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UConn Fan Checking In

A couple questions for our UCONN friends:

1) Who do you think guard's Kane? It sounds like Boatright and Napier would really struggle with his size/strength. Would it be Kromah? Does he have the foot speed to stay with Kane?

2) How does Brimah play away from the basket? I could see Fred starting Long, forcing Brimah to either guard Ejim or Hogue. I can't imagine he will want to come out and cover the three, and would imagine he is not agile enough to stop them off the drive.

The way I see us matching up defensively is Naz getting the start and guarding Napier, Monte on Boatright, Hogue on Daniels, Kane on Giffey and Ejim on Brimah/Nolan. Normally, I think we'd see Kane on Napier, but we can't afford to have him get in foul trouble.
 
Nova was not good in either the round of 64 or 32 games. It was weird watching them play because I had watched a good amount of their games that were televised and what I saw looked nothing like what I had seen earlier in the season.

Looking at Nova's schedule, they didn't face an incredibly difficult schedule.

The one thing I fear about UCONN is their three point shooting. UNC was not very reliable in that area, but UCONN has some firepower there.

I think however, UCONN fans are underestimating the versatility of Kane, Ejim and Hogue. Those three can slash to the rim and don't mind taking the 3 point shot and making them.

Long and Thomas can hit the 3 ball very well, though Thomas has been lagging here.

Then you have Morris who has improved every game in my opinion. Guy does not mind taking the big shot, and his ball handling skills are pretty damn good.

I think Hoiberg will keep our lineup small because we seem to run our offense better that way. I think we might see more SDW to keep players fresh for later game situations.

A starting lineup of
Kane
Ejim
Hogue
Morris
Long

Bench
Thomas
SDW
Edozie/ Gibson
 
OkaForPrez said:
Defensively ken pom has the big 12 the 5th best in the country and the big east 8th. The big 12 overall had a lot of great teams in depth, but if you think your parody offensive numbers should be taken to be substantially better than villanova's I will challenge you on that. Both played in defensively average conferences.

Remember kenpom statistics are both normalized for competition and tempo. And its hard to turn your nose up at Nova for playing in the big east when they clipped the jayhawks on a neutral court.

The big 12 hasn't exactly blown through the competition in the dance either.
Click to expand...

The only Big 12 team that really underachieved in the dance is Oklahoma. 2 teams lose in 8/9, one loses to a 2 seed/Big 10 regular season champ, and finally KU losing a top 3 draft pick and ISU losing Niang.
 
Clonefan32 said:
A couple questions for our UCONN friends:

1) Who do you think guard's Kane? It sounds like Boatright and Napier would really struggle with his size/strength. Would it be Kromah? Does he have the foot speed to stay with Kane?

2) How does Brimah play away from the basket? I could see Fred starting Long, forcing Brimah to either guard Ejim or Hogue. I can't imagine he will want to come out and cover the three, and would imagine he is not agile enough to stop them off the drive.

The way I see us matching up defensively is Naz getting the start and guarding Napier, Monte on Boatright, Hogue on Daniels, Kane on Giffey and Ejim on Brimah/Nolan. Normally, I think we'd see Kane on Napier, but we can't afford to have him get in foul trouble.
Click to expand...

I definitely think it will be Kromah on Kane. Kromah is our best on the ball defender and has neutralized primary scoring options in the past. He held Kilpatrick to 5-15 shooting in our last matchup with cinci.

Amida is definitely less confident guarding away from the rim but he can close fast. He will likely cheat to stay at home as much as possible. If you do go with a smaller lineup with 5 shooters on the floor, it would not be unheard of for Ollie to counter with Daniels at the 5 and Giffey at the 4 Kromah at the 3.
 
NATEizKING said:
The only Big 12 team that really underachieved in the dance is Oklahoma. 2 teams lose in 8/9, one loses to a 2 seed/Big 10 regular season champ, and finally KU losing a top 3 draft pick and ISU losing Niang.
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Ok St. was seeded based on their swoon without smart after the fan incident. If they were what they were supposed to be they wouldn't have been decidedly handled by the zags.

K. State I'll grant you. UK is playing well above their seasonwide performance.

Oklahoma you acknowledged.

Kansas with Embiid or not under performed with a glaring Wiggins no show.

Texas, fine.

I'd still consider that 3 out of the 5 early exits as womp womps.
 
OkaForPrez said:
Defensively ken pom has the big 12 the 5th best in the country and the big east 8th. The big 12 overall had a lot of great teams in depth, but if you think your parody offensive numbers should be taken to be substantially better than villanova's I will challenge you on that. Both played in defensively average conferences.

Remember kenpom statistics are both normalized for competition and tempo. And its hard to turn your nose up at Nova for playing in the big east when they clipped the jayhawks on a neutral court.

The big 12 hasn't exactly blown through the competition in the dance either.
Click to expand...

I have been completely impressed with the AAC so far. Louisville who beat UCONN three times this year with an average margin of victory of 18.34 points nearly lost to Manhattan in their opening game. They also got spanked by the same North Carolina team ISU just beat without one of their key starters. Interesting no?

I enjoyed catching the end of your battle with St. Joes in the opening round as well. Tight game there for sure. I guess if you want to compare ISU to Villanova offensively that is fine. Just remember that Nova beat St. Joes by 30 and nearly dropped 100 points on them. UCONN only managed 70 points in regulation. Uh oh...

Cincy's defense was tremendous in their loss to Harvard.

Memphis looked fantastic in their 18 point loss to Virginia. I noticed on your board how weak you guys think the ACC is. They looked pretty strong in that one.
 
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bosco said:
There is some solace with Monte because he should have had at least 6 more pts against UNC from missed layups.
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I don't think that is fair to Morris at all. Those were contested layups that he missed. I remember one in particular when Monte was on the break coming in from the left side of the hoop and a big North Carolina defender (one of their 6'9" guys) was timing his jump to block the shot. It's really tough for a slightly built 6'1" guy to score in situations like that. I hate it when fans complain about missed layups that may not look contested to them, but really aren't.

As someone who is 6'2" (although listed at 6'3" in my playing days) and had to go up against 6'9" and 6'10" guys routinely to finish, it is not easy. They aren't just "missed layups." They are harder than that.

Now, maybe Monte should have pulled up and hit a little 10 footer instead of taking it to the hole, but that is another argument.
 
Clonefan32 said:
A couple questions for our UCONN friends:

1) Who do you think guard's Kane? It sounds like Boatright and Napier would really struggle with his size/strength. Would it be Kromah? Does he have the foot speed to stay with Kane?

2) How does Brimah play away from the basket? I could see Fred starting Long, forcing Brimah to either guard Ejim or Hogue. I can't imagine he will want to come out and cover the three, and would imagine he is not agile enough to stop them off the drive.

The way I see us matching up defensively is Naz getting the start and guarding Napier, Monte on Boatright, Hogue on Daniels, Kane on Giffey and Ejim on Brimah/Nolan. Normally, I think we'd see Kane on Napier, but we can't afford to have him get in foul trouble.
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1) Whoever does guard him won't be doing so alone. UConn does a very good job of defending as a team, and their defensive rotations are on point the last few games. I think we'll start with either Napier or Boatright, but Kromah or Samuel will spending their playing time guarding Kane. Both are very good perimeter defenders, particularly Kromah, but they'll need help too.

2) Brimah has guarded people out to about 15 feet and been able to recover to guard the hoop, but I can't recall a time he was guarding out on the perimeter. I don't really think that's his game. Though he did have this block against Villanova: [video=youtube;qyb3D2ChEEk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyb3D2ChEEk[/video]

If you guys go small though, I wouldn't be shocked if UConn ran a lineup of Boatright-Napier-Kromah-Giffey-Daniels. They don't have a true post player that way, but it really spreads the floor and is their best offensive approach. They played if for stretches against Villanova and it was very effective.
 
OkaForPrez said:
Defensively ken pom has the big 12 the 5th best in the country and the big east 8th. The big 12 overall had a lot of great teams in depth, but if you think your parody offensive numbers should be taken to be substantially better than villanova's I will challenge you on that. Both played in defensively average conferences.

Remember kenpom statistics are both normalized for competition and tempo. And its hard to turn your nose up at Nova for playing in the big east when they clipped the jayhawks on a neutral court.

The big 12 hasn't exactly blown through the competition in the dance either.
Click to expand...

Believe what you want, but you will probably be surprised come gameday. UConn is going to give up way more points than their average, but they will also score more points than their average. I can't say who's going to win or lose, but I know that is how the game is going to be.
 
Cyclonestate78 said:
I have been completely impressed with the AAC so far. Louisville who beat UCONN three times this year with an average margin of victory of 18.34 points nearly lost to Manhattan in their opening game. They also got spanked by the same North Carolina team ISU just beat without one of their key starters. Interesting no?

I enjoyed catching the end of your battle with St. Joes in the opening round as well. Tight game there for sure. I guess if you want to compare ISU to Villanova offensively that is fine. Just remember that Nova beat St. Joes by 30 and nearly dropped 100 points on them. UCONN only managed 70 points in regulation. Uh oh...
Click to expand...

Your selective sampling is making my head hurt. Because the team we beat in the 2nd round beat the team we beat in the first round by more than we beat them I should draw a conclusion?

The whole reason were on this tangent in the first place is that both Villanova and Iowa State are very similar teams offensively by the numbers who played in leagues with similar defensive strength.

Nobody knows whats going to happen when your offensive strength meets our defensive strength. The only thing I can tell you is that when we collided with nova's offensive strength our D won the day.
 
OkaForPrez said:
Your selective sampling is making my head hurt. Because the team we beat in the 2nd round beat the team we beat in the first round by more than we beat them I should draw a conclusion?

The whole reason were on this tangent in the first place is that both Villanova and Iowa State are very similar teams offensively by the numbers who played in leagues with similar defensive strength.

Nobody knows whats going to happen when your offensive strength meets our defensive strength. The only thing I can tell you is that when we collided with nova's offensive strength our D won the day.
Click to expand...

To be honest... your persistence in comparing ISU to Villanova is making my head hurt. It's a flat out insult. Villanova is a joke.
 
SirHypeAlot said:
UConn fan checking in here....

Fu*k you guys. Time for payback #2012


See you Friday.
Click to expand...

I think this is awesome. Would be cool to develop a rivalry w/ you.

You guys break our Mascot Cy's arm in Storrs a few years ago...we break your basketball dreams in 2012 & 2014!

REMEMBER THE WINDMILL!!

Jeremy Lamb (and by proxy UCONN) = classless

[video=youtube;MtVli3L6oro]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MtVli3L6oro[/video]
 
Clonefan32 said:
...2) How does Brimah play away from the basket? I could see Fred starting Long, forcing Brimah to either guard Ejim or Hogue. I can't imagine he will want to come out and cover the three, and would imagine he is not agile enough to stop them off the drive....
Click to expand...

I don't understand this. If you are playing Naz to exploit a Brimah matchup, why wouldn't you bring Naz off the bench when Brimah comes off the bench? It was my understanding that Brimah doesn't start.

I'm guessing that Fred starts Daniel again because he likes bringing Naz off the bench when ISU needs a spark. Naz will probably play more minutes.
 
tzjung said:
I think this is awesome. Would be cool to develop a rivalry w/ you.

You guys break our Mascot Cy's arm in Storrs a few years ago...we break your basketball dreams in 2012 & 2014!

REMEMBER THE WINDMILL!!

Jeremy Lamb (and by proxy UCONN) = classless

[video=youtube;MtVli3L6oro]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MtVli3L6oro[/video]
Click to expand...

He does have a ring though.
 
3 things will determine the winner of this game IMO:

1- Refs. Maybe the most important. How they call the game will hugely impact both teams. Thus far the Refs have reverted back to last year and are letting players play and not calling the ticky tack fouls. If this continues in this game then advantage ISU.

2- Rebounding. Let's be honest, Uconn is not the best rebounding team in a conference that doesn't exactly pride itself on rebounding. If ISU wins the rebounding battle +5, advantage ISU.

3- Scoring distribution. If UCONN has 4 or more guys in double figures it bodes well for UCONN. If it's 3 or less, advantage ISU. UCONN ranks 179th in assists while ISU ranks 1st in the entire nation. Whichever team has 4 or more guys in double figures wins this game.
 
ISU fans really have become obsessed with that moment. At first I thought it was just a random dig from a couple people, but it's the #1 thing that gets mentioned it seems.

If UConn loses, I'll have a little smile knowing ISU will be able to add another minor basketball memory to their collection. =)
 
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