Soundbites from the FF Head Coaches

[UConnCat]

Conference call held today. http://espn.go.com/ncw/notebook/_/page/notebook_quickdish140402/sound-bites-final-four-coaches

Geno:

"I know how everyone throughout this season has wanted to make it about this inevitable march toward two undefeated teams playing for the national championship," Auriemma said. "I've kind of not bought into any of that. … I kind of don't like when you have a sense you're disrespecting people, and I wouldn't want either Maryland or Stanford to feel like, 'We're just there as filler for the Notre Dame-Connecticut big thing,' because I've been there.

"I know it's a great story, and I know everybody loves storylines, and in today's day and age, god forbid if you don't have a storyline. … But I caution everybody, there are two other teams out there that are good enough to win a national championship, so let's not write that story just yet."

 

[MilfordHusky]

Good move by Coach.

 

[HoopsFan21]

More importantly, ESPN Classic will be showing some notable games on Sunday...

• 7 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Oklahoma, 2002 NCAA title game
• 9 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Louisville, 2009 NCAA title game
• 10:30 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Baylor, 2010 national semifinal
• 12:30 p.m. ET: UConn vs. Stanford, 2010 NCAA title game
• 2:30 p.m. ET: Baylor vs. Stanford, 2012 national semifinal
• 4 p.m. ET: Baylor vs. Notre Dame, 2012 NCAA title game

 

[Geno-ista]

More importantly, ESPN Classic will be showing some notable games on Sunday...

• 7 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Oklahoma, 2002 NCAA title game
• 9 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Louisville, 2009 NCAA title game
• 10:30 a.m. ET: UConn vs. Baylor, 2010 national semifinal
• 12:30 p.m. ET: UConn vs. Stanford, 2010 NCAA title game
• 2:30 p.m. ET: Baylor vs. Stanford, 2012 national semifinal
• 4 p.m. ET: Baylor vs. Notre Dame, 2012 NCAA title game

Really - thanks for sharing that!

 

[HoopsFan21]

Really - thanks for sharing that!

It was part of the article, that's how I found it. The first game will bring back all of our DT memories, and of course the one at 12:30 features one of the worst halves of basketball I've ever witnessed outside of maybe a middle school gym. Yup, that's the one UConn was down at half 20-12.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I and of course the one at 12:30 features one of the worst halves of basketball I've ever witnessed outside of maybe a middle school gym. Yup, that's the one UConn was down at half 20-12.

Oh, I dunno - remember the game that UConn Championship game that featured a 19% shooting team -- for the ENTIRE game??

 

[UConnCat]

Holly Rowe @sportsiren
Geno Auriemma,"Since 88-89 every player that's been recruited at UCONN has played in Final Four." Astounding level of consistent excellence!
about 1 hour ago

 

[pvdoggy]

Holly Rowe @sportsiren
Geno Auriemma,"Since 88-89 every player that's been recruited at UCONN has played in Final Four." Astounding level of consistent excellence!
about 1 hour ago

That's crazy!

 

[UcMiami]

Holly Rowe @sportsiren
Geno Auriemma,"Since 88-89 every player that's been recruited at UCONN has played in Final Four." Astounding level of consistent excellence!
about 1 hour ago

What an outright lie!!! I can't believe Geno would spread these kinds of falsehoods!!! (And during Lent to boot!)
I could list off dozens of players that Uconn has recruited in that time period that never played in a final four and I suspect if I looked hard enough I could find ones that never made it past the sweet sixteen or even out of the first weekend. There are probably a couple that never played in an NCAA tournament game as well.
I suppose he will say he 'misspoke' and what he meant to say was 'since 1988-89 every player that's been recruited at Uconn and actually SIGNED with Uconn has played in a final four.' but this is just typical of people - give them a government job and they start stretching the truth and misleading the masses!!!
And of course he would still be lying again!
He would then have to carve out more exceptions first 'Signed and PLAYED' to account for EDD and next years class!
And then 'Signed and PLAYED A FULL SEASON' to account for both Samarie Walker and of course Saniya Chong!

Why is it so hard to find an honest man in todays world?!

 

[Biff]

What an outright lie!!! I can't believe Geno would spread these kinds of falsehoods!!! (And during Lent to boot!)
I could list off dozens of players that Uconn has recruited in that time period that never played in a final four and I suspect if I looked hard enough I could find ones that never made it past the sweet sixteen or even out of the first weekend. There are probably a couple that never played in an NCAA tournament game as well.
I suppose he will say he 'misspoke' and what he meant to say was 'since 1988-89 every player that's been recruited at Uconn and actually SIGNED with Uconn has played in a final four.' but this is just typical of people - give them a government job and they start stretching the truth and misleading the masses!!!
And of course he would still be lying again!
He would then have to carve out more exceptions first 'Signed and PLAYED' to account for EDD and next years class!
And then 'Signed and PLAYED A FULL SEASON' to account for both Samarie Walker and of course Saniya Chong!

Why is it so hard to find an honest man in todays world?!

Of course your analysis is tongue-in-cheek but...

A good example of how easy it is to miss-speak on the fly as you are in the process of being bombarded by dozens of unscripted questions and you're looking to give some insightful answers. And then of course you are relying on the quote actually being accurately replicated and reported. Just a reminder for everyone maybe when an opposing player or coach offers up a statement that can be micro-parsed into some kind of worse case "diss". Speaking can be a bitch.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Of course your analysis is tongue-in-cheek but...

A good example of how easy it is to miss-speak on the fly as you are in the process of being bombarded by dozens of unscripted questions and you're looking to give some insightful answers. And then of course you are relying on the quote actually being accurately replicated and reported. Just a reminder for everyone maybe when an opposing player or coach offers up a statement that can be micro-parsed into some kind of worse case "diss". Speaking can be a bitch.

Exactly...

 

[UcMiami]

Biff - good point.
1. There is ignorance and intentional obfuscation and misrepresentation of facts, and outright lies that get trotted out in public life, and when caught out, the speakers fall back on 'misspoke' which usually means 'caught'.
2. And there is off the cuff discussion where we all make mistakes because our brains and our mouths are not perfectly in sync, and our memories are less than ideal.
3. And there is the parsing of inelegant speech that looks for subtext or meaning that was never stated nor implied.

And then there is a gotcha culture that take #2 and tries to turn it into #1 or tries to take #3 turn it into #2 so it can in turn be turned into #1.
And the opposite Spin culture that tries to convince us #1 is actually nothing more than #2, and #2 is actually #3.

The end result being that no one actually remembers what was said or the actual topic of discussion.
Which brings me back to Geno's statement, and with all my obfuscation (and with the obvious corrections) is in fact an absolutely amazing record!!!

(Now did Rita Williams who only played three years actually make it to a FF?! - answer is Yes, But Keirsten Walters who was only active for one season because of her medical issues made it to the FF in her two red shirt years but never played. What tough luck for her as one of the original TASSK. )

 

[hussybulldog]

Holly Rowe @sportsiren
Geno Auriemma,"Since 88-89 every player that's been recruited at UCONN has played in Final Four." Astounding level of consistent excellence!
about 1 hour ago

Not including those who had transferred before the end of season!

 

[HoopsFan21]

Oh it was tweeted? Geno is definitely going to get called out on that by someone then. It's a pretty emphatic statement of fact. I get the gist of what he is saying although it is not 100% accurate.