Fran Fraschilla - basically a UCONN commercial

[EricLA]

Say what you want about the guy. He was the main "expert" on ESPN2 after the game. The other 2 guys were asking him about UCONN's success etc etc. Don't have exact quotes but he basically said the following:

"UCONN won in part because of the brilliant game plan by Ollie. He has 13 years experience in the NBA and being part of over 100 games every year has given him much more coaching experience than his college counterparts. There is much more coaching that goes on in the pros than in college. And it didn't hurt that his mentor is a HOF coach with 3 NC's.

Kids love playing for Ollie. He's engaging, has a great attitude, is a great teacher, and runs an intense practice, but he also has a great basketball mind. Kids love him and love playing for him. And even though only in his 2nd year, he's showing he's going to be a force for a long time.

Ollie did a masterful job of forcing MSU to be a jump shooting team. UCONN's weakness is in the post. Nolan is a role player, Brimah a raw freshman, and Daniels a small forward playing the power forward spot. MSU wanted to run and wanted to play the game from the inside out. They hit a bunch of 3's late in the first half and early in the 2nd half, but once the 3's stopped falling, you had to like UCONN's chances.

UCONN was the best story of the men's college basketball season. No 7 seed has ever before made it out of the elite 8. UCONN had Kemba Walker lead them thru the big east and NCAA's in their last magical run, and Napier (and Boatright) have just been terrific, as you would expect from a head coach who used to be a guard in the NBA."

Overall, he couldn't say enough nice things about UCONN, the team, or Ollie. Really nice to see, and any kid watching from home would have to be intrigued by the very least at the potential and future of UCONN...

 

[dunkinhuskies]

I guess they said on TV that a Virginia team made the final Four some time in the 80's. Good post. Most experts had UCONN losing to St. Joes and every team thereafter (Nova & Cyclones). Kenny Smith was the only analyst I saw that liked UConn's chances.

 

[Kevin Caliendo]

Ollie doubled the post with a big big double...not easy to execute and MSU didn't exploit it until the final minutes of the game. Great job

 

[Matrim55]

Ollie doubled the post with a big big double...

Reminded me of the '99 title game. Brand (and the overrated K) never figured it out.

 

[EricLA]

Yeah. I don't mind at all people getting on the UCONN bandwagon late. They will probably pick Florida by 8 points over UCONN too. We've done pretty well as the underdog so far...

 

[UConnSwag11]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:10699006

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Reminded me of the '99 title game. Brand (and the overrated K) never figured it out.

Bingo - I noticed the same thing on the first play of the game, the backside defender came down and helped - the exact same thing they did to Brand. Unfortunately, when Payne stepped out to the perimeter this wasn't a viable option, but had he stayed down there, we probably would've seen more of it, and likely would've seen more bench guys like Olander subbed in solely for this purpose and to use up fouls if necessary - a la 1999 with the likes of Antric Klaiber.

 

[James]

fran is cool but he picked st joes in the first round f### em

 

[Oxford Bob]

I guess they said on TV that a Virginia team made the final Four some time in the 80's. Good post. Most experts had UCONN losing to St. Joes and every team thereafter (Nova & Cyclones). Kenny Smith was the only analyst I saw that liked UConn's chances.

Virginia made the final four a year or two before they went to 64 teams as a 7 seed.

 

[EricLA]

fran is cool but he picked st joes in the first round f### em

Hey, better late than never to jump on the UCONN bandwagon, eh?!!

 

[uconnfan68]

I guess they said on TV that a Virginia team made the final Four some time in the 80's. Good post. Most experts had UCONN losing to St. Joes and every team thereafter (Nova & Cyclones). Kenny Smith was the only analyst I saw that liked UConn's chances.

That's because both Bazz and Boat were at his camp last summer. He knows them and how intense they can be (and how good they are). Plus, he's the anti-Charles. I love Chuck, but he's a real downer when UConn is the subject.