Challenging week for the top five teams

It's a Covid season. Will never see this again (I hope!). Geno was talking about no longer caring if it's beautiful BBall. Ya just gotta win is all. Ugglies are OK if you win, in this moment in time. Grind and grit.

We're in the midst of a roller coaster season with Covid 19 really adding additional stressors to an already difficult top DI athlete's life and we see the pandemic parity of it!!!! I give credit to Geno / CD and the entire UConn Staff for doing their best to keep the team safe, competitive and mentally sane!! I can't even imagine the challenge they're facing this season!!? 

We're almost to 13 games and I hope we play quite a few more than that, but let's just get into the tourney this March and run the table with a healthy Paige, the kick A$$ freshmen and a waning Covid!!!

There was one kernel of excellence in the recent games; as North Carolina derailed Notre Dames roller coaster sending the team into a ditch of their own making and placing the Leprechaun on injured reserve until further notice!!! 

Until this pandemic is better managed, all teams are on Schitt's Creek with a severe paddle shortage; but Geno is from Italy and he's got Venetian gondolier gravitas in his blood; so we're good!!

The other thing I'll say - and I truly do hate to admit it - is that Tennessee was way under-rated!! We / UConn escaped with a close victory, but # 12 Kentucky got the living SCHITT kicked out of them by Kellie's Raiders!!!!  Massey has bumped up Tennessee 13 spaces to # 15 and that's about right with the way they played this past week!! 

www.masseyratings.com/cbw/ncaa-d1/ratings

hoopism.blogspot.com/2021/01/tumultuous-day.html

Looking a bit ahead, this may well mean that the tournament could have even more upsets than usual. Best to enjoy what we have: just count our blessings.

Yeah.  It's easy to blame the kids of today for never listening (Geno) or that so-and-so can't play anymore (TOB) or a zillion more symptoms of the larger problem that there is little continuity in this crazy season.  Schedules are created and then trashed.  Stanford had to move to another State (NV) and now another county for their home games.  NC State was shut down for what, a month?  The fact that everyone has to deal with it does not change the fact that it is enormously stressful for everyone.

I think the scenario as a whole is getting under Geno's skin. For a while he couldn't do a statement without bringing up again how hard it is. He's cooled on that front, but is clearly frustrated about how difficult it is to get the team coordinated and flowing.  His snide remarks - generally delivered playfully - are more acerbic.  His frustrations with players and the team as a whole are real.  I imagine that he feels responsible for providing a good product for the fans, to supporting the kids emotionally as well as in basketball development, to the administration to keep everyone safe, but have a real season and manage the costs as well.  

The Nika sub-story the other day.  The kid seems to be tough as nails, but ... She's 4000 miles from home, and going through the same mess as everyone else, and then getting grilled for not getting something right ... in basketball where she's been lauded for much of her life.  In that moment, she cracked a little bit, and the TV cameras caught it ... in closeup.  Geno seemed to see that crack and probably felt bad.  I am so glad that they showed him talking with her afterward.  You could see that she was a bit less upset, and that he had shifted from outburst to explanation.  

In another circumstance, breaking down a player's stubborn edge may be the best tactic, but now?  New tools may be needed.  He's a smart guy.  He sees that, and probably puts enormous pressure on himself to find new methods apropos of this crazy season.  That's a lot to face.  I hope he handles it better than I would.  


[Maybe this should have been a separate post, but I'm leaving it in]
Leaving with this thought.  Psychoses are not switches ... on or off.  They each exist in everyone on a sliding scale and there is a fuzzy gray line somewhere on that number-line that gets the label of mentally ill.  "Perfectly normal" people live closer to or further from, for instance, the obsessive / compulsive gray line.  A few unfortunate folks are so far on the scale that it can be debilitating.  On the depression sliding scale, nearly everyone is living a few notches "down".  For some, that adjusts from elated to just satisfied.  Others have moved from holding it together to wallowing in self flagellation.  Suicides and attempts are way up - over 400% in some assessments.  Self-medicating in the form of alcohol and drug abuses, too.  Same for domestic violence, physical and emotional persecution.  Some normally productive people seem to be slacking.  Offense may be taken for much lesser causes, and the responses may be more dramatic than expected. 

Most people respond to contact with a small bump on their depression scale.  Reach out to people.  Let them know that we're all hurting, and share hope for better times.  Remind them that the basics are still in your control - Eat well, sleep enough, get some regular exercise, beware of addictions of all flavors, and remember moderation in all things.  Step away from endless binges on TV or video games etc.  Enjoy a little and then do something else.  Even those for whom there is minimal risk of self-harm, life is better a notch or two up the scale.  Peace, my friends.  

Well said, Ken!