Ease up there, Shaka

[Fishy]

You're playing a team that has four players either out or on life support. You're up 44 points and there's seven minutes left....

You can stop pressing them now.

 

[Mano]

On a different note, that's a snazzy Z styling for the Zips unis.

 

[partial]

Shaka is one of those guys that always has a chip on his shoulder i could see him wanting to step on people's throats. For whatever reason he doesn't seem to annoy me that much, maybe he reminds me of calhoun with the underdog mentality.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Keith Dambrot is supposedly his best friend too.

 

[Scoe]

it looks like he is trying to get his guys some momentum going toward their next opponent, so why not use the 2nd half as a practice session.

 

[superjohn]

He's an awesome coach and his teams play their balls off for him, I have them winning it all.

 

[Scoe]

He's an awesome coach and his teams play their balls off for him, I have them winning it all.

I would love that I have them in the Finals

 

[mauconnfan]

Agree with Fishy was saying this with 10 minutes........not a good tactic by any coach anywhere! Still pressing and still bitching about calls, a little skeptical on whether I would want him on my sideline?!?

 

[Fishy]

Oh, he's still a very good coach, but there's no need to terrorize a team that's as short-handed as Akron was tonight when you're up by 15 possessions with seven minutes to go.

That's bad form and it's not going to help prepare VCU for anything.

 

[mauconnfan]

He's definitely a good coach, damn good but the team was not real good anyway and flu-ridden.....as you said ease up Shaka geez!

Almost gives me good reason to root against them at this point

 

[seanmc94]

People have long memories; the shoe may be in the other foot someday.

 

[Kitaman]

With insurmountable scores I've seen some coaches press until the end while others play their starters till the end. At UConn Calhoun was notorious for playing starters till the end. Neither strategy makes a bad coach or an evil one. They have winner's tunnel vision, killer instinct and a don't give a Shot attitude (its war/no mercy). Personally I never liked watching either style at the end of games.

 

[Palatine]

Nothing wrong with what Shaka is doing. That's how they play.

 

[mauconnfan]

Nothing wrong with what Shaka is doing. That's how they play.

Have to totally disagree....you mean they can't run back to half court and play man to man or fall in to a zone....? Please, you're ripping up a team down with the flu and injuries and you need to press them relentlessly up 35-40 points?? It will come back and it can't be soon enough.............

 

[Waquoit]

WWJC do? Probably the same thing.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Have to totally disagree....you mean they can't run back to half court and play man to man or fall in to a zone....? Please, you're ripping up a team down with the flu and injuries and you need to press them relentlessly up 35-40 points?? It will come back and it can't be soon enough.............

Look at what happened when they didn't do that...they got "slaughtered" by Saint Louis--and that happened to be their most recent game. I'm not a fan of running up scores, but there is some truth to what Palatine said (shocking, I know!)

VCU first has to beat Michigan, who when hot can score a ton of points. Then they have to play Kansas, whom I believe is the most vulnerable 1 seed, especially against pressure. Who knows what kind of bad habits you can get into if you begin to slouch.

Also, this is the NCAA tournament. Honestly, there shouldn't be a stigma for running up games here. This is the place to show your skills against all competition. I mean, think back to 2009 when UConn had the third largest margin of victory in an NCAA game, 56 points. I honestly don't remember any bitching about that win. (I should point out that JC was suspended that game too.)

 

[mauconnfan]

Not asking them to STOP playing at all..........asking them to reel it in is all. They can do that, still attack the basket on offense, play man hard too just get out of the full court press.....no reason to keep that on. Only one mans opinion - doubt asking them to pick up at half court would hurt them the rest of the tourney!!!

 

[husky210]

It's the tourney. If your team is hot you have to keep them going keep up with the gameplan. I don't have a problem with this given the time of year. If its January sure let up, but not now.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Look at what happened when they didn't do that...they got "slaughtered" by Saint Louis--and that happened to be their most recent game. I'm not a fan of running up scores, but there is some truth to what Palatine said (shocking, I know!)

VCU first has to beat Michigan, who when hot can score a ton of points. Then they have to play Kansas, whom I believe is the most vulnerable 1 seed, especially against pressure. Who knows what kind of bad habits you can get into if you begin to slouch.

Also, this is the NCAA tournament. Honestly, there shouldn't be a stigma for running up games here. This is the place to show your skills against all competition. I mean, think back to 2009 when UConn had the third largest margin of victory in an NCAA game, 56 points. I honestly don't remember any bitching about that win. (I should point out that JC was suspended that game too.)

Whatever, Akron had no chance of winning that game before the tip even happened. Possibly a good strategy to keep the pedal down and have his players thinking that way, but it really was merciless.

 

[Waquoit]

Not asking them to STOP playing at all..........asking them to reel it in is all. They can do that, still attack the basket on offense, play man hard too just get out of the full court press.....no reason to keep that on. Only one mans opinion - doubt asking them to pick up at half court would hurt them the rest of the tourney!!!

You might remember a BC game at the HCC late in the 1989 season where BC quit with about 15 minutes left but UConn kept the press. After the blowout, JC was talking about keeping the momentum going, they were battling for a spot on the bubble. Obie was left muttering about payback being a bitch. How many in a row did BC lose to UConn after that? 15?

 

[Fishy]

WWJC do? Probably the same thing.

Please.

VCU was up 45 points.

No, Calhoun would not have done the same thing.

 

[superjohn]

That's the way VCU plays, I have no problem with them going full throttle for pretty much the whole game. When you start worrying about the other team's feelings and how big your lead is then you are in trouble. When Calhoun's squads used to run and press back in the day there were many complete blowouts where he didn't call off the dogs.

 

[mauconnfan]

That's the way VCU plays, I have no problem with them going full throttle for pretty much the whole game. When you start worrying about the other team's feelings and how big your lead is then you are in trouble. When Calhoun's squads used to run and press back in the day there were many complete blowouts where he didn't call off the dogs.

45 points with guys running around with bandages and IV's? Please john........half court man-to-man is not 'throttling back" it's something they may need to do if their next opponent scores at will off the press....why not practice that? Geez guys is Shaka God now?

 

[Dogdeacon]

That's the way VCU plays, I have no problem with them going full throttle for pretty much the whole game. When you start worrying about the other team's feelings and how big your lead is then you are in trouble. When Calhoun's squads used to run and press back in the day there were many complete blowouts where he didn't call off the dogs.

Wrong, I think most would agree that 1990 was the most pressing team UConn ever had.
NCAA round 2 UConn 74 Cal 54
At the half it was 42-26, 2nd half 32-28, not much time for scrubs but I think the pressure was ratched down

And the previous game UConn came out nervous and was only up 1 over BU at halftime (then cruised outscoring 47-24 in 2nd half). But that provides reasonable argument that Calhoun would keep pressure up so that the team didn't tense up again but instead learn to keep hammering. I think Calhoun wasn't even on the sideline (annual stomach flu) for the Huskies biggest 1st round NCAA blowout ever.

 

[superjohn]

You guys clearly know what's better for the VCU team than the coach does. He didn't think slowing the game to a crawl and working on half court sets was the best thing for his team, NCAA should probably institute the CIAC Jack Cochran football rule, we wouldn't want to hurt another team's feelings.