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If you take nothing else from that game, that's a good place to start. UConn was playing with eight ships due to injuries, Cuse was playing with less than their full allotment because of sanctions. For those that don't think it matters...it does. That was an ugly, ugly game that represented the chickens coming home to roost for both of these depleted squads.
That said...Cuse isn't that depleted. I wonder how many injuries it would take for them to beat us? Would one more do it? Insert cackling here.
Hey, for whatever it's worth, Cuse was the 25th ranked team in kenpom and we just beat them on a neutral floor. Actually, it was basically a road game for us with the support Cuse has in the city. I hope the committee looks at this as a road game when it's time. The eye test indicates that they are something less than 25th, but they have legit talent and who knows how their season plays out? The bottom line is that this was a good win based on where this team was seven days ago.
I'm happy for the guys on this team. I don't think you can overstate how tough it must be to play basketball at a school like UConn and have the season turn to disaster as quickly as it did. They must hear the groaning from everybody. I'm especially happy for Rodney Purvis, who I've been as hard on as anybody. He was great on both ends tonight.
Add Facey to that list as well. I think we need to look at getting him more shots.
With Brimah, sometimes I go, "man, I really wish I hadn't spent three years defending this guy on a public forum, he isn't very good." But then he'll put together a spurt defensively where he's dominant and you remember that he still has a place.
Biggest source of optimism continues to be Durham. He's just very fluid out there defensively. Next step for him is learning to put the ball on the floor, work out of the post, etc. Some of that requires a level of planting and spinning that puts a torque on his knee that he isn't comfortable with yet, so I understand. Health will be the only thing that prevents this kid from being great.
You never got the sense that Jalen was playing particularly well but he still ended up with 16, 7, and 7. He's one of those guys that isn't in good enough shape to be playing 40 minutes. He looked winded for much of the game. Hopefully, as the season progresses, he's able to handle it more adeptly.
CV was invisible offensively but I like what he brings defensively and I'm not sure there was a player on the squad I had more confidence in to hit those free throws down the stretch.
This team still has a long way to go, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get smacked in Columbus on Saturday (I watched Ohio State play Virginia and I think they are very good). It feels really good, though, to get that win, against that team, coached by that guy. Off the top of my head, that's what, Ollie's tenth win against a Hall of Famer? Not bad for a guy who hasn't been at it for long.
At least we're playing better defense now. That'll keep us in games and give us a chance to beat most teams so long as Purvis and Adams are hitting shots. Should be a fun night to visit the Cuse boards. A lot of folks are gonna have some major deleting to do after the smack they talked when we lost to Wagner and Northeastern. Oh, well. No shame in losing to our 30th best team in the last 30 years. Back to the drawing board for them.
That said...Cuse isn't that depleted. I wonder how many injuries it would take for them to beat us? Would one more do it? Insert cackling here.
Hey, for whatever it's worth, Cuse was the 25th ranked team in kenpom and we just beat them on a neutral floor. Actually, it was basically a road game for us with the support Cuse has in the city. I hope the committee looks at this as a road game when it's time. The eye test indicates that they are something less than 25th, but they have legit talent and who knows how their season plays out? The bottom line is that this was a good win based on where this team was seven days ago.
I'm happy for the guys on this team. I don't think you can overstate how tough it must be to play basketball at a school like UConn and have the season turn to disaster as quickly as it did. They must hear the groaning from everybody. I'm especially happy for Rodney Purvis, who I've been as hard on as anybody. He was great on both ends tonight.
Add Facey to that list as well. I think we need to look at getting him more shots.
With Brimah, sometimes I go, "man, I really wish I hadn't spent three years defending this guy on a public forum, he isn't very good." But then he'll put together a spurt defensively where he's dominant and you remember that he still has a place.
Biggest source of optimism continues to be Durham. He's just very fluid out there defensively. Next step for him is learning to put the ball on the floor, work out of the post, etc. Some of that requires a level of planting and spinning that puts a torque on his knee that he isn't comfortable with yet, so I understand. Health will be the only thing that prevents this kid from being great.
You never got the sense that Jalen was playing particularly well but he still ended up with 16, 7, and 7. He's one of those guys that isn't in good enough shape to be playing 40 minutes. He looked winded for much of the game. Hopefully, as the season progresses, he's able to handle it more adeptly.
CV was invisible offensively but I like what he brings defensively and I'm not sure there was a player on the squad I had more confidence in to hit those free throws down the stretch.
This team still has a long way to go, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get smacked in Columbus on Saturday (I watched Ohio State play Virginia and I think they are very good). It feels really good, though, to get that win, against that team, coached by that guy. Off the top of my head, that's what, Ollie's tenth win against a Hall of Famer? Not bad for a guy who hasn't been at it for long.
At least we're playing better defense now. That'll keep us in games and give us a chance to beat most teams so long as Purvis and Adams are hitting shots. Should be a fun night to visit the Cuse boards. A lot of folks are gonna have some major deleting to do after the smack they talked when we lost to Wagner and Northeastern. Oh, well. No shame in losing to our 30th best team in the last 30 years. Back to the drawing board for them.
