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- Oct 17, 2011
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We Husky fans, quite justifiably, hate it when people around the country talk about how bad UConn's level of success is for WCBB. What makes the reality of this kind of shallow thinking so fundamentally annoying is the simple truth that "the UConn way," if I can use that term, is undeniably better than what other programs have to offer their players. Other programs can do better, but they either elect not to or the players decline to buy in as they do here. To cite just one example, if you check out the current Geno show, lots of it is focused on the staff's lofty expectations of the players' conditioning, as in "What? You're puffing hard after only ninety minutes?" Azura talks about how different those particular expectations are at UConn in comparison to "other programs." I guess we know at least one program to which she refers!
I could not help but be starkly reminded of this subject when watching the ND/Tenn game last night. In the fourth quarter, both teams, and especially ND, with a deeper bench than UConn, were downright gassed, so much so that Doris had to call it to attention. I remember, I guess it was after a UConn pasting of ND last year, when Stewie, in a post-game, on-court interview commented, "We didn't think they'd want to run with us!" I think that's a pretty damning indictment of what other programs try to get accomplished, which makes the whining about how bad UConn is for the game particularly insulting. Do folks want this to be nice, dainty girls' basketball or women's athletics at the highest level? I realize that every school doesn't have the opportunity to recruit players that display the kind of willingness to "buy in" that Geno does, but enough do to transform the landscape of WCBB to a more level playing field than it is...so, please, step it up or shut up!
I could not help but be starkly reminded of this subject when watching the ND/Tenn game last night. In the fourth quarter, both teams, and especially ND, with a deeper bench than UConn, were downright gassed, so much so that Doris had to call it to attention. I remember, I guess it was after a UConn pasting of ND last year, when Stewie, in a post-game, on-court interview commented, "We didn't think they'd want to run with us!" I think that's a pretty damning indictment of what other programs try to get accomplished, which makes the whining about how bad UConn is for the game particularly insulting. Do folks want this to be nice, dainty girls' basketball or women's athletics at the highest level? I realize that every school doesn't have the opportunity to recruit players that display the kind of willingness to "buy in" that Geno does, but enough do to transform the landscape of WCBB to a more level playing field than it is...so, please, step it up or shut up!