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Message: [QUOTE="JeffConn, post: 5221835, member: 11822"] Post game impression and some analytical differences from last year: The defense suffered from losses of Castle and Clingan who were both elite college defensive players. Last year, Castle consistently shut down either the best opposing point guard or shooting guard. As someone previously noted, Clingan had such a large physical presence and was there to intimidate and erase when our outside defenders were beaten off the dribble. McNeeley and Ball consistently show high level offensive play, but as newer starters, sometimes their defensive play gets taken advantage of by opposing teams. Regarding our defensive schemes, besides the often-mentioned inadequacies of the high hedge, our defensive switching has allowed advantages to opposing teams. Last night, Ball, at 6'3" was continually left guarding Creighton's 6'8" Green to get isolated and backed down near the basket for an easy Creighton score. This year, we don't have someone as fearless as Cam and a ball handler that's as emotionally steady as Tristen; they were long-term college starters who helped last year's team maintain consistent, mental playing toughness; on-court decision-making was not as optimal as last year. Diarra and Johnson are warriers and they were elite depth providers as back-ups last year. Alex is a terrific all-round starting player and star; he does all the little things providing strong leadership that maintain team cohesion and may sometimes be unnoticed, but he was not a consistent scoring headliner offensively this year. Our sophomores are excellent players, but they started the year with limited playing experience to build on and they sometimes played like younger players. Hopefully they stay here to play next year so UConn benefits from their experience. We lost 4 starters from last year that were NBA eligible players; their starting replacements along with Alex each had to take on new roles this year. It's worth repeating that because of continuous annual roster changes in the current college game, as well as other things, It's really, really difficult to finish at the absolute top every year. I am thankful for this year's players winning efforts. You continue to make UConn Nation proud! [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach