Taking away the keys

[UConnChapette]

Why did Geno pull the starting five in the last three minutes? He calls a time out as ND starts to open up a lead. He draws up a play, then they go out and run something that looked nothing like he drew up. He calls another time out, yells at them a bit, then draws up another play, and again the team doesn't execute what he draws up. The team doesn't follow the defense game plan the entire game. When they do, ND struggles. But they keep going away from it and ND goes on a run. No matter how many time outs he calls to settle the team, instruct them, refocus them, give them guidance they continue to do things their own way. What is a coach to do?

An analogy...

To celebrate their son's getting his driver's license, Mom and Dad reward the boy with a fancy sports car. The son gets a ticket for driving recklessly. Mom and Dad lecture the boy on the dangers of this behavior. The son solemnly nods his head, says "Ok" then goes out with his friends. He gets more tickets for speeding. Again, Mom and Dad sit him down for a lecture on his responsibility to drive carefully and obey the traffic laws. Again the boy nods his agreement and takes the car out again. Another ticket for distracted driving because he was texting. Again the family sits down for the now familiar lecture. The son promises he won't do it again. Next thing you know, the car is wrapped around a telephone pole. No one was seriously injured, thank goodness. Mom and Dad say didn't we warn you? Why don't you learn? The son says he has truly learned his lesson now. Mom and Dad replace the wrecked car and the son is back out driving fast, talking on his cell phone while driving, and continuing his careless habits. Why? Because he has learned that it doesn't matter what he does, his parents will still give him the keys to the car.

Last night, Geno took away the keys to the car.

 

[Wonkster]

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Great, he took away the keys to the car. So now who's going to play women's basketball for the University of Connecticut? The coaches? Most of them have used up their eligibility. The Water Girls?

Stroke of genius! Sounds like a plan to me!
.

 

[Goodgood]

and gave the keys to people he couldn't trust driving around in an empty parking lot, to drive during rush hour....

 

[JellyBean]

Oook. Interesting take. . Stef said something about that fact, not the keys, but pulling the starters out with about 3 mins left in the game. I think that coach Auriemma probably felt that the starters weren't getting it done so he pulled them. As for the play calling, you got me on that. I wasn't in the huddle, so I don't know what was said or not said. But sometimes coaches just don't have their "A" game. Just like the players. Some days players don't have their "A" game. Geno had that moment yesterday. It happens. What was sad though was some of my 4th grade students, huge UConn fans (like their teacher), heard about the loss and were pretty down today. It is sad and scary. 4th graders feeling sad because UConn lost a game. I think that they were more upset because this is our 4th loss for the year...we have not lost this many games in a long time. I just told them "Hey think of it as one loss per year.".....Yeah. They weren't buying it either. ...At least I tried.

 

[pinotbear]

and gave the keys to people he couldn't trust driving around in an empty parking lot, to drive during rush hour....

Nice job. You just managed to insult every player inserted at that time-out.

 

[Tonyc]

Lets face it ND has not been playing good for their past few games. They lost to WVa they struggled with LVille for most the game and they struggled with UCOnn most the game but pulled it out in the end. McBride killed us with her shooting. With that said ND made more foul shots then UConn and out rebouded UConn and shot worse from the floor then UConn. There you have it. Next time dont foul and hit the boards. Chapette great analogy. Next season will be different. We have alot of horses. You dont listen you dont play.

When we meet ND in the finals of the BE tournment I dont think UConn will lose. Geno will make the adjustments. We were in the fame until the end. A couple of missed shots that if we made them we might have won. Kind funny every game weve lost this year we were in it til the end. IMO that tells me our weakness is experience and leadership on the court at the end of the game. Renee developed that her junior year and took charge of the team. Geno referred to it as punching back. Thats what upper classman do and AAs do. They take charge and punch back We are almost there. We've been punched hard twice now. Lets see how we punch back in the BE tournments.

The ole saying REFUSE TO LOSE................

 

[ScarlettB]

Actually Tony, you've been punched hard three times in Big East regular season play and are completely disregarding the other teams you will have to beat in the tournament to even get the chance to play in the final, where your opponent might not even be Notre Dame.

I previously posted that I thought ND was playing better as a team than UConn after watching both teams play RU and that I thought they would beat UConn in Hartford. UConn has the better talent and coach, but they don't have that one consistant go to player this year who can put the team on her shoulders when required and refuse to lose. Lacking that, they haven't all played together as long as ND has, so while they definitely could play well enough to beat them, they would need to execute extremely well to do so. They weren't executing well Monday, so Geno decided to use the end of game as a teaching moment and a motivation tool. It is still to be determined whether the team truly got the message. I admire Geno for having the guts to go there in such a high profile game.

 

[AboutWeston]

Tony is correct.

And I see a national championship for this group, now that Stef, who is the leader of the pack, IMHO, is fired up.

 

[UCinsider]

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Great, he took away the keys to the car. So now who's going to play women's basketball for the University of Connecticut? The coaches? Most of them have used up their eligibility. The Water Girls?

Stroke of genius! Sounds like a plan to me!
.

You're right! Let the players do whatever they want on the court, and we don't need Geno. We can hire some fan off the street to coach the team and save the state a lot of money.