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Message: [QUOTE="sdglast, post: 5181817, member: 9195"] He's getting the best defender they have, and all overplaying the 3, taking that away from him. We see his athletic limitations, as he just can't blow by defenders and is struggling to finish near the basket. Certainly, when McNeeley comes back, you may see some improvement with AK. The better defender will get McNeeley, and McNeeley's ability to get to the rim and/or kick out will help a shooter like AK. Still, if you are supposed to be a great player, you have to be able to score in multiple ways. The last 2 years, AK was a 3-4 option, who got a lot of open looks with defenders scrambling to defend multiple better options. Now with more focus on him, you are seeing the warts. Not that he isn't a good player or doing other things well (assists and rebounding), he just isn't a scorer. He is a shooter and, at times, a very streaky one. Not saying McNeeley and healthy Diarra make this team a NC contender, but I suspect once McNeeley integrates back the offense will look better and the rebounding should improve. For me, Hurley needs to consider integrating some zone into his defense, as this team really struggles when they are spread out. You have St. John's coming in, and they are a bad shooting team who is going to go to the basket at will against UConn. Zone would help in that game and also help in situations like the Butler games, where Telfort was just abusing whoever was guarding him. Give a team a different look at times. UConn is not a good defensive team, and not sure even with McNeeley back they will improve at all in that regard. I think the glass half full view is that the offense will run much more smoothly with McNeeley, but it may take 2-3 games to get him integrated. [/QUOTE]

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