Best lineup against the zone?

[champs99and04]

I don't think Oriakhi and Drummond are going to be an effective combination against the zone. Neither of them can shoot, pass or drive. Olander battling foul trouble definitely hurt us today. Against the zone, you can't just pass it back and fourth on the perimeter and expect to get a ton of good looks. Get it to the middle, hit the big on the baseline, or kick it back out for an open three. This team was very effective at doing that at the end of last season. It doesn't suprise me that they are struggling in that department early, as Calhoun doesn't seem like the type to spend a lot of time on zone breaking early in the year.

Against the zone I prefer to see a lineup of Bazz, Lamb, Deandre, Olander, Drummond. Roscoe is not much of a use against the zone, IMO, as he can't shoot or drive. Daniels had a couple looks that he normally knocks down but didn't today. If we can get the ball to the middle of the zone, guys like Lamb and Daniels will have good looks. I also wouldn't mind seeing Giffey out there against the zone. Drummond is also a big plus becaues of the way he can crash the boards, as the zone is sometimes prone to giving up offensive rebounds. With Olander at the elbow, he can either pass down low to Drummond, kick it out to the corner for a three, or hit the open shot.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Bazz lamb Daniels Olander AO. Bazz boatright lamb roscoe AO. Everyones interchangeable

 

[babysheep]

You break the zone with dribble penetration and good 3-point shooting. So make your lineup with fulfilling those goals in mind.

 

[jleves]

Bazz lamb Daniels Olander AO. Bazz boatright lamb roscoe AO. Everyones interchangeable

I like this with the exception of AD instead of AO - or either one of the two having the better defensive game.

 

[champs99and04]

You break the zone with dribble penetration and good 3-point shooting. So make your lineup with fulfilling those goals in mind.

You also beat the zone with good passing. Penetrating the zone can be difficult, even for the quickest of guards, because the zone collapses on you so quickly. Even Kemba hasd difficulty with it last year. That's not to say you can't screen the zone, but more often than not driving it all the way to the hole is going to result in a turnover

 

[CTKIDD]

Not sure what combimation is going to work but getting AD under the hoop and learning how to post up is a must. I thought AO played solid today and was creating space. AO lets it come to him... he is too big and too strong not to be on the line all day long..The one time he got position in the 1st half on the block was a guarantee hoop or foul. Why JC got him runnin around setting screens is confusing.. We played backwards today.. The ball should be going low, attacking the rim, creating fouls.. We played on the perimeter and looked for rebounds.

 

[orangehomer]

I don't think Oriakhi and Drummond are going to be an effective combination against the zone. Neither of them can shoot, pass or drive. Olander battling foul trouble definitely hurt us today. Against the zone, you can't just pass it back and fourth on the perimeter and expect to get a ton of good looks. Get it to the middle, hit the big on the baseline, or kick it back out for an open three. This team was very effective at doing that at the end of last season. It doesn't suprise me that they are struggling in that department early, as Calhoun doesn't seem like the type to spend a lot of time on zone breaking early in the year.

Against the zone I prefer to see a lineup of Bazz, Lamb, Deandre, Olander, Drummond. Roscoe is not much of a use against the zone, IMO, as he can't shoot or drive. Daniels had a couple looks that he normally knocks down but didn't today. If we can get the ball to the middle of the zone, guys like Lamb and Daniels will have good looks. I also wouldn't mind seeing Giffey out there against the zone. Drummond is also a big plus becaues of the way he can crash the boards, as the zone is sometimes prone to giving up offensive rebounds. With Olander at the elbow, he can either pass down low to Drummond, kick it out to the corner for a three, or hit the open shot.

i think you beat the zone with interior passing and offensive rebounding. with drummond, you obviously have the offensive rebounding covered. i haven't been able to see uconn play much so far, my question to the boneyard is this, do you think oriakhi and drummond have complementary skill sets? so far, they look like similar players defense, rebound, block shot, put-back type guys and they both seem like centers. do you think they can play together?

 

[Hoophound]

I don't think Oriakhi and Drummond are going to be an effective combination against the zone. Neither of them can shoot, pass or drive. Olander battling foul trouble definitely hurt us today. Against the zone, you can't just pass it back and fourth on the perimeter and expect to get a ton of good looks. Get it to the middle, hit the big on the baseline, or kick it back out for an open three. This team was very effective at doing that at the end of last season. It doesn't suprise me that they are struggling in that department early, as Calhoun doesn't seem like the type to spend a lot of time on zone breaking early in the year.

Against the zone I prefer to see a lineup of Bazz, Lamb, Deandre, Olander, Drummond. Roscoe is not much of a use against the zone, IMO, as he can't shoot or drive. Daniels had a couple looks that he normally knocks down but didn't today. If we can get the ball to the middle of the zone, guys like Lamb and Daniels will have good looks. I also wouldn't mind seeing Giffey out there against the zone. Drummond is also a big plus becaues of the way he can crash the boards, as the zone is sometimes prone to giving up offensive rebounds. With Olander at the elbow, he can either pass down low to Drummond, kick it out to the corner for a three, or hit the open shot.

Giffey makes things happen and has some Nadav qualities. I think he will find his way into more minutes as JC looks for a "glue guy". Gif would have been in the game to change the flow in the final 5 minutes today if I had my choice.

Things got very stagnant and ugly. I'm not sure JC "tried" to win. He seemed to be letting the guys flounder rather than clawing for a solution like he would later in the season. He sat there calmly and watched them drown. Honestly, I felt like he knew what he was doing and the loss doesn't really bother me.

 

[joober jones]

This is one of the times where it hurts to not have Jamal Coombs-McDaniel. He had some abilities against the zone.

 

[Prezidint]

He sat there calmly and watched them drown. Honestly, I felt like he knew what he was doing and the loss doesn't really bother me.

 

[champs99and04]

i think you beat the zone with interior passing and offensive rebounding. with drummond, you obviously have the offensive rebounding covered. i haven't been able to see uconn play much so far, my question to the boneyard is this, do you think oriakhi and drummond have complementary skill sets? so far, they look like similar players defense, rebound, block shot, put-back type guys and they both seem like centers. do you think they can play together?

Interior passing is definitely a key. Not only that, but also knowing when to kick it back out for an open three. The only way to get better at attacking the zone is to see it a lot, and UConn is probably going to see it a lot of the zone with the way they looked against it today.

To answer your question, no I do not think their skill sets compliment each other as well as a tandem like Henson/Zeller. They are both bangers who can rebound, defend, but struggle to pass, put the ball on the floor, shoot. A combination of Olander and Drummond/Oriakhi seems to be more of your normal college unit. That said, I still think Oriakhi and Drummond are our best unit against man to man defense because they are so strong and can really wear a team out on the boards. But against a zone you definitely want a big who can shoot and pass a little bit, which Olander brings.

 

[UConnSwag11]

They can't get complacent and just hit threes. They need to get someone on the foul line(lamb) or flatten the zone with AO and Daniels/roscoe.

 

[champs99and04]

This is one of the times where it hurts to not have Jamal Coombs-McDaniel. He had some abilities against the zone.

I agree. He had a knack for catching the ball at the foul line and finding the holes in the zone. I'm not sure if Deandre or Giffey are strong enough.

 

[babysheep]

You also beat the zone with good passing. Penetrating the zone can be difficult, even for the quickest of guards, because the zone collapses on you so quickly. Even Kemba hasd difficulty with it last year. That's not to say you can't screen the zone, but more often than not driving it all the way to the hole is going to result in a turnover

Driving into the zone, causing it to collapse on you (Kemba's job) then kicking it ou to a wide open shooter (JL).

Sucks that we're missing that first part.

 

[babysheep]

Honestly JC could tell hardly anyone had heir hearts in it. You could tell by his body language the entire game. It's probably why he didn't seem to make any adjustments down the stretch. I mean you hate to think a coach would watch his team lose like that but if I was a teacher and saw that none of my students cared to pass an exam, where is the motivation to motivate them to pass?

 

[MarkT]

I don't think Oriakhi and Drummond are going to be an effective combination against the zone. Neither of them can shoot, pass or drive. Olander battling foul trouble definitely hurt us today. Against the zone, you can't just pass it back and fourth on the perimeter and expect to get a ton of good looks. Get it to the middle, hit the big on the baseline, or kick it back out for an open three. This team was very effective at doing that at the end of last season. It doesn't suprise me that they are struggling in that department early, as Calhoun doesn't seem like the type to spend a lot of time on zone breaking early in the year.

Against the zone I prefer to see a lineup of Bazz, Lamb, Deandre, Olander, Drummond. Roscoe is not much of a use against the zone, IMO, as he can't shoot or drive. Daniels had a couple looks that he normally knocks down but didn't today. If we can get the ball to the middle of the zone, guys like Lamb and Daniels will have good looks. I also wouldn't mind seeing Giffey out there against the zone. Drummond is also a big plus becaues of the way he can crash the boards, as the zone is sometimes prone to giving up offensive rebounds. With Olander at the elbow, he can either pass down low to Drummond, kick it out to the corner for a three, or hit the open shot.

I agree, I also think you can put Boatright in for Deandre and AO for Drummond. So for zone offense I think Bazz, Lamb, Deandre (Boatright), Olander, Drummond (AO) is a great lineup.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Giffey makes things happen and has some Nadav qualities. I think he will find his way into more minutes as JC looks for a "glue guy". Gif would have been in the game to change the flow in the final 5 minutes today if I had my choice.

Things got very stagnant and ugly. I'm not sure JC "tried" to win. He seemed to be letting the guys flounder rather than clawing for a solution like he would later in the season. He sat there calmly and watched them drown. Honestly, I felt like he knew what he was doing and the loss doesn't really bother me.

I think that Giffey will be more effective against the zone than DD or RS if he were to get some more playing time to get comfortable. He can make effective entry passes.....an area our team is sorely lacking in. I'm hoping that Boat can help against good zone play, but that may take some time. Jeremy's passing needs some serious work. This team really needs Boat to get up to speed quickly, but they also need to become able to pass the ball. This is likely to be a problem in lineups with both AO and AD in at the same time. AD's alleged ability to pass has not yet been evident (although it is very early yet).

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Giffey makes things happen and has some Nadav qualities. I think he will find his way into more minutes as JC looks for a "glue guy". Gif would have been in the game to change the flow in the final 5 minutes today if I had my choice.

Things got very stagnant and ugly. I'm not sure JC "tried" to win. He seemed to be letting the guys flounder rather than clawing for a solution like he would later in the season. He sat there calmly and watched them drown. Honestly, I felt like he knew what he was doing and the loss doesn't really bother me.

So do you think Giffey will be with the program next year based on his overall work product last year and so far this year? I understand its early but any initial thoughts? I will assume the answer is yes based on him being your "glue guy" making my questions mute. Maybe after rethinking you may come to a different conclusion.

GLTU

 

[uconnfan68]

AD's alleged ability to pass has not yet been evident (although it is very early yet).

That's because he's been trying to pass to AO. AO needs a pair of hands.

 

[Hoophound]

So do you think Giffey will be with the program next year based on his overall work product last year and so far this year? I understand its early but any initial thoughts? I will assume the answer is yes based on him being your "glue guy" making my questions mute. Maybe after rethinking you may come to a different conclusion.

GLTU

I think Giffey will find his way onto the court more. If JC makes one consistent mistake year after year, it is going with more athletic but less refined skill players when the going gets tough. Eventually, he looks down the bench for a basketball player with a skill set to change the game. Its usually a guy that can shoot, pass and be in the right place at the right time. Giffey is that guy. He did it last year and I am pretty sure its going to happen again.

 

[jleves]

So do you think Giffey will be with the program next year based on his overall work product last year and so far this year? I understand its early but any initial thoughts? I will assume the answer is yes based on him being your "glue guy" making my questions mute. Maybe after rethinking you may come to a different conclusion.

GLTU

It's a board rule that we don't speculate on these things. So please don't anymore.