OT -Our Women

[The Funster]

I don't usually watch the women but last night I did and really enjoyed it. The spacing and ball movement was impressive. Jefferson plays with a lot of energy and precision.

 

[uconnever]

He just simply is a great coach. There are other schools recruiting as well as he does. When we play them it's a blowout.......not his fault.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I don't usually watch the women but last night I did and really enjoyed it. The spacing and ball movement was impressive. Jefferson plays with a lot of energy and precision.

In all fairness, the talent gap between the women and Rutgers is akin to the gap between the men and AIC or whatever exhibition games we play at the beginning of the year. Much easier to have solid spacing and ball movement when the opponent is woefully outmatched.

 

[mauconnfan]

He just simply is a great coach. There are other schools recruiting as well as he does. When we play them it's a blowout..not his fault.

He is a great women's coach I agree, miles ahead of the others in terms of knowledge as well as how to get the best out them. Strives for perfection and pretty much gets it and maintains that requirement no matter if you're Stewart, Bird or a walk on.

This is so awful though they played fairly ordinary in the first half with Stewart having 2 fouls early playing very little, and giving up a lot of points on defense. Yet they were up a measly 20 points and I bet gene was throwing off the lockers. LOL......it's a bit ridiculous and someone needs to step up and demand more from their players to compete. Coaches like Friese, Vanderdeer and others need to "man up" and either come up with a way to achieve greatness or quit and let other men coach the womens game. Just like Dykes (oops Jimmy) I believe they respond better to a male coach and expectations rise. But hey that's just me.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The women's game is so sad, seriously it's pathetic. I'm sorry geno but I'll be impressed when you win 1 title in the men's game, not taking every top 5 recruit in high school and keep them 4 years. Imagine senior Kemba? That's another title. Senior Drummond? Who's stopping that in college? No one. The men's game is so much harder to coach you really can't explain it in words.

 

[mets1090]

Senior Drummond? Who's stopping that in college? No one. The men's game is so much harder to coach you really can't explain it in words.

Yeah, if the new 4 year rule only applied to UConn. A senior Anthony Davis might have something to say about this. And a junior Cauley-Stein, Archie Goodwin, and Nerlens Noel on the same team.

If anything making players stay for 4 years would just spread the talent out a bit more because Kentucky's one and done system would be irrelevant. The top 25 would just be packed with guys that should be in the NBA.

 

[UConnDan97]

Our women are a juggernaut. And I for one am going to enjoy this ride for as long as it lasts. I never grow tired of beating up on teams by 30 points. And they are all great ambassadors of the university.

I'm extremely proud of UConn absolutely dominating a sport for multiple decades. It doesn't take away from our other sports; it adds to them...

 

[tzznandrew]

Yeah, if the new 4 year rule only applied to UConn. A senior Anthony Davis might have something to say about this. And a junior Cauley-Stein, Archie Goodwin, and Nerlens Noel on the same team.

If anything making players stay for 4 years would just spread the talent out a bit more because Kentucky's one and done system would be irrelevant. The top 25 would just be packed with guys that should be in the NBA.

There's almost no way Anthony Davis, Archie Goodwin, and Nerlens Noel all end up on that team.

2009-10
FR John Wall
FR Demarcus Cousins
FR Eric Bledsoe
FR Daniel Orton
JR Patrick Paterson
SO Deandre Liggins
SO Darius Miller
JR Josh Harrelson

Those are just the key players. They only had 3 slots. But Harrelson isn't scaring anyone away. Any chance they get Knight, though, who would have to play behind Wall and Bledsoe? Let's just say they do:

2010-11
SO John Wall
SO Demarcus Cousins
SO Eric Bledsoe
SO Daniel Orton
SR Patrick Paterson
SR Josh Harrelson
JR Deandre Liggins
JR Darius Miller
FR Terrence Jones
FR Brandon Knight
FR Doron Lamb

You're telling me Davis is going to go there with that lineup? Or Noel? Or Goodwin? Or...you get the picture. They are super good...except that the talent would get spread out more because there are only so many openings.

 

[Gurleyman]

The women's game is so sad, seriously it's pathetic. I'm sorry geno but I'll be impressed when you win 1 title in the men's game, not taking every top 5 recruit in high school and keep them 4 years. Imagine senior Kemba? That's another title. Senior Drummond? Who's stopping that in college? No one. The men's game is so much harder to coach you really can't explain it in words.

UConn has an eight-player rotation this year. Two seniors, two juniors, two sophomores (one redshirted) and two freshmen. A couple of them weren't really big time recruits (Chong in particular - Nurse was foreign and has been better than expected) while this year's top freshman (Williams) was coming off ACL surgery and has been slow to round into form. That leaves lots of elite players on other teams.

It is a big advantage to be able to keep the Taurasis, Moores and Stewarts for four years. But other places can do the same with their studs too. I would say twice he has had teams which were just too good and couldn't be beaten (Bird-Taurasi-Cash, Montgomery-Moore-Charles). The other seven titles were the product of coaching up the talent he had and making the team better.

 

[Kitaman]

I don't understand why Ollie doesn't coach fundamentals. Look how these girls move the ball and pass it to whoever's open. I wish Ollie taught the men to play like that. Fundamentals like you read about.

Not fair to Ollie, ever since Selvie played team fundamentals have been tossed to the wind, never to return.

 

[uconnever]

The women's game is so sad, seriously it's pathetic. I'm sorry geno but I'll be impressed when you win 1 title in the men's game, not taking every top 5 recruit in high school and keep them 4 years. Imagine senior Kemba? That's another title. Senior Drummond? Who's stopping that in college? No one. The men's game is so much harder to coach you really can't explain it in words.

You have no idea what your talking about....... he definitely does not get top 5 recruits every year. Yes he does get them but so does Plenty of other teams but it's not every year.

 

[mets1090]

There's almost no way Anthony Davis, Archie Goodwin, and Nerlens Noel all end up on that team.

2009-10
FR John Wall
FR Demarcus Cousins
FR Eric Bledsoe
FR Daniel Orton
JR Patrick Paterson
SO Deandre Liggins
SO Darius Miller
JR Josh Harrelson

Those are just the key players. They only had 3 slots. But Harrelson isn't scaring anyone away. Any chance they get Knight, though, who would have to play behind Wall and Bledsoe? Let's just say they do:

2010-11
SO John Wall
SO Demarcus Cousins
SO Eric Bledsoe
SO Daniel Orton
SR Patrick Paterson
SR Josh Harrelson
JR Deandre Liggins
JR Darius Miller
FR Terrence Jones
FR Brandon Knight
FR Doron Lamb

You're telling me Davis is going to go there with that lineup? Or Noel? Or Goodwin? Or...you get the picture. They are super good...except that the talent would get spread out more because there are only so many openings.

Well yeah, but most of those players wouldn't have gone there in the first place. Hence my comment about Kentucky's whole system being irrelevant. But every top 25 team would have some would be NBA rising star on it so to say Team X has Player Y as a senior so they can't lose is a flawed concept in general. But that's not really on topic in this thread anyways.

To bring this back to the women's program, what Geno is doing would be like Calipari pulling in the roster you posted above even with a 4 year rule. It's silly, and if there were any women's coaches out there that could coach at the level that Geno does, it wouldn't be that difficult to start pulling more of Geno's targets away for the exact reason that Davis, Noel, etc. wouldn't go to Kentucky if everyone stayed for 4 years.

 

[2Husky]

I don't think comparisons to Kentucky and Johnny clam chowder extend beyond getting top recruits. Geno's players get a lot better through coaching and aren't recruited by cheating. It's more like John wooden, if UCLA boosters hadn't cheated so much.

 

[mauconnfan]

The women's game is so sad, seriously it's pathetic. I'm sorry geno but I'll be impressed when you win 1 title in the men's game, not taking every top 5 recruit in high school and keep them 4 years. Imagine senior Kemba? That's another title. Senior Drummond? Who's stopping that in college? No one. The men's game is so much harder to coach you really can't explain it in words.

While the game may not be in a good place much of that lends itself to how much a better coach Geno is than the rest. The "others" like Maryland, Duke, Stanford and ND get real good players too and they are hardly ever up to the task of playing like UConn consistently. While I don't believe you can compare what Geno has done to Jim C, I do believe in comparing him to his peers he is 2 or 3 levels above the next best in womens basketball. He gets them for 4 years, not his fault but so does everyone else. He just does a lot more with them throughout their stay, he really does. And because of that the game is not in a good place because there is little competition and the parity is awful.

 

[tzznandrew]

Well yeah, but most of those players wouldn't have gone there in the first place. Hence my comment about Kentucky's whole system being irrelevant. But every top 25 team would have some would be NBA rising star on it so to say Team X has Player Y as a senior so they can't lose is a flawed concept in general. But that's not really on topic in this thread anyways.

Which is my point, too. Since I said: "They are super good...except that the talent would get spread out more because there are only so many openings."

But, like you said, derailing the conversation.

 

[ctchamps]

While the game may not be in a good place much of that lends itself to how much a better coach Geno is than the rest. The "others" like Maryland, Duke, Stanford and ND get real good players too and they are hardly ever up to the task of playing like UConn consistently. While I don't believe you can compare what Geno has done to Jim C, I do believe in comparing him to his peers he is 2 or 3 levels above the next best in womens basketball. He gets them for 4 years, not his fault but so does everyone else. He just does a lot more with them throughout their stay, he really does. And because of that the game is not in a good place because there is little competition and the parity is awful.

I think Muffet McGraw is a very good women's bb coach and just shy of the tandem of Geno/Chris Dailey. Dailey has been very important in the the success of the UConn's women's bb team. No one should omit her contributions to Geno's success. Dawn Staley has the potential to be great but time will tell.

South Carolina has been supporting the women's team this year with big numbers. Success has a way of doing that. Sad that UConn fans have dropped to number six.

 

[ctchamps]

I don't usually watch the women but last night I did and really enjoyed it. The spacing and ball movement was impressive. Jefferson plays with a lot of energy and precision.

The announcer mentioned that watching them on television gives you no idea how they play. Watching them live is far more impressive. I agree with him. The starting five just know where each player is or where they are about to go. They see plays developing really quickly - something I wish AB or KF could learn to do.

 

[mets1090]

Which is my point, too. Since I said: "They are super good...except that the talent would get spread out more because there are only so many openings."

But, like you said, derailing the conversation.

Yeah I also realized that you said that. We kind of just arrived at the same conclusion from different starting points. Is that what's supposed to happen?

 

[Huskygamble19]

Watching UCONN against RU women is like watching my cat with its toy

And yet....They too are stuck in the AAC.

 

[Mattyshangs]

Couldnt care less about the Uconn womens team tbh. Just cant get into it.

Who cares?

 

[Huskyforlife]

Sorry he has his pick of any top talent in the country, very rarely does a girl pass up on playing for him if he wants her, but he gets them for 4 years. It's unbelievable

 

[BUConn10]

People trash the womens college game for "lack of parity", but those same fans are the ones who complain when in the men's NCAA tournament "the best team didnt win" or say things like "theres no truly dominant team this year/this is a down year for the mens game".

Point is, I love watching the women DOMINATE, like Wooden-esque performances from Geno and the girls. Why? Because they have UConn on the chest just like our boys do, and at the end of the day when some idiot says "UConn men got lucky with their 4 titles, wont happen again" we can simply reference the dominance of the women over the same, if not longer, time period. The women dominating alongside the men, and winning titles in the same year twice before anyone else has, says one thing to those that have half a brain: Whats happened over the last 25 years at UConn is not by accident, not luck or recruiting, there is something else going on at that university. There is a tradition, scratch that, an EXPECTATION of excellence every year and they have built an enduring culture to produce those results.

Which is why I get mad when fans put down other fans for simply pointing out flaws in recruiting or disappointing losses on the men's side; THIS IS UCONN, all we do is win.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

No one asked

If I weren't ignoring this person, I'd have Liked this.

 

[Paesano]

Sorry he has his pick of any top talent in the country, very rarely does a girl pass up on playing for him if he wants her, but he gets them for 4 years. It's unbelievable

You really have no clue at all. He didn't get the top recruit last year or the year before. You either hate Geno because of the Geno-Jim feud or because you have a little penis. To marginalize his accomplishments, you and those of your ilk perpetuate this myth of a lack of parity in the women's game. Guess what spanky, Rutgers has FIVE five star players including FOUR McD all-americans. Talent-wise, they are much closer to UConn than our men's team is to Kentucky and I bet you think we are still close enough to beat them more often than not, just because we have recently.

And for those that buy into the moronic argument that our women execute their offense so well because they do so against unathletic women, guess what, they are also women. And our men are as athletic as the men defending them. Fundamentals and precision matter, regardless of sex. Ask Popovich. Ask any of the coaches and analysts from the men's game that have watched Geno's practices and raved about them. Ask the Hall of Fame. All of those people know more about basketball than anyone on this board, including myself.

I really don't get the Geno bashing here. I don't feel the need to hate on Calhoun or Ollie because I admire Geno. I know snide remarks were tossed over the fence by both sides in the past. Get over it.

 

[mauconnfan]

You really have no clue at all. He didn't get the top recruit last year or the year before. You either hate Geno because of the Geno-Jim feud or because you have a little . To marginalize his accomplishments, you and those of your ilk perpetuate this myth of a lack of parity in the women's game. Guess what spanky, Rutgers has FIVE five star players including FOUR McD all-americans. Talent-wise, they are much closer to UConn than our men's team is to Kentucky and I bet you think we are still close enough to beat them more often than not, just because we have recently.

And for those that buy into the moronic argument that our women execute their offense so well because they do so against unathletic women, guess what, they are also women. And our men are as athletic as the men defending them. Fundamentals and precision matter, regardless of sex. Ask Popovich. Ask any of the coaches and analysts from the men's game that have watched Geno's practices and raved about them. Ask the Hall of Fame. All of those people know more about basketball than anyone on this board, including myself.

I really don't get the Geno bashing here. I don't feel the need to hate on Calhoun or Ollie because I admire Geno. I know snide remarks were tossed over the fence by both sides in the past. Get over it.

Of course you don't get it, you're a fn dope! Please, anyone who believes this comparison is real is a fn dope! Your call on that one pal....