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Moving on...
For just the second time ever, UConn will face Colorado, with the first time being the 8/9 game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Tad Boyle is still the head coach and there are a lot of similarities between that team and this year’s team as signatures of Boyle-coached teams include hard-working teams on the boards that don’t shoot a ton of threes, but share the ball well on offense. On defense, the team’s length does a nice job preventing three-point attempts while also forcing teams to play iso inside the arc in their man-to-man defense.
The Buffalos won 26 games last year, but lost six guys that started 19 or more games, including three NBA draft picks, so there’s a ton of talent lost. To counterbalance that this year, Boyle uses a deep rotation, playing ten players that average 12 or more minutes per game, but so far, much of Colorado’s offensive attack has been highlighted by a trio of transfer addition forwards harvested from a wide scope of origins: Washington State transfer Andrej Jakimovski, Colorado-Mesa (D2) transfer Trevor Baskin and Grace (NAIA) transfer Elijah Malone.
Playing mostly a catch-and-shoot role at Washington State, the 6’8 220 Jakimovski has played the 4, 3 and even the 2 at Colorado this season, with Boyle guiding him to expand his game to become more of a playmaker throughout the frontcourt.
The NAIA Player of the Year, this summer Elijah Malone earned 25 offers from high-major programs and is of the same ilk as Colorado’s bigs over the last few years like Eddie Lampkin and Evan Battey: big, strong, skilled and can score anywhere inside the arc. Analytically, Malone’s offensive rebounding and block rates are particularly strong while he is also an excellent free-throw shooter.
Playing a similar inside/outside combo forward role to what Tristan da Silva played last year, Trevor Baskin is taking on a “position-less” frontcourt position that will best utilize his active motor and two-way aggressiveness. He grabs rebounds, defends multiple positions and generates turnovers from blocks and steals. Just a damn good glue guy.
Colorado’s best returnees are their starting guards Javon Ruffin and Julian Hammond III. Dealing with injuries throughout his first two seasons, Ruffin is 6’5 185 and Boyle calls him a “true combo guard” whose length and IQ makes him the team’s best backcourt defender. Hammond III is a nice perimeter shooter, and, while he is the team’s de facto point guard, he is rather turnover prone and can get rattled easily. Paging Hassan Diarra. Sophomore RJ Smith is another returning guard who dealt with injury issues last season, and, like Ruffin, plays a sound combo guard game and is a capable spacer, who is one of the hardest working rebounders in the backcourt. Canadian freshman Felix Kossaras is a athletic, multi-dimensional wing who, for now, is a low-usage energy defender off the bench.
In addition to Malone and Baskin, Colorado’s frontcourt is flush with depth as Slovakian freshman Sebastian Rancik and returning sophomores Assane Diop and Bangot Dak all possess NBA-like frontcourt skills in their ability to run the floor and shoot. Diop is active on the glass and at 6’8 210 is arguably the team’s most versatile defender. Just a 6’0 freshman in high school, Bangot Dak is now listed at 6’11 185 and Boyle has been quoted as saying he has the potential to be one of the best shot-blockers in Colorado history. Out of the three mentioned forward, Rancik is the most polished offensively and is an excellent floor spacer, but lacks strength and defensive awareness.
As you can see in the depth chart above, Boyle plays A LOT of different rotations with Hammond (PG) and (Post) Malone being the only guys set to one position. That being said, there will be a LOT of big lineups, and as I mentioned on the post-game thread, I'm curious to see if Hurley will run out some of the bigger lineups we saw against Memphis (Diarra-Ross-Stewart-Karaban-Reed was one that I liked...or really, any lineup with Ross at the 2).
After losing to a tough/physical team like Memphis, I like immediately rebounding the next afternoon to turn the page and play another tough/physical team.
For just the second time ever, UConn will face Colorado, with the first time being the 8/9 game of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Tad Boyle is still the head coach and there are a lot of similarities between that team and this year’s team as signatures of Boyle-coached teams include hard-working teams on the boards that don’t shoot a ton of threes, but share the ball well on offense. On defense, the team’s length does a nice job preventing three-point attempts while also forcing teams to play iso inside the arc in their man-to-man defense.
The Buffalos won 26 games last year, but lost six guys that started 19 or more games, including three NBA draft picks, so there’s a ton of talent lost. To counterbalance that this year, Boyle uses a deep rotation, playing ten players that average 12 or more minutes per game, but so far, much of Colorado’s offensive attack has been highlighted by a trio of transfer addition forwards harvested from a wide scope of origins: Washington State transfer Andrej Jakimovski, Colorado-Mesa (D2) transfer Trevor Baskin and Grace (NAIA) transfer Elijah Malone.
Playing mostly a catch-and-shoot role at Washington State, the 6’8 220 Jakimovski has played the 4, 3 and even the 2 at Colorado this season, with Boyle guiding him to expand his game to become more of a playmaker throughout the frontcourt.
The NAIA Player of the Year, this summer Elijah Malone earned 25 offers from high-major programs and is of the same ilk as Colorado’s bigs over the last few years like Eddie Lampkin and Evan Battey: big, strong, skilled and can score anywhere inside the arc. Analytically, Malone’s offensive rebounding and block rates are particularly strong while he is also an excellent free-throw shooter.
Playing a similar inside/outside combo forward role to what Tristan da Silva played last year, Trevor Baskin is taking on a “position-less” frontcourt position that will best utilize his active motor and two-way aggressiveness. He grabs rebounds, defends multiple positions and generates turnovers from blocks and steals. Just a damn good glue guy.
Colorado’s best returnees are their starting guards Javon Ruffin and Julian Hammond III. Dealing with injuries throughout his first two seasons, Ruffin is 6’5 185 and Boyle calls him a “true combo guard” whose length and IQ makes him the team’s best backcourt defender. Hammond III is a nice perimeter shooter, and, while he is the team’s de facto point guard, he is rather turnover prone and can get rattled easily. Paging Hassan Diarra. Sophomore RJ Smith is another returning guard who dealt with injury issues last season, and, like Ruffin, plays a sound combo guard game and is a capable spacer, who is one of the hardest working rebounders in the backcourt. Canadian freshman Felix Kossaras is a athletic, multi-dimensional wing who, for now, is a low-usage energy defender off the bench.
In addition to Malone and Baskin, Colorado’s frontcourt is flush with depth as Slovakian freshman Sebastian Rancik and returning sophomores Assane Diop and Bangot Dak all possess NBA-like frontcourt skills in their ability to run the floor and shoot. Diop is active on the glass and at 6’8 210 is arguably the team’s most versatile defender. Just a 6’0 freshman in high school, Bangot Dak is now listed at 6’11 185 and Boyle has been quoted as saying he has the potential to be one of the best shot-blockers in Colorado history. Out of the three mentioned forward, Rancik is the most polished offensively and is an excellent floor spacer, but lacks strength and defensive awareness.
As you can see in the depth chart above, Boyle plays A LOT of different rotations with Hammond (PG) and (Post) Malone being the only guys set to one position. That being said, there will be a LOT of big lineups, and as I mentioned on the post-game thread, I'm curious to see if Hurley will run out some of the bigger lineups we saw against Memphis (Diarra-Ross-Stewart-Karaban-Reed was one that I liked...or really, any lineup with Ross at the 2).
After losing to a tough/physical team like Memphis, I like immediately rebounding the next afternoon to turn the page and play another tough/physical team.
. We get through this one fairly easily into a game we will likely be underdogs for the first time in a long time.
