BRIMAH SAT while coach fiddled

[BoatShow]

When are you guys going to get this in your heads. The refs were not going to let Boat or anyone else on UConn make a play that would lead to a UConn win. Offensive end; defensive end. It didn't matter. From the first two off the ball fouls on Brimah to the Boat steal at the end, the refs were in total control of this game.

The refs are bad for each team. They DON'T have a vendetta for us.

I'm probably still butthurt (and not just from 4 days of XL Center cuisine) but it felt like every time the crowd was ready to erupt and we were about to make a big play and finally cut it to a single possession game the refs pulled some complete bs out of their ass. Like the refs were reverse intimidated by the crowd and didn't want to be accused of letting the homecourt influence them in such a big game.

 

[UConnSwag11]

is he a troll?

 

[joober jones]

Take away Hilton's dagger from deep if you will, but if so, can it be applied to this season instead?

 

[joober jones]

I haven't read all the replies yet so I don't know if anyone else had this same thought, but when I first looked at the title of this post and saw SAT I was afraid the NCAA was busting us for academics.

 

[Chief00]

There was a classic overhead angle showing SMU guys getting multiple rebounds by jumping up and over Amida and Phil who each remained flat footed looking up at the action.

These guys need serious schooling.

And that schooling ain't coming from Coach Miller

 

[mauconnfan]

The rebounding stats are really not key here. If you've watched us post-Okafor, we clearly coach every big who has ups to go for any shot he thinks he can block or change and put the burden on the other players to get to the rim and keep us from getting destroyed on our defensive boards. We've had many great teams that block a lot of shots and gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. This is a coaching choice we have always made and been successful with.

Nolan's inability to rebound better, however, is an entirely different matter.

His inability compared to who Brimah? You're kidding me right? Laughable..Nolan works harder than AB, plays better "overall" D by far and really is a better rebounder although neither is good at all. People are lost!

 

[mauconnfan]

And that schooling ain't coming from Coach Miller

Coach Miller, Coach Vaughn doesn't matter unless they bring the worlds best pyschologist with them. Can't teach dumb Chief as you should understand! You still believe a "big mans coach" has to be BIG. please, watch the tourney and tell me how many guys are on the bench over 6'4" in a suit!

 

[selles]

His inability compared to who Brimah? You're kidding me right? Laughable..Nolan works harder than AB, plays better "overall" D by far and really is a better rebounder although neither is good at all. People are lost!

Who's lost? Bizlaw is saying that Nolan is not a shot blocker and therefore does not have that excuse for failing to rebound better than he does. Do you disagree with that? Philly played better than he had in the conference tournament, but it was still obvious that even Rock - all 6'5" of him - is a better rim protector.

I'm starting to think you're the one who has over-inflated expectations for Brimah. You're so focused on his flaws that you miss the very obvious things he brings to the table.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

It's not as much of a stretch as you think. He averaged 9.4 (inflated by the 40 game) and 4.6 in 26.5 mpg. Let's say he gets up to 29 mpg by avoiding foul trouble, that gets him to 10.2 and 5. I know you hate the comp, but Hash added 3 pts and 3 board to his game in flat min soph to junior. There's a rise to be had.

I would put Amida's sophomore year pretty close to Hilton's Senior year.

I am watching the 2006 season when I use my treadmill and have seen many of the games from that year. Hilton was so much better than AB as a sophomore that the comparison is a huge insult to Hilton. Hilton was amazingly good that year, particularly during the second half. He was blocking shots, making jumpshots, passing the ball, rebounding.....all around strong play. I've just gotten to the last Louisville game of the year and Hilton and Boone somehow smashed into each other in practice and Hilton is not right in this game. I'm wondering if this injury continued to affect him, but time will tell (when I get to the NCAAs). Hilton was better than Boone that year by a good amount and won BE Defensive Player of the Year. Bottom line, go watch some of those games and tell me that AB is close to Hilton as a senior. Hilton shared the rebounds with Boone, Gay, Adrien, and Nelson.

 

[Danzz]

He doesn't get his butt an a man and block out well enough. I think we see a big change next year. He'll have the opportunity to possibly attend a big mans camp and sharpen his fundamentals.

 

[joober jones]

I am watching the 2006 season when I use my treadmill and have seen many of the games from that year. Hilton was so much better than AB as a sophomore that the comparison is a huge insult to Hilton. Hilton was amazingly good that year, particularly during the second half. He was blocking shots, making jumpshots, passing the ball, rebounding.....all around strong play. I've just gotten to the last Louisville game of the year and Hilton and Boone somehow smashed into each other in practice and Hilton is not right in this game. I'm wondering if this injury continued to affect him, but time will tell (when I get to the NCAAs). Hilton was better than Boone that year by a good amount and won BE Defensive Player of the Year. Bottom line, go watch some of those games and tell me that AB is close to Hilton as a senior. Hilton shared the rebounds with Boone, Gay, Adrien, and Nelson.

I often wonder how he'd have developed if he wasn't behind so many guys (Okafor, Villanueva etc) and got more minutes early on. I still hold out hopes for him making it back to the NBA and sticking around.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

So what's it say about Brimah that his raw/unpolished output is on par production/efficiency wise as a blossoming Hilton who went in the 1st round?

Who says it was? I think this idea that the season Amida just had is on par with Hilton's senior year is a joke and an insult to Hilton. I don't know what kind of stats or metrics you're digging out to support this, but Hilton was miles better as a senior than Amida was this year. I'm not sure if that manifests in better numbers, because he was on a much, much better team with other guys competing for rebounds, etc.

But you could not have watched Hilton that season and come to the conclusion that the year Amida just turned in was the equivalent.

 

[joober jones]

Their shot blocking style is pretty different. HA excelled at coming in and blocking shots from the weak side whereas AB is most effective blocking on the strong side.

 

[Buzzyboy]

Here's the thing. No, it didn't. SMU scored exactly 6 second chance points in the 2nd half. Which is remarkable when you consider they were missing most of their shots, because of Brimah, and the fact that they were playing a bigger front court lineup than us and playing their style of basketball which is designed to get the ball deep into the post and then crash the glass.

He might have been saying OFFENSIVE rebounds, which could have easily resulted in points for our side. Offensive rebounds are pretty significant too, aren't they?

 

[selles]

I don't know what kind of stats or metrics you're digging out to support this, but Hilton was miles better as a senior than Amida was this year.

If you're uncertain what he's talking about, you could do him the courtesy of clicking on his link, which is a comparison of stats. Even except for rebounds.

I watched in 2006 and I'm watching now and I'm not really certain that Hilton was tons better in 2006 than Amida is now. Hilton had a much more mature NBA body. But the "other guys playing around him taking away stats" argument works both ways. Hilton never had the burden that Amida has had this year.

No one's arguing that we don't need Amida to get better. The argument is whether he's half decent now. He is, and it shouldn't really be as debatable as it's been in this thread.

 

[mauconnfan]

Who's lost? Bizlaw is saying that Nolan is not a shot blocker and therefore does not have that excuse for failing to rebound better than he does. Do you disagree with that? Philly played better than he had in the conference tournament, but it was still obvious that even Rock - all 6'5" of him - is a better rim protector.

I'm starting to think you're the one who has over-inflated expectations for Brimah. You're so focused on his flaws that you miss the very obvious things he brings to the table.

What's overinflated selles? The fact I expect our 7 footer to get more than 1 rebound in 31 minutes of play?

The only overinflated views here are the ones who think he is actually really good right now because he's not. I know Nolan is not a shot blocker nor is the Rock, but give me either of them on the post actually guarding someone any day. I get the "blocked shots" routine, you guys think that's all there is to the damn game, well it's not. My only point is he needs to get a LOT better for us to be significant at all next year or we need some serious help in a magical way with a new player from somewhere. It really is that simple. I hope the kid bets better, but anyone thinking 2 pts, 2 rebounds and 7 blocks against SMU is solid is way the hell of base.

 

[selles]

What's overinflated selles? The fact I expect our 7 footer to get more than 1 rebound in 31 minutes of play?

The fact that you ignore everything he brings to the table because you're fixated on his rebounding. That to me suggests you're the one with overinflated expectations.

He's got a long way to go, I think everyone acknowledges that. But if you watched Sunday's game and your takeaway was 'give me Nolan or Rock because they play better positional defense', then respectfully I think you're missing the forest for the trees.

 

[mauconnfan]

The fact that you ignore everything he brings to the table because you're fixated on his rebounding. That to me suggests you're the one with overinflated expectations.

He's got a long way to go, I think everyone acknowledges that. But if you watched Sunday's game and your takeaway was 'give me Nolan or Rock because they play better positional defense', then respectfully I think you're missing the forest for the trees.

Not sure who's ignoring what here selles. Im am not ignoring anything, he blocks shots I admitted that. What else? I never said give me Nolan or Rock in place I said they play better "man" defense and if you don't see that then your understanding of the game isn't quite there yet. He's awful on his man, flat footed and never ready to help unless its a "block". There is simply nothing else there as of yet or shall I say very little. Anything you guys are seeing other than blocked shots and an occasional alley oops is simply what you want to see not what is actually happening. If you think 7 blocks impacted that game enough then I really don;t know what to say. The missed rebounds in front and all a round him negate those easily.

I want the kid to get better but laugh at the National Flag Blue smoke you guys are blowing up his a**, I', a realist!

 

[UConnSwag11]

Has raf said anything besides his first post?

 

[businesslawyer]

His inability compared to who Brimah? You're kidding me right? Laughable..Nolan works harder than AB, plays better "overall" D by far and really is a better rebounder although neither is good at all. People are lost!

I am far from a Phil hater, and have stood up for him all year. But comparing his rebounding to Brimah's is comparing apples to oranges. Brimah is off his feet trying to at least alter every shot within 10 feet. You may not like that that's his job, but it's his job. And the more vertical leap someone has, the longer it takes their feet to get back to the ground before they can think of rebounding (notwithstanding that this is high school physics I'm sure I'll get push back on this as well). Nolan's job is to stay home and try to get defensive rebounds even though he will often be "out bigged" 2 to 1 underneath. He needs to be able to grab a few more of them than he does.

 

[Kitaman]

I am watching the 2006 season when I use my treadmill and have seen many of the games from that year. Hilton was so much better than AB as a sophomore that the comparison is a huge insult to Hilton. Hilton was amazingly good that year, particularly during the second half. He was blocking shots, making jumpshots, passing the ball, rebounding.....all around strong play. I've just gotten to the last Louisville game of the year and Hilton and Boone somehow smashed into each other in practice and Hilton is not right in this game. I'm wondering if this injury continued to affect him, but time will tell (when I get to the NCAAs). Hilton was better than Boone that year by a good amount and won BE Defensive Player of the Year. Bottom line, go watch some of those games and tell me that AB is close to Hilton as a senior. Hilton shared the rebounds with Boone, Gay, Adrien, and Nelson.

Hilton development can also be attributed to having NBA practice players surrounding him. The only player AB has really is Nolan. Not sure how quickly AB can improve under these circumstances. I would bet that in practice AB is a rebounding machine, and looks like Abdul-Jabbar offensively.

Coaching is one thing but 'real'' reps are another. This could be a problem, especially in him honing current and new skills.

 

[UConn76]

Yes as to the fouls but you're dead wrong on Purvis. He had inside position on a much bigger player and got a body on him. Ball just came off the rim too long to the weak side. Stuff happens.

I did see the SMU player jump over Purvis to get the ball...If he had a real body on him, he wouldn't have been able to do that...Purvis was standing upright..

 

[OkaForPrez]

@BigErnMcCracken of course the eye test goes to Hilton. That was the point of the question. If the numbers are on par, and they are, for one of the more celebrated seasons of Uconn Centers what does that say about Amida's learning curve with all his Sophmore warts. I'm trying to make the point of everything the glass half empty crowd is not acknowledging while laser focused on Amida's flaws. He had a heck of a year in spite of them. Ho hum all his points were lob dunks, give me 10 points a game at 70% all day long. Ho hum he was top 5 in block %, do you know how many second chance points that lead to? Yes and not nearly as many points as it took away for our opponents and gave us in transition. Ho hum he changed games when he was on the floor significantly, but he fouled so much! Yes but he was making strides to quell that, imho, and when he finally starts making the right read he's going to be a monster.

 

[PAHusky]

Brimah can be and frequently is one of the best defenders in the country. When he's on and protecting the rim, our entire defense takes it up another level. It lets the guards play more aggressively, it throws the opponent's offense into disarray, it's a beautiful thing to watch. With that said, it doesn't happen as often as it should because of foul trouble, and his tendency to go for the block rather than rebound costs us a lot.

Even worse, he's got two go to moves on offense - dunk beautifully thrown passes from DHam, and get the ball in the post, take two dribbles, and throw up a brick with his right hand. That's it. He can't or won't pass out of the post, he's got decent touch on his jumper but that almost never comes out, and he just gets destroyed by anyone remotely his size.

Right now, he's an incredibly one dimensional player. That one dimension is huge, and can anchor our entire defense. But until he figures out some kind of reliable post moves, or even learns to pass decently on offense, we're playing 4 1/2 v 5 on offense (3 1/2 v 5 with Samuel out there, but that's another story). People keep blaming his lack of development on injuries, which makes some sense, but if he comes out of the gates as equally offensively inept next year we're in trouble.

 

[CallMeBruce]

His inability compared to who Brimah? You're kidding me right? Laughable..Nolan works harder than AB, plays better "overall" D by far and really is a better rebounder although neither is good at all. People are lost!

Nolan averaged 8 rebounds/100 possessions this year to Brimah's 11.1. Neither is a good rebounder, but Nolan is definitely worse. Nolan was also a much less-effective defensive player (D-rating of 101.4 to Brimah's 95.1).