Team Chemistry

[UConn_Top_Dog]

This my friends is what is lacking from this team, along with a true leader and skilled shooters. The kids are trying, but it's difficult to keep spirits up and team confidence up the way things are going right now. Losing is like a snowball rolling down a hill gaining momentum. This team needs someone to step up and get everyone focused and glued together. Very little KO can do in this department. And with grad transfers and freshman comprising our teams the past few years who also transferred out, it's very difficult to build chemistry. No true leader emerged at the beginning of the season. I believe Gilbert was the one, so that was a huge huge blow to this team. We need the core of players to stick together for next year. No one should be going anywhere next year including KO. Only then will we have a chance to do great things. A team is family, and if KO is fired that family will break apart.

On that note I leave you with a perfect example of leadership and team chemistry and how one player can have such an influence in turning a program around. We forget this program was in turmoil under Calhoun as well before the 2011 title run.

O'Neil: Walker cooks up championship chemistry for UConn

"His greatest achievement, though, isn't the 271 postseason points he scored or the 381 minutes (out of a possible 445) he logged. It's the reboot he gave to a program that had lost its swagger amid a dismal and difficult season a year ago."

 

[blackbird]

No.

Basketball ability is what is lacking from this team. (With the exception of from one player)

 

[intlzncster]

We've seen 100 different threads stating "the problem" or what have you.

There's so many things concurrently wrong with this program it's almost not worth discussing.

UCONN needs a complete and total reset.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

Please read the entire post and the article before making comments. It might be quite enlightening. Thank you.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

How do you argue we’re lacking leadership as team problem while at the same time arguing very that very little KO can do in this department. He’s the head coach. Don’t get more leadership than that.

 

[WlfdHusky]

I agree with your overall premise that there is a lack of chemistry. There is exactly 0 in the chemistry department with this team. However, chemistry isn't even one of the top reasons the team is performing so poorly. Your statement "This team needs someone to step up and get everyone focused and glued together. Very little KO can do in this department" is ridiculous. At game time one of the top priorities of the head coach is to get the team focused and ready to play the game. The lack of continuity you allude to (grad tx and many frosh)is on KO. Either he alienated players that left early or he recruited the wrong guys (3 of them in a single class!). Chemistry is just one of numerous issues, several of which are at the root\cause of the chemistry issue.

 

[jibsey]

Yeah we need a leader/ real point guard and it could’ve been Gilbert. I wasn’t 100% sold on him, he was no Kemba or Bazz that I saw but chemistry is not the whole issue by far. We’ve got many players that don’t shoot well. We can’t do this with the personel we have. Need a big influx of talent, and soon.

 

[Sphinx]

This (chemistry) my friends is what is lacking from this team, along with a true leader and skilled shooters. ."

A team that lacks a true leader and skilled shooters will always appear to lack chemistry. But what it will lack is leadership and skilled shooters. If you doubt this, ask yourself how many UConn teams with leadership and skilled shooters have been accused of lacking chemistry. To draw a finer point, how many teams with skilled shooters have been accused of lacking leadership? The skilled shooters become the leaders. As a general rule, it is unnecessary to seek cause in intangibles when the tangibles are staring you in the face.

 

[GotNets?]

I would agree in principle... it’s only going to get worse if not everyone sticks around and integrates the recruits. If that happens we could start to see progress, chemistry, and play improve.

 

[Son of Robert]

I really respected and appreciated Alterique's comments in the Hartford Courant this morning. He spoke to being 100% committed to the Uconn program, and that all the noise circulating around KO and his teammates doesn't bother him. He infers that given time this program will return to prominence.

I admire his unshakeable faith, and believe this is the most important thing he brings to the team. The rest is some fact and some speculation, but I'm going to lay it down anyway. AG brings things to this team, a McD AA skill set that no one else on the team has specifically like his, and also all the attributes of a team leader so very influential in creating, growing, and holding fast team chemistry. Only a freshman remember, in games played, so he is not the complete mature veteran player yet that will make him a star here at Uconn, but his impact was already being felt the first few games of the season. I think people underrate his shooting, scoring, and leadership abilities and/or potential to improve on these. I do not.

I think his early and growing influence on this very young team is in great part why we were able to hang with such a tough skilled MSU team, his skills on the floor, and also the players around him being better, because while he was on the floor the offense flowed differently and better, defensively also, plus he was the chemistry glue guy who helped make his teammates believe they could win. He brought such confidence to this team, and this would have increased throughout the season.

I think the Arkansas game, the ugly, mentally out of it blowout, was in large part due to this team losing their emerging leader and the chemistry he brought.

And they have not quite recovered. They have gotten better, individually and as a team, as players and coaches learned, adjusted, and improved. Chemistry wise they would have been on a different track if Gilbert had not gotten hurt, and their proficiency on the court would have been much more visible. Absolutely no doubt.

Very tough year, plain and simple. The breakup of the old Big East has decidedly hurt us with recruiting, it is surely much more difficult, but there are other schools that excel outside the P5, and we must be committed to being one of them.

Not sure how next year will shake out, but I do like our incoming recruits, those 3 help 3 different aspects of our team. Wilson on the bench already plus improving big men, three, freshman only, Carlton, Whaley, and Diarra, possibly some other roster shakeups, Jalen may or may not return, but I am again optimistic about the team next year. I do look forward to seeing Gilbert and Akinjo on the floor together. Maybe Kisunas is a big man who can pass in and out of the post.

The rest of this season we continue to grow and improve and get some wins, and never, never count ourselves out til the last buzzer sounds. Being mentally tough doesn't just happen, it needs to be learned and exercised.

In closing, I do not have a firm opinion on Kevin Ollie. A great deal of our downward slide must fall squarely on his shoulders. Kevin is no stranger to adversity or resilience and I do believe if given the opportunity will continue to turn things around. It does not happen overnight. However, management is going to do what management is going to do, and I will support KO or another coach equally.

Go Huskies! Bleed Blue!

 

[Scrutiner]

A team that lacks a true leader and skilled shooters will always appear to lack chemistry. But what it will lack is leadership and skilled shooters. If you doubt this, ask yourself how many UConn teams with leadership and skilled shooters have been accused of lacking chemistry. To draw a finer point, how many teams with skilled shooters have been accused of lacking leadership? The skilled shooters become the leaders. As a general rule, it is unnecessary to seek cause in intangibles when the tangibles are staring you in the face.

Did the 2006 team have shooters...................?

 

[Ewekon]

Diarra was not slated to ever be a starter until maybe his senior year a la facey finding it a little at the end. Whaley is typical of recent KO recruits. An athlete and not a skilled player. I think Carlton can be good as a junior.

We don't have anyone near a top 50 coming next year FOR SURE. St. John's looks to be in fighting mood on the one we may have.

Patience thin.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

I really respected and appreciated Alterique's comments in the Hartford Courant this morning. He spoke to being 100% committed to the Uconn program, and that all the noise circulating around KO and his teammates doesn't bother him. He infers that given time this program will return to prominence.

I admire his unshakeable faith, and believe this is the most important thing he brings to the team. The rest is some fact and some speculation, but I'm going to lay it down anyway. AG brings things to this team, a McD AA skill set that no one else on the team has specifically like his, and also all the attributes of a team leader so very influential in creating, growing, and holding fast team chemistry. Only a freshman remember, in games played, so he is not the complete mature veteran player yet that will make him a star here at Uconn, but his impact was already being felt the first few games of the season. I think people underrate his shooting, scoring, and leadership abilities and/or potential to improve on these. I do not.

I think his early and growing influence on this very young team is in great part why we were able to hang with such a tough skilled MSU team, his skills on the floor, and also the players around him being better, because while he was on the floor the offense flowed differently and better, defensively also, plus he was the chemistry glue guy who helped make his teammates believe they could win. He brought such confidence to this team, and this would have increased throughout the season.

I think the Arkansas game, the ugly, mentally out of it blowout, was in large part due to this team losing their emerging leader and the chemistry he brought.

And they have not quite recovered. They have gotten better, individually and as a team, as players and coaches learned, adjusted, and improved. Chemistry wise they would have been on a different track if Gilbert had not gotten hurt, and their proficiency on the court would have been much more visible. Absolutely no doubt.

Very tough year, plain and simple. The breakup of the old Big East has decidedly hurt us with recruiting, it is surely much more difficult, but there are other schools that excel outside the P5, and we must be committed to being one of them.

Not sure how next year will shake out, but I do like our incoming recruits, those 3 help 3 different aspects of our team. Wilson on the bench already plus improving big men, three, freshman only, Carlton, Whaley, and Diarra, possibly some other roster shakeups, Jalen may or may not return, but I am again optimistic about the team next year. I do look forward to seeing Gilbert and Akinjo on the floor together. Maybe Kisunas is a big man who can pass in and out of the post.

The rest of this season we continue to grow and improve and get some wins, and never, never count ourselves out til the last buzzer sounds. Being mentally tough doesn't just happen, it needs to be learned and exercised.

In closing, I do not have a firm opinion on Kevin Ollie. A great deal of our downward slide must fall squarely on his shoulders. Kevin is no stranger to adversity or resilience and I do believe if given the opportunity will continue to turn things around. It does not happen overnight. However, management is going to do what management is going to do, and I will support KO or another coach equally.

Go Huskies! Bleed Blue!

You summed up my feelings perfectly. Thank you for this post. Many times people write something on here and it is taken out of context or it is interpreted falsely. Very difficult to express in writing so that every base is covered. I never said KO is not to blame at all. All I meant was that the brotherhood among the players is something KO can't teach. That is something the players must do off the basketball court, hence why I used the Kemba cooking for the team example.

 

[Palatine]

Did the 2006 team have shooters....?

Anderson, Williams were both good shooters. Gay and Brown were decent, they would be the top shooter on our current roster

 

[Kitaman]

Hard to develop chemistry when the 5 starting players are never the same.

 

[PAHusky]

I really respected and appreciated Alterique's comments in the Hartford Courant this morning. He spoke to being 100% committed to the Uconn program, and that all the noise circulating around KO and his teammates doesn't bother him. He infers that given time this program will return to prominence.

I admire his unshakeable faith, and believe this is the most important thing he brings to the team. The rest is some fact and some speculation, but I'm going to lay it down anyway. AG brings things to this team, a McD AA skill set that no one else on the team has specifically like his, and also all the attributes of a team leader so very influential in creating, growing, and holding fast team chemistry. Only a freshman remember, in games played, so he is not the complete mature veteran player yet that will make him a star here at Uconn, but his impact was already being felt the first few games of the season. I think people underrate his shooting, scoring, and leadership abilities and/or potential to improve on these. I do not.

I think his early and growing influence on this very young team is in great part why we were able to hang with such a tough skilled MSU team, his skills on the floor, and also the players around him being better, because while he was on the floor the offense flowed differently and better, defensively also, plus he was the chemistry glue guy who helped make his teammates believe they could win. He brought such confidence to this team, and this would have increased throughout the season.

I think the Arkansas game, the ugly, mentally out of it blowout, was in large part due to this team losing their emerging leader and the chemistry he brought.

And they have not quite recovered. They have gotten better, individually and as a team, as players and coaches learned, adjusted, and improved. Chemistry wise they would have been on a different track if Gilbert had not gotten hurt, and their proficiency on the court would have been much more visible. Absolutely no doubt.

Very tough year, plain and simple. The breakup of the old Big East has decidedly hurt us with recruiting, it is surely much more difficult, but there are other schools that excel outside the P5, and we must be committed to being one of them.

Not sure how next year will shake out, but I do like our incoming recruits, those 3 help 3 different aspects of our team. Wilson on the bench already plus improving big men, three, freshman only, Carlton, Whaley, and Diarra, possibly some other roster shakeups, Jalen may or may not return, but I am again optimistic about the team next year. I do look forward to seeing Gilbert and Akinjo on the floor together. Maybe Kisunas is a big man who can pass in and out of the post.

The rest of this season we continue to grow and improve and get some wins, and never, never count ourselves out til the last buzzer sounds. Being mentally tough doesn't just happen, it needs to be learned and exercised.

In closing, I do not have a firm opinion on Kevin Ollie. A great deal of our downward slide must fall squarely on his shoulders. Kevin is no stranger to adversity or resilience and I do believe if given the opportunity will continue to turn things around. It does not happen overnight. However, management is going to do what management is going to do, and I will support KO or another coach equally.

Go Huskies! Bleed Blue!

Gilbert is a good kid and will be a great player if he can solve the injury issues. This team would have been better with him this year to the tune of a few wins. To say that he'd be the leader on this team or he's the magic sauce this team is missing is total ignorance though. Let's not put any more pressure on the kid to come back than he already I'm sure is feeling. He's a nice piece who can get to the rim and plays good d, but his shot is a work in progress and if we're relying on a sophomore who barely played to be a "growing influence". If this team can't recover from losing the same kid to injury they lost the year before to the tune of playing poorly for the rest of the season, that doesn't bode well for the program going forward.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Diarra was not slated to ever be a starter until maybe his senior year a la facey finding it a little at the end. Whaley is typical of recent KO recruits. An athlete and not a skilled player. I think Carlton can be good as a junior.

We don't have anyone near a top 50 coming next year FOR SURE. St. John's looks to be in fighting mood on the one we may have.

Patience thin.

What? Diarra was a solid 4 star recruit. Ranked in the top 100. He would certainly be expected to start before he's a senior. He was the mostly highly recruited big we have. Unfortunately, our coach is blind.

Carlton is good right now. He's better than any big we had last year, at this moment.

This team has problems. Lots of problems. They start at the top, and include a lack of discipline and leadership. It's a disorganized, sloppy team, that is allowed to play that way.

 

[Chief00]

Why do you need chemistry if you don’t share the ball?

 

[Lefty2one]

This team lacks so many things that it's easier to list what it doesn't lack - a talented point guard. After that, woof...

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Why do you need chemistry if you don’t share the ball?

This team lacks so many things that it's easier to list what it doesn't lack - a talented point guard. After that, woof...

Can both be true? That we need to share the ball much better and also that Adams is a talented point guard?

Adams is indeed our best offensive player. He doesn’t shoot all that well. He finishes at the basket well, but for as often as he gets in deep he doesn’t draw many fouls. His assists are lower than they should be for a guy who has the ball in his hands for the bulk of every possession. He’s talented, but a talented point guard is a different animal. Share the ball? He had a great pick and roll with Whaley in the SMU game, but these stick out because they’re so rare.

He has to play his current role at this point. But I have to admit really liking the BBIQ I see from Akinjo for next year.

 

[Son of Robert]

You summed up my feelings perfectly. Thank you for this post. Many times people write something on here and it is taken out of context or it is interpreted falsely. Very difficult to express in writing so that every base is covered. I never said KO is not to blame at all. All I meant was that the brotherhood among the players is something KO can't teach. That is something the players must do off the basketball court, hence why I used the Kemba cooking for the team example.

Thank you Top Dog for your acknowledgement. Obliged.