Hard to know where we're at . . .

[TasteofUConn]

Well, I know where the board is at - nervous breakdown.

I'm not willing to go too far at this point, however. I think Syracuse, Maryland, and Gonzaga are all very good teams. I think it's possible we make a run to the final eight. I think it's possible we don't make the tourni. I know - that sounds extreme. Hopes were way too high this year (me included). After last year's train wreck, we were all looking for something. With the Gibbs and Miller transfers, we found it.

I think this team is "not quite." Brimah is not quite ready for prime time. Purvis is not quite consistent. Miller is not quite ready to be a reliable scoring threat. Gibbs is not quite skilled enough to be an effective 1. SC2 is not quite a sharpshooter. Calhoun is not quite over the yips. Adams is not quite mature enough. Phil is not quite improved. The team chemistry is not quite there. And so on. I could write 50 more.

The key to my misassessment of the team was Gibbs and Miller. I really thought that Gibbs would be a better ball handler/penetrator/distributor. For no reason whatsoever, other than the posts we had here and his 3pt%. I was wrong. He is struggling in the lead guard role. For Miller, I thought he'd be more of a natural scorer/defender. He has amazing leaping ability, but his play is almost a bit rigid - you can see it in the way he runs. He has vertical explosiveness, but he lacks horizontal explosiveness. Love 'em both for being Huskies, but the part I was wrong about is the difference in 2 of the losses, at least.

I'm hoping for the best this season, but I'm definitely trending toward, "probably a 20-30 team in the country." Holding out hope that we can figure it out and move into the 10-20 range. Odds of going deep this year seem remote, at best.

The real kick in the nuts for the Maryland game was DV doing the broadcast. Literally turned off the volume as soon as I identified him.

EDIT - BTW, as hopeful as I was, some of the kool aid drinkers on our board were claiming that our 6 through 10 guys were an NCAA tournament team. As it turns out, 6-10 is probably not even an NIT tournament team - at least at this point.

 

[boog204]

Miller reminds me of Kirk King to a scary degree. They both did things athletically that wowed you and they would have some fantastic games, but in the end, you tended to be a little bit underwhelmed with their performance.

 

[8893]

"Goes to show, you don't ever know. Watch each card you play, and play it slow..."

 

[dennismenace]

Miller reminds me of Kirk King to a scary degree. They both did things athletically that wowed you and they would have some fantastic games, but in the end, you tended to be a little bit underwhelmed with their performance.

My hope is that Miller can turn it around and soon. He is smart, athletic and strong if undersized. Torraino Walker, if I remember correctly, suddenly caught fire around this time of year. Think it was 91-92. He suddenly became an animal on the boards. It seemed to energize the whole team. Both guys are/were 6-7 230. Miller brings so much more. He could be the key along with some lineup shuffling to light a fire under this team which it desperately needs. Some one needs to be the pushy ass- kicker type alla Jeff A.

 

[Huskybass]

Well, I know where the board is at - nervous breakdown.

I'm not willing to go too far at this point, however. I think Syracuse, Maryland, and Gonzaga are all very good teams. I think it's possible we make a run to the final eight. I think it's possible we don't make the tourni. I know - that sounds extreme. Hopes were way too high this year (me included). After last year's train wreck, we were all looking for something. With the Gibbs and Miller transfers, we found it.

I think this team is "not quite." Brimah is not quite ready for prime time. Purvis is not quite consistent. Miller is not quite ready to be a reliable scoring threat. Gibbs is not quite skilled enough to be an effective 1. SC2 is not quite a sharpshooter. Calhoun is not quite over the yips. Adams is not quite mature enough. Phil is not quite improved. The team chemistry is not quite there. And so on. I could write 50 more.

The key to my misassessment of the team was Gibbs and Miller. I really thought that Gibbs would be a better ball handler/penetrator/distributor. For no reason whatsoever, other than the posts we had here and his 3pt%. I was wrong. He is struggling in the lead guard role. For Miller, I thought he'd be more of a natural scorer/defender. He has amazing leaping ability, but his play is almost a bit rigid - you can see it in the way he runs. He has vertical explosiveness, but he lacks horizontal explosiveness. Love 'em both for being Huskies, but the part I was wrong about is the difference in 2 of the losses, at least.

I'm hoping for the best this season, but I'm definitely trending toward, "probably a 20-30 team in the country." Holding out hope that we can figure it out and move into the 10-20 range. Odds of going deep this year seem remote, at best.

The real kick in the nuts for the Maryland game was DV doing the broadcast. Literally turned off the volume as soon as I identified him.

EDIT - BTW, as hopeful as I was, some of the kool aid drinkers on our board were claiming that our 6 through 10 guys were an NCAA tournament team. As it turns out, 6-10 is probably not even an NIT tournament team - at least at this point.

Great post. So much talent, but at this point very little chemistry. I am very curious to see what having Adams at PG and Gibbs playing off the ball will produce.

 

[SubbaBub]

If this were the BE, there wouldn't be an issue. We are good (when we decide to be good) and in the BE we would eventually figure that out and beat a bunch of good teams. Even if we ended up in the middle of the pack, we'd make the NCAA and go from there.

In the AAC, the reality of life is a bit different. If you finish middle of the pack you go to the NIT, maybe. As it stands you almost need to finish top two to guarantee an NCAA bid. CR has turned all of the P5 teams into 5-6-7 bid leagues. Add in the 3 or so that the BE gets because all those terrible C7 teams all have about 6 fewer losses per season that they no longer have to deal with on their resume.

In the AAC, you absolutely need to make RPI hay in the non-conference. UConn has scheduled well adjusting for this. The problem is you need to actually win some of these games. Last season we were one or two OOC wins away from a bid. We find ourselves in the exact same spot with no real OOC wins of note. Michigan is OK, but not worthy of a bid by itself. Gonzaga or Maryland would have been really good to the committee. Cuse would have helped too. We are running out of chances. That is why this is an issue. We are not used to OOC games being must win, but I think we are at the point where we need to run the table in the OOC if we end up as the 3rd or 4th AAC team. Sweeping SMU would do it too, but does anyone want to hang everything on that.

 

[djct1999]

Its quite simple actually. Think back to 2014. That team struggled with an identity until late in the year, until in my opinion Ryan Boatright finally realized/embraced his role, and the rest fell in place. This team has a similar problem. This team is struggling with its identity. Who is the lead guy? What role do the other guys have on the floor? To me, up until the second half vs Maryland, guys were playing confused, looking at each other to take charge, not quite sure what their role is on the floor. I think this has really hurt Miller and Gibbs. I think it has forced Purvis do to things that don't quite suit his skill set. I think it has neutralized the elite ability of DHam. It has crushed Brimah. Not surprisingly, the two guys who have well defined roles off the bench, Facey and Adams, have given us solid, consistent performances.

What does this mean? We really need DHam to take charge out there, to be our lead guy. This will open things up for the other guys on the floor, I think it will calm Miller and Gibbs down and simply allow them to play, it will make Purvis a legit threat. UConn's problem isn't about talent or coaching. Its about understanding their roles and becoming comfortable with it. If that happens, history suggests the rest will fall into place.

 

[intlzncster]

Well, I know where the board is at - nervous breakdown.

I'm not willing to go too far at this point, however. I think Syracuse, Maryland, and Gonzaga are all very good teams. I think it's possible we make a run to the final eight. I think it's possible we don't make the tourni. I know - that sounds extreme. Hopes were way too high this year (me included). After last year's train wreck, we were all looking for something. With the Gibbs and Miller transfers, we found it.

I think this team is "not quite." Brimah is not quite ready for prime time. Purvis is not quite consistent. Miller is not quite ready to be a reliable scoring threat. Gibbs is not quite skilled enough to be an effective 1. SC2 is not quite a sharpshooter. Calhoun is not quite over the yips. Adams is not quite mature enough. Phil is not quite improved. The team chemistry is not quite there. And so on. I could write 50 more.

The key to my misassessment of the team was Gibbs and Miller. I really thought that Gibbs would be a better ball handler/penetrator/distributor. For no reason whatsoever, other than the posts we had here and his 3pt%. I was wrong. He is struggling in the lead guard role. For Miller, I thought he'd be more of a natural scorer/defender. He has amazing leaping ability, but his play is almost a bit rigid - you can see it in the way he runs. He has vertical explosiveness, but he lacks horizontal explosiveness. Love 'em both for being Huskies, but the part I was wrong about is the difference in 2 of the losses, at least.

I'm hoping for the best this season, but I'm definitely trending toward, "probably a 20-30 team in the country." Holding out hope that we can figure it out and move into the 10-20 range. Odds of going deep this year seem remote, at best.

The real kick in the nuts for the Maryland game was DV doing the broadcast. Literally turned off the volume as soon as I identified him.

EDIT - BTW, as hopeful as I was, some of the kool aid drinkers on our board were claiming that our 6 through 10 guys were an NCAA tournament team. As it turns out, 6-10 is probably not even an NIT tournament team - at least at this point.

To be fair, the odds of going deep in 2014 seemed pretty remote for most of the season. Lot's of games left.

From my perspective, it comes down to chemistry. They don't have it yet. But they have talent. It just depends if they gel and learn to play together as a team.

 

[tzznandrew]

To be fair, the odds of going deep in 2014 seemed pretty remote for most of the season. Lot's of games left.

From my perspective, it comes down to chemistry. They don't have it yet. But they have talent. It just depends if they gel and learn to play together as a team.

When we lose to a team as bad as Houston was in 2013-14 I'll be more worried.

I obviously share some of the concerns everyone does. But I refuse to believe that a player who was Second Team All Big East is what we've seen. And we've seen our reluctant stars eventually have the light go off enough times to realize its possible. Let's just hope KO can do it in the same was as JC could.

 

[Mots010]

That 2013/2014 team had barely squeaked by some weak competition in the early season. Maryland, BC and Indiana were not good teams, and they all came down to the last possession. Florida was in Gampel, and needed Napier to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Stanford completely stumped us with their zone. One could argue that team has a few more losses if their preseason tournament competition was a little better. The March team was completely different than the November/December team.

With that said, that 2013/2014 team had more defined roles than what we have today. We look lost on both ends of the floor right now. I'm much more concerned about this team getting it together than the 2014 squad.

 

[Storrsbred]

If this were the BE, there wouldn't be an issue. We are good (when we decide to be good) and in the BE we would eventually figure that out and beat a bunch of good teams. Even if we ended up in the middle of the pack, we'd make the NCAA and go from there.

In the AAC, the reality of life is a bit different. If you finish middle of the pack you go to the NIT, maybe. As it stands you almost need to finish top two to guarantee an NCAA bid. CR has turned all of the P5 teams into 5-6-7 bid leagues. Add in the 3 or so that the BE gets because all those terrible C7 teams all have about 6 fewer losses per season that they no longer have to deal with on their resume.

In the AAC, you absolutely need to make RPI hay in the non-conference. UConn has scheduled well adjusting for this. The problem is you need to actually win some of these games. Last season we were one or two OOC wins away from a bid. We find ourselves in the exact same spot with no real OOC wins of note. Michigan is OK, but not worthy of a bid by itself. Gonzaga or Maryland would have been really good to the committee. Cuse would have helped too. We are running out of chances. That is why this is an issue. We are not used to OOC games being must win, but I think we are at the point where we need to run the table in the OOC if we end up as the 3rd or 4th AAC team. Sweeping SMU would do it too, but does anyone want to hang everything on that.

This is reality in a nutshell. The chemistry issue, the "if player x does this or that, doesn't mean a thing IF the credible wins aren't available later in the schedule.