Thanks but no thanks to copying anything from Dean Smith the popularizer of the 4 corner offense. Geno will play whoever is the best (that is what fuels real morale knowing that you earned your minutes) and can maintain a style of excellence that not only wins but makes the final team product attractive to fans.
Williams has a shot. Westbrook wasn't selected as one of the top 15 players in the Big East last year, so to expect her to become one of the best 10 players in the country is a major stretch. ONO, Fudd or Edwards are more likely choices but I don't see any team getting more than 2 players on WBCA this year considering how much talent there is in the country right now. I mean just look at all of the standouts coming back
Was it something I said?Did they list all the other vote getters or just the top 5?
Obviously you are unaware of the demographics of this board.
Comment seemed to have a high degree of snark in it. Not possible to be a basketball fan and not respect something about Smith. Heck, on the basketball evolutionary tree (oops, we don't believe in that either), he's a branch or two from the man himself- Naismith. At least respect his innovativeness. (Tom Landry- NFL)Nothing bad, just that 70% of the board is old enough to remember Smith's blue team.
If we win the NC, not necessarily running the table to do it, I can see CW and Paige. Clark and Boston, barring injuries, are locks in my mind. Smith more so than Howard but a great year from Squeaks, which I truly expect after last year, can easily do it. I think definitely WCBCA top ten for her at the least.Here’s my way out on the limb proposal. UConn will have 2 players on the season-ending AP AA 1st team….
I remember the UNC Blue teams that Dean Smith used. In fact in some of the "starting 5" and "which players will get the most minutes" threads that appeared this offseason, I suggested that Geno could possibly do the same thing, and not give up a thing. Needless to say, my posts were not received very well. And I don't think it was because of my age group...
So she put up a few good games in a row. But can she do it for an entire season? She hasn't shown she can do that her entire college career and yet people think she should automatically get first team All American?
Smith had some outstanding games last season. Unfortunately for Baylor, one of them was not the Elite 8 game vs UConn. During the 19-0 UConn run, the Wade Trophy winner was practically invisible, largely taken out of the game by Aubrey.
Tara experiments more with her lineup than any coach I know. She’s willing to take a loss or 2 during the regular season while she figures out her best lineup for the conference tournament and the Big Dance.
Let the games begin.
Good job! Always appreciate your counter to this. Possible factor: college hoops had more competitive teams in his later years. He was more able to stockpile talent. Sound familiar? Geno could do it this year and the players and team would reap the benefits of it. And he can pick and choose when to do it. I remember on an odd occasion, the blue team actually picking up the lathargic first unit. That can happen too.
Funny, when it counted most, during the final four, she took over. I agree that she has a bad tendency of getting lazy and sloppy in some run of the mill games in a way that no all-star should. But when the chips were down, she threw down 24 points on 11-14 shooting and Boston could only cough up 11 on 5-14 shooting. Mad respect for Boston, but I wouldn't swap players in a heartbeat. And I'll take clutch team player (Jones) over me-first stat-sheet-stuffer (Howard) every day of the week.
There were a couple of things that changed around midseason for Christyn that made a world of difference. First, Geno tasked her with the job of defending the opposing team’s top scoring guard, which she did exceptionally well. By focusing on defense it took the pressure off her on offense and, paradoxically, her offense improved.
Ordinarily, I'd agree with you 100%. But only five players can get first team All-American, and presumably many voters voted for Boston and not Jones. Yet when they faced off for all the marbles, I think Jones came out worthier of that vote, so the case I'm making is simply that I'd take Jones over Boston if forced to choose. The same is true for Howard. As I said in my prior post, mad respect to Boston - she's terrific too.
Milford's comment has reminded me I need to re-up my SLING Orange package to get the PAC-12, SEC and ACC starting in November. I watched as many of the PAC games on their network as possible last year and am duly impressed with Ms. Jones and how Tara handled 10 player rotations-something I hope Geno can emulate. I think this year without Kiana, Haley will evolve even more as a "point-wing" for that team. She does a little of everything, and all of it well. Add in Cameron Brink with one year of experience and that team has 2 major stars and the talented ensemble cast of Hull twins, Prechtal, Belibi, Wilson, Jump and others. Can Jana Van Gytenbeek step up as a sophomore point guard and support this team?
Great points about Christyn last year. My fear this year (knock on wood, cross my fingers) is that UConn is going to be so good offensively that no one (coaches, us) is going to tolerate missing wide-open looks. I picture Paige and Azzi by themselves going 10-15 just from 3. Christyn will be less of a concern for defenses. She could average a hundred if she hits her shots.