To me, this is Geno's most telling quote...

[pap49cba]

As per Jim Fuller:

UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn’t pull any punches when he was asked if his team had any fight in it.

“No, we have none,” Auriemma said. “If they had it, it would have come out. When Maya (Moore) left, she took all of it with her and we have been trying to find ‘where is it?’ If anybody comes from Mars, lands in this room in the next five minutes and says ‘man that coach must be in deep (trouble) with his bosses. They must be 4-27.’ We are (26) and 4, but our team has no fight. I will tell you a lot of good things that our team does, but is that one of them? You know what kind of fighters we are? We are the kind of fighters that throws punches, and if you back up we will keep punching you, but if you punch us back, we are going to run and hide. I don’t think you win any championships doing that.”

 

[meyers7]

As per Jim Fuller:

UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn’t pull any punches when he was asked if his team had any fight in it.

“No, we have none,” Auriemma said. “If they had it, it would have come out. When Maya (Moore) left, she took all of it with her and we have been trying to find ‘where is it?’ If anybody comes from Mars, lands in this room in the next five minutes and says ‘man that coach must be in deep (trouble) with his bosses. They must be 4-27.’ We are (26) and 4, but our team has no fight. I will tell you a lot of good things that our team does, but is that one of them? You know what kind of fighters we are? We are the kind of fighters that throws punches, and if you back up we will keep punching you, but if you punch us back, we are going to run and hide. I don’t think you win any championships doing that.”

Actually yeah, that really sounds like them. Very well put.

I think he said it before, if things are going our way we can be aggressive and confident, but when they don't we become meek.

 

[HuskyNan]

I'm reminded of a Shea Ralph quote from years ago. She was talking about some loss (forget which) and she said, "We got punched in the face and we didn't punch back". Wonder if she pulled out that line again last night.

(And before anyone asks, no, Shea wasn't referring to a literal punch)

 

[UConnCat]

I just posted the same quote in another thread. Ouch. Hard to argue with it after last night. For the entire game it seemed as though ND was running downhill and UConn was running uphill. Notre Dame seemed bigger and stronger than the team that played in January and certainly bigger and stronger than UConn was last night. UConn lacked energy, aggressiveness and confidence and Notre Dame had all three in spades last night. The team didn't seem mentally ready for the game which rarely happens at UConn. I think Geno and the coaches need to look at themselves and how they prepared the team mentally. Doris said something about Geno telling the team that he wasn't going to hang the BE banner if the team won last night. Did that take a little fight and spirit out of them? Maybe he was trying to pi$$ them off but it didn't look like it worked.

BTW, Stef Dolson showed she had some fight in her. Geno punched her on Saturday and she came out swinging and didn't stop. That was good to see. Kiah, not so much. He's now punched the other players. Let's see how they respond.

 

[attaboy]

Not sure I totally agree. I have watched the team get pushed and beat up in just about every game where physical play was the norm. Really did not see anyone quit or act scared. I watched 5 guards get the beat out of them on saturday. Did not see them quit. Honestly, I think we were out of gas. Adrenaline worked at first and then we just had to suck it up. We kept coming back until about 6 minutes left and did have enough in the tank. This team has to be hitting on all cylinders. It has been reduced to a play running team that can be scouted. The past few years the offense has been free flowing, reaction based and not easy to defend. A reaction based offense requires all 5 players to at least have a yellow light. Based on the last few games, I would say we only have 3 on the court at a time that feel they have the go to shoot. That will not work against ND, Baylor, maybe Stanford. Even had somebody tell me that the second half at Marquette the team was told which 3 were to take all the shots. Again, easy to defend. So, I think a combination of wear and tear physically and the mental lack of offensive confidence has led to last night's result. Don't really think this is bad coaching but demonstrates frustation and lack of confidence by the staff as well. JMHO

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Not sure I totally agree. I have watched the team get pushed and beat up in just about every game where physical play was the norm. Really did not see anyone quit or act scared. I watched 5 guards get the beat out of them on saturday. Did not see them quit. Honestly, I think we were out of gas. Adrenaline worked at first and then we just had to suck it up. We kept coming back until about 6 minutes left and did have enough in the tank. This team has to be hitting on all cylinders. It has been reduced to a play running team that can be scouted. The past few years the offense has been free flowing, reaction based and not easy to defend. A reaction based offense requires all 5 players to at least have a yellow light. Based on the last few games, I would say we only have 3 on the court at a time that feel they have the go to shoot. That will not work against ND, Baylor, maybe Stanford. Even had somebody tell me that the second half at Marquette the team was told which 3 were to take all the shots. Again, easy to defend. So, I think a combination of wear and tear physically and the mental lack of offensive confidence has led to last night's result. Don't really think this is bad coaching but demonstrates frustation and lack of confidence by the staff as well. JMHO

This post is spot on. Good insight.

 

[MilfordHusky]

The apparent depth that we thought we had was only a mirage. I'd love to see Brianna and Kiah develop. They can be great defenders, but Geno thinks they are not ready. Like last year, we basically played 6 players. And the intensity wears us down late in games. We really need to have 5 scorers on the floor. When we did, we put together three 39-0 seasons.

 

[UConnCat]

Another good quote from Geno on his team's progress (or lack thereof) throughout the season and particularly late in the season.

"It's been a couple of weeks, a month maybe, where somebody steps up and somebody backs up," Auriemma said. "Somebody else steps up and somebody backs up. When you get a team like Notre Dame, [when] Diggins plays well and Novosel plays well and Peters plays well and they get a great night from McBride, all of a sudden now you just don't have enough."

That's very true. Now is when you want your team to be hitting on all cylinders and it hasn't happened. Key players have stepped back for whatever reason.

 

[Sonny44]

Anybody know why no one bothered to cover McBride?

 

[Replicant]

Anybody know why no one bothered to cover McBride?

That's an excellent question. She was 6 for 7 on her shots inside the arc (missed 2 3pters) or 86%. Thought McBride's shots were the daggers that never allowed us to claw our way back into it.

 

[cferraro04]

On the way up to the game with TonyC...I told Tony...I know Geno has developed his game plan around stopping Diggins, Novasel and Peters. I'm thinking that he isn't that worried about McBride... Watch McBride torch us tonight...and that is exactly what she did.

 

[Replicant]

Thought a new day would take away some of the sting from last night's game...it hasn't.

 

[asuwish]

As per Jim Fuller:

UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn’t pull any punches when he was asked if his team had any fight in it.

“No, we have none,” Auriemma said. “If they had it, it would have come out. When Maya (Moore) left, she took all of it with her and we have been trying to find ‘where is it?’ If anybody comes from Mars, lands in this room in the next five minutes and says ‘man that coach must be in deep (trouble) with his bosses. They must be 4-27.’ We are (26) and 4, but our team has no fight. I will tell you a lot of good things that our team does, but is that one of them? You know what kind of fighters we are? We are the kind of fighters that throws punches, and if you back up we will keep punching you, but if you punch us back, we are going to run and hide. I don’t think you win any championships doing that.”

He's frustrated, I get it, but they do give effort. Look at there half court D this season and D is mostly about effort. They need better O as in a 4th player to score. maybe it's time to start KML over Doty or start Kiah to open up the outside. He's trying to motivate but even he says different kids respond different. I hope these public comments don't have a negative effect. he should also say our failures are my fault too!

 

[Icebear]

He's frustrated, I get it, but they do give effort. Look at there half court D this season and D is mostly about effort. They need better O as in a 4th player to score. maybe it's time to start KML over Doty or start Kiah to open up the outside. He's trying to motivate but even he says different kids respond different. I hope these public comments don't have a negative effect. he should also say our failures are my fault too!

He did.

 

[Bestiarius]

Never underestimate the value of experience. Having two grad students and two seniors is a big advantage, particularly in games that mean something. Add star junior to the equation, and you have a combination that's hard to beat. Players that are great from day one, are few.

For a building year, the team did a good job. We were within 4 points in the second half. ND did well on the offensive boards, and were able to hit some key shots late. It could have easily gone the other way with a bit of luck.

Despite Geno's pessimism and the shortcomings pointed out here, this team is good enough to go far the rest of the season. If it doesn't happen, so be it. The future looks bright.

 

[Kait14]

Never underestimate the value of experience. Having two grad students and two seniors is a big advantage, particularly in games that mean something. Add star junior to the equation, and you have a combination that's hard to beat. Players that are great from day one, are few.

For a building year, the team did a good job. We were within 4 points in the second half. ND did well on the offensive boards, and were able to hit some key shots late. It could have easily gone the other way with a bit of luck.

Despite Geno's pessimism and the shortcomings pointed out here, this team is good enough to go far the rest of the season. If it doesn't happen, so be it. The future looks bright.

This sounds almost exactly like us next year, no?

 

[rington]

The apparent depth that we thought we had was only a mirage. I'd love to see Brianna and Kiah develop. They can be great defenders, but Geno thinks they are not ready. Like last year, we basically played 6 players. And the intensity wears us down late in games. We really need to have 5 scorers on the floor. When we did, we put together three 39-0 seasons.

Those 2 should have been playing more minutes earlier in the year against the cupcake teams; they didn't, and they are not ready at this time.

 

[PacoSwede]

The apparent depth that we thought we had was only a mirage. I'd love to see Brianna and Kiah develop. They can be great defenders, but Geno thinks they are not ready. Like last year, we basically played 6 players. And the intensity wears us down late in games. We really need to have 5 scorers on the floor. When we did, we put together three 39-0 seasons.

I've seem this over and over and over on this board.

How many teams do have 5 scorers on the floor??? Sure ain't many of them.

Seems to me that there have been a few UConn NC teams that didn't normally have 5 scorers on the floor.

Hell, it would be great to have Tina, Maya, D, Nykesha and Svet on the floor, wouldn't it? But, to channel Sec. Rumsfeld, you win with the team you have, not the team you'd like to have. This team is gonna have to find a way to do it, or BY won't be happy.

 

[blackbird]

I think this is also a motivational tactic.

The beginning of the season they did have fight in them. And I think part of it was because everyone was underestimating them. When people started expecting them to win, this team tightened up.

So Geno's taking some pressure off..and maybe giving them a reason to prove him wrong.

 

[Icebear]

Well said, Paco. I asked that question awhile ago and the list people gave was amazingly short. The present situation seems to be people taking one comment from Geno and turning it into an absolute. Instead it is a desirable but rare event.

 

[JonB]

Anybody know why no one bothered to cover McBride?

Partly because ND was setting good screens, McBride was using them well, and UConn wasn't able to fight over the top of them to stick with McBride. Basketball really is about the fundamentals.