WBB: Uconn's "annual drubbing of the other team" National Title Game

[moonpie23]

i have to admit, i don't keep up with rankings and such for women's' BB as much as men, but, do ANY of UCONN's opponents get any pressure on Gino's teams?

seems like the same unbalanced blow out every year...

[Tappan Zee Devil]

i have to admit, i don't keep up with rankings and such for women's' BB as much as men, but, do ANY of UCONN's opponents get any pressure on Gino's teams?

seems like the same unbalanced blow out every year...

In all fairness, Notre Dame lost perhaps their most important player in the elite eight game.

[Saratoga2]

Notre Dame is definitely the second best womens team. It is well coached and has some excellent players but is missing a star who is also good sized, so that magnifies their weakness on the boards. UCONN is just too big and too good inside and Notre Dame is being outclassed. Too bad for them.

[moonpie23]

i'm trying to remember a Uconn Women's game that had some drama….

[uh_no]

i have to admit, i don't keep up with rankings and such for women's' BB as much as men, but, do ANY of UCONN's opponents get any pressure on Gino's teams?

seems like the same unbalanced blow out every year...

*Geno

and yes, they lost to ND three times last year, and 3 times the year before that...the oft quoted stat is ND has won 7 of the last 9.

they're extremely well coached and have talented players, so to beat them you generally need to have at least the latter, and there have be scant teams that have had the talent

ND
Stanford
Bbaylor

are thte names that have rung bellss recently. Unforunately this year, uconn is packing two all american big men...two of the best, if not the best centers in the country in Breanna Stewart and Stephanie Dolson...nobody has the players to compete with that...and ND without achonwa tonight really didn't stand a whole lot of a chance. Even Stanford with Ogwumike couldn't get it done.

With dolson and hartley graduating this year, I'd imagine the team will come back to earth next year. They might yet win it all, but some of the other top teams may be able to put up more of a fight.

It was clear to me last april after uconn beat ND in the semis, that Uconn wasn't going to lose this year. It was a perfect storm of having nearly all of the most important pieces back from a national title team combined with the other top players in the country that had given them fits (namely diggins and Griner) graduating.

I think ND ought to be really good again next year, of course, and uconn. Beyond that, who knows. I haven't looked hard enough to who is returning what...

[eddiehaskell]

Why has Geno stuck around in the women's game? Sticking around for 9 championships seems ridiculous is a sport that isn't that popular. It seems like Geno is the polar opposite of coaches that seek new challenges.

[dukelifer]

Why has Geno stuck around in the women's game? Sticking around for 9 championships seems ridiculous is a sport that isn't that popular. It seems like Geno is the polar opposite of coaches that seek new challenges.

It would be interesting to see him coaching in the Men's game.

[uh_no]

Why has Geno stuck around in the women's game? Sticking around for 9 championships seems ridiculous is a sport that isn't that popular. It seems like Geno is the polar opposite of coaches that seek new challenges.

the 2 million dollar a year contract might have something to do with it...he also prefers coaching people for four years, and often dislikes that the mens game has moved from flowy passing offenses to brute force and physicality.

guy's 60 years old...loves what he does and where he is (as evidenced by his emotional interview after the game)...good for him.

[eddiehaskell]

It would be interesting to see him coaching in the Men's game.

I think so, too. If he did decently well, I think more people could legitimately compare him to other great coaches. In my mind, it seems crazy for ESPN to constantly show a graphic comparing Geno and John Wooden.

[brevity]

Too bad I wasted my Title IX pun a few days ago on the Kentucky men. It works better here.

So, an undefeated Notre Dame loses by 21. Can we finally get Congress involved? This isn't sport. This is an antitrust violation.

[nyesq83]

Other than recruiting the greatest athletes (not student athletes)?

[uh_no]

Other than recruiting the greatest athletes (not student athletes)?

the uconn women have a 100% graduation rate among 4 year players....but hey, why pass up an opportunity to slam uconn, right?

[eddiehaskell]

the 2 million dollar a year contract might have something to do with it...he also prefers coaching people for four years, and often dislikes that the mens game has moved from flowy passing offenses to brute force and physicality.

guy's 60 years old...loves what he does and where he is (as evidenced by his emotional interview after the game)...good for him.

2 million is great, but surely a guy with 9 nattys would get close to the same pay in the men's game? Danny Manning only has 2 years of head coaching experience and he turned down 1.25M from Tulsa...Fred Hoiberg signed for 1.5M after only 2 years at ISU. Kevin Ollie makes what 1.3M with a few years experience?

[throatybeard]

2 million is great, but surely a guy with 9 nattys would get close to the same pay in the men's game? Danny Manning only has 2 years of head coaching experience and he turned down 1.25M from Tulsa...Fred Hoiberg signed for 1.5M after only 2 years at ISU.

What does he make compared to Calhoun's last contract, or Ollie's current one?

Remember on the old board software, when I suggested Goestenkors succeed Krzyzewski? That thread got messy in a hurry.

[MCFinARL]

It would be interesting to see him coaching in the Men's game.

As discussed on a DBR thread, in 2010, he said he might consider coaching men if he could coach Duke. Pressed, he admitted he would also consider Carolina. http://forums.dukebasketballreport.c...uke-MENS-coach

I think so, too. If he did decently well, I think more people could legitimately compare him to other great coaches. In my mind, it seems crazy for ESPN to constantly show a graphic comparing Geno and John Wooden.

Well, I see your point, but frankly, given the conditions under which Wooden coached (an NCAA tournament in which only the best team from each conference made the tournament, and a Pac-10 conference that was fairly easy for UCLA to dominate), the difference between Wooden's achievement and Auriemma's may not be quite as dramatic as it seems.

[uh_no]

What does he make compared to Calhoun's last contract, or Ollie's current one?

Remember on the old board software, when I suggested Goestenkors succeed Krzyzewski? That thread got messy in a hurry.

ollie makes 1.3, calhoun made something like 2.2 in 2011.

lifetime guaranteed contract vs possibility of failure and likely lower salary in the mens game? not to mention he gets tons of endorsements in the state of CT and is the coach of USA women's basketball...i've had too much of the fiscal arguments in the jabari thread, but it seems the smart move money wise is to stay put.

he built the program from scratch, and if he wants to enjoy the fruits of his labor, more power to him. One could ask the same questions about why K never jumped to the NBA, especially after some of the epic final four stretches...why didn't he want to try his skills at a higher level?

I can't begrudge either guy for doing what they both seem to love.

[MCFinARL]

the uconn women have a 100% graduation rate among 4 year players....but hey, why pass up an opportunity to slam uconn, right?

Yes. Generally speaking, female college athletes ARE student athletes, for real, at UConn as much as at Duke. The economics of women's sports, even basketball where some women can play professionally, are very different from those of men's revenue sports, and there aren't the same incentives for either teams or players to cut corners on academics.

[Cameron]

In my mind, it seems crazy for ESPN to constantly show a graphic comparing Geno and John Wooden.

Well, both of them are not women who are famous for coaching basketball. The comparison pretty much ends there. While I have much respect for the women's game -- my sister is currently a D-III player in Ohio and a first cousin of mine started for the Ohio State Lady Buckeyes years ago -- there's a reason Phil Jackson's name is never followed by Van Chancellor's. While the same sport, the two games are entirely different animals.

While I'm not arguing that Geno couldn't make the transition, I doubt very seriously he wants to risk it at this stage in his career. By that I mean risk the chance of going from the top of the women's game to the bottom of the men's. He'd have to start out at a mid-major level program (none of the elite schools are going to take a chance on a coach who's never coached men before) and essentially start from scratch by proving that he can not only recruit but also effectively relate to players in the men's game. There would just be a lot of factors to consider IMO.

As for the women's tournament, the only other coach alive apparently capable of winning it no longer has a team. Oh, the drama.

[uh_no]

Well, both of them are not women who are famous for coaching basketball. The comparison pretty much ends there. While I have much respect for the women's game -- my sister is currently a D-III player in Ohio and a first cousin of mine started for the Ohio State Lady Buckeyes years ago -- there's a reason Phil Jackson's name is never followed by Van Chancellor's. While the same sport, the two games are entirely different animals.

While I'm not arguing that Geno couldn't make the transition, I doubt very seriously he wants to risk it at this stage in his career. By that I mean risk the chance of going from the top of the women's game to the bottom of the men's. He'd have to start out at a mid-major level program (none of the elite schools are going to take a chance on a coach who's never coached men before) and essentially start from scratch by proving that he can not only recruit but also effectively relate to players in the men's game. There would just be a lot of factors to consider IMO.

As for the women's tournament, the only other coach alive apparently capable of winning it no longer has a team. Oh, the drama.

I agree that the comparisons are silly...could he or couldn't he in the mens game? could K do it in the nba? should we be comparing K's titles to phils? K is at the tops of the mens college game, Geno is at the tops of the women's game, Phil is right about the standard in the NBA. Should we compare any of them? probably not...the comparisons are almost as relavent as saying "K has 4 titles but FDR won 4 presidential elections...WHO IS BETTER????"

it's all silly. even comparisons across eras are silly...comparing K to wooden is almost absurd...is wooden 2.5x better than K?

heck, even in the same sport and era, you might not be able to compare...how do you compare cutcliffe to someone like urban meyer?

TL/DR: comparisons are dumb. what auriemma has done and is doing is incredible, and I don't think we need random best lists with wooden or whomever to show that.

[MCFinARL]

Well, both of them are not women who are famous for coaching basketball. The comparison pretty much ends there. While I have much respect for the women's game -- my sister is currently a D-III player in Ohio and a first cousin of mine started for the Ohio State Lady Buckeyes years ago -- there's a reason Phil Jackson's name is never followed by Van Chancellor's. While the same sport, the two games are entirely different animals.

While I'm not arguing that Geno couldn't make the transition, I doubt very seriously he wants to risk it at this stage in his career. By that I mean risk the chance of going from the top of the women's game to the bottom of the men's. He'd have to start out at a mid-major level program (none of the elite schools are going to take a chance on a coach who's never coached men before) and essentially start from scratch by proving that he can not only recruit but also effectively relate to players in the men's game. There would just be a lot of factors to consider IMO.

As for the women's tournament, the only other coach alive apparently capable of winning it no longer has a team. Oh, the drama.

Huh--last time I looked, Kim Mulkey, Gary Blair, Holly Warlick, Brenda Freese, and Muffet McGraw all still had teams, and were all capable of winning the women's tournament, since they have done so, even if they didn't do so this year. So I am not sure I understand your point.