Napier

[Huskyforlife]

this had to be his worst game in a long time. if we played any decent team we would have lost, and he would have been one of the biggest reasons why. but i know better than to say something stupid like "he sucks." but if he plays this game against indiana, we don't win. just played really selfish, but 5 assists for the team overall is inexcusable and that all starts with him. finally, for a senior pg this was some of the worst clock management i've watched, not just him the other guys to. however on the flip side every star player has a bad game every so often, so i completely expect him to get back to his former self. i just wonder why ollie didn't tell him to stop taking those stupid iso shots? but to sum it all up, i expect this will be napier's worst game and he will bounce back strong and maybe even learn something from this game. i also have the feeling i'll come back to this thread after the season and just laugh at myself, but this is what i saw this game

rant over

 

[FeedTheDove]

While I agree it was an 'off-game' for the standard we have been holding Bazz to this season, you can't call it a bad game when he finishes with 20 pts, 4 boards, 4 assists? maybe 3. Regardless, he took some ill-advised shots... but Bazz has been doing that throughout his career at UConn and we live with it because he makes them at a surprisingly high rate. He obviously didn't tonight. The team shot 38% as a whole and 21% from 3 and while Bazz contributed to it, it wasn't just him struggling from the field. He did what he had to do to get himself to the line (although missing a couple of end-game free throws.) I wasn't particularly enthused about anyone's performance tonight. Offense was stagnant and the assist total echoes that. The ball movement was poor as stated in other threads.

If 20 pts, 4 rebs, and 3 assists is his worst game of the season, Bazz will be player of the year. Not a great game by the team as a whole. But we got the W and we have the opportunity to shut everyone up (including the BY) tomorrow night. Let's Eat.

 

[Gurleyman]

While I agree it was an 'off-game' for the standard we have been holding Bazz to this season, you can't call it a bad game when he finishes with 20 pts, 4 boards, 4 assists? maybe 3. Regardless, he took some ill-advised shots... but Bazz has been doing that throughout his career at UConn and we live with it because he makes them at a surprisingly high rate. He obviously didn't tonight. The team shot 38% as a whole and 21% from 3 and while Bazz contributed to it, it wasn't just him struggling from the field. He did what he had to do to get himself to the line (although missing a couple of end-game free throws.) I wasn't particularly enthused about anyone's performance tonight. Offense was stagnant and the assist total echoes that. The ball movement was poor as stated in other threads.

If 20 pts, 4 rebs, and 3 assists is his worst game of the season, Bazz will be player of the year. Not a great game by the team as a whole. But we got the W and we have the opportunity to shut everyone up (including the BY) tomorrow night. Let's Eat.

He had 2 assists. One was that bounce pass to Giffey that was more a great job by Giffey to squeeze off a contested three quickly. The other was to Brimah for a reverse layup in the first half.

 

[FeedTheDove]

He had 2 assists. One was that bounce pass to Giffey that was more a great job by Giffey to squeeze off a contested three quickly. The other was to Brimah for a reverse layup in the first half.

Ah, my bad. Still stick to my statement though. 20,4,2 being his worst game makes him POY.

 

[huskyblooz]

Thought he played very selfish in the last 8 minutes. Daniels didnt get many touches.
Granted our player movement in the half-court was weak.

 

[James]

He had 2 assists. One was that bounce pass to Giffey that was more a great job by Giffey to squeeze off a contested three quickly. The other was to Brimah for a reverse layup in the first half.

Meh, that was a highly technical play by Napier. Didn't he come off a screen and roll on that play? Finding the open man diagonal is a play few pgs can even make.

 

[Gurleyman]

Meh, that was a highly technical play by Napier. Didn't he come off a screen and roll on that play? Finding the open man diagonal is a play few pgs can even make.

He passed in the direction he was going to a guy right in his line of vision (Napier went from the left wing to the foul line and threw it into the right corner to a guy who took a contested three). It was a nice assist in the sense of finding a good angle to throw the pass in the seam, but that shouldn't be his passing highlight in a 40-minute game. He wasn't a very effective facilitator yesterday.

 

[Excalibur]

Thought he played very selfish in the last 8 minutes. Daniels didnt get many touches.
Granted our player movement in the half-court was weak.

We didn't adjust at all once BC took away the pick and pop play with Napier and Daniels. We tried to post Daniels up but they doubled and he's not good at passing out of the double team.

 

[Onions]

i just wonder why ollie didn't tell him to stop taking those stupid iso shots?

What makes you think he didn't?

 

[Gurleyman]

What makes you think he didn't?

Clearly he did. They called a TO and got the ball to DD on the low block. Then on the last possession, KO had us get into our stuff early and had Bazz attack rather than iso late in the clock (I assume that was instructions from the bench and not Bazz deciding on his own, in which case kudos to Bazz for adjusting).

 

[uchusky32]

I think Bazz was playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder last night. I read an article yesterday in which he talked about how BC really didn't recruit him until very late in the process, at which point he was set on coming to UConn. It sounded like he was a bit miffed that his "hometown" school didn't show much interest. He did say he was very happy with the way things worked out. I think he had something to prove. That's the first thing I thought of when he came out shooting last night, Bazz is trying to show BC what they missed out on. I think that may have been the reason he had an off night. He was trying too hard instead of letting the game come to him.

I wish I could provide the link to the story but I can't seem to find it now.

I was about to say the same thing. He totally played the opposite of how he played all the previous games. He was a distributor, looked to get others involved but not last night.