Brief thoughts

[champs99and04]

We have another game in about five minutes so I won't go too in-depth.

1. UConn doesn't perform in a vacuum. They were aided tonight by a terrible decision by the opposing coach and a poor performance from Michigan's supporting cast. There are still a lot of kinks to work out defensively - the rotations aren't as sharp as they should be, Hamilton still gets lost off the ball, and Gibbs just isn't particularly gifted as a defender. But I would have gladly signed up for a one point win before tonight, so to control the game the way we did and go up by as many as 19 is indicative that this teams ceiling is as high as we thought it was. We played our B game and won by 14 against a Michigan team that I still think will turn out to be very good. LeVert is a pro and the supporting cast is better than they were made to look tonight.

2. Phil Nolan submitted the greatest 0 point and 0 rebound game in the history of the sport. For everything he's not, he does one thing exceptionally well and that's hedge on ball screens. He looked far more nimble tonight than last season when he was hampered with injuries. He looked like the guy from the MSU game - to bring that guy off the bench is a huge luxury.

3. Speaking of luxuries, bringing Kentan Facey off the bench is like tapping into a cheat code. That guy is a terror on the boards and he's going to give us a lot simply by playing hard.

4. I'm probably never going to be a huge Sam Cassell fan, but that guy has enough confidence for the entire team and he's shooting the ball phenomenally. Major hat tip to him not just for his performance tonight but for the way he's played all season.

5. Miller and Purvis were both very good defensively. I was as impressed as Davis was with Purvis' energy on that end, and Miller is a freaking five who switched onto one of the best guards in the country late in the game and stopped him.

6. I didn't think AB played well defensively and he's frustrating as hell. But I'm almost positive some of the rebounds he got in traffic tonight would have been second chances last year. We took care of business on the boards.

7. The half-court offense looks way different than I anticipated, but it is impressive nonetheless. So much circle action that puts our playmakers in a great spot to attack.

8. D-Ham...whoa. I still think he needs a counter move to the spin over the shoulder but he's an exceptional talent and controlled the game tonight.

Bring on Cuse.

 

[RichZ]

1. UConn doesn't perform in a vacuum. They were aided tonight by a terrible decision by the opposing coach and a poor performance from Michigan's supporting cast.

I think the 2nd half of your point was actually more important than the 1st.

Just under 6 minutes into the game, we are down 12 - 5. Levert had 3 points.

Ollie calls time and wakes the team up.

Four minutes later, we are tied 12 - 12. Levert still had 3 points. He was on the floor for all but about 20 seconds of the 4 minutes when we turned the game around. The hardest part of the deal -- negating the advantage that Mich had built up in the first 6 minutes -- was done with Levert on the floor, but neutralzed on offense by Rodney and Jalen they each had him at times.

Sure, Michigan retook the lead, but was never again able to extend it beyond a possesion.

Down two at the 9 minute mark, Kentan Facey ties it again with an oboard and putback. That was when I knew the hurdle had been crossed, and Mich was not going to distance themselves again. We have Phil, Kentan, Omar, Jalen and Gibbs on the floor. One starter and 4 subs. Mich's supporting cast may have sucked dog turds, but ours sure didn't.

Doyle gets fouled, and makes the first. Amida, Dham and Sam come in. So now we've got 3 starters in the game. Doyle misses the 2nd. We are down 15 to 14.

Levert fouls a driving Dham. 8:05 left in the half. Levert sits. 12 minutes of game had been played and we were down a point, but by this time, we had taken both control of the game and the momentum from Mich. Sitting Levert at that point did not really change the game, but it DID prevent him from changing the game back and pretty much eliminated any possibility of them wresting control of the game back from us for the rest of the half.

At the 7 minute mark, we are still down 15-14.

At 6:56, Sam hits a corner 3 to give us a lead we would never relinquish. 90 seconds later, we are up 24 to 16. Levert had only been out for about 2-1/2 minutes at that point.

This is the point where everyone on earth believes that Belien should have put Levert back in. In 2-1/2 minutes since he'd been out, we had turned a 1 point deficit into an 8 point lead. But the bigger point might be that in less than 7 minutes -- four of which Levert HAD been on the court -- we'd executed a 15 point turnaround, outscoring them 19 to 4, and did it mostly with 2 to 4 subs on the floor.

3. Speaking of luxuries, bringing Kentan Facey off the bench is like tapping into a cheat code. That guy is a terror on the boards and he's going to give us a lot simply by playing hard.

Damned straight. The kid has skills, but it's the effort that stands out.

 

[WillB4]

On Sam C, he had two threes taken away by phantom 'moving block' calls.