Mulkey quote (from Mechelle)

[ThisJustIn]

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-comme...espnw-loss-snaps-baylor-44-game-big-12-streak

Nobody anticipated this, right?

Well, one person did.

"Look, I threw them out of practice the day before yesterday," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of her players. "I saw this coming. I've been around the game a long time. They couldn't understand why. I think now they probably know. So it's not like we didn't prepare or I didn't try to get their attention. We did everything we could -- but I bet their attention is gotten now."

 

[alexrgct]

I could see this thread going in a number of directions, but I'll just say this.

For one, Kim Mulkey has two "standalone" national championships, a rare accomplishment that makes her a great coach.

For another, I do believe that leadership should involve taking responsibility when things go awry and giving credit to those you lead when things go well. To me, this sounds like throwing her kids under the bus. I suppose if her kids respond, then the ends justify the means. All I'm saying is that this isn't, at least ostensibly, the epitome of good leadership after suffering this humiliating loss to a mediocre team this season.

 

[phil sampieri]

I could see this thread going in a number of directions, but I'll just say this.

For one, Kim Mulkey has two "standalone" national championships, a rare accomplishment that makes her a great coach.

For another, I do believe that leadership should involve taking responsibility when things go awry and giving credit to those you lead when things go well. To me, this sounds like throwing her kids under the bus. I suppose if her kids respond, then the ends justify the means. All I'm saying is that this isn't, at least ostensibly, the epitome of good leadership after suffering this humiliating loss to a mediocre team this season.

How could teamates help when 1 player takes half the shots ? You just have to check how many assits Baylor gets each game.Not going to happen as good as Sims is.

 

[UcMiami]

I could see this thread going in a number of directions, but I'll just say this.

For one, Kim Mulkey has two "standalone" national championships, a rare accomplishment that makes her a great coach.

For another, I do believe that leadership should involve taking responsibility when things go awry and giving credit to those you lead when things go well. To me, this sounds like throwing her kids under the bus. I suppose if her kids respond, then the ends justify the means. All I'm saying is that this isn't, at least ostensibly, the epitome of good leadership after suffering this humiliating loss to a mediocre team this season.

I understand where you are coming from, but I think you are wrong. This happens quite often in coaching where a team begins to believe their own press a little too much, or just gets in the doldrums of going through the motions. And it has happened at Uconn over the years - and you get reports that the locker room has been closed, or laundry service has been taken away, or the coach after a loss says what Kim said, or Geno benches his starting five a few minutes into the first half of a game. And while I didn't see the game I suspect Baylor was unfocused and lacking in purpose in the game today so what is a coach going to say.

 

[ThisJustIn]

I understand where you are coming from, but I think you are wrong. This happens quite often in coaching where a team begins to believe their own press a little too much, or just gets in the doldrums of going through the motions. And it has happened at Uconn over the years - and you get reports that the locker room has been closed, or laundry service has been taken away, or the coach after a loss says what Kim said, or Geno benches his starting five a few minutes into the first half of a game. And while I didn't see the game I suspect Baylor was unfocused and lacking in purpose in the game today so what is a coach going to say.

To echo Uc - this was exactly what Geno was warning the team about in the last "in the locker room" Geno Show clip.

 

[DobbsRover2]

No coach can simply just dial up the effort for her players. Sometimes they see things in practice that gives them a sense of foreboding. Sometimes they know their team has come off a big effort against a top team and are going to have some trouble refocusing in the next game.

But the issue here is that Mulkey is the one who does not seem to have gotten her head together from the last game. Her top player gets some extra attention and goes 4-25 in a game. What do you learn from that? A lot, or nothing. And apparently Kim just thought that was sort of a one-off situation and that Baylor could go right back to Sims throwing up most of her team's shots and that everything would be fine and dandy again. Well, it isn't, and now every team knows exactly what they must do to shut down the Bears.

Just what was "everything we could do"? Get back to basics and just keep feeding Sims the ball? Good luck with that.

 

[Adesmar123]

[quote="
nobody anticipated this, right? Well, one person did. "Look, I threw them out of practice the day before yesterday," Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said of her players. "I saw this coming. I've been around the game a long time. They couldn't understand why. I think now they probably know. So it's not like we didn't prepare or I didn't try to get their attention. We did everything we could -- but I bet their attention is gotten now."[/quote]

She is their head coach making big bucks.....GALUMP......that was the bus running over the team....

Oh yeah..I just heard Belichick saying....I told them Denver was good....they just didn't listen

 

[msf22b]

[quote="
.

Oh yeah..I just heard Belichick saying....I told them Denver was good….they just didn't listen

You've got to be kidding

 

[doggydaddy]

You've got to be kidding

He was....you don't do sarcasm, huh.

 

[alexrgct]

I understand where you are coming from, but I think you are wrong. This happens quite often in coaching where a team begins to believe their own press a little too much, or just gets in the doldrums of going through the motions. And it has happened at Uconn over the years - and you get reports that the locker room has been closed, or laundry service has been taken away, or the coach after a loss says what Kim said, or Geno benches his starting five a few minutes into the first half of a game. And while I didn't see the game I suspect Baylor was unfocused and lacking in purpose in the game today so what is a coach going to say.

What does believing your own press have to do with "I warned them, but nobody listened to me"? What Kim could say is to accept responsibility for the L, possibly for the post-UConn loss hangover, etc. She could talk about the failure of execution and that she and her staff will focus on better production on offense and defense. But to say, "We did everything we could, but maybe we needed to lose for these kids to get it"- that sounds like throwing the kids under the bus to me.

 

[Tonyc]

A good thread on whats wrong with Baylor. Sims takes a lot of shots off balance and just plain poor shots. Her teammates just stand around waiting for her to make a play and they get out of her way. I think they are bored and loose their focus watching her. I do agree with the poster they go through the motions. Last season we saw the same thing with Griner. It seemed that the game plan was to get the ball to Griner and get out of her way. This year its Sims. It works against less talented teams but it wont work with well coached talented teams.

 

[pap49cba]

Apparently Kim had another meltdown yesterday and crossed half court. Of course no T was assessed. Looking for the video....

 

[Adesmar123]

Apparently Kim had another meltdown yesterday and crossed half court. Of course no T was assessed. Looking for the video....

She was just going to pick up her poor daughter who was on the floor after being knocked down by the scorer's table. Apparently someone drove to the basket and knocked her down from 40 ft away.

 

[cabbie191]

What does believing your own press have to do with "I warned them, but nobody listened to me"? What Kim could say is to accept responsibility for the L, possibly for the post-UConn loss hangover, etc. She could talk about the failure of execution and that she and her staff will focus on better production on offense and defense. But to say, "We did everything we could, but maybe we needed to lose for these kids to get it"- that sounds like throwing the kids under the bus to me.

Did anyone see the whole press conference? I didn't. Isn't it possible that Mulkey did say something about "her staff having to refocus" or otherwise took some responsibility but it just didn't show up in what Voepel wrote? I am generally uncomfortable attributing a person's attitude based on one or two sentences culled from an interview unless there is an absolutely convincing accompaniment of body language, voice, etc.

And even if the tone of the article accurately reflects what Mulkey said, in the range of statements wherein coaches throw their players under the bus, this one seems to me to be pretty mild. Nothing like what Pat had to say when the LV's were upset in the NCAA's her last year of coaching.

 

[UcMiami]

Dobbs - two different questions you are dealing with:
1. Did the team lose focus, get complacent, stop listening in practice, stop putting forth maximum effort. Answer, yes, and sometimes a coach is pretty powerless to alter that situation until either a really bad loss or a really terrible game that they manage to pull out wakes them up. Uconn/St. Johns to break one streak, Uconn/Stanford to break another, Uconn/BC in the semis of the BE come to mind as games where the team just wasn't right and the coach had seen it coming for a few games.
2. Is Mulkey coaching well in letting Sims dominate the offensive play for Baylor this season and hoist an inordinate number of shots in some games - probably not. But I think that is a different question from #1. I thought she should have had a conversation with Sims after the Uconn game, and I would hope she would now have that conversation with lots of video tape after a second loss and a second poor performance by Sims.

 

[Shenandoah]

When the ESPN "talking head" (didn't pay attention to his name) mentioned when they cut to it at halftime, that "Baylor, up one at the half, should win this one handily", I suddenly bacame a Kansas fan!

 

[Phil]

I'm not the biggest Mulkey fan, but when she commented about throwing them out of practice, I didn't see that as throwing them under the bus. Maybe because I knew Geno has done it, but sometimes coaches are trying to explain what they want done, and it seems like it isn't sinking in.

Like a sharp knife used to cut something tough, it needs re honing, and sometimes the player remember that they were sharp, and still think they are. Sometimes a coach has to do something drastic to catch their attention. This time it didn't seem to happen, but when she says she saw it coming, she's got some evidence to back it up.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Apparently Kim had another meltdown yesterday and crossed half court. Of course no T was assessed. Looking for the video....

Mulkey was T'd up yesterday.

 

[huskybill]

Mulkey was T'd up yesterday.

Really? That would never happen to Geno.

 

[easttexastrash]

Mulkey was T'd up yesterday.

I am quite sure she did not get T'd up. Unless there was another incident, on the play in quetion, when Mulkey was on her tirade, the Baylor post player, Sune Agbuke, was T'd up for questioning the foul that was called on her. Mulkey should have gotten a T, but the announcers clarified that the T was not on her.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

From the box score

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: BAYLOR (1)

 

[Adesmar123]

From the box score

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: BAYLOR (1)

Please don't confuse me with the facts.....I like my reality just as it is.

 

[doggydaddy]

I don't get it. Baylor is much less relevant to UConn fans yet we have 4 threads about them on the first page of the forum.

One crazy Baylor fan and he is able get us to talk about them over and over again.

I understand Tennessee threads. Some serious history here. But Baylor?

 

[easttexastrash]

From the box score

Technical Fouls: PLAYERS: None - TEAMS: BAYLOR (1)

From the Baylor boxscore. The announcers said that the T was on Abbuke, which it obviously was not by looking at the boxscore. Mulkey clearly deserved the T as she was acting like a child who just had her favorite toy taken away. It was like the bit that CD and Geno do where CD is trying to hold Geno back. Even Sims was trying to stay between Kim and the refs.

Baylor 32 28 60 Record: (14-3, 4-1 Big 12)
Kansas 31 45 76 Record: (9-9, 2-4 Big 12)
Officials: Michael Price, Bill Larance, Michol Murray
Technical fouls: Baylor-TEAM. Kansas-None.
Attendance: 3514
BU #22 S. Agbuke fouls out at 8:10 in 2nd half
BU head coach assessed technical foul at 8:10 in 2nd half

 

[UcMiami]

I don't get it. Baylor is much less relevant to UConn fans yet we have 4 threads about them on the first page of the forum.

One crazy Baylor fan and he is able get us to talk about them over and over again.

I understand Tennessee threads. Some serious history here. But Baylor?

Baylor has been much more relevant to Uconn over the last five years than TN from an on the court, final standings perspective and we just played them so I don't think you are right. They also have one of the top 3 players in the country putting up amazing stats at 'possibly' the expense of her team which is a worthy debate.