVP of the league. So why were they left off of the Olympic team?

Yes, Team USA went undefeated, and blew through the opposition. But we have to question again why those two players were deemed not good enough for the Olympics. Ogwumike was voted MVP over Tina Charles, who was selected for the team. If Ogwumike was better than Charles in the WNBA (and let's keep in mind that the season was half over when the Olympics began), why was the decision made to leave her off?

What really happened? Why were both of those players left off the Olympic team?

Some might ask who should have been left off to make room for Parker and Ogwumike. The answer, it appears, would be Sylvia Fowles, who was outplayed by both in the championship series, and Tamika Catchings.

Should Coach Auriemma or the USOC explain why they made the choices they did? Seems as though those two players were so good, and their omission so glaring, that an explanation would be in order.
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Five months ago 12 players were picked over her for the Olympics and the villagers, torches ablaze and pitchforks raised, tried & convicted Geno. It was Geno they said. Not the committee, who the villagers insisted were just giving Geno the UConn-loaded team he demanded. The villagers assured us that everyone else associated with wbb thought Parker was one of the best 3 players in the world. This could only be Geno's vengeful work. Now she has been left off the list of this year's 10 best players. By whom? Did Geno hack the voting?

And what is hilariously funny is that prior to last night the same group points to the championship as evidence that Parker deserved to be an olympian. I could be wrong but until last night they almost unanimous in saying that championships shouldn't factor into all star or olympic decisions.

What a difference a day makes. :rolleyes:
 
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MilfordHusky said:
Maya has bad halves and bad games, but she rarely lacks for effort. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Candace. Candace should play as hard as Nneka all the time. Or as hard as Catch.
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So Nneka was left off the Olympic team because.....? Anyone? Anyone?
 
Did you read the whole thread? Because a number of posters addressed that very question.
 
we need to go back to when head coaches rotated for olympics. that is the most fair and honest way to run USA ball. this last team was brilliant but we would win gold playing second or third team level WNBA players. i think everyone should support rotating coaches. the best would make the team and that would include plenty of UCONN players but it wouldn't have the appearance of unfairness.
 
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There were some cries of unfairness in 2012 and that was Geno's first time as coach because there was six former Huskies on the team.

Maybe instead pick the team and then pick the coach? But that has problems, too, and it won't stop the "so-and-so should've been selected for the team" disputes.
 
Okay, look: hypothetical exercise: you have to name four and only four songs to the Hall of Fame. Four. That's it. Or, name just 5 all-time baseball players to a HOF. Five novels. How about the 12 prettiest spots in the United States?

There will always be someone left out. It's unfortunate. It's also unavoidable.
 
LadyVols9 said:
we need to go back to when head coaches rotated for olympics. that is the most fair and honest way to run USA ball. this last team was brilliant but we would win gold playing second or third team level WNBA players. i think everyone should support rotating coaches. the best would make the team and that would include plenty of UCONN players but it wouldn't have the appearance of unfairness.
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Rubbish. You want to win? You send the best you have. The best players AND the best coaches. What we have here is multiple pages of folks trying to hammer out what the word "best" means, hardly a novelty on a sports board. But let's not treat USA basketball like a rotating door prize. The most "fair and honest" way to run things is to have tryouts (check), choose really good players from among other good players (check), then go win the gold medal (check!). If you find this offensive, wait four years and cheer for Bolivia.
 
Fairfield Fan said:
I am astonished by the nastiness of these posts. In no other sport would two of the finest players in the country, perhaps the two finest front court players in the country, get left of the Olympic team, and it would not generate controversy.

I think that it is because it implies that, perhaps, the deity that is Geno Auriemma made a decision that might not have been perfect that posters here have lost their collective mind.

That would account for the fury with which posters here have reacted to what would normally be a perfectly rational question, and a perfectly rational issue.

But to those who are not blinded by their worshipful view of UConn's coach, these players just demonstrated by winning the pro league championship that they deserved to be not only on the Olympic team, but probably starters on the Olympic team.

You might raise all sorts of bizarre questions- Parker isn't a team player, she won't play defense; Ogwumike is lacking in some strange, mystical, unspecified way- as to why they were passed over.

But the simple truth is that that decision looks curiouser and curiouser. And it calls into question the judgement of the Olympic committee, and their entire selection process.

Amen.
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Your in the wrong place to be asking that question. Do you think on a U Conn board that anyone is going to agree with you when your questioning their God or any of his Disciples?( Been there done that) Good luck. Any real person with knowledge of the game knows these 2 deserved to be on the team just as much as they know Geno would not be coaching the team if he had no say so and it was up to a committee to decide who he had on his team. He is a control freak.That would never fly. That being said there is not a lot of time to get the team to gel and play as a unit. Having coached the former U Conn players and some of the other girls on previous Olympic teams makes the adjustment easier. Even if those 2 are better the difference in talent might not be enough to over take the experience of the other girls who have played for him in the past. Plus he probably felt some of the older players who had been there before had earned their spot and valued their leadership. When i coached baseball coaches did this. There were new kids that were more talented then other kids all ready on the all star team. But coaches would go with the if it ain't broke don't fix it approach and stay with the players they had who knew their system. My son was on a 3 time state title team with a coach who did this. The reality is Geno is the coach and he has had success with his system so its hard to question him. If they lost that's another story. If he is the one coaching he should be able to run the show his way with his players .He is the GOAT of women's basketball.
 
Fairfield Fan said:
So are you saying that the two players (including the MVP Ogwumke who scored the game-winning basket last night) aren't good enough to make the team? Are they un-coachable by Coach Auriemma?

And don't they deserve an explanation, instead of being denigrated with silence?
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I know what you're saying. No one has explained to me why I wasn't selected to run for President of the USA, given what I intend to do over the next six months. Regarding the game winning basket, that was made by the Lynx since it was made before possession time expired.

If the officials did not make a mistake by not reviewing that last shot attempt (as admitted by WNBA officials, this thread would probably have taken an entirely different tack. The Sparks win will forever be asterisked.
 
southbendcane said:
[...] girls [...] girls [...]
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Women. They are women. Because language and words matter.

Also, if you knew Nneka was going to go from above-average but not quite great to MVP, I'd love to get your thoughts on stocks to buy.
 
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Fairfield Fan said:
So Nneka was left off the Olympic team because.....? Anyone? Anyone?
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Numbers, as far as I can tell. She, Candace Dupree, and Odyssey Sims were on the 2014 team. They were replaced in 2016 by Sylvia, Elena, and Catch. It's a tough call.
 
I am happy for Parker and the Sparks. Candace is tremendously talented and while she may not be perfect, her game is very complete. I've posted here a couple of times I would have left off Fowles and McCoughtry and added Parker and a young guard such as Sims, Diggins, Loyd, Jefferson, someone who can help carry the national team torch. Parker should have been on the team but whoever decided had their reasons and USA basketball clearly didn't suffer as this was maybe the most talented national team I've seen since the revamp of the process in the mid 90s. All of the Huskies deserved to be on the team and Geno is far and away the best current coach in the game so I have no issues with their selection or his coaching. For now, congratulations to the Sparks, especially Candace.
 
It is incredible seeing all this backseat driving..... People landed on me for commenting on the Candace snub at the time of Olympic selection.... I am a big Candace fan, and of course she is one of the 12 best... no question...

But, with all due respect to most of us who like to handicap selections like this, who are we to know what happens in the selection room, so to speak..... I would venture to guess that 99.99% of the folks reading this forum do not have a clue what goes on there , or what went on this past summer..... not a clue..... but they can unequivocally state that it is a travesty and injustice that this person is or is not selected.....

I like to think I know a lot about women's hoops, but I am not going to stand in the way of Geno's selections, Pat's selections, Tara's selections or any other coach......

My problem is not in people questioning the selections, no, but in the degree they step on the accelerator......
 
huskeynut said:
Fairfield - let it go. Parker didn't get selected for the Olympic team and you see it as an injustice. And like everyone else, you entitled to your opinion but it is just that - an opinion. You have no more information on the selection process than the rest of us.

Keep pushing it and you will not have many, if any, friends here. But maybe that's what you want.
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You know, lighten up. Yes, this is about opinions. But cut the nastiness. If you don't agree with me, then you don't agree. But lighten up.
 
MSSportsGuy said:
I am happy for Parker and the Sparks. Candace is tremendously talented and while she may not be perfect, her game is very complete. I've posted here a couple of times I would have left off Fowles and McCoughtry and added Parker and a young guard such as Sims, Diggins, Loyd, Jefferson, .
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Can you imagine, just imagine the hue and cry if the committee (sic) would have picked Moriah to be on the team
Not that her stats for the season are out of line...but of course that's hindsight. Another year or two and there's our next starting point. Of course, we always knew that.

* Moriah had an average points per game higher than Toliver, Diggins, Cappie, Sue, Tamika, Chiney, Penny

* Moriah was 8th in assists ahead of Diana, Odyssey, Lindsay, Kristi, Jewel, Renee, Angei and one place behind
Maya...and remember, there was a paucity of scorers on her team

* Moriah was 11th in 3-point pct, behind Olympians Sue, Elena, Maya, Candace and non- Kristi, Sugar and a few
others.

* Moriah was 3rd in steals, ahead of anyone not named Alana or Tamika

By the way...a shout out to Alana Beard...boy, did she have a great series..If she was not around, Maya would have had 40 a game.
 
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If the media cared a fig about women's sports, the defeat of a pro team that started four players from the Olympic team in the league championship series by a team without an American Olympic player would be debated 24/7. If ESPN cared about women's sports, it would be the topic du jour on Sports Center. But they don't, and it's not.

You're all right that I have no inside knowledge about how the Olympic committee made their selections. And no one else does. But that's the point: an opaque process resulted in two of the most decorated, and experienced, mid-career, front court players in the country being left off the team. Yet those two players led their team to a five-game victory over a team loaded with Olympic selections.

Let's recall that controversy has followed a couple of the junior teams' selections as well. So one should raise questions as to whether this process won't prove a hindrance in the future. Has the process gone off the rails? And when D, Sue, and other super-stars are no longer there in four years, will that process's weakness be exposed?

Yes, it's my opinion. No, you don't have to comment. If you don't want to comment, don't. But save your venom.

Two all-time great players just showed up a team that included fully a third of all players on the Olympic team, and most of the Olympic starters. That's an embarrassment at least to the selection process. And just because it's not all over Sports Center doesn't mean we can't discuss it.
 
The media should now raise the question with the coaches and the selection committee. In hindsight, do they believe they came up with the best roster? Did the Parker and Ogwumike performances surprise them? Was it about the ability to work as a team? If so, did these players' ability to create a championship team prove the committee wrong?

Reporters should ask. Then we'll all know.
 
Layer one performance on top of another in a different setting should not justify that a colossal egregious mistake was made.....

I think of NFL and trades that were made..... guy was before a scrub and after trade to other team he is a hero.... does that mean the other place he was a scrub he was a miserable player? Of course not... different setting.... it still amazes me that people are so strident that a travesty was done here.... and the degree of offense was mercurial.

It was not.
 
Fairfield Fan said:
So Nneka was left off the Olympic team because.....? Anyone? Anyone?
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Because she didn't make the cut at her position, that simple. And btw I am one of her biggest fans.
 
Fairfield Fan said:
If the media cared a fig about women's sports, the defeat of a pro team that started four players from the Olympic team in the league championship series by a team without an American Olympic player would be debated 24/7. If ESPN cared about women's sports, it would be the topic du jour on Sports Center. But they don't, and it's not.
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The national media would be all over women's professional basketball if anyone (primarily women), gave a damn. They don't. ESPN caters to what its viewers want, and that is not talking about the WNBA/Olympic results after they are long concluded.

As far as Parker, Geno wanted nothing to do with her lousy attitude and there was not one good reason why he had to put up with it.
 
LadyVols9 said:
we need to go back to when head coaches rotated for olympics. that is the most fair and honest way to run USA ball. this last team was brilliant but we would win gold playing second or third team level WNBA players. i think everyone should support rotating coaches. the best would make the team and that would include plenty of UCONN players but it wouldn't have the appearance of unfairness.
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You have to face the truth that some people don't think Parker is as great as Vols fans do...and if you cry and pout about playing time why would you want to play for the Olympic team and Geno that will not tolerate it...if you leave off Catchings which I could see... that spot goes to Nneka
 
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