What just happened? BY seems shellshocked.

[AboutWeston]

Our only "big" that delivered said message last night was Kelly delivering a gorgeous shoulder check for her 4th foul. If the refs won't enforce the rules, you have no choice as a player but to take matters into your own hands to protect yourself and your teammates. It was probably advisable for Geno to have taken a "T" and get the refs attention when we were still up by approx. 17 midway into the 2nd half. Our girls are tough, but we don't have any true enforcer types. I could easily visualize LV players sprawled on the deck if they'd tried that crap against Tamika, Swin, Asjha, Tina, Shea, Dee, Morgan, et al...

Couldn't Heather do it? From personal hospital experiences including brain surgery and three weeks or so in the ICU, I can tell you the best nurses are tough, because they have to be to deal with patients' pain, living through some heavy emotional experiences.

They would quit on day two if they let it get to them. Maybe being the enforcer is good practice for a nursing career?

 

[Replicant]

As has been suggested by one or more here, Geno as Olympic coach needs to be mindful that he is not just the UConn coach these days, he is always representing USA basketball whenever he is in the public eye. And he has made it very clear that his role as Olympic coach is by far more important than anything else in his professional life. So he has probably decided that any kind of behavior on his part, no matter how well warranted, that might result in a technical foul, is just not acceptable.

Yes, I saw that rationale in other posts and I'm hardly suggesting that Geno do something ridiculous and embarrass UConn or Team USA. But getting Teed-up is a tool of coaching. He still represents and coaches UConn...right. When a game gets as physically out-of-control as last night's, it's incumbent upon a coach to communicate that to the refs. Both teams are very fortunate that no player was injured...it was that nasty.

As a UConn fan, I'm more concerned about the welfare of our players than some hypothetical scenario in which Geno might be perceived as something less then perfectly PC. I mean, Geno being Geno is why he was selected as the coach of Team USA in the first place.

If this new PC Geno theory is accurate, then perhaps wcbb refs (in particular last night's crew) are taking advantage of the newly de-fanged and PC Geno?

 

[HuskyNan]

Perhaps Geno wanted the team to calm down and run some sort of logical offense rather than get them fired up and play helter-skelter. Whatever the reason, he can read his team's psyche better than we can.

 

[Replicant]

Couldn't Heather do it? From personal hospital experiences including brain surgery and three weeks or so in the ICU, I can tell you the best nurses are tough, because they have to be to deal with patients' pain, living through some heavy emotional experiences.

They would quit on day two if they let it get to them. Maybe being the enforcer is good practice for a nursing career?

LOL...I have known some tough-as-nails nurses!. I don't think that's Heather though, she doesn't have a mean bone in her body.

 

[Replicant]

Perhaps Geno wanted the team to calm down and run some sort of logical offense rather than get them fired up and play helter-skelter.

This brings up a good point. There have been many games this season that have started out in this helter-skelter fashion. In past seasons Geno would have been lightening quick to call time , scream and refocus the crew. This year he's been allowing those scenarios to play out like never before in my memory. Sure enough, it's worked and we've almost always come out of these early scrums with big runs by the time the dust has cleared. It happened again last night when we jumped out to a 20 point lead in that first frenetic half.

Walz apparently went into the locker room at the half fearing an embarrassing home loss (w/Lt. Governor in attendance) and decided to employ a knee-cap strategy in the 2nd half. Five minutes into the 2nd half it was clear that LV players had very bad intentions that the refs were all too happy to accommodate. With Geno as ticked off as he was during the halftime interview, I found it hard to believe he wasn't more demonstrative with the refs when the aggression escalated out-of-control.

 

[phil sampieri]

My question is after seeing the absolute awful officiating in all my years.
Does the university or Geno have a right to contact NCAA powers that be and have them review what we all witnessed last night. Do they have a committee
that oversees ?

 

[schmendrick]

My question is after seeing the absolute awful officiating in all my years.
Does the university or Geno have a right to contact NCAA powers that be and have them review what we all witnessed last night. Do they have a committee
that oversees ?

Seems to me, like other have said, that another response might be keeping composure against undue aggression by teams like Georgetown and Notre Dame while increasing their own, thus challenging refs to whistle them each time.

 

[speedoo]

I don't care if he is the Olympic coach in my view Geno's first responsibility is to protect his players and if that means taking a T so be it. No one is going to argue with it if it is apparent someone could be seriously injured. Almost everyone commenting or tweeting during the game (Bob Joyce, Rich Elliot, Rebecca, Debi A., etc.) said the game was way too physical to the point of being out of control.

With all due respect, it's easy for you to take that position since you are not in Geno's shoes and you have nothing to lose. Geno has made it very clear that he believes his responsibility as USA Olympic coach is more important than anything else. If you disagree with his position, fine, but your disagreeing with his position does not invalidate it.

Also it is not at all clear to me that serious injuries are more likely in a game like last night. Bruises and soreness are certainly far more likely as a result of that kind of game, but I really do not believe serious injuries, such as those that would cause a player to miss some games or worse are any more likely. Of course it's easy to argue that I am wrong with this, because it's logical, intuitive, etc., but I can't recall a single serious injury to a UConn player in nearly 20 years of watching this team play that occurred in this sort of nasty game. If someone can cite such a serious injury, I am all ears.

So if Geno believes as I do that serious injuries are no more likely in such a nasty game, does he really need to take extraordinary measures to protect his players? Protect them from bruises and soreness? I'll side with him if that is the choice.

 

[JDForever]

Yes LV received a lot of foul calls but over 50% of our shots were from three well above the 30 or so percent that Geno prefers. Very few teams foul three point shooters. The game was tough but settling for threes will not get foul calls.

 

[connboy77]

I'm just glad noone was seriously injured in this football game. Maybe before the Georgetown game starts, Geno, the Georgetown coach, and the refs can meet at half court to discuss whats going to be allowed and not allowed in the game. I don't know if this would do any good, but at least both teams will be on notice. What happened yesterday should never happen again.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Just wait - you'll see it again on Saturday when the Huskies play Georgetown.

Georgetown may indeed try to rough up our kids, but that tactic works best when
you're playing at home.

Playing at our place, Georgetown may find itself in serious foul trouble.

 

[DaddyChoc]

I dont think it was as bad as Im reading... Debbie A. sort of blows up the issue cause she's who we're listening to (on tv). If she was muted I dont think there would be as much complaining.

Announcer tend to assist in our thinking even as we watch the game ourselves.

As I said in the past "say it enoug, people will start to believe it.

UConn won by 10, no injuries, Doty played well... on to the next game

 

[Sonny44]

HB is an enforcer?