Brotherhood - says it all

[Husky1]

 

[Mike1984]

Cv was talking to him for quite a while. Shows his leadership. People can hate on him all they want but he truly cares about UConn and his teammates. He’s a class act!

 

[businesslawyer]

That's a great shot, and it says it all about the moment, but there is in fact more. Good leaders break from the game and provide the support and comfort. Great leaders do so without it in any way lessening their focus when they're on the court. The focus coaches and players were able to show yesterday along with their emotions was truly remarkable. You have to feel a lot of respect for all of them.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Cv was talking to him for quite a while. Shows his leadership. People can hate on him all they want but he truly cares about UConn and his teammates. He’s a class act!

I don't think anybody hates Vital or impugns his heart, desire, love of teammates, or how he represents himself and the school.

It's possible to be frustrated at times by his play and respect him for all of the above. The second half yesterday was the best embodiment of his leadership and what he can do on the court.

 

[Huskybass]

Hurley has built the foundation of something very good. A great culture. Despite the injury to Akok yesterday, (who I wish a full and speedy recovery as he deserves nothing less given his approach and actions) I think the program hit a recent high yesterday with a nice win. The ship is headed in the right direction with wins over Cincy and Memphis back to back. Cincy had beaten us eight straight times in Memphis had beaten us four straight times. The place was rocking yesterday. There was a taste of old times. I am more convinced than ever that Hurley is the right guy for the job.

A nice run in the NIT would be a great stepping stone toward a an NCAA tourney run next season.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

We’re going to miss Vitals leadership
Hopefully someone can step up.
He is that big brother that gives little brothers courage because he has their back.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I don't think anybody hates Vital or impugns his heart, desire, love of teammates, or how he represents himself and the school.

It's possible to be frustrated at times by his play and respect him for all of the above. The second half yesterday was the best embodiment of his leadership and what he can do on the court.

The composure and focus on display yesterday on the bench and on the court can serve as an example of responsive and responsible expression of uncomfortable emotions, such as those that arise on The Boneyard in frustrating moments.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Great quotes here.

Mike Anthony: Emotional response to Akok injury is a proud UConn moment

Through both silence and then noise crescendos that fueled the most emotionally charged afternoon the XL Center has seen in years, the UConn men’s basketball program roared on Sunday. It roar…

www.courant.com

“What you see is a program that’s developed a character about it,” Hurley said. “Everyone poo-poo’s culture, but most of the people who poo-poo culture, they don’t know [squat] about how to build an organization because they’ve never really been in one. We’re building a championship-level culture here with the way we’re competing and how determined we are to win.”

This was a disgusting day.

It was a beautiful day, too.

UConn, in every way, came across as an operation to invest in and believe in, even with an emotional range that was impossible to fully understand.

“Not too many Akok questions,” Vital said.

“Initially, when I found out what happened, it was hard to get over,” Isaiah Whaley said. “Everybody was trying to get their heads right.”

“That’s really my brother, not even a teammate at this point, so that was very upsetting,” Bouknight said.

 

[UconnU]

We’re going to miss Vitals leadership
Hopefully someone can step up.
He is that big brother that gives little brothers courage because he has their back.

Not only his leadership his play. He is the best player in the entire conference by advanced metrics. He does everything for us. He’s going to be a much bigger loss than Adams was.

 

[JB75]

Great quotes here.

Mike Anthony: Emotional response to Akok injury is a proud UConn moment

Through both silence and then noise crescendos that fueled the most emotionally charged afternoon the XL Center has seen in years, the UConn men’s basketball program roared on Sunday. It roar…

www.courant.com

“What you see is a program that’s developed a character about it,” Hurley said. “Everyone poo-poo’s culture, but most of the people who poo-poo culture, they don’t know [squat] about how to build an organization because they’ve never really been in one. We’re building a championship-level culture here with the way we’re competing and how determined we are to win.”

This was a disgusting day.

It was a beautiful day, too.

UConn, in every way, came across as an operation to invest in and believe in, even with an emotional range that was impossible to fully understand.

“Not too many Akok questions,” Vital said.

“Initially, when I found out what happened, it was hard to get over,” Isaiah Whaley said. “Everybody was trying to get their heads right.”

“That’s really my brother, not even a teammate at this point, so that was very upsetting,” Bouknight said.

Great article

 

[uconngb]

I don't think anybody hates Vital or impugns his heart, desire, love of teammates, or how he represents himself and the school.

It's possible to be frustrated at times by his play and respect him for all of the above. The second half yesterday was the best embodiment of his leadership and what he can do on the court.

Still don't understand how people confuse this. I don't think anyone on this board hates CV, Gilbert or anyone on this team for that matter. We hate the bonehead plays they make sometimes, and can be (overly) critical at times. But I think we are all rooting for every kid on this team.

 

[Mike1984]

I don’t think people confuse it. Notice what I said in my post, I said “hate on him” which most of the people on this board do as soon as he jacks a 25ft three, or turns the ball over late in games. This sort of overly critical judgement every game that he has played throughout his career at UConn pretty much is what has led us to where we are today. We as whole expect these kids to be perfect, they’re not. They’re all going to make mistakes throughout their basketball careers and the fact that when they are down or even know they make a mistake us as UConn fans are quick to put the blame on them. This is why we have a coach that’s his job he’s allowed to get on them and ride them because that’s what he gets paid to do. All the negativity from this board when we don’t win games is really not what is needed. Now let’s look at the situation yesterday and compare it to us as fans. Akok gets hurt which is a blow to the players sorta like losing to us as fans. But unlike us as fans these kids especially CV didn’t complain and cry about it and think to themselves well now we are going to lose. No CV led this team to a victory and stayed true to who he is which is a great leader. So instead of us always being so down and negative towards the players when we lose, why can’t we just embrace the good that they bring to the table. FWIW I do understand this is a basketball message board and people can say whatever they like, but the junk that comes out of some people’s mouth is sometimes just not necessary. At any given point any of these kids could of left and gone else where but the didn’t and you know why, because they love UConn just as much as we do and most of us forget that when times are tough. Sorry for the rant!

 

[Kauffmak10]

My shot of the moment from another angle.. so emotional seeing this, Hurley & the teams love and support for
him.. LOVE the culture that Hurley is building!

 

[HuskyHawk]

I don’t think people confuse it. Notice what I said in my post, I said “hate on him” which most of the people on this board do as soon as he jacks a 25ft three, or turns the ball over late in games. This sort of overly critical judgement every game that he has played throughout his career at UConn pretty much is what has led us to where we are today. We as whole expect these kids to be perfect, they’re not. They’re all going to make mistakes throughout their basketball careers and the fact that when they are down or even know they make a mistake us as UConn fans are quick to put the blame on them. This is why we have a coach that’s his job he’s allowed to get on them and ride them because that’s what he gets paid to do. All the negativity from this board when we don’t win games is really not what is needed. Now let’s look at the situation yesterday and compare it to us as fans. Akok gets hurt which is a blow to the players sorta like losing to us as fans. But unlike us as fans these kids especially CV didn’t complain and cry about it and think to themselves well now we are going to lose. No CV led this team to a victory and stayed true to who he is which is a great leader. So instead of us always being so down and negative towards the players when we lose, why can’t we just embrace the good that they bring to the table. FWIW I do understand this is a basketball message board and people can say whatever they like, but the junk that comes out of some people’s mouth is sometimes just not necessary. At any given point any of these kids could of left and gone else where but the didn’t and you know why, because they love UConn just as much as we do and most of us forget that when times are tough. Sorry for the rant!

That's not hating on him. It just isn't. Christian has probably made more bone-headed plays than any player in UConn history (partly because he was thrust into a role and number of minutes he wasn't ready for as a freshman and sophomore due to Al's injuries). He's probably made more bad shots than anybody else too. He's also made a ton of good plays and some great ones. Yesterday was a perfect example. Not good in the first half at all. Second half, played fantastic. We all know he bleeds blue, and is a fighter, competitor and great teammate. Everybody likes him, nobody hates on him. What we do is critique the game, the players and the play. I don't see CV being treated differently except by those who think he can do no wrong. Josh gets loads of criticism, so does AG, so did Polley (where's the rebounding) and so do all the other guys. They make mistakes. But we love that they chose to represent UConn and become Huskies. It's because we care that we want them to do well and win games.

On Chat I think too many people use words they shouldn't to describe any of our guys. Words like garbage. That's never appropriate and it's a reason why game threads are gone now.

 

[CL82]

He's probably made more bad shots than anybody else too.

Lol, this is so true. He good for a couple "no, no, no.... well okay then" plays a game."

 

[Mike1984]

That's not hating on him. It just isn't. Christian has probably made more bone-headed plays than any player in UConn history (partly because he was thrust into a role and number of minutes he wasn't ready for as a freshman and sophomore due to Al's injuries). He's probably made more bad shots than anybody else too. He's also made a ton of good plays and some great ones. Yesterday was a perfect example. Not good in the first half at all. Second half, played fantastic. We all know he bleeds blue, and is a fighter, competitor and great teammate. Everybody likes him, nobody hates on him. What we do is critique the game, the players and the play. I don't see CV being treated differently except by those who think he can do no wrong. Josh gets loads of criticism, so does AG, so did Polley (where's the rebounding) and so do all the other guys. They make mistakes. But we love that they chose to represent UConn and become Huskies. It's because we care that we want them to do well and win games.

On Chat I think too many people use words they shouldn't to describe any of our guys. Words like garbage. That's never appropriate and it's a reason why game threads are gone now.

In a nutshell all I was really trying to say is that we should have their backs like they have each others. We are all UConn through and through! There just needs to be less negativity when they don’t win. The future is bright and all these kids make me proud to be a fan!