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Message: [QUOTE="bballnut90, post: 2021374, member: 2117"] It's both. Connecticut more often than not has the best player in the country on their championship team and she is usually surrounded by 1-2 All Americans. Geno does an exceptional job of filling the rest of the roster with support players and role players who understand their role on the team and play within themselves. He also develops talent as well as anyone in the business and does a terrific job of identifying players who will respond to his coaching style. Not everyone is going to buy into his philosophy and he does a good job of avoiding those players. Talent wise though, there's no denying that Connecticut has had an embarrassment of riches over the years. In the last twenty years Geno has landed Ralph, Williams, Cash, Taurasi, Strother, Charles, Moore, EDD (granted she didn't play at UCONN), KML, Jefferson, Stewart, KLS and now Walker. All of those players were top 2 recruits coming out of high school, and almost all of those players were major impact players as freshmen. Not to mention players like Hartley, Bird, Montgomery, Turner, Doty, Hayes, Nurse, Williams, etc who were day one contributors despite not being a top 5 recruit. No other program has had the consistent recruiting success that UCONN has had the last 20 years. Tennessee is comfortably 2nd, but is still a big step behind. I think what separates UCONN from the rest of the pack, specifically over the last ten years, has been their ability to develop virtually every top 20-30 kid who enters the program. Players come to UCONN with potential and leave having maximized it. From 2007-08 on, here are a handful of the kids who developed into very good players after up and down starts: Swanier-out of control as an underclass man, one of the more underrated point guards as a senior Renee Montgomery-trigger happy point guard who shot for poor percentages as a junior, a NPOY candidate as a senior. Tina Charles-developed into the premier post player in the country as a senior after an up and down sophomore campaign Kalana Greene-quietly developed into one of the best support players in the country her senior season. Kelly Faris-scrappy freshman with limited offensive ability. One of the best support/do everything players as a senior. Stefanie Dolson-looked so lost as a freshman early on, consistently dropped weight and improved, she probably should have taken home MOP in the Final Four as a senior and she was arguably the team MVP in 2014. Moriah Jefferson-looked out of control as a freshman. Now is remembered as one of the best point guards in women's college basketball history. Morgan Tuck-inconsistent as a freshman, developed into one of the best inside out players her junior and senior seasons. Breanna Stewart-extremely inconsistent as a freshman. As a senior she had as good of a season as anybody ever has. Gabby Williams-undersized post as a freshman who played big minutes in garbage games. As a junior is the team's best all around player. Napheesa Collier-quiet as a frosh. Lock to be an All American as a sophomore. KLS-streaky shooter as a freshman who is now a leading candidate for POY as a sophomore. Saniya Chong-most people wrote her off after her first year. As a senior she is now a very underrated point guard who leads the nation in A/TO ratio. The only 4 year player who contributed but didn't improve by leaps and bounds at Connecticut was Tiffany Hayes, and people will probably criticize me for saying that. No other program has the combination of talent and proven development of talent like Connecticut. Honestly, I think if any other coach had this roster, they would have lost at least 2-3 games by this juncture. The coaching job Geno and co have done this year might be his best job yet. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach

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