After watching first 3 reg games + 2 Pre season games

[scrappy2.0]

Here are the negatives that I can potentially see.

A. I will wonder if we are willing to ride a "hot" player(s) even though we have the quality bench. I mean if one or two of these guys just start going off--I always think its better to ride the hand even though the subs are very good. We'll have to wait and see if that happens

B. Daniel Hamilton possibly giving up as the lead scorer to become too much of a facilitator. Fine line there?

C. Lastly Our big players have not got out well on deep shooters.

 

[Leebo]

Someone has hacked scrappy's account.

 

[Hysteria]

I think Ollie will ride the hot player , he wanted to play a ton of people early in the season . I think we still sub a ton but imho the core players are going to play the most minutes .
Calhoun and Cassell are playing too much for my liking against a foe like Maryland or Michigan ... the core starters play more--- I hope

 

[JMick]

I think we've seeing a very common coaching practice - lots of new players, let's see how different lineups look. I'm sure Ollie knows his rotations and subs based on practice, but he wants to see how different variations look considering we have 2 new starters and 2 freshman. Setting up a bunch of different lineups lets him study film and see what will or won't work. Putting different players into situations they may eventually need to be in when someone is in foul trouble, and knowing what to do with that specific lineup, is extremely important.

 

[Kitaman]

Wow!! Should we start looking for Srappy 3.0 or start saying our goodbyes to everyone we know?

 

[huskiesNhoos]

What happened to the unbridled optimism and enthusiasm? Does this mean we're not winning the NC? I feel sad...

 

[Rocktheworld]

Hell hath frozen over

 

[scrappy2.0]

What happened to the unbridled optimism and enthusiasm? Does this mean we're not winning the NC? I feel sad...

Ive seen everyone in CBB and there is NO team that we cant beat--that I know right now. I like to think that if we play an A game we are not beatable--and I believe that. Almost every team has negatives or potential negatives and so I simply pointed them out.

 

[jfuchs91]

Hamilton is our best and most important player, but that doesn't necessarily mean he has to be our leading scorer. He's the de facto point guard of our offense. He's averaging 6.3 assists per game and we have the scoring weapons around him - Gibbs, Purvis, Miller, lobs to Brimah - that he doesn't even need to crack double digits for our team to excel.

What I will say is that I'm still not sure who our 'end of shotclock, get us a bucket' guy is going to be. Hamilton, Gibbs, and Purvis are all viable options. Even Jalen has flashed some ability to create shots off the dribble. I'd also like to see more block touches for Miller to see what he can do.

We have so many weapons. It's going to be fun to see how all the pieces fit together by the end of the season. This Atlantis tournament is going to show us a lot about this team.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Here are the negatives that I can potentially see.

A. I will wonder if we are willing to ride a "hot" player(s) even though we have the quality bench. I mean if one or two of these guys just start going off--I always think its better to ride the hand even though the subs are very good. We'll have to wait and see if that happens

B. Daniel Hamilton possibly giving up as the lead scorer to become too much of a facilitator. Fine line there?

C. Lastly Our big players have not got out well on deep shooters.

One thing that im interested to see is if guys attack the basket when we need a basket instead of jacking up 3`s or guys standing around while one guy dribbles around and jacks one up.

 

[Palatine]

Another negative, we had five turnovers against Furman. Like to get that down to four.

 

[polycom]

We need to close out much better than we have been.

 

[J-dog]

I think this version of Hamilton is the best thing that has happened to the team this year… We know he can score. Getting teammates involved makes all the guys around him that much better. And it eliminates guys just standing around & watching...

At this point, I also believe Hamilton has to be the end of game go-to-guy… That doesn't mean he'll be taking the shot but the ball should be in his hands. His ability to get into the lane, find his own shot or pass it off to a teammate will make it difficult for the opposition to defend…

Now if Jalen keeps improving, that opens up another option…

Bottom-line is they have multiple guys that can make an end of game bucket which is a big-time advantage that most of the competition can't match.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think this version of Hamilton is the best thing that has happened to the team this year… We know he can score. Getting teammates involved makes all the guys around him that much better. And it eliminates guys just standing around & watching...

At this point, I also believe Hamilton has to be the end of game go-to-guy… That doesn't mean he'll be taking the shot but the ball should be in his hands. His ability to get into the lane, find his own shot or pass it off to a teammate will make it difficult for the opposition to defend…

Now if Jalen keeps improving, that opens up another option…

Bottom-line is they have multiple guys that can make an end of game bucket which is a big-time advantage that most of the competition can't match.

I like this version too, but do we know he can score consistently? His shot is not pretty and I know he can get to the rack but can he finish and be that 15-17 pts a game guy if he wanted to be? I'm not positive of that but I love his game and do like the ball in his hands. He's just a very good overall player but my preference is for him to be setting up people for the last shot if it comes to it. We have guys who will want the ball at crunch time though, I'm not too worried about that. I do want to see more throwing it in to the post and getting it back out for open looks rather than the usual passing around the perimeter. That needs improvement.

 

[J-dog]

I like this version too, but do we know he can score consistently? His shot is not pretty and I know he can get to the rack but can he finish and be that 15-17 pts a game guy if he wanted to be? I'm not positive of that but I love his game and do like the ball in his hands. He's just a very good overall player but my preference is for him to be setting up people for the last shot if it comes to it. We have guys who will want the ball at crunch time though, I'm not too worried about that. I do want to see more throwing it in to the post and getting it back out for open looks rather than the usual passing around the perimeter. That needs improvement.

Agreed… Once the competition improves, passing the ball around the perimeter over & over again can lead to some desperation heaves, especially with the shorter shot clock.

It will be interesting to see how we react to some man to man D… Not sure if Michigan will throw some at us… We know the Cuse won't...

 

[HooperScooper]

We need to close out much better than we have been.

Close out on three point shooters or close out games?

 

[Marat]

Close out on three point shooters or close out games?

Pretty sure he means close out on shooters. That's one glaring defensive issue.

 

[Jaker]

If we can just get more offense / defense out of Nolan and Brimah, we will be in great shape..

 

[jibsey]

By the end of Friday our knowledge base on the team goes up a lot, but things look promising to say the least.

 

[polycom]

Close out on three point shooters or close out games?

Close out on three point shooters.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I think this version of Hamilton is the best thing that has happened to the team this year… We know he can score. Getting teammates involved makes all the guys around him that much better. And it eliminates guys just standing around & watching...

At this point, I also believe Hamilton has to be the end of game go-to-guy… That doesn't mean he'll be taking the shot but the ball should be in his hands. His ability to get into the lane, find his own shot or pass it off to a teammate will make it difficult for the opposition to defend…

Now if Jalen keeps improving, that opens up another option…

Bottom-line is they have multiple guys that can make an end of game bucket which is a big-time advantage that most of the competition can't match.

I still think that Sterling Gibbs will be the guy with the ball in his hands in crunch time situations. I see the way we have played so far as being KO's way of building confidence for individuals and cohesion for the team. Against Michigan, it's time to win and I'm expecting the minutes to shift to the starters and our PG to be the leader in key situations. It will be interesting to see, although I could live with UConn winning big and not needed crunch-time performances.

 

[Kitaman]

If we can just get more offense / defense out of Nolan and Brimah, we will be in great shape..

I thought I was looking at last year's threads. LOL

Based on history, don't wait for it, especially Nolan. I posted earlier its seems to be a committee thing again but Enoch can be added in the production column. The bench with Brimah is our Center position. Just saying the total of the parts equal the sum.

 

[J-dog]

I still think that Sterling Gibbs will be the guy with the ball in his hands in crunch time situations. I see the way we have played so far as being KO's way of building confidence for individuals and cohesion for the team. Against Michigan, it's time to win and I'm expecting the minutes to shift to the starters and our PG to be the leader in key situations. It will be interesting to see, although I could live with UConn winning big and not needed crunch-time performances.

Gibbs is certainly another option… I just having really seen him running the offense much yet. He's certainly shown the ability to get off a quick 3-ball (speedy trigger) whenever he wants but I haven't seen him get into the lane much or drive to the hoop. Most likely due to the nature of how these first few games have played out.

Looking forward to seeing that part of his game...