[teejers1]

was reading all these comments as we drove cross-country over the last week, then finally got to watch UConn's loss vs. GT yesterday. Have also been reading religiously the UConn fan base's comments on the Boneyard. Struck me also interesting that their issue is of point guard -- whereas noone sympathized with our attempt to deal with our Kiana replacement challenge. I now appreciate how smoothly that has gone thus far, in comparison to UConn.

I agree with the prior poster about playing time and the more I read and thought about their bench etc. the more I posited (to my husband who is probably now bored of hearing my theory) that Geno's approach has in the past increased their ability to lock in the #1 players in a class - as they probably infer (or otherwise are told) that they will get enough playing time to help them reach All American status - leading to greater payoffs down the road in basketball.  Much easier to get great statistics if you play 36-40 minutes per game than 20-30. Example closer geographically is think of how many times Graves at UO kept Ionescu in games well beyond when she was needed.

In recent years, Geno's lack of play time for non-starters may have caught up to them with increased transfers from their B team (many of whom are successful elsewhere). Now perhaps the injury issue -- others have noted that Paige Bueckers does NOT have the same strength as Diana Taurasi to deal with the physical challenges. Any team can lose players (see UO and UCLA, and we had Haley out then clearly the food in the Bahamas led to some issues with our bigs), but when that happens to a team with few players, most of whom are getting no playing time to develop,... I actually wonder if Geno will change since he hasn't yet -- perhaps instead he will retire sooner than expected. Sure does not act like a fighter other than blaming his players for not performing, though he hasn't given them the experience and confidence they need. Even some of his starters -- I also am constantly struck at the comparisons in development made by our players over their Stanford careers to the lack of progress by some of the UConn starters -- #1 Williams and #5 ONO. His pursuit and then complete focus on Bueckers has made their team so passive. Reminds me of Chiney and the Chinettes taken to another level; our struggles occurred because we did not have the talent on the court surrounding Chiney but UConn has the talent just has not found a way to develop or inspire it. Hope for their sake there is a mean reversion effect where they are able to bounce back because otherwise not sure UConn will attract players. Hello Duke - next stop for Azzi Fudd?

Good to know our PG transition has gone smoothly . . . 
I think it will be "transitioning smoothly" all season long, unfortunately.

BTW, that's a light needle - agree with the rest of your post.

[teejers1]

was reading all these comments as we drove cross-country over the last week, then finally got to watch UConn's loss vs. GT yesterday. Have also been reading religiously the UConn fan base's comments on the Boneyard. Struck me also interesting that their issue is of point guard -- whereas noone sympathized with our attempt to deal with our Kiana replacement challenge. I now appreciate how smoothly that has gone thus far, in comparison to UConn.

I agree with the prior poster about playing time and the more I read and thought about their bench etc. the more I posited (to my husband who is probably now bored of hearing my theory) that Geno's approach has in the past increased their ability to lock in the #1 players in a class - as they probably infer (or otherwise are told) that they will get enough playing time to help them reach All American status - leading to greater payoffs down the road in basketball.  Much easier to get great statistics if you play 36-40 minutes per game than 20-30. Example closer geographically is think of how many times Graves at UO kept Ionescu in games well beyond when she was needed.

In recent years, Geno's lack of play time for non-starters may have caught up to them with increased transfers from their B team (many of whom are successful elsewhere). Now perhaps the injury issue -- others have noted that Paige Bueckers does NOT have the same strength as Diana Taurasi to deal with the physical challenges. Any team can lose players (see UO and UCLA, and we had Haley out then clearly the food in the Bahamas led to some issues with our bigs), but when that happens to a team with few players, most of whom are getting no playing time to develop,... I actually wonder if Geno will change since he hasn't yet -- perhaps instead he will retire sooner than expected. Sure does not act like a fighter other than blaming his players for not performing, though he hasn't given them the experience and confidence they need. Even some of his starters -- I also am constantly struck at the comparisons in development made by our players over their Stanford careers to the lack of progress by some of the UConn starters -- #1 Williams and #5 ONO. His pursuit and then complete focus on Bueckers has made their team so passive. Reminds me of Chiney and the Chinettes taken to another level; our struggles occurred because we did not have the talent on the court surrounding Chiney but UConn has the talent just has not found a way to develop or inspire it. Hope for their sake there is a mean reversion effect where they are able to bounce back because otherwise not sure UConn will attract players. Hello Duke - next stop for Azzi Fudd?

Good to know our PG transition has gone smoothly . . . 
I think it will be "transitioning smoothly" all season long, unfortunately.

BTW, that's a light needle - agree with the rest of your post.