That's where I'm at. This is such a crappy year in college basketball in general - no one impresses me. It's got the makings of a 1997/2003/2011/2014 year all over it where you get a bunch of random orts in the mix for the title. Why not us, right?
I'll tell ya, this is easily the most maddening UConn team I've ever watched and it's not even close. Even in the first half tonight - they were incompetent offensively. Terrible ball movement, avoiding open shots only to kick the ball for a terrible shot. Then in the second half they ran them off the court. They did the same thing in the second half vs. Maryland, same thing in the second half vs. Gonzaga... they can do that to anyone on any given night. Then FIVE MINUTES LATER it looks like *no one* even knows the basics of the offense they're running. Forget just missing shots or going cold - it's like they literally don't know how to run their own plays.
So why is that?
I mean I dunno - this team is a real patchwork quilt. You have guys like Gibbs and Miller who are coming in from other programs and getting big minutes. Programs where they were focal points, ran their own plays, etc. Then you have these program dudes - Purvis, Brimah, Nolan, Facey, Callhoun... who have mostly grown up in the program, run things a certain way, etc. Then you have this third island of *absurdly* talented younger guys like DHam, Adams and Enoch - who aren't really ready to take the keys completely yet - and are all at different stages of development. Hamilton seems like he's on the precipise of superstardom. Adams is finally showing significant signs of improvement. And Enoch is just starting to get on the court. That's a lot of weird pieces to pull together offensively. Without a true PG and an offense running through a play making 3 who still hasn't figured out he's the best player on the floor almost every time he's out there - it's kind of not a surprise that they've been a clunker offensively.
Then of course there's the staff's learning curve with all these different pieces to put together. We can't really be a penetrate and kick team - but man can we drive to the hoop. Man - can we push the ball in transition... So maybe we're seeing a bit of an evolution offensively here. Maybe.
So many 'ifs' but if Hamilton can do what he did tonight - be more aggressive going up and taking those open shots... being willing to take a game over - this team will be better. If Adams and Purvis are allowed to slash more instead of kick out and dink around out on the perimeter - this team will be better. If Brimah can just stay out of foul trouble for 30-35 minutes of a basketball game - they'll be lock down on defense. If Gibbs can take more of a prominent role in shooting the ball from the perimeter and Miller can assert himself as the go-to option offensively down low... they'll be better. Our bench pieces really lack individually - but all have this really weird way of producing well in the aggregate. I feel like every game there's a thread or discussion of the game Facey had. Or Nolan. Or Callhoun. And how it was all unexpected. Someone figures it out.
I feel like some of this stuff is already coming together a bit. Or at least it did tonight. Felt like something finally clicked.
I hate getting ahead of myself, and I know i'll be emabrrassed at some point by this post... but the pieces are here and i've seen enough of this team to say 'yeah, they're really capable of making a big run - maybe a huge run - in the NCAA tournament.' They're also capable of a 1st round NIT flame out. Who knows. But tonight, something felt like it switched over. Maybe it's just me.
