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Message: [QUOTE="Okafour rings, post: 2883138, member: 7715"] I was at the breakfast this morning and trying to take notes on my phone as Coach went down the roster of players. While Mr. Amore covered most of the notes I took, I can add a few observations: – Jalen has NBA talent, inferring that his success this year will accelerate UConn’s return to prominence in the eyes of recruits – Alterique’s shoulder seems to be as good as it was before he first hurt it as a senior in high school. I was kind of surprised he called him a ‘junk yard dog,’ but got the impression that he could approach the defensive intensity of Boatright with that comment. –He was describing Vital as having charisma on the court, with his arm raising and smiles, bringing the crowd into the game. Made me think of Kemba in that respect. While Coach wants to be more aggressive overall, he’s trying to teach Vital to take fewer chances on D that would put him out of position and weaken the team defense. –He called Polley the best shooter on the team, unequivocally. –Cobb: looks phenomenal, showing great commitment, and although he likes to play outside is the team’s best low post scorer. While he was talking about Cobb, he also said generally that the team must, at a minimum, get the ball inside every three possessions. –Carlton: Amore mentioned the two most important points, that he has range to 17' now and has offensive moves over both shoulders. I can’t remember the last inside player for us who could do that. K Williams: is intense, attacks the ball and can makes 3's (!!). K Yakwe: the way Coach was talking, sounds like we may see a lineup of 4 smalls with high pressure defense with Yakwe as the back line defender. He finished with talking about what he’s doing with the team in general: teaching man defense as 80 percent of offense involves ball screens; we’ll see pressure defense after made baskets; never throw away a possession at ANY time during the game; rebounding technique and mindset: 3 players committed to offensive rebounding, ‘gang’ rebounding on the defensive end; better shot selection; they’re going to be a ‘paint touch team’ meaning that the ball goes inside at least every third possession (as I mentioned up top); ‘toes to the line’ 3 point shots, meaning no more 25-foot heaves; there will be 3-guard lineups 90% of the time. He finished with 2 goals they have this year: 1. Opponents respect who we are. 2. Compete for a conference championship. We owe it to Jalen, who could have gone pro but decided to stay. By extension, a conference championship gets us to the Dance. One of the posters said he thinks Hurley is not a good speaker because of his monotone voice - that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Coach Hurley was engaging, funny, loved talking about his team (“if I keep going like this, they’ll have to serve you guys lunch too”), and really got into details about the team. I really like this guy. [/QUOTE]

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