What Happened To Morgan William in 4th Quarter ????

[Chong-Master]

Coach Vic benched her in the entire 4th quarter of the NCAA Championship Game. WHY ??? Don't you take the person who led you to the dance, no matter what, unless she was injured and it doesn't appear as if she was injured in any way.

This is the GREATEST MYSTERY coming out of South Carolina's win tonight

 

[CocoHusky]

She was bench for lack of effort. Seems like Vic has learned more than one thing from Geno.

 

[DaddyChoc]

Geno wouldn't even do that

 

[cohenzone]

She was bench for lack of effort. Seems like Vic has learned more than one thing from Geno.

I think that's what was going on. On the other hand, I think the whole team was flat and I do think it was a pretty heavy trip to lay on the player that got your team that far. Let her sit for a while, but that's a pretty big lesson to totally bench her.So far as I can see, MSU doesn't play great offense anyway, lots of one on one, but she's a disrupter.

The game also showed how resilient UConn tends to be. MSU I think used all of its energy on us. UConn's tournament success is testament to the relative evenness of the effort during the tournament UConn typically puts out. Not that easy to achieve.

 

[Roger G]

I was watching her before she got taken out and she was just standing there on offense. He had no choice.

 

[Gus Mahler]

Geno wouldn't even do that

Correct. You don't use a championship game to make a point. Surely Vic felt the matchups were better with who he was playing.

 

[triaddukefan]

They are ripping the MSU coach to shreds on twitter.

 

[CocoHusky]

I think that's what was going on. On the other hand, I think the whole team was flat and I do think it was a pretty heavy trip to lay on the player that got your team that far. Let her sit for a while, but that's a pretty big lesson to totally bench her.So far as I can see, MSU doesn't play great offense anyway, lots of one on one, but she's a disrupter.

Two reason why I disagree. 1) William's replacement, whose name escapes me played very well. 2) Vic gave her multiples chances before the permanent benching.

 

[Plebe]

They are ripping the MSU coach to shreds on twitter.

Ha, who is they? The MSU fans?

 

[triaddukefan]

Ha, who is they? The MSU fans?

I dunno.... i just put Morgan William in the search bar... and looked at the live tweets.... been going on since the third quarter

 

[gamer]

Not knowing the dynamics of the team, on the face it, that was downright mean by Schaefer. Neither she (nor he) had figured out to deal with the face guarding, which was very effective. But at least give her another chance. After all, they did beat Baylor and UConn pretty much strictly due to her. She had just stolen the ball and driven full court for a layup.

 

[cohenzone]

Two reason why I disagree. 1) William's replacement, whose name escapes me played very well. 2) Vic gave her multiples chances before the permanent benching.

Sometimes kids try too hard. She's never been in that spot before. Her replacement was not the same scoring threat. That team is pretty limited offensively. Not much ball movement and reliance on the big girl's rebounding. Wilson was the problem for them.

 

[Centerstream]

If they have the post game presser, I wonder how the coach is going to answer the 'William benching' questions?

 

[HuskyJohn]

Here's an explanation provided by Clarion Ledger.

Morgan William watches end of Mississippi State's loss
==========================================
Vic Schaefer said the decision to leave William on the bench came down to reserve guard Jazzmun Holmes playing well at the time, and William not playing particularly sharp.

William, a junior, scored eight points on 2 of 6 shooting from the field. She had four assists and one turnover, but never got into a rhythm on either end of the floor in 23 minutes.

“Jazz played good today. Morgan, she had some struggles early,” Schaefer said. “Again, y'all, it's a long, hard grind of a year, of a season. We got in so late Friday night. We've been trying to almost play catch-up since then.”

Schaefer suggested that William may have lacked the energy she played with in Mississippi State’s thrilling upset over UConn on Friday night.

“I thought we had a couple kids today that just didn't quite have the energy level that we needed,” Schaefer said. “When you combine that with their energy level seemed to be really good, I think that made for a bad recipe for our not being able to handle dribble-penetration.”

 

[Nostical]

Schaefer believes in Genos's philosophy. He visited UConn to learn from Geno who said if his players don't have the right body language they won't play. Genos's quote--which Schaefer has hanging in his office is "If somebody’s not engaged in the game, they will never get in the game. Ever."

 

[willtalk]

Good for this coach. You don't owe players anything. It's nothing personal. Tara lost a championship when she played an injured and obviously ineffective Appel in that championship they lost to Uconn years back. When you don't produce and someone does better than you then you shouldn't expect to play. I wouldn't necessarily say that she wasn't trying though. Some days you just don't have the energy. There are multiple reasons for a player not producing even in respect to effort. She also was hot in previous games and it appeared she had cooled off. Leaving her in wasn't going to guarantee that she would light it up. I think the coach knows her better than we who only base it on her only her last few games. I think if we really investigate we will find that she played way over her head in this tournament. Some players are more streaky than others.

 

[Striper69]

She's only human...

 

[Ukonnfan]

Schaefer believes in Genos's philosophy. He visited UConn to learn from Geno who said if his players don't have the right body language they won't play. Genos's quote--which Schaefer has hanging in his office is "If somebody’s not engaged in the game, they will never get in the game. Ever."

..it is my understanding Vic was never able to get to the Uconn campus. He and Geno just couldn't make it work. He met Geno in a restaurant somewhere in the south and they had dinner together and talked BB. According to an interview with Geno, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[shinobimono]

Correct. You don't use a championship game to make a point. Surely Vic felt the matchups were better with who he was playing.

It's not a matter of making a point, its seeing that she's not giving you what you need to win and making adjustments to compensate. Coaches do that. It's trying to find the right mix of people to get you the win.

 

[shinobimono]

I think that's what was going on. On the other hand, I think the whole team was flat and I do think it was a pretty heavy trip to lay on the player that got your team that far. Let her sit for a while, but that's a pretty big lesson to totally bench her.So far as I can see, MSU doesn't play great offense anyway, lots of one on one, but she's a disrupter.

The game also showed how resilient UConn tends to be. MSU I think used all of its energy on us. UConn's tournament success is testament to the relative evenness of the effort during the tournament UConn typically puts out. Not that easy to achieve.

Morgan played 23 minutes, she averages 28.8 minutes; hardly seems like the coach was making a point. Probably giving her a rest and seeing if any other players couldn't help since her offense was off. She only averaged 10.9 points a game for the season. Her coach was probably in a better position than us to make the decision. I think too many people are getting carried away with her high two-game point production and expecting she would be the team's savior. Great story line, I know, but...

 

[shinobimono]

Geno wouldn't even do that

Oh yeah? 2014 NC against Notre Dame. Bria Hartley was having a terrible game early on and was thankfully benched. The game was tight in the first half (UConn 45, Notre Dame 38 at the half). UConn was running a 6-player rotation with little guard back up. In my view, Bria may have been nervous and needed to sit for a while to settle down (which may have been what the MSU coach was doing to Morgan). I remember very well, her play was hurting the team early in the game. I don't think Geno would keep someone in the game if they were having a negative impact, even if they were a starter and it was the championship game, so he benched her. She sat a good 10 minutes, while all other starters played 38-39 minutes. Is it really such a harsh thing to do? After all, you are there to win. See link to box score below.

Notre Dame vs. Connecticut - Box Score - April 8, 2014 - ESPN

 

[Papa33]

They are ripping the MSU coach to shreds on twitter.

Sports fans— the self-proclaimed experts. I wonder how many of them/us would survive having our every decision and choice take place in a real-time fish bowl.

 

[LasVegasYank]

Notre Dame vs. Connecticut - Box Score - April 8, 2014 - ESPN

22 offensive rebounds and 54 total!

I miss those days.

 

[FanHam]

Benching Morgan William in the fourth quarter is indefensible in my opinion. I have yet to hear a plausible explanation. Something is rotten in Denmark, as the saying goes.

 

[DICKG]

Schaefer believes in Genos's philosophy. He visited UConn to learn from Geno who said if his players don't have the right body language they won't play. Genos's quote--which Schaefer has hanging in his office is "If somebody’s not engaged in the game, they will never get in the game. Ever."

If you follow UCONN bb and Geno, he has only done something like this when he has a big lead in a game when it would not effect the game result. Geno talks a big game about right body language and effort, but when it comes right down to it the best players are in at crucial times.