Game One Semifinals: UConNick vs. Husky15

[champs99and04]

UConNick

G - Taliek Brown
G - Richard Hamilton
F - Donny Marshall
F - Rudy Gay
C - Jake Voskuhl

Bench:

Wes Bialosukinia
Corny Thompson

Husky15

G - Khalid El-Amin
G - Albert Mouring
G - Jeremy Lamb
F - DeAndre Daniels
C - Emeka Okafor

Bench:

Tate George
Rod Sellers

 

[hoophuskee]

Don't like Mouring starting at all. Think it could be huge mistake in the future but Corny T on the bench - don't like that either. Even with the disagreements I have I go with Husky. There isn't one stopper on Nick's team while Okafor can erase defensive mistakes made by El AMin and Mouring etc.

 

[UConNick]

My defensive and offensive styles remain the same from last game. However, here are my strategies against Okafor and Husky. Please read before voting; I have a good gameplan:

Offense
Okafor is a problem. However, his perimeter defense is WEAK. Mouring and Lamb will get abused by Rip, Donny, et al. We don't need to go inside when we can create shots on the perimeter. Okafor can't block every look, nor can her grab every rebound. We've seen Daniels struggle guarding physical players, and Corny will get a lot of run for this reason exactly; he also dominates Daniels on the glass. If we stay away from Okafor, he has no one else on this end of the court that can contain us. We would win in a shootout once again. Okafor may be an intimidating shot blocker, but if he can't get opportunities to block a shot, he can't block a shot. Voskuhl is not an integral part of our scoring anyway, plus he can draw Okafor out when he goes to set screens. Lamb would have copious amounts of trouble with Donny, Rudy, and Corny because they are so much bigger. Wes can always come of the bench and virtually score at will, too. Rip would absolutely go off against this backcourt. Okafor does not mean our offensive firepower is automatically diminished!!!!

Defense
Okafor is a major problem on the interior; having Daniels to stretch the floor at the 4 is also a problem. However, if anyone is athletically gifted enough to cover Daniels and help on Okafor, its Rudy Gay. Corny and Donny can also bang, but something tells me we would need all 20 fouls from my 4 post players. Taliek is a good enough defender to keep KEA in front of him, and i can always stick the bigger Rip on him to bother him with length. Plus, I'm not afraid to triangle and 2 against these guys. Once again, stick guys on their three point shooters like Mouring, and stuff the paint to try and contain Okafor. My team CAN do this on the defensive end, because we have a bunch of big, athletic players.

Conclusion
Okafor is a monster. There's a reason his name was the first word of each paragraph. However, I have no problem letting him get 20 and 20, because we can match that with our offensive firepower. They don't have enough quality defenders, save Emeka. Jake was an NBA center; he may be overmatched, but he wouldn't let Okafor completely dominate him; you don't win a national championship as a post player by running away with your tail in between your legs. Thank you for reading this, and for not making a quick decision. I hope my argument was compelling enough, and I believe it was. 82-78; Voskuhl and Corny foul out, but Rudy has 24 and 11 to lead the charge, and Rip and Wes make 4 threes each. My team may be the slight underdog, but that is typical UCONN fashion. We WILL SHELLSHOCK these guys!!!!

 

[tzznandrew]

Don't like Mouring starting at all. Think it could be huge mistake in the future but Corny T on the bench - don't like that either. Even with the disagreements I have I go with Husky. There isn't one stopper on Nick's team while Okafor can erase defensive mistakes made by El AMin and Mouring etc.

Agree entirely about the Mouring bit.

I think Taliek can gaurd El-Amin well, and it's not like Mouring can do much more than shoot, so there won't be too much pressure on Rip to play much defense. Rudy was a very good defender, but playing him at the 4 could be a problem, and probably would be against most traditional 4s. But I think Rudy can guard Daniels. But, I think he would struggle with Lamb, and so would Donny.

Additionally, I don't think El-Amin, Mouring, Lamb, or Daniels could stop Hamilton. But...no one can stop Okafor on the other side.

This is another tough matchup...

 

[Gringo]

My defensive and offensive styles remain the same from last game. However, here are my strategies against Okafor and Husky. Please read before voting; I have a good gameplan:

Conclusion
Okafor is a monster. There's a reason his name was the first word of each paragraph. However, I have no problem letting him get 20 and 20, because we can match that with our offensive firepower.

This is a really close one, but I'm going with UConNick. I also don't like the Mouring matchup. Also I think Nick is giving Okafor too much credit. Okafor will be a beast but I don't think he ever went 20 and 20 in a game at UConn and I'd be surprised to see him do it against a solid interior defender like Voskuhl.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Don't like Mouring starting at all. Think it could be huge mistake in the future but Corny T on the bench - don't like that either. Even with the disagreements I have I go with Husky. There isn't one stopper on Nick's team while Okafor can erase defensive mistakes made by El AMin and Mouring etc.

? Taliek, Donny and Jake are all + defenders, I think its Husky's team that only has Okafor & Sellers as defensive minded players with Daniels a maybe if he's playing D as he did in the tourney. But guard-wise I like Nick's team as more balanced. Tate & Mouring are two players that don't belong in this game with every other player on either side being at least #2 offensive option or the anchor on defense (Sellers, Jake). I give slight nod to Nick
KEA>Taliek
RIP > Mouring by a landslide
Lamb > Donny- I think Donny would shut Lamb down and is more versatile, but giving Lamb benefit of doubt
Gay > Daniels - two talented wings but Gay was more consistent of inconsistent guys
Okafor> Jake by a landslide
Wes > Tate landslide
Corny > Sellers
4-3

 

[kcc1442]

? Taliek, Donny and Jake are all + defenders, I think its Husky's team that only has Okafor & Sellers as defensive minded players with Daniels a maybe if he's playing D as he did in the tourney. But guard-wise I like Nick's team as more balanced. Tate & Mouring are two players that don't belong in this game with every other player on either side being at least #2 offensive option or the anchor on defense (Sellers, Jake). I give slight nod to Nick
KEA>Taliek
RIP > Mouring by a landslide
Lamb > Donny- I think Donny would shut Lamb down and is more versatile, but giving Lamb benefit of doubt
Gay > Daniels - two talented wings but Gay was more consistent of inconsistent guys
Okafor> Jake by a landslide
Wes > Tate landslide
Corny > Sellers
4-3

I agree with all of this other than Gay over Daniels. I think both are very very similar players but I would say Rudy was a bit more aggravatingly inconsistent. Plus DD showed up when the lights were the brightest. Both highly skilled and if motivated could dominate games. This one is very close though. Tough call.

 

[tzznandrew]

I agree with all of this other than Gay over Daniels. I think both are very very similar players but I would say Rudy was a bit more aggravatingly inconsistent. Plus DD showed up when the lights were the brightest. Both highly skilled and if motivated could dominate games. This one is very close though. Tough call.

Rudy Gay wasn't really that inconsistent, he just had a lot of other weapons on his team, and he wasn't one to force the issue. His team had Marcus Williams, Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong, and Josh Boone, all of whom could score some points, and so a lot of games it was more feeding the hot hand, which was someone other than Rudy.

We needed Daniels to be a 3rd scorer--really a 2nd scorer--because we had Shabazz and Boatright. Occassionally Niels could chip in, or Kromah. But really, scoring was scant, so Daniels' disappearances were more devastating. Even at the end, he had a great game against Florida, and then a mediocre game against UK.

Remember, too, that Rudy Gay was Consensus Second Team All America because he brought a lot more to the table than scoring.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Rudy Gay wasn't really that inconsistent, he just had a lot of other weapons on his team, and he wasn't one to force the issue. His team had Marcus Williams, Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong, and Josh Boone, all of whom could score some points, and so a lot of games it was more feeding the hot hand, which was someone other than Rudy.

We needed Daniels to be a 3rd scorer--really a 2nd scorer--because we had Shabazz and Boatright. Occassionally Niels could chip in, or Kromah. But really, scoring was scant, so Daniels' disappearances were more devastating. Even at the end, he had a great game against Florida, and then a mediocre game against UK.

Remember, too, that Rudy Gay was Consensus Second Team All America because he brought a lot more to the table than scoring.

Yep, IF Gay was more aggravatingly inconsistent it is because he was BETTER! So Rudy's inconsistency would be an occasional 10pt game on too few shots, but he'd still get a few blocks and at least a half dozen boards. Deandre's downside in comparison would be 4pts and 3 boards. There is a reason Rudy was drafted in the lottery coming out of UConn and Deandre is projected at end of first round. Rudy is better by a decent margin.

 

[kcc1442]

Yep, IF Gay was more aggravatingly inconsistent it is because he was BETTER! So Rudy's inconsistency would be an occasional 10pt game on too few shots, but he'd still get a few blocks and at least a half dozen boards. Deandre's downside in comparison would be 4pts and 3 boards. There is a reason Rudy was drafted in the lottery coming out of UConn and Deandre is projected at end of first round. Rudy is better by a decent margin.

Rudy Gay wasn't really that inconsistent, he just had a lot of other weapons on his team, and he wasn't one to force the issue. His team had Marcus Williams, Denham Brown, Rashad Anderson, Hilton Armstrong, and Josh Boone, all of whom could score some points, and so a lot of games it was more feeding the hot hand, which was someone other than Rudy.

We needed Daniels to be a 3rd scorer--really a 2nd scorer--because we had Shabazz and Boatright. Occassionally Niels could chip in, or Kromah. But really, scoring was scant, so Daniels' disappearances were more devastating. Even at the end, he had a great game against Florida, and then a mediocre game against UK.

Remember, too, that Rudy Gay was Consensus Second Team All America because he brought a lot more to the table than scoring.

Yeah I might I agree that Rudy always seemed to have this amazingly high ceiling and therefore you could say that he should be better than Daniels but I remember being so frustrated with the fact that Rudy didn't step up in big spots. Plus if we are saying that Rudy's team was much better than Daniels, than they should have at least made a final four. Daniels averaged 16 ppg (49 FG%) and 7.2 rpg to go along with more than a block per game in this past tournament. That's showing up. Conversely Rudy averaged 14.7 ppg (51 FG%)4.25 rpg and exactly 1 block per game in his last tournament ('05-'06). Not bad numbers by Rudy but DD outperformed him and brought home hardware. That earns him the nod for me.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Yeah I might I agree that Rudy always seemed to have this amazingly high ceiling and therefore you could say that he should be better than Daniels but I remember being so frustrated with the fact that Rudy didn't step up in big spots. Plus if we are saying that Rudy's team was much better than Daniels, than they should have at least made a final four. Daniels averaged 16 ppg (49 FG%) and 7.2 rpg to go along with more than a block per game in this past tournament. That's showing up. Conversely Rudy averaged 14.7 ppg (51 FG%)4.25 rpg and exactly 1 block per game in his last tournament ('05-'06). Not bad numbers by Rudy but DD outperformed him and brought home hardware. That earns him the nod for me.

That's teammates. Shabazz vs MWilliams isn't close.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

That's teammates. Shabazz vs MWilliams isn't close.

Uconn has crappy fans. If MW had boat, or Rudy stepped up more, or a decent attacking 2/3 he'd be considered an ATG.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Uconn has crappy fans. If MW had boat, or Rudy stepped up more, or a decent attacking 2/3 he'd be considered an ATG.

Shabazz has 2 national championships