For anyone who thinks Boat isn't ready to carry the torch

[Husky68]

Rewatched the Kentucky game last night. Thought remembered Boat playing well, wrong - he played very, very, very well. He did 2 Kemba fade aways on Randle, I had only remembered 1. His shot selection was good, his defensive play on shooting the lanes for steals was better than I remember seeing in a college game and the on ball defense rivaled Ricky and that little kid from Providence who killed Taliek his freshman year. He even played through the ankle injury and the Shabazz shove. He won't always play this well, but he will do it often enough and his B game will be plenty good.

 

[intlzncster]

Rewatched the Kentucky game last night. Thought remembered Boat playing well, wrong - he played very, very, very well. He did 2 Kemba fade aways on Randle, I had only remembered 1. His shot selection was good, his defensive play on shooting the lanes for steals was better than I remember seeing in a college game and the on ball defense rivaled Ricky and that little kid from Providence who killed Taliek his freshman year. He even played through the ankle injury and the Shabazz shove. He won't always play this well, but he will do it often enough and his B game will be plenty good.

John Linehan. Still the best one on one defender I've seen in college hoops. That guy got a standing ovation at the Civic Center his final game iirc. The crowd was so happy he was gone next year.

 

[breezy]

I absolutely believe (and believed) boat can carry the torch for us his senior year. The interesting thing will be to watch his leadership style.

While bazz was enough of a lightening rod to reel in boat, will boat be ok with potentially not being the leading scorer? If Omar blows up and purv and dham are as advertised will boat be ok with scoring perhaps even less than he did last year (which seemed to already be a concession for him)?

While this roster has some high-caliber players, the only person I can see really ferrying the soul of this team is our senior leader. As someone mentioned before, if he gets disinterested even for a moment, we're in trouble.

The only person who can be the floor General is boat. He's the key to the season. I don't care if dham and purv each average 20, if they care about the team more than boat does then we could be looking at another 11-12. All this said I predict Ryan rises to the occasion.

 

[otp85]

John Linehan. Still the best one on one defender I've seen in college hoops. That guy got a standing ovation at the Civic Center his final game iirc. The crowd was so happy he was gone next year.

Love the reference but you're wrong, Linehan was #2. Yeah, he has the all time Big East steals record, but it took him 4 years to pass what the real #1 did in just 2 years in the conference.

Allen Iverson

 

[intlzncster]

Love the reference but your wrong, Linehan was #2. Yeah, he has the all time Big East steals record, but it took him 4 years to pass what the real #1 did in just 2 years in the conference.

Allen Iverson

Forgot about AI. He picked a ton of pockets.

 

[David 76]

There should be several of you out there, who need to settle in to a nice crow dinner. Boat was incredible during the tournament, not because of how he played "his" game, but because like 'Bazz, he gave the team what it needed to win. His defense was as good as anyone to dawn a UConn uniform. Preseason, when discussing the team's chances, I recall a healthy, vigorous debate about how this team stacked up to prior championship teams and many said that Boat's D did not come anywhere close to Moore's. Ricky was lockdown, but so is Boat and as a result we can thank those two for a couple of NC banners flying high in Gampel. I can't wait to watch Boat next year. This team feels like a good one.

Mike, Ricky Moore was a lock-down defender for a long time. Boat was awesome during the tournament but you can't equal him to Ricky (not yet). Without Ricky offense (and defense) we don't win our first NC. But that doesn't mean Ricky was Rip.

 

[intlzncster]

Mike, Ricky Moore was a lock-down defender for a long time. Boat was awesome during the tournament but you can't equal him to Ricky (not yet). Without Ricky offense (and defense) we don't win our first NC. But that doesn't mean Ricky was Rip.

You can say the exact same thing about Boat in this tournament. And the gap between Boat and Ricky isn't remotely the same as the canyon between Ricky and Rip.

Boat might just end up being a better all around player than Ricky. And this is coming from a guy who gets a hard on watching Ricky play D.

 

[otp85]

Ricky vs Boat. Does anyone really lose this argument?

Maybe Boat has the advantage because Ricky is coaching him?

 

[David 76]

You can say the exact same thing about Boat in this tournament. And the gap between Boat and Ricky isn't remotely the same as the canyon between Ricky and Rip.

Boat might just end up being a better all around player than Ricky. And this is coming from a guy who gets a hard on watching Ricky play D.

Don't disagree with anything you said. Just don't think you can anoint Boat as good as Ricky on defense just based on the tourney. I love Boat and think he is going to have a great year. He certainly has more offensive upside than Ricky

 

[otp85]

Don't disagree with anything you said. Just don't think you can anoint Boat as good as Ricky on defense just based on the tourney.

I'm not saying he is or isn't but if you're going to judge you have way more to base it on than just the tournament. Sure, it was Boat's best D, it was the NC, it should be. But there was plenty of evidence over the past 3 years that proves he can thrive on the defensive end.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm not saying he is or isn't but if you're going to judge you have way more to base it on than just the tournament. Sure, it was Boat's best D, it was the NC, it should be. But there was plenty of evidence over the past 3 years that proves he can thrive on the defensive end.

Yeah, it wasn't a one hit wonder. What it was though was an absolutely superlative defensive performance.