UConn women hoops success in a nutshell

[82hoosier]

I am watching a show on HBO about the UConn women's basketball team. Geno is talking to the team before the Notre Dame game and he says "We never take a possession off. We are always thinking"

That is how they practice. That is how they play. It is how he brings the best out of each player and how they play the best they can play as a team.

As a UConn and an IU alum I follow both programs. I have to say that the UConn women's team is the most fun to watch. It's like watching the old RMK teams get better as the season progressed.

 

[ORG]

I am watching a show on HBO about the UConn women's basketball team. Gene is talking to the team before the Notre Dame game and he says "We never take a possession off. We are always thinking"

That is how they practice. That is how they play. It is how he brings the best out of each player and how they play the best they can play as a team.

As a UConn and an IU alum I follow both programs. I have to say that the UConn women's team is the most fun to watch. It's like watching the old RMK teams get better as the season progressed.

Of course it's easier when you recruit the best players in the country year after year after year. Coach Gene has built a dynasty and no other team in the country is even close.

 

[82hoosier]

Of course it's easier when you recruit the best players in the country year after year after year. Coach Gene has built a dynasty and no other team in the country is even close.

UConn had the first three picks in the draft last year. Their three incoming recruits were ranked #8. This was to be a rebuilding year. They don't have a deep bench. And yet they went undefeated again.

Their winning streak is now over 100. That is about coaching. It is about hard, consistent play every game. Players get the flu. They have off shooting nights. But the play of team basketball is what keeps the streak continuing.

Watching IU men's hoops is the exact opposite. Watching a team go from top 5 to oblivion has been painful for everyone.

 

[RBB89]

Of course it's easier when you recruit the best players in the country year after year after year. Coach Gene has built a dynasty and no other team in the country is even close.

It's Geno.

 

[Hoosierjeff71]

I agree, he does get the best players every year. Calipari gets the best every year, and only has 1..lol

 

[MG80]

I am watching a show on HBO about the UConn women's basketball team. Geno is talking to the team before the Notre Dame game and he says "We never take a possession off. We are always thinking"

That is how they practice. That is how they play. It is how he brings the best out of each player and how they play the best they can play as a team.

As a UConn and an IU alum I follow both programs. I have to say that the UConn women's team is the most fun to watch. It's like watching the old RMK teams get better as the season progressed.

I recently wrote on the paid forum about reading about a UConn ladies assistant coach saying that Geno would have the team work on a single offense set for several weeks, nothing else. He was teaching the players about focus and concentration and where their teammates were at all times. Now that is serious coaching and teaching.

 

[oldcougar77]

I am watching a show on HBO about the UConn women's basketball team. Geno is talking to the team before the Notre Dame game and he says "We never take a possession off. We are always thinking"

That is how they practice. That is how they play. It is how he brings the best out of each player and how they play the best they can play as a team.

As a UConn and an IU alum I follow both programs. I have to say that the UConn women's team is the most fun to watch. It's like watching the old RMK teams get better as the season progressed.

"women's team" and "fun to watch" are two phrases I can't imagine in the same sentence. But whatever, there are perhaps 10 dominant female basketball players graduating from high school each year. That is compared to 100 or more males. Geno gets 3 of those 10 most years and the other 7 scatter to seven other schools. At any give time he has 12 of the best 40 female players in the nation. Add the fact that female players get only marginally better physically (and some decline) between the ages of 18 and 22. Most males hit their physical peak at the end of their college careers.

My point is that it is incredibly hard to accumulate and retain enough top talent in mens' college basketball to dominate the field for even one season, let alone a span of 100 games. There's a reason nobody goes undefeated for one year anymore. A 100-game winning streak in the men's game is never going to happen.

Most women play four years. So Geno just figures out what he's losing each year and replaces that with the best high school players in the nation at those spots. UConn can offer an experience for female players that no other place in the country can match. It is even more advantageous than what Wooden and UCLA could offer in the 1960's and early 1970's when the best players nationwide wanted to go there above any other offer from any other place.

UConn women's basketball is shooting fish in a barrel. The question is not if they will win, it is by how much. Even your worst night you are 10X better than the other team. It would be like taking UK's mens team and playing a schedule against all high school teams. The occasional basketball factory prep school might give you a tough game on a bad night, but they aren't beating your talent with theirs on their best day.

Who the hell would know if Geno can coach. He doesn't have to. Maybe he's great, maybe he's mediocre. The talent gap is so great he doesn't have to break a sweat. All he has to do is recruit who he wants and not screw it up.

UConn v. everybody else in the women's game is Harlem Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals. Game after game, night after night. Before I concede that there is anything special about his ability, I would like to seen Geno go coach some current doormat with terrible crowd support and below-average players and get them in the tournament in a couple of years.

 

[outside shooter]

Of course it's easier when you recruit the best players in the country year after year after year. Coach Gene has built a dynasty and no other team in the country is even close.

Having the best players is great, but if you watch them he also has those players working their butts off to take only the best shots and to take care of the basketball. They regularly make the extra pass, from proper angles, with proper footwork, to get layups that even lesser players could make routinely, but lesser coaches don't teach players the required skills to get those shots.

 

[IU Scott]

"women's team" and "fun to watch" are two phrases I can't imagine in the same sentence. But whatever, there are perhaps 10 dominant female basketball players graduating from high school each year. That is compared to 100 or more males. Geno gets 3 of those 10 most years and the other 7 scatter to seven other schools. At any give time he has 12 of the best 40 female players in the nation. Add the fact that female players get only marginally better physically (and some decline) between the ages of 18 and 22. Most males hit their physical peak at the end of their college careers.

My point is that it is incredibly hard to accumulate and retain enough top talent in mens' college basketball to dominate the field for even one season, let alone a span of 100 games. There's a reason nobody goes undefeated for one year anymore. A 100-game winning streak in the men's game is never going to happen.

Most women play four years. So Geno just figures out what he's losing each year and replaces that with the best high school players in the nation at those spots. UConn can offer an experience for female players that no other place in the country can match. It is even more advantageous than what Wooden and UCLA could offer in the 1960's and early 1970's when the best players nationwide wanted to go there above any other offer from any other place.

UConn women's basketball is shooting fish in a barrel. The question is not if they will win, it is by how much. Even your worst night you are 10X better than the other team. It would be like taking UK's mens team and playing a schedule against all high school teams. The occasional basketball factory prep school might give you a tough game on a bad night, but they aren't beating your talent with theirs on their best day.

Who the hell would know if Geno can coach. He doesn't have to. Maybe he's great, maybe he's mediocre. The talent gap is so great he doesn't have to break a sweat. All he has to do is recruit who he wants and not screw it up.

UConn v. everybody else in the women's game is Harlem Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals. Game after game, night after night. Before I concede that there is anything special about his ability, I would like to seen Geno go coach some current doormat with terrible crowd support and below-average players and get them in the tournament in a couple of years.

Actually I saw someone post that UCONN has not had a top 5 class in the last 3 or 4 years.

 

[iubirdman]

This UCONN team only has 5 McAA if I remember correctly, there are MANY teams with more than that. To say they get the BEST talent every year is a myth. Last time they had the top ranked class was the Stewart, Tuck, and Jefferson class, and they are all gone. I think ND actually has 9 McAA this year (compared to 5) and a HOF coach as well, so there is more to it that just getting the best players. Teams that have as many/more that UCONN if memory is correct--Baylor, ND, SC, Texas, Stanford, Md, OSU and others (at least have recruited more over the last 4 classes--not sure if all have stayed). Oh yea, they also had zero preseason AA on the roster when the the year started. Scary thing is like a previous poster said, this was supposed to be their down year---nest year have the top recruit in the country committed, and a 6-6 transfer from Duke that averaged close to 20/10 in the ACC last year!!!

 

[82hoosier]

"women's team" and "fun to watch" are two phrases I can't imagine in the same sentence. But whatever, there are perhaps 10 dominant female basketball players graduating from high school each year. That is compared to 100 or more males. Geno gets 3 of those 10 most years and the other 7 scatter to seven other schools. At any give time he has 12 of the best 40 female players in the nation. Add the fact that female players get only marginally better physically (and some decline) between the ages of 18 and 22. Most males hit their physical peak at the end of their college careers.

My point is that it is incredibly hard to accumulate and retain enough top talent in mens' college basketball to dominate the field for even one season, let alone a span of 100 games. There's a reason nobody goes undefeated for one year anymore. A 100-game winning streak in the men's game is never going to happen.

Most women play four years. So Geno just figures out what he's losing each year and replaces that with the best high school players in the nation at those spots. UConn can offer an experience for female players that no other place in the country can match. It is even more advantageous than what Wooden and UCLA could offer in the 1960's and early 1970's when the best players nationwide wanted to go there above any other offer from any other place.

UConn women's basketball is shooting fish in a barrel. The question is not if they will win, it is by how much. Even your worst night you are 10X better than the other team. It would be like taking UK's mens team and playing a schedule against all high school teams. The occasional basketball factory prep school might give you a tough game on a bad night, but they aren't beating your talent with theirs on their best day.

Who the hell would know if Geno can coach. He doesn't have to. Maybe he's great, maybe he's mediocre. The talent gap is so great he doesn't have to break a sweat. All he has to do is recruit who he wants and not screw it up.

UConn v. everybody else in the women's game is Harlem Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals. Game after game, night after night. Before I concede that there is anything special about his ability, I would like to seen Geno go coach some current doormat with terrible crowd support and below-average players and get them in the tournament in a couple of years.

It's women's basketball. Could be women's soccer. Its a completely different sport than the men's game. Its about the quest for excellence. Its about seniors graduating and freshman coming in and stepping up. It about a program that does things the right way.

As far as coaching a doormat that was the program he started with 32 years ago. UConn had one winning season in the ten seasons prior to his arrival. He started winning championships when his first class of freshmen were seniors.

And again this is women's basketball. There are no dominant athletes. They pass the ball. They set screens. They box out. They play with their heads. If you win 100 games in a row you doing something in your preparation better than everybody else.

Watch the HBO special that just aired last night. Apparently they are putting together another one this week.

 

[82hoosier]

UConn: The March to Madness
4:45 PM on HBO2 303, 1 hr 2017 TV-PG

My tv guide has the show on again today.

 

[Hooptdooz]

Geno was spotted in the Indy airport yesterday. Heading to Bloomington.

 

[82hoosier]

In Saturday's opening AAC tournament game UConn women went 20 for 20 from the free throw line. They also shot 65% from the field.

As a team, for the season, Crean's Hoosiers shoot 73% from the field - puts them in 81st place. Free throws are not glamorous. And you rarely get a chance to shoot them when you are throwing up 3-point shots. I am guessing it is just another part of the game the Hoosiers don't focus on.

 

[choptalk]

In Saturday's opening AAC tournament game UConn women went 20 for 20 from the free throw line. They also shot 65% from the field.

As a team, for the season, Crean's Hoosiers shoot 73% from the field - puts them in 81st place. Free throws are not glamorous. And you rarely get a chance to shoot them when you are throwing up 3-point shots. I am guessing it is just another part of the game the Hoosiers don't focus on.

It's Geno. Yes he gets talent but he knows what to do with it. They are the best coached program In the country. He is hard on his players but when it's time to play they are always ready. He is amazing.

 

[82hoosier]

UConn wins the conference championship - win number 107 - and they have a sophomore who goes 10 for 10 from the three point line - from 9 different spots on the floor. How many people can do that in shoot-arounds?