Way To Stay Classy Brenda!

[slug25]

I agree that the crowd was nowhere near 15K, probably about 8-9K. I bought 4 $20 seats in October that were supposedly "best available" and we found ourselves 5 rows from the back of the main section behind the UCONN bench. Not bad, but still annoying considering that entire sections nearer the court were empty. By the way, as soon as the game started, ushers allowed -- actually encouraged -- students to move down to one prime section court side opposite the UCONN bench.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Help with my memory gang. Didn't the Maryland U Conn relationship take a major hit some 6-7 years back regarding a high profile verbal to U Conn who Frese and another recruit took a run at and the kid switched to Maryland - Tolliver? or her side kick?

 

[ctkaiser]

I think she was just trying to be funny. I'd have to hear all her quotes in context to see what she said. I no longer dislike Freese. I used to dislike her after hearing comments about how she negatively recruited against UCONN, but I'd have to hear the quote in context to have an opinion on it. Now I find her kind of a caricature. I think it would be more classy of us fans to just shake our heads and move on.

I know there are times where Geno has said things and mostly it's Tennessee fans going bonkers about Geno. But usually when you take his entire quote in context, it's not nearly so cringe-worthy.

I do think she should be held accountable for the "smack talk" leading up to the game and the hype she put into it with her own comments, and then to make no adjustments in the 2nd half and have one of the commentators note that after the game was over has to call her coaching into question... I don't think she's relevant to UCONN from a competition standpoint.

Geno loved to tweak Pat but I don't think he says what Freese said after a loss. Sounds too much like an excuse.

 

[UConnChapette]

I can see Geno saying that about PHS and we would think its funny and The Summit would be imploding.

Don't be The Summit.

I was going to make a similar comment. Humor sometimes falls flat when heard from a different point of view.

 

[HuskyNan]

Help with my memory gang. Didn't the Maryland U Conn relationship take a major hit some 6-7 years back regarding a high profile verbal to U Conn who Frese and another recruit took a run at and the kid switched to Maryland - Tolliver? or her side kick?

Geno helped Frese get the job at Maryland by calling the AD and endorsing her. After Frese got the job, she bonded with Mike Flynn of the Philly Belles. there were some, let's say, rude comments said about UConn to recruits and Philly Belles had a nice piple line to Maryland. geno's relationship with Frese and Flynn went south about then.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Geno helped Frese get the job at Maryland by calling the AD and endorsing her. After Frese got the job, she bonded with Mike Flynn of the Philly Belles. there were some, let's say, rude comments said about UConn to recruits and Philly Belles had a nice piple line to Maryland. geno's relationship with Frese and Flynn went south about then.

Ah ha, thanks Nan.

 

[HuskyNan]

Have the two faced off v. each other? What is the record?

Each team is 1-1.

2009 Elite Eight, Louisville won, 77-60.
2012 Sweet Sixteen, Maryland won, 72-68.

I don't think they schedule each other; there's no love lost there.

 

[UConnCat]

Back in 2006 the Washington Post ran a story on Frese and her recruiting tactics. Here's the part that referenced Laura Harper and has a funny quote from Geno:

Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma is among the coaches who have lost a player to Frese. In September 2003, Laura Harper made an oral commitment to Connecticut before changing her mind and signing with Maryland. Now she is a starting forward for the Terrapins. Auriemma was asked how he thought Frese managed to lure so many talented players to Maryland.

"I just think she just has a real charming personality," Auriemma said. Asked if there was anything more to it, he said: "Probably not. I can't think of any other reason why a player would go to a certain school. They're just very persuasive in their recruiting tactics, and I think that's part of recruiting. You have to be very persuasive. You have to be very assertive. And they follow in the great tradition of Lefty Driesell. When Lefty was told that someone had committed to someplace else, he goes, 'Good. Now we know who the competition is.' "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/24/AR2006032401945.html

 

[jsloanjr]

How can MD only get 9400 fans for the #1 team in the country?...........Where are the students?

 

[triaddukefan]

You right and let me add she hasn't even won the ACC championship. That should be her first goal.

Well she did win the 2011 ACC Championship.... only because both Duke and Miami lost in the quarterfinals. I look forward to welcoming her and Maryland to Cameron Indoor in feb....... maybe this time she will stick around til the end of the game

 

[John Glass]

Didn't know that so thanks - but I know that a lot of schools do this including Uconn which I think generally uses ticket sales and not attendance at the door. Whatever the actual numbers in the arena, it was a big crowd and pretty loud for two thirds of the game.

Every school counts tickets sold, not fannies in the seats. However, Maryland has a system where boosters buy WBB tickets to get points that help them get premier seating at MBB, and football. The majority of these season tickets are never used, and the announced attendance includes over 4,000 no-shows.

 

[ursusminor]

I agree that the crowd was nowhere near 15K, probably about 8-9K. I bought 4 $20 seats in October that were supposedly "best available" and we found ourselves 5 rows from the back of the main section behind the UCONN bench. Not bad, but still annoying considering that entire sections nearer the court were empty. By the way, as soon as the game started, ushers allowed -- actually encouraged -- students to move down to one prime section court side opposite the UCONN bench.

That is student seating. I noticed it, too (we were section 126, sounds like you were, too), but that entire courtside section that they filled with students is student seating. They filled in the student sections behind the basket first, for some reason, but I've sat in that courtside section before.

 

[ursusminor]

How can MD only get 9400 fans for the #1 team in the country?...........Where are the students?

What percentage of the attendance do you expect to be students? They have a big student section, and there were a lot of students there.

 

[tomcat]

You know, Geno-ista, it may be that she is bitter, but is also can be that she is one of those people who occasionally engages the mouth before engaging the brain. It would be hard to believe that a coach would say anything that could be construed by anyone (never mind your own players, who may be a bit sensitive having just lost the game) as a slap at your team.

 

[John Glass]

That is student seating. I noticed it, too (we were section 126, sounds like you were, too), but that entire courtside section that they filled with students is student seating. They filled in the student sections behind the basket first, for some reason, but I've sat in that courtside section before.

 

[UcMiami]

WHAT!!!! I can't find a single article where she said this when she was hired at my Alma Mater- Go Ball State! Now I am pissed

I think what she said when she was hired by Ball State was ... 'I am really happy to be here visiting, I consider this a very brief stepping stone to a much better opportunity somewhere else!'
Maybe not quite what you wanted to hear, but she gets a few points for honesty, doesn't she?

 

[ed4ourgirls]

After beating her Terps, do we really require Brenda to genuflect and kiss our collective butts afterward?

I'm not a big fan of Brenda's, but after that loss, I'm more than willing to allow her a moment or two of peevishness (if that's what it was).

and yes, I know, WE didn't beat the Terps. Our girls did.

 

[Jonathan Husky]

She is obviously a very good recruiter which is very important. She is just a lousy basketball coach. She should hire someone of Jeff Walz's calibre as Assoc. Coach to do the coaching and she will get good results again.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Next they'll probably have Brenda do a post-game "draw a student's name" give away kinda thing....

 

[boontonbomber]

it never ceases to amaze me how people on this board can get worked up over things like freese's comment. her quote seemed rather light-hearted to me, something lacking in most of the comments made here.

 

[Buzzyboy]

I see that quote as a compliment to Geno.

Personally, the only way I could take that quote is a big slam on Geno, not a compliment. The inference is that Bozo the clown could coach a team with as much talent as Geno has and still win national championships because of that talent. It really denigrates his abilities, in my estimation. It may be complimentary to Geno in one respect, as a recruiter but that's about it.

 

[Buzzyboy]

it never ceases to amaze me how people on this board can get worked up over things like freese's comment. her quote seemed rather light-hearted to me, something lacking in most of the comments made here.

I think words are important. If they weren't, we'd all be doing a lot of grunting. I myself am not enraged by her words but do take them as a little bashing towards Geno's reputation as a "great" coach and also a way to defer criticism of her teams ability to win a game at home to a team coming in whose playing at far less then full strength.

 

[John Glass]

She is obviously a very good recruiter which is very important. She is just a lousy basketball coach. She should hire someone of Jeff Walz's calibre as Assoc. Coach to do the coaching and she will get good results again.

They tried, former athletic director Debbie Yow was the head womens basketball coach at Kentucky, and Florida, Yow saw how poorly coached the team was. So 5 years ago Yow gave Frese a blank check to hire new assistant coaches, Frese hired David Adkins and Marlin Chinn. Adkins had coached at DeMatha, and Montrose HS, as a boys assistant. Chinn was at Seton Hall.

Frese tries to create the impression she is doing all the coaching, she allows tv cameras in the locker-room every chance she gets. We get to hear brilliant statements such as we need more energy, and we need to get back on defense.

 

[ctchamps]

it never ceases to amaze me how people on this board can get worked up over things like freese's comment. her quote seemed rather light-hearted to me, something lacking in most of the comments made here.

Geno has the art of one liners and poking fun at people down to a science. He could be a headliner at Vegas and I'd pay good money to see him. I was scratching my head over this reaction to the quote until Nan posted the history of the friction between coaches. Then I realized that any comment Brenda makes will be perceived as negative based on the reported negative recruiting ascribed to Brenda against Geno combined with the human reaction in which an enemy to my friend is my enemy.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

it never ceases to amaze me how people on this board can get worked up over things like freese's comment. her quote seemed rather light-hearted to me, something lacking in most of the comments made here.

Hey, it's our job! And worked up? On the Boneyard Richter scale this thread barely registers on the Worked Up meter. Brenda is one of our favorite Voo Doo Dolls and it is a rare day we get to take her out of the doll cabinet and play.