Another missed opportunity for Vital

[Waquoit]

But tonight i see him taking 30 footers with a hand in his face... Dont get it.

It's like Scott Burrell's senior year. No one was left on the team from before and he assumed the go-to guy role without having go-to guy game.

 

[UCfor3]

Imagine rashad Anderson as the top player on a Uconn team.

Vital is on a similar tier

I would take Rashard 10 days out of 10.

Me too. Rashad was better than Vital. One of my favorite all time Huskies.

 

[Hurleyman216]

Not sure why all the criticism for Vital. The guy has been playing his heart out all year and has quite literally been our most consistent player by far. He had a bad game last night, but I don't see the point in calling him out. I'm more pissed at Cobb who single-handedly gave up about 30 points due to his total lack of effort on defense. I imagine CV is as frustrated as the rest of us. Imagine having 4 teammates you're playing with and you know that passing to 3 of the 4 of them will likely result in a travel, missed shot or some other stupid turnover. He tried to play hero ball, but honestly aside from Polley our team offense was such garbage last night that I can't blame him. I don't care if I never see Tarin Smith play another bball game in my life. Might was well just put in B Adams at this point and let him get some experience. How we let such a crap team shoot almost 60% for the game is the major concern I have. We clearly didn't come to play yesterday and that falls on both the team and the coach.

 

[the Q]

Not sure why all the criticism for Vital. The guy has been playing his heart out all year and has quite literally been our most consistent player by far. He had a bad game last night, but I don't see the point in calling him out. I'm more pissed at Cobb who single-handedly gave up about 30 points due to his total lack of effort on defense. I imagine CV is as frustrated as the rest of us. Imagine having 4 teammates you're playing with and you know that passing to 3 of the 4 of them will likely result in a travel, missed shot or some other stupid turnover. He tried to play hero ball, but honestly aside from Polley our team offense was such garbage last night that I can't blame him. I don't care if I never see Tarin Smith play another bball game in my life. Might was well just put in B Adams at this point and let him get some experience. How we let such a crap team shoot almost 60% for the game is the major concern I have. We clearly didn't come to play yesterday and that falls on both the team and the coach.

Polley and vital are spot up shooters.

We need more boards from Polley.

Vital is who is he. He doesn’t have the handle to create more and struggles to finish in traffic.

But he’s a plus defender, rebounder and spot up shooter.

He doesn’t have an alpha dog game. At best he can be used like a rip Hamilton running all over the place off screens. Asking him to put the ball on the ground is not a winning formula.

 

[UCfor3]

Not sure why all the criticism for Vital. The guy has been playing his heart out all year and has quite literally been our most consistent player by far. He had a bad game last night, but I don't see the point in calling him out. I'm more pissed at Cobb who single-handedly gave up about 30 points due to his total lack of effort on defense. I imagine CV is as frustrated as the rest of us. Imagine having 4 teammates you're playing with and you know that passing to 3 of the 4 of them will likely result in a travel, missed shot or some other stupid turnover. He tried to play hero ball, but honestly aside from Polley our team offense was such garbage last night that I can't blame him. I don't care if I never see Tarin Smith play another bball game in my life. Might was well just put in B Adams at this point and let him get some experience. How we let such a crap team shoot almost 60% for the game is the major concern I have. We clearly didn't come to play yesterday and that falls on both the team and the coach.

People are responding to the OP explaining why he can't be elite. It's a realistic evaluation. If Vital is one of our best or most consistent players, then we are cooked. On a good team he is a shooter off the bench. The "imagine" scenario is what Jalen has dealt with for the better part of 4 years.

 

[JB75]

Rashad is 10 times better than vital Different types of players but please. Don’t insult shoddy. Not even close

 

[intlzncster]

I've said this since day one, but it sucks that it took an injury for most of us to finally see how dependent Vital, and this team, is on Jalen. Vital, along with team, desperately needs a play maker.

Why did most of you think that? I sure as hell didn't. You don't remove a leading scorer, and frankly, best player, and get better. I don't care if he's a one man band.

 

[intlzncster]

I would take Rashard 10 days out of 10.

You'd get a much better shooter, but worse everything else.

Rashad was pretty one dimensional. But that could all be covered up by the other worldly talent he had around him.

He had one elite skill, and balls the size of grapefruits. Loved that guy.

 

[HooperScooper]

I would take Rashard 10 days out of 10.

Who's Rashard?

 

[intlzncster]

In addition - not convinced that Dan Hurley has also pulled in a bonafide sharp shooter

Dead eye? Who knows? But both those kids can shoot. And for a 4, Akok can as well.

I'm much more concerned about beef down low.

Next year hinges on 2 things: 1. our current liability in the post, and 2. Gilbert's health. Neither of which I'm psyched about.

 

[Fishy]

Yes, asking Vital to be an elite player is asking way too much. He should be better than he was tonight though.

He's not an elite player, of course, He's not even a very good player.

He's a role player forced into having to be more.

He's not a plus-athlete, so he's easily covered when he's the focus of an offense and you can't hide him on defense. (Especially on this team where you have about six guys who need to be hidden.) He's in a position to fail on nights like last night - not his fault. He still shows up and tries.

 

[Kitaman]

Current UConn men's basketball status: Christian Vital right now is our best player.

Ponder that.

 

[the Q]

I would take Rashard 10 days out of 10.

Me too. Rashad was better than Vital. One of my favorite all time Huskies.

Rashad is 10 times better than vital Different types of players but please. Don’t insult shoddy. Not even close

You'd get a much better shooter, but worse everything else.

Rashad was pretty one dimensional. But that could all be covered up by the other worldly talent he had around him.

He had one elite skill, and balls the size of grapefruits. Loved that guy.

The numbers aren’t nearly as supporting.

Vital has almost as many win shares in 3 years as rashad in 4

He’s a better ft shooter (typically a better indication of shooting talent)

Anderson is 2% better form 3, but also played in the old court with the 3pt line a foot closer.

Anderson had huge grapefruits and a better shot selection.

 

[intlzncster]

The numbers aren’t nearly as supporting.

Vital has almost as many win shares in 3 years as rashad in 4

He’s a better ft shooter (typically a better indication of shooting talent)

Anderson is 2% better form 3, but also played in the old court with the 3pt line a foot closer.

Anderson had huge grapefruits and a better shot selection.

Yes, but you can't leave aside the fact that he had far, far, far, far more talent to play with. Of course your 2pt % will be higher in that regard. He was a 4th/5th option. He also had better shot selection, because there were far more open shots to be had, given the talent difference and a well run offense.

Vital is a 5th option who has been forced to be 2nd/3rd his entire career. And yes, he has natural poor shot selection on top.

Rashard also had better coaching.

I'm not even trying to bash Rashad. I loved the guy. But he was limited as a player. He had one elite skill: being able to hit big @!#$!@ shots. And on a good team, that's usually more useful than being an all around marginal player.

 

[the Q]

Yes, but you can't leave aside the fact that he had far, far, far, far more talent to play with. Of course your 2pt % will be higher in that regard. He was a 4th/5th option. He also had better shot selection, because there were far more open shots to be had, given the talent difference and a well run offense.

Vital is a 5th option who has been forced to be 2nd/3rd his entire career. And yes, he has natural poor shot selection on top.

Rashard also had better coaching.

I'm not even trying to bash Rashad. I loved the guy. But he was limited as a player. He had one elite skill: being able to hit big @!#$!@ shots. And on a good team, that's usually more useful than being an all around marginal player.

Oh I’m not either.

I’m More protecting vital than anything else.

Their talent levels based on role are basically the same. The problem is so is Polley and everyone else right now

 

[intlzncster]

Oh I’m not either.

I’m More protecting vital than anything else.

Their talent levels based on role are basically the same. The problem is so is Polley and everyone else right now

Not gonna lie, but the first thought in my head when you mentioned 'win shares' was: 'win shares'? You actually have to win to have 'win shares' no? hahaha

 

[Waquoit]

Not sure why all the criticism for Vital.

It's more criticism of the folks that have overrated Vital more than Vital, I think. Saying he's on the same tier as a guy that was on the NCAA all-tournament team is madness.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I loved Rashad Anderson and I'd love to have him on this team (or any UConn team) but he was about as one-dimensional as it gets. That one dimension happened to be making tons of jump shots at big moments, which is a hell of a dimension.

 

[superjohn]

He's not an elite player, of course, He's not even a very good player.

He's a role player forced into having to be more.

He's not a plus-athlete, so he's easily covered when he's the focus of an offense and you can't hide him on defense. (Especially on this team where you have about six guys who need to be hidden.) He's in a position to fail on nights like last night - not his fault. He still shows up and tries.

Exactly. He's not a plus athlete, he doesn't have a plus handle, not a good passer, and is a streak shooter. He always plays hard and rebounds great for his position. He is a guy you want to come in for 10 minutes a game to inject some life into your team buy draining a couple threes and playing hardnosed defense. Asking him to be our best player shows what a mess things are.

 

[BigEastLuva]

Man. A month ago CV is our go-to guy and now he’s terrible.

 

[Fishy]

Man. A month ago CV is our go-to guy and now he’s terrible.

He was never the team's go-to guy. And he's not terrible.

Please stop wasting our bandwidth.

 

[BigEastLuva]

He was never the team's go-to guy. And he's not terrible.

Please stop wasting our bandwidth.

First, see the “CV has become our go-to guy by far!”.

Second, punch yourself in the throat. You frequently have the worst assessments on this entire board. A 1,000 point scorer even on a bad team is still a very good player.

 

[ucp990411]

Who's Rashard?

Ok. You are right. My mistake

 

[UCfor3]

Man. A month ago CV is our go-to guy and now he’s terrible.

Nobody said he is terrible. He is just not elite and if he is a go to guy we are in trouble. There are plenty of miles between terrible and elite go to guy. Hes a solid player that is kind of thrust into being more than what he is capable of. Nice role piece. As far as Rashad goes, you can give me percentages and stats all day long. The guy was one of the most clutch players in UConn history. The shot in the corner against Duke. We don't win #2 without that. The shot against Washington to force OT against the Brandon Roy team. Ridiculous. The sweet 16 game against Alabama where he was so hot he was blowing on his hands. He fell out of bed and hit more big clutch shots than so many players. His one dimension was lethal when it counted most. His impact went beyond the numbers. You just never felt like you were out of a game with him on the floor. He was a weapon plain and simple.

 

[HooperScooper]

Ok. You are right. My mistake

Kind of a running joke on here because so many people call him Rashard. So you're not the first one to do that and you won't be the last.