Antwoine Anderson UCONN Commit | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Antwoine Anderson UCONN Commit

Chin Diesel said:
Is a grad transfer Anderson better for UConn next year than a freshman MAL?
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That's a stretch, maybe for just next year, but MAL looks like a special college player...
 
Hoophound said:
We don't press anymore. The game has changed. Too many good ballhandlers and pressing is exhausting for the defense.

This is a good pick up because we get a guy that can play rather than a high school kid that might be able to play. Simple as that. We need guys to play immediately.
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Somebody better tell Bob Huggins to stop pressing because the game has changed and his players get too tired to press.
 
Bob Huggins is a good coach but, let me know when Bob Huggins wins something. The last pressing team to win a National Championship was UK in 1996. We've been to 5 Final Fours since then without pressing anyone.

These days, you press because you are overmatched or because you are an outlier (Huggins). Otherwise, you better be 10-12 deep. Just very unlikely to happen unless we accept that we can no longer get top talent and decide to be a pain in the ass team to play that never wins big in March.
 
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ucp990411 said:
Somebody better tell Bob Huggins to stop pressing because the game has changed and his players get too tired to press.
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1. He's an outlier
2. In the last 20 years he's made it as far as the Elite 8 exactly once

Good teams rip the press apart. I do think Anderson can allow us to do some fun stuff with picking up at half court, or just having him hound the primary ball handler for 75 feet, but it's not going to be an old-fashioned, Calhoun-style 221 or anything like that. Even Calhoun was done with that by about '94.
 
I like the idea of using the press as a tempo changer or to throw a different look at somebody for a few possessions. Go mostly man, but throw in some presses, traps and some zones during the game to change things up. There were a couple of times where UConn went to a 1-3-1 this year that was very effective for a few possessions before the other team figured out how to attack it.
 
80shusky said:
I like the idea of using the press as a tempo changer or to throw a different look at somebody for a few possessions. Go mostly man, but throw in some presses, traps and some zones during the game to change things up. There were a couple of times where UConn went to a 1-3-1 this year that was very effective for a few possessions before the other team figured out how to attack it.
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Agree 100%. That said, I think Anderson has real potential as a guy who exists to tire out the opponent's primary ball-handler. Use him as a hound who empties in his tank defensively in 12-15 minutes a night, and make it so the opponent's most important guard has nothing left for the final five minutes. Ruin Shake Milton's life.
 
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Hoophound said:
Bob Huggins is a good coach but, let me know when Bob Huggins wins something. The last pressing team to win a National Championship was UK in 1996. We've been to 5 Final Fours since then without pressing anyone.

These days, you press because you are overmatched or because you are an outlier (Huggins). Otherwise, you better be 10-12 deep. Just very unlikely to happen unless we accept that we can no longer get top talent and decide to be a pain in the ass team to play that never wins big in March.
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Louisville 2013. And WVU was very good last year, mostly because of the press. We need to employ a press. Not all game, but a fair bit of it. It's disruptive to offenses that use the clock and rely on ball movement, but most of all it generates easy offense.

If you've got a top 10 team talent wise, with great scorers and shooters, then maybe it will do nothing but tire those guys. But if you've got a marginal shooting team, with lots of interchangeable parts and few stars, it is a fantastic equalizer allowing you to beat better teams. That's UConn next year.
 
auror said:
Take the Waters talk to the Waters thread.

Welcome Antwoine! Love that he's a pest defensively (top 200 steal rate). Maybe we get a little press action going this year?

If he brings his shooting up just a bit in each category, I think he'll be a real solid contributor this year.
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I'd love to see a press and trying to play a bit faster in general, unfortunately Ollie has never really shown much inclination to get out and run more.
 
NielsisGood said:
I'd love to see a press and trying to play a bit faster in general, unfortunately Ollie has never really shown much inclination to get out and run more.
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Not sure it's Ollie who didn't show the inclination or the fact our guards rebounded as well as our bigs? Not to talk about it again you need to rebound and when you do you need to be able to throw a pass which our bigs were good at neither of those requirements for the past few years. If you watch guys like Meeks at UNC the get a rebound (or a bunch) and they're looking for the outlet immediately. And when it's there a crips overhead or from the side pass to the outlet and GO. We have had none of that ability and can't run without it. Ollie's fault he didn't have the guys yes but with what he had better to tuck it in and bring the ball up than turn it over trying to force something. Scary thing is for now as small as they will need to play not looking good to get it out and go for 17-18.
 
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Matrim55 said:
1. He's an outlier
2. In the last 20 years he's made it as far as the Elite 8 exactly once

Good teams rip the press apart. I do think Anderson can allow us to do some fun stuff with picking up at half court, or just having him hound the primary ball handler for 75 feet, but it's not going to be an old-fashioned, Calhoun-style 221 or anything like that. Even Calhoun was done with that by about '94.
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The UConn press of the early to mid-nineties was a unique tool based on a team of athletes. All designed to get the opposition to bring the ball across the time line at the sidelines. And trap at half court where the sideline and the half court line become extra defenders. The rest of the league figured out ways to avoid the traps, and it only came out of the trick bag when we played 'strangers' for a while. But not working on it constantly makes it less effective and pretty soon, it disappeared entirely. Eventually we became a more frontcourt-centric defensive team, (obviously the Mek/Boone/Hilton/Charlie era, but even the 99 team with Voskhul and KFree) we only used the press as a nuisance to shorten the opponent's offensive clock in the half court. The early 90s zone-trap press helped establish us, but its time is long since passed.
 
NielsisGood said:
I'd love to see a press and trying to play a bit faster in general, unfortunately Ollie has never really shown much inclination to get out and run more.
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Ollie says every year he wants to play faster. Last year he wanted 18 fast break points a game.

And then our pace ends up 270th/351. Part of it is because our defense doesn't force enough live ball turnovers (312/351 in D TO%, even worse 325/351 steal%) to get out on the break. Partly it's defensive rebounding and outletting as @mauconnfan mentioned (232/351 in DREB%). Maybe last year some of the problem was injuries and short bench, but the first 3 games we never broke 68 possessions for the game either, which would be well below average pace.

I will be honest, this is one area where I don't think Ollie knows how to coach his players to play the way he wants to play.
 
RichZ said:
The UConn press of the early to mid-nineties was a unique tool based on a team of athletes. All designed to get the opposition to bring the ball across the time line at the sidelines. And trap at half court where the sideline and the half court line become extra defenders. The rest of the league figured out ways to avoid the traps, and it only came out of the trick bag when we played 'strangers' for a while. But not working on it constantly makes it less effective and pretty soon, it disappeared entirely. Eventually we became a more frontcourt-centric defensive team, (obviously the Mek/Boone/Hilton/Charlie era, but even the 99 team with Voskhul and KFree) we only used the press as a nuisance to shorten the opponent's offensive clock in the half court. The early 90s zone-trap press helped establish us, but its time is long since passed.
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And the players who were on the most successful of pressing teams, 89-90 are also hard to come by. Everything required for success was pulled together in a season which would be unlikely now due to the athlete and their basketball IQ's/understanding. Not only was 89-90 smart throughout every position on the court but they were long up front - 6'5" Tate, 6'2" Smitty with a long wingspan and Dove or Scotty in the 2nd level waiting to double or pounce on bad passes. Rod just held off the troops who go by the traps to the best of his ability and that worked. They not only caused turnovers but they sped the game up to their advantage it was a thing of beauty.

Really hard to put it all together with the necessities now.
 
auror said:
Ollie says every year he wants to play faster. Last year he wanted 18 fast break points a game.

And then our pace ends up 270th/351. Part of it is because our defense doesn't force enough live ball turnovers (312/351 in D TO%, even worse 325/351 steal%) to get out on the break. Partly it's defensive rebounding and outletting as @mauconnfan mentioned (232/351 in DREB%). Maybe last year some of the problem was injuries and short bench, but the first 3 games we never broke 68 possessions for the game either, which would be well below average pace.

I will be honest, this is one area where I don't think Ollie knows how to coach his players to play the way he wants to play.
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Can't argue with what you wrote, but I'd also like to see the team initiate some kind of offense earlier in possessions and try to impose themselves athletically/play with more general urgency as well. I'd still also like to see a press be thrown into the mix defensively and not just exclusively used when down late in games. I think there's ample room to speed the game up beyond just fast break off TO's.
 
While some saw Kromah (and remember, he was injured the year before he arrived in Storrs) prior to his arrival ... and certainly he followed Hobbs who knew him ... he was a true revelation. And he was humble enough to fit into a role. Antwoine Anderson could simply be in that same role. 30+ minutes a game in a A10 program with a good coach. He is a big plus. AND with Vital, Gilbert and a better Adams, we have a good backcourt with depth.
 
auror said:
I will be honest, this is one area where I don't think Ollie knows how to coach his players to play the way he wants to play.
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No, this is the area where our inability to recruit dominant rebounding bigs made it impossible for us to play how he wants us to play.

Go back and watch the first 6 weeks of 2013-14, when we were attempting to rebound with 3 or 4 and leak out. We started getting murdered on the glass, which culminated in that awful Texas trip.

The next game, and for the rest of that season, we rebounded with 5 and milked the clock. It was a good, smart, in-season adjustment that led to a championship we'd never have won without it.

He knows how to coach what he wants, we just haven't had the personnel to do it.
 
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Considering he's probably playing close to thirty min a night , he won't purposely be able to go all out. People are forgetting at the moment he's our only backup on the perimeter. Hopefully he's our 5th guard by next season.
 
Very nice pickup. Probably means no Waters which kinda sucks (probably meant no Waters before commit most likely). Kromah type talent who will fill a role. One of my biggest criticsims of KO (and I like him a ton) was not getting a grad transfer or two last year.

Need to get a shotmaker/taller 3 like Alstork and better big than this St. John's stiff. That team could be really really good!

Really want us to land Diarra, he has the look of those guys at SMU and Cincy that are long/athletic/powerful (he will fill out) that handle us. Time to get some of those guys.
 
Huskyforlife said:
Considering he's probably playing close to thirty min a night , he won't purposely be able to go all out. People are forgetting at the moment he's our only backup on the perimeter. Hopefully he's our 5th guard by next season.
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He's a good pickup.

If we get another guard, and he can be the 5th guard in a 3-guard lineup, perfect. If he's the 4th guard in a 2-guard lineup, with a more traditional wing at the 3, that works too. These scenarios end up with him getting 5-10 mpg in a Donnell Beverly sort of role. That's fine.

If he's getting 20-25 mpg as the 4th guard in a 3-guard lineup, that's too much and it will signify that the staff failed in its recruiting efforts on other targets (Waters, Johnson, etc.).
 
This was a fine get. Certainly nothing special about landing a guy from a lower level team from a lower level league. Probably helpful but more like getting buy 1 get one free on English muffins kind a good that getting a good steak for $15.00. Better to get him than not but hardly worth getting too excited. Doesn't solve our major front court problems.
 
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freescooter said:
This was a fine get. Certainly nothing special about landing a guy from a lower level team from a lower level league. Probably helpful but more like getting buy 1 get one free on English muffins kind a good that getting a good steak for $15.00. Better to get him than not but hardly worth getting too excited.
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You say the same thing about Miller? Cornell was not much either. You don't know how this kids going to represent here.

Doesn't solve our major front court problems.
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This is very true.
 
This is a great addition especially considering Gilberts status.
It's the type of addition we should have made last year.
Remember Evans played meaningful minutes in 2013 giving Bazz a break off the ball.
I suspect this guy is much better than Evans.
Vital still gets 20minutes last year instead of 26 and Rodney gets a little break also
Last year is totally different with one simple addition. Teams don't necessarily have to add a great player at every spot but a necessary and most importantly complimentary player.
 
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