Giffey earned the starting 3 Tyler the 4

[scrappy2.0]

The other guys have been dreadfully inconsistent. AO has to pick it up off the bench. AO has become a non entity on the offense. I think Tyler has shown aggressiveness and can play in and out which will give Drummond more space. Giffey spreads the floor and can put ball pressure on one of the guards that Shabazz doesn't take. I'm also wondering if we should use some pres and trap with the 2nd unit for 3-4 minute clips.

C-Drummond
F-Olander
F-Giffey
G-Lamb
G-Shabazz

C/F Alex O
F Smith
G/F Daniels
6th man/Guard Boatright

 

[huskyjawz]

agreed.

 

[willie99]

Giffey & Tyler both played with energy Tuesday

not a bad lineup / rotation

 

[Scot-e]

It is far from what we want our starting line up to look like if we are going to compete in the BE and in March.

IF TO is our best option at the 4 spot that is not a good sign ( I am not saying he is). RS and AO need to improve and get the 25-30 minutes a game there. I see TO as a guy that comes in and out of the game as needed. If you want to start him and pull him ala last year that's fine and means little except JC is pissed off at AO and RS.

I think NG should be getting more minutes then he has so far this year. I would think 15 minutes a game as an average would be a good number as long as the match ups allow it. DD is going to be good- he only will get better by getting PT I do not care who starts but unlike the 4 spot I am not sure starting NG does anything but deflate the ego of the other 3Gs. I see RS and DD getting most of the starts. I like the way NG has played and if his jump shot is going down I would like them to keep him on the floor more- but what do I know? Not nearly as much as they do.

 

[dogpause]

I agree, we really need AO's muscle. Last year, he practically controlled the boards singlehandedly at times. For now however, he needs to earn his PT.

As for the SF spot, I think Dandiels has shown enough consistent improvement to continue to start. He's got more upside, which makes him worth the investment. Nonetheless, Neils has earned additional PT and I hope he gets it.

I think Calhoun is about to put the pedal to the metal and his tolerence for poor play is going to shrink. Everyone ill be on shorter leashes from here on out.

 

[champs99and04]

It is far from what we want our starting line up to look like if we are going to compete in the BE and in March.

IF TO is our best option at the 4 spot that is not a good sign ( I am not saying he is). RS and AO need to improve and get the 25-30 minutes a game there. I see TO as a guy that comes in and out of the game as needed. If you want to start him and pull him ala last year that's fine and means little except JC is pissed off at AO and RS.

I think NG should be getting more minutes then he has so far this year. I would think 15 minutes a game as an average would be a good number as long as the match ups allow it. DD is going to be good- he only will get better by getting PT I do not care who starts but unlike the 4 spot I am not sure starting NG does anything but deflate the ego of the other 3Gs. I see RS and DD getting most of the starts. I like the way NG has played and if his jump shot is going down I would like them to keep him on the floor more- but what do I know? Not nearly as much as they do.

It certainly isn't the lineup we envisioned coming into the season, but I would say Giffey and Olander are much better offensive players than Roscoe and Oriakhi right now. While we may lose a little bit on the boards, it is made up by the fact that we can spread the floor on offense without having two blackholes.

I'm actually surprised by how much they have missed Coombs this season. I know a lot of UConn fans didn't love him, but he was decent at setting screens, and he could hit the three point shot better than Roscoe. He could play the two, the three, or even the four at times. It's too bad he didn't get along with Calhoun, because I think he's the type of guy that could have broken out this season.

 

[NHUConnfan]

TO deserves his minutes. He's had a lot more good games than AO, ha. Speaking of, has AO become our Terrence Jones? God, I hope not. But maybe some pine will help get his ass in gear.

 

[DogMania]

+1 on all your points Scrappy, but I doubt we'll see much if any full-court trap/pressing. The type of teams we'd be able to press are the same type of teams we can shut down in the half-court. I don't think JC likes the risk/reward factor that goes with pressing. With that said, I wouldn't mind seeing it to just see what happens, how effective they might be and if it would generate some easy baskets to get our offense playing with a tad more energy.

They seem to go flat at times and do a lot of standing around on offense. It would not be such a bad change of pace to get teams who's D has gotten into a good rhythm against us. But keep in mind how dangerous that would have looked in the open court with some of SH's quick handed thieves. It might just of gotten even more ugly. I'm imagining a whole bunch of wide open transition 3s going in followed by some close-up on Blaney looking completely dumfounded.

But against a team that does not have a good handling backcourt, why not? Doubt we'll see it though.

As for rewarding Tyler and Niels, I'm all for it. Both play their asses off whenever they're on the floor and tend to make sound decisions and plays. Tyler has struggled on the boards though, but then again, he's no worse than what we're often getting from Alex and AD who seem to be germ phobic or something since they don't seem to like putting a body on anyone. I'm still yelling, "Will someone please f*ng box out!" But I digress...

 

[RabidHusky]

I agree Scrappy. I was going to post the same thing . Do we need to play with 1 center and 1 point guard on the floor? Andre and Alex seem to get in the way of each other, and don't we need more size in the back-court then we get with our 2 point guards? I'd like to see Ryan start for at least Rutgers to see how he handles the freedom and the responsibility and to send a message to 'Bazz. Up side is nice but it seems like we managed the line up hoping AO,RS, and/or DD would catch lighting in a bottle and not get discouraged if they rode to much pine. Theodore seemed to be too big and strong for our back-court and I wondered if the walk on Allen's size and athleticism would be useful when that happens .

 

[mauconnfan]

Please can we stop the ridiculous "we miss coombs" talk? He's gone and uconn is much better for it. Not at all a good basketball player and less of a team player. Let's be happy we have good kids, good team players who work hard but just need to improve and mature in some areas. Man that's the last guy who would've helped this team.

 

[huskyharry]

I agree, we really need AO's muscle. Last year, he practically controlled the boards singlehandedly at times. For now however, he needs to earn his PT.

As for the SF spot, I think Dandiels has shown enough consistent improvement to continue to start. He's got more upside, which makes him worth the investment. Nonetheless, Neils has earned additional PT and I hope he gets it.

I must say I don't know where all the love and demand for more playing time for AO is coming from, his performance merits less time not more. While it is undoubtably true that he would beat most others on the team in a Mister Universe contest, we are talking about basketball and fundamentals like boxing out, being able to make layups and simple passes and even being able to grab the ball consistently are more important than sole muscle mass.
I do agree than NG deserves more time, he has been very solid for the last two weeks

 

[blackbird]

I think eventually, AO or Roscoe is going to have to take Tyler's place, if we want to win. (And I think Roscoe is going to have to put on muscle and be a 4.)

But I also think in order for us to be as good as we can be Giffey is going to have to play minutes, probably major minutes. It's not coincidence that last season our best ball came with Giffey contributing. He's a glue player. You can't win without a glue player. The kid spaces the court (knocks down shots) defends, makes good plays, knows his limits, hustles. Play him Jimmy.

 

[ctchamps]

On offense I would take TO and NG over AO and RS in a heartbeat. But on defense they are both liabilities with rebounding. So on defense I would take AO and RS over TO and NG in a heartbeat. If this were football in which the offense and defense switches UConn has the perfect team. Unfortunately this isn't football.

 

[champs99and04]

Please can we stop the ridiculous "we miss coombs" talk? He's gone and uconn is much better for it. Not at all a good basketball player and less of a team player. Let's be happy we have good kids, good team players who work hard but just need to improve and mature in some areas. Man that's the last guy who would've helped this team.

Coombs is a kid that could get to the basket, hit the three, and set screens. I'm not sure how you can't see the value in that. No, he wasn't a great three point shooter, but he was a heck of a lot better than Roscoe. He had a very strong lower body that allowed him to get to the rim and score, something none of our small forwards can currently do. In that regard, he was better suited for the Big East than Deandre, who has more upside, but lacks experience. And please stop with Coombs not being a team player. He took bad shots at times, but he was a key contributor to the team all year, never selfishly jeopardizing the team.

 

[EricLA]

First, i'm not sure why some people are down on TO as for as rebounding goes. i readily agree he's not as strong as Alex on defense, but i've not seen enough evidence of him getting beat on defense where Alex has been better. not saying it doesn't exist, i just haven't seen it.

anyway, TO is averaging 6.9 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 1.7 APG and 0.6 Steals/game
on theo ther hand, Alex is 6.6 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 0.3 APG and 0.1 SPG

Tyler is averaging 24 MPG to Alex's 19.4 so if you average out their production per minute, it's very close. but if Alex is far less consistent and is as likely to put up bagels vs. Tyler's better consistency, i'd rather have TO out there to start the game.

 

[g_smith]

To the people who are talking about TO not being a solid effort on defense, I find myself thinking the opposite. When I see Tyler on defense in games he's physically going up and bringing down the rebounds, unlike AO who tries to tip in the shot half the time. Tyler also doesn't always go right back up with the ball or try to put down a dribble like Oriakhi which usually has resulted in a good reset, pass, or shot.

TO's man defense in the paint is also worthy of some praise, despite not being flawless. He definitely gets on his man and puts a hand in their face. I like to think his good bball fundamentals are the reason for this.

Then, when we were down vs. Seton Hall, Tyler appeared to be one of our few players actually stepping up. He was taking the ball in and going up strong. He also had a nice putback. It didn't do much at that point in the game, (I think we were down 20 or so) but that's what we need him to be doing all the time.

I know he's still young and not really that superstar, but he plays as if he has accepted that role. I'd like to see him get pissed more often because then he plays as a much more aggressive player, and that's when we get better results.

Tyler is definitely not our best player for the 4 in BE, but hes been playing that role the most consistently and has potential to add even more.

I'm hoping that while watching Tyler, DD and RS pick up some useful skills, because later this season we're gonna need them to step up at the 4 spot.

 

[sparky]

TO deserves to play. AD did not take AO's minutes, TO did.Jamal Coombs-McDaniel is yesterday's issue and has no effect on this team.Bazz and Boat need to paly well for us to to succeed. We need to do a better job of getting the bigs the ball in spots where they can be successful at the rim.That being said , our bigs need to finish strong at the rim , not soft. NG is rock solid and his time will increase. Finally if we don't do a better job of defending the 3 we are doomed.Look at the dookies. they got monster games inside and didn't defend the 3 and lost. Finally I believe thet we are an up tempo team and need to push the ball. The way our bigs can run the floor should be an advantage not an after thought.

 

[sledog]

Bradley and Wolf?? How bad could it be??