oldude
bamboo lover
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I wish that I could remember the name of the WBB coach a number of years back who said, “Geno can bring his team into your place and beat you, and then turn around and swap teams with you and beat you again.” Geno is quite frankly the best WBB coach ever, and there is no one even close.
During the past 9 years, Geno made it to the FF 8 times, getting to the championship game only one time and losing. It’s hard to imagine, but given Geno and UConn’s extraordinary success over 40 seasons, people actually began to doubt Geno’s ability to compete with rising national powers like ND, USC, UCLA, LSU and SC. When you look at the Huskies 9-year drought, UConn might have been a top player or two short, or they lost a couple heartbreakers on last second shots, or they were simply dealt too many injuries to key players.
Geno has always been a master of learning and adapting. The young women who play for him today are much different than the ones he coached 40 years ago. There is significantly greater talent in WBB. Social media, the transfer portal, NIL and many other factors have dramatically changed college sports. For Geno and his outstanding staff, the process has most certainly been altered, but the end goal is still the same. Recruit talented, team-oriented players with high basketball IQ’s and mold them into a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
At the beginning of this season, many of us here on the BY were hopeful that UConn WBB might just have all the pieces necessary to win #12. But we didn’t know for sure. That all changed for me, and many of you, on February 16 when the Huskies dismantled the Gamecocks in Columbia 87-58.
From that point on, I was fairly confident that the Huskies had what it took to win a national championship. If I had any doubts, they were overcome when I attended the BE tournament at the Mohegan Sun. While many basketball pundits minimized UConn’s dominance of the lowly Big East, what I witnessed was a remarkable display of basketball by the Huskies that included a symphony of movement on offense, relentless defensive pressure and the ability of UConn to effectively field multiple lineups for 40 minutes every game.
During the weeks leading up to the Big Dance, Sweet 16 and FF I must confess that I was dumfounded by the many basketball pundits who continued to pick someone, anyone, other than UConn as the favorite to win it all. Didn’t they see what I saw? Don’t they understand that Geno and his staff are better at preparing their team for a deep run during March than any other coaching staff on the planet?
Then came the Huskies run during the Big Dance. Arkansas St was simply overwhelmed. SD St had possibly the second best coach in the tournament in Coach Johnston, but UConn’s talent prevailed. I am very pleased to know that Coach Johnston and his family appear to be very happy in Brookings, SD.
On to the Sweet 16. Coach Baranczyk at OK is one of the brightest young coaches in the game. But she looked like a deer in the headlights, sticking with drop coverage on the pick and roll while Paige put up 40 pts, mostly on poorly defended 15’ jumpers from the foul line. In the Elite 8, Coach Gottlieb’s USC team put up a good fight without their superstar. But I was left to wonder how good USC might have been if she had designed a more balanced offensive scheme from the start of the season to take advantage of the rest of her talented roster, rather than putting so much of it on JuJu.
In the FF UConn came in on a roll. Neither the top overall seed in the tournament nor last year’s champion were able to remotely slow the Huskies down. Coach Close was pacing up and down the sideline in a frenzy as her Bruins were destroyed by the Huskies. Coach Staley was firing off F-bombs left and right as her Gamecocks were overwhelmed by UConn for the 2nd time in less than 2 months. When Geno has a talented, deep team in March, he will drive opposing coaches out of their minds trying to compete with him.
In the end, order has returned to the Universe. UConn is the Champion of WBB for the 12th time…….I hope that Geno coaches forever…..
During the past 9 years, Geno made it to the FF 8 times, getting to the championship game only one time and losing. It’s hard to imagine, but given Geno and UConn’s extraordinary success over 40 seasons, people actually began to doubt Geno’s ability to compete with rising national powers like ND, USC, UCLA, LSU and SC. When you look at the Huskies 9-year drought, UConn might have been a top player or two short, or they lost a couple heartbreakers on last second shots, or they were simply dealt too many injuries to key players.
Geno has always been a master of learning and adapting. The young women who play for him today are much different than the ones he coached 40 years ago. There is significantly greater talent in WBB. Social media, the transfer portal, NIL and many other factors have dramatically changed college sports. For Geno and his outstanding staff, the process has most certainly been altered, but the end goal is still the same. Recruit talented, team-oriented players with high basketball IQ’s and mold them into a CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM.
At the beginning of this season, many of us here on the BY were hopeful that UConn WBB might just have all the pieces necessary to win #12. But we didn’t know for sure. That all changed for me, and many of you, on February 16 when the Huskies dismantled the Gamecocks in Columbia 87-58.
From that point on, I was fairly confident that the Huskies had what it took to win a national championship. If I had any doubts, they were overcome when I attended the BE tournament at the Mohegan Sun. While many basketball pundits minimized UConn’s dominance of the lowly Big East, what I witnessed was a remarkable display of basketball by the Huskies that included a symphony of movement on offense, relentless defensive pressure and the ability of UConn to effectively field multiple lineups for 40 minutes every game.
During the weeks leading up to the Big Dance, Sweet 16 and FF I must confess that I was dumfounded by the many basketball pundits who continued to pick someone, anyone, other than UConn as the favorite to win it all. Didn’t they see what I saw? Don’t they understand that Geno and his staff are better at preparing their team for a deep run during March than any other coaching staff on the planet?
Then came the Huskies run during the Big Dance. Arkansas St was simply overwhelmed. SD St had possibly the second best coach in the tournament in Coach Johnston, but UConn’s talent prevailed. I am very pleased to know that Coach Johnston and his family appear to be very happy in Brookings, SD.
On to the Sweet 16. Coach Baranczyk at OK is one of the brightest young coaches in the game. But she looked like a deer in the headlights, sticking with drop coverage on the pick and roll while Paige put up 40 pts, mostly on poorly defended 15’ jumpers from the foul line. In the Elite 8, Coach Gottlieb’s USC team put up a good fight without their superstar. But I was left to wonder how good USC might have been if she had designed a more balanced offensive scheme from the start of the season to take advantage of the rest of her talented roster, rather than putting so much of it on JuJu.
In the FF UConn came in on a roll. Neither the top overall seed in the tournament nor last year’s champion were able to remotely slow the Huskies down. Coach Close was pacing up and down the sideline in a frenzy as her Bruins were destroyed by the Huskies. Coach Staley was firing off F-bombs left and right as her Gamecocks were overwhelmed by UConn for the 2nd time in less than 2 months. When Geno has a talented, deep team in March, he will drive opposing coaches out of their minds trying to compete with him.
In the end, order has returned to the Universe. UConn is the Champion of WBB for the 12th time…….I hope that Geno coaches forever…..
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