Big Red Thoughts

[RichZ]

1. We won, and that was good. But somehow, the game didn't really get me excited or give me the warm fuzzies.
2. I think my lack of engagement with the game may have been due to the fact that I never got the feeling the bigs were involved.
3. At times, we looked horrible, and that was not good. Luckily, those times only amounted to about 6 or 7 minutes of game time.
4. We only had 12 dimes, compared to Big Red's 17. That's not encouraging.
5. Cobb was back to being a nonentity and he looked a little reluctant to make a move. Don't really know what to make of that.
6. Carlton looked better than Eric, but barely so. But he did seem a bit more mentally involved in the game.
7. Yakwe didn't score, but a couple boards, an assist, a steal and a block amount to his first real contribution, and he's starting to look like he belongs out there.
8. Brendan's three boards, a dime and a steal, plus 8 points was encouraging. He seems to be finding his role.
9. Vital played well, and took only one rushed/ill advised shot that I can recall.
10. Unfortunately, Alterique's stat line from last night -- 2/9 FG, 1/3 threes, 5 boards, 4 TO and 2 dimes -- reads more like what we too often get from Christian and vice versa.
11. Tarin continues to play well, and probably needs more minutes.
12. Polley's game last night was pretty encouraging. Certainly wasn't just a spot up guy in the corner waiting for a guard to penetrate and dish. He made his shots, rebounded, ran the floor and had 4 of our 6 blocks.
13. The small and quick look with Polley and 4 guards was the most intriguing part of the game to me. Not going to work for more than a minute or two against all that many teams, but it certainly had a different vibe to it.
14. Did I miss an update on Whalley's condition? Expected to see him on the court for a few minutes again last night.
15. Tough to not be excited when you score 90+, win by 17, but I came away feeling kind of meh, and I can't really put my finger on why.

 

[Hoophound]

Remember, Ivy League schools always make power schools look horrible in stretches and sometimes, they win.

 

[Excalibur]

Radio said that Whalley aggravated the ankle and was being held out . . .

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I agree that we didn’t play great for the entire game. However, the lead floated between 15-23 the whole second half and we answered each of their runs with a bigger one. That’s encouraging to win big without playing your best game. I’m also concerned we did nothing to get the bigs involved especially considering our size advantage.

 

[Guapo]

I had the warm fuzzies so...

 

[Marat]

Remember, Ivy League schools always make power schools look horrible in stretches and sometimes, they win.

Their backdoor cuts were killing us in the beginning of the game making our defense look meh.

But quickly UConn grabbed the lead and kept pressing on the gas pedal thanks to the guards + Polley, when the lead ballooned to like 20 in the 1st half. So that was nice to see.

 

[CL82]

Kind of felt that there was a little "gonna get mine" going on at the end of the game, with too much one on one after Big Red threw in the towel. Well, I'll leave that for Hurley to figure out.

Also anyone else think this was thread was going to be about the OPs thoughts about Tom?

 

[jibsey]

Concerned about 3 point shooting from Gilbert and Adams. It needs to be a strong suit for us, we are not a big oriented group. Hurley needs to identify who should take them and when. These 2 were supposed to be improved so I’m hoping.

 

[my2cents]

C'mon...last year this was a game we could have LOST. I will take 17 point W's and move on.

 

[Marat]

C'mon...last year this was a game we could have LOST. I will take 17 point W's and move on.

Yeah seems like last season we would have been biting our nails for this one. UConn was up like 24pts with 3+ minutes to play and then took the foot off, put in subs.... won by 17 and beat the spread.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Thought this thread was about Tom...or gum

 

[UC1995]

 

[JSB60]

I didn't think it was a bad game at all, and yet I have two issues with the play that weren't mentioned. The rebounding edge wasn't what it should have been against that team, and their one big time player shot 11-15.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Didn’t catch the game but looking at the box score, any reason Cobb played 8 minutes?

 

[Wordbomar]

Didn’t catch the game but looking at the box score, any reason Cobb played 8 minutes?

He was so bad defensively. Beat on back doors over and over again.

 

[imno1]

I didn't think it was a bad game at all, and yet I have two issues with the play that weren't mentioned. The rebounding edge wasn't what it should have been against that team, and their one big time player shot 11-15.

That kid is really good. Beautiful stroke. He has next level ability.

 

[Huskybass]

UConn added B. Adams, Tarin Smith and Yakwe to a team that won 14 games last season, granted it was a very different coaching staff and program culture.

I am happy that the team is 4-1 and winning games by double digits. Things are on track for a return to sustained excellence. It is just going to take another year or two to get back to that level.

I love that Smith and B. Adams can carry the team for short stretches and Polley is coming along nicely. And I wouldnt give up on Cobb either. I am certain we will see some more very good performances from him.

This team has done a real nice job through the first 5 games without Sid, Diarra, and for the most part Whaley. I think we should be pretty happy with this team's initial stretch.

 

[Ts5034]

UConn added B. Adams, Tarin Smith and Yakwe to a team that won 14 games last season, granted it was a very different coaching staff and program culture.

I am happy that the team is 4-1 and winning games by double digits. Things are on track for a return to sustained excellence. It is just going to take another year or two to get back to that level.

I love that Smith and B. Adams can carry the team for short stretches and Polley is coming along nicely. And I wouldnt give up on Cobb either. I am certain we will see some more very good performances from him.

This team has done a real nice job through the first 5 games without Sid, Diarra, and for the most part Whaley. I think we should be pretty happy with this team's initial stretch.

I agree and I am surprised its not talked about more the fact they have been playing without Sid Wilson, a top 100 recruit. You would think the team will only get better when he starts playing.

 

[RichZ]

UConn added B. Adams, Tarin Smith and Yakwe to a team that won 14 games last season, granted it was a very different coaching staff and program culture.

I am happy that the team is 4-1 and winning games by double digits. Things are on track for a return to sustained excellence. It is just going to take another year or two to get back to that level.

I love that Smith and B. Adams can carry the team for short stretches and Polley is coming along nicely. And I wouldnt give up on Cobb either. I am certain we will see some more very good performances from him.

This team has done a real nice job through the first 5 games without Sid, Diarra, and for the most part Whaley. I think we should be pretty happy with this team's initial stretch.

I don't disagree with anything you said, and overall I'm thrilled with what we're seeing. But something about last night's game left me a little cold. I guess I was satisfied with the outcome, but not very excited by the way we played to get to it. Rewatched much of it this morning, and I think a big part of it may have been the ease with which they pulled our bigs away from the basket, and some really, really bad rotations when we doubled, leaving a wing absolutely wide open. As in no-recovery-possible open.

 

[Yankees32123]

Princeton offense. It's tough to adjust to.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Princeton offense. It's tough to adjust to.

It worked for a good stretch early-mid first half then we figured it out. Last year they crumble and lose this game.

 

[3rdbass]

1. We won, and that was good. But somehow, the game didn't really get me excited or give me the warm fuzzies.
2. I think my lack of engagement with the game may have been due to the fact that I never got the feeling the bigs were involved.
3. At times, we looked horrible, and that was not good. Luckily, those times only amounted to about 6 or 7 minutes of game time.
4. We only had 12 dimes, compared to Big Red's 17. That's not encouraging.
5. Cobb was back to being a nonentity and he looked a little reluctant to make a move. Don't really know what to make of that.
6. Carlton looked better than Eric, but barely so. But he did seem a bit more mentally involved in the game.
7. Yakwe didn't score, but a couple boards, an assist, a steal and a block amount to his first real contribution, and he's starting to look like he belongs out there.
8. Brendan's three boards, a dime and a steal, plus 8 points was encouraging. He seems to be finding his role.
9. Vital played well, and took only one rushed/ill advised shot that I can recall.
10. Unfortunately, Alterique's stat line from last night -- 2/9 FG, 1/3 threes, 5 boards, 4 TO and 2 dimes -- reads more like what we too often get from Christian and vice versa.
11. Tarin continues to play well, and probably needs more minutes.
12. Polley's game last night was pretty encouraging. Certainly wasn't just a spot up guy in the corner waiting for a guard to penetrate and dish. He made his shots, rebounded, ran the floor and had 4 of our 6 blocks.
13. The small and quick look with Polley and 4 guards was the most intriguing part of the game to me. Not going to work for more than a minute or two against all that many teams, but it certainly had a different vibe to it.
14. Did I miss an update on Whalley's condition? Expected to see him on the court for a few minutes again last night.
15. Tough to not be excited when you score 90+, win by 17, but I came away feeling kind of meh, and I can't really put my finger on why.

I thought it was an impressive win considering we are still jelling as a team. Last year this game would have been a nail biter and maybe even went to double overtime. Lol. Still have some issues with AG and our bigs. It was a tough matchup for our bigs because they lack foot speed to guard against the cuts. Polley looks good so far this season and loved the intensity on d from our guards especially vital. Definitely looking forward to seeing Wilson and Diarra as we need help up front. Can’t have only Polley playing well up front even if he spends a lot of his time outside.

 

[Austin316]

Polley is starting to remind me more and more of Giffey. This pleases me.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I agree that we didn’t play great for the entire game. However, the lead floated between 15-23 the whole second half and we answered each of their runs with a bigger one. That’s encouraging to win big without playing your best game. I’m also concerned we did nothing to get the bigs involved especially considering our size advantage.

This. It's been a few years since a UConn team could sleepwalk through last 20-25 minutes and never be threatened.

 

[Sphinx]

UConn added B. Adams, Tarin Smith and Yakwe to a team that won 14 games last season, granted it was a very different coaching staff and program culture.

I am happy that the team is 4-1 and winning games by double digits. Things are on track for a return to sustained excellence. It is just going to take another year or two to get back to that level.

I love that Smith and B. Adams can carry the team for short stretches and Polley is coming along nicely. And I wouldnt give up on Cobb either. I am certain we will see some more very good performances from him.

This team has done a real nice job through the first 5 games without Sid, Diarra, and for the most part Whaley. I think we should be pretty happy with this team's initial stretch.

Yes, and the three guys we've been missing are not chopped liver. Two of them might yet be our starting 3 and our starting 4.

Given the marginal contributions from Kwintin and Yakwe, we've been, in effect, trying to play 40 minutes of intense basketball with an 8-man rotation. That we've largely succeeded only stirs the excitement over what an 11-man rotation might do.