Reeling Geno Auriemma not sure issues with UConn women’s basketball team can be ‘fixed’ after 57-44 loss at Georgia Tech

[fan4eva]

A few quotes. It's many, but it's a long article.

“I don’t think it’s gonna get fixed. I really don’t,” he said.

“And what I see is a team that’s somewhat disheveled. And that’s all me. Somehow, someway, I do not have the ability at this point in time to affect my players to make sure that we’re in a better place mentally and physically and play the kind of basketball we need to play.”

“We’re disorganized, that’s the biggest thing I can tell you,” Auriemma said. “We’re disorganized as a group right now, from the coaching on down, everybody. There’s just no sense of we have a plan of how we’re going to execute, how we’re going to get a bucket, who’s going to get it for us.”

“That fourth quarter, we didn’t respond, which has happened before with this team,” Auriemma said. “So you can blame Paige not being here. Yeah, that’s part of it. But that’s not the real story.”

What coach is saying is he has a group that doesn't listen and he doesn't think that now after he's warned them that they'er gonna start listening now bcuz they've lost a game they should have won. He's speaking truth and basically telling the players "I told you so"

 

[rt bb fan]

I like the fact that he gave Amari some minutes, she showed right away what a great player she is. Don’t know why she’s been buried on the bench.

Amari has good shooting mechanics. You could see it when he shoots free throws. Look forward to her playing more.

 

[hoopsdiva]

I don't recall seeing CD there last night (I'm sure she was, or the horde would have mentioned it.) I'm used to seeing her right at Geno's side during the games, but last night he seemed to be talking to Jamelle whenever ESPN panned to the bench. Is that new? Was there something specific about the post play that Jamelle would have been discussing with Geno instead of CD?

 

[hoopsdiva]

What coach is saying is he has a group that doesn't listen and he doesn't think that now after he's warned them that they'er gonna start listening now bcuz they've lost a game they should have won. He's speaking truth and basically telling the players "I told you so"

This is not the first time Geno has had a team that he said doesn't listen and needs a loss to make them realize they're not as good as they think they are, and maybe they could learn something from the coaching staff.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

This Press conference was disturbing from my favorite coach. There is parity in women's basketball and it's a good thing for the sport. No time for sulking. I once heard Geno, say, "It's supposed to be hard." Yet he takes a loss, then act as if it's the end of the world. That attitude is no better than a missed layup or disheveled offense he complained about. His job is to coach thru ups and downs. Twenty schedule games left and the coach has a defeated outlook on the rest of the season. Not good! Glaring problem is Coach hasn't made adjustments in a very long time and it's concerning to me when looking at our future in comparison to other programs. In the two losses, this season, we had epic melt downs in the 4th quarter, with no plans on how to stop the bleeding. Yes it's on the players but what are the adjustments to help these 18 to 22 year old players grow and be successful. I believe in Geno but maybe a loss like this will make us realize what the women's collegiate game has become. Parity!!

I've followed UConn WBB for 25 seasons, and this is the very first time that UConn has not played like a Geno Auriemma team. Back in the first year after Diana left, UConn lost eight games. It didn't have the talent. But the team still played Geno Auriemma basketball: defense, aggressive offense, no fouling. But this team is playing as if they haven't been coached a day by Coach Geno. I'm shocked. Doesn't matter that Page is down, that Azzi is down, that others are hurt. There is still Edwards who last year played brilliantly during her freshman season, and was a key player in the Olympics for Canada. There's still Williams. There's still Juhasz, who was a top post player in the Big 10. There are other talented players who should be relishing the opportunity to play more, and itching to be the stars in big wins while Page and Azzi are hurt.

Instead, we're seeing regression. Never before.....

 

[LoTrader]

After watching Geno's interview, I have no doubt UCONN will play better next game. And I believe he is going to give minutes to Ducharme and DeBerry.

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I've had a feeling for a couple of years that he is getting soft. As is the staff.

It was easy to blame the team when they took punches and didn't recover. But lately, I think it's more than them.

Coach?

He doesn't have the same staff anymore. Shea Ralph is gone. Others. Wonder if they were key components....?

 

[eebmg]

View attachment 71722

What is the significance of the circled quantities?

 

[Sam.the.Man]

She was often out of position on defense and needed to be directed where to go on the court. She’ll learn but leaving her in a game like last night’s would have been discouraging and counter-productive to her growth.

Wow! This comment Nan just might be the most insightful you've ever made. Not that you should care, but I'm impressed and definitely have gained more respect.

 

[hoopsfan22]

He doesn't have the same staff anymore. Shea Ralph is gone. Others. Wonder if they were key components....?

People who are good at their jobs and ambitious want to move up in their careers whether it's Shea, Marisa, even Rosemary Ragle. We can't expect them to stay at UConn forever. I do think the personnel shakeups in recent years have had an effect, but it's hard to quantify or translate that into wins and losses when the team only loses a couple of games a season.

 

[Bald Husky]

Look, lets' be serious now. Watch Stanford, SC, any of the good teams and you will notice that they play a lot of kids during their games. Sure, in a tough game they may play 6 or 7, but others are available if needed. Look at UConn, front line players are missing, but we don't have anyone to put in. We are told that they aren't ready, well Amari seemed pretty ready to me. This was the first time she has played, but she was better than the Canadian Olympian and the first team all BIG player. If they are on the roster than they deserve a chance to show why they were recruited in the first place. Geno doesn't really know what he has until they are tested, and this is why we are in this predicament. I'm surprised Amari got in, since in the past he won't put bench players in no matter how bad the top 7 are playing. According to him, only Azzi and Caroline are good enough to contribute as freshmen. If he wants to go to only 7, then at least give the others experience just in case we, well let's see, lose 3 or 4 players to injury. Give the bench experience now before their confidence is zero and it won't make a difference. Come on assistances, say something to earn your salaries please.

 

[TCC Kid]

A few quotes. It's many, but it's a long article.

“I don’t think it’s gonna get fixed. I really don’t,” he said.

“And what I see is a team that’s somewhat disheveled. And that’s all me. Somehow, someway, I do not have the ability at this point in time to affect my players to make sure that we’re in a better place mentally and physically and play the kind of basketball we need to play.”

“We’re disorganized, that’s the biggest thing I can tell you,” Auriemma said. “We’re disorganized as a group right now, from the coaching on down, everybody. There’s just no sense of we have a plan of how we’re going to execute, how we’re going to get a bucket, who’s going to get it for us.”

“That fourth quarter, we didn’t respond, which has happened before with this team,” Auriemma said. “So you can blame Paige not being here. Yeah, that’s part of it. But that’s not the real story.”

Geno, was emotional disheveled. A loss he shouldn't have had hit him hard. Geno, for nearly 40 years was said to be "the Great Motivator", The Greatest Coach, The Great Recruiter. Some of that is true.
Geno recruits heavily from the 1 to 10 ranked recruits, a few in the 20 to 40's, maybe one in those above 40. Many of the teams in the USA have never seen a Number 1 to 10 ranked recruits.
Each of those recruited by Geno have played Womens/girls basketball for year. Often they have been prolific scorers. I doubt many have been decent defenders. Why then do some kids look like this is the first time they have seen a basketball. Player, play, shoot, score, pass, defend. From 6 years old to 67 that the game, it hasn't changed in that respect. It's not hard, it just takes energy and MOTIVATION.
I repeat a phrase Geno used often in the past, and I here recently: Great players make good coaches look great. Sue,DT,Maya, Stewie, Tina, Dolson, KML, Swin, Asia, and Paige, the list is long. They made Geno look GREAT.
ONO, Evina, Edwards, the current team is made up of basketball players. Paige is injured, not available.
Geno, the Master motivator Great Coach now must,with his staff, prove he is all that has been written about him on the Boneyard and Motivate this group of women (they aren't a team,. Go back to the day before Paige set foot on campus, and COACH this team to become a close of the STANDARD Uconn Women's TEAM.
The BUCK STOPS with GENO. NO ONE ELSE can fix this--only GENO.

 

[ucbart]

She was often out of position on defense and needed to be directed where to go on the court. She’ll learn but leaving her in a game like last night’s would have been discouraging and counter-productive to her growth.

Agree-

She oozes potential and that's the most exciting part about last nights game. But she needs to find her way. If anything good can come out of this tough stretch we're about to be on, it's her. Her game is....pretty.

 

[eebmg]

One thing that may have some value is if Geno interacts with his now defacto PG Evina much like he did with Crystal. Crystal on her own accord looked to have a running dialog with Geno when possible live on the court supposedly to better tell Geno what the game looks like through her eyes and visa-versa. This would keep Geno closer to the play and allow feedback without waiting for timeouts while maybe enhancing Evina's PG skills and vision.

 

[TCC Kid]

People who are good at their jobs and ambitious want to move up in their careers whether it's Shea, Marisa, even Rosemary Ragle. We can't expect them to stay at UConn forever. I do think the personnel shakeups in recent years have had an effect, but it's hard to quantify or translate that into wins and losses when the team only loses a couple of games a season.

In every college team in the country "personel" change happen nearly annually. To think a person with Geno for 14 years is felt by a kid with Uconn for 1,2,3 years isn't very realistic. One kid on the team may feel some ties to Shea, or the others you mention. The Coach, CD, are constants they are the ones Motivating, teaching, training and its their methods that should be the standard for coaching this Uconn team. That is how continuity in coaching works. Coaches get paid to coach, assistants get paid to follow instructions and coach the coaches method.

 

[CocoHusky]

Look, lets' be serious now. Watch Stanford, SC, any of the good teams and you will notice that they play a lot of kids during their games. Sure, in a tough game they may play 6 or 7, but others are available if needed. Look at UConn, front line players are missing, but we don't have anyone to put in. We are told that they aren't ready, well Amari seemed pretty ready to me. This was the first time she has played, but she was better than the Canadian Olympian and the first team all BIG player. If they are on the roster than they deserve a chance to show why they were recruited in the first place. Geno doesn't really know what he has until they are tested, and this is why we are in this predicament. I'm surprised Amari got in, since in the past he won't put bench players in no matter how bad the top 7 are playing. According to him, only Azzi and Caroline are good enough to contribute as freshmen. If he wants to go to only 7, then at least give the others experience just in case we, well let's see, lose 3 or 4 players to injury. Give the bench experience now before their confidence is zero and it won't make a difference. Come on assistances, say something to earn your salaries please.

Readiness to play is and always has been a judgement call and varies thought the season depending on the opponent.
Amari "looked" ready but Caroline certainly did not in her first few minutes. There is no guarantee that Amari will remain ready even for the next game. Aaliyah Edwards looks lost as compared to the player at the end of last season. If you are advocating throwing them out there to see what you have then what you are really asking is to substitute Geno's "judgment" for something that is far more random. Geno and this staff doesn't do random. They prepare the players to the best of his ability and use their judgement to determine readiness.

 

[TCC Kid]

If Geno thinks he doesn't know if he can fix the problem, then I'd rather we have a coach who thinks he/she can fix the problem. And part of the problem is him and not being able to coach/teach offensive sets/plays well.

Before Geno, at Uconn, WBB, wasn't even an after thought. I followed the men's game in the field house. Never saw a women's game until Geno. Geno put Uconn, the College on the WORLD Map. Every country, even China, knows Uconn Women and Geno. Uconn was a tiny AG school, picked up many specialties including Engineering, produced very good, practical professionals but no one knew their school--until Geno made it known. For that I'm eternally grateful.

 

[JBK]

This Press conference was disturbing from my favorite coach. There is parity in women's basketball and it's a good thing for the sport. No time for sulking. I once heard Geno, say, "It's supposed to be hard." Yet he takes a loss, then act as if it's the end of the world. That attitude is no better than a missed layup or disheveled offense he complained about. His job is to coach thru ups and downs. Twenty schedule games left and the coach has a defeated outlook on the rest of the season. Not good! Glaring problem is Coach hasn't made adjustments in a very long time and it's concerning to me when looking at our future in comparison to other programs. In the two losses, this season, we had epic melt downs in the 4th quarter, with no plans on how to stop the bleeding. Yes it's on the players but what are the adjustments to help these 18 to 22 year old players grow and be successful. I believe in Geno but maybe a loss like this will make us realize what the women's collegiate game has become. Parity!!

Your right. With parity - coaching will take over and Geno will figure it out.
He will use the Bill Bellichek model and develop a plan that fits the players
I know Geno will up the tempo. Last night we played very slow against a very slow team —- our bigs are fast.
He knows if Dorka can score 16 a game at Ohio State, she can do it here as well.

 

[HuskyNan]

Your right. With parity - coaching will take over and Geno will figure it out.
He will use the Bill Bellichek model and develop a plan that fits the players
I know Geno will up the tempo. Last night we played very slow against a very slow team —- our bigs are fast.
He knows if Dorka can score 16 a game at Ohio State, she can do it here as well.

GA Tech controlled the tempo because UConn was playing without a true point guard. Paige was missed as much for her ability to control pace as her scoring.

 

[oldhusky]

I think the reaction of I don't think I can fix this, should be applied mostly to the available roster as it is now. I know some of it goes beyond that, but Geno would not recruit this particular unit for the roles they are asked to play now. There are quite a few problems that he truly can't fix with available players.

We didn't have great outside shooting before and now lose Paige. We manufactured good shots with good ball movement and passing, and now have lost our two best passers in Paige and Nika. We have no backup guards now, starters will be gassed by the end of the game, and forwards will be asked to be guards and even if talented, in a role totally new to them.

Teams will pack in the defense and dare us to shoot from the outside, while making it very difficult to get the ball inside. Geno can tweak a few things, but it is not simply executing the normal game plan, that doesn't work with the hand he has been dealt, and anything he introduces to fit this group will be new and can't be expected to run smoothly in a short period of time.

It is what it is, the same with the schedule. This injury plague could have hit while we were in the conference schedule and we might have survived against Big East opponents by far less margins, but we have a stretch of games against good teams at the worst time. Hopefully this lets Caroline and Amari advance their learning curve faster than it would have been, and in the meantime maybe get Aaliyah and Dorka out of their funk.

I haven't given up on a number 1 seed, but am starting to think a number 2 seed is more likely. If everyone is back and performing well by season end we could be as good as ever, and our championship hopes only mildly affected by the seed. I suspect this group will do better than they did against GT, but there are quite a few teams this group would be underdogs against no matter what Geno does.

 

[tower1]

If I’m a top player and my coach says it’s basically hopeless… I do what I need to do to prove him wrong! Watch out UCLA

I pray to god that you are right !! I just hope this team realizes how bad they played and come out and prove that they are a very good team even without their leader on the court. Do it Geno i believe in you.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

GA Tech controlled the tempo because UConn was playing without a true point guard. Paige was missed as much for her ability to control pace as her scoring.

When Edwards missed that layup and Westbrook couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, I knew something was wrong with this team. Worst 4th quarter I’ve ever seen from the UConn women.

 

[Charliebball]

What makes Paige special is her understanding of the essence of the game. They new recruits that are basically the products of AAU do not have that understanding and do not have the patience to allow it to be taught to them. The system Geno runs is not geared to players like he had in the past. The average product of AAU is not focused on learning team basketball. Bird say it but she got it from Geno- Basketball is not really so much about How, but When. Most players coming into college programs already know how, they just do not know when. And most do not have the depth to understand the importance of learning what they do not know already.

The type of player like Paige who has the skill set along with the BBQ aned desire to improve is scarce. Paige made it possible for Geno to run his system and for the team to play the game like it was meant to be played. Without her the team is clueless.

Geno was a student of Wooden and used his system to make UConn the dominate force in WCBB just like Wooden did, for a time, on the mens side. Wooden, once said a few years after he retired, that he believed he could not coach the new type of player coming out of high school. It just took longer for the WCBB to devolve to that level, but it might be there already. Geno's system might not be workable in todays WCBB, but it is not because it is obsolete, but because the game itself has degressed to represent flash over substance.

what makes Paige special is that she's the best player in college basketball and probably in the top five in all of women's basketball.......her abilities have simply masked the facts that the rest of the team are complimentary players who can't or won't play to their individual abilities on a consistent basis........put five players on the court that are all question marks and last night is what you get.....

 

[CocoHusky]

GA Tech controlled the tempo because UConn was playing without a true point guard. Paige was missed as much for her ability to control pace as her scoring.

Truth be told UCONN has lost the ability to control pace even when Paige was healthy. The Arkansas, USF and South Carolina games were also played at the opponent's pace. Having a quality PG such as Paige is very important to controlling pace don't get me wrong, but not nearly as important as having the ability to speed up the execution of the other team and the ability to rebound more than your share of misses=extra possessions. Typically UCONN is not playing defense until the other team crosses half court with the ball.