2014-2015 Starting Lineup

[Burnsbros23]

Haha I'm not even arguing Omar should start, that's the funny thing. You can read through my posts I've said he's the biggest enigma and has no role at the moment because he has no consistency, and I have him grouped with Lubin/Cassell at the moment out of the sure 7 man rotation.

But I can't let very basic inaccuracies go unchallenged, it annoys the "fact" and "truth" parts of my brain. I see you've changed your criticism from "low release point" and "doesn't jump" to account for the fact that those are total crap, and are now moving to its "unorthodox" nature, and its "push"-iness. Much better.

Ok well let me rephrase for a 6'4 2 guard he absolutely has a low release. And Omar shoots what I would call a set shot.

 

[Dmike]

Ok well let me rephrase for a 6'4 2 guard he absolutely has a low release. And Omar shoots what I would call a set shot.

It's time to stop.

 

[Burnsbros23]

It's time to stop.

Ya i know I tried

 

[Dmike]

Ya i know I tried

Truth is, we don't know shit until we get to February; and even then, we can lose a game by 40 something points - like we're playing in an exhibition game, only we're the Division II team and then somehow pull it together and win a NC. That's the beauty of sports. That's the beauty of watching these kids evolve and grow up as players year after year - first under JC and now KO. Last year's team stepped up and we won't know which players are going to step up this year or how big a step they'll take until they do it and do it consistently.

 

[Onions]

What you said isn't far off. However, I disagree with the poster who speculated that foul trouble would be the primary repellent to Nolan and Brimah playing minutes together. That's over-thinking it, IMO. If Nolan proves to be our best option at the four, he's going to play at the four, regardless of how valuable of an insurance policy he is at the five. Great coaches always have contingency plans in place in the event that foul trouble becomes an issue. But throwing your hands up in the air and keeping somebody on the bench because you're afraid both of your big men are going to foul out is not a solution (and it's not a scenario that is likely to occur, either). Plus, we don't know if Facey can play the five. We all thought he might play some five his freshman year, and he didn't, but that doesn't mean he won't this year.

To answer your question, basketball is an interesting sport in that every lineup configuration is dependent on versatility. Obviously, the five players who are on the floor might not be your best five players - our best five players last season were Boatright, Napier, Giffey, Daniels, and Kromah in some order, but they very rarely played together. Being able to modify your game to fit the personnel grouping is a skill that I think gets overlooked in basketball players more than it should be - Alex Oriakhi did not have this skill. Phil Nolan does have it, I think, on the defensive end of the court. I wasn't sold on Nolan as a basketball player until I watched him shutdown Adriean Payne in the elite eight last season. He's privy to rotations at multiple positions, he moves well laterally, and if it's true that he bulked up over the off-season, he should be more equipped to bang with centers and avoid foul trouble than he was last year. Truthfully, I think the guy is more of a four by nature who was forced to play exclusively the five his first two years here by some combination of roster constitution and offensive limitations.

Which brings us to the big question: is Nolan a skilled enough offensive player at this point in time to share the floor with Brimah without destroying our half-court offense? Everything we've seen from Nolan would indicate that he's not. His jump shot is unreliable, he's probably an average athlete by UConn standards (the national championship game last year being exhibit A), and although his foot work in the post is impressive, he doesn't have a soft touch down there.

If you're going to play the four successfully in the half-court, you have to either have one of the aforementioned skills, or you have to be a gifted interior passer. Louisville was able to construct a passable offense in the year they won the title in large part because of how Gorgui Dieng evolved as a passer from his sophomore to junior year. It gave them the luxury of playing two big's - Dieng and either Harrell or Behannan - at all times, which brought their defense to near unprecedented levels while maintaining an efficient offense. Now, I don't think Nolan is capable of a Dieng like jump, but if he's able to work out of the high post in some capacity, continue to improve as a screener, and hit enough 15 foot jump shots to keep defenses honest, UConn may have a shot at replicating something similar to what Louisville had that season (by similar I don't mean equal, but you get the point).

If Nolan was clearly the best option at the 4, I agree that KO would figure out a rotation that would play him there. However with Nolan as an option purely because you don't trust the untested in Facey and the unknown in Rock, then fouls are a consideration. Last Season both AB and Nolan averaged 7 fouls per 40 minutes - to say that having them both foul out is "a situation that is not likely to occur" is contrary to both logic and experience. Remember it is almost as bad to have these guys playing passively with 4 fouls as it is to having them foul out. We needed Tyler for his fouls last year, I expect in an emergency we will play Rock at the 5 this year. To risk Nolan getting in foul trouble for a slight advantage at the 4 would be crazy - and I also agree that I doubt he would be any advantage at the 4, based purely on his offensive skill set.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

When all is said and done our new leader Ryan Boatright will ultimately be the key determinative factor in how far UConn goes this year. Our lone senior is going to have to be 1st or 2nd team All American good. In a perfect world hitting +70 (total) 3's from downtown at +40% clip. If the above shooting #'s come to fruition this could be another very special year. JMHO...

IF Boatright shoots at the level above and provides great senior leadership he has a good shot for his dreams to come true at the next level.