A small taste of life without Brimah

[gtcam]

Brimah or no Brimah - the D sucked
DHam played D with lead feet, Gibbs was the Statue of Liberty. JA might as well have stayed in his dorm room and SCJr could have joined him
Defensively this team should NEVER allow this team to score that many points
UConn shoots over 60% vs. this team and wins by 9???????????
There is a real lack of pride in these guys

 

[UconnFanNVa]

I think we have this problem with or without amida, but it was magnified without him. I think our perimeter defenders definitely sagged thinking eventually they will start missing three's and it never really happened. If amida is playing in think they step up to defendthe 3 better.

On the flipside any time we play a team that can't score inside and relies on the 3, they seem to light is up... I think this was partially just more of that.

Either way I think everyone can agree this team is better with amida than without him

 

[UconnFanDC]

You guys want to know the truth here, 2nd half? Because all of you will look silly not me if you want I will go possession by possession in the 2nd half ? Your call but the truth is he would have had a chance to maybe block, and that's maybe depending on where his guy was, about 4-5 shots and that's it in the whole 2nd half. Again your call? I have them. They weren't scoring from the interior and Lord knows he wasn't guarding anyone outside of it.

Not here to tell you we wouldn't have been better or would have been, fact is they sucked as a team on defense. If you think he was the sole reason he wasn't and he would have hardly been a difference. hey may have had more alley oops but our offense wasn't the issue here now was it? Watch the damn game his absence was a tiny factor in the pitiful display on that end of the floor you saw!

True

 

[Palatine]

You guys want to know the truth here, 2nd half? Because all of you will look silly not me if you want I will go possession by possession in the 2nd half ? Your call but the truth is he would have had a chance to maybe block, and that's maybe depending on where his guy was, about 4-5 shots and that's it in the whole 2nd half. Again your call? I have them. They weren't scoring from the interior and Lord knows he wasn't guarding anyone outside of it.

Not here to tell you we wouldn't have been better or would have been, fact is they sucked as a team on defense. If you think he was the sole reason he wasn't and he would have hardly been a difference. hey may have had more alley oops but our offense wasn't the issue here now was it? Watch the damn game his absence was a tiny factor in the pitiful display on that end of the floor you saw!

And how many shots does he change? Your estimate. And how many guys don't even go into the lane because he's there?

There's a reason he was voted AAC DPOY by the coaches. He changes the game.

With Brimah we win by 25 or 30.

 

[Pudge]

Horrible team defense. Brimah masks our horrible team defense but we have some basic problems. We need on court chemistry/cohesion and we're not going to get it when we have no established PG and one year senior transfers coming in.

Silly

 

[mauconnfan]

What the thread should have been was what is everyone doing out there n the defensive end that's all. The other teams game plan was drive middle, kick out and they did it basically for 85-90% of the game. No one figured it out and they played crappy D all around. DHam was awful on that end, Jalen not good Gibbs nope, Miller nope, Facey nope. They didn't rotate, with or stay with their men. This wasn't a game for him to shine in at all but I know someone was gong to post it.

 

[David 76]

UML scored 28 points in the paint Mau. Those little guys were not backing up their man and hitting layups with Brimah in.

 

[Chief00]

Guys need to take responsibility for their man - that's why UConn plays man to man.

 

[Rocktheworld]

You guys want to know the truth here, 2nd half? Because all of you will look silly not me if you want I will go possession by possession in the 2nd half ? Your call but the truth is he would have had a chance to maybe block, and that's maybe depending on where his guy was, about 4-5 shots and that's it in the whole 2nd half. Again your call? I have them. They weren't scoring from the interior and Lord knows he wasn't guarding anyone outside of it.

Not here to tell you we wouldn't have been better or would have been, fact is they sucked as a team on defense. If you think he was the sole reason he wasn't and he would have hardly been a difference. hey may have had more alley oops but our offense wasn't the issue here now was it? Watch the damn game his absence was a tiny factor in the pitiful display on that end of the floor you saw!

Again, you are still looking at raw numbers. Half of it doesn't even matter how many he would actually block - like Thabeet - players are more cautious even entering the paint in the first place when he is on the floor. The angles and trajectories they have to take to make shot in the paint are completely different when he is in the game. His mere being there changes the game. He doesn't even need to leave his feet to have a mark on the defensive end of the floor.

Nobody said his absence was the only reason the D was bad. But it is markedly worse. You're only arguing against yourself if you're going to build strawmen.

 

[Huskybass]

Brimah completely changes the game on the defensive end. To suggest anything else is just silly.

 

[RichZ]

I think the lack of Brimah was way more profound than Mau is willing to admit. Our guys seemed to hedge way too much on any penetration, and got caught leaving both the penetrator and the perimeter open. The have gotten used to letting their man penetrate, and letting AB's presence influence their shot. They didn't know what to do without him in there.

Thank God for Rodney and Omar shooting lights out, and Dham owning the defensive boards in the 2nd half.

 

[David 76]

Guys need to take responsibility for their man - that's why UConn plays man to man.

What kind of defense is it if guys cover their zone?

 

[jdb50]

Watching UML shred us the entire game, open shots, driving and dishing in the paint, a 6"2'' player owning the paint was very concerning. Our guards were unable to stop them.

 

[huskymagic]

They're still going to shoot it from there right? They had a game plan and they stuck to it without Brimah playing.

As I have stated repeatedly, Brimah along with Hamilton are our two best players. Brimah is also by far our most impactful defender, intimidator, and prideful player. You trying to deny his OBVIOUS importance to our team is hilarious. Your small ball lineup which again I have stated numerous times is not and will not be the answer to this team's problems. Gibbs is a zero on defense with no clue how to play point guard. Jalen Adams was clearly super tentative and scared to step on toes out there tonight, which is why he was awful tonight. He and Sterling don't fit well together. Omar Calhoun has earned more minutes going forward. He is playing solid all around basketball ala Giffey.

 

[donyell34]

Mau you are 0-2 today. No one has ever said he is the second coming of Kareem or Wilt. We get it but your obsessed with Brimah. Do you dream about him? Covering for Beckham and slamming Cam was not one of your better ideas either. Get a good rest Mau.

 

[CTBasketball]

Brimah is a better deterrent than a defender. I think having him in the game would have helped a bit, but the team just plays horrible defense. Especially Hamilton - I can agree with him being left off the Wooden List just because he gets burned by every player he guards.

 

[Waquoit]

Wings!

 

[pnow15]

Well, DHam should be here another year or two. There is just no way any NBA coach can put him on the floor to defend anyone. Ollie has got to get his kid,s attention. Can you see DHam guarding Melo? Lebron?

 

[Matt1010]

Well, DHam should be here another year or two. There is just no way any NBA coach can put him on the floor to defend anyone. Ollie has got to get his kid,s attention. Can you see DHam guarding Melo? Lebron?

I can't see DHam guarding any starting SF in the NBA

 

[uconndoit]

Did Amida get the senior testiculo award for the OSU game?

"The Huskies were without 7-foot Amida Brimah, who suffered a testicular contusion against Ohio State last week. Brimah is averaging more than three blocked shots a game, and UConn clearly missed his defensive presence early on."

 

[3rdbass]

No rim protector, everyone sags back, we give up a lots of open threes. With AB back there were up on these guys and Brimah has their backs.

Watching this is a good lesson for the Brimah haters.

While Brimah would help especially inside we still pressured their slow guards. Our problem is we can't cover mobile bigs to save our lives. SM is sleepwalking on defense right now and our rotational help defense getting onto the shooters is horrible. We look so lethargic on defense today. AB would have helped but don't let this fool you to think we our a great defensive team with AB. Even with AB teams like New Hampshire, Gonzaga and Syracuse carved us up outside because they have mobile bigs that like to take the 3. This is our biggest deficiency I see on the team right now. I thought SM was going to be better at this since he played a 3 last year for Cornell. Oh well let's hope we get better in this area as the season goes forward.

 

[Palatine]

Post game, Ollie called Brimah one of the best defenders in America.

Yet the foolish still dispute his value.

 

[Walker11]

The defense has been questionable all year, with or without Brimah. Especially contesting 3 point shots. But Amidah definitely changes the way our guards defend. You can be a lot more aggressive when you have an elite rim protector. This is obvious, right?

 

[Drame]

Silly

You can't argue against anything that I said. What could you possibly disagree with..

 

[Pudge]

We've been successful with 5th year GS.

What does anyone remember about Kromah? That's right. He got better as February days started. It's not instantaneous. Last year, we had the problem of lack of veteran guile & experience at this level. Ollie was not wrong bringing in Gibbs & Miller; he saw a need in both & he went for the best possible fills. And they are, by all signs, solid citizens.

Until Jalen Adams really plays a consistent high level ... this is it. Gibbs is the guard matched with Purvis. Hamilton brings a lot of ball handling.