Adamec: Geno on scheduling... Calls out other coaches

[pap49cba]

“When you’re at the level that Stanford’s at, that Connecticut’s at, you have to play that kind of schedule. You owe it to your players. You can’t recruit high-level players, you can’t recruit high school All-Americans and then say, ‘We’re afraid to play so-and-so, so-and-so, and so-and so.’ Why don’t you tell them that ahead of time? Then they don’t go there.”

LINK

 

[sarals24]

Yep. I agree completely. Players usually want to test themselves against the best. Why on earth wouldn't you want to play UConn at least once during the season? The teams that have had the most success against UConn (ND, Stanford, Tennessee in the past, occasionally Rutgers) have usually played UConn at least once during the regular season. It's so obvious during the tournament that teams that haven't faced that type of defensive and offensive pressure take a while to adjust to it and normally don't recover. (I'm looking at you, Kentucky.)

 

[DGHuskyFan]

"UConn has played at Pauley Pavilion once. Svetlana Abrosimova scored 39 points and Shea Ralph 28 as the Huskies defeated the Bruins 113-102 on Nov. 17, 1998."

Wow that's a crazy score! For all you history and stats experts has there ever been another time that UCONN has given up 100 points and won? Or even given up 100 points for that matter?

 

[John Glass]

Maryland schedules no ranked teams......Notre Dame is in the BIG10 challenge- it is an easy way to stay ranked, the voters pay no attention to the schedule, just the record

http://www.umterps.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&SPID=120729&SPSID=716400&DB_OEM_ID=29700

 

[connboy77]

"UConn has played at Pauley Pavilion once. Svetlana Abrosimova scored 39 points and Shea Ralph 28 as the Huskies defeated the Bruins 113-102 on Nov. 17, 1998."

Wow that's a crazy score! For all you history and stats experts has there ever been another time that UCONN has given up 100 points and won? Or even given up 100 points for that matter?

A lot of defense in that game!

 

[Wbbfan1]

The first weekend of the year, including Monday there are 245 WBB games scheduled. Only 4 games are being played where both teams are ranked. So many teams have weak OOC Schedules.

The NCAA/WBCA should have an Opening Weekend Classic where teams who competed in the prior Elite 8/F4 are scheduled to play each other in a made for TV event.

 

[RadyLady]

The first weekend of the year, including Monday there are 245 WBB games scheduled. Only 4 games are being played where both teams are ranked. So many teams have weak OOC Schedules.

The NCAA/WBCA should have an Opening Weekend Classic where teams who competed in the prior Elite 8/F4 are scheduled to play each other in a made for TV event.

That could be a cool idea except in situations where teams come back depleted by graduation.

 

[triaddukefan]

For all the criticism of Duke and Coach PM..... you surely cant criticize this year's non-conference schedule. Its brutal on paper this season... and usually its always one of the toughest in the land. As a fan....... I hope it continues. Will i take the time and effort to drive to see us play UM-Lowell.... probably not... but I definitely will so to see South Carolina and Kentucky.

 

[Buzzyboy]

"UConn has played at Pauley Pavilion once. Svetlana Abrosimova scored 39 points and Shea Ralph 28 as the Huskies defeated the Bruins 113-102 on Nov. 17, 1998."

Wow that's a crazy score! For all you history and stats experts has there ever been another time that UCONN has given up 100 points and won? Or even given up 100 points for that matter?

I'm not sure! It seems impossible that any Geno team could come close to giving up that many points since they stress defense continually!

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Yep. I agree completely. Players usually want to test themselves against the best. Why on earth wouldn't you want to play UConn at least once during the season? The teams that have had the most success against UConn (ND, Stanford, Tennessee in the past, occasionally Rutgers) have usually played UConn at least once during the regular season. It's so obvious during the tournament that teams that haven't faced that type of defensive and offensive pressure take a while to adjust to it and normally don't recover. (I'm looking at you, Kentucky.)

Well, in the first place, UConn can only play a certain number of the really good teams. Using this year as a sample, since UConn always seems to play in a 3 game tourney - which only counts as 2 games, which gives you an "extra" game - there are maybe 9 games available. Stanford / Notre Dame / UCLA / Duke / South Carolina all fit the bill that Geno is discussing, and DePaul and St. John's (Maggie Dixon opponent in any case) are actually of a level to benefit from playing UConn and no conceivable knock on Geno for playing them by anyone. That leaves 2 shots - UC Davis and Creighton - as the only "openings" in this year's group for someone to get into. And I know Rutgers wants to play UConn in the future, she wanted to play them this year.

I wouldn't knock those who don't play UConn, per se, rather, and I think it is more what Geno is getting at, is the weak schedules played by many power teams. The teams at the bottom of the power conferences will not really benefit from out-of-conference beat-downs, although they should challenge themselves by including some teams expected to be better than them in their schedule; they will get the beat-downs in their own conference. It is the teams in the middle of the power conferences and above that often do not play teams that will challenge them, including elite teams.

Some random "weak" schedules:
Penn State - WNIT (fwiw), but only other Power 5 opponent is Syracuse. Best of 7 other opponents USF?
NC State - playing Minnesota in the ACC/BTen challenge, and either Purdue/Texas Tech in a tourney.
Iowa State - playing Iowa (duh). No one else from a power 5, Cincy may be best other opponent
USC - opened with South Carolina, OK State is only other challenging team.

Actually, most of the better teams HAVE upgraded from the schedules of a few years ago, but these are teams that either are or want to be thought of as major teams, and they have not upgraded their schedule.

 

[sarals24]

True, but there are definitely teams out there that won't play UConn (other than Tennessee, of course). Duke doesn't seem like they are going to renew their series, and with their incoming recruits I can't see why they would back down from anyone. Geno has alluded in the past to teams not wanting to play them, so I don't think it's just a case of not fitting them into the schedule.

 

[Gurleyman]

I'm not sure! It seems impossible that any Geno team could come close to giving up that many points since they stress defense continually!

That year was the freshman season for Sue, Swin, etc. (TASSK force) added to a roster with Shea and Svet. We began with just an all out relentless full court press all over the floor. We dialed it back with some injuries to Sue (and Kiersten Walters, who never recovered), and ended up losing a low scoring game to Iowa State in the tourney without a point guard, but to start the year, we played 94 feet every possession and sped the game up.

I remember that team particularly well because I was learning how to use a computerized basketball stats program, and would practice while watching UConn Women's games on TV. Which was advanced level training with how many stats you had to put in quickly. Something happened every five seconds.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Maryland schedules no ranked teams.Notre Dame is in the BIG10 challenge- it is an easy way to stay ranked, the voters pay no attention to the schedule, just the record

http://www.umterps.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=29700&SPID=120729&SPSID=716400&DB_OEM_ID=29700

Maryland's schedule this year is horrible, and wasn't much better the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see how the new conference affects their RPI, etc. It should be noted that a poor schedule didn't prevent them from advancing deep in the NCAA tourney.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

For all the criticism of Duke and Coach PM..... you surely cant criticize this year's non-conference schedule. Its brutal on paper this season... and usually its always one of the toughest in the land. As a fan.. I hope it continues. Will i take the time and effort to drive to see us play UM-Lowell.... probably not... but I definitely will so to see South Carolina and Kentucky.

I'll be in Durham for that game on the 7th, my ticket came in the mail on Friday.

 

[reno tony]

I would like to see Louisville back on the schedule. They will have a good team very shortly.

44 TO GO​

 

[sarals24]

I think the Louisville series is being renewed, if I remember correctly. Walz doesn't seem like one to back down from UConn.

 

[DobbsRover2]

"UConn has played at Pauley Pavilion once. Svetlana Abrosimova scored 39 points and Shea Ralph 28 as the Huskies defeated the Bruins 113-102 on Nov. 17, 1998."

Wow that's a crazy score! For all you history and stats experts has there ever been another time that UCONN has given up 100 points and won? Or even given up 100 points for that matter?

A few crazy factoids. It is rare for a team to even get to 80 in recent years, and ND has been the main culprit.
1. Only other time a UConn team let a team go to triple digits was way back in 1979 with Wanda Flores as coach in a 102-78 loss to UMass.
2. Under Geno, the next highest opponent total was in 1992 in a 97-72 loss to Providence.
3. Uconn has not given up 90 or more points since the 2001 season, when the three losses to ND twice and UTenn came with the opponent scoring 92, 92, and 90 points. So after the FF loss to ND, Uconn defenses have met the opponent Balrog at the 90 mark and said, "Thou shalt not pass."
4. The most points during the last 13 years was in the 89-80 loss to UTenn in 2006.
5. No team even reached 70 against UConn last year, and the high was in the 114-68 shootout with Oregon early on.

 

[Aluminny69]

This is a little ironic, given that UConn plays in the AAC, arguably the weakest "major" conference. Of course, this was not Geno's choice.

 

[01Neaggrad02]

A few crazy factoids. It is rare for a team to even get to 80 in recent years, and ND has been the main culprit.
1. Only other time a UConn team let a team go to triple digits was way back in 1979 with Wanda Flores as coach in a 102-78 loss to UMass.
2. Under Geno, the next highest opponent total was in 1992 in a 97-72 loss to Providence.
3. Uconn has not given up 90 or more points since the 2001 season, when the three losses to ND twice and UTenn came with the opponent scoring 92, 92, and 90 points. So after the FF loss to ND, Uconn defenses have met the opponent Balrog at the 90 mark and said, "Thou shalt not pass."
4. The most points during the last 13 years was in the 89-80 loss to UTenn in 2006.
5. No team even reached 70 against UConn last year, and the high was in the 114-68 shootout with Oregon early on.

#3.... two years ago... The triple overtime loss to ND at ND.. they didn't score 90?

 

[HoopsFan21]

This is a little ironic, given that UConn plays in the AAC, arguably the weakest "major" conference. Of course, this was not Geno's choice.

Was thinking the same thing. If you're in the ACC you could potentially face ND, Louisville, Duke, and UNC at least a half dozen times depending on how the conference schedule and conference championship aligns. And that's every year. It's easy to call out other coaches out when you play 20 conference games against teams that would be challenged by a good high school team.

 

[rocky rococo]

This is a little ironic, given that UConn plays in the AAC, arguably the weakest "major" conference. Of course, this was not Geno's choice.

It is however, the long-term recruiting problem of being in the AAC, however it came to pass.

 

[Wonkster]

Maryland schedules no ranked teams...

That's why we call them Twerps.

 

[John Glass]

Maryland's schedule this year is horrible, and wasn't much better the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see how the new conference affects their RPI, etc. It should be noted that a poor schedule didn't prevent them from advancing deep in the NCAA tourney.

The weak schedule helps them in the NCAA tournament. It gives them a high seed, and they have a few easy games. They coast through the regular season with only 10 challenging games.

Maryland is the only team in the country to boast about being destroyed by Notre Dame in the final 4. Notre Dame played without their leading rebounder, and out rebounded MD 50-21.

 

[iamcbs]

For all the criticism of Duke and Coach PM..... you surely cant criticize this year's non-conference schedule. Its brutal on paper this season... and usually its always one of the toughest in the land. As a fan.. I hope it continues. Will i take the time and effort to drive to see us play UM-Lowell.... probably not... but I definitely will so to see South Carolina and Kentucky.

Duke and Coach McCallie take criticism because of their failures in the NCAA Tournament, not because of the schedule they play. They recruit well, always in the top 10 and they play a good, often great OOC schedule. Coach P. and her steady diet of early exits in the NCAA's are what gall people about her and Duke.

 

[triaddukefan]

Duke and Coach McCallie take criticism because of their failures in the NCAA Tournament, not because of the schedule they play. They recruit well, always in the top 10 and they play a good, often great OOC schedule. Coach P. and her steady diet of early exits in the NCAA's are what gall people about her and Duke.

Trust me.... I am FULLY aware of all of the criticism... FULLY FULLY FULLY Aware

Early exits are relative I suppose. 2008.... #3 seed..... lost to #2 seed TAMU in the sweet 16. 2009 #1 seed lost to Mich State in 2nd round. 2010-13 #2 seeds losing to #4 Griner, #1 UCONN, #1 Stanford, and #1 ND in the regional finals. 2014 #2 seed losing to Depaul in the second round at home. Disappointing exits of course.. but not really a steady diet of early exits.