Telling quote from Geno in change of philosophy this season...

[EricLA]

This was probably mentioned in another thread, but I found it really interesting and thought it deserved it's own thread...

"As coaches we are trying to accomplish a lot of things and sometimes it doesn’t always go that way. There’s a great line in the Thomas Jefferson book I’m reading right now that says sometimes your philosophical ideas have to give way to your philosophical ideas.

You know my idea that we are going to play a lot of guys, we are going to give a lot of guys a lot of minutes and a great opportunity for them to play in a big game like this at home against Duke and then they are out there and you look at the way they are playing and you say why? So, I came out for the second half and Shea [Ralph] goes 'we aren’t going to do that in the second half are we?' and I said 'no'. We put them in one at a time and took them out individually. What happened in the second half was we were able to keep our core for a long time and it really made all the difference in the world."

I thought this was really interesting. In other games it's been noted that when a combo of Brianna, Moriah, Morgan, Bree, Kiah and Heather were on the court, our scoring would disappear and a 25 point lead would evaporate down to a 10-15 point lead. It happened several times over the last 5-10 minutes of recent games.

At the beginning of the year, amid all the hoopla and high expectations, many of us opined that a team consisting of the above mentioned kids along with a couple of bench players would probably be a top 5 team. Seeing as they are so young and their development is coming along at possibly a slower pace, it seems this was incorrect.

So Geno's comment and idea of playing the bench kids less, but putting them on the court more often with a majority of the starters, seems like a great idea.

Against teams like Providence, Seton Hall, Cinci, USF, or Pitt, the "second string" idea probably would be fine. But we've noticed against more solid teams like Syracuse, Georgetown and L'ville, that doesn't work. Going to be interesting to see how Geno manages his "epiphany" going forward...

 

[Wonkster]

... Going to be interesting to see how Geno manages his "epiphany" going forward...

I'm sure whatever the plan is, it'll have Geno's "prints" all over it.

 

[meyers7]

I'm sure whatever the plan is, it'll have Geno's "prints" all over it.

Groannnnn.

 

[msf22b]

I don't understand why it has to be "all or nothing."
That the youngsters played together on the recent international team and performed well does not especially signify that they should play as a group at this level.
It makes a whole lot of sense even before noting the result to be establishing rotations that mix and match the veterans with the youngsters.

 

[UcMiami]

Eric - Thanks for posting that - I used that quote in another thread on the distribution of playing time in the second half. I think it is a very telling quote from Geno and points to the reason that most really good teams have only a 6 or 7 player rotation. As the number of players in a rotation expand, the problems of coordinating the team flow especially on offense expands exponentially. It is not that any specific player isn't skilled enough to contribute, it is that the combination of players doesn't have enough experience playing together to be effective.
I think Geno's experience with the USA team made him think he could work with the Uconn team in a similar way - but the USA team members were so much more experienced and mature as individuals and in playing for multiple teams and coaches. With an inexperienced college team heavy on freshmen and sophomores it can quickly degenerate into chaos. The problem for the team this year has been compounded with Bria's health issues as well as those of Kiah and Morgan.
I think we will probably not see a whole lot of change in the actual minutes being played, just in the substitution pattern. The starting five plus BS will continue in the 25 minute range followed by KS, BB, MJ and MT in the 10 minute range, but we will not see as many minutes where two of the 10+ minute players are on the floor at the same time. I think this was coming anyway with Bria getting healthier and CD's continued solid play cutting into BB and MJ's available minutes.

 

[doggydaddy]

"many of us opined that a team consisting of the above mentioned kids along with a couple of bench players would probably be a top 5 team."

No offense to anyone that thought that was true, but I always found that opinion to be way too optomistic, boardering on arrogant.

I am pretty happy that the top 5 players are probably the best 5.

 

[Scotter]

This isn't a new revelation on Geno's part. And Geno wasn't talked about USA hockey style substitutions. He was talking about even having two of the inexperienced players on the court at the same time. This is something he has been battling all season. In the fall already he acknowledged that the team would play much better with the returning players on the court, but if he spoon feeds the freshmen and sophomores (Outside of Kaleena) minutes then they're not going to be playing very much. If you can only play one of them at a time then they aren't going to be playing very much, and that isn't great for the long term goals of the team.
I also don't think he expected the inexperienced players to still struggling this much both with understanding what is happening on the court and where they fit. And I doubt he expected all the nagging injuries. All of the current "core" players, Caroline, Kelly, Stef, Bria, and Kaleena, were all a lot further along as freshman. I don't think anyone including a glass half empty Geno expected quite this degree of struggles. I thought Moriah would struggle more than Morgan and Breanna, but I didn't think she would struggle to make an open layup. No one has emerged yet from the inexperienced players that Geno can really count on, and it is getting to the point where he is going to have to make some choices.

 

[nan linds]

I did not quite understand the quote with philosophical used twice. When I went back to John A's Blog, his quote made more sense.
“There is a great line in the book about Thomas Jefferson I am reading right now that says something like, “There are times when you are philosophical, but those ideas have to give way to practical ideas,” Auriemma said. That from John A. Blog makes more sense to me.

 

[pap49cba]

The thread title is a bit misleading. I don't think it's a change of philosophy "this season" but it certainly was a change for this game. It seems Geno threw a s##t fit at half-time and decided either his core players were going to get it done or they weren't but he wasn't going to foot around and let Duke stay in the game. And the fact that Breanna turned it around when Stef was sitting on the bench made his job a lot easier. The newbies will get plenty of time in the next few weeks.

 

[pap49cba]

I did not quite understand the quote with philosophical used twice. When I went back to John A's Blog, his quote made more sense.
“There is a great line in the book about Thomas Jefferson I am reading right now that says something like, “There are times when you are philosophical, but those ideas have to give way to practical ideas,” Auriemma said. That from John A. Blog makes more sense to me.

Yep, the original quote was wrong. It was "philosophical" and "practical".

 

[UCONNfan1]

The quote is taken right from the "quotes" section of the UCONN Huskies official site, UCONNHuskies.com


The entire quote from his comments were printed as...

On the second half being so distinctly different then the first half:

“I thought the Penn State game we played a lot different in the second half than we did in the first half, but I don’t think to this extent or this magnitude. As coaches we are trying to accomplish a lot of things and sometimes it doesn’t always go that way. There’s a great line in the Thomas Jefferson book I’m reading right now that says sometimes your philosophical ideas have to give way to your philosophical ideas. You know my idea that we are going to play a lot of guys, we are going to give a lot of guys a lot of minutes and a great opportunity for them to play in a big game like this at home against Duke and then they are out there and you look at the way they are playing and you say why? So, I came out for the second half and Shea [Ralph] goes we aren’t going to do that in the second half are we and I said no. We put them in one at a time and took them out individually. What happened in the second half was we were able to keep our core for a long time and it really made all the difference in the world.”

Although what the other posters indicated make more sense and if the John A got it right, it certainly makes the sentiment more logical.

 

[OneTrickPony]

I interpret this more as a nod to the complexity of Geno's system, than a vote of no confidence in his players. I don't know what Geno really thinks...does anyone...but my best surmise is that he's secretly thrilled with his freshman and what he'll be able to mold them into...and he's ecstatic that Brianna has stepped into her talent this year!

Remember that the goal is the big show, and increasingly letting the bench players experience and try to mesh with the polished UCONN machine...which takes 3 or 4 legitimate AA candidates to run...is the better part of valor from here on...

 

[Bestiarius]

My interpretation of what Geno was trying to say: In theory vs practice, practice always wins - at least in theory.