Geno's psychology with Kiah Stokes......?

[herbiep]

I will trust Geno at this point, but, I hope it does not back fire. He apparently is not playing Kiah to get her mad, and determined enough to go all out in practice. Works for some kids, and for some, they say, "doesn't matter what I do, I don't get to play." So, they give up. What is your take?

 

[ThisJustIn]

Well, it did work with Shea....

 

[VAMike23]

tuff luv

 

[sTu]

At this point in the season Kiah is caught between getting 6-8 players ready for Big East Tournament and NCAA. Some folks are going to play 35+ minutes the closer we get to the big finale.

 

[MilfordHusky]

I think there are 2 concerns: what can Kiah do to help us this year, and what can she do the next two years? She is running out of time on the first one. As noted, the roster will get shorter in the post-season. If Geno is not comfortable with her, she will not get off the bench for 30+ minutes in early rounds or at all in tough games. I think our margin for error is small again. I'd like to see us running on 9 cylinders, rather than 8. We'll see in the long run if Geno's approach works. It usually does, though not always.

 

[Shenandoah]

The problem is that if/when Kiah plays to her abilities, she has shown that she CAN be a huge factor off the bench THIS year. She is a top notch rebounder and shot blocker when she is on. Regardless of Stef's conditioning, if she can get a couple minutes at a time rest, she can be that much more effective. Kiah has the ability to be that stopgap...

 

[UCONNGIRL]

I'm worried about her getting so frustrated. [mod edit]
We have 1 person coming in for 2013, Banks out for most of the season, with a shorter roster it doesn't leave alot of room for injuries. I hope the coaches find out a way to bring Stokes along. They clearly are going out of their way for Stewart, they need to do more for Stokes. Stokes will prove to be valuable against tougher competition like ND, Maryland, Duke, Baylor etc teams Stewart will struggle against due to the physical nature of their play.

 

[Icebear]

I'm worried about her getting so frustrated. [mod edit]
We have 1 person coming in for 2013, Banks out for most of the season, with a shorter roster it doesn't leave alot of room for injuries. I hope the coaches find out a way to bring Stokes along. They clearly are going out of their way for Stewart, they need to do more for Stokes. Stokes will prove to be valuable against tougher competition like ND, Maryland, Duke, Baylor etc teams Stewart will struggle against due to the physical nature of their play.

There is likely no more time to try and bring players along this season. Tournament time is upon us.

 

[HistoryMajor]

I only know what I read here and in the newspaper but Geno's approach with Kiah seems similar to the approach he took with Charde Houston. Specifically challenge her, call her out, etc.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I think Stokes is in danger of replacing Buck at the end of the bench next season or she may bolt to another team. That would be a shame because IMO she has a ton of talent.

 

[Cheddie]

I will trust Geno at this point, but, I hope it does not back fire. Works for some kids, and for some, they say, "doesn't matter what I do, I don't get to play." So, they give up.

I suspect that it does work well with some kids and does backfire with others. The bottom line - it's Geno's MO, and he ain't changing. It's worked more often than not.

Coaches obviously know kids better than us, and they have assistants to whisper in their ear if there's disagreement. On the men's side, I never liked JC's quick hook/screaming at kids for single mistakes, but he won three NCs.

Let's hope Ms. Stokes responds like we all want her to - seems like a great kid who can clearly help the Huskies on the court.

 

[earl the pearl]

I only know what I read here and in the newspaper but Geno's approach with Kiah seems similar to the approach he took with Charde Houston. Specifically challenge her, call her out, etc.

Didn't work with Charde, did it?

 

[earl the pearl]

I think Stokes is in danger of replacing Buck at the end of the bench next season or she may bolt to another team. That would be a shame because IMO she has a ton of talent.

What ever happens with Kia at UConn, she will be a good WNBA player. Tough love doesn't work with everyone.

 

[doggydaddy]

Show me the games where Geno limited Houston' s minutes like he has with Stokes.

 

[Icebear]

Didn't work with Charde, did it?

I am not sure there was anything that would have improved Charde's performance under the offensive and defensive structure of the UCONN program.

 

[CONNFAN23]

What ever happens with Kia at UConn, or wherever she winds up, she will be a good WNBA player. Tough love doesn't work with everyone.

You honestly think that at this point that Kiah Stokes has any chance at all at playing in the WNBA?

 

[DaddyChoc]

I only know what I read here and in the newspaper but Geno's approach with Kiah seems similar to the approach he took with Charde Houston. Specifically challenge her, call her out, etc.

any Geno moved on to Maya Moore

 

[earl the pearl]

You honestly think that at this point that Kiah Stokes has any chance at all at playing in the WNBA?

I honestly do. She has a pro body. Two years is a very long time.

 

[EricLA]

I just hope Kiah's happy. We, as fans, have all kinds of hopes and expectations for players based on views of their skill level and potential. But maybe she's satisfied being a Heather Buck type of player and getting in at the end of games. Or maybe she's satisfied just being part of the team and not getting any PT at all. As we saw in Heather Buck interviews, she LOVED her time at UCONN, was a great teammate, and ended up with a fantastic nursing degree that will support her the rest of her life.

I'd certainly like to see one of the horde interview Kiah to see what she's feeling and thinking, but in the absence of that all we can do is speculate and hope for the best. She has a great basketball body and has shown flashes of brilliance, but it seems pretty clear that Geno is not happy with what he's seeing from her. Only Kiah can decide if she wants to rise to the challenge, or stick with the status quo and make her future decisions based on that.

 

[Aluminny69]

I think a better example might be Liz Sherwood. Geno felt Liz was not giving 100%, and limited her playing time. Liz moved on to a creditable college career at Vanderbilt (?)

 

[Icebear]

I, absolutely, hope Kiah is happy and finds the key to unlock her talent. The structure and offense and defense played at UCONN prepares kids to play basketball anywhere. It is possible to find other places places to play but few that will prepare you the way playing at UCONN does.

 

[Icebear]

* * *

Such speculation is in violation of Boneyard rules.


"Similar to trashing is making harmful speculation. This is spreading non-substantiated (i.e., unconfirmed through a reliable source) rumors that could prove harmful to someone's reputation. Examples of harmful speculation would be claiming someone is pregnant, implying a relationship between a player/coach or player/player is harmful to a team or guessing that a recruit does/doesn't like someone based on sketchy knowledge. In order to make a statement that is detrimental in some way towards a player, coach, parent, etc there must be a reliable source (newspaper article) to back up the claim. A reliable source is not the cousin of an AAU teammate."
...

"Don't start transfer talk. Comments like "She should consider transferring" really add nothing to the board. Experience with transfer talk in the past has proven that the threads generally turn into arguments, name-calling and, frequently, harmful speculation. Therefore, speculating on transfers is not allowed on the Boneyard."

 

[Artifact]

Kia! God has given you talent for basketball, this is a gift bestowed on you. Please, utilize what has been given to you.

 

[JoePgh]

I thought that Kiah's 5 minutes at the end of the Seton Hall game (with allowances for the opposition) were excellent and very productive. Six points, I believe 1 block and 2 rebounds in that short time. I thought that would get her more time in the Pitt game to build on that performance, but apparently not.

Her practices must be VERY unsatisfactory.

There is a similarity to Charde, who was a healthy scratch in some games in her freshman year, and did not enter a Rutgers game in her junior or senior year despite others being in foul trouble -- I believe that game turned into a UConn loss. Another game against Marquette was nearly lost because Kaili McLaren had to play Charde's minutes, and nearly fouled out. As I recall, after the Rutgers game Geno was asked why he didn't play Charde, and he said (approximately), "I've tried and tried, and I just can't use Charde." (Making that statement in public was one of his least admirable moments, in my opinion.)

For better or worse, Geno is not going to relax his insistence on full effort in practice just to win a game or even an NC.

Some have said that Breanna's upside is greater than Kiah's -- I don't agree. I think Kiah has Tina-level potential, and in fact she faces some of the same problems as Tina (remember Geno comparing Megan Gardler's rebounding effort favorably to Tina's), but Tina overcame them starting in about the middle of her junior year. (I realize that Tina's freshman and sophomore years were more productive than Kiah's have been, but still everyone recognized that her production was very far short of her potential.)

The bottom line is that if Kiah isn't able or willing to offer what she has to offer, neither she nor we can expect Geno to overlook that and treat her the same as other players who are actually contributing everything they can.

 

[UCONNGIRL]

my posts are concern for Kiah and the team next year. I believe Kiah can and should be a valuable contributor to the huskies. I've always heard post players may take longer to develop (I HOPE that is the case here) I HOPE she isn't discouraged. I HOPE she starts to give 100%, I HOPE Geno finds ways to reach/coach her too, I HOPE all of the team remain healthy!