From Jay Bilas on ESPN Insider

[gtcam]

Calhoun told Ollie at the end of last season that this season would be a harder challenge for Ollie and he was right. Last season we were more dangerous because we had nothing to play for, so we had an edge. I've often found that an opponent with nothing to lose is a very dangerous opponent because there is a fearlessness that results from it. This team has lost its edge.

100% agreed - I've said that since last season ended
Last year they had nothing to play for that lets you play free and easy
This year they play with fear - fear of losing and its consequences to both the team and to some-pro prospects

 

[David 76]

I like Jay and didn't disagree when he left UCONN off his list of teams that could win the championship but needing to" get tougher" doesn't seem like great analysis to me. If playing tougher means OC hits his shots and AB actually rebounds or holds on to a pass I'm all for it.
However, I prefer my analysis. UCONN needs to........play better

 

[8893]

It doesn't mean Omar hits his shots. Yet. It means that he and the others play with tenacity, starting with smothering defense (yes, including Amidah and others getting more rebounds). That is the Calhoun founding principle: Defense is effort, and there is no excuse for lack of effort. From good defense, confidence often follows. From confidence, shots often start dropping.

Take care of the defense and the rest will usually take care of itself. Defense is toughness and effort. There is no dispute that this team, by its own admission, has a problem with toughness and effort right now. KO has said it, Shabazz has said it and Boat has said it.

 

[David 76]

They have played mostly very good defense this year. They can improve and need to. I just find "play tougher' to be a macho yet vague and largely meaningless term They need more consistent effort, need to box out better, rebound better, create more shots for Giffey, not allow Shabazz to not take a shot for half a game. Those are things you can strive for and measure how you are doing

Maybe it is semantics

 

[babysheep]

need to box out better, rebound better

Only so much you can do when the only member of your team over 220 is your doofy white guy who has no real place playing D1 basketball.

 

[UConNation]

Calhoun told Ollie at the end of last season that this season would be a harder challenge for Ollie and he was right. Last season we were more dangerous because we had nothing to play for, so we had an edge. I've often found that an opponent with nothing to lose is a very dangerous opponent because there is a fearlessness that results from it. This team has lost its edge.

Any idea what JC said to KO in terms of why this season would be more difficult (other than the fact that last year the team had nothing to play for)?

 

[UConNation]

They have played mostly very good defense this year. They can improve and need to. I just find "play tougher' to be a macho yet vague and largely meaningless term They need more consistent effort, need to box out better, rebound better, create more shots for Giffey, not allow Shabazz to not take a shot for half a game. Those are things you can strive for and measure how you are doing

Maybe it is semantics

I agree with most of what you said here, except that I don't believe that playing tougher is a vague term. I think that the team does play tight D for the most part. There are a few that, while I'm NOT saying that they don't ever play hard, seem to not give it everything they have every possesion ie) DD, AB, OC. Crash the boards, box out, don't watch your shot the whole way, etc. Again, these guys do play tough some of the time, but I want to see a more consistent effort.

The part of your post that I absolutely 100% agree wtih is that NG needs to get more designed plays. The kid can shoot. We know that. You don't lead the nation in 3 pt % by being just lucky. Bazz absoultely HAS to start getting more involved in the first half. I've been discussing this a lot with friends, but I wonder if SN and KO have spoken about the need to get more players involved in the scoring effort and therefore by design SN doesn't take as many shots in the first half. The problem is, is that in a game like the Houston one, he got involved too late (2 pts in the first half and 25 in the second). *** Disclaimer - I know I'm oversimpifying this - but my honest assessment of the team is that if SN was as involved in the whole game as he is in the last 15 minutes, we rebounded, NG had more designed plays, and RB didn't dribble around the 3 pt line/top of they key for the first 28 seconds of the shot clock we'd be undefeated.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Coach Dakich made a poignant comment during the early action of OSU vs. MSU. Branden Dawson 6'6" 225 muscled his way past Scott (6'1" OSU guard). The play by play guy said you can't expect Scott to keep Dawson off the boards can you? Dakich said that is it not about the size, it is about the "want to".
The big problem lately is that we have several players, most of whom are thin or undersized for their position who are haven't shown the "want to" to battle hard for rebounds, remember to box out hard on every possession etc. and it has killed us.

It also shows that mental toughness can overcome physical disadvantage. I see it all the time in the 5th grade girls team I coach. Athletic ability and skill helps, but agressiveness, toughness, and awareness are what separates the players. Our best shooter, who hit the first three we asked her to take in practice (some girls can't reach the rim from the FT line) and is fast and good ball handler, almost never scores. She's just not assertive enough. Others have an attack mentality on offense and defense. They are relentless. That's the word that's been missing from this UConn team. It is not relentless on defense and especially not on offense. We see it with opposing forwards all the time, guys who just bring the offensive rebounding and pound the glass against us. None of our guys do that. It is what Alex O was always missing, despite his physical gifts.

 

[James]

It also shows that mental toughness can overcome physical disadvantage. I see it all the time in the 5th grade girls team I coach. Athletic ability and skill helps, but agressiveness, toughness, and awareness are what separates the players. Our best shooter, who hit the first three we asked her to take in practice (some girls can't reach the rim from the FT line) and is fast and good ball handler, almost never scores. She's just not assertive enough. Others have an attack mentality on offense and defense. They are relentless. That's the word that's been missing from this UConn team. It is not relentless on defense and especially not on offense. We see it with opposing forwards all the time, guys who just bring the offensive rebounding and pound the glass against us. None of our guys do that. It is what Alex O was always missing, despite his physical gifts.

Alex o wasn't relentless? Typo?
Olander has to play better , bottom line. He's the only actual big whose physically ready we have. There is also no issue on offense, we're an elite shooting team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Alex o wasn't relentless? Typo?
Olander has to play better , bottom line. He's the only actual big whose physically ready we have. There is also no issue on offense, we're an elite shooting team.

Exactly. Alex O looked like he should have been Karl Malone, and instead never was a strong rebounder or post presence. Jeff Adrien, lacking Alex's physical gifts, was better at both. That was mental, 100% mental. Our offense is pathetic and couldn't be more dull and uninspired. Giffey himself captures it perfectly in the Borges article.

Said Giffey: “I definitely have to use screens better … That’s also a team effort, I think ... That’s kind of like a team effort to get everybody back involved. We can’t play a slow-paced game where it’s a couple of guys who do one-on-one moves. We’ve got to play as a team, share the ball the same way we did in the beginning of the season where we really attacked the paint.”

 

[James]

Exactly. Alex O looked like he should have been Karl Malone, and instead never was a strong rebounder or post presence. Jeff Adrien, lacking Alex's physical gifts, was better at both. That was mental, 100% mental. Our offense is pathetic and couldn't be more dull and uninspired. Giffey himself captures it perfectly in the Borges article.

So oriakhi was never a strong rebounder ? Ok

 

[OkaForPrez]

There is nothing different between this year and last year. Last year we started off 11-3. This year we started off 11-3. We hemmed and hawed over our loss to New Mexico in the Islands, and then they turned out to be a protected seed (who flamed out).

MSU = Florida
Houston = Quinnipiac
NC State = Stanford
Eastern Washington = UNH
Marquette = SMU

Notre Dame was the single top 50 RPI road win we had last year and it took TO's best performance of his career. We were 4-6 vs the RPI top 50.

Our road conference wins last year were:

Seton Hall, Providence, Depaul and ND. After ND at an RPI of 44, Providence was the highest rated RPI team at 86.

Same team.

We expected to be better. We expected Deandre to be a lottery pick. But we haven't lost anything from who we were.

 

[huskyharry]

So oriakhi was never a strong rebounder ? Ok

Beating a dead horse, who left the barn 2 years ago, but AO was horrible at boxing out, had lousy hands...frequently fumbled the ball when it came to him, and tending to spend a lot of time up on his toes and out of balance, allows the opponent to sweep in and get the rebound. The 2011 team had multiple players who consistently boxed out and scrapped for the ball or pursued the ball well (Roscoe, Kemba, JLamb, Bazz, Chuck) this allowed AO to get a good number of rebounds just by turning towards the hoop and allowing the ball to come to him. His best games were against slow, unathletic opponents, such as Jorts from Kensucky and the bigs from Butler. He was not a top notch rebounder on his own and that is big part of the reason that despite his ideal frame, he hasn't had a sniff at the NBA.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

. His best games were against slow, unathletic opponents, such as Jorts from Kensucky and the bigs from Butler. He was not a top notch rebounder on his own and that is big part of the reason that despite his ideal frame, he hasn't had a sniff at the NBA.

Like the 21 rebounds he had against those slow, unathletic stiffs from Texas like Tristan Thompson. Those were just because the ball landed in his hands. Incidentally, Jorts is in the league now too, and I'm pretty sure Terence Jones is as well. Love the revisionist nonsense with Oriakhi.

 

[Mots010]

Like the 21 rebounds he had against those slow, unathletic stiffs from Texas like Tristan Thompson. Those were just because the ball landed in his hands. Incidentally, Jorts is in the league now too, and I'm pretty sure Terence Jones is as well. Love the revisionist nonsense with Oriakhi.

That was 2011. In 2012 he was not nearly as effective. I'd argue he was pretty bad and quit on his team. Even in his final game with mizzu he pulled down 2 rebounds against CSU. What league is AO in these days?

 

[Inyatkin]

If Alex Oriakhi was not a strong rebounder we don't win the title in 2011. What happened the following year does not change that.
I love how once someone is in the doghouse it's like everything good they did is written out of history. It's the Boneyard as run by Stalin.

 

[whaler11]

If Alex Oriakhi was not a strong rebounder we don't win the title in 2011. What happened the following year does not change that.
I love how once someone is in the doghouse it's like everything good they did is written out of history. It's the Boneyard as run by Stalin.

Pretty funny line.

In a sane world people realize an over 40 men's slowpitch softball league is closer to Major League Baseball than 5th grade girls basketball is to division 1 college basketball.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pretty funny line.

In a sane world people realize an over 40 men's slowpitch softball league is closer to Major League Baseball than 5th grade girls basketball is to division 1 college basketball.

As if I don't realize that. The paralells exist at levels of sports. The separation of great players is rarely physical, it is mostly mental. Peyton Manning has nothing physically on any number of young QBs, including some who never made it. In the case of Alex, his own play shows how bringing the right mental attitude and having confidence in much of 2010-11 produced different results than the following year when he was mentally out of it. Jeremy Lamb transformed himself midway through that season. Was it physical, or mental? Please read with some intelligence and look for the actual point rather than just the surface level of comments.

 

[whaler11]

As if I don't realize that. The paralells exist at levels of sports. The separation of great players is rarely physical, it is mostly mental. Peyton Manning has nothing physically on any number of young QBs, including some who never made it. In the case of Alex, his own play shows how bringing the right mental attitude and having confidence in much of 2010-11 produced different results than the following year when he was mentally out of it. Jeremy Lamb transformed himself midway through that season. Was it physical, or mental? Please read with some intelligence and look for the actual point rather than just the surface level of comments.

LOL sure. There are no conclusions to be drawn on high level sports from little kid sports. You are just drawing imaginary parallels in your mind.

 

[Goat]

As someone who is half Irish, I have seen in my family and know the meaning of the punchline about senile Irishmen - there is nothing left but the grudges.

Hence, I take the presence of a Jim Calhoun quotes in 'Toughness' as proof that Calhoun finds Bilas to be fair, even a good guy.

Here is the blurb:
"Jay Bilas gives meaning to one of the most overused words in sports. Bilas explains the complexity of acquiring and utilizing all aspects of toughness, be it mental or physical, both on and off the playing field. It is a great description of a concept and value we all need in our lives."

- Coach Jim Calhoun, UConn

 

[HuskyHawk]

LOL sure. There are no conclusions to be drawn on high level sports from little kid sports. You are just drawing imaginary parallels in your mind.

So the mental aspects of sports competition, confidence, assertiveness, awareness, mental toughness, those are either irrelevant for kids or irrelevant for high level sports. Got it. Glad you are here to elighten us.

 

[Danzz]

Coach Dakich made a poignant comment during the early action of OSU vs. MSU. Branden Dawson 6'6" 225 muscled his way past Scott (6'1" OSU guard). The play by play guy said you can't expect Scott to keep Dawson off the boards can you? Dakich said that is it not about the size, it is about the "want to".
The big problem lately is that we have several players, most of whom are thin or undersized for their position who are haven't shown the "want to" to battle hard for rebounds, remember to box out hard on every possession etc. and it has killed us.

There is a long list of good rebounders who weren't particularly big. Going way back Paul Silas comes to mind.

 

[huskyharry]

There is a long list of good rebounders who weren't particularly big. Going way back Paul Silas comes to mind.

Yes, Paul Silas was a masterful rebounder, a true student of that art. He was a guest instructor at a basketball camp that I attended and I still remember the techniques he taught us about rebounding from the free throw situation (alas it was 37 years ago!)

 

[joober jones]

Maybe KO should lie and tell them they've been banned from the post season. Then they'll turn into a squad of warriors up and down the line.

 

[uconndoit]

Funny, I was going through my old bookmarks today and found this article from 2009...

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncb/insi.../columns/story?columnist=bilas_jay&id=3868904