South Carolina Postgame Thread

[MSSportsGuy]

Appreciate this thread being open and allowing the tough discussions. Watching ESPN now, saw it all go down last night live.

Geno behaved poorly. He was clearly miffed early on and it snowballed into the incident. He also doubled down after the game and may have made things worse.

The Huskies were off. SC plays a very physical style and it rattled UConn. Fudd and Strong are much, much better players than they showed.

Dawn won’t win any awards for sainthood but congrats to her and the women of SC. They did what 38 teams couldn’t this season, and she came out of last night looking like the bigger person.

 

[Stinger92860]

It feels unfair to second guess a 38-1 season, but UConn won last year in part because they had real size to challenge teams like South Carolina and UCLA.

It’s baffling that they completely abandoned that approach this year.

We won because we had Paige. She would have carried the team on her back last night. We did not have anyone who wanted that role. Very disappointing but this team needed some toughness, physically and mentally, and that was sorely missing.

 

[TAK]

Let's not forget South Carolina had 2 starters out due to injury all year. This could have been a

Let’s leave injuries out of it. Remember UConn’s plague of injuries for the past five years, including this year.

 

[freshler40]

Didn’t change my view of him one iota. Was he perfect in his behavior, no? Did he act so egregiously to be called names by people in this board and assume he’s losing his mind or lied, absolutely not. Dawn Staley obviously behaved a way that was yes “by the rules” as nothing states you have to meet the opposing coach on time, but isn’t this common decency or polite behavior. Plus this is Geno Auriemma. If Geno did this to Pat Summit and Pat said something to Geno at the hand shake how many of the ppl here and media would say why would a Geno do that to Pat, oh she was right to walk off how disrespectful of him.

Maybe there is some talent taffy in the background of this moment. I sort of remember SYR and a 6'7" player?

 

[Bomber36]

After sleeping on it, I’m even more disappointed in Geno.

 

[TheGOAT23]

Oh good, the men’s board fans made their annual pilgrimage to our board to lecture us. Whoopie

Of course, they did. It’s the only time that they do. I’ve never seen such a divided fan base. Damn!

 

[BBallF]

No. Geno was talking about an handshake after the coaches are introduced. He was standing at midcourt line waiting for her to shake hands.

That's exactly right. Everyone on this thread who starting criticizing Geno because of what they saw at the end did not wait for the facts. Dawn purposely left him waiting at half court at the beginning of the game, the traditional on court handshake. She knew exactly what she was doing and played the poor victim role at the end. Let her explain her behavior. How dare she embarrass him or any other coach? The speed at which people on this thread threw Geno under the bus was astounding and it was wrong.

 

[BBallF]

After sleeping on it, I’m even more disappointed in Geno.

Watch his presser instead of sleeping. She disrespected him in front of the entire crowd.

 

[Bomber36]

Watch his presser instead of sleeping. She disrespected him in front of the entire crowd.

Time and a place. And it’s not after losing the game.

 

[HuskyNan]

Yes this is true at the moment. But what I’m saying is we as fans should not be so quick to say he is losing his mind or he is lying or he is an idiot. Did he behave in the most professional manner, no. But we must ask the question why did a man who has won 12 championships and holds all the records react this way. Your explanations of his behavior assume he made a mountain out of a mole hill. I’m purely saying hold on. This man whom we’ve seen given so much to the wbb world and acted given so much to his peers wouldn’t simply black out and then yell at an opposing coach. Something must’ve have triggered it. And what I’m assuming here because I trust Geno is not fabricating anything is that Dawn purposely disrespected him. When I was doing business in Asia not bowing low enough or pouring drinks to your superiors was considered very disrespectful. Is a rule that I had to do it? No. But these are the unwritten rules and you do things in a professional setting like you would anywhere in the world. To know the rules and purposely break them in front of the other person is disrespectful and in my instance could’ve probably gotten me reprimanded or fired.

In my job, if I lost my temper and blew up at a representative of a competitor in front of all of our coworkers, employees, and friends, I would expect to at least be reprimanded. And that is even if I was justified in my anger. As a manager and representative of my company, I have responsibilities that are more important than my anger and that still holds no matter what I’ve accomplished at my job and how widely respected and perhaps loved I might be by my peers. An apology would need to be given to the competitor and their employee.

Geno is an employee of the State of Connecticut and his job is to coach the State’s women’s basketball team. I expect UConn will issue a formal apology to South Carolina. But if Dawn did something that offended or angered Geno, he should discuss it with her in private, address it through both universities’ official channels, or the head of referees (if that’s the problem).

He took the spotlight off the young women of South Carolina. It was their moment and he took the attention off them and put it on him. It was wrong and he should apologize

.

 

[JBK]

I can’t wait for the next post stating Geno is out of touch and too old to coach women’s basketball and should resign. Let’s give Geno some grace and not forget all the wonderful things he’s done over the course of his career for women’s basketball, and for all those that wish to continue to bash him, shame on you all. Just shame !

I am not reading people bashing our goat ! But we do not want any blemish on his legacy — overall his point may have been right - no fouls being called on SC.
But Sarah ripped her own Jersey and Dawn did shake his hand pre game.
She did not have any extended conversation but that is not a requirement but a nicety.
I do think our HOF coach was absolutely correct with the foul gap between the teams. He should apologize to the players/ coaches and clarify his remarks. Geno is 1st class and I assume he will do that —
Let’s go boys — keep UConn bball alive.

 

[Pharos]

Biggest kudos to Shade and Heckel. They came out to play and were the stars for the night.

Yup

 

[JBK]

Defense is all fine and dandy, but the objective of the game is to put the ball through the basket. I said at the very beginning of the season on here that she and Shade in particular would have to be better or else the season wouldn’t end like they wanted. Shade showed something tonight, Arnold did not. Azzi is no longer on the team, there isn’t really a guard on the roster that a defense would fear from the perimeter next year. Sure improvements can be made, but it’ll be very hard to imagine a legitimate championship run if it’s this many liabilities on offense again.

You are so right - guards win championships

 

[NutmegDog]

I will just add my voice to those who noticed the D III level of scoring and shooting efficiency last night. I'm not sure if it was the officiating or the rims / balls (a la Fort Worth), but for four elite teams to show that level of offensive ineptitude seems to be more than just coincidence. In any event, it's not going to win WCBB many new fans.

 

[cancontent]

That's exactly right. Everyone on this thread who starting criticizing Geno because of what they saw at the end did not wait for the facts. Dawn purposely left him waiting at half court at the beginning of the game, the traditional on court handshake. She knew exactly what she was doing and played the poor victim role at the end. Let her explain her behavior. How dare she embarrass him or any other coach? The speed at which people on this thread threw Geno under the bus was astounding and it was wrong.

I don't know why, but this seems like an odd thing to blow up over. Miffed, I could understand. If the reaction was his frustration over the foul disparity, I could understand. This reason leaves me confused as this didn't seem like something that would really get under his skin to the level it did. 🤷🏾‍♀️

 

[oldude]

Yes this is true at the moment. But what I’m saying is we as fans should not be so quick to say he is losing his mind or he is lying or he is an idiot. Did he behave in the most professional manner, no. But we must ask the question why did a man who has won 12 championships and holds all the records react this way. Your explanations of his behavior assume he made a mountain out of a mole hill. I’m purely saying hold on. This man whom we’ve seen given so much to the wbb world and acted given so much to his peers wouldn’t simply black out and then yell at an opposing coach. Something must’ve have triggered it. And what I’m assuming here because I trust Geno is not fabricating anything is that Dawn purposely disrespected him. When I was doing business in Asia not bowing low enough or pouring drinks to your superiors was considered very disrespectful. Is a rule that I had to do it? No. But these are the unwritten rules and you do things in a professional setting like you would anywhere in the world. To know the rules and purposely break them in front of the other person is disrespectful and in my instance could’ve probably gotten me reprimanded or fired.

I am not calling Geno names or suggesting he’s losing his mind. A couple years ago Geno gave some gentle advice to Dan Hurley after he’d won 2 national championships in a row, but was then knocked out of the Big Dance trying to win his 3rd.

Hurley took the loss badly, implying that the season was a failure, despite a strong overall season. Geno’s message to Hurley was that if your only measure of success is winning a national championship he should “Quit right now.”

This is just my observation. Last night I saw a coach who I admire tremendously do something that indicates he’s holding on too tight. Geno would never have been as successful as he’s been for all these years if he wasn’t incredibly competitive. He needs to consider his suggestion to Dan Hurley and decide how it should shape his own actions.

There is an article written by Jerry Brewer for the NYT/the Athletic that does an excellent job of explaining the incident last night and what was behind it. It’s worth reading.

 

[Bomber36]

I will just add my voice to those who noticed the D III level of scoring and shooting efficiency last night. I'm not sure if it was the officiating or the rims / balls (a la Fort Worth), but for four elite teams to show that level of offensive ineptitude seems to be more than just coincidence. In any event, it's not going to win WCBB many new fans.

Booker was something like 3-23 last night. Both Texas and UCLA struggled mightily to score. But I am glad UCLA won. I just don’t think they can beat SC.

 

[browns]

There is no one on that UConn team that is near the level of Sue, Tarasi, Maya, Stewie, or Paige. Charles also was better the anyone on that team.

Sarah sure is and if wasn't for Sarah and Azzi Paige wouldn't even have her 1 ring

 

[SLY63]

I agree with most of the earlier comments.

• Congrats to SC. Their athleticism and length on D was what did us in.
• Ash and K9 showed their grit
• I was surprised Geno took Sareh out and didn't play her much after Q1. I thought she started well and could have helped with the match-ups (especially keeping SC off the offensive glass.
• IMO the blame is 95+% on one thing ... the Big Least. We did not get the chance to run our offense against top 20 teams like teams like NC or ND and experienced nothing close to what we saw last night against SC. I don't know the answer but we need more OOC games against top 5 aggressive, athletic (SEC-type) teams like SC, TX, LSU.

 

[BBallF]

In my job, if I lost my temper and blew up at a representative of a competitor in front of all of our coworkers, employees, and friends, I would expect to at least be reprimanded. And that is even if I was justified in my anger. As a manager and representative of my company, I have responsibilities that are more important than my anger and that still holds no matter what I’ve accomplished at my job and how widely respected and perhaps loved I might be by my peers. An apology would need to be given to the competitor and their employee.

Geno is an employee of the State of Connecticut and his job is to coach the State’s women’s basketball team. I expect UConn will issue a formal apology to South Carolina. But if Dawn did something that offended or angered Geno, he should either discuss it in private with her, address it through both universities’ official channels, or the head of referees (if that’s the problem).

He took the spotlight off the young women of South Carolina. It was their moment and he took the attention off them and put it on him. It was wrong and he should apologize

.

I don't think Geno will apologize to anyone and I for one hope he doesn't. Dawn left Geno standing at mid court for 3 minutes before the game waiting for her to come out. She knew the deal, she knew the tradition. She also exploded at him when he confronted her because she knew darn well what she did. I think Geno was not just reacting to her personally but rather to her failure to abide by a tradition of the game.

 

[BBallF]

This is what the "Let them play" philosophy gets us. Sometimes it's bad for a defender to reach out and touch an offensive player. Other times it's ok for the defender to give a full body bump. Take away the body bumping and grabbing... it'll be a better visual for a beautiful game.

Well said and exactly on point.

 

[JJTB]

I remember the fearlessness of Ducharme walking through the Carolina huddle her freshman year…could the ladies have used that tonight!

 

[Milo65]

I’m not excusing Geno, I think his frustration is more about how the officials let them play and how SC was coached. SC grabbed and held players as they were trying to cut and screen. It was allowed by the ref’s and coached by Dawn… With that being said, he had no answers for this, none. SC’s plan was to smother our 3 point shooting, while using their size advantage to rim protect. Geno was frustrated with the lack of calls and pissed at Dawn because she literally taught her team to grab as a means to stop open looks.

 

[TheHorde]

Two things can be true at once. Geno handled things poorly and so did Dawn Staley. The refs did as well.

 

[BBallF]

I don't know why, but this seems like an odd thing to blow up over. Miffed, I could understand. If the reaction was his frustration over the foul disparity, I could understand. This reason leaves me confused as this didn't seem like something that would really get under his skin to the level it did. 🤷🏾‍♀️

In an article by Daniel Connolly he is also quoted as reacting to Dawn's hurling apparent expletives at the referees and intimidating them to start the third quarter and the fact that no fouls were called on SC the entire quarter but 6 on UCONN. He said there is a double standard with her. She gets to say whatever she wants to the refs and he would be tossed from the game if he did. I think the more you read, the more you realize that it is just Dawn getting away with whatever she wants because she can.

 

[1974yankees]

When did Geno say Dawn didn’t shake his hand? Never saw it, just Staley speculating.

Geno DID NOT say that. You are 100% correct that it was Dawn who said that.

What Geno did say is that "Dawn was completely abusing the officials and was using the most vulgar language imaginable"

The real problem was that Geno and his players were not used to playing against this type of physical team.

S.C. plays in the tough/physical SEC where these type of games happen every night. So they are battle tested.

We play in a league where the biggest question is whether we will beat our opponents by 60 or 70.

 

[oldude]

I don't think Geno will apologize to anyone and I for one hope he doesn't. Dawn left Geno standing at mid court for 3 minutes before the game waiting for her to come out. She knew the deal, she knew the tradition. She also exploded at him when he confronted her because she knew darn well what she did. I think Geno was not just reacting to her personally but rather to her failure to abide by a tradition of the game.

It’s not about the handshake and never was. It’s all about the game and the outcome. I point out again that it was a continuation of what happened at the end of the 3rd qtr when Geno went off in front of Holly Rowe, ranting about foul calls and suggesting that SC had grabbed and torn Sarah’s jersey. After the game we learned that Sarah had torn her own jersey in frustration.

 

[oldude]

In an article by Daniel Connolly he is also quoted as reacting to Dawn's hurling apparent expletives at the referees and intimidating them to start the third quarter and the fact that no fouls were called on SC the entire quarter but 6 on UCONN. He said there is a double standard with her. She gets to say whatever she wants to the refs and he would be tossed from the game if he did. I think the more you read, the more you realize that it is just Dawn getting away with whatever she wants because she can.

Read the article in the NYT/the Athletic by Brewer. As for intimidating the refs, Geno has been doing it forever. CD & Jamelle have had to drag him back to the bench on numerous occasions through the years when he went off on the refs.

 

[Ladeeeeda]

That's exactly right. Everyone on this thread who starting criticizing Geno because of what they saw at the end did not wait for the facts. Dawn purposely left him waiting at half court at the beginning of the game, the traditional on court handshake. She knew exactly what she was doing and played the poor victim role at the end. Let her explain her behavior. How dare she embarrass him or any other coach? The speed at which people on this thread threw Geno under the bus was astounding and it was wrong.

Coaches do this all the time. While it might be disrespectful, it certainly isn't a reason to lose your cool. Niele Ivey did it to Kara Lawson in the ACC tourney and Cori Close it to Lawson the elite eight. Saw both with my own eyes. Geno needs to get over himself.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

In my job, if I lost my temper and blew up at a representative of a competitor in front of all of our coworkers, employees, and friends, I would expect to at least be reprimanded. And that is even if I was justified in my anger. As a manager and representative of my company, I have responsibilities that are more important than my anger and that still holds no matter what I’ve accomplished at my job and how widely respected and perhaps loved I might be by my peers. An apology would need to be given to the competitor and their employee.

Geno is an employee of the State of Connecticut and his job is to coach the State’s women’s basketball team. I expect UConn will issue a formal apology to South Carolina. But if Dawn did something that offended or angered Geno, he should either discuss it in private with her, address it through both universities’ official channels, or the head of referees (if that’s the problem).

He took the spotlight off the young women of South Carolina. It was their moment and he took the attention off them and put it on him. It was wrong and he should apologize

.

Thank you for this and for allowing the discussion to take place.