Purvis is just a blank tonight

[Kenny11]

Maybe the most frustrating player in recent UConn history. I don't feel like bashing him right now because he is probably a good dude and I've been bashing him on group texts enough already. Hopefully, he doesn't continue to hurt the team.

 

[huskymagic]

Rodney is who he is, and won't ever live up to his high school hype or Kevin Ollie's Ferrari hype. He is only effective when you don't expect much from him and when other teams aren't keying in on him. He is a slasher and that should be his role provide excellent defense and slash to the basket looking for a dunk or dish to someone who is open. Then he might be able to get the 3pt shot going again. However, we should be relying more on Vital, Vance, Larrier, and Adams to take and make those outside shots. Rodney is body language and attitude during the game is self-defeatist which doesn't help. The fact that he still can't dribble after 5 years and as a guy as highly ranked as he was is pretty mind-boggling. Adams needs to be the man along with Larrier and Brimah for us to go far this year. Those are our leaders: Brimah, Adams, and Larrier.

 

[mauconnfan]

Maybe the most frustrating player in recent UConn history. I don't feel like bashing him right now because he is probably a good dude and I've been bashing him on group texts enough already. Hopefully, he doesn't continue to hurt the team.

Yeah Kenny I agree. I like Rodney a lot and he has had some wonderful games as a Husky. He seems to be a great kid, even super for that matter as well as a huge fan of the University.

But "frustrating" yep and only for reason of expectations. I mean if you saw his HS video's (yeah I get the video thing LOL) you would think he was the Ferrari KO spoke about. High flying, rim rattling, strong as an ox finisher who can make a shot here and there. And at times we've seen that. But as someone else mentioned it's amazing to me how little actual ability to change direction, spin and slow down he has? I mean full speed ahead or nothing most often especially ahead of the court, but he leaves the ball open for the deflection or flip away way too much. Last year he shot it well this year he hasn't but let's admit it's 3 games and we need him to make shots.

Rooting for him to get it going and finish his senior year strong as he is a good kid and I believe deserves it. So do AB and KF, all good kids but there's a pattern here.

 

[Candyman]

I agree, but why would those guys (aside from Brimah) know their roles?

• Facey played sparingly, and often at the 5, which not a position he's ever played for UConn.
• Adams is a pass first, drive to score PG. So he's out there with Gilbert who is on the ball? What the hell is his role in that situation? I sure as hell don't know and I doubt he does.
• Purvis is a shooting guard. He's out there and Adams, a guy who can't really shoot, is playing his position at the same time. Purvis is playing SF for some reason, but there is Larrier also playing SF at the same time. What the hell is his role? Is it any wonder he looks lost?

This is lousy coaching. Facey is a PF...period. Purvis is a SG. Adams is a PG. Brimah is a C. Larrier is SF. Those should be set in stone. Bring the freshmen in only in complimentary roles around those guys. Gilbert can be on the court as PG with Purvis or as SG with Adams. Vance can be a SG or can spell Larrier at SF, but should never be on the court with both Purvis and Larrier. Facey should be on the court as a 4, with Larrier or Jackson as a 3 and Brimah or Enoch as a 5. He shouldn't be asked to play the 5 with Larrier at the 4. That's a disaster waiting to happen.

Ollie has said time and time again he wants everyone interchangeable and doesn't look at position. He has said he refuses to label players a PG/SG/SF/Pf/C. He wants everyone to know their all the roles.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Geez I hate to disagree all these guys are basketball players and none should be labeled with a number. Most of them are interchangeable, especially the guards. I mean I don't want to see Purvis at the point but the other 2 are fine on or off the ball. Wouldn't have been any different if DHam stayed as we would have had 2 PG's, 2 SF's and "5" as our best lineup it would seem. Again, these kids are supposed to know how to play and if Kentan is needed at the 4 or 5 this shouldn't be asking all that much. Griffey played the 2,3,4 and 5 his last year and Deandre the 3,4,5. If we need to blame the coaches, and we can by all means, it's because we need to get smarter, better and more flexible players to fit their system I think.

Most of them except Brimah can do more than one thing (and he shouldn't be asked to). But Gilbert is not a better distributor than Adams, not even close. He is a better shooter than Adams. So why not play to their strengths? Let Adams be on the ball when he is in. Meanwhile, the 3 guard lineup sucks, but it is made worse when Larrier is in, because you have 4 guys who play on the perimeter. We saw that pathetic offense for 2.5 games. That's just bad coaching. If you want Purvis at the wing forward, then do it when Larrier is getting a rest. Don't throw out lineups that create confusion.

Giffey was a pretty uniquely adaptable player, and Deandre was as well. Maybe some day one of these guys gets to that, but none of them are now. Larrier might be closest, but he has a tendency to drift to the perimeter even when he's playing the PF spot, and that hurts our rebounding and makes us easy to defend.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Ollie has said time and time again he wants everyone interchangeable and doesn't look at position. He has said he refuses to label players a PG/SG/SF/Pf/C. He wants everyone to know their all the roles.

Well now we know why his team stinks then. A team might have a couple of guys who can do that. Most of them can't.

 

[mauconnfan]

Most of them except Brimah can do more than one thing (and he shouldn't be asked to). But Gilbert is not a better distributor than Adams, not even close. He is a better shooter than Adams. So why not play to their strengths? Let Adams be on the ball when he is in. Meanwhile, the 3 guard lineup sucks, but it is made worse when Larrier is in, because you have 4 guys who play on the perimeter. We saw that pathetic offense for 2.5 games. That's just bad coaching. If you want Purvis at the wing forward, then do it when Larrier is getting a rest. Don't throw out lineups that create confusion.

Giffey was a pretty uniquely adaptable player, and Deandre was as well. Maybe some day one of these guys gets to that, but none of them are now. Larrier might be closest, but he has a tendency to drift to the perimeter even when he's playing the PF spot, and that hurts our rebounding and makes us easy to defend.

I hear ya on stuff. I won't agree on the AG JA deal though but it's close no doubt. JA just never slows down and he really needs to now, he IS the guy. Can't play at 100MPH and run a team but he will get it, he's a talented kid and knows how to play when he gets to his spots no doubt.

 

[JimHurley]

Not sure what is going on with Purvis. But he needs to get out of the starting lineup. If Gilbert is out start Adams, Vital, Larrier, Jackson, Brimah. If Gilbert is good to go, switch him in the lineup with Vance.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I hear ya on stuff. I won't agree on the AG JA deal though but it's close no doubt. JA just never slows down and he really needs to now, he IS the guy. Can't play at 100MPH and run a team but he will get it, he's a talented kid and knows how to play when he gets to his spots no doubt.

Agree he's been shaky and turnover prone, but why? He wasn't last year. He was steady as hell. I think it could be because of pressure due to AG. I hate to see Gilbert get hurt and he's going to be great, but watch Adams and see if he starts playing better. He is just a sophomore.

 

[mauconnfan]

Agree he's been shaky and turnover prone, but why? He wasn't last year. He was steady as hell. I think it could be because of pressure due to AG. I hate to see Gilbert get hurt and he's going to be great, but watch Adams and see if he starts playing better. He is just a sophomore.

It will help him to make some shots and get some space from the defenders too. I really think he and AG just needed time and they will/would be tremendous together and just a ton of trouble.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

Rodney is 2-16 from 3 this season hitting .125 % and overall .28 % from the field. Yes 5 rebounds and 5 assists but for chrissakes he has bad hands gets stripped all the time. Misses free throws as a guard senior like he never played before. At this point we have no way forward without him and let's face it, he can't shoot worse than this, in fact you could have Geno's bench players shoot 3's better than him. My big question is how do we go forward not hitting perimeter shots, and not making free throws? Don't want this to happen but the Gilbert injury gives the team excuses going forward, but Purvis is a senior team leader and I'm wondering how he looks in the mirror in the morning.

He is just shaking off the rust from the off season. His shot will improve as the season progresses. It's more in his head at this point. He just needs to relax.

 

[FeedTheDove]

I can't tell if it's a confidence issue, but our entire team, not just Purvis, seems to have extremely low basketball IQ's. Like, abnormally low - as if they haven't played basketball their entire lives. The passes aren't crisp, good looks are passed up for indecisive pump fakes and eventually horrible looks, guys can't close out on shooters, and turnovers galore. I'm trying to give our guys credit and just chalk most of this up to lack of confidence and D1 experience and that they will adjust, but it feels like I'm watching middle school basketball at times.

 

[UConnStats]

When Purvis sees a few 3s fall through the net and gets back to where he was last year production-wise, everyone will backpeddle. He has flaws, but people who think Vital should just take his minutes after 3 games in November against mid majors are probably in for a rude awakening.

Once Vital starts to play against high major defenses, he'll probably go through some rough stints, and Purvis has been our most productive offensive player against ranked teams over the past year. There's no giving up on Purvis, especially with Gilbert out. You just need to hope he can get his confidence back soon.

 

[auror]

I can't tell if it's a confidence issue, but our entire team, not just Purvis, seems to have extremely low basketball IQ's. Like, abnormally low - as if they haven't played basketball their entire lives. The passes aren't crisp, good looks are passed up for indecisive pump fakes and eventually horrible looks, guys can't close out on shooters, and turnovers galore. I'm trying to give our guys credit and just chalk most of this up to lack of confidence and D1 experience and that they will adjust, but it feels like I'm watching middle school basketball at times.

I think they're just tight, possibly overthinking, and yeah maybe that means confidence issue. Continually bad starts don't help this.

This has been a theory of mine for a few years. I think Ollie is actually over-coaching. Overwhelming them not with plays and sets but details. The players aren't playing on instinct, but trying to do "all the little things" to the extreme.

It doesn't explain some of the things (We're getting killed on the boards because we've got no beef and are playing 3/4 guard lineups where Gilbert or Purvis needs to box out a 6'7 guy with muscle), but I think it's telling that Ollie always states that he wants to run and yet, here we are, year after year, nearly last in the country in pace, despite having all the horses to run. The players are processing too much, not just playing. KO is trying to teach the PGs to be PGs, but is not just letting them be PGs.

This sounds like pundit nonsense even as I'm saying it, but I'm having trouble explaining things otherwise. Ollie does make adjustments. You can tell from last game there were a number of things the team did differently, especially against the zone. So why does our offense always stink? Why are we always last in pace?

 

[willie99]

Wrong

gotta love this guy

 

[James]

When Purvis sees a few 3s fall through the net and gets back to where he was last year production-wise, everyone will backpeddle. He has flaws, but people who think Vital should just take his minutes after 3 games in November against mid majors are probably in for a rude awakening.

Once Vital starts to play against high major defenses, he'll probably go through some rough stints, and Purvis has been our most productive offensive player against ranked teams over the past year. There's no giving up on Purvis, especially with Gilbert out. You just need to hope he can get his confidence back soon.

i actually think vital played late over rp because of his defense, he contained dribble penetration better than rp and got over screens better . gonna need RP to bring more effort on that end, we have 3 guards on the team now with gilbert out.

 

[UConnStats]

i actually think vital played late over rp because of his defense, he contained dribble penetration better than rp and got over screens better . gonna need RP to bring more effort on that end, we have 3 guards on the team now with gilbert out.

I personally thought Purvis played himself out of that game more than Vital asserted himself. Vital wasn't bad but after that 5 point swing on the missed layup, a normal or hot Purvis plays over Vital. Purvis was a mess on handling and shooting the ball last night to the point where he was a liability, though. Vital's corner 3 ended up being huge, so good on Ollie to roll with the freshman over the insanely cold senior.

 

[Showballot]

How did he get worse than last season?

Had Hamilton, Miller and others to mask his awfulness.

 

[Ricky S'moore]

Purvis looks like he had his talent drained by the Nerdlucks in Space Jam.

h/t HuskyAlum012

 

[Horatio]

Purvis looks like he had his talent drained by the Nerdlucks in Space Jam.

h/t HuskyAlum012

Lol!!!!!

 

[GuttyWolf]

The shooting will come. He's in a rut of some kind. Who knows why. He's doing some other good things with the rebounds, assists and trying to get to the rim. He's also our best perimeter defender by a huge margin, and since we can't seem to guard against 3's we need him out there.

We must not be watching the same player. He was brutal defensively last night and is an overrated defender to begin with. If he's not scoring, he needs to sit, period. The fact people are championing his 5 boards and 5 assists tells you all you need to know about how limited he is as a player. I should hope he could accumulate some stats, Kevin never takes him out of the game.

 

[Chief00]

If I can find the time I would love to work Purvis out for 20 -30 minutes. I see some correctable things in his game. He is best when he positions his body properly prior to receipt of the ball.

 

[aceboon]

We must not be watching the same player. He was brutal defensively last night and is an overrated defender to begin with. If he's not scoring, he needs to sit, period. The fact people are championing his 5 boards and 5 assists tells you all you need to know about how limited he is as a player. I should hope he could accumulate some stats, Kevin never takes him out of the game.

He took him out last night when they went 2 bigs and had Adams/Vital/Larrier(Jackson) on the perimeter. I can't stand the dude at all as a player but just based on the players available he has to play some minutes in order to get guys rest. Vital wasn't available in game 2 and Gilbert was gone after the 1st half of game 3, you want the rest of the guards to never catch their wind?

 

[FeedTheDove]

If I can find the time.

Gold, Chief. Gold.

 

[tcf15]

If I can find the time I would love to work Purvis out for 20 -30 minutes. I see some correctable things in his game. He is best when he positions his body properly prior to receipt of the ball.