No. The best option is when you win. UCONN won. So how is what he did worng? If he pulls her for 2+ minutes that might be the difference in a loss. So where is teh msitake? It's just personal prefernce. So we are going to crticize him for not being abosultely perfect with NIka rather than just winning? When he wins -no injuires - with the team having a 1 week break the substituion pattern isn't wrong.
Having half your possible starters not in uniform is a bigger reason not to win a championship. As far as subbing went, with Nika out and KK in the first half, his choice had to be with adding a front court defender and rebounder or adding a possible other scorer. No way is Bettencourt ready to defend that team especially not helping with one of the most hard to defend players in college hoops. I can’t see Q having much rebounding success against that team plus she is known to have taken a few bad shots now and then. Brady was not going to score a lot and she did what was pretty important, rebound and defend and importantly, didn’t commit a single foul. Her getting into foul trouble would have really hurt. Syracuse is way better than the old Big East version. Tough out.
I am hoping that Portland isn't the end of the road for Nika and the Huskies.
I didnt say it wasn't Nika's fault. She absolutely shouldnt have committed those last to fouls. I'm just trying to come up with a reason.
I claim a BrainFart on the Final Four, I was only thinking about the next game.
There really is no lesson for Nika to learn. When you play an attacking aggressive point guard you are going to get into or be in foul trouble. Aggressive point guards who attack the defender put a tremendous amount of pressure on the defender. When Fair drives to the hoop it's basically a coin flip on whether a foul will be called. Nika did a great job defending her in the first 1/2 when Fair was basically probing our defense. In the 2nd half she started heading downhill to the hoop and really attacked Nika. If I was playing UConn that's what I would do, especially if I had a deep bench. Go right at Nika and Edwards early and often and get them in foul trouble.
hoophuskee- - - My thinking is if Geno didn't think Ines had potential why offer and give her a scholarship in the 1st place!
Certainly a mystery, that a coach would not anticipate a situation like what happened yesterday. And get Ines lots of minutes during those laughers in much of Big East play. 2 minutes is no preparation.
For the same reason he offered DeBerry. He saw potential or his assistants did. But it doesn’t always work out. I had a few bad hires in my day. I think in Ines’s case, she has more potential to contribute than Amari but has several guards in front of her who are plainly better. That’s seems unlikely to change next year.
You actually think that performing in laughers translates to performing in a close NCAAT game?
A lot of what's being said here is not criticism of Nika. Check the title of the thread again.
Yes, court time against anyone is better than bench time. Ditch the "judged in practice" stuff. When you've got so few players, and foul trouble can really put your team in a tight spot, you want to prepare a bit for that possibility. Beyond the laughers, there actually were games against Creighton and Marquette where it would have been "safe" to give Ines time against a quality team. This is not new with Geno, and it won't change.
Yea we don't need long 3 pointer misses, They are turnovers !
And yet, there she sits. I wonder why.
I've always though it's pretty simple. Geno can't stand watching the inevitable chaos that occurs when the bench goes in.
I agree with you on this.
I guess he should look less at potential and look for better players ! We have too many potentially good players on the bench that have not helped the team !
Every player is looked at for potential. Do you really think they are ignoring potential stars too? Seriously .? Bueckers, Fudd both rated #1 in their hs classes. Edwards a star in Canadian high school. Ducharme a top 10 high school player. Arnold a MCD AA. Shade a great high school player., Muhl a highly rated European and El Afy highly regarded as were both Brady and DeBerry. Not to mention Griffin who was not quite as highly regarded but a world of “potential” that paid off big time. They are playing with half a deck and have made at least the final 16. You want a whole list of their recruits over the years plus the ones they didn’t land? Honestly, people sometimes just say stuff
Loved your last line!!
He's an obsessive perfectionist , which probably has made him a successful coach. But chaos, and not so perfect , is sometimes needed for the greater good. He just can't handle it, so players sit.
Ines was recruited at the last second because he was short of guards due to injuries. Ines was literally headed to a JUCO in Florida when she got an offer
I think he did/does. He has Practices imo to show it. I'm just offering my opinion that in Pratctices the other Guards are probably better. If she were a center, she would probably play more. The problem is that she is mostly a PG in and there are 3 pg's ahead of her. UCONN has had some other pg's that haven't worked out as well but these particular 3 have worked out very well. .
PacoSwede- - -Geno has pulled Paige from the game to explain to her she needs to shoot more then puts her back in at the next available time!
hoophuskee- - -Instead of attacking NEforceUConn, how about discussing it civil-like and get your point across without the venom!
I was civil. A kindergarten teacher is civil. What's wrong with that? Those teachers are very concnered over children. It meant being overly protective to Nika. Nika is capable. It's a bit of a slap in the face to her after all these years that she's being categorized in some manner as "Can't control her emotions," that she must be given a break because of her emotions, isn't it? I'm a fan of Nika. It's sort of an attack on her, isn'it?