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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5013779, member: 12088"] I couldn't agree more. And for Geno, that style of play is a motion offense and team defense that generates transition offense. I say "team defense" as though that were a single thing which, of course, it isn't. But it defines a style of camaraderie and culture that has characterized Geno's teams from the beginning. He recruits for it, he teaches it, and he has won with it. And some of the greatest coaches have emulated him in this very thing -- Tara, Muffet and Dawn. As he has said a few times in interviews, it's easy to find teenagers who can score. It's a lot harder to find the ones who can score AND are willing to play team defense. All the easy glory is in showboating on offense, and there's very little glory to be had in a well-executed team defense... and teenagers love glory. This is why I didn't lament the loss of Saylor, who said after she left that she didn't like how restrictive Geno's style of coaching is. The same goes for the failure to recruit Barker or Dauda. Did Geno make a pitch to them and they turned him down once he explained what being a Husky means, or did he not even bother with them because he already knew they weren't a good fit? Either way, I suspect these kids -- talented as they are -- would not have added much to Geno's team concept. Sure, it'd be good to have an insurance backup for injuries (and Dauda or Barker might have supplied at least that), but not at the expense of disrupting the team. Remember, last season Geno had the worst run of injury luck in recent memory. I'm tempted to say in recorded history. More depth would have been nice in February and March. And yet, using 4 freshmen and only 3 of the forecasted starters, he coached the team to the final four. It was entirely "style of play" that got them there. Sure, Paige was brilliant, heroic even, and Nika and Aaliyah had her back. But that wouldn't have been nearly enough without a team concept that the freshmen could drink in from the beginning of the season. That team concept is what sustained them and allowed Paige to carry them as far as she did. You can really see it in the tournament games. At each level the Huskies were simply more of a unit than their opponents were. That's Husky style. It was obvious in the JSU and Syracuse games. But even in the Duke and USC games it was apparent. Iowa was the first team that presented a similar unity, and of course they did it with a lineup that hadn't changed much in 4 years and was almost entirely intact through the entire season. A sign is that it wasn't Caitlin who single-handedly beat us -- that's what would have been required for Syracuse or Duke or USC to win. It was the entire Iowa squad. Kate Martin and Gabby Marshal and Hannah Stuelke also had great games. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach