A few thoughts

[Gurleyman]

Not sure where Boat was selfish. He took 12 shots - more than half were shots he absolutely had to take: 3 breakaway dunks and 4 or 5 wide, wide open looks off kickouts. He back rimmed an iso jumper late in the shot clock with Bazz already fouled out - which was another one we kind of need him to take. The Tyler 3 was actually off a Boat kickout on a play that really Boat should have shot a floater, but it worked out.

There was I think one shot that Boat took that I thought he forced - but most of the time, when he went to iso moves, stepbacks, etc., when I was expecting him to force something up, he passed the ball instead.

 

[Gurleyman]

I would like to see Shabazz totally eliminate those couple of times a game where for the entire shot clock he's the only one who touches the ball. Also "that 's what I do best" is not necessary. He is a senior. The entire country know what he does best. Just shut up and play. The maturity level that shows up when you just play and don't talk will get you into the top level of the draft!

The NBA doesn't care if you play basketball like the old Fed Ex commercial guy ("dilate it, collate it, translate it...") or like the silent guy in Penn and Teller. They just care if you can play. Guys talk in the NBA constantly.

I've been watching UConn play long enough to know that some of our best players were brash chatterboxes (Khalid, Rashad, Caron, Adrien, Kemba) and some didn't say boo (Smith, Sheffer, Gordon, Lamb). Whatever personality works for each player is fine with me, and Bazz did nothing yesterday that warranted a tech, so I don't consider that a problem. If you asked Khalid or Kemba to shut up, you'd be taking away some of their personality which enabled them to lead their teams effectively.

What is a problem is getting up in another guy's face to taunt (which Bazz apparently did not do), or what the Maryland guy did in the first half yesterday - made a bucket, pointed at the camera or something, and then Giffey took off the other way and dunked it three seconds later while the Maryland guy was 30 feet behind the play. That was an awesome moment - the kind of thing that will have opposing coaches clipping it out of the game film and planting in their team's heads the importance of getting back on D.

On the flip side, one of the best Brimah moments came in the 2H when he dunked off a trail pass from Boat and then was one of the first back on defense as Maryland tried to push it. He did that in the exhibition too.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Champs, that was one hell of a post. Agree with damn near everything you said. ( Maybe that's why it was a good read to me!).

 

[ctkaiser]

The NBA doesn't care if you play basketball like the old Fed Ex commercial guy ("dilate it, collate it, translate it...") or like the silent guy in Penn and Teller. They just care if you can play. Guys talk in the NBA constantly.

I've been watching UConn play long enough to know that some of our best players were brash chatterboxes (Khalid, Rashad, Caron, Adrien, Kemba) and some didn't say boo (Smith, Sheffer, Gordon, Lamb). Whatever personality works for each player is fine with me, and Bazz did nothing yesterday that warranted a tech, so I don't consider that a problem. If you asked Khalid or Kemba to shut up, you'd be taking away some of their personality which enabled them to lead their teams effectively.

What is a problem is getting up in another guy's face to taunt (which Bazz apparently did not do), or what the Maryland guy did in the first half yesterday - made a bucket, pointed at the camera or something, and then Giffey took off the other way and dunked it three seconds later while the Maryland guy was 30 feet behind the play. That was an awesome moment - the kind of thing that will have opposing coaches clipping it out of the game film and planting in their team's heads the importance of getting back on D.

On the flip side, one of the best Brimah moments came in the 2H when he dunked off a trail pass from Boat and then was one of the first back on defense as Maryland tried to push it. He did that in the exhibition too.

Maybe there's another new rule that says you don't have to be in the guy's face taunting. I watched it several times. Shabazz had a s smile on his face, was 3-4 feet awasy form the guy, seemed to say barely 4 or 5 words and got the T. Sensitive referee maybe? I love Shabazz but I hate to see him get that T there because we need him so bad in these tough close games.

 

[ctkaiser]

Not sure where Boat was selfish. He took 12 shots - more than half were shots he absolutely had to take: 3 breakaway dunks and 4 or 5 wide, wide open looks off kickouts. He back rimmed an iso jumper late in the shot clock with Bazz already fouled out - which was another one we kind of need him to take. The Tyler 3 was actually off a Boat kickout on a play that really Boat should have shot a floater, but it worked out.

There was I think one shot that Boat took that I thought he forced - but most of the time, when he went to iso moves, stepbacks, etc., when I was expecting him to force something up, he passed the ball instead.

UConn had a lot of good open shots that they just did not hit in the 2nd half.

 

[huskyharry]

Very good analysis, Champs.

I did think that RB played very good defense on that last play, but I would not classify it as exceptional or phenomenal. He stayed in front of Wellls by moving his feet, he didn't draw a foul by reaching and he did an excellent job of face-guarding. However, largely due to his six inch + height discrepancy, he was unable to block or alter the shot in any way and we are somewhat fortunate that the shot rimmed out.