Dawn in retrospect with comments and a question - what constitutes throwing players under the bus?

[Waquoit]

She wasn't throwing players under the bus with the ball excuse. She was covering for their poor play while throwing shade at UConn.

 

[FanFromMaine]

I just realized the Can may mean Canada.

Speaking of boundaries, I grew up knowing O Canada as well as I knew the Stars Spangled Banner. Of course I knew it in French as I lived in a portion of Quebec transported to southern central Maine.

 

[Creature]

The ball excuse was dumb, but it absolutely does not qualify as throwing the team under the bus. More the opposite, as it tries to deflect attention away from the team.

Throwing under the bus is generally blaming a specific person(s), by name, for the team's failures.

Context regarding the ball. In January SCar played Alabama which is a Nike School who uses the Nike Basketball. IN practice leading up to that game- Coach Staley had them practice with the Nike ball because of the issues she stated Monday night. They (the guards) knew they had to adjust to that ball being different and yet they were still mis handling the ball.

 

[cancontent]

I just realized the Can may mean Canada.

Speaking of boundaries, I grew up knowing O Canada as well as I knew the Stars Spangled Banner. Of course I knew it in French as I lived in a portion of Quebec transported to southern central Maine.

Yes that is correct. ?

Been viewing BY was a visitor for years. Finally signed up to join in on the conversations. I've always loved basketball but got more into women's basketball thanks to my daughter. It's great to see how much the game has grown and the impact Canadian athletes are having on these vaunted NCAA programs.

 

[Longtime fan]

During the discussion about Staley's blaming the loss on the ball, a number of posters said she threw her team under the bus because she stated they couldn't adapt to the Nike ball.

My comments - 1) That's about as BS a reason as I can think of, for all the reasons so well articulated already. 2) That being said, one BYer said that given who Staley is - the reality of her being a black woman in this society, etc - he's willing to give her a pass. I'm in that camp. She has never come across to me, and I don't expect that it will ever change, as eloquent a speaker as other coaches like Geno, Walz, McGraw, and others. She has a different upbringing that gives her a rougher edge and if it hasn't been smoothed over, I'm okay with that.

My question - what constitutes throwing a player or team under the bus? Personally, I think it is one of those things that are almost impossible to define, being something akin to "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" or "I know it when I see it".

Geno is famous for his sarcastic quips - 1) After the loss to Baylor last year, calling the team dummies for calling a time out late in the game when down by 17. 2) from 2019 regarding Anna: “You know how some guys (shoot) 0-for-the-game or 0-for-the-week, well she is 0-for-America. She hasn’t made a shot since she has been in this country. They should stop saying she is from Poland. People in Poland are starting to get upset.” 3) When he said Taurasi screwed up in the U-18 game against Brazil because she "only" scored 26 points instead of the 30 he told her the team would need.

We generally accept as UConn faithful that these barbs are meant to motivate and not hurt. And I don't think these examples are actually in the same league as "they couldn't adjust". But it's pretty clear that fans of other teams who don't care about UConn can also cite these quotes as throwing players under the bus.

So I throw the question out there - what for you defines a coach's comment as throwing someone under the bus?

I have a great deal of respect for her, and I am sure her players do not feel " dissed" by Coach Staley. She has another top-rated recruiting class coming in next season, to merge with the top class she had on the court today. So South Carolina is regarded as an elite program. And we shall battle them for years. Everyone is making too much out of the throw away remark...which, of course, made little sense.

 

[Argonaut]

Once a kid from another part of the country visits UConn and tries east coast pizza for the first time they’re hooked and they don’t want to leave.
I miss east coast pizza!

As a Cincinnati native and UConn grad, I miss my hometown Cincinnati pizza more than any pizza I got in New England. I ate PLENTY of good pizza, but nothing I still crave.

I agree. Chicago pizza sucks.

This is blasphemy.

 

[MSGRET]

As a Cincinnati native and UConn grad, I miss my hometown Cincinnati pizza more than any pizza I got in New England. I ate PLENTY of good pizza, but nothing I still crave.


This is blasphemy.

If you are ever in West Lafayette, IN, go down to the Levee to Bruno's for some of the best Pizza you have ever had. Now if you want real Pizza you can go to almost any Pizzeria in Italy or many of the other Western EU Countries and have some of the freshest pizza made the old fashion way.

 

[CTrefugee]

.

So I throw the question out there - what for you defines a coach's comment as throwing someone under the bus?

A ridiculous comparison. Everyone knows that Geno and his team have nothing but love and respect for each other. When one of the players takes a humorous jab at Geno, are they throwing Geno under the bus? Who cares what ignorant fans think. Knowledgable fans, no matter what their team, know Geno's barbs are love pats meant to inspire. Dawn just made a mistake. She was not meaning to throw players under the bus. She was just looking for an excuse. She should have just said that UCONN outplayed/outcoached us.

 

[CTrefugee]

Wilsongate

 

[Argonaut]

If you are ever in West Lafayette, IN, go down to the Levee to Bruno's for some of the best Pizza you have ever had. Now if you want real Pizza you can go to almost any Pizzeria in Italy or many of the other Western EU Countries and have some of the freshest pizza made the old fashion way.

There's a Neapolitan pizza place about an hour from my abode that we'll occasionally drive up to that's WONDERFUL. Dough made daily, imported ingredients, and wood fire ovens shipped in from Naples make it the most authentic pizza I've ever had outside of Europe! It's too, too good!

 

[MooseJaw]

Dawn said we didn’t have to play perfect basketball to win. Never said we didn’t need our A game and she certainly didn’t think we had turned the corner. What she said was that we have the players now to compete. That we didn’t have to play perfect. And she was correct. Had we made one of the 4 shots we got at the end of the game or made 1 more free throw we would have won. And everybody that watched the game knows we didn’t play a perfect game.

Same for the Husky's, A few more made shots from them and the last cluster at the bucket would have been irrelevant.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Dawn is very straight-talking, sometimes to a fault. She is street smart and cocky. She is brash and in your face. Good thing we UConn fans don’t have somebody like that coaching our team!!!

 

[HuskylnSC]

Once a kid from another part of the country visits UConn and tries east coast pizza for the first time they’re hooked and they don’t want to leave.
I miss east coast pizza!

While I love so much about being in South Carolina like the fact that my home came equipped with a solar snow removal system. The thing I miss the most is going to Great Oak in Ledyard or Sam's in New London for pizza. After being here for 30 years I finally found something so similar. It's 50 miles one way trip to Pendleton SC and it's worth it. One of my intentions when I win the lottery is to bring New England pizza to the south.

 

[triaddukefan]

There's a Neapolitan pizza place about an hour from my abode that we'll occasionally drive up to that's WONDERFUL. Dough made daily, imported ingredients, and wood fire ovens shipped in from Naples make it the most authentic pizza I've ever had outside of Europe! It's too, too good!

I'm waiting for you to identify this restaurant

 

[Argonaut]

I'm waiting for you to identify this restaurant

?

It’s Aliño in Mooresville. Don’t bother with the one at the mall in Concord — it isn’t the same.

And if you make the trip, don’t skip the gelato.

 

[Cuango]

A ridiculous comparison. Everyone knows that Geno and his team have nothing but love and respect for each other. When one of the players takes a humorous jab at Geno, are they throwing Geno under the bus? Who cares what ignorant fans think. Knowledgable fans, no matter what their team, know Geno's barbs are love pats meant to inspire. Dawn just made a mistake. She was not meaning to throw players under the bus. She was just looking for an excuse. She should have just said that UCONN outplayed/outcoached us.

Yeah, right! I think you’ll be waiting a long time to hear Dawn say either of those things.

 

[shiverz45]

Yeah, right! I think you’ll be waiting a long time to hear Dawn say either of those things.

I am sure those other 8 times you won she gave UCONN plenty of credit.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I don't think Dawn threw anyone under the bus. If you want to see a coach throw their team under a bus there are two that come to mind, they are Holly and Muffet, both are not coaching anymore.

The "under the bus" tends to be viewed more negatively over time for a particular game, but does not improve rapidly over the next two to three games. When it is said by the coach in the same phrasology four games later, it is not positive motivation for the players, but only venting by the coach of "dirty laundry in public," it is then recognized by the home town fans and that reflects on the coaching poorly. Which is IMO the reason Holly & Muffet are no longer coaching, as they got comfortable with the "throwing of players under the bus" in their last couple of years of coaching when they lost big (and in the case of Holly, 'little') games.

When the comments motivate student-athletes to take charge of improvements in their game [can't guard a chair] and it improves consistently over the next several games, it is taken in a positive light and is not harped upon again, vice the "finger nails on a chalkboard" of "throwing players under the bus."

 

[CL82]

But clearly the chief has been lambasted so many times by callers that angry sputtering was his expectation of me as well.

In his defense, everyday he is dealing with Maineiacs.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I think, (amazingly) Dawn thought that last year’s dominant win over UConn in SC was a true turning point and that they were now going to dominate UConn as a matter of course. This was accentuated by the relative makeup’s of the two teams. She has this dominant force in Boston, a huge size and speed advantage as well and UConn is so young. I think she was completely shocked that they lost and was still in that disbelieving state of mind when she had her PC. I read somewhere that she had remarked that they (SC) didn’t need their “A” game to beat Connecticut. Now I didn’t actually hear her say that, but if she did, it speaks to her attitude toward Monday’s game and her shock at the result. I never really thought she was throwing her team under the bus, just that she was trying to blame it on anything but her coaching. I don’t care for her as I find her to be unrelentingly arrogant and pushy, but I do have great respect for what she has built in South Carolina. She and her program are going to be a formidable hurdle for the foreseeable future in women’s basketball and that is a good thing.

Being a UCONN women's basketball fan since they shocked UT for the first time in January of 1995, I did not follow many other teams other than Stanford, UT, and Notre Dame for their coaching styles and ability to defeat UCONN occasionally. However, when Dawn became the US National team's coach following Geno, I went back to see what her history was, and about the same time, the Best Guard award was renamed the Dawn Staley Award. As a starting guard on the national team, she was undefeated, and as the Head Coach of the National team, she IS undefeated (30-0). When you are used to being undefeated, arrogance may start to sneak in, and when you have not thought through how to learn the greatest amount of "lessons" from the defeat in a long time, having a press conference before being able to 'jot down' your outline of how to 'fix' what you saw comes out in raw form in the public.
I have never been in favor of interviewing the coaches and players who have just lost a game at any level. I think it is in very poor form, and should be discontinued...

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Maybe Nike should stick to shoes

Best Indoor & Outdoor Basketball Reviews (2021): Our Faves (ballersguide.net)

no. make that no, to the heck no. offered previously, and often, there is only one type of great ball to be used on the hardwood, where they play the games that count. the all-leather classic. that list is full of composite, inorganic plastic playground balls. useful, inexpensive, but still very different. and speaking of inorganic, anybody see a wave of serious indoor courts, where they play for pay, made up of anything other than organic hardwood? sometimes, a player new to a venue with that rubber/plastic floor, may just want to cry at first look.
like a lot of other things now made out of junk that used to be made of the best stuff, i suppose that over time, 'they'll' blather on and convince many that something is 'as good as,' but in this case, no.
'The NBA switched to a composite leather design in 2006, but the changes lasted only three months because of a barrage of complaints from players.'
'NBA balls are made of genuine leather and college balls are made of a composite material.'
i guess that's why they're called 'pro's.'
the link for the quotes is messed up.

real, 100% leather. real, 100% hardwood. accept no substitutes.
just ask a pro, or many others who actually play the game.

 

[LCConnFan]

Being a UCONN women's basketball fan since they shocked UT for the first time in January of 1995, I did not follow many other teams other than Stanford, UT, and Notre Dame for their coaching styles and ability to defeat UCONN occasionally. However, when Dawn became the US National team's coach following Geno, I went back to see what her history was, and about the same time, the Best Guard award was renamed the Dawn Staley Award. As a starting guard on the national team, she was undefeated, and as the Head Coach of the National team, she IS undefeated (30-0). When you are used to being undefeated, arrogance may start to sneak in, and when you have not thought through how to learn the greatest amount of "lessons" from the defeat in a long time, having a press conference before being able to 'jot down' your outline of how to 'fix' what you saw comes out in raw form in the public.
I have never been in favor of interviewing the coaches and players who have just lost a game at any level. I think it is in very poor form, and should be discontinued...

I have to 'respectfully' disagree with your above comment. Having a press conference after the game is just to sum up what the team did right, and what they did wrong. It doesn't mean they need to elaborate how to fix it. A good coach doesn't need time to 'jot down' what went wrong, otherwise they're just looking for excuses or trying to cover up the mistake(s). They already know what the team or individuals did wrong during the game, so all that's needed is what they actually saw.... the truth.

 

[TC22]

Same for the Husky's, A few more made shots from them and the last cluster at the bucket would have been irrelevant.

Exactly. it wasn’t a terribly efficient game by either side..you just had 2 more buckets in OT than we did. Hopefully we will meet again.

 

[MooseJaw]

Exactly. it wasn’t a terribly efficient game by either side..you just had 2 more buckets in OT than we did. Hopefully we will meet again.

And this is what starts what may become a rivalry. Both teams are at the top of the heap. Both teams have top notch coaches. Both teams have top recruiting classes coming in. Both teams have great fans. Both teams want not only a rematch but yearly games.
Wish your team well until we clash again, then all bets are off, gird your loins, no prisoners'. Take care stay healthy.

 

[cabbie191]

Exactly. it wasn’t a terribly efficient game by either side..you just had 2 more buckets in OT than we did. Hopefully we will meet again.

TC - do you know whether UConn at SC games now typically sell out? I own a time share in Myrtle Beach - I’m wondering if we visited the week a game was scheduled I’d have a decent shot at getting tickets.