Stokes

[herbiep]

know nothing

Thank you professor......I know not what I say...

 

[Buzzyboy]

There's no way to know for sure what Geno really thinks of Kiah, except that she frustrates him with inconsistency, especially in practice. But she would not be the first player who does not live up to her potential at UConn, and probably won't be the last. I'm not sure Geno is ruining her confidence, because I'n not sure she had much confidence to begin with. What the coaching staff has not been able to do is instill in her the feeling that she can go out there, in each and every game, and be the difference-maker.

This is somewhat academic this year, but becomes really important next year. I would love for UConn to get Wilson, but I have a gut feeling -- based on nothing beyond an intimate acquaintance with Murphy (you know, the guy who discovered Murphy's Law) -- that Wilson will go elsewhere. And that, folks, sets the stage for Geno's Greatest Coaching Challenge. Flooded with wonderful guards, he must fill the front lines with Stewie, who is All-World, a talented forward who may be undersized at center, and Kiah, who is an uncertainty every time she sets foot on the court. How Geno juggles his lineups next year will be a lot of fun to watch.

I was thinking the other day about next year, 2014AD (after Dolson) and I'm a little concerned. I know the team has a bunch of talent but if you watch game after game after game, the whole offense runs through Dolson all the time and she is a magician on distributing the ball to the best possible person at the best possible time or making a move and scoring herself. She is our quarterback on offense and someone with her skills and passing ability is going to be missed, big time. Those type skills, particularly in a big girl like that, who can hold the ball over her head and not be concerned about it being stolen from her or ripped out of her hands aren't every day skills. They're quite rare and it'll make life a lot more difficult for some of these kids who are accustomed to getting the ball from Stef in a perfect spot to execute their offense.

 

[JS]

He may not hate her but he dislikes Kiah extremely.

ThisJustIn was being facetious.

What you're being I have no idea.

 

[DaddyChoc]

LOL - give it time...the OP will has to sharpen his pencil

wow... I felt that stab, you still dislike me? its been a while, how was your holidays.... happy new year!

 

[DaddyChoc]

great opinions...

 

[pvdoggy]

Stefanie let their center shoot 3 different times from 8 feet in the first half and didn't move - she did not attempt to stop their guards on drives along the baseline until half way through the second half - most of the time she simple tips rebounds instead of grabbing them when she can. She ran full speed once down the count (wasn't rewarded), then never made it past center court the next few times. I was at the game and Kiah was the much, much better big tonight.

I thought Kiah played extremely good defense in the last 8 min that she was in the game, better than Stef or BS.
I don't know what is her situation with Geno but it is obvious that she is on a very short leash. BS can be a bit
out of control at times with no real consequence, heck I would too when my coach tells me to take 20 shots.
Overall I thought it was an ugly game to watch, the passing seem to be w/o a purpose a lot of times.

Some people here criticized Duke's coach for the lack of development of Elizabeth Williams' game.
I think the same may be said about Kiah's game under Geno, mainly from the lack of playing time.
I don't see that changing, even next year.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Please people remember what time of year we're at! The school is on break, meaning their whole schedules are influx! As top athletes they thrive on organization, classes, practices, homework/library/study! Right now they have too much time on their hands, too much laying around, knoshing on xmas cookies, haha! UCONN always plays disjointed during xmas break time, once they get back to their normal routines with classes and practices they'll be fine!
As far as Kia Stokes is concerned, you all have short memories, remember how brutal Geno was with Tina Charles her freshman & sophomore years and then her junior and senior seasons the lightbulb went on in her head and she was a scoring and rebounding machine! Leading in both when she graduated! Geno is no where as tough with Kia as he was with Tina! That being said, I'd like to see Geno say, "Kia you have 6-8 minutes playing time to show me you really want to play!" And have her performance in those 6-8 minutes dictate her PT for the rest of the game! Some players are PRACTICE PLAYERS others shine in GAME TIME! Now it's on her shoulders to perform! Geno DOESN'T HATE Kia, he just wants her to perform up to her high skill level! As he said on SNY's Geno Show recently, his greatest fear is players not realizing all of their talent by graduation!
It also is a major adjustment for the team getting used to major minutes from KML and Morgan Tuck again! The team worked hard to make up for the loss of two major pieces of the puzzle! Now it's all different! Practice over vacation will straighten that out!
With Saniya Chong, IMHO I think she is one of the most advanced freshmen we've had! She had 9 pts. tonight on 3 -3's and her defense, which usually kills a freshman player has really improved! She has only 11 turnovers in over 265 minutes, WOW!
I am amazed by Brianna Banks comeback from the ACL injury! Her shot is a little off but her quickness and defense is close to 100% back!
Thee of little faith hang in there! The best is yet to come!

 

[Icebear]

To repeat, I said, "in my opinion", I don't think we need proof positive of an opinion, we are not going to court. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. And yes, I have coached high school kids, and they are all different, and some must be handled differently.

No, everyone is entitled to an opinion based on something real and even then not all opinions need to be voiced nor are those voiced necessarily valid.

 

[JS]

No, everyone is entitled to an opinion based on something real and even then not all opinions needs to be voiced nor are those voiced necessarily valid.

In my opinion, Geno is mishandling everyone on the team.

Just my opinion.

Don't ask me to give intelligible reasons. If you do, it means you won't tolerate dissent. Then I'll play the martyr until . . . um, the cows come home.

 

[semper]

This reminds me of a "summer thread."

 

[RadyLady]

wow... I felt that stab, you still dislike me? its been a while, how was your holidays.... happy new year!

Oh good grief! I meant the opening poster of the hate Geno thread!

My holidays were very nice, thank you for asking, and how are yours? Happy New Year to you!

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Please people remember what time of year we're at! The school is on break, meaning their whole schedules are influx! As top athletes they thrive on organization, classes, practices, homework/library/study! Right now they have too much time on their hands, too much laying around, knoshing on xmas cookies, haha! UCONN always plays disjointed during xmas break time, once they get back to their normal routines with classes and practices they'll be fine!
As far as Kia Stokes is concerned, you all have short memories, remember how brutal Geno was with Tina Charles her freshman & sophomore years and then her junior and senior seasons the lightbulb went on in her head and she was a scoring and rebounding machine! Leading in both when she graduated! Geno is no where as tough with Kia as he was with Tina! That being said, I'd like to see Geno say, "Kia you have 6-8 minutes playing time to show me you really want to play!" And have her performance in those 6-8 minutes dictate her PT for the rest of the game! Some players are PRACTICE PLAYERS others shine in GAME TIME! Now it's on her shoulders to perform! Geno DOESN'T HATE Kia, he just wants her to perform up to her high skill level! As he said on SNY's Geno Show recently, his greatest fear is players not realizing all of their talent by graduation!
It also is a major adjustment for the team getting used to major minutes from KML and Morgan Tuck again! The team worked hard to make up for the loss of two major pieces of the puzzle! Now it's all different! Practice over vacation will straighten that out!
With Saniya Chong, IMHO I think she is one of the most advanced freshmen we've had! She had 9 pts. tonight on 3 -3's and her defense, which usually kills a freshman player has really improved! She has only 11 turnovers in over 265 minutes, WOW!
I am amazed by Brianna Banks comeback from the ACL injury! Her shot is a little off but her quickness and defense is close to 100% back!
Thee of little faith hang in there! The best is yet to come!

Exactly...good post

 

[HuskyPup]

ThisJustIn was being facetious.

What you're being I have no idea.

I was expressing my opinion. Coaches dont have to like every player on the team. You ask any coach in America and they all have had players they've loved, liked ....and God forbid .....not liked. It is possible Kiah falls into the latter category. I know saying anything negative about Geno on this board is "taboo" but it is my opinion.

 

[JS]

I know saying anything negative about Geno on this board is "taboo" but it is my opinion.

Is that you, Herbie?

I was hoping you'd say you were being facetious too. You know, the old "I don't hate him, I just dislike him intensely" knee-slapper.

But evidently you really believe that Geno, as you said, "dislikes Kiah extremely." (You've now softened this to "it's possible.")

You must admit you've voiced a rather controversial "opinion" -- that a coach harbors an extreme personal dislike for a player.

Rather than whine about nonexistent taboo subjects, perhaps you'd care to enlighten us why this is anything other than harmful speculation (see Boneyard rules).

And kindly do so, if you accept this invitation, by private message. I don't want to get into an extended conversation with you on the board about your posting.

 

[meyers7]

Kiah seems to be more aggressive when she thinks the team needs her more (like when KML and Tuck were missing games)

Ah, there you go. That's what Geno has said, or pretty much anyway. He said since Tuck and KML came back, and Stokes knew she was not going to be playing as much, her practices had dropped off. I think he wants her to "bring it" all the time, no matter how much she will get to play, or where in the depth chart she is. She certainly has the ability.

 

[Aluminny69]

I think its time for a fire Geno thread....

Soooo, now its time to genuflect and kiss his ring? (All eight of them? Didn't he lose some of them, did he get them back?)

 

[Tonyc]

The starters will almost always get more playtime then the non starters. If they're not playing great they will get pulled and reinserted later in the game. Kiah looked really good imo when KML and Tuck were out. Bria almost coundnt miss most of the time. In the Duke game Saniya didn't get much playtime and a lot of fans wondered why? The Kiah thing imo could be much the same as BB and Saniya. She's not a starter and gets fewer minutes. That's all. . I think we're reading to much into it. If something is going on we don't know about then we don't know about it. Geno doesn't hate any kid on the team imo. The only reason I don't think Kiah gets as much playtime as Stef and Breanna is because they're starters who can put up a lot of points and who play better in Genos system then Kiah does right now. Yes Kiah looked good when KML and Tuck were out. Now they're back. Let's give it a few games and see what happens. Our conference schedule isn't that tuff and we should walk through it so I expect to see a lot of Kiah Tuck Saniya and BB in different combos. Remember when Iowa people asked Kiah if she would transfer she said NO. So maybe we're looking into something we don't have much knowledge of.

 

[hoopingcrane]

"Ah, there you go. That's what Geno has said, or pretty much anyway. He said since Tuck and KML came back, and Stokes knew she was not going to be playing as much, her practices had dropped off. .[/quote]

Please do not confuse this discussion with the facts. Doing so might mean people knew what they were talking about.

 

[meyers7]

I was expressing my opinion. Coaches dont have to like every player on the team. You ask any coach in America and they all have had players they've loved, liked ....and God forbid .....not liked. It is possible Kiah falls into the latter category. I know saying anything negative about Geno on this board is "taboo" but it is my opinion.

Well IMO, you are way out to lunch.

I think Geno likes Stokes a lot, at least as a person. She frustrates him, because he can't get her to live up to her potential, at least to this point in time. But he likes her.

 

[pinotbear]

Soooo, now its time to genuflect and kiss his ring? (All eight of them? Didn't he lose some of them, did he get them back?)

well ... some of us got Chapstick in our stocking, so ...

I do think there's a middle ground between "fire Geno" thread and "genuflect and kiss his ring". However, on a message board - even one as generally sane as this one - it can be like a political primary, where "compromise" is a dirty word, and extreme positions "sell".

 

[meyers7]

"Ah, there you go. That's what Geno has said, or pretty much anyway. He said since Tuck and KML came back, and Stokes knew she was not going to be playing as much, her practices had dropped off. .

Please do not confuse this discussion with the facts. Doing so might mean people knew what they were talking about.

My bad. I'll try to remember to leave the facts out in the future.

 

[meyers7]

Soooo, now its time to genuflect and kiss his ring?

He is the motherfreaking Godfather. (or so I've heard)

 

[Icebear]

I was expressing my opinion. Coaches dont have to like every player on the team. You ask any coach in America and they all have had players they've loved, liked ....and God forbid .....not liked. It is possible Kiah falls into the latter category. I know saying anything negative about Geno on this board is "taboo" but it is my opinion.

But it does no good to speculate and simply create stories that very likely do not exist. Take her father's public word about it. Kiah loves UCONN and Geno.

 

[UcMiami]

As RSHER... points out, for a team of seven plus two to play as well as they did during the start of the year and then get a starter and a very good bench player back from injury is a huge adjustment - minutes for everyone but especially for the 'bench' players are going to be greatly altered, and it is going to result in a difficult adjustment period. For this transition to occur when it did, during finals and into Christmas vacation when practice time and games are disjointed makes it even more difficult as there is no routine. With only seven scholarship players minutes for the two non-starters were in the 15-20 min. range every game. Add two players you need to get back up to speed and want to get 15+ minutes per game and that is 30+ minutes that have to come from those other seven players - Chong, Banks, and Stokes minutes are going to be reduced.
And the flow that the team had achieved during the 8 game stretch is going to suffer as well - Uconn depends on precision passing and communication on defense. The combinations on the floor with 7 players are much different than what happens with 9 players and some of it is going to be ugly, especially as the 2 returners get both their minds and bodies back into game shape. There will be more turnovers, more stretches of play that appear a bit disjointed, and more adjustments by the coaching staff as they too get used to having the full compliment back. Geno had a funny comment in the post game, that was I am sure partly true: 'I thought I would try a New Year’s Resolution of mine and play all those guys a lot more minutes, and obviously that won’t happen again. That kind of got us away from what we were doing and we got stuck and we stayed stuck for the rest of the first half.' He also said: 'You know, this having nine guys available now, that’s all great, lovey-dovey and everything, but it’s going to take a while to get used to it when we play with six or seven most of the time. I have to a better job of figuring out who should be in with who and who plays well with who so we don’t just stand around and watch.'
Specific to Stokes - I didn't think he 'benched her' in the first half, I just though the team and coaches sort of lost their way in the first half especially on the offensive end and he was desperately trying to get it back. Kiah may be the least offensively aggressive of the nine scholarship players so her not being part of the attempted solution by the coaches made sense. She got a good run in the second half and played quite effectively, so looking at the 40 minute picture, I think she can be quite please.
Dolson, Stewart, and KML are going to get 30 +/- minutes a game each, which leaves 30 +/- minutes a game for Tuck and Stokes. Some games that will be 40 minutes, fairly evenly distributed, some games it may be 20 minutes and weighted to one or the other. That is the reality of team basketball with 9 good players. The same kind of distribution with the guards will be true as well - Jefferson and Hartley are going to get 30 +/- minutes a game leaving 20 +/- minutes for Banks and Chong. To expect anything else is going to lead to serious disappointment and some silly threads. The starting five need to get serious minutes consistently. It is a great luxury for this team to have an additional four players on the bench who can all push those starters and on any given day may demand more minutes at the expense of one of the starters or one of the other bench players. Rejoice in that.

 

[herbiep]

No, everyone is entitled to an opinion based on something real and even then not all opinions need to be voiced nor are those voiced necessarily valid.

and it seems that would be your unsubstantiated opinion....

 

[HuskyPup]

But it does no good to speculate and simply create stories that very likely do not exist. Take her father's public word about it. Kiah loves UCONN and Geno.

good point but I dont think he said she "loves" Geno...although I could be wrong.

 

[reno tony]

So I can have my own opinion that I don't need to justify and no matter how wrong everyone thinks it is, they won't throw stones at me on the Boneyard?

72 TO GO​

 

[Icebear]

good point but I dont think he said she "loves" Geno...although I could be wrong.

Actually, it was reported that she loves UCONN and Geno in at least one article.

 

[Icebear]

and it seems that would be your unsubstantiated opinion....

No, you substantiate it with every post you make.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

and it seems that would be your unsubstantiated opinion....

Actually herbiep though all things are in the eye of the beholder I think this thread substantiates Icebear just fine. I expect some curmudgeonly reply from you, but that is your self assigned role here I guess.