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Pretty fair all around.
Agreed, except the last comment about Brimah, not sure if the guy is speaking about him just now in the present tense but Brimah is plenty "UConn good". With a normal roster not impacted by the ban/sanctions he would probably sit and learn but by being forced into action early he's expedited the learning process, Brimah will be a stud.
Yeah, the Brimah comment was weird. Maybe he hasn't watched much film on our team all year, and the game(s) we played against him Brimah didn't play well?
Yea Brimah completely altered a game against a top 20 opponent with his 2nd half play against Cincy in the AAC tourney, hard to say he's not UConn good.
Not to mention, we don't even make it to the rd of 32 without Amida. How many freshman centers would have had the testiculos to make that 3 point play?
Brimah Fr > Thabeet Fr
IMO.
"I do think if you're physical with Daniels, he won't go in the post."
"The one thing with them is Shabazz is going to beat the first line of defense. With Florida's bigs, I don't think he's going to be able to get going. He's not as good as a finisher as some people think."
"I think clearly if you can find someone with decent quickness, with some size on Napier, he would have a tough time. I you're thinking of holding him to 10-12 points, it's not going to happen. "
"Be physical with Daniels, it changes the way those two play, especially Daniels. "
“You gotta beat them down in transition. We looked at doing that, and if you beat them before they get set, they're not great getting back on D. Exploiting them in transition.
"Once you beat that first line of defense, you can attack. And you can go after Shabazz Napier because he's small.”
the only team that really gave us trouble with their length on the perimeter was SMU... and Florida's guards are smaller.What offensive players have successfully attacked Napier bc he's small over the course of a game? I can't think of any. UF isn't posting it's guards and are shorter than ISUs, MSUs and Novas.
DeAndre Kane started burning Kromah in the 2nd half, twice getting him in the post. KO took Kromah out and put Bazz on Kane, Kane immediately tried to post up Bazz and Bazz was having none of it, easily pushing him out of position for an entry pass from their guards. ISU wasted 2 straight possessions trying to set up Kane in the post cuz of Bazz's D.What offensive players have successfully attacked Napier bc he's small over the course of a game? I can't think of any. UF isn't posting it's guards and are shorter than ISUs, MSUs and Novas.
I don't agree with all of it, but there's some really good stuff there and well worth the read. One comment I found particularly off-base was this one: "I think defensively, they give up penetration way too easily. Because Napier and Boatright are playing the whole game, they can't deliver that energy on both ends of the floor. And they have to be careful with the new foul rules.”
I agree with Caw, that had to have come from Pitino. I can't think of any other team that was able to consistently penetrate on our defense, and the one about our big men being slow footed was definitely from Pitino, he actually went out of his way to mention it at halftime of the AAC championship.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...510411/scouting-the-final-four-florida-gatorsI'll be really interested to see what opposing coaches have to say about Florida.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebas...510411/scouting-the-final-four-florida-gators
As for your general remarks: agreed 100%. Only Louisville was able to penetrate at will, but really, that was mostly Russ Smith, who nobody could keep out of the lane. Probably Pitino. I like Wilbekin as a player, and I think we're going to struggle with him, but he's no Russ Smith.
I assume Cronin and probably Larry Brown were among the other voices.
One huge thing that doesn't get mentioned enough about the NCAA tournament is that the timeouts/commercial breaks are longer. More time to catch your breath so you can exert more energy during play. That was HUGE for us in the Mich St. game. The commercials and timeouts seemed endless to me as an anxious fan, especially because that game was uniquely a game with a lot of runs, so both coaches were burning through timeouts. Boatright was able to exert crazy amounts of energy on both sides of the ball.
I'll give you a pass on the cryptic post and I look forward to hearing your observation.Whenever UConn's season ends ... will share a key insight I have yet to read or hear anywhere ....nor in any 'news' media outlet ...even the so-called 'scouting reports' or coaches analyses. Much of what I am reading/hearing sounds largely 'canned'. Not trying to sound nor appear 'smarter than the avg. bear' here either...but I'm comfortable with my analytical assessments.
I will say this ..there is something unique to UConn. And if you do not realize that then you are not going to be able to adequately 'scheme' Kevin Ollie's team that was 'built' (recruited and initially 'schooled') by Jim Calhoun
trust me ...over the years ......learned....less is better (i.e., mojo - "we don't stand a chance.....; barely deserve to be here/there .....". Folks do read these blogs....... BillyD & crew are savvy folks ........ it can wait. But methinks KO & crew (as well as Calhoun ...) know ...which is all that counts now!I'll give you a pass on the cryptic post and I look forward to hearing your observation.