A small taste of life without Brimah | Page 2 | The Boneyard

A small taste of life without Brimah

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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.
 
mauconnfan said:
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!
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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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
mauconnfan said:
They're still going to shoot it from there right? They had a game plan and they stuck to it without Brimah playing.
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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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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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?
 
pnow15 said:
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?
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I can't see DHam guarding any starting SF in the NBA
 
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."
 
Palatine said:
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.
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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.
 
Post game, Ollie called Brimah one of the best defenders in America.

Yet the foolish still dispute his value.
 
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?
 
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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.
 
Even if you look past the 28 paint points - which you shouldn't - Brimah is still a huge part of how UConn guards the three point line. The help structure gets stretched with him out, and as a result guys aren't quite as close to shooters as they may normally be. Acting like his presence wouldn't have made a significant impact when a 6'2 kid hit 8 two point field goals is pretty bizarre. More than anything, this game exposed how bad the perimeter defense has been pretty much all season.

That said, pretty concerning performance. This isn't nearly the defensive team I anticipated them being. Miller, especially, has just baffled me in some of these games. He drifts so far off his man when he's hedging that you wonder if his role at Cornell was completely different. Hamilton has reached Kyle Wiltjer level with his defense at this point, kid constantly gets worked on the ball and his off-ball defense is probably the worst on the team. Gibbs is Gibbs, I just don't see him ever being somebody you don't try to hide. Even when the effort is there with him, he's just not a great athlete. We're at the point where it's tough to have Hamilton and Gibbs on the floor at the same time.

We can make all the excuses we want about the opponent, winter break, the XL center...but when you shoot 53% from three against UMass-Lowell and win by nine there is a problem.

But, they just played their best defensive game of the season against Ohio State, and if anything is clear at this point, it's that Ollie likes to play the long-game with his defense. This was a game where we could have basically switched everything and won by 30...but they stayed true to the schemes and that's probably for the better in the long-run, even if the defensive rotations are a mess now.

Even if there are only 37 people in the crowd in Hartford Wednesday, even if it's two days before Christmas, you'd like to see a complete performance defensively, because the game against Texas on the 29th is going to be here soon and you can't expect to just flip a switch for that one.
 
jdb50 said:
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.
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That 6'2" player Jahadi was a strong 220 with fantastic footwork, strength and moves inside. Impressive.
 
donyell34 said:
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.
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0-2 my ass. He wouldn't have added a thing against a team who would've ran him outside to guard wh0? No one. I'm not saying, again, we're not better with him in the line up, my point is against them we weren't better with or without. Anyone thinking otherwise is fn whacked!
 
mauconnfan said:
0-2 my ass. He wouldn't have added a thing against a team who would've ran him outside to guard wh0? No one. I'm not saying, again, we're not better with him in the line up, my point is against them we weren't better with or without. Anyone thinking otherwise is fn whacked!
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Wow promised myself to completely ignore this thread but this is what happens when you play 18 with 8 guys and a handle of Captain at Lymans - then head over to the Time Out Tavern for another 3 hours!! Holidays are fun, holiday with golf are whacked. I'm fn whacked, some of you are fn whacked LOL.

But everyone gets an opinion here, sorry to swear because not all of you are whacked and that goes for many who hold AB higher than I, it's your opinion. You disagree and I disagree but we ultimately love the Huskies. Time to move on

NEXT
 
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mauconnfan said:
Wow promised myself to completely ignore this thread but this is what happens when you play 18 with 8 guys and a handle of Captain at Lymans - then head over to the Time Out Tavern for another 3 hours!! Holidays are fun, holiday with golf are whacked. I'm fn whacked, some of you are fn whacked LOL.

But everyone gets an opinion here, sorry to swear because not all of you are whacked and that goes for many who hold AB higher than I, it's your opinion. You disagree and I disagree but we ultimately love the Huskies. Time to move on

NEXT
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From Don Amore's "what we learned" article.

1. Life without Amida Brimah isn't pretty: When teams play UConn, the opposing coach is sure to mention Brimah as a difference-maker, a rim protector. In this game, the first UConn has played without Brimah, who sat out with an injury, it was apparent what a difference he makes defensively. Without the safety net he provides, guards were beat for easy River Hawks baskets. They scored 28 points in the paint and that's not what they were planning to do going in. So we know how valuable Brimah is, and we know the rest of the Huskies need to figure out how to play defense without him.
 
Contrast.

Look at the video of the UML game. I am a believer that Enoch will develop into a solid college player and maybe an NBA guy. But, watch his presence and mindset as UML guys come through the land towards the rim versus what is Amida Brimah's general disposition. Brimah is poised to play the role of goalkeeper. Maybe you are pointing out his poor positioning on defensive assignment, versus Enoch who is pointedly focused on his man. I don't think hardly any of the easy UML hoops in the paint would have happened if AB is in the game.
 
mauconnfan said:
Wow promised myself to completely ignore this thread but this is what happens when you play 18 with 8 guys and a handle of Captain at Lymans - then head over to the Time Out Tavern for another 3 hours!! Holidays are fun, holiday with golf are whacked. I'm fn whacked, some of you are fn whacked LOL.

But everyone gets an opinion here, sorry to swear because not all of you are whacked and that goes for many who hold AB higher than I, it's your opinion. You disagree and I disagree but we ultimately love the Huskies. Time to move on

NEXT
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When I first saw you quoting yourself, I thought you were arguing with yourself! I guess that would take 36 holes?
 
Wise2 said:
A much larger taste now....Ugh. Those that didn't value Amida are going to eat their words in a few weeks unless we can adjust
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Ridley will eat Enoch. Phil did kind of stop them last year though didn't he?
 
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