The reason nobody will compare it is because they know the Mens game is much harder for the "greats." I don't think geno could win in the men's game, but I think lots of the great men's coaches would thrive under the women's game. Of course it's great for him he's the most accomplished girls coach ever, I commend him, but I don't think he belongs in any convos with other great coaches from other sports.
It may not translate. The levers necessary to light the fire in a female and to get them to play cohesively are most likely different than for guys. Geno has mastered the approach for the woman athlete. That's his major accomplishment imo. And not an easy one by any stretch of the imagination. Ask any guy who has been married for a while or has lots of female children or any employer with lots of women. The only thing equally difficult is for women to put up with men. Ask any women who has been married for a while...........
But the strange thing is, Geno is successful because he coaches the girls like they're men. He's tough on them and doesn't mind bruising egos for the good of the team. Another reason Geno would have been a great men's coach (too late now as he's too old to re-make himself) is that he's a charmer like Calipari. Some would say, "but that only works with girls, not male recruits." Those people are missing the key point: the real charmies (is that even a word??) aren't the player's, THEY'RE THE MOMS! There are many single parent homes in America, but the single parent is nearly always a mom. Geno could work moms of boys as well as he does moms of girls and moms have a huge influence on the college choices of recruits.
Whaty makes you think even remotely that great men's coaches would "thrive" in the women's game? Just curious but need to call you out on that one because you are certain Geno wouldn't win in the men's game? I have no idea whether either would or would not succeed but enjoy each for what the are not what they are not
Well put
An extraordinary thread. The women's game isn't the men's game any more than field hockey is bowling. But I don't care, because I'm a UConn fan. I've never been to a field hockey game, probably never will, but I'm happy when any team from my school succeeds. I can't see putting one down at the expense of the other because really, the only thing the hoop sports have in common is the court they play on. The four year versus one and done is irrelevant to me because each program competes within its own universe of rules. I dislike Squid as much as anyone, and how he manages to ethically get so much talent every year is obviously interesting, but an awful lot of Husky fans would love to have the same players UK gets. If he gets an occasional NC out of it, that's what the eligibility rules allow. Nobody cried when Drummond committed to us even though it was 99% that he was going to be one and done.
The fact is that the UConn women's hoop teams are the Rolls Royce of their game. They don't win every year, but they are never out of the discussion for the last 20 freakin' years. GA will be the first to say that it takes talent. But it should not go unnoticed that Baylor had two great first team AAs play together for three years, including arguably the most dominating center in college women's hoop history, and won only one championship. I can't imagine that have happening with Auriemma and his crew. Even accounting for the time and place, what separated John Wooden from everyone else in his day was that he not only got a lot of great talent, but he got them to play great team ball on both sides of the ball. That's what GA does with his teams. If they lose, it usually is in a dog fight (no pun intended).
I also think it's fine to criticize performance. I root hard for the men's team, but it's hard not to notice how inconsistent they are and pretty much have regularly been under KO. I want like crazy for him to succeed. Yes, his competition is much greater in the men's game, but we all can see what we see. The intensity comes and goes on D. The ball movement sucks, especially given that 90% of our coaching staff were college guards and some were head coaches as well. The big men don't really develop. I suspect that Auriemma as a head men's coach would at least get more routinely even performances. I know we won the NC last year, but to be honest, that came out of the blue, thanks to a clutch game 1 play and then the most consistent D we saw all year and one phenomenal individual tournament by SN. And back to JC, whom I think it would have been justifiable to name the football field after because the notion of big time football in Storrs just never happens without the men's hoop success, he was hardly perfect either. His sideline behavior made me cringe a lot. His teams also weren't great ball movement teams, but he was demanding as they come and did get a lot out of most of his players. He put the lie to the idea that great players would never show up in backwoods Storrs except in a visiting uniform.
We have been damn lucky to be UConn fans of any sport.
I'm good with most of it cohen but when you talk about "ball movement, inconsistent play" etc etc by the men you are once again not comparing apples to apples. When the men played Coppin State they looked like world beaters didn't they - they moved the ball, dunked when they wanted to, threw 5 passes for open looks for 3 and made them. Made steals on defense turned them into lay ups. It was a thing of beauty. Ok so now the clincher - UConn women play "Coppin State" 95% of their games. You know what I mean so try to be fair to our great mens coaches. And Geno isn't getting anything more out of Brimah than our mens staff, he's not learning anything or retaining anything as of yet that's all it is.
Other than that not a bad post!
You're missing out on a good liking @Hans Sprungfeld
Much less competition. Let's take Izzo for example. He'd get any girl he wants cause he's Izzo, and people naturally want to play for legends. He'd be able to coach all the top talent he chooses up to four years, and you won't convince me geno is a better talent developer than Izzo. I'm being very general but I think a select bunch of great coaches could coach the women's game, obviously not everyone... Also I doubt geno could manage the egos of some of these guys, it's a lot harder to coach players who can create for themselves, which let's face it, a lot of the women's game is passing cause not many of them can create for themselves.
Not really. She made the Canadian national team - in high school. The recruiting services basically just ignore foreign players. Nurse was probably a top 5 recruit, if not higher, if she played in the US. That was the only thing standing between UConn and the top rated recruiting class - Nurse basically was ignored as if she didn't count somehow.
Simply not true. He gets his fair share, or more, of the top talent, but he hasn't gotten a haul of a bunch of top 5 players since the Bird, Jones, Williams, Cash, Walters class over 15 years ago.
Really ? You're actually telling me that if Tom Izzo quit the men's game right now and took over some women's team that he would instantly replicate Geno's success ?
No, the women don't play coppin state 95% of the time. They play plenty of teams that are the equivalent of playing the Duke men if they were coached by Pastner. They play a lot of talented teams with bad coaches. He is just that much better than the rest of them. If there was more coaching parity, he would still be at least as successful as coach K.I'm good with most of it cohen but when you talk about "ball movement, inconsistent play" etc etc by the men you are once again not comparing apples to apples. When the men played Coppin State they looked like world beaters didn't they - they moved the ball, dunked when they wanted to, threw 5 passes for open looks for 3 and made them. Made steals on defense turned them into lay ups. It was a thing of beauty. Ok so now the clincher - UConn women play "Coppin State" 95% of their games. You know what I mean so try to be fair to our great mens coaches. And Geno isn't getting anything more out of Brimah than our mens staff, he's not learning anything or retaining anything as of yet that's all it is.
Other than that not a bad post!
Do you have a big exhaust pipe on your pickup truck or Evo...fella?
Three players from one class that is less than Kentucky gets every year? And I just want to say again that Calipari is a mediocre coach...because that annoys some people...and it is true. He is a great, albeit sleazy, recruiter but a mediocre coach. I would love to say he sucks but I have to admit he isn't pastner.
I thought you had me on ignore? A loser and squid fan boy is no way to go through life.
You're gonna have to buy me a drink first darlin, but I'm sure you'll be more than satisfied with the size of my "exhaust pipe"
Damn straight.