Chief's less than brief Brimah Vivisection

[Walker11]

I agree that the staff should not be pointing to Facey as a marker of success. He gave us basically 0.5 good year out of 4, for a former NY POY.

But the manner in which Facey fell short of expectations was far less frustrating than the manner in which Brimah fell short of expectations.

I could argue that Facey was more frustrating. Brimah never even showed that he could catch a pass. He never showed a single post move. But as champs continually harps on, Brimah consistently benefited our team because of his rim protection. For all of his faults, he was by far and away our best option at the C spot. Granted, the staff should have recruited over him but that isn't his fault. Facey's development bothered me because he would occasionally flash moves like one dribble step backs dating back to his sophomore year. He had miles more to work with offensively than Brimah. The fact that we got 3 good months out of Facey's career is an indictment on someone, likely our big man coach. Brimah was a low basketball IQ guy with terrible balance and footwork who still was a plus player overall and I truly believe that he likely reached his upside. Facey on the other hand could have and probably should have been a much more consistently impactful player than he was.

 

[CTBasketball]

I agree that the staff should not be pointing to Facey as a marker of success. He gave us basically 0.5 good year out of 4, for a former NY POY.

But the manner in which Facey fell short of expectations was far less frustrating than the manner in which Brimah fell short of expectations.

I also agree. Brimah sort of had expectations he simply could never achieve once he became a mainstay in the starting lineup his sophomore year. He was perfect his freshman year, high energy big off the bench to add defense. We didn't have a choice but to start him.

Facey had time to grow, but never really did anything besides a few double doubles his senior year. I want to say confidence was an issue - when he went into his slump middle of sophomore year, all of junior year, and beginning/end of senior year he simply settled to become a cog in the offense. It was almost like he required touches to make himself noticeable. His offense rebounding wasn't enough by itself.

 

[Chief00]

Tyler Olander scored the first UConn points in both 2011 Final Four games. I blame Glen Miller.

The opponent was defending per their scouting report.

 

[Chief00]

I could argue that Facey was more frustrating. Brimah never even showed that he could catch a pass. He never showed a single post move. But as champs continually harps on, Brimah consistently benefited our team because of his rim protection. For all of his faults, he was by far and away our best option at the C spot. Granted, the staff should have recruited over him but that isn't his fault. Facey's development bothered me because he would occasionally flash moves like one dribble step backs dating back to his sophomore year. He had miles more to work with offensively than Brimah. The fact that we got 3 good months out of Facey's career is an indictment on someone, likely our big man coach. Brimah was a low basketball IQ guy with terrible balance and footwork who still was a plus player overall and I truly believe that he likely reached his upside. Facey on the other hand could have and probably should have been a much more consistently impactful player than he was.

I agree Facey underachieved.

 

[Chief00]

Not just the 5 slot, there's a lot of talented 6'6" guys who can work down low. I'm just thinking KO and staff have to think out of the box, but I know it's risky. They took a risk with Brimah and Kevin.

Shonn Miller is an example - maybe add an inch.

 

[Chief00]

It defies logic that Glenn Miller spent 4 years of individual instruction teaching spin moves that were never executed in a game.

It is.

 

[Onions]

I think some of the subtle leaps that he made get distorted for a couple reasons:

1. While the coaching staff may have done a good job with him developmentally, they did not do a good job with him on game day. Too often they designed breakneck, hard-hedging schemes that worked with guys like Phil Nolan and Giffey and Daniels but not Brimah, who needed to be more paint bound.

2. For all the things he got better at, he never really shook his one fatal flaw of picking up fouls. He went from 4.3 fouls per 40 minutes as a sophomore to 4.9 as a junior to 5.2 as a senior. You can't have that from a player you're counting on to be a cog in the machine and that he did not improve in that area is his responsibility.

3. Dude was just a frustrating player and, much like Purvis, his flaws would jump off the screen in such a way that it caused us to understate his value. When you can't do things that a fan can do - like consistently catch the ball, track the ball off the rim, and keep your pivot foot - you begin to lose the benefit of the doubt.

But the one thing fans crushed him for throughout his career was rebounding, and by his senior year, he had gone from a 10.2% rebounding rate as a sophomore to 12.6% as a junior to 13.9% as a senior. His defensive rebounding rate went from 10.8% to 14.1% to 17.7% this season. That isn't a small jump, and during conference play he averaged 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game. That's more than enough from a UConn center most years (especially given all of his advanced numbers - like box +/-, offensive/defensive rating, PER - ranked among the best on the team all three years he started), but this season, he was flanked by a crew that represented an enormous devolution from where he started as a freshman, surrounded by talented, smart players.

A lot of this is circumstantial, and when we claim he hasn't improved, it does not account for all of the variables that influenced our perception. Some of the s hit we saw this year - throwing bounce passes at his feet, force-feeding him in the post, using him as a primary screener - doesn't happen on better, more complete teams.

Facey, for instance, is billed as a feather in the staff's cap, but I would actually argue he improved less than Brimah. It's just that, he always had better players in front of him.

This was an excellent post but don't expect anyone to let facts get in the way of their narrative.

AB is an extremely flawed player, and his flaws are obvious, glaring and at times embarrassing. Watching him flopping around the floor after attempting a hook shot under pressure it is hard to believe that he contributed to the offense, but the fact is he did. The team scored at a higher rate when he was on the floor, and kept opponents scoring at a lower rate. These margins were not small. This may be more of an indictment of Enoch and Facey then a compliment to AB but it is a simple fact none the less. His fouling made his contributions wildly erratic, and I agree that this, more than his lack of offensive growth, was his biggest failure over his 4 years. Despite all his obvious failures Ab was a positive force for Uconn, and there isn't a team in our conference who wouldn't have gladly scarfed him up if he were available. He did not ever achieve what I had envisioned for him over the full course of any game, although he could totally dominate for minutes at a time. He was a frustrating player to be sure, but I will miss him next year.