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What can I say, just another riveting night of UConn basketball. It was far from the prettiest display of basketball you'll see, but damn if it wasn't persistently exciting. Collectively, it wasn't one of our better efforts. The offense was stagnant for the majority of the game, and many of the guys we are accustomed to producing were MIA. Unlike last night, though, the positives outweighed the negatives, and the only appropriate place to start is on the glass. Indiana had been one of the best rebounding teams in the country entering play, and UConn more or less drew even with them, grabbing 33 rebounds to Indiana's 35. Granted, Indiana's leading rebounder, Noah Vonleh, played only ten minutes, but credit UConn for limiting him to only two rebounds (and no points) in the minutes he did play. Rebounding is something many on this board pinned as a potential fatal flaw (including myself), so it was very promising sign for them to hold their own against a formidable front line.
Hard as it is to believe, we're already about 20% of the way through the regular season. And while six games is a relatively small sample, I think we've seen enough by now to begin monitoring some early trends that have presented themselves so far. One thing I can say with conviction is that the defense is further along than the offense in terms where I thought they'd be before the season. The offense was scorching through three, games, but since - specifically in the latest two - it has regressed to a lot of isolation, generic high ball screens, and general predictability. Especially tonight, it seemed like there was little in the way of creative off-ball movement, which is baffling when we have so many potent shooters that could benefit from some off ball screening. It's not surprising, though, that Ollie hasn't become too intricate with the offense as of yet, given we're still trying to integrate our young big men into the rotation. Calhoun, Daniels, and Boatright are all struggling with their consistency as of now - Daniels has shown flashes the last couple games, Calhoun got off to a hot start before fizzling back to earth the last couple games, and Boatright has been steady but has struggled with his jumper. On one hand, the offense has enough pieces where at least one or two of them are going to be hot - conversely, we've yet to see them all firing on all cylinders.
The defense, meanwhile, has been hugely encouraging. I was skeptical of their ability to become a top 20 unit, but the last two games, UConn has held BC and Indiana - the 11th and 18th ranked offenses in the country, respectively - to 40 and 41% from the field. The guards have been tremendously disruptive defensively - Boatright and Napier, especially, seem to have an uncanny ability to strip ball-handlers in the midst of penetration without fouling. Many of the turnovers Indiana committed tonight were self-induced, but UConn's defense was consistently quick, sound, and collaboratively well-positioned. Ollie did a commendable job of cleaning up the flawed defensive rotations literally over night - BC carved us up and really feasted on our over-aggression, but tonight against Indiana the closeouts were very strong and the communication excellent. Indiana has a lot of offensive weapons, and Ferrell will single-handedly eviscerate you if you're not locked in. Player notes:
Boat - Despite being benched down the stretch, due in large part to a couple of dumb fouls late, I thought Boatright was somewhat of an unsung hero tonight. Make no mistake, he didn't play a great game, or even a good one, but his defensive effort on Ferrell (6-19 from the field) spear-headed an excellent defensive performance. He was moving well laterally the entire game and offensively, was able to split the seams in the defense and get to the rim when his jumper wasn't falling. He had a couple of layups spin out, and his vision inside the paint might be the weakest aspect of his game. But through six games, despite his less than stellar stats, he's displayed a lot of signs of maturity that were noticeably absent last season. I said during the off-season that he was going to be the guy who would have to sacrifice the most to make this whole thing work. So far, so good. Anybody who calls him selfish hasn't been paying much attention.
DeAndre - He's been every bit as Jekyll and Hyde as he was last season, though he was impressively resilient tonight - after playing a brutal opening 35 minutes, he made some big plays down the stretch on both ends of the court and hit arguably the biggest shot of the game. I disagree with the notion that he should abolish the three from his game. He has a nice looking stroke, and the ball always looks good coming out of his hands. If he can hit 36 or 37% of his threes, he'll go from being a contributor to unguardable. Passing out of the post is his biggest weakness at this point - he needs to do a better job of recognizing the double team and whipping the ball to the weak spot of the defense before it arrives. He should be getting the ball in the most and either be making a quick move, or passing back out and quickly re-establishing position.
Giff - Old steady was par for the course tonight. He came down with a big six rebounds, recorded a couple steals, and hit a big three in the first half when the offense was struggling. Defensively he was solid, though unspectacular. I liked to see him aggressively attacking the basket late in the second half when we were in dire need of some secondary scoring. He's a very good athlete who can finish around the rim - he may not have the best handle in the world, but all he really needs from the wing is one dribble, maybe two, and he's at the rim.
Kromah - He's been surprisingly tentative offensively for a fifth year senior, but whatever we concede when he's out there offensively (and I do expect his offensive production to increase as he gets more comfortable in the offense), we make up and then some with the perimeter defense he brings. I can't say enough about the defense he played on Ferrell down the stretch. Honestly, I had no idea he was capable of guarding a guard as quick as Ferrell. I knew he was versatile, but I didn't know that versatility extended so far.
Omar - He's just in a funk, it happens. It's not like he's forcing the issue, necessarily. He's shooting the three ball when he's open and attacking the basket when he thinks he can take his defender off the dribble. He's not the most instinctively sound player, on either end of the court, but a lot of his problems are just a matter of the make or miss nature of basketball. I'm not worried about him.
Phil - I need to see more from him. For most of the season, he's virtually just been a body out there taking up space. I rarely notice him when he's on the floor and he usually picks up two fouls before the 16 minute timeout. Frankly, my expectations for him were probably a little too high heading into the season. He didn't get many reps last season, so I should have expected that inexperience to present itself on a frequent basis this season. If there is one silver lining to Phil's season, it's that he's been surprisingly effective on low post touches. He's only had a couple opportunities, but he's made the most of them and demonstrated footwork you'd associate with a more seasoned big man. He just needs to continue to build on every game, pick Ollie's ear, study tape, and continue to improve his pick and roll chemistry with Bazz and Boat.
Amida - Nine minutes, four fouls, one turnover, three blocks, zero of anything else. I suppose that type of stat line has become the baseline for him. He doesn't rebound, he doesn't score, and he can't stay on the floor - but God, when he's out there, he's fun to watch. It's probably unrealistic to expect the type of exorbitant improvements some of us our hoping for this season, but by his junior year he could be a force along the lines of Thabeet.
Tyler - It seems like Tyler's production dwindles at a linear rate for every minute he spends on the floor. Ideally, he should be playing 10-15 minutes a game. And for spurts tonight, he provided some excellent energy off the bench, rebounded at a high level, and scored four points. I look at the Syracuse game in the BET three years ago as the baseline to what Tyler should aspire to for the remainder of his career. He should come off the bench for 5-7 minute pinches per half with contagious energy.
Bazz - There is a reason I saved Shabazz for last. He was amazing tonight - throw out all the superlatives you want, but the highest compliment I can pay him is this: UConn had no business winning that game, and yet we did anyway because of his brilliance. I know we said that more than a handful of times during the 2011 season in regards to Kemba, and even if Bazz is maybe an echelon below what Kemba was, he's cut from the same cloth. His jump shot is comically precise and the kid has the same knack as Kemba in terms of being able to reach down for a little extra in especially important moments of the game. Duffy tweeted out something staggering today - I think he said seven of Shabazz's baskets either tied the game or put UConn ahead. You know you've arrived as a bonafide superstar when everybody in the building knows your taking the shot and you still nail it. Yeah, he turned the ball over seven times, but when your usage rate is as high as Bazz's was tonight, that's not far above the mean. I'm not sure people understand how remarkably efficient you have to be to score 27 points, against a high level defense that knows they have to stop you, on 14 shots. He's a brilliant player and there's nobody else in the country I'd rather have.
I know I tend to over-analyze things, but the only thing you really need to know right now is we've won six games and lost none. The passion and energy exuded by Kevin Ollie is infectious and this program hasn't had as much momentum in at least three years. For now, all of the off-court drama - from conference realignment, NCAA sanctions, APR violations, post-game twitter rants - seems to have been alleviated and replaced with an on court product that's on par with pretty much everybody in the country. So far this season has been just as awesome as I thought it would be, and the best part is, they're only scratching the surface. Good night and go Huskies.
Hard as it is to believe, we're already about 20% of the way through the regular season. And while six games is a relatively small sample, I think we've seen enough by now to begin monitoring some early trends that have presented themselves so far. One thing I can say with conviction is that the defense is further along than the offense in terms where I thought they'd be before the season. The offense was scorching through three, games, but since - specifically in the latest two - it has regressed to a lot of isolation, generic high ball screens, and general predictability. Especially tonight, it seemed like there was little in the way of creative off-ball movement, which is baffling when we have so many potent shooters that could benefit from some off ball screening. It's not surprising, though, that Ollie hasn't become too intricate with the offense as of yet, given we're still trying to integrate our young big men into the rotation. Calhoun, Daniels, and Boatright are all struggling with their consistency as of now - Daniels has shown flashes the last couple games, Calhoun got off to a hot start before fizzling back to earth the last couple games, and Boatright has been steady but has struggled with his jumper. On one hand, the offense has enough pieces where at least one or two of them are going to be hot - conversely, we've yet to see them all firing on all cylinders.
The defense, meanwhile, has been hugely encouraging. I was skeptical of their ability to become a top 20 unit, but the last two games, UConn has held BC and Indiana - the 11th and 18th ranked offenses in the country, respectively - to 40 and 41% from the field. The guards have been tremendously disruptive defensively - Boatright and Napier, especially, seem to have an uncanny ability to strip ball-handlers in the midst of penetration without fouling. Many of the turnovers Indiana committed tonight were self-induced, but UConn's defense was consistently quick, sound, and collaboratively well-positioned. Ollie did a commendable job of cleaning up the flawed defensive rotations literally over night - BC carved us up and really feasted on our over-aggression, but tonight against Indiana the closeouts were very strong and the communication excellent. Indiana has a lot of offensive weapons, and Ferrell will single-handedly eviscerate you if you're not locked in. Player notes:
Boat - Despite being benched down the stretch, due in large part to a couple of dumb fouls late, I thought Boatright was somewhat of an unsung hero tonight. Make no mistake, he didn't play a great game, or even a good one, but his defensive effort on Ferrell (6-19 from the field) spear-headed an excellent defensive performance. He was moving well laterally the entire game and offensively, was able to split the seams in the defense and get to the rim when his jumper wasn't falling. He had a couple of layups spin out, and his vision inside the paint might be the weakest aspect of his game. But through six games, despite his less than stellar stats, he's displayed a lot of signs of maturity that were noticeably absent last season. I said during the off-season that he was going to be the guy who would have to sacrifice the most to make this whole thing work. So far, so good. Anybody who calls him selfish hasn't been paying much attention.
DeAndre - He's been every bit as Jekyll and Hyde as he was last season, though he was impressively resilient tonight - after playing a brutal opening 35 minutes, he made some big plays down the stretch on both ends of the court and hit arguably the biggest shot of the game. I disagree with the notion that he should abolish the three from his game. He has a nice looking stroke, and the ball always looks good coming out of his hands. If he can hit 36 or 37% of his threes, he'll go from being a contributor to unguardable. Passing out of the post is his biggest weakness at this point - he needs to do a better job of recognizing the double team and whipping the ball to the weak spot of the defense before it arrives. He should be getting the ball in the most and either be making a quick move, or passing back out and quickly re-establishing position.
Giff - Old steady was par for the course tonight. He came down with a big six rebounds, recorded a couple steals, and hit a big three in the first half when the offense was struggling. Defensively he was solid, though unspectacular. I liked to see him aggressively attacking the basket late in the second half when we were in dire need of some secondary scoring. He's a very good athlete who can finish around the rim - he may not have the best handle in the world, but all he really needs from the wing is one dribble, maybe two, and he's at the rim.
Kromah - He's been surprisingly tentative offensively for a fifth year senior, but whatever we concede when he's out there offensively (and I do expect his offensive production to increase as he gets more comfortable in the offense), we make up and then some with the perimeter defense he brings. I can't say enough about the defense he played on Ferrell down the stretch. Honestly, I had no idea he was capable of guarding a guard as quick as Ferrell. I knew he was versatile, but I didn't know that versatility extended so far.
Omar - He's just in a funk, it happens. It's not like he's forcing the issue, necessarily. He's shooting the three ball when he's open and attacking the basket when he thinks he can take his defender off the dribble. He's not the most instinctively sound player, on either end of the court, but a lot of his problems are just a matter of the make or miss nature of basketball. I'm not worried about him.
Phil - I need to see more from him. For most of the season, he's virtually just been a body out there taking up space. I rarely notice him when he's on the floor and he usually picks up two fouls before the 16 minute timeout. Frankly, my expectations for him were probably a little too high heading into the season. He didn't get many reps last season, so I should have expected that inexperience to present itself on a frequent basis this season. If there is one silver lining to Phil's season, it's that he's been surprisingly effective on low post touches. He's only had a couple opportunities, but he's made the most of them and demonstrated footwork you'd associate with a more seasoned big man. He just needs to continue to build on every game, pick Ollie's ear, study tape, and continue to improve his pick and roll chemistry with Bazz and Boat.
Amida - Nine minutes, four fouls, one turnover, three blocks, zero of anything else. I suppose that type of stat line has become the baseline for him. He doesn't rebound, he doesn't score, and he can't stay on the floor - but God, when he's out there, he's fun to watch. It's probably unrealistic to expect the type of exorbitant improvements some of us our hoping for this season, but by his junior year he could be a force along the lines of Thabeet.
Tyler - It seems like Tyler's production dwindles at a linear rate for every minute he spends on the floor. Ideally, he should be playing 10-15 minutes a game. And for spurts tonight, he provided some excellent energy off the bench, rebounded at a high level, and scored four points. I look at the Syracuse game in the BET three years ago as the baseline to what Tyler should aspire to for the remainder of his career. He should come off the bench for 5-7 minute pinches per half with contagious energy.
Bazz - There is a reason I saved Shabazz for last. He was amazing tonight - throw out all the superlatives you want, but the highest compliment I can pay him is this: UConn had no business winning that game, and yet we did anyway because of his brilliance. I know we said that more than a handful of times during the 2011 season in regards to Kemba, and even if Bazz is maybe an echelon below what Kemba was, he's cut from the same cloth. His jump shot is comically precise and the kid has the same knack as Kemba in terms of being able to reach down for a little extra in especially important moments of the game. Duffy tweeted out something staggering today - I think he said seven of Shabazz's baskets either tied the game or put UConn ahead. You know you've arrived as a bonafide superstar when everybody in the building knows your taking the shot and you still nail it. Yeah, he turned the ball over seven times, but when your usage rate is as high as Bazz's was tonight, that's not far above the mean. I'm not sure people understand how remarkably efficient you have to be to score 27 points, against a high level defense that knows they have to stop you, on 14 shots. He's a brilliant player and there's nobody else in the country I'd rather have.
I know I tend to over-analyze things, but the only thing you really need to know right now is we've won six games and lost none. The passion and energy exuded by Kevin Ollie is infectious and this program hasn't had as much momentum in at least three years. For now, all of the off-court drama - from conference realignment, NCAA sanctions, APR violations, post-game twitter rants - seems to have been alleviated and replaced with an on court product that's on par with pretty much everybody in the country. So far this season has been just as awesome as I thought it would be, and the best part is, they're only scratching the surface. Good night and go Huskies.
