I cannot believe our seniors | Page 4 | The Boneyard

I cannot believe our seniors

mauconnfan said:
I wish Kentan had another year in the worst way. He's been truly tremendous, love his effort and his ability to score the ball when given it in the right place to do so. They've done that for the most part, but you still see the weaknesses being passing and in all reality when he needs to dribble it more than one power dribble. If he had another year to work on these he may have been able to at least knock on the door to the next level, cup of coffee. He's a wing/PF who unfortunately doesn't have the handle these guys at the next level have as well as good passing ability. Maybe he keeps working hard at these and we see him come back to the USA at 27-28 with a shot?

Love the way the kid worked to get where he is right now. I mean to say "no shot he takes is a bad thing" right now is a great leap. Trust him to shoot it anywhere.
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He needs to be the 2nd option for the rest of the year. Inside/outside game with Jalen and Facey and then allow Purvis and Vance to be standstill shooters. That's when those two are at their best. I'm so done with watching Purvis trying to take people off the dribble; we all know he struggles to finish as it is and I honestly do not remember him ever hitting a J off the bounce.
 
Brimah and Rodney are both tragically flawed players. They both play hard, but just have too many flaws in their game and combined with very below average basketball IQs makes them a liability on the court. On a good UConn team, they both could be guys that come in for a few minutes for a quick burst of energy and shot blocking for Brimah and then play Rodney if he has a hot hand, but to rely on them as starters isn't and hasn't worked.

To that point, as much as they drive me crazy with their play at times, it's more of an indictment on our program than it is these two guys.

KO has a bit of a longer leash with me than others on here, but our program is not in good shape and it's tough to get excited about next year's recruiting class with what appears to be a nice guard, but then two big men that project as projects.
 
I do feel for Brimah & Purvis as they probably now realize they will not be NBA players, they will get paid to play basketball somewhere but likely not in the US. I'm sure that has been on their minds since they tested the waters last year and nobody noticed.
 
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Rodney did not shoot much yesterday. was that because he's not shooting well or did the coach shut him down? I mean he played like 35 minutes, didn't see the game and was just wondering.
 
jibsey said:
Rodney did not shoot much yesterday. was that because he's not shooting well or did the coach shut him down? I mean he played like 35 minutes, didn't see the game and was just wondering.
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Rodney played 30 minutes and took 4 shots, missing all of them, had 3 assists and 2 turnovers.

Rodney has the look of a guy who has lost all confidence in himself. He's at the point where he's trying so hard not to make things worse that he's hardly doing anything at all.

I feel bad for him and hope he can rediscover some joy in just playing.
 
Fishy said:
His minutes dropped from 21 a game to 12 last year. I'd wonder if that was due to Facey's shortcomings, the shortcomings of the coaching staff or a combination of the two.
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I've been saying the latter. There were games last year where he would put in a productive shift and Ollie would never go back to him.
 
You know, this really gets lost in the mix when talking about Rodney, but he's barely a half a year removed from losing someone he lived with growing up and considered his brother.

I had a very close friend pass away almost two years ago at a young age it's honestly something that is very difficult to handle. It still weighs on me and I think about my friend everyday and I'm just some guy sitting in a cubicle now; not a star on a premiere college basketball team.

Rodney does things he's done since his first season here and I know he was probably never destined for greatness here, but the kid plays hard and with that tragedy he's had to endure I gotta give him a pass. Not that he needs that from me or anyone.
 
Palatine said:
I don't blame Brimah. he never gets any calls. I was glad to see him blow up. I would like to see Ollie blow up.
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You're right that he doesn't seem to get many calls, but he obviously doesn't have a clue about how to change that. He can read the rule book too.
 
Mr. Wonderful said:
Rodney played 30 minutes and took 4 shots, missing all of them, had 3 assists and 2 turnovers.

Rodney has the look of a guy who has lost all confidence in himself. He's at the point where he's trying so hard not to make things worse that he's hardly doing anything at all.

I feel bad for him and hope he can rediscover some joy in just playing.
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Nicely stated. It's tough for us to watch him but how tough have things got to be for him? At some point in time I'm hoping the majority of bashers would have your sentiment. We're fans watching the Ferrari crash. He's the Ferrari. It's sad so many people can't understand the difference between being a suffering fan or being a player struggling in their play.
 
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ConnHuskBask said:
You know, this really gets lost in the mix when talking about Rodney, but he's barely a half a year removed from losing someone he lived with growing up and considered his brother.

I had a very close friend pass away almost two years ago at a young age it's honestly something that is very difficult to handle. It still weighs on me and I think about my friend everyday and I'm just some guy sitting in a cubicle now; not a star on a premiere college basketball team.

Rodney does things he's done since his first season here and I know he was probably never destined for greatness here, but the kid plays hard and with that tragedy he's had to endure I gotta give him a pass. Not that he needs that from me or anyone.
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I've pointed this out many times. I just hope most of the bashers haven't suffered losses so they have no frame of reference to your post because I shudder to think that humanity can be so selfish that it so easily trivializes the importance of a tragic loss for their need to be pleased about a game or a season.
 
In 2009 it wasn't a player on Uconn that could flat out get baskets probably as good as Dyson. He was a real baller IMO. He was fearless also. It baffles me Purvis can't put the ball on the ground. He is physically gifted as hell. But he can't even dribble. It really surprises me. You don't want to question any of these kids work ethic, but I just don't see how his handle hasn't hot better.
 
ConnHuskBask said:
You know, this really gets lost in the mix when talking about Rodney, but he's barely a half a year removed from losing someone he lived with growing up and considered his brother.

I had a very close friend pass away almost two years ago at a young age it's honestly something that is very difficult to handle. It still weighs on me and I think about my friend everyday and I'm just some guy sitting in a cubicle now; not a star on a premiere college basketball team.

Rodney does things he's done since his first season here and I know he was probably never destined for greatness here, but the kid plays hard and with that tragedy he's had to endure I gotta give him a pass. Not that he needs that from me or anyone.
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I hope this is not insensitive but I don't see how losing his friend keeps his shot from falling or double dribbling which he has done from day 1. When Thurman Munson died his close friend Bobby Murcer went out next game and jacked one to win the game. The loss should be a motivating factor if anything. An athlete at Rodney's level is exerting energy balls to the wall in a game situation, and he's going to all of a sudden as he goes up for a jump shot have a thought about his friend that makes that shot clank? Or wait, he didn't practice well because of the friend? Please. The loss of confidence from him failing, that I buy.
 
fleudslipcon said:
I've pointed this out many times. I just hope most of the bashers haven't suffered losses so they have no frame of reference to your post because I shudder to think that humanity can be so selfish that it so easily trivializes the importance of a tragic loss for their need to be pleased about a game or a season.
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You may be right.
But how do you know how he reacted to his best his friend's death. After the initial jolt, perhaps it gave him a deeper appreciation of life and increased vigor. Maybe it spurred him to use his time on this earth to be a better student, a better player (although it hasn't translated to his on-court performance), and he has discovered newfound bliss.
He received a body blow, but he may not be processing it in the same way as you think or expect.
 
smudubs said:
I won't comment on the game, but I feel confident in saying that season 2 was the most boring season. That being said, it was easily the most imported season.
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You can rank 1-4 however you want but any list that doesn't have season 5 on the bottom is suspect.
 
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Connrack said:
You may be right.
But how do you know how he reacted to his best his friend's death. After the initial jolt, perhaps it gave him a deeper appreciation of life and increased vigor. Maybe it spurred him to use his time on this earth to be a better student, a better player (although it hasn't translated to his on-court performance), and he has discovered newfound bliss.
He received a body blow, but he may not be processing it in the same way as you think or expect.
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Short answer is I don't really know. No one knows for sure maybe not even Rodney.

He certainly could have taken the tragedy and transformed himself with some of the things you list. I was specifically confining my statement to his on court performance.

I don't know if you read this article. It's the information I read in this article that makes me think that there is a decent probability the death of his "brother" impacted his on court performance. After reading the article if you still want to interact I'll point out the statements in the article that makes me believe the death is playing a significant role in this season.

UConn’s Rodney Purvis mourns loss of ‘brother’: ‘There’s no getting him back’
 
jibsey said:
I hope this is not insensitive but I don't see how losing his friend keeps his shot from falling or double dribbling which he has done from day 1. When Thurman Munson died his close friend Bobby Murcer went out next game and jacked one to win the game. The loss should be a motivating factor if anything. An athlete at Rodney's level is exerting energy balls to the wall in a game situation, and he's going to all of a sudden as he goes up for a jump shot have a thought about his friend that makes that shot clank? Or wait, he didn't practice well because of the friend? Please. The loss of confidence from him failing, that I buy.
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I don't think your statement is insensitive. You bring valid points. I do think he's in a vicious cycle and your point of him losing confidence is at least a part of that cycle.

Season School Conf G MP FG FGA FG% 2P 2PA 2P% 3P 3PA 3P% FT FTA FT% TRB AST STL BLK TOV PF PTS
2012-13 North Carolina State ACC 35 895 4.9 11.1 .442 3.6 7.6 .468 1.3 3.5 .385 1.9 3.7 .512 3.8 2.0 0.9 0.1 2.3 2.8 13.1
2014-15 UConn AAC 33 947 6.1 14.2 .429 3.8 7.9 .484 2.3 6.3 .360 1.8 3.3 .538 3.3 1.7 1.1 0.2 2.6 2.5 16.2
2015-16 UConn AAC 36 1038 6.3 14.5 .434 3.6 7.5 .479 2.7 7.0 .385 2.5 3.8 .657 4.1 2.9 1.2 0.2 2.1 2.7 17.8
2016-17 UConn AAC 18 660 4.4 13.4 .330 2.4 6.1 .390 2.1 7.3 .281 2.2 2.8 .783 5.1 2.8 0.7 0.1 2.6 2.2 13.1


The shooting percentages are significantly different from the other years of playing college bb which argues against one of the point you've made. Something impacted those numbers. Now FT% has gone up so shooting isn't completely affected. His rebounding has improved so he's obviously working hard.

In general, we perform better when we feel good. There have been enough studies to demonstrate this. Most of us probably can confirm this based on our own experiences. I have to make a leap from the information I read to conclude that Rodney did not have his heart in the game playing bb at least through Maui based on this article. But I don't feel it's a ridiculous leap.

UConn’s Rodney Purvis mourns loss of ‘brother’: ‘There’s no getting him back’
 
boog204 said:
He needs to be the 2nd option for the rest of the year. Inside/outside game with Jalen and Facey and then allow Purvis and Vance to be standstill shooters. That's when those two are at their best. I'm so done with watching Purvis trying to take people off the dribble; we all know he struggles to finish as it is and I honestly do not remember him ever hitting a J off the bounce.
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Purvis? He's the Cadillac, no? He's a senior and he's still tryi g to figure things out? Unbelievable. And Brimah? Any sightings?
 
Why is this shocking to believe that we have two seniors who just aren't that good at basketball...? It happens granted rarely at UConn but our seniors are horrible (excluding Facey). However, we saw signs of this coming and we should have expected this. Rodney was never really a playmaker, he didn't really ever get guys involved. Amida was never the player to stay on the court when he was needed the most...yes he had some flashes but he was never really that guy....
 
polycom said:
Why is this shocking to believe that we have two seniors who just aren't that good at basketball...? It happens granted rarely at UConn but our seniors are horrible (excluding Facey). However, we saw signs of this coming and we should have expected this. Rodney was never really a playmaker, he didn't really ever get guys involved. Amida was never the player to stay on the court when he was needed the most...yes he had some flashes but he was never really that guy....
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Because this shouldn't happen in a program that has 4 National Championships since '99.
 
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jibsey said:
I hope this is not insensitive but I don't see how losing his friend keeps his shot from falling or double dribbling which he has done from day 1. When Thurman Munson died his close friend Bobby Murcer went out next game and jacked one to win the game. The loss should be a motivating factor if anything. An athlete at Rodney's level is exerting energy balls to the wall in a game situation, and he's going to all of a sudden as he goes up for a jump shot have a thought about his friend that makes that shot clank? Or wait, he didn't practice well because of the friend? Please. The loss of confidence from him failing, that I buy.
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This may be shocking to you, but everyone handles death differently. Just because a professonial baseball player for the 70s hit a HR the next day doesn't set the standard for every athlete dealing with tradgedy.

If you step back for a second and look at what you'd written, I think you'll find it somewhat ridiculous. We're all guilty of it, self included, but we're here debating whether a young man in his early 20s should more easily shake off a brothers death to hit more jump shots?
 
socal613ws said:
Just remember that if not for brimah's and 1 vs st joes, there is no national title
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That gets you a free pass in UConn lore; it does not get you a free pass for three playing years.
 
smudubs said:
I won't comment on the game, but I feel confident in saying that season 2 was the most boring season. That being said, it was easily the most imported season.
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No question, I don't know what that guy is talking about.

I had to quit watching The Wire twice because season 2 was so boring.
 
Jonathan Mandeldove
Scottie Haralson.

Does everyone feel better about Brimah and Purvis now?
 
joober jones said:
Jonathan Mandeldove
Scottie Haralson.

Does everyone feel better about Brimah and Purvis now?
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These guys were never the centerpiece of the front/back court for 3-4 years.
 
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