Change of scenery in the lineup

[Yankees32123]

Someone alluded to this in another thread about our frontcourt, but I think it extends to our entire lineup. I predict that a change of scenery with the 3 seniors now gone will be a net positive thing for us. The inconsistency we got from Purvis, Brimah and Facey over the last 3 years was infuriating, but they were our only options most of the time. They swallowed a lot of minutes because of it, and although they're all great guys off the court and in the locker room, they did not develop how 3-4 year players should outside of Facey at the end.

We have a whole crop of guards and bigs that have seen little to no time who will all get opportunities next season. The experience that Jalen, CV and Vance got this year will pay big dividends, but we will be heavily integrating Alterique, Makai, Larrier, Mamadou, Cobb, Carlton, Juwan, Polley (and Enoch to a lesser degree) into the lineup. There are 90+ minutes to be had from the 3 departing seniors, and I'm sure the remaining rotation players from this past year will see their minutes dip, simply because we don't need them to play as much. We asked a lot from 3 seniors who could not always give us what we needed from them on a consistent basis. This change of scenery is a new era for UConn, and there are a suite of talented players who will have the opportunity to shine through. I have a feeling of which ones will seize the opportunity, but I know I'll be surprised by some too. For this reason, I won't have expectation going into next year. I just know the opportunity to get back to UConn basketball is there. This is KO's chance to make it happen.

 

[CTBasketball]

A key will be to see what the chemistry will be like when one of the guards gets minutes slashed. Same with Jackson.

Lots of different moving parts coming together - we don't have the comfort built into the schedule to drop a handful of games before conference play. Gotta win from the start.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I'm not at all sure that the team will be a well-oiled machine before late in the season and the next year might be more of a shot to be really good. In any case, I hope next year's team will play smarter with way less unforced errors/dumb plays. I for one am not sure that Enoch is going to be ready to play that many minutes unless a very big light goes on and stays on. I have visions of our playing some exciting "small ball" when able and watching to see which bigs are ready to play solid basketball.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The addition by subtraction in terms of basketball IQ will be like none we've ever seen, even surpassing the departure of the Dyson/Robinson class.

Team cohesiveness may take somewhat of a hit though, in contrast to that other class for which their exit provided a breath of fresh air in terms of chemistry as well.

 

[maineuconnfan]

I agree...I remember Dyson and Stanley's last year. They never had the bball iq to lead the team. Kemba should have been a more dominant force on that team that year, but when they left, the chemistry was better, not necessarily because they were bad teammates, but did not have the iq to really make them gel....I think we will have a lot more IQ in or team next year and it will make us better and hopefully more consistent.

The addition by subtraction in terms of basketball IQ will be like none we've ever seen, even surpassing the departure of the Dyson/Robinson class.

Team cohesiveness may take somewhat of a hit though, in contrast to that other class for which their exit provided a breath of fresh air in terms of chemistry as well.

 

[upstater]

Same exact thing was written last year about Hamilton. Not saying the same people are writing that, or that the same thing might happen again next year, BUT... the same type of things were said.

 

[businesslawyer]

Same exact thing was written last year about Hamilton. Not saying the same people are writing that, or that the same thing might happen again next year, BUT... the same type of things were said.

There is no point calling out people who thought we'd be better by subtraction this season, because the injuries kept us from every finding out.

It was hard to imagine at the time that losing Dyson, Stanley and Edwards was going to make us better. But it made us better from day one. Hopefully, that is the case here.

 

[businesslawyer]

Someone alluded to this in another thread about our frontcourt, but I think it extends to our entire lineup. I predict that a change of scenery with the 3 seniors now gone will be a net positive thing for us. The inconsistency we got from Purvis, Brimah and Facey over the last 3 years was infuriating, but they were our only options most of the time. They swallowed a lot of minutes because of it, and although they're all great guys off the court and in the locker room, they did not develop how 3-4 year players should outside of Facey at the end.

We have a whole crop of guards and bigs that have seen little to no time who will all get opportunities next season. The experience that Jalen, CV and Vance got this year will pay big dividends, but we will be heavily integrating Alterique, Makai, Larrier, Mamadou, Cobb, Carlton, Juwan, Polley (and Enoch to a lesser degree) into the lineup. There are 90+ minutes to be had from the 3 departing seniors, and I'm sure the remaining rotation players from this past year will see their minutes dip, simply because we don't need them to play as much. We asked a lot from 3 seniors who could not always give us what we needed from them on a consistent basis. This change of scenery is a new era for UConn, and there are a suite of talented players who will have the opportunity to shine through. I have a feeling of which ones will seize the opportunity, but I know I'll be surprised by some too. For this reason, I won't have expectation going into next year. I just know the opportunity to get back to UConn basketball is there. This is KO's chance to make it happen.

This recurring belief that Facey having given us what -- six good weeks -- before falling back over the cliff to unacceptable makes him better than Purvis and Brimah astounds me.

 

[ctchamps]

This recurring belief that Facey having given us what -- six good weeks -- before falling back over the cliff to unacceptable makes him better than Purvis and Brimah astounds me.

You and I must be watching different games from the people who make this statement. I've actually posted the conference games production #'s of Jalen, Rodney and Kentan in other threads and Rodney was the most consistent player among the three during conference play. I'm sure the prevailing opinion in this forum would argue differently.

 

[boog204]

Same exact thing was written last year about Hamilton. Not saying the same people are writing that, or that the same thing might happen again next year, BUT... the same type of things were said.

I was one of those people... Thought for sure we would be better without a "ballstopper" who was a one man offense. Well we replaced that essentially with Jalen who was a one-man offense. Not bashing Jalen at all; it was out of necessity as no one else was able to create a shot. I always got on DHam for that, but in retrospect his play was also out of necessity.

 

[Mots010]

Same exact thing was written last year about Hamilton. Not saying the same people are writing that, or that the same thing might happen again next year, BUT... the same type of things were said.

I think some were saying that getting the ball out of our 6-7 small forwards hands and bringing in true point guards would allow our offense to run more efficiently. Hamilton was everything for us, but he dominated the ball as if he was a point guard, but he was fairly limited in that capacity.

Of course we start this season by losing our first two cupcake games so it didn't play out like that, at least initially. We never got to see the finished product with the injuries, but I think it was a valid point. I wish Hamilton had a little bit of a post up game, cause he could have terrorized teams like that Euro dude on St Joes in 2014. Hamilton was primarily a drive/dish guy, and teams keyed in on that, just going for the strip on his spin move.

 

[Yankees32123]

This recurring belief that Facey having given us what -- six good weeks -- before falling back over the cliff to unacceptable makes him better than Purvis and Brimah astounds me.

Where did I say that? Facey's development came along nicely for huge parts of this season, but that doesn't excuse him for being awful in the 2 years prior in which he was given plenty of opportunities. He ended this season terribly, which is why I put him in the Brimah/Purvis category of being infuriatingly and inexcusably unreliable as seniors.

 

[husky429]

Where did I say that? Facey's development came along nicely for huge parts of this season, but that doesn't excuse him for being awful in the 2 years prior in which he was given plenty of opportunities. He ended this season terribly, which is why I put him in the Brimah/Purvis category of being infuriatingly and inexcusably unreliable as seniors.

Purvis was anything but unreliable IMO. He was a limited, player but we knew exactly what we were getting every game.

Excellent defense, 10-15 points, a pound your head in the sand turnover, and a couple ugly shots when the offense couldn't find a rhythm.

We expected him to be Jason Kidd or something. That just wasn't going to happen.

 

[navery12]

I have no idea whether it'll be better or worse than this season's frontcourt. But in theory I love the idea of having 6 guys fighting for minutes where there's not one player who will get minutes on reputation/seniority over production

 

[80shusky]

It seemed to me this year that our offense early in the season looked a lot like last year's offense. Dribble the ball around up top, everyone run around looking like they have no idea what they are doing, take shot with 4 seconds on shot clock and two defenders draped all over you. After a little while it started to look like we were actually running a more cohesive offense. We were getting the ball into the paint more, it was coming back out more, people were getting open looks. When we were taking and missing threes, they were at least decent looks most of the time. I'm hoping we can start the season next year with a little more of that cohesion.

 

[c29328]

Until we see the type of improvement from season to season we have seen in the past I fear we will simply add another set of frustrating seniors. We aren't getting better "enough" between seasons and that's bigs and perimeter players. This is what separated Calhoun from the rest, the gains UConn players made in the offseason. Lets hope we find the recipe this off season. I do agree it will be nice to start over. Turn the page on this era of really good defense and really poor offense.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

It seemed to me this year that our offense early in the season looked a lot like last year's offense. Dribble the ball around up top, everyone run around looking like they have no idea what they are doing, take shot with 4 seconds on shot clock and two defenders draped all over you. After a little while it started to look like we were actually running a more cohesive offense. We were getting the ball into the paint more, it was coming back out more, people were getting open looks. When we were taking and missing threes, they were at least decent looks most of the time. I'm hoping we can start the season next year with a little more of that cohesion.

Yes, there were times when they were passing the ball well and looked like a different team on offense. It didn't last very long usually. Also our guys rarely showed the good passing against tougher defensive teams like Cincy and SMU. I hope that we have lots of guys penetrating the defenses and creating more open shots. It was tough when Jalen was the only one who could do so many things.

 

[businesslawyer]

You and I must be watching different games from the people who make this statement. I've actually posted the conference games production #'s of Jalen, Rodney and Kentan in other threads and Rodney was the most consistent player among the three during conference play. I'm sure the prevailing opinion in this forum would argue differently.

You said that the seniors didn't develop except for Facey at the end.

 

[ctchamps]

You said that the seniors didn't develop except for Facey at the end.

Mixing me up with someone else. I happen to agree with your sentiment