Olympic Oops?

[Charlie]

It really doesn’t matter who the critics want on the team. They are not coaches, and haven’t won a NC or anything else for the most part. Geno is putting his reputation on the line and he is a proven winner. So who ever he wants is our best chance of winning. If someone does not fit in with a team easily, and we only have a short time to get the team working as a unit, that is more than enough of an excuse … if one is even needed! I am sure there are plenty on others folks think should be on the team too….get over it and trust that Geno will deliver….certainly the criers have no skill in producing a winners.

 

[lne001]

Parsing all your posts, all the nice words aside and based on a string of suppositions, it is your argument that it was the Coach as a result of his personal animosity, hiding behind the cover of the committee, and with the committee's complicity, who kept CP off the Olympic team. Its deja vu all over again.

No, I specifically said it was not personal. He had basketball related reasons, the specifics of which we will hopefully never know.

In any case, I don't understand why there should be any problem with Geno covertly or overtly having the power to choose his team.

 

[lne001]

It is also true that your first item - CP is one of the 5 best players in the world - is not a FACT but a subjective (bias) observation that any number of people may not agree.

It appears that you misread my statement. I said Candace is one of the 5 most talented players in the world, which most basketball experts publicly support, not that she is one of the best players. There is a huge difference.

 

[UcMiami]

Geno is not one to use or require a shield, regardless how readily available. The committee made this decision. By failing to explain the decision the committee has also victimized Geno. The joke is really on us because we are trying to justify the non-selection of Candace to this team by citing a CP game from 2012 Olympics. It not like CP has done anything since 2012, like winning an WNBA MVP. Oh that 2012 Australia team is going to be exactly the same in 2016 too. Lauren Jackson is probably working out right now!
So if Catch and sue are going to be the team Captains maybe they should have been the ones making the commercials to promote the Olympics instead of CP.

They were making the commercials, but maybe you missed that.

What do you want the committee to do - they explained it pretty clearly by not selecting her - you want them to lay out all Candace's faults so you can say 'Oh, that explains it.' Here it is - no player in a team sport exists as an island - they only exist and thrive based on the team. It doesn't matter if a player has the best stats in the world playing on another team - for this national team, the committee selected the 12 best players for this team, and Candace was not one of them. Live with it.

Wish people would just get over it.

 

[EricLA]

They were making the commercials, but maybe you missed that.

What do you want the committee to do - they explained it pretty clearly by not selecting her - you want them to lay out all Candace's faults so you can say 'Oh, that explains it.' Here it is - no player in a team sport exists as an island - they only exist and thrive based on the team. It doesn't matter if a player has the best stats in the world playing on another team - for this national team, the committee selected the 12 best players for this team, and Candace was not one of them. Live with it.

Wish people would just get over it.

Amen. And what it boils down to, vis-a-vis the BY, is the same people saying the same thing over and over again. Sadly, as the WNBA season heats up, every time Parker has a big game, people will likely get on the board and start the same comments yet again.

 

[Knoxville]

It wouldn't be as bad if they hadn't used her in commercials promoting the Olympics then drop her. That's just wrong I don't care who you are.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Amen. And what it boils down to, vis-a-vis the BY, is the same people saying the same thing over and over again. Sadly, as the WNBA season heats up, every time Parker has a big game, people will likely get on the board and start the same comments yet again.

As an extension of some of the logic used, USA Basketball should simply take the top 12 American scorers in the WNBA. Problem solved. Except that team would have huge gaps in it.

As of today, the top 12 scorers are:

Tina
Diana
Maya
Candace
Jewell
Kayla
Angel
Elena
Odyssey
Stewie
Tayler
Sugar

That team would leave us short in post defense. Tina is not tall enough to be the primary defender, and Elena, Stewie, and Candace are not strong enough. Griner and Fowles give us the interior defense.

It is also short on senior leadership, with only Diana fitting into that role.

There are NO pass-first point guards. Diana and Odyssey are primarily scorers, and Kayla, Tayler, and Sugar are not PGs.

Some players have very little international or USA Basketball experience, notably Jewell, Kayla, Tayler, and Sugar.

Looking at the differences AS A GROUP, the actual team selected has added Sue, Catch, Lindsay, Seimone, Sylvia, and Britney. The team excludes Candace, Jewell, Kayla, Odyssey, Tayler, and Sugar. If I had to add one of those groups of 6, I'd take the experienced group of Sue, Catch, et al.

 

[Plebe]

They were making the commercials, but maybe you missed that.

What do you want the committee to do - they explained it pretty clearly by not selecting her - you want them to lay out all Candace's faults so you can say 'Oh, that explains it.' Here it is - no player in a team sport exists as an island - they only exist and thrive based on the team. It doesn't matter if a player has the best stats in the world playing on another team - for this national team, the committee selected the 12 best players for this team, and Candace was not one of them. Live with it.

Wish people would just get over it.

This is exactly it. The way we—the public and the fans—respond at this point comes down to trust, respect, and loyalty:

Trust. Do we trust the USWNT selection committee and coaching staff to act in the best interests of the team? For me the answer is yes, and it's an earned trust based on their track record. Setting aside the pointless speculation (which is all it is) as to the extent to which Geno directly influenced the decision not to select Candace, there is no way that Geno, being as competitive as he is, would allow his alleged petty biases to supersede his desire to field the absolute best team possible. Geno, as coach of the prohibitive favorites, feels immense pressure to win—even more so as national team coach than as UConn coach, I would argue.

Let's entertain, for argument's sake, the suggestion that Candace's exclusion was due solely to Geno's petty personal bias. Okay: but bias against what, exactly? Against former Tennessee players? Then please explain to me why Catchings wasn't also cut. In fact, he always spoke glowingly about how Tamika plays the game. In fact, I recall an interview in which he was asked which non-UConn player would he most love the chance to coach. Without hesitation, he said Tamika Catchings, because (paraphrasing here) she plays the game the right way. Mind you, this interview took place during the most intense years of the UConn-Tennessee rivalry. If he was so biased against Tennessee that he would do whatever it took to undermine the playing careers of Tennessee players, why would he go out of his way to talk up a Tennessee player?

As for the committee, if you examine its composition you can see that each committee member has a lifelong investment in the sport of women's basketball. Let's suppose that the head coach had some unreasonable personal vendetta against an all-star player whom there was no rational or logical reason to exclude. Do we really think they would subjugate their sense of professional duty to an unreasonable demand from the head coach? I simply don't think that's how the relationship between the coach and the committee works.

[As this post has already grown inordinately long, I will take up respect and loyalty in a subsequent post ...]

 

[HuskyNan]

Maybe we should set up a new board to discuss this topic. seriously. It's the topic that won't die; it's just people repeating the same stuff over and over again. The thought of suffering through an entire WNBA season of this is just fatiguing.

 

[Mdoggie]

Isiah feels the same way. Let it die

 

[MilfordHusky]

Maybe we should set up a new board to discuss this topic. seriously. It's the topic that won't die; it's just people repeating the same stuff over and over again. The thought of suffering through an entire WNBA season of this is just fatiguing.

 

[Plebe]

Maybe we should set up a new board to discuss this topic. seriously. It's the topic that won't die; it's just people repeating the same stuff over and over again. The thought of suffering through an entire WNBA season of this is just fatiguing.

You're right. But journalists and Geno-haters have virtually vowed to not let it die. Mechelle Voepel said the topic will hover over the team all summer, and she's uniquely positioned to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[NoelAustin]

In 2008 Becky Hammon finished 2nd in WNBA MVP balloting, and was not even offered a tryout with the US Olympic team. I did not hear much outcry over that. Not like the accusations of treason for picking up 100K to play for the Russian team.

In 1992 Isaiah Thomas was denied a spot on the Olympic team, in large part because Michael Jordan did not want him on the team. He certainly had the talent to qualify. Apparently several other players on the team were fine with his absence.

 

[HuskyNan]

You're right. But journalists and Geno-haters have virtually vowed to not let it die. Mechelle Voepel said the topic will hover over the team all summer, and she's uniquely positioned to make that a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mechelle Voepel isn't an admin here.

 

[cordarone]

In 2008 Becky Hammon finished 2nd in WNBA MVP balloting, and was not even offered a tryout with the US Olympic team. I did not hear much outcry over that. Not like the accusations of treason for picking up 100K to play for the Russian team.

Heh, there are people (including some who still post here) that believe USA Basketball blackballed her from the training pool. Then again there are those who believe the moon landing was filmed on a Hollywood lot and that the man on the grassy knoll in Dallas shot JFK. :shrug:

 

[malevocalist#]

Yes it is. I knrw

I know there were lots of reasons posed for Candace Parker's being left off the Olympic roster at the time. But now that we're five games into the WNBA season, and Parker is ripping a tornado-like path through the league, can we now say that it's beginning to look as though the selection committee really blew it?

Candace Parker - WNBA

Parker is the fifth leading scorer with nearly 21 points a game, she's eighth in rebounds with 7.5, she's tenth in blocks, and twelfth in assists. She's outscoring another roster center, Griner; she's outscoring and out rebounding roster forward Tamika Catching; she's outscoring Seimone Augustus. And she's younger than Catchings. There were hints that Parker wasn't a "team player," though they selected McCaughtry, who has been benched for long periods with no obvious physical ailments.

Can we now say that the decision to leave Parker off the roster is looking pretty bad right now?

Yes it would seem that way. But i knew that decision was bad from the jump.

 

[malevocalist#]

They picked the Olympic Team BEFORE the WNBA season started, much like they pick all Americans before the NCAA tourney starts. Hindsight is always 20/20. Rebecca Lobo pointed out that the Olympic committee rewards loyalty. While Breanna Stewart has always answered the call, Parker has opted out of several Olympic competitions.

It will be interesting to see, if someone gets injured, whom the Olympic committee will choose as a replacement.

I dont think Parker's snub had anything to do with Stewie. But I see two to three players who should not have been chosen before Parker. And Stewie isn't one of them.

 

[CocoHusky]

They were making the commercials, but maybe you missed that.

What do you want the committee to do - they explained it pretty clearly by not selecting her - you want them to lay out all Candace's faults so you can say 'Oh, that explains it.' Here it is - no player in a team sport exists as an island - they only exist and thrive based on the team. It doesn't matter if a player has the best stats in the world playing on another team - for this national team, the committee selected the 12 best players for this team, and Candace was not one of them. Live with it.
Wish people would just get over it.

I wish people would stop acting like CP was just some other random chick left off the Olympic team. I wish the committee would accept responsibility for the decision, instead of leaving Geno twisting in the wind. I wish people would stop try to defend Geno from the irrational attacks that originate on other orange colored board. I wish people would stop trying to rewrite CP's history and make her into something she is not-a bad teammate or a bad player. She is one of the 5 Best women's basketball players in the world and she should be on this team.

 

[Goodgood]

I dont think Parker's snub had anything to do with Stewie. But I see two to three players who should not have been chosen before Parker. And Stewie isn't one of them.

Here we go again, over and over ad infinitum...........

 

[msf22b]

If Candace and the Sparks continue to dominate (and let's not forger Nneka, surely equally chagrined), this story will not go away despite the desires of our mods, the committee, Geno, president Obama and god knows who else.

Just like in days of yore, the essential truth will be determined on the battlefield for all to observe and ponder.

 

[Goodgood]

If Candace and the Sparks continue to dominate (and let's not forger Nneka, surely equally chagrined), this story will not go away despite the desires of our mods, the committee, Geno, president Obama and god knows who else.

Just like in days of yore, the essential truth will be determined on the battlefield for all to observe and ponder.

Wrongo. It will go away when a mod decides enough is enough and deletes anything starting with "Oops". VolNation welcomes you there where a new CP3 thread is born everyday and you can enjoy it to your heart's content.

 

[CocoHusky]

Wrongo. It will go away when a mod decides enough is enough and deletes anything starting with "Oops". VolNation welcomes you there where a new CP3 thread is born everyday and you can enjoy it to your heart's content.

Deleting anything that starts with oops sounds like a good idea, this thread would remain standing then, no? I would recommend the cesspool before encouraging anyone to go to VolNation.

 

[msf22b]

I subscribe to the oops idea...
Not a proper heading for a thread of such intensity.
See, we agree on something.

 

[UcMiami]

If Candace and the Sparks continue to dominate (and let's not forger Nneka, surely equally chagrined), this story will not go away despite the desires of our mods, the committee, Geno, president Obama and god knows who else.

Just like in days of yore, the essential truth will be determined on the battlefield for all to observe and ponder.

Unfortunately for Nneka and Candace they play in the WNBA and not on the National team in international competition against other National teams, so what LA does has no bearing on the issue. Surprisingly most of the Olympic team comes from WNBA championship winners and and WNBA players that have made it to the finals, hmmm, maybe there is something in that after all. The only ones not to play in a WNBA final is Tina and the rookie.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

This controversy will not go away until this Olympic team wins the gold medal this summer. And if it doesn't, then this thread will seem prescient. One poster suggested that we just keep quiet and "trust" the Olympic committee and head coach. People are fallible, and this could be a mistake. Even Coach Geno has made mistakes in the past, though precious few. He blamed himself for a flawed game strategy in the Final Four loss during Maya's senior season.

Far from going away, this will definitely heat up as the team begins playing games. Sue Bird will have the spotlight shining brightly on her. Britney Griner will have the spotlight on her as well.

The proof of the pudding, as they say. But these selections are certainly controversial, and no one on the committee or the coaching staff has explained these choices in a coherent fashion.

So decide not to discuss, or decide to participate. But we're going to be thinking about this, if not posting about it, from now through August.