Serious question...With all this talent, how did UConn go 9-9 in conference with losses to Rutgers, Providence and Seton Hall?
Uconn V ISU Thoughts
- Thread starter awmuconn
- Start date
To say this season has been trying is an understatement. IMHO there are several reasons why the huskies have under performed.
1). Lack of continuity/leadership/identity.
Obviously we lost Kemba who had the single best season of college basketball ever on and off the court. It was like going to a bar fight with superman in your corner. That kind of leadership is hard to replace, especially when our 8 man rotation consists of 1 junior, 4 sophomores, and 3 freshmen. Napier has struggled to get a control of this team until the last few games.
2). Suspensions/injury
Ryan Boatright is a big time talent. He was Mr. Chicago last year and some thought he may have been our starting PG by March. He had to miss 6 games in the beginning of the season because of AAU recruitment issues far before he committed to uconn. Then out of nowhere the NCAA reopened his file to look further into random accusations that caused him to miss an additional 3 games during the heart of the BE season. He is an important part of our team and missing all that time resulted in a lack of cohesion as an offense.
Couple that with losing your HOF coach for 8 games during the heart of BE play. Calhoun has a track record of having his team peak in March. He historically breaks down individual players to build them up and have them peaking come tourny time. All that time missed has really affected this team (who at baseline needed firm leadership). Players like Drummond have not shown the normal development in season because he wasn't broken down IMO like others in the past. Napier (who is one of our leaders now) embodies Coach Calhoun in personality and really struggled when he was gone and has really bounced back since his return. I'm taking this from a fellow poster on the Boneyard cause he says it great, "So UConn has lost 7 games by less than 5 points. Of those 7 games by less than 5 points, 3 were without Boatright and 2 were without Calhoun. Is Boatright worth 5 points against UCF? 3 against Cincy? 3 against UT? Is Calhoun worth 2 points against PC? 2 against Cuse? Maybe, maybe not."
3). Chemistry
After coming off a national championship, Calhoun in an attempt to push AO and Smith inserted Drummond and Deandre Daniels and to an extent Tyler Olander into the starting line up. I think it messed with mojo and players felt that they were "slighted" It took a while for egos to heal and for the chemistry to build back up. Again, if they had boatright and Calhoun for the whole season it may have been accomplished earlier.
4). Over hype
Do I think we are a top 4 team? No. Drummond is a force on defense but he is very raw on offense. I think most of us expected a better product offensively coming in. That said, if Calhoun was around all season I think he would have progressed better.
Napier being a sophomore pg wasn't ready to fill Kemba's shoes (who could). But he is growing into a leader. Still gotta take the good and the bad.
Lamb--preseason all american. I dunno. He just seems like a great robin to batman. I think he has struggled to be the guy (though hes averaging 18 ppg). Too many times he doesn't take a hold of the game with 2 hands and carry the team to victory.
Oriakhi- Had to adjust to playing the 4 instead of the 5. Some say whats the difference. The difference is that last year he roamed the paint by himself. And now here comes drummond that makes everything look effortlessly. He had to adjust to playing the high post and it took time.
All in all...apologize about the long post. Overall, I think the team is gelling at the right time. I wish Calhoun came back like 2 weeks earlier because than I would really be excited about our team. We have the ability to play with anyone in the country...but also the mental lapses to loose to teams like Providence.
I wouldn't be surprised if we lose on Thursday or make a elite 8 run.
1). Lack of continuity/leadership/identity.
Obviously we lost Kemba who had the single best season of college basketball ever on and off the court. It was like going to a bar fight with superman in your corner. That kind of leadership is hard to replace, especially when our 8 man rotation consists of 1 junior, 4 sophomores, and 3 freshmen. Napier has struggled to get a control of this team until the last few games.
2). Suspensions/injury
Ryan Boatright is a big time talent. He was Mr. Chicago last year and some thought he may have been our starting PG by March. He had to miss 6 games in the beginning of the season because of AAU recruitment issues far before he committed to uconn. Then out of nowhere the NCAA reopened his file to look further into random accusations that caused him to miss an additional 3 games during the heart of the BE season. He is an important part of our team and missing all that time resulted in a lack of cohesion as an offense.
Couple that with losing your HOF coach for 8 games during the heart of BE play. Calhoun has a track record of having his team peak in March. He historically breaks down individual players to build them up and have them peaking come tourny time. All that time missed has really affected this team (who at baseline needed firm leadership). Players like Drummond have not shown the normal development in season because he wasn't broken down IMO like others in the past. Napier (who is one of our leaders now) embodies Coach Calhoun in personality and really struggled when he was gone and has really bounced back since his return. I'm taking this from a fellow poster on the Boneyard cause he says it great, "So UConn has lost 7 games by less than 5 points. Of those 7 games by less than 5 points, 3 were without Boatright and 2 were without Calhoun. Is Boatright worth 5 points against UCF? 3 against Cincy? 3 against UT? Is Calhoun worth 2 points against PC? 2 against Cuse? Maybe, maybe not."
3). Chemistry
After coming off a national championship, Calhoun in an attempt to push AO and Smith inserted Drummond and Deandre Daniels and to an extent Tyler Olander into the starting line up. I think it messed with mojo and players felt that they were "slighted" It took a while for egos to heal and for the chemistry to build back up. Again, if they had boatright and Calhoun for the whole season it may have been accomplished earlier.
4). Over hype
Do I think we are a top 4 team? No. Drummond is a force on defense but he is very raw on offense. I think most of us expected a better product offensively coming in. That said, if Calhoun was around all season I think he would have progressed better.
Napier being a sophomore pg wasn't ready to fill Kemba's shoes (who could). But he is growing into a leader. Still gotta take the good and the bad.
Lamb--preseason all american. I dunno. He just seems like a great robin to batman. I think he has struggled to be the guy (though hes averaging 18 ppg). Too many times he doesn't take a hold of the game with 2 hands and carry the team to victory.
Oriakhi- Had to adjust to playing the 4 instead of the 5. Some say whats the difference. The difference is that last year he roamed the paint by himself. And now here comes drummond that makes everything look effortlessly. He had to adjust to playing the high post and it took time.
All in all...apologize about the long post. Overall, I think the team is gelling at the right time. I wish Calhoun came back like 2 weeks earlier because than I would really be excited about our team. We have the ability to play with anyone in the country...but also the mental lapses to loose to teams like Providence.
I wouldn't be surprised if we lose on Thursday or make a elite 8 run.
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Don't worry about the long posts - so long as they're just as informative as the last 13, we welcome them.
I was at the ND South Bend game, kinda sucked to see a lot of Boatright's family make the drive over and then not get to play. Sad to see that for anybody, especially when you thought you had done your time.
How about half-court game flow Giddyup? Watching that ND game in person, and then some others on television, it seems like sometimes it just breaks down, and nobody's moving. Just looks way unorganized - no screens, no movement, no idea of roles maybe. For you Cyclones, it reminded me of the McDermott days, when we would run the shot clock down to 10 seconds, accomplish nothing, and then just hoist up some random shot. It was so frustrating. My good UCONN alum friend usually just chalks it up to "Shabazz being shabazz," but it obviously frustrates him too. FWIW, I didn't see it at all in the Syracuse game, or the second half of the Depaul game that I got to see. Things seem fixed? I'm hoping for some more NBA-range three's from Shabazz :wink:
Ya Midwest Zest. The **** the NCAA pulled with Boatright was disgraceful.
Many times our offense stalls. Its a chicken and egg type of situation. To the casual observer it seems that Bazz is a "chucker" and hogs the ball. If you dissect it further, many times Lamb just stands there on the perimeter or if he is moving is not making decisive cuts off the screens. Personally, I'd like to see us dump the ball in the post to Oriakhi more as well.
Many times our offense stalls. Its a chicken and egg type of situation. To the casual observer it seems that Bazz is a "chucker" and hogs the ball. If you dissect it further, many times Lamb just stands there on the perimeter or if he is moving is not making decisive cuts off the screens. Personally, I'd like to see us dump the ball in the post to Oriakhi more as well.
He doesn't shoot well, but the problem with that is that we look to score off of dribble handoffs from Royce, and his defender needs to be near him to potentially help on the handoff.
Here's a good highlight video from our conference season. I realize it's highlights, but all the same, there are some sick moves by Royce in there (30). Those teams he is doing that against aren't chopped liver, and we did go 12-6 in conference. To answer your question... no, he has not proven he can hit a 15 footer reliably. That really hasn't mattered though because we have 4 guys that made 50+ threes this year. Watch the video and you'll see why.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdu87Ak7V94&feature=relmfu"]Iowa State Men's Basketball Big 12 Championships Hit Tape - YouTube[/ame]
I agree, if they make an effort to push the ball we could be in trouble. With the way we play, we are going to turn the ball over and chuck lots of 3's. Both of those things put a lot of pressure on our transition game.
Flaws with UConn:
Lamb: Lackadaisical at times. Doesn't demand the ball. Lazy on defense/falls asleep on defense. Handle is good, but not going to break you down with it.
Napier: Takes poor gambles on offense and defense. He isn't a stellar athlete at all.
Roscoe: Questionable jumper, doesn't finish strong at the rim. Not a great dribbler.
Oriakhi: Attitude at times. Gets down on himself.
Drummond: Fundamentals are pretty bad for a big man. Doesn't boxout properly. Can't make foul shots. Shooting form on jumpers is low. Sidenote: his AAU/high school coaches tried to make him an all around player when they should have taught him to be the best big he can be.
Boatright: Short. Tweaked his hand during BET. Makes freshmen mistakes. Goes under screens too much.
Giffey: Not a great athlete, slow release on jumper.
Olander: Not a great athlete.
Daniels: has he made a shot this month?
Calhoun: injured still?
Blaney: is he still alive?
Positives for UConn:
Lamb: Babb may be a great defender and may stop Lamb from scoring a lot but as much as Lamb will have to work, so will Babb. When not playing against a zone defense, Calhoun has taught both Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton to work against man defenses. That should tell you what you need to know about Lamb. He is on the same career projection as those two. They both left as juniors though and Lamb is only a sophomore. Lamb is still learning, but he uses screens very well to get open and to get easy shots.
Napier: I'm not 100% sure you should even defend him. I am psuedo joking. Keep with me, I'm just not sure a defender matters in his case. Why? Well it's not because he will beat his man off the dribble and is indefensible. No rather its because he just is so random. He will launch a 3 with 30+ seconds on the shot clock. You may ask, well what's special about that, people do that all the time. The thing is Napier does it from 30-35 feet out with a man in his face. This is both good and bad. Good because he can hit them, bad because he often doesn't which leads to long rebounds and fast breaks for the other team. He is the type of player you look at and go, "if he ever stopped making such dumb mistakes, he would be a heck of a PG." Alas for UConn he still makes stupid decisions. He has no conscious on offense and when he is on, there isn't much you can do, unless you want to defend 30+ feet from the basket.
Roscoe: He can block a few shots and rebound. He is UConn's best defender. He can shoot but hasn't shot well in many games.
Oriakhi: He actually has a decent post game. He is best when he catches and makes a quick decision.
Drummond: freak athlete who can move like he's 6'3 (sometimes plays like he's 6'3 also).
Boatright: if he were 6'3-6'5 he would be one of the best PG's in the country, if not the best. He's 5'9 and merely a very good freshman PG.
Giffey: can hit an open shot, great fundamentals, hustles
Olander: can shoot a bit, hustles decent rebounding technique
Daniels: is long and athletic.
Calhoun: top 3 active coach
Blaney: maybe just in a coma
Why UConn is a 9 seed:
Timeline for UConn. First 6 games no Boatright (with only 2 other guards on the roster, this wore them out) 5-1. 5 games with everyone (beat FSU neutral and Harvard) 5-0. No Calhoun for 3 games (suspension) 2-1. 2 games with everyone 1-1. No Boatright for 3 games, 1-2. Everyone back for 0-2. Calhoun out for 8 games, 3-5. Everyone back final 4 games, 3-1.
That many issues for a young team cost them a lot of close games.
Lamb: Lackadaisical at times. Doesn't demand the ball. Lazy on defense/falls asleep on defense. Handle is good, but not going to break you down with it.
Napier: Takes poor gambles on offense and defense. He isn't a stellar athlete at all.
Roscoe: Questionable jumper, doesn't finish strong at the rim. Not a great dribbler.
Oriakhi: Attitude at times. Gets down on himself.
Drummond: Fundamentals are pretty bad for a big man. Doesn't boxout properly. Can't make foul shots. Shooting form on jumpers is low. Sidenote: his AAU/high school coaches tried to make him an all around player when they should have taught him to be the best big he can be.
Boatright: Short. Tweaked his hand during BET. Makes freshmen mistakes. Goes under screens too much.
Giffey: Not a great athlete, slow release on jumper.
Olander: Not a great athlete.
Daniels: has he made a shot this month?
Calhoun: injured still?
Blaney: is he still alive?
Positives for UConn:
Lamb: Babb may be a great defender and may stop Lamb from scoring a lot but as much as Lamb will have to work, so will Babb. When not playing against a zone defense, Calhoun has taught both Ray Allen and Rip Hamilton to work against man defenses. That should tell you what you need to know about Lamb. He is on the same career projection as those two. They both left as juniors though and Lamb is only a sophomore. Lamb is still learning, but he uses screens very well to get open and to get easy shots.
Napier: I'm not 100% sure you should even defend him. I am psuedo joking. Keep with me, I'm just not sure a defender matters in his case. Why? Well it's not because he will beat his man off the dribble and is indefensible. No rather its because he just is so random. He will launch a 3 with 30+ seconds on the shot clock. You may ask, well what's special about that, people do that all the time. The thing is Napier does it from 30-35 feet out with a man in his face. This is both good and bad. Good because he can hit them, bad because he often doesn't which leads to long rebounds and fast breaks for the other team. He is the type of player you look at and go, "if he ever stopped making such dumb mistakes, he would be a heck of a PG." Alas for UConn he still makes stupid decisions. He has no conscious on offense and when he is on, there isn't much you can do, unless you want to defend 30+ feet from the basket.
Roscoe: He can block a few shots and rebound. He is UConn's best defender. He can shoot but hasn't shot well in many games.
Oriakhi: He actually has a decent post game. He is best when he catches and makes a quick decision.
Drummond: freak athlete who can move like he's 6'3 (sometimes plays like he's 6'3 also).
Boatright: if he were 6'3-6'5 he would be one of the best PG's in the country, if not the best. He's 5'9 and merely a very good freshman PG.
Giffey: can hit an open shot, great fundamentals, hustles
Olander: can shoot a bit, hustles decent rebounding technique
Daniels: is long and athletic.
Calhoun: top 3 active coach
Blaney: maybe just in a coma
Why UConn is a 9 seed:
Timeline for UConn. First 6 games no Boatright (with only 2 other guards on the roster, this wore them out) 5-1. 5 games with everyone (beat FSU neutral and Harvard) 5-0. No Calhoun for 3 games (suspension) 2-1. 2 games with everyone 1-1. No Boatright for 3 games, 1-2. Everyone back for 0-2. Calhoun out for 8 games, 3-5. Everyone back final 4 games, 3-1.
That many issues for a young team cost them a lot of close games.
From what I've seen of UConn, which is not much, their half-court offense sucks. I honestly believe their players may have the lowest collective Bball IQ in the nation. None of them seem to have any sense of what to do on offense. Just make sure to rebound, and not turn it over. Without the fast-break UConn struggles to score.
Must be frustrating to be UConn fan because this team nearly matches Kentucky and UNC talent-wise, but their players just seem plain dumb.
Must be frustrating to be UConn fan because this team nearly matches Kentucky and UNC talent-wise, but their players just seem plain dumb.
Here UConn fans. Here's White getting a triple double against Texas A&M this year. The first triple double in Big 12 play since 2006 by ANY player of ANY team (Curtis Stinson of ISU got one in 2006)...so, doesn't happen too often in league play. Something kind of special.
Notice how he affects the game even when he's only scored 2 points.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYRh5oEJ4U]Royce White Triple-Double vs Texas A&M - YouTube[/ame]
Notice how he affects the game even when he's only scored 2 points.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdYRh5oEJ4U]Royce White Triple-Double vs Texas A&M - YouTube[/ame]
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I miss the cyhawk that roice had. Keep in mind on these highlights that they are only showing his passes that got assists. One thing ISU does very well is making the second pass for an even better shot.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuXR7fFCbU4"]Andre Drummond Highlight Mix - YouTube[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4H7BEWWg8M"]2011-12 Jeremy Lamb UConn College Highlight Mix HD - YouTube[/ame]
I'm new here, but Drummond and Lamb...best I could find.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4H7BEWWg8M"]2011-12 Jeremy Lamb UConn College Highlight Mix HD - YouTube[/ame]
I'm new here, but Drummond and Lamb...best I could find.
It's going to be an interesting game as the two teams have tools to exploit each other weaknesses. UConn has been challenged guarding the three, your team's bread and butter, but if you miss those long rebounds will send Napier and Boatright off to the races. White is a handful, no doubt about it, and I'm concerned about his ability to make us pay for help defense in the paint by dishing. I suspect that Calhoun will throw a lot of bodies at him looking to wear him down. His ability to help break the press is a double edged sword since he'll burn a lot energy doing it only to find one or more of our bigs waiting for him.
I like I our chances (obviously) but your team is well built to exploit Connecticut's weaknesses. In the end our HOF coach may be the difference.
I'm looking forward to the game.
I like I our chances (obviously) but your team is well built to exploit Connecticut's weaknesses. In the end our HOF coach may be the difference.
I'm looking forward to the game.
OH and UConn fans, here's a useless/irrelevant but interesting fact:
Shabazz Napier's mentor growing up was Will Blalock and Blalock took him into his home. Blalock played PG for us a handful of years ago and got drafted by the Pistons.
Will Blalock - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN
Shabazz Napier's mentor growing up was Will Blalock and Blalock took him into his home. Blalock played PG for us a handful of years ago and got drafted by the Pistons.
Will Blalock - College Basketball Nation Blog - ESPN