10 May 2013
Quote of the Day: John Walters
I've quoted John Walters many, many times from his book The Same River Twice. This quote is actually from a recent article he wrote.
I spent a year with the UConn program in 2000-2001 and nothing about Coach Auriemma struck me more sharply than this: far more than he understands basketball, Geno Auriemma understands people. Understands human nature. He also demonstrates to his players in quieter moments, and this is almost never discussed, that they are a family.
In the year that I was there the Husky roster had five current or future first-team All-Americans: Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash and Sue Bird. When they went to the mall, they were mobbed for autographs; when they stepped onto the Gampel court for practice, they were insecure young women (well, okay, Taurasi and Bird were never that) who craved Geno’s approval.
A quick story: We were sitting around late one night in Seattle, after a road win at Washington. Geno, an assistant coach or two, myself, and a few more adults in the traveling party. The topic was that of two players, both starters, Asjha Jones and Swin Cash. Both had been injured and while sitting out a third player had entrenched herself as a starter. As a result either Asjha or Swin would now be relegated to the bench. Both players returned to practice on the same day.
Geno wanted five starters on the court to run his offense, but instead of naming who he wanted, he simply said, “Give me the starters on the floor.”
Asjha hesitated, and Swin, a far more aggressive person, took that opportunity of hesitation to run out on the court.
“Now,” Geno asked us, “Who decided that Swin would start ahead of Asjha?”
“Asjha did,” I said.
“Exactly,” answered Geno. His point: He wanted the young lady on the floor who most wanted to be the starter to start. In a battle between two forwards who were relatively evenly matched, he wanted the player who was more confident.
I spent a year with the UConn program in 2000-2001 and nothing about Coach Auriemma struck me more sharply than this: far more than he understands basketball, Geno Auriemma understands people. Understands human nature. He also demonstrates to his players in quieter moments, and this is almost never discussed, that they are a family.
In the year that I was there the Husky roster had five current or future first-team All-Americans: Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph, Diana Taurasi, Swin Cash and Sue Bird. When they went to the mall, they were mobbed for autographs; when they stepped onto the Gampel court for practice, they were insecure young women (well, okay, Taurasi and Bird were never that) who craved Geno’s approval.
A quick story: We were sitting around late one night in Seattle, after a road win at Washington. Geno, an assistant coach or two, myself, and a few more adults in the traveling party. The topic was that of two players, both starters, Asjha Jones and Swin Cash. Both had been injured and while sitting out a third player had entrenched herself as a starter. As a result either Asjha or Swin would now be relegated to the bench. Both players returned to practice on the same day.
Geno wanted five starters on the court to run his offense, but instead of naming who he wanted, he simply said, “Give me the starters on the floor.”
Asjha hesitated, and Swin, a far more aggressive person, took that opportunity of hesitation to run out on the court.
“Now,” Geno asked us, “Who decided that Swin would start ahead of Asjha?”
“Asjha did,” I said.
“Exactly,” answered Geno. His point: He wanted the young lady on the floor who most wanted to be the starter to start. In a battle between two forwards who were relatively evenly matched, he wanted the player who was more confident.
Labels: UConn basketball
# posted by mamurd @ 10:06 PM 
