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- Of all the things that disappoint me about this game, the fact that Larrier was a mess is the least surprising. It's probably going to take until conference play at least for him to look like himself again, and even then, he's still a player that had plenty of flaws when healthy. Developmentally he's going to be more like a sophomore even though he is 22, and that assumes there are minimal lingering effects from the injury. He tore his ACL 11 months ago. The fact that he's even back playing is, I think, the most we can expect. Whatever aspirations he has beyond this season are likely informed by his age, so don't be the person all year making snide comments about how he's bound for China or whatever. Best case scenario, he's probably a sophomore DeAndre Daniels this season.
- Does anybody remember the last time UConn allowed an opponent to shoot 67% from the floor? I don't care if the game is an exhibition or not. That's unfathomable, and it re-enforces what a lot of people overlooked: Purvis, Facey, and Brimah were our three best defensive players and we are going to miss them more than people realize. Brimah, in particular, has left a void that we're not very well equipped to replace. In fairness, he often left a void while he was here too since he fouled out of nearly every big game, but still.
- Brimah or not, that's really bad. Disclaimer or not (this is a new team, it's an exhibition, Providence returned all their starters, etc. etc.), this was really bad. We were down 27 when Providence started to lift their starters. That's alarming. The Friars are good but they aren't the best team we are going to play.
- In an effort to maintain some perspective, it's much better to get this sort of humbling out of the way now rather than in November, especially given we'll be fighting for our tournament lives from day one. They were always going to have to grind games out early on. The 2011 team and 2013 team both hit plenty of road bumps. The goal is to take care of the cupcakes and beat Oregon and then take things from there. Speaking of...
- Adams didn't play great, but he got to the line 12 times. His free throw rate increasing was going to be one of the keys to improving a dreadful offense from a year ago. For his career he's at just 2.9 FT/A per 40 minutes, but over his last three games - this exhibition and the final two conference tournament games - he has gotten to the line 27 times. There is reason to believe that he has turned the corner in that regard and might be more able to impose his will on a game. That will be necessary early on as we try to ease Gilbert and Larrier back into the lineup. He might have to put up some 30 point games to ensure we're unbeaten heading west for the Nike tournament. It might not be pretty and it might not be the way he wants to play, but his willingness to grind those games out on both ends will reveal a lot about the compete level of this team and whether they're different from last years team. There is enough talent here to score some points by accident, so if we can get the defense fixed, things might not be so bad.
- Does anybody remember the last time UConn allowed an opponent to shoot 67% from the floor? I don't care if the game is an exhibition or not. That's unfathomable, and it re-enforces what a lot of people overlooked: Purvis, Facey, and Brimah were our three best defensive players and we are going to miss them more than people realize. Brimah, in particular, has left a void that we're not very well equipped to replace. In fairness, he often left a void while he was here too since he fouled out of nearly every big game, but still.
- Brimah or not, that's really bad. Disclaimer or not (this is a new team, it's an exhibition, Providence returned all their starters, etc. etc.), this was really bad. We were down 27 when Providence started to lift their starters. That's alarming. The Friars are good but they aren't the best team we are going to play.
- In an effort to maintain some perspective, it's much better to get this sort of humbling out of the way now rather than in November, especially given we'll be fighting for our tournament lives from day one. They were always going to have to grind games out early on. The 2011 team and 2013 team both hit plenty of road bumps. The goal is to take care of the cupcakes and beat Oregon and then take things from there. Speaking of...
- Adams didn't play great, but he got to the line 12 times. His free throw rate increasing was going to be one of the keys to improving a dreadful offense from a year ago. For his career he's at just 2.9 FT/A per 40 minutes, but over his last three games - this exhibition and the final two conference tournament games - he has gotten to the line 27 times. There is reason to believe that he has turned the corner in that regard and might be more able to impose his will on a game. That will be necessary early on as we try to ease Gilbert and Larrier back into the lineup. He might have to put up some 30 point games to ensure we're unbeaten heading west for the Nike tournament. It might not be pretty and it might not be the way he wants to play, but his willingness to grind those games out on both ends will reveal a lot about the compete level of this team and whether they're different from last years team. There is enough talent here to score some points by accident, so if we can get the defense fixed, things might not be so bad.
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