Anderson is our key to a winning season.

[Tommyboy]

4 guards on the roster, one of whom has been injured so much he has missed nearly two full seasons.

How in the world did this coaching staff think 4 guards including Gilbert would work out well? There are 13 scholarships. Do you really need to load up with 9 forwards and centers?

Last night was a preview to how things will look in a handful of upcoming games, even with Larrier. This simply can't go on after this season.

The roster is so poorly put together its frightening. It looks like every other team I see on TV has multiple people who can dribble more than a second without giving it up, knockdown shots, and have players that have seen a weight room. This is all on Ollie and staff.

 

[KodiacKemba]

Too many times Anderson just waste his dribble, not really going anywhere, nonchalantly plays with it then loses it or forget about the shot clock .. unacceptable being a 5th year guy .. I mean he’ll throw in one dime to Carlton for an easy layup but that’s occasionally .. oh and he can’t shoot

 

[jibsey]

I’m rolling on the floor laughing that Anderson is our key to us being good this year. KO got him instead of a decent 3 point shooting guard based on what? He won some games at the buzzer last year.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I do think a roster next year with Akinjo, AG, Vital, Wilson, Whaley, Carlton, Diarra, and Adams can be good. Even better if someone knocks some sense into TL and tells him he needs another year. There's relatively good positional distribution there as well.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Too many times Anderson just waste his dribble, not really going anywhere, nonchalantly plays with it then loses it or forget about the shot clock .. unacceptable being a 5th year guy .. I mean he’ll throw in one dime to Carlton for an easy layup but that’s occasionally .. oh and he can’t shoot

It's beyond any kind of real analysis, he's just a bad player at this level.

 

[mauconnfan]

Anderson just isn't the guy who can play those kind of minutes at this level. Worst thing that happened to him was Gilbert going down as he became someone who had to stay on the court more. But honestly didn't think he would be as bad as he has for quite a few games now, either lost confidence completely or gave us fake hope early on with his heroic efforts agains lesser competition.

I guess we kind of know that answer now, too bad.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Why are two 5th year grad student transfers getting significant minutes, (starts even!) when (1) we’re not winning, (2) have zero chance of getting an NCAA bid, and (3) the two players won’t be back next year?

Play the freshman. Start building a team for the 2018-2019 season now. At least there’s something to be gained down the road by doing that.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Why are two 5th year grad student transfers getting significant minutes, (starts even!) when (1) we’re not winning, (2) have zero chance of getting an NCAA bid, and (3) the two players won’t be back next year?

Play the freshman. Start building a team for the 2018-2019 season now. At least there’s something to be gained down the road by doing that.

Beyond the walkons there literally isnt another guard on the roster than Vital, Adams, and Anderson.

 

[HuskyBoi]

anderson is worrying me. not only is his shooting slump just continuing incredibly, he seems to lose handle of the ball and that alley oop when we were down 20+ on that 4v1 honestly made me laugh. the only reason we bought him in is to be another ball handler and he can't even seem to do that most of the time.

 

[Hi-Low]

I think it's safe to say KO is the only coach in Division 1 basketball that would play Anderson 39 mins in a game.

 

[Coach J]

Not for nothing if he gives you nothing else I doubt Mike Noyes would turn it over at the rate some of these guys do - and if KO plugged him in once and awhile it might give these guys a kick in the ass knowing that he will yank them, right now they have no fear of ever coming out so they do whatever the hell they want. Also not for nothing but what is the purpose of keeping our starters in vs they're walk-ons in a 25 point game at the end. The last thing we need is a freak injury to one of them in meaningless action - AND THEY DON'T DESERVE TO BE OUT THERE AFTER THEIR SH_T-_SS PERFORMANCE ANYWAY!

As an aside I wonder how much of a difference a healthy Jurwan Durham would have helped this year?

 

[QDOG5]

Why are two 5th year grad student transfers getting significant minutes, (starts even!) when (1) we’re not winning, (2) have zero chance of getting an NCAA bid, and (3) the two players won’t be back next year?

Play the freshman. Start building a team for the 2018-2019 season now. At least there’s something to be gained down the road by doing that.

KO is fighting for his job and will play the group he feels will give him the best chance of winning. That will stunt the development of the freshman. Diarra needed to play more than 3 minutes last night. I've been down on AA for awhile but I think Pals point is if AA can regain some semblance of the game he had early in the season it would help the team get a few more W's. He's going to be on the court regardless so let's hope he finds his mojo.

 

[Kenny11]

Why not?

Because he is the only player that will come to the ball to try to help out Adams when he is double teamed.

But we need to find ways to play Anderson less. Having Larrier out made that impossible.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

As an aside I wonder how much of a difference a healthy Jurwan Durham would have helped this year?

If he’s healthy, with an off-season to get stronger? Big time.

 

[GetTheFacts]

I think I have more of a problem with Vital than Anderson.

It's tough for me to root for a guard that thinks he's an offensive superstar (shooting 30% from deep, 38% from the field) and celebrates after hitting a 3 despite shooting 0-5 prior to that...

And on top of that, he has no desire to create for others (1.4 assists per game). I understand there's a void in talent on this roster but the solution is not jacking up 12 three's in a single game (making only 3) and only recording 1 assist.

Anderson doesn't facilitate very well either, but at least he isn't crippling the offense with bad shot selection.

 

[cohenzone]

If he is the key to winning, we have a huge problem.

We have a huge problem.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Paaaaaaleeees! I am not impressed AT ALL!

 

[UCweCONN]

Winning season??! Who cares. We're irrelevant. Another NCAA Tournament I won't fill out brackets or watch.

 

[3rdbass]

OP has a good point about Anderson. He can penetrate and pass the ball. The problem is he always waits too far in the shot clock to start his drive. He probably does this hoping that JA can get open so he can pass it to him to put up a prayer shot. He needs to run the offense earlier in the shot clock and penetrate sooner. I think better stuff will come out of this. He surely can't wait to end of the shot clock to rush a penetration or be forced into an outside shot which we all know he stinks in doing.

 

[Glastonhusky]

Forget our W-L record, the real problem for this program now and going forward is our roster. This isn't a rebuild its a demolition. The foreseeable future will be much worse before any shot of getting better. Can't even imagine what next year will look like without Larrier or Adams. Actually, I think we saw a glimpse of the future last night, just subtract another 15 points or so.

That's my biggest fear for next season. Adams and Larrier leave and Gilbert still isn't ready. This team needs a major talent upgrade ASAP. How exactly we do this, I have no idea. Maybe a 5 star kids falls into our lap, maybe a Juco or foreign player or players. Between injuries and the defections, we basically lost a whole class. You just don't recover from something like that in a year or even 2 years, unless you're Duke or Kentucky.

 

[3rdbass]

That's my biggest fear for next season. Adams and Larrier leave and Gilbert still isn't ready. This team needs a major talent upgrade ASAP. How exactly we do this, I have no idea. Maybe a 5 star kids falls into our lap, maybe a Juco or foreign player or players. Between injuries and the defections, we basically lost a whole class. You just don't recover from something like that in a year or even 2 years, unless you're Duke or Kentucky.

Well certainly not when you are replacing them with DO and KW. Guys who seem to haven't played basketball their whole life. LOL!

 

[Glastonhusky]

Well certainly not when you are replacing them with DO and KW. Guys who seem to haven't played basketball their whole life. LOL!

Yeah, we had to scramble last spring and this is what we ended up with. I like our 2018 class, I just don't know if there's a kid in the class who can make an impact from day 1, maybe Sid?

 

[Stainmaster]

I don’t know where else to put this, but this seemed like the least serious currently active thread, so...

Last night, I dreamt that KO fired both Chill and Kill midseason and replaced one of them with Rasheed Wallace as a bigs coach. At this point, I feel like that’s the only key to a winning season we have left.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

I expected little to nothing from Anderson, Big Dave, Williams and Cobb. Pretty much what we are getting. Although once in a while Big Dave has contributed.

Would have been better off rolling the dice on a couple lesser recruited jump shooters.