I had a post for you -- all in fun(it wasn't bad/insulting only that I disagree with your entire outlook) - I didn't want to send it - and sort of glad I didn't in that one HUGE issue I had with your posts is when you said -- in your very 1st sentence-
"It's amazing what a change of venue and a new coach with a different outlook and approach can do for one's career."
And now you're saying when Kiah comes back she is going to be "unrecognizable."
SO- you mean to tell me after your dig at Geno and then saying “She’ll be unrecognizable” that you just meant she would score just a few points more? How is THAT "unrecognizable?"
For me- when you said "unrecognizable" that means A SIGNIFICANT point production. If it just a few points more, then how does your comment "It's amazing what a change of venue and a new coach with a different outlook and approach can do for one's career" mean anything if it is just a few points more?
I agree with your last post to Dobbs to an extent. She has a shot to score a few more points. But for me - the points aren't what makes her tick- so if she does or doesn't no big deal imo. Just look at those stats Dobbs gave. Impressive. They'd be impressive next year too. But it seems from the italicized post you made on this thread - you think her career was going badly. For me if she averages 9 ppg and plays as I said Hakeem Olajuwon / Bill Russell type defense, I call that a high value player, and yet I'm categorized as a half-empty person? I hope you're not suggesting ppg is the only way to value a player?
I have called her THE GREATEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN UCONN HISTORY. This is UCONN THE DYNASTY and she is Number 1 DEFENSIVE PLAYER EVER IN THE DYNASTY and SCHOOL HISTORY! I couldn't understand why I would get the feeling that some "experts" / "blogs"/ "websites" felt she wouldn't go 1st round. I'm in the minority opinion that during the finals Doris Burke's loose comments about Kiah were grossly over-exaggerated/highlighted and have posted several times as such. Yet I'm the one categorized as "half-empty" for Kiah even though I'm ripping into a well-liked analyst on this site, and comparing her defense to supreme greats? I've pointed out she could shoot and hit free throws so she isn't like a lot of defensive big player juggenrauts that get purposely fouled. Yet I'm being categorized as half-empty when I think she is a high value without having to score a lot more? SO if she doesn't score much more, I'm going to be one of the leads that defends her, right? Maybe I'd be the one saying she is real good and YOU would eb the one arguing that she isn't? I doubt it- but your sentence above in italics- I'm not so sure what you're thinking.
And by the way, I've met some UCONN fans before on these type of venues. This is all in fun. I recognize these are all just opinions. It's okay we disagree, right? It's just that your dig into Geno then calling Kiah "unrecognizable in just 1 year" - I don't get how a few points more per game would make her "unrecognizable."
We can go around and around on this topic all year. I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree. I have my opinion, and you have yours. I'm perfectly OK with you "not getting" my point of view, not everyone does. Everyone that posts here is not going to agree on everything. I stand by what I wrote. I think before I write, and as I write, and I proof read before I hit send.
I've read your comment, and I've not budged one inch. It is MY view, and I posted it for all to see and criticize if they wish, and you did. Believe it or not, I don't have a problem with you not liking or agreeing with (or understanding) my take. We really don't have anything to argue about.
I've played the game, I've coached the game, I've refereed the game and I've watched the game for a long time. I don't need anyone to tell me what I'm looking at, or what I see. Everyone has their own point(s) of view. Nowhere is it written that said point(s) of view must align or agree with everyone else's. This is why I'm somewhat taken aback by your comments. I never expected a single "like" in response to my post. Again, I'm perfectly OK with you not liking or agreeing with my take.
I'm sure we'll butt heads again. We don't think alike. For the record, I'm a huge Geno fan and I trust him. But he is not perfect, he has his faults. And I will call him out if I think he's out of order. He's been butting heads with CD for 30 years. He can mishandle a player's ego from time to time like any other coach. He's admitted that on camera. Sometimes his ego can get the better of him. That's what the other coaches are there for, to do damage control with the players after the fact.
In Kiah's case, unless we hear from him and her in detail what really happened, we'll never really know. That ship has sailed, and both have moved on. Neither of them is going to stir up those issues again for public consumption. Maybe his approach (in her case) was not appropriate, or maybe he just could not connect with her. coaches lose players all the time. Why do you think they transfer? I'm sure they had many private "behind closed door" meetings during her 4 years there.
Maybe she was lazy, maybe she got in over her head or maybe it was something he said in private, or in practice, that turned her off, and decided not to do what he wanted her to do. Or maybe he just gave up on her. Don't think this doesn't happen. I've seen it personally. I witnessed a teammate (in college) get personally attacked, embarrassed and completely eviscerated by our head coach in front of the entire team.
The guy was never the same after that. He loss his passion to play on the team, as well as any respect he had for the coach. Had he not been a senior, he would have transferred. He only stayed on because he was close to graduation.
It does happen. It only comes to light if someone reports it. I'm NOT saying this happened between Geno and Kiah. I would be totally surprised if it did. Geno is smarter than that. He has learned what buttons to push and when, to motivated. Some his girls.
Something happened between her senior year in high school, and her sophomore year at UConn, because they were not on the same page after that.
She may have wanted to transfer at some point (speculation only), but we know her father would not allow it. You can't be happy when you're in the coach's dog house. As I'm sure you know (it's been well documented), she spent a lot of time there.
Unless one of the coaches writes a book later and details this, we'll never know.
His fault, her fault, nobody's fault. Somewhere along the way, he lost her. It appeared to me that she was out there playing, but her heart was not in it. I could be wrong, but that's what it looked like to me.
At UConn, there are certain things you are taught and expected to do. She said all the right things in interviews, but I'm still not so sure she was content to be there. Sometimes players and coaches have a difficult time finding a "happy medium".
Just look at some of the notable NBA players that
don't get along with their coaches: Magic Johnson (Paul Westhead) Kobe, LaBron, Allen Iverson, Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins just to name a few.
Kiah is not an aggressive person. That fact comes through in her play. She'll never be a Tina Charles. I've
never compared her to Tina Charles. I don't know where your suggestion that I disrespected Tina came from. That's YOUR opinion, not mine. If that's the way my comment read to you, I'm OK with it. It's not in her DNA. Trying to compare the two is like expecting two siblings to be and act alike.
In time, she may learn (or break out of her shell) to play with more aggression and passion, or she may not. At this time, NO ONE knows what's going to happen in the future. My post was nothing more than speculation and optimism. As I've stated before, time will tell. Regardless, I remain a fan of hers, and I remain optimistic.
In either case, she now has a new outlook, a new attitude, and from what she says, she's having fun
now playing in New York. Like many other posters here, I'm happy for her. Like it or not, Bill Laimbeer has a completely different opinion of Kiah than Geno did. I'm sure he's made that know to her. He sees potential in Kiah that he thinks he can draw out of her. So, what you make of that is up to you.
I see a comment here once in a while that I read tongue in cheek, but I don't get upset or offended because a poster has a different observation or view point than I do. I enjoy reading other's observations and takes. Sometimes they disclose information I was not aware of.
Sometimes it makes you stand back and re-examine your point of view. That's how one grows. Someone is always going to have information that you don't have. Lot's of commenters have stated facts (not opinions) that I did not know about. That's why I enjoy the yard so much.
It's like being a Democrat, Republican or an Independent. All parties have their own agenda, and think they know what's best. They're really not interested in what the other party(s) opinion is about them. They're comfortable in their own skin.
I still maintain that this is not something to get all worked up over.
You've made your point(s), I've made mine. Your comments didn't move me any more than mine moved you. I've said that to say this: I''ve said all I'm going to say about this. We disagree on
multiple fronts, let's leave it at that.