Bench Bazz; Start Boat

[AfgHusky15]

Bazz plays terrible perimeter D, or any D at all. He consistently gets burned by every guard he is going up against, half the time it looks like he is not even trying to play. Terrible decision making as a pg, let alone the fact that he doesn't pass much. He seemingly passes to lamb or drummond if there is an alley oop, otherwise rarely passes to giffey when he is open on the wing, and I could probably count the number of times he fed the ball to oriakhi in the post. Bazz completely slows down the the offensive flow of the huskies by dribbling on the top of the perimeter for the first 25 seconds of every position. Boat plays with a lot more energy and tenacity on D. He can guard quicker guards and penetrate on offense and when does penetrate he also looks to pass the ball unlike bazzwho looks to flail his head in order to get a foul call. Boat always seems to pick up a teammates from the floor as was the case with drummond today but bazz only does so for the opponent. In the closing seconds of the game bazz took several ill advised shots trying to be kemba but boat passed the ball to lamb which lamb proceeded to hit that big three which he was fouled too. Don't know what calhoun sees in bazz, but as an avid bball player and husky fan watching the teams offense with bazz on the floor is unbearable many times....basicallyboat should start and run this. Also love how giffey plays. He needs to shoot more

 

[uconnell]

+1

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Yeah, I agree here unfortunately. Shabazz has just regressed it seems. The court vision just isn't there and instead of fighting to stay with the guy when they get a step on him, he just goes for the reach around poke, which almost never works. Calhoun needs to light a fire here and shake things up.

 

[huskymagic]

Bazz plays terrible perimeter D, or any D at all. He consistently gets burned by every guard he is going up against, half the time it looks like he is not even trying to play. Terrible decision making as a pg, let alone the fact that he doesn't pass much. He seemingly passes to lamb or drummond if there is an alley oop, otherwise rarely passes to giffey when he is open on the wing, and I could probably count the number of times he fed the ball to oriakhi in the post. Bazz completely slows down the the offensive flow of the huskies by dribbling on the top of the perimeter for the first 25 seconds of every position. Boat plays with a lot more energy and tenacity on D. He can guard quicker guards and penetrate on offense and when does penetrate he also looks to pass the ball unlike bazzwho looks to flail his head in order to get a foul call. Boat always seems to pick up a teammates from the floor as was the case with drummond today but bazz only does so for the opponent. In the closing seconds of the game bazz took several ill advised shots trying to be kemba but boat passed the ball to lamb which lamb proceeded to hit that big three which he was fouled too. Don't know what calhoun sees in bazz, but as an avid bball player and husky fan watching the teams offense with bazz on the floor is unbearable many times....basicallyboat should start and run this. Also love how giffey plays. He needs to shoot more

Great post sir and couldn't agree with you more. I hate to point this out but I have said this almost since the beginning, and have been getting a lot of heat over this that Boatright should start over Napier as he does everything better than Napier on the court, and he has great vision and penetration ability and gets the wing players and bigs open looks. Napier's lack of quickness and athleticism means that he wont be able to guard point guards who are almost always quicker than him which is why he always gets burned by the opposing point guard. There is no reason that Calhoun should still show so much faith in Napier and continue to start him over Boatright who understands how to run a team.

 

[Kitaman]

Something 'aint' right with Bazz, that has to be answered first. Don't know if its physical or mental, but he is not the same player. I think JC is stinking with him irrespective of RB's play for a while. Its a delicate situation, and the team doesn't need a second AO right now.

People go after Bazz a lot here but AO aint doing sh$t.

 

[joober jones]

I'd like both of them starting (Napier at the 2) and Lamb playing at the 3. We've been getting nothing at the small forward spot thus far, so trying that out couldn't hurt. Boatright's pace at the point suits this team much better than Napier's.

 

[yankeewc]

The entire team has regressed!

 

[huskymagic]

Something 'aint' right with Bazz, that has to be answered first. Don't know if its physical or mental, but he is not the same player. I think JC is stinking with him irrespective of RB's play for a while. Its a delicate situation, and the team doesn't need a second AO right now.

People go after Bazz a lot here but AO aint doing sh$t.

Kitaman you yourself have to admit that the big guys arent the big and pressing problem of this team. The point guard play is the biggest problem as it is the point guard's job to make everyone better and get them good looks. There is nothing wrong with Napier physically or mentally, but this is the extent of his abilities unfortunately and he has competed and done better than I expected of him honestly. He is just not suited to play point, and is a shooting guard trapped in a point guard's body. You are right this is a delicate situation and Calhoun doesnt know how to handle this yet but he needs to handle it and quickly because we can still save our season and make the NCAA tournament I don;t care what seed as long as they make it anything can happen. This can only happen with Boatright and I hope that Jimmy makes the change immediately.

The big guys are not the problem, they are part of the solution. They seem to always play better when Boatright is handling the point and they are suited to play and up tempo fast paced game where their athleticism can be showcased and not a slow half court game.

 

[RuffRuff]

Oriakhi playing poorly is a beat topic / not sure if you were in this for the last few months. His role is also not as critical to the teams success, there are plenty of alternatives in the front court. Pg is the qb of the team - rare that you'll ever see a team go anywhere without good pg play.


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[BUHusky]

Completely agree.

As I said in another thread, I was at the game today and some of the best offense the team ran was during the mid to late 1st half when Shabazz was on the bench and Boat was running the show.

Shabazz has definitely regressed basketball wise. But that's not even the worst of it. He seems to have lost his passion to a certain extent. Which is the complete 180 of Boat who showed so much fire out there today.

 

[UconnDon]

Oriakhi playing poorly is a beat topic / not sure if you were in this for the last few months. His role is also not as critical to the teams success, there are plenty of alternatives in the front court. Pg is the qb of the team - rare that you'll ever see a team go anywhere without good pg play.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.219466,-73.145818

True, pg play is essential. But when our front line loses the rebound battle badly to a small team, there is some reason to be concerned. Either the UConn technique on the boards is flawed, or the players on the front line can't absorb/practice the correct way to use their dominant size.

We should have controlled both boards against ND rather than abdicating to Cooley. If Abramowitz (sp?) had been available for ND, we might not have gotten ANY rebounds!

 

[pete8122]

Great post. Obviously you can't just point the finger at 1 guy but without question the 1 guy that is the biggest contributor to the chemistry problem this team has is Bazz. Basically everything the OP said is right on the money.

 

[60'sfan]

Great post sir and couldn't agree with you more. I hate to point this out but I have said this almost since the beginning, and have been getting a lot of heat over this that Boatright should start over Napier as he does everything better than Napier on the court, and he has great vision and penetration ability and gets the wing players and bigs open looks. Napier's lack of quickness and athleticism means that he wont be able to guard point guards who are almost always quicker than him which is why he always gets burned by the opposing point guard. There is no reason that Calhoun should still show so much faith in Napier and continue to start him over Boatright who understands how to run a team.

I completely agree. For now, Boatright should start and Napier should come off the bench just as he did last year. He just cannot run the offense and he gets beat too much on defense. He is, however, a valuable guy to have around at the end of the game. He is fearless and can make his free throws.

As for the rest of the starters, I think Lamb, Giffey, Olander and Drummond might work best.

One thing that was disturbing about Sunday's game was that we were clearly out-hustled. Notre Dame picked up almost all of the loose balls and clearly wanted this win more than we did. Unless this changes, it won't matter who plays the point.

 

[sparky]

I am a Bazz hound, but there is something that is wrong, whether it be physical, mental or chemistry related. Could it be the system? I have harped all year that we need to run, but we need the abll first. I felt Boat coming off the bench was the key to going from second gear to third gear while resting Bazz. As great a coach as JC is, he is running the wrong system for the talent he recruited. His 1/2 court stinks and it's hard to fathom that Bazz's D has gone into the crapper. He does gamble too much, but why is everyone's head turned away and there no help and recover going on? Keep in mind that boat has only practiced with the team and not played in a while. Perhaps he is the ticket? He's a combo and so is Bazz, but he is a better option at the one because he makes those around him better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I agree as well. Napier seems caught up in trying to do what Kemba did. His decision making is terrible. He gambles on D at the wrong times, and continues to hold the ball and heave up contested desperation shots. He almost never looks to penetrate anymore. I can't remember the last time I saw him even venture inside the three point line. He has talent, but something is wrong, and we can't afford to have him out there all game until it is fixed.

I do not want him and Boat on the court at the same time. It mitigates the effect of having Boat as the PG. Plus, he's not really a very good 2 guard at this point.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

To make it short and concise: Napier needs to stop trying to be Kemba Walker and needs to start trying to be Kevin Ollie.

 

[BrassBonanza]

I feel that if Bazz had a year more experience this team would be in a different place - he is a bit too green for the responsibilies he has, and cleary hasn't made the right decisions at the right times. I'm not sure Boatright will fare much better as a starter but I agree that a change might be the best thing to do at this point. I think back to last year, soph. Kemba could not have done what was needed for last years team to win- he only grew into that role as a junior - I think shabazz will be terrific in the future as a husky, but he seems about a year away from becoming the take charge gaurd that this team needs.

 

[James]

i think he must be bothered physically. He isn't nearly quick side to side. Last year i ventured to call him a better on ball defender than aaron kraft, after he handled his own against future nba'ers like Brandon Knight.

 

[UofCT]

We just need to shake something up. Bazz was at his best coming off the bench, bringing energy and a nice little spark on D. If nothing else, it will light a fire on Shabazz behind and most importantly light a fire under Ryan's behind. I think its a good idea. Hopefully Calhoun experiments with it before its too late.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Although something is clearly wrong with Shabazz, I haven't seen anything to demonstrate that Boatright can run the offense. He usually gets the ball off a pass from Shabazz, and when he's been in there solo it's not like they've been fluid. I do think he's the only one of the bunch that plays hard consistently though.

I'll say this though, any point guard will look mediocre when his pre-season All-American 2 guard absolutely refuses to work hard off the ball.

 

[ctchamps]

Although something is clearly wrong with Shabazz, I haven't seen anything to demonstrate that Boatright can run the offense. He usually gets the ball off a pass from Shabazz, and when he's been in there solo it's not like they've been fluid. I do think he's the only one of the bunch that plays hard consistently though.

I'll say this though, any point guard will look mediocre when his pre-season All-American 2 guard absolutely refuses to work hard off the ball.

I have to agree on all points. The thing that I don't understand is that SN was far better at covering his player against ND than JL who was abysmal. But no commentary about this or very little relative to the SN slamming.

 

[61cygni]

Their per-minute stats are more similar than some people would like to believe.