BRIMAH

[pnow15]

So, your team is playing UConn. You study the film. What is the first thing that you notice? UConn's small forward has a weak jumper but he loves to dribble into the lane and toss it up high to Brimah for an easy dunk. So, that is the very first thing you game plan. Stopping the Brimah dunk. So, you tell your center that he can't lose contact with Brimah. The other players cheat towards the lane to stop DHam's penetration.
Now, UConn's 2nd best weapon the Purvis three is now open. Brimah goes down and now teams defend Purvis and push his shot out further..
Now, when Dham penetrates and the center comes right up not worried about Facey.
DHam now has to shoot over or beat the opposing center.
So, now the offense swings to Gibbs.
So, Brimahs presence on the floor effects the offense positively beyond his 8 points.

 

[80shusky]

From a standpoint of just watching the games it seemed that Hamilton played better with Brimah on the floor. He seemed to get his shots easier and you would think his assists would suffer with Brimah out. It could be just coincidence or just a slump as mau suggested and have nothing to do with Brimah. But for kicks, and because I can't get enough Brimah debate, I ran through the points, rebounds and assists per game for Hamilton with Brimah in and without him. I eliminated the out of conference cupcakes (IE - Sacred Heart, UMass-Lowell, Central, etc).

Hamilton with Brimah: 16 pts, 7.2 rbs, 4.2 ast (used 5 games - Mich, Cuse, Gonz, Maryland, OH St.)
Hamilton without Brimah: 11.5 pts, 9 rbs, 3.16 ast (used 6 games - Tex, Tulane, Temple, Memphis, Tulsa, Houston)

So his numbers other than rebounding were clearly better with him. You would actually expect his rebounding to be a little higher because he has to pick up some of the slack. Whether these differences have anything to do with Brimah being in or out of course is open to debate. As suggested, it could just be a slump. Other than the points there really isn't much difference. I'd still rather have AB on the floor. It seems like our offense works better with him for some reason. Nothing to support that, just from watching the games.

 

[mauconnfan]

So, your team is playing UConn. You study the film. What is the first thing that you notice? UConn's small forward has a weak jumper but he loves to dribble into the lane and toss it up high to Brimah for an easy dunk. So, that is the very first thing you game plan. Stopping the Brimah dunk. So, you tell your center that he can't lose contact with Brimah. The other players cheat towards the lane to stop DHam's penetration.
Now, UConn's 2nd best weapon the Purvis three is now open. Brimah goes down and now teams defend Purvis and push his shot out further..
Now, when Dham penetrates and the center comes right up not worried about Facey.
DHam now has to shoot over or beat the opposing center.
So, now the offense swings to Gibbs.
So, Brimahs presence on the floor effects the offense positively beyond his 8 points.

Yeah let's forget the last 2 years when DHam made crappy decisions thinking too much of the lob because that doesn't count right? And there have been numerous times by the way not just a couple. In fact he's getting better shots and more of them now not thinking of throwing that pass, problem is they are not going in it has little to do with anything else. A guy who you can't throw the ball into anywhere on the low post to shoot the ball, never mind pass the ball does not impact the offense as much as you would like. Also his picks are worthless and when he gets a rebound (not all that many) he can't throw an outlet pass to help us run because he can't and needs to hand it off , let's talk about that too as offense because you missed a chance to run.

But hey please continue to make his presence more than it is because if you're right we will have no problem beatting everyone by double fugues and more when he returns.

 

[Palatine]

Yeah he's an offensive force I forgot. The fact they can't score 60 points has little to do with Brimah. You should win that game without him as well as Tulsa. That's pretty simple to understand isn't it? How many times can I say he would make a difference in most games? But in those just win, let's not throw his 7.5 points a game out there as the reason, that's just plain stupid!

I think what you forgot was that he scores 8 points a game and does it with incredible efficiency shooting 70% from the field. But according to you that is stupid to mention? It's stupid to use facts on the BY? Wow, what an incredible statement.

What you also forgot is that after Brimah left the line up Hamilton went into a funk. That pretty much covers our inside game. Based on that I would also posture that with no inside threat, our outside game became easier to defend.

This isn't some wild irrational theory, you just don't like Brimah so you consider his contributions insignificant. That's fine, you can have that opinion, but it isn't supportable with numbers.

 

[Caronimo]

Anyone have an idea when Brimah comes back? I try not to focus on this but we need him in the lineup.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

Anyone have an idea when Brimah comes back? I try not to focus on this but we need him in the lineup.

No we don't need him in the lineup... Facey, Miller, and Nolan are enough and DHAM's play is outstanding

 

[intlzncster]

Mau, you really don't think Hamilton's offensive game has suffered with the absence of Brimah?

Any of the stats guys around here have the splits for Hamilton w/without Brimah? @tcf15 @champs99and04 @Gurleyman

 

[mauconnfan]

I think what you forgot was that he scores 8 points a game and does it with incredible efficiency shooting 70% from the field. But according to you that is stupid to mention? It's stupid to use facts on the BY? Wow, what an incredible statement.

What you also forgot is that after Brimah left the line up Hamilton went into a funk. That pretty much covers our inside game. Based on that I would also posture that with no inside threat, our outside game became easier to defend.

This isn't some wild irrational theory, you just don't like Brimah so you consider his contributions insignificant. That's fine, you can have that opinion, but it isn't supportable with numbers.

You know what's really stupid Palantine - using these games. Not ONE of the losses we had screamed "we miss AB" that's my point. Those games are winnable without him and it's not even deniable. If we had AB, if DHam made shots, if my aunt had balls - geez score some points and you'd have nothing to whine about at all.

When Diamond Stone owned his butt and Trimble went to he basket at ease I didn't hear you say "where's AB he's not a factor"? These losses are not an AB thing that's ALL. Move on.

 

[mauconnfan]

Any of the stats guys around here have the splits for Hamilton w/without Brimah? @tcf15 @champs99and04 @Gurleyman

Geez it's pretty simple he's 14 for his last 61 he can't make a shot. You can believe it's because of Brimah or it's a slump. He's missing 10 foot bankers and short on 8 footers and they are good looks. He plays 35 minutes or more the other guys plays 20 so he would still miss shots the other 15 minutes probably

 

[Gurleyman]

You know what's really stupid Palantine - using these games. Not ONE of the losses we had screamed "we miss AB" that's my point. Those games are winnable without him and it's not even deniable. If we had AB, if DHam made shots, if my aunt had balls - geez score some points and you'd have nothing to whine about at all. When Diamond Stone owned his butt and Trimble went to he basket at ease I didn't hear you say "where's AB he's not a factor"? These losses are not an AB thing that's ALL. Move on.

Diamond Stone did not own Brimah. He made one basket on him early in the second half, and Brimah responded by blocking him twice in a row. You're showing bias.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

This is a dumb argument. Would you rather have AB or Phil or Kelis Fisher on the floor? Or a combo of 2 of them. Who are you taking? AB is my first choice.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

Phil Nolan all day! His photobombs and shenanigans are top notch!

 

[superjohn]

Mau, we are a much better team with Brimah. You relentlessly arguing the fact that we're not doesn't change that reality.

 

[Gurleyman]

We don't know if he would have made a difference against Temple since our D was generally pretty good. The one area I thought his absence reared its head that day was that an otherwise lifeless crowd was really trying to get into it in the second half. And it felt like every time the noise level rose on D after we made a big bucket, we gave Temple an easy layup. Must have happened four times. Taking those shots away with a block or alteration and getting a stop might have helped us sustain momentum a little longer. But there's no way to know.

 

[champs99and04]

We don't know if he would have made a difference against Temple since our D was generally pretty good. The one area I thought his absence reared its head that day was that an otherwise lifeless crowd was really trying to get into it in the second half. And it felt like every time the noise level rose on D after we made a big bucket, we gave Temple an easy layup. Must have happened four times. Taking those shots away with a block or alteration and getting a stop might have helped us sustain momentum a little longer. But there's no way to know.

I think this is an underrated aspect of the debate. The team and the fans feed off Brimah. The two plays that energize the team the most are the lobs and the blocks. The Temple game is a good example - not only was the crowd lifeless, but the team kind of was, as well. I'm not somebody who is going to sit around questioning the effort level of the players very often, but you see D-Ham take a rain check on diving on the floor to secure a meaningful possession and you wonder how motivated they actually are to win the game.

Even as a die-hard fan who is going to watch and look forward to the games whether we've won five in a row or lost five in a row, I tend to enjoy the games a lot more when Brimah is out there. He's just an enjoyable human being who happens to have some rare gifts on the basketball court.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Surprised we haven't heard anything recently on Brimah's timetable. He barely had any support on the finger yesterday. No splint, just a small tape job. What was the original projected return date?

 

[tcf15]

Surprised we haven't heard anything recently on Brimah's timetable. He barely had any support on the finger yesterday. No splint, just a small tape job. What was the original projected return date?

I think they said about 4-6 weeks originally, with the 6 week timeframe taking him to mid-February. We play SMU at XL on February 18.

 

[4in16]

Optimistically February 4th @ Memphis would be a nice time to return.

 

[intlzncster]

Surprised we haven't heard anything recently on Brimah's timetable. He barely had any support on the finger yesterday. No splint, just a small tape job. What was the original projected return date?

He's probably good to go right now if he wasn't an athlete. But given that his hands will take a pounding, especially cause he swats a lot of balls, they probably need to give it extra time to sure up.

 

[mauconnfan]

Diamond Stone did not own Brimah. He made one basket on him early in the second half, and Brimah responded by blocking him twice in a row. You're showing bias.

Explain to me the numbers then because I missed something? Again the numbers are overrated at times anyway because there's no saying when he was in guarding who and at 20 minutes a game you ALL are overrating his ability to change the game anyway. This is not Thabeet playing 30-32 minutes a game and making guys leave the lane and being scared to shoot the ball.

 

[mauconnfan]

Mau, we are a much better team with Brimah. You relentlessly arguing the fact that we're not doesn't change that reality.

"much" better? No but better yes. Just in case you missed I have said that too.

 

[champs99and04]

Explain to me the numbers then because I missed something? Again the numbers are overrated at times anyway because there's no saying when he was in guarding who and at 20 minutes a game you ALL are overrating his ability to change the game anyway. This is not Thabeet playing 30-32 minutes a game and making guys leave the lane and being scared to shoot the ball.

Stone got his 16 points but it took him 16 shots to do so, which isn't much of an indictment on Brimah considering how badly Trimble was abusing us on ball screens. The six offensive rebounds Stone grabbed were in large part collateral damage from the penetration we allowed basically all game.

Boneyarder's want to make it seem like Stone was tossing Brimah around out there, but I don't think that was the case. Stone is just a really talented player with a big body and soft hands who took advantage of some shoddy team defense.

 

[David 76]

We are better with Brimah but it definitely would not affect a 2 point loss.

 

[Huskybass]

Brief update: Brimah is due to come back on Feb 7th , Per Sam Jr who I ran into at the local wing place. Btw, Sam is a really nice young man.

 

[CTBasketball]

Give him a JPP club hand. I bet he blocks more shots.