Espn's 2014-15 Preview: UConn Huskies | The Boneyard

Espn's 2014-15 Preview: UConn Huskies

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Haven't seen this posted anywhere:

http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-col...iew-connecticut-huskies?ex_cid=espnapi_public


Deep UConn team should be threat

Connecticut Huskies

2013-14: 32-8 (12-6 American)
In-conference offense: 1.07 points per possession (third)
In-conference defense: 0.96 points allowed per possession (fourth)

During UConn's quest for a repeat NCAA title, you're going to hear a lot about lineage. The narrative will go something like this: In 2011, UConn emerged as a surprise national champion as a senior point guard (Kemba Walker) carried the team while playing next to his future replacement (Shabazz Napier). Then last season, UConn again captured a surprising title behind another dominant senior point guard (Napier), who was paired with a younger model (Ryan Boatright).

Now, Boatright is the senior, so you can figure out the rest of the story arc. And while it's obviously unfair to expect Boatright to match the transformative tourney performances authored by his predecessors, he is poised for a big final season. As a junior, his numbers (12.1 PPG, 3.4 APG, 39.1 FG percentage) actually dipped a fair amount from what he produced as a sophomore (15.4 PPG, 4.4 APG, 42.9 FG percentage). But he was almost a different man in the NCAA tourney, as he finally seemed to embrace a supporting role next to Napier, one characterized by energy and efficiency. His stats jumped to 13.7 PPG, 46.3 percent shooting and 40 percent 3-point shooting. Boatright was even more impressive on defense, swarming opposing guards with intense pressure and forcing nearly two steals per game.

Projected starting lineup
Pos.NameYear
CAmida BrimahSoph.
FKentan FaceySoph.
G/FDaniel HamiltonFr.
GRodney PurvisSoph.
GRyan BoatrightSr.

"He really started to do the little things that [coach Kevin Ollie] had been preaching to him all year long," assistant coach Glen Miller said. "He really defended, distributed the ball, created for his teammates. It wasn't scoring that defined him. He earned lots of accolades for that, and it was an eye-opening experience for him."

It's one Boatright will carry with him as he assumes a greater role directing the offense because, believe it or not, he is surrounded by more offensive talent than last season's championship team featured, and it will be his job to feed all those scorers. Most of those weapons will live on the perimeter.

Start with sophomore combo guard Rodney Purvis, a former McDonald's All-American who transferred following a disastrous freshman season at NC State. Purvis sat out and could only watch last season's run from the sideline, no doubt adding to his hunger to prove that his lofty high school ranking was accurate. Fast and physical at 6-foot-4, Purvis loves to attack the basket and also hit 38.5 percent of his 3s at NC State. But he turned it over too often (18.2 percent), especially for someone with point guard skills, and often lacked focus. Miller expects him to fit in much better with the Huskies. "He's a talented kid and an explosive scorer," Miller says. "He's been able to learn our system, playing it every day in practice. Now there's a comfort level there."

Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesWith Shabazz Napier, right, gone, it's Ryan Boatright's time to shine.


UConn actually played slower than usual last season (64.6 possessions per game) but will look to push the ball more this season, especially since both Boatright and Purvis can start the break. The big difference, though, will be the number of talented wings that will run with them. Freshman Daniel Hamilton (No. 30 on the ESPN 100 recruiting list) is a fantastic athlete and a smooth scorer from deep, the midrange or on drives to the rim. He'll most likely start at small forward but will be pushed by 6-5 junior Omar Calhoun. After missing most of the spring and summer of 2013 following double hip surgery, Calhoun struggled as a sophomore and eventually fell out of the rotation. But he is a strong scorer who averaged 7.3 PPG as a freshman, and Miller says he has finally committed to playing the kind of defense that Ollie expects.

Calhoun will be one of two potential impact scorers off the bench, along with sophomore Sam Cassell Jr., a junior college transfer who can play both guard spots and posted 18.4 PPG and 3.7 APG at Chipola College last season. Sophomore Terrence Samuel, another wing, gained experience during last season's title run and should be an asset to Ollie.

Despite all the perimeter punch, the most intriguing player on the roster is undoubtedly centerAmida Brimah. Speaking of lineage, UConn has a tremendous track record of developing once-raw centers -- see Emeka Okafor and Hasheem Thabeet. Brimah is set to follow their path after contributing more than was expected as a freshman. His numbers were pedestrian (4.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG) but his job was to protect the rim for UConn. He did that in spades, rejecting 2.3 shots per game in just 16.2 MPG, which led to the country's fifth-best block rate (15.1 percent), according to Kenpom.com.

Brimah runs the floor well for a 7-footer and plays with great energy; now he is ready to showcase some skills as well. Miller says Brimah will shoot comfortably out to 15 feet this season (and even shows 3-point range in practice) and has improved his footwork around the hoop, adding a drop step, stepback jumper and fadeaway to the limited arsenal of hook shots he utilized last season. "This will be a defining year for him," Miller says.

The biggest question mark in UConn's lineup involves which player will appear next to Brimah at power forward. They will miss DeAndre Daniels' versatility and perimeter skills, an underrated key to last season's championship. Kentan Facey is the player most similar to Daniels on this season's squad, but he struggled as a freshman and appeared in just 23 games. If the 6-9 Facey doesn't progress as hoped, Ollie will have to play backup center Phillip Nolanalongside Brimah more than is desirable or employ four-guard lineups for longer stretches, which could tax Hamilton, who is not yet strong enough to guard most power forwards. On the other hand, if Facey can produce anywhere close to what his length, athleticism and face-up skills suggest he can, UConn will have a variety of ways to defeat its opponents.

Ultimately, though, it will come down to the Huskies' senior point guard making winning plays at key moments. Boatright has learned from the best; now it's his turn to leave his mark.

Projected 2014-15 conference finish: second
 

Dmike

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Thanks for posting this. The author is not the most statistically accurate, but see to get the bigger story lines for the season.
 
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good read but it seems like no one in the media realizes that Kemba wasn't a senior.

damn noticing even more mistakes now, Omar's ppg from his freshman year is wrong, Terrence listed as a wing, cmon man.

Or that Samuel isn't a wing but a PG. Or that Omar averaged 11.1 ppg as a freshman.

Doubt very much that we'll be seeing Amida taking many 15 footers this year.

But, yea, a good read none the less. Always like to hear our coaching staff's thoughts on player development.
 

RichZ

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The biggest question mark in UConn's lineup involves which player will appear next to Brimah at power forward. They will miss DeAndre Daniels' versatility and perimeter skills, an underrated key to last season's championship. Kentan Facey is the player most similar to Daniels on this season's squad, but he struggled as a freshman and appeared in just 23 games. If the 6-9 Facey doesn't progress as hoped, Ollie will have to play backup center Phillip Nolanalongside Brimah more than is desirable or employ four-guard lineups for longer stretches, which could tax Hamilton, who is not yet strong enough to guard most power forwards.

Evidently, on top of all his other errors, this guy has never seen the Rock.
 
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Projected 2014-15 conference finish: second

Who would Uconn be finishing second to in conference this season?
The only remaining team in the AAC that swept us last year: SMU
 

Yankees32123

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Projected 2014-15 conference finish: second

Who would Uconn be finishing second to in conference this season?[/QUOTE]
They're saying SMU, which is possible, especially if they had Emmanuel Mudiay. But even without him, they returned pretty much their entire roster, a roster which gave us fits last year. It will be a dog fight with SMU all year long. My projected conference standings goes like this…

1. UConn
2. SMU
3. Memphis
4. Cincinnati
5. Temple
6. Tulsa
7. Houston
8. UCF
9. ECU
10. Tulane
11. USF
 

CL82

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Who would Uconn be finishing second to in conference this season?

They're saying SMU, which is possible, especially if they had Emmanuel Mudiay. But even without him, they returned pretty much their entire roster, a roster which gave us fits last year. It will be a dog fight with SMU all year long. My projected conference standings goes like this…
Yep, but we'll be a different team this year. Purvis and Boat are one speedy backcourt and Brimah and Nolan are far more seasoned. Add in DHam and I'm not worried. (Except, of course that we're Doooomed.)
 

SubbaBub

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Motion to amend the bylaws of the Boneyard to prohibit the simultaneous listing of all American Athletic Conference member institutions in a single posting on the grounds that it is still too damn depressing.
 
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Motion to amend the bylaws of the Boneyard to prohibit the simultaneous listing of all American Athletic Conference member institutions in a single posting on the grounds that it is still too damn depressing.

Seconded.
 

UconnU

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Exciting time to be a uconn fan! Rarely do teams have youth and experience but we do. Were going to be starting 3 sophs and a frosh yet I feel like this team has tons of experience, big game experience. The first 2 guys off our bench played a major roll in a national ship. Its also a very prototypical uconn team, undersized inner city senior pg with a ton of heart, a long athletic shot blocking center, a few long wings who can hit shots. So excited for the season to start.
 
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Exciting time to be a uconn fan! Rarely do teams have youth and experience but we do. Were going to be starting 3 sophs and a frosh yet I feel like this team has tons of experience, big game experience. The first 2 guys off our bench played a major roll in a national ship. Its also a very prototypical uconn team, undersized inner city senior pg with a ton of heart, a long athletic shot blocking center, a few long wings who can hit shots. So excited for the season to start.

I think this team will be top 15 all season and be very very good by march. If the backcourt of Boat/Purv are as good as many think i would bet on us being back in the final 4. Guard play is everything in March as we showed last season against teams that had more size and talent were neutralized by our guards and led to a title.
 
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"Brimah runs the floor well for a 7-footer and plays with great energy; now he is ready to showcase some skills as well. Miller says Brimah will shoot comfortably out to 15 feet this season (and even shows 3-point range in practice) and has improved his footwork around the hoop, adding a drop step, stepback jumper and fadeaway to the limited arsenal of hook shots he utilized last season. "This will be a defining year for him," Miller says."

The part about his low post game has me giddy! AB looks very fluid on the court and could be much improved in the post as far as scoring. He looks far more natural scoring than Mek or Hasheem ever did as they were very robotic in the post. I look for big things from AB this year.
 

UconnU

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I think this team will be top 15 all season and be very very good by march. If the backcourt of Boat/Purv are as good as many think i would bet on us being back in the final 4. Guard play is everything in March as we showed last season against teams that had more size and talent were neutralized by our guards and led to a title.
Right, guard play shouldnt be an issue lol I would take our guards over any other teams guards in the country. Also I believe our overall team defense is one of the best. I think the only "weakness" would be that we dont have the assortment of shooters weve had in the past. I really hope KO focuses on improving players shooting ability and shot selection. Otherwise we will need to evolve into a high possession transition type team like a kentucky and it's hard to win that battle against other elite programs who play that style.
 

RichZ

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Neither have a lot of us. But I'm optimistic

The point is, this guy thinks that if our starting 4 isn't working, using our backup 5 as the backup 4 is our only option other than playing 4 guards. Yet we have another player who (at least physically) is pretty much the prototypical UConn 4 man in Lubin.

And lets face it, we've only seen Facey play a handful of minutes more than the zero minutes we've seen so far from Lubin.
 

intlzncster

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good read but it seems like no one in the media realizes that Kemba wasn't a senior.

damn noticing even more mistakes now, Omar's ppg from his freshman year is wrong, Terrence listed as a wing, cmon man.

I didn't see any mention of APR nor post season ban. I'm happy.
 
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If Purvis and Hamilton come in and play well, look out. This team will go places. So much rests with them. I want Facey to give us what Roscoe Smith gave us as a freshman. Too much to ask?
 
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If Purvis and Hamilton come in and play well, look out. This team will go places. So much rests with them. I want Facey to give us what Roscoe Smith gave us as a freshman. Too much to ask?
Nope . We still have to wait and see brimah , can he equal AO? We need him to take a leap to be a contender IMO. By that I mean staying on the floor , rebounds, and continuing to protect the paint . The back court is as deep as ever
 

intlzncster

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If Purvis and Hamilton come in and play well, look out. This team will go places. So much rests with them. I want Facey to give us what Roscoe Smith gave us as a freshman. Too much to ask?

If he can defend and rebound like Roscoe, sign me up. Given what (very) little I saw of him, I'd think he'll be not quite as strong defensively, but a better shooter. Seems to have a nose for the ball though. Tough to tell in limited minutes.
 
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