The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Landers appreciates Husky way
Georgia coach, analyst offers praise for UConn
DALLAS >> As one of three coaches to lead a team to 31 appearances in the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament, Andy Landers knows a thing or two about what it takes to put together a winning team. So when the former Georgia coach and current ESPN studio analyst begins to weigh in on what sets the UConn program apart from the rest of the country, it is worth listening.
“He’s been really good at knowing what to do with players, when to change, how to tweak, really good but where he’s best, where he’s better than anybody else isn’t what he is doing on the court but what he is saying to the individuals,” Landers said. “You are watching his press conferences and some of the stuff that he goes to is the most simple stuff. Somebody asked Katie (Lou Samuelson), ‘when you are going through the little shooting slump, did he have words that he gave you.’ He said, ‘yes, don’t worry about it, everybody goes through it.’ That is genius. Just knowing what to say, a lot of coaches, we have to get into the gym, I think it is coming off of your finger and you make a big issue out of it. He doesn’t make an issue out of it and a week later a kid sets a record (by going 10 for 10 from 3-point range).”
Like so many in the sport, Landers figured the Huskies would come back to the pack after the graduation of All-Americans Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck. Yet, the Huskies entered the Final Four undefeated for the seventh time in program history.
Landers has seen the video taken at last year’s Final Four when Au-
riemma spoke about how his coaching staff values positive body language and coaching good teammates is more important than just collecting the best players in the country year after year. Landers is convinced that it is not just idle chatter.
“All the good things that are happening at UConn and have happened in the last few years are a result of a selective process of recruiting,” Landers said. “It is real, they’ve worked, they won, they’ve earned a position in women’s basketball where they can be choosy and pick. They don’t yield to temptations. You can be the No. 1 player in the country, but if that kid doesn’t look like UConn, it doesn’t matter if she is 6-10, they are going to walk. Everything that has happened this year is surprising but you have to go right back to that, they are the right kinds of kids and if they hadn’t been the right kinds of kids last year when they were sitting on the bench not playing, they would have created problems.
“They didn’t just get good. Napheesa Collier, going into her senior year of high school I followed her around and I thought she was unbelievable and last year she just sat. They got the right kind of kids. They were talented, they are going with what Geno wanted them to do a year ago and when their turn came and because you are the right kinds of kid, they are unselfish, look at those kids, you just don’t see from a UConn player, when is the last time you saw a UConn player do something on the court, in the game that was like (me, me, me). When all of those pieces are in place then doing something like they have done, to be undefeated and dodge all the bullets early on before they had the experience, this is a place where that kind of thing can happen.”
Thibault’s ride
The first time Carly Thibault told her father, who only happens to be the all-time winningest coach in WNBA history, about her intentions to be a coach, his reaction could be summed up in three words, “are you sure?”
Yes, Thibault was certain that once she wrapped up her playing career by starting 21 games as a senior at Monmouth in 2013 that she would join her dad and brother by joining the coaching profession. After stops at Florida State and Eastern Michigan, she landed in Starkville in time for the Bulldogs to make their first trip to the Final Four.
“It is so much fun,” Thibault said. “It has been a great experience. I feel so blessed to be a part of a program that is where we are, I like to call it good timing because regardless of whether I was here or not, this team would be here but it has been such a surreal experience. I think it took a little bit for it to sink in, our team worked really hard to get to where they are and obviously Coach (Vic) Schaefer has done a phenomenal job of leading the team here.”
It is not the first time the stars aligned for Thibault.
Her dad took the job with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun just at a time when Carly’s interest in basketball was taking off.
“I was around it my whole life so I could probably dribble a ball before I could walk, but it was never something that he forced upon me,” Carly Thibault said. “When he took a job in the WNBA when I was 12 or 13 when I really started to focus on women’s college basketball. Moving to Connecticut, a huge women’s basketball state, obviously (worked out) as well, but I think that is when I started to take it a little bit more seriously. Our deal growing up was he was never going to force me into the gym. If I wanted to work, if I wanted to hear advice, if I wanted to pick his brain I had to go to him so that relationship worked really well for the two of us.”
Thibault helped East Lyme High School reach the 2008 Class L title game and her dad was in her corner the entire time. She admits that there are multiple traits she has shares with her dad.
“We are both very stubborn, but my dad, one of the best things about him is he is very passionate about the game so I got to wake up every morning love going to work, passionate about going to work so that what I wanted,” Thibault said. “I wanted to have a job that I knew I loved and I love being in the gym so I think we both have that trait that we both love what we do.”