Post game thread (merged thread)

[phil sampieri]

When a coach makes millions of dollars and has a record like Geno he feels pressure also right? He wants to be perfect just like every other coach and look at the coaches that have great winning records a long time, for example Baylor's coach last year, Stanfords, ...etc. They act like tyrants. Look at the Michael Jordan documentary. He was an ass in so many ways but he willed them to win. This whole "do it my way right now or there is the door and you better make every shot or you will hear it from me" stuff is sometimes counterproductive. When it feels like your whole career depends on you making that next 3 ball you sometimes get misses. Some kids implode from that kind of coaching and we have casualties every year I would think with this sort of style. I think lots of these coaches that are still coaching after the age of 65 are set in their ways and they get irritable like many old people. They have done it for 30 years and they get tired of repeating themselves. Obviously Geno is a great coach. My point is simply that I think he could be even better. I'm aware he says nice things to his players also. I'm aware that the pressure at a top program like UCONN isn't for everyone. I'm just saying when these kids run into adversity what are they going to do then? Will they have the heart to run through walls to win? Or will they wilt from even more pressure? I wonder if the current approach is maybe too much pressure. I keep thinking of what I saw in Haley Jone's face when she was shooting free throws the other day at the end of the Texas game. They were going to lose at home after winning a national championship. They threw up 3 ball after 3 ball only to have over 15 of them clank off the rim, not even close. They were under too much pressure.

Ok good job son even though it wasn’t.That mentality is what is making our youth spoiled. You play sports hopefully because you love the pressure.

 

[oldude]

Ok good job son even though it wasn’t.That mentality is what is making our youth spoiled. You play sports hopefully because you love the pressure.

“Pressure is a privilege.”

Garret Cole

 

[D J B]

Ok good job son even though it wasn’t.That mentality is what is making our youth spoiled. You play sports hopefully because you love the pressure.

 

[Plebe]

“Pressure is a privilege.”

Garret Cole

Billie Jean King!

 

[Puppy Love]

Geno should have pulled Paige out the last 5 minutes or so, for two reasons. One, should not risk her getting hurt when the game is essentially over. Two, the rest of the team has to learn how to play when she is not on the court.

Azzi is no Paige (someone on the broadcast actually said that she was?) and she never will be.

Paige is once in a generation player, nuff said.

Azzi has played in one game. ONE. That isn’t enough to make any kind of assessment. I think it is going to take her a little while to even start to show her potential. Her high school season was largely cancelled last year and she had a major injury before that. Barring another injury, though, I think she will become a great player that will be talked about for years to come.

 

[Stymie]

Ok good job son even though it wasn’t.That mentality is what is making our youth spoiled. You play sports hopefully because you love the pressure.

I would suggest that, whatever you play, you love the game.
No pressure, you just love playing the game.
All about the game
My experience:
Checker players love checkers
Chess players love chess
Basketball players love playing hoops
Lacrosse players (me) loved playing lax.
Traveled far and wide
Just to play
Loved it he game
Just to play
Not for pay
Just to play

 

[MSGRET]

When a coach makes millions of dollars and has a record like Geno he feels pressure also right? He wants to be perfect just like every other coach and look at the coaches that have great winning records a long time, for example Baylor's coach last year, Stanfords, ...etc. They act like tyrants. Look at the Michael Jordan documentary. He was an ass in so many ways but he willed them to win. This whole "do it my way right now or there is the door and you better make every shot or you will hear it from me" stuff is sometimes counterproductive. When it feels like your whole career depends on you making that next 3 ball you sometimes get misses. Some kids implode from that kind of coaching and we have casualties every year I would think with this sort of style. I think lots of these coaches that are still coaching after the age of 65 are set in their ways and they get irritable like many old people. They have done it for 30 years and they get tired of repeating themselves. Obviously Geno is a great coach. My point is simply that I think he could be even better. I'm aware he says nice things to his players also. I'm aware that the pressure at a top program like UCONN isn't for everyone. I'm just saying when these kids run into adversity what are they going to do then? Will they have the heart to run through walls to win? Or will they wilt from even more pressure? I wonder if the current approach is maybe too much pressure. I keep thinking of what I saw in Haley Jone's face when she was shooting free throws the other day at the end of the Texas game. They were going to lose at home after winning a national championship. They threw up 3 ball after 3 ball only to have over 15 of them clank off the rim, not even close. They were under too much pressure.

That's just plain BS. You want pressure, how about being in a firefight in the Gulf. Or having to lead a convoy to get supplies to the troops. That's pressure, playing basketball is a SPORT and if you can't take some yelling from the coach because you messed up, I'm sorry buttercup go play some tiddly winks or something.

 

[CocoHusky]

Geno should have pulled Paige out the last 5 minutes or so, for two reasons. One, should not risk her getting hurt when the game is essentially over. Two, the rest of the team has to learn how to play when she is not on the court.
Azzi is no Paige (someone on the broadcast actually said that she was?) and she never will be.
Paige is once in a generation player, nuff said.

OMG! With 13 minutes to go in this game UCONN was up 13. That's the point you want to take Paige out of the game? Did you coordinate this with Arkansas? Arkansas sure wasn't playing like the game was over.
Someone on the broadcast said Paige was Azzi? That's down right respectful-Paige has blonde hair for goodness sake.

 

[Zinethar]

I've never seen Geno take out a player because they missed a shot. He takes them out for taking a bad one when they should have passed to someone who had a better shot or failing to do what the play expected or doing something dumb. If something was stressed in practice or pregame and a player doesn't do it they sit. They expect that. he pulled Azzi out after a player blew past her for a layup. Not for that but because she gave up on that play. A coach has to have standards and has to enforce them or they go away.

 

[Twolf]

If you guys are not aware that too much pressure can affect performance then you are missing the point. If a player thinks they are going to get their head ripped off and pulled out of the game if they miss 2 shots what do you think will happen? Do you think that environment is going to help performance? I get that it is sacrosanct to criticize Geno AT ALL on a Uconn blog but for the record I am a fan. i just don't like seeing these kids treated that way. They obviously are trying their best under extreme pressure already. Some kids may need a kick in the pants but it seems that every kid not named Paige gets severe criticism regularly.

It would seem that your definition of pressure differs from most participants in college athletics. If an athlete is fortunate enough to have the ability, motivation, and opportunity to play, the majority of them actually crave what you are describing as pressure. It’s the reason they chose a program like UConn, knowing full well what they are signing up for, and relishing the chance to perform on one of the biggest stages in women’s collegiate sports and playing for someone that will challenge them to be at their best on a daily basis.

Maybe I am way off base here, but to me pressure is having 5 kids and you can’t feed them.

JMO

 

[oldude]

Billie Jean King!

Didn’t realize Garret Cole lifted that line from Billie Jean King, so I looked it up. Her full quote was, “Pressure is a privilege. It only comes to those who earn it.”

With that in mind, it’s not to difficult to figure out which current UConn player has the most “pressure” to perform each and every game, and she has most definitely earned it.

 

[HuskyNan]

If you guys are not aware that too much pressure can affect performance then you are missing the point. If a player thinks they are going to get their head ripped off and pulled out of the game if they miss 2 shots what do you think will happen? Do you think that environment is going to help performance? I get that it is sacrosanct to criticize Geno AT ALL on a Uconn blog but for the record I am a fan. i just don't like seeing these kids treated that way. They obviously are trying their best under extreme pressure already. Some kids may need a kick in the pants but it seems that every kid not named Paige gets severe criticism regularly.

The kids that don’t like pressure don’t come to UConn (or go to So Carolina, Stanford, Maryland, NC State, etc). The players Geno signs know exactly what they’re in for

 

[HuskyNan]

The whole "do it my way right now or there is the door and you better make every shot or you will hear it from me" stuff is sometimes counterproductive. When it feels like your whole career depends on you making that next 3 ball you sometimes get misses. Some kids implode from that kind of coaching and we have casualties every year I would think with this sort of style.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[hoophuskee]

not recently, in the big games, they haven't been on the short end.

Do you think Baylor felt it wasn't a big game? The coach and players I'm sure wouldn't agree with that. And the national media went pretty crazy over a game that you seem to be trying to classify as "not a big game."

What about the prior NCAA Tourney season 2019? They beat Louisville. You think Louisville felt it wasn't a big game?

This past year on Nat'l TV UCONN beat South Carolina during the reg. season. It was a number 1 vs number 2 matchup; that wasn't a big game? Since "when" did number 1 vs "number 2" on NAt'l TV not be considered "big?"

UCONN has had top-tier recruiting classes the past 3 years; is that telling us that to "the audience that matters most (the recruits)," that UCONN hasn't won "big games recently?" The exposure of getting to Final Fours, meaning you had to beat a tough team in the E8, isn't a big game?

For a team that supposedly "hasn't won big games recently" why would so many top-tier recruits over the past 3 years come to "the sticks in cold-weather Storrs, on a campus not as great vs the Power P5 teams, and in a non-P5 conference, come to a program "that hasn't won a big game recently?

 

[hoophuskee]

What the hell are you talking about?

Thank you!!!!