Per Geno This Team "Duds"

[GoUconn7961]

We could analyze Geno to death and we'd still never figure him out. That makes me happy.

 

[BostonCanuck]

There are a couple of players on this team who probably have a more quiet and cerebral approach to things than, say, MoJet or Stewie. Dangerfield and Collier, for example, may come to mind in that regard. In trying to express this concept, I think Geno grasped for a word in the spur of the moment, and came up with that one.

Now if the opportunity to be more considered had been available, I'm pretty sure he would have framed it somewhat differently. The context that many of you have provided from his additional comments makes that pretty clear to me, so I am cutting him a lot of slack on this one.

 

[Zorro]

Anybody who takes anything Geno says at face value either hasn't been around here long or has not been paying attention.

 

[Woof 101]

I'm with you on the team having more fun than last year. I can't help if the team last year, while serious and focused on their goal, was also feeling some pressure of expectations--they were supposed to win a fourth straight title.

This team has less to deal with regarding such pressure. It's their team and it's their own trip. They strike me as having fun. I hope so.

Gus, always like what you bring to the table so no spitting match here. My slight disagreement would be with the pressure being less on this team than last years or those in the past. A monster has been created in the form of a juggernaut and what team under this scrutiny wants to be the one that does not meet expectations?
There is always pressure here.

These girls read and hear they are the team that can't possibly keep the streak going day in and day out. They hear UConn lost the first three draft picks in the WNBA.
One could be sure they still talk to the teammates that have gone on and most likely hear don't let it go! It takes a lot of pride and moxie to sustain as a player here as witnessed by very good recruits that have quickly moved to locations of much less pressure. This also in the classroom....

This team has obviously grouped and vowed to not let the deal go down even as the coaching staff the fans and any of us concerned would be forgiving. So far our sympathy has not been needed. They have exceeded expectations and then some but one can rest assured they feel the pressure of the program. In the end that's why they came here.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Gus, always like what you bring to the table so no spitting match here. My slight disagreement would be with the pressure being less on this team than last years or those in the past. A monster has been created in the form of a juggernaut and what team under this scrutiny wants to be the one that does not meet expectations?
There is always pressure here.

These girls read and hear they are the team that can't possibly keep the streak going day in and day out. They hear UConn lost the first three draft picks in the WNBA.
One could be sure they still talk to the teammates that have gone on and most likely hear don't let it go! It takes a lot of pride and moxie to sustain as a player here as witnessed by very good recruits that have quickly moved to locations of much less pressure. This also in the classroom....

This team has obviously grouped and vowed to not let the deal go down even as the coaching staff the fans and any of us concerned would be forgiving. So far our sympathy has not been needed. They have exceeded expectations and then some but one can rest assured they feel the pressure of the program. In the end that's why they came here.

Woof, thanks for your civil post.

OK, fair enough. Yes, you're right that there is always pressure. Expectations are always in the stratosphere.

Let me see if I can take another stab, no spitting match intended:

Last year's team had extraordinarily high expectations because of the 4 straight aspect, the history it would make, and the accomplishment it would represent for The Big Three. It's analogous to Geno and the Olympic team--so much pressure not to lose because they are expected to win, indeed to dominate.

With this year's team I don't think the pressure is as much because the expectations have to be tempered by both what they lost and the particular set of talent coming back. To be sure, several of these players are, well, awesome. But last year's senior class was not followed up (for whatever reasons) by a "typical" UConn recruiting class of three or four talented players, a situation aggravated by some unfortunate transfers, so this team is relatively young and has a shorter bench. Also, the lack of height looked to be an issue going in, not on the offensive side, but in terms of post defense. Happily, so far the team has handled that well.

We could make the case that there is extraordinary pressure on this team to keep things going and win a fifth consecutive title, but I didn't see that as very realistic going in (without Tuck). I was thinking maybe expectations should be lowered to maybe the upper troposphere (it looks now like I might need to adjust my thinking on all that). In that case, the team could adopt a happy-go-lucky-what-have-we-got-to-lose mindset. Just have fun and play.

Naturally, I could be all wet with all of this.

I don't know if I've said anything that makes sense, but I need to shut it down. My day started early with getting out on treacherous roads for the privilege of spending four and a half hours in a doctor's office having two pieces of skin cancer melonballed from my scalp.

Till another time . . .

 

[UConnNick]

"Geno and the Duds" - a new rock group coming to a basketball arena near you soon!

 

[Gus Mahler]

Gus, always like what you bring to the table so no spitting match here. My slight disagreement would be with the pressure being less on this team than last years or those in the past. A monster has been created in the form of a juggernaut and what team under this scrutiny wants to be the one that does not meet expectations?
There is always pressure here.

These girls read and hear they are the team that can't possibly keep the streak going day in and day out. They hear UConn lost the first three draft picks in the WNBA.
One could be sure they still talk to the teammates that have gone on and most likely hear don't let it go! It takes a lot of pride and moxie to sustain as a player here as witnessed by very good recruits that have quickly moved to locations of much less pressure. This also in the classroom....

This team has obviously grouped and vowed to not let the deal go down even as the coaching staff the fans and any of us concerned would be forgiving. So far our sympathy has not been needed. They have exceeded expectations and then some but one can rest assured they feel the pressure of the program. In the end that's why they came here.

Quick edit: "I can't help if the team last year..." should be "I can't help thinking if the team last year".

 

[Intpseeker]

I believe, in part, that Geno has two extraverts and three introverts on his starting five.

Extraverted energy goes outward into the world of people and things, while for the most part, an introvert's energy is turned inward towards the world of ideas, abstracts, and concepts. It is said you can read an extravert like a book, as they manifest what they are thinking/feeling to the world, i.e., KLS and Kia.

Gabby, Pheese, and Saniya may be feeling the exact same things as their extraverted sisters, but are not as easily read, as the introvert's energy is directed inwards.

These are tendencies, not absolutes. Does the extravert always telegraph what they feel. No, just as the introvert does not always direct their energy inward. Think of Pheese's smile.

We have lots of samples of their behaviors, and I wonder if this isn't what Geno (E) is referencing, because in an organization, the right tendency is always the Alpha's tendency, so for UConn, being extraverted is the right way to express yourself.

Last year you had Stewie, Tuck and Mo who all were pretty introverted, but who cared about regular displays of emotion when you can play as they did.

The most striking dichotomy between UConn superstars is DT and Maya. With DT you knew what her next feeling would be, never mind her current one, while Maya was the stone-faced warrior.

Or I've had one too many cups of coffee

 

[BigBird]

"Geno and the Duds" - a new rock group coming to a basketball arena near you soon!

Opening song: "We Will Rock You."
Then: "Highway to the Danger Zone / This is it"
Closer: "We Are The Champions!"

 

[HoopsFan21]

LOL at Gabby being an introvert.

 

[Intpseeker]

I'm convinced of it. Watching after the games when they do the Kia and Gabby give-aways, Kia is in her element, and Gabby is enjoying, but working at it.
Introversion isn't shyness, and it doesn't mean you might not wear the occasional lampshade around people you know and trust, but if you watch Geno and the starters and play 'which one of these is not like the other ones', I'll stick with Geno, KLS and Kia as E's, and Saniya, Gabby, and Pheese as the I's.

And the real point of this is that often E's see I's as 'duds', because the I doesn't react in the same way the E does. In this case, the King E.

 

[j66kicker]

I'm convinced of it. Watching after the games when they do the Kia and Gabby give-aways, Kia is in her element, and Gabby is enjoying, but working at it.
Introversion isn't shyness, and it doesn't mean you might not wear the occasional lampshade around people you know and trust, but if you watch Geno and the starters and play 'which one of these is not like the other ones', I'll stick with Geno, KLS and Kia as E's, and Saniya, Gabby, and Pheese as the I's.

And the real point of this is that often E's see I's as 'duds', because the I doesn't react in the same way the E does. In this case, the King E.

Interviewer: "Who would play you in the movie?"
Gabby: [immediately, without hesitation, enormous smile/laugh] "Beyoncé!"