Who also is UCONN missing?

[jfan]

Please don't get offended UCONN fans, but we also are missing backcourt Assistant Coach Shea Ralph. I know it was time for her to move on to being a head coach but I feel the guards miss and need her expertise.

 

[Notyetready]

"Auriemma called out his team’s poor guard play and attributed it to “[crappy] coaching, by far the worst it’s ever been.” ALEXA PHILIPPOU

So Geno's been criticizing Uconn coaching recently and I thought maybe he was just deflecting or something but still talking to his players. Now I'm wondering if these comments are directed squarely at his staff, perhaps at himself as well. The absence of Shea as guard coach maybe isn't being filled in now. and so he is actually talking about that? Morgan Valley, who replaced Shea Ralph, was a Uconn player (2000 - 2004) and started coaching as a student assistant in 2004 for Geno. Is that who he is talking to?

 

[EricLA]

Has to make you wonder if Morgan Valley was the right choice. NOT a guard in college, and not a guard coach. I get that ultimately Geno is the HC, but there was a GREAT video showing Shea on the court teaching defense back in the day - she was tremendous with equal parts praise and corrections. Shea obviously had a great eye for the minutia.

I wonder if Morgan simply falls short when spending time specifically teaching the guards.

 

[Bald Husky]

Has to make you wonder if Morgan Valley was the right choice. NOT a guard in college, and not a guard coach. I get that ultimately Geno is the HC, but there was a GREAT video showing Shea on the court teaching defense back in the day - she was tremendous with equal parts praise and corrections. Shea obviously had a great eye for the minutia.

I wonder if Morgan simply falls short when spending time specifically teaching the guards.

Our only 2 guards available until recently are Christyn and Evena, both seniors. If they don't know what to do by now, then coaching isn't the problem.

 

[UConnCat]

Of course they miss Shea. UConn never lost a big game with Shea on the bench.

 

[sun]

UConn has the same number of coaches as in almost every other year except for maybe one year when there was one less assistant coach.

Geno's message would include himself and CD since they are in charge of their own staff and making sure that they all carry out their duties.

Women's Basketball Coaches - University of Connecticut Athletics

The official Women's Basketball Coach List for the University of Connecticut Huskies

uconnhuskies.com

 

[hoopsfan22]

Since the end of November we've had 2 players transfer, 1 season ended by surgery, now 1 that can't play because of Covid, and 2 others rehabbing serious injuries. So if you ask me who is missing, I'd say half the team that was available two months ago.

 

[mbr33ct]

Of course they miss Shea. UConn never lost a big game with Shea on the bench.

 

[JonathanXIV]

Of course they miss Shea. UConn never lost a big game with Shea on the bench.

???

 

[CL82]

Of course they miss Shea. UConn never lost a big game with Shea on the bench.

Sarcasm?

 

[CL82]

Has to make you wonder if Morgan Valley was the right choice. NOT a guard in college, and not a guard coach. I get that ultimately Geno is the HC, but there was a GREAT video showing Shea on the court teaching defense back in the day - she was tremendous with equal parts praise and corrections. Shea obviously had a great eye for the minutia.

I wonder if Morgan simply falls short when spending time specifically teaching the guards.

I didn’t listen to the post game press conference (yet) so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I took that quote as an attempt by Geno to take some of the pressure off the players and put it squarely on his own shoulders.

 

[jchusky]

Of course they miss Shea. UConn never lost a big game with Shea on the bench.

you always make this sarcastic post and I'm not sure why. Are we not allowed to give credit to an assistant? Or does Geno just get all the praise? To say she is not missed is just foolish, she was a huge influence on the guards. There is no doubt her presence has been missed.

 

[HopJim]

Please don't get offended UCONN fans, but we also are missing backcourt Assistant Coach Shea Ralph. I know it was time for her to move on to being a head coach but I feel the guards miss and need her expertise.

It may be too early to make any evaluation of the assistant coaches. I get Vanderbilt women's basketball on one of my sports channels and while Shea has put in many creative defensive tactics, not sure what she could be doing with a 6-person rotation. I also have watched Cincinatti and Hartford play in the past, and while I was never impressed with either Jamelle or Morgan, Geno typically puts in his new tactics at the end of the year. Certainly, Huskie recruiting doing well, perhaps the #1 goal. The saying that "the simplest conclusion is often the correct one," may be the case here. We could resurrect John Wooden and with the players available to play, the results would be the same.

 

[Purchase1]

Think we dip into the assistant coaching pond this off-season for a guards coach?

 

[hoopsfan22]

Think we dip into the assistant coaching pond this off-season for a guards coach?

Isn't the team already maxed out on the allowable number of staff?

 

[sun]

Think we dip into the assistant coaching pond this off-season for a guards coach?

Morgan Valley replaced Shea Ralph and was a UConn guard from 2000 - 2004.

"She’s been replaced in Storrs by former UConn guard and Hartford head coach Morgan Valley."

How much does Shea Ralph make at UConn?

Ralph received just over $272,000 and Moseley was paid just over $200,600. The men's basketball team did not have an associate head coach that year. Head coach Kevin Ollie was paid just under $2.8 million.

celebrity.fm

UCONN Hoop Legends: MORGAN VALLEY

 

[Fairfield Fan]

Please don't get offended UCONN fans, but we also are missing backcourt Assistant Coach Shea Ralph. I know it was time for her to move on to being a head coach but I feel the guards miss and need her expertise.

I was wondering the same thing. Wonder if we're suffering the loss of Marissa as well, though she's been gone a couple of years or so now. I'm guessing that Coach Geno had an amazing coaching "team" that lent tremendous support.

 

[Zarathustra]

"It takes a village" ... to make a great basketball team!

 

[cohenzone]

No way was he doing anything but setting himself up as a problem. He does not openly throw assistants under the bus and he knows darn well how screwed up the backcourt is.

 

[UConnCat]

you always make this sarcastic post and I'm not sure why. Are we not allowed to give credit to an assistant? Or does Geno just get all the praise? To say she is not missed is just foolish, she was a huge influence on the guards. There is no doubt her presence has been missed.

I make this sarcastic post because there is zero basis to conclude that poor guard play so far this season is because Shea is not on the bench. Isn’t the better explanation the fact that the team is missing Paige, Azzi and most recently Christyn, as well as just getting Nika back and Nika is from injury?

BTW, the team’s guards have played poorly with Shea on the bench. Christyn Williams struggled for the entirety of her sophomore season and the first half of last season with Shea on the bench. Evina is too experienced and has played too much basketball in her college career to think that a position coach is the reason for her inconsistent play this season.

Perhaps the guard play will continue to be poor after Paige and Azzi and Christyn return, at which point it may be reasonable for some to conclude that missing Shea is the reason. I don’t see how one can reach that conclusion now given all that has happened.

 

[Ardenque]

you always make this sarcastic post and I'm not sure why. Are we not allowed to give credit to an assistant? Or does Geno just get all the praise? To say she is not missed is just foolish, she was a huge influence on the guards. There is no doubt her presence has been missed.

She’s currently having a huge influence on Vanderbilt.

 

[jchusky]

She’s currently having a huge influence on Vanderbilt.

yea I have no idea why it took someone this long to hire her. Vanderbilt coulda been a legit contender in the SEC had they hired her in 2016.

 

[HuskyNan]

yea I have no idea why it took someone this long to hire her. Vanderbilt coulda been a legit contender in the SEC had they hired her in 2016.

Geno tells his assistants to wait and take a job where they’ll be given adequate resources (recruiting budget, support of the AD) and salary. There are ADs that don’t care about their women’s teams and want to hire an inexpensive “name” coach to quiet fan, boosters, and university honchos.