Nature vs. Nurture. Is it the Connecticut players or is it the coach? It's both. Amazingly, UConn actually has fewer McDonald's All-Americans than a half dozen other top programs, including Texas. But all All-Americans are not created equal, as we well know. Granted, at this stage UConn has a big recruiting advantage; but Gino has always had a fantastic eye for the kind of talent that will shine in his system. He goes after scorers, that's the priority; he figures he can teach them how to play defense later. (And he does. The Huskies play fantastic defense). UConn can play their open, quick, constant motion offense because every woman on the floor can hit the three. You can't double on any of them or sag back; if you do, they'll burn you. Someone is always open. Their bigs are quick and mobile and play like guards. Because they shoot so well and move constantly, the floor is spread out and open for their fluid game. It doesn't matter if a star has an off night. Others can pick up all the slack. The talent level is transcendent, but it seems like Gino develops them even further and gets the maximum from their potential. Think about it. No top UConn player ever stays at the same level. They continue to get better every year. Then they are put into an offensive scheme perfectly suited for their skills. The Auriemma philosophy is attack attack attack. Like I said, they play great defense, but that's not how they plan to win games. Gino perceived, long before other coaches, that basketball's future belonged with offense. He wants to beat you by out-scoring you. That's what his teams are designed to do. If he can also hold you below your scoring average, so much the better, but his plan is to beat you even if you exceed your average. There was a New York Times story last week about Connecticut's training regimen. Their practices are harder than games, and they try to recreate game conditions in their practices. I know Texas and other top programs have excellent strength and conditioning coaches. I can't tell you what UConn does that others don't. The article made it sound like their regimen was exceptionally fine tuned---designed to produce players with fantastic conditioning, because Gino usually goes with a basic six or seven person rotation the whole game. I'm taking up a lot of space to sing this rhapsody to UConn, because their undefeated run really is the most phenomenal record in sports. The law of averages may catch up with them next week. They've got to lose sometime. But its been amazing. And by the way, next year they get all their stars back and add some Godzilla transfers and recruits.
Nope, I'm not kidding and it isn't sarcasm. Like I said before just because they were great offensive players doesn't mean that it will translate to them being good coaches of offense. There have been plenty of great players who have tried to be coaches but it didn't translate. If they are good offensive coaches then Coach Aston needs to let them run the offense.
