I like this Team

[champs99and04]

Good stuff from OK4 in this thread. It's pretty clear that Brimah has a lot of weaknesses as a player, so those of us higher on him than others shouldn't be confused for the ones that have him in the lottery this spring. As Ern points out, Brimah cannot deal with any sort of contact on offense - his post game is so predicated on finesse that even the slightest bumps throw his economy of motion out of whack. And, as is the case with a lot of young big men, AB will often confuse the basketball for a time bomb. He's always in a hurry to get rid of that thing, to the point that he almost seems obligated to toss up any shot from any place on the court. In time, hopefully he learns to operate more methodically, internalize the shifting defense a little bit faster, and locate cutters when guards cheat down.

AB's pick-and-roll coverage has been uneven this year, but it's difficult to tell if that is of his own doing or if it's the coaching staff directing him to play it a certain way. I think he would be better served in a more conservative scheme where he can sag back, but it's possible he is in that scheme and his footwork is just sloppy.

I'll say this, though: it says a lot about AB's development that teams are more frequently shading him in the post rather than allowing him to attack one on one. That shows that they at least have a modest respect for his post game.

Anyhow, we can come up with all sorts of things Brimah isn't good at, but he has a couple valuable skills that are borderline elite.

 

[pnow15]

@mauconnfan 5th in the country in FG%, 7th in the country in block %. Obvious he needs to do more to stay on the court but when he is, what more do you want from him?

Didn't somebody mention 30 pts and 15 rbs?

 

[Onions]

and ... for bonus Points? I think Lubin can be a good player off the bench ... with time.

Based on what?

 

[Pudge]

Based on what?

Based on ... THE Mike Hayes scale of production performance.

 

[W Coast UCONN]

Dudes relax.... Ollie has not even been the head coach for more than 3 seasons this is not "the end".

As a school UCONN knows how important its basketball program is and simply put, will not let the team become irrelevant or sub-par for long. This team is a HUGE moneymaker not only for the school, but for the city of Hartford as well.

Give Ollie and this team a little more time! Please stop trying to make these crazy analogies with former players and teams.....

This is what we have and this is what we get sorry you don't like it.

At least have some pride regardless.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Only thing i like about this team is Boat.
D-Ham will have his time but it sure ain't this year.
Brimah is a decent center but not even on the Thabeet level.

The rest of the players are all Mediocre at best.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I have no idea why my post appears as a link to Mau's avatar.

No objection here

 

[gtcam]

He's not as good as Hasheem. Not close, sorry. Hasheem was more physical, stayed in games and was more intimidating. Note the players Hasheem played with, they could score so they did;t have to throw it into him all that much unless they needed to change the game plan. Teams actually threw the ball back out when they got rebounds during his soph and Jr years, not the same here. I like the kid but you guys are weighing too much on him being "better." And I gave him the benefit of the doubt with this shoulder issues over the summer. But this far into the season and the same ole mistakes and lackluster fouls, while not being at all competitive against any good players. Haven't even talked about rebounding, yikes!

We need to see him grow like mad over the summer, physically as well as mentally and be a more dominant player. His little spurt this year is not impressing me, but have at it.

Would Hash have been a scorer on this team? Would he have stayed out of foul trouble on this team? I remember when Hash was a soph, folks killed him for doing the same bonehead stuff repeatedly. He was "bigger" than AB and that makes a difference

 

[mauconnfan]

@mauconnfan Hash was definitely more physical and could block shots standing still which helped him stay out of foul trouble as well. But Amida is decidedly more offensively polished at this stage. Hasheem started out throwing drop step hooks off the side of the backboard. I don't remember him ever having the 12-15 foot face up game that Amida has right now. Not even as a junior.

I don't think Amida will ever be in the same hemisphere as Hash at rebounding, but he can definitely be a better offensive player especially away from the rim. He makes the lob dunk look easier than it is, its a essential part of our offense because he is able to get the ball anywhere in a fairly large area and slam it down. He has an uncanny awareness of where the rim is.

He needs to play more physical and smarter within that. He needs to take less risks. But if he was playing closer to 30 min a game we would have at least 4 more wins this year.

You tagging me biatch?

How does one even go about that and why?

 

[OkaForPrez]

You tagging me biatch?

How does one even go about that and why?

Easier than quoting a long post!

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Just tossing it out there, but part of being a good defensive player is staying out of foul trouble.

You can't simply extrapolate ABs numbers and project them out because it's a skill to stay on the floor.

As far as the Hasheem vs Brimah talk? Maybe someday but Hasheem was the far superior player though AB has time to mount a challenge.

 

[Matrim55]

Just tossing it out there, but part of being a good defensive player is staying out of foul trouble.

You can't simply extrapolate ABs numbers and project them out because it's a skill to stay on the floor.

While this is true, it's also true that he's staying on the floor 10 minutes longer per game than he did last season.

 

[mauconnfan]

While this is true, it's also true that he's staying on the floor 10 minutes longer per game than he did last season.

That's not true, he was playing less last year anyway on top of being in foul trouble. The games we've needed him to stay out of foul trouble he's whiffed miserably. As CHB said that's part of the improvement process and therefore besides Coppin St and a couple others, he's not there yet. One can only hope the light bulb is within reach.

 

[OkaForPrez]

@mauconnfan so I watched some of the 08 Uconn Cinci matchup (last game of the regular season that year), a couple thoughts:

Hash's size and his use of it are obviously far beyond what Amida is working with at the moment. Hash got position on one play and "hit" his box out assignment hard in the chest getting position. That was definitely an "oh" moment where you could see the difference in the two at this point. Hash also was able to avoid body contact on his blocks because of his size and his wingspan. Where Amida "winds up" on his blocks Hasheem seemed more disciplined. Hash's stroke looked good from the FT line.

That being said, Hash looks in slow motion compared to Amida. Amida's closing speed defensively is much faster and he's certainly much quicker in the open floor.

I think my general conclusion is Hash's sheer size afforded him to be more effective in the same proximity to AB on the same learning curve. Hash was also helped by Adrien's 15 and 10 threat on the other block. So eye test to Hash, but I don't think it ends the AB upside argument, it actually makes me even more optimistic.

 

[UConnDan97]

We're going to win the AAC tourney in Hartford. Mark it down, fellas...

 

[Pudge]

I would send Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey to Pete Newell camp. But I have a better idea ...

Make it the Jim Calhoun big man camp. The guy who taught Keith Motley and Mark Halsel to leading rebounding status at Northeastern & then brought Old School to UConn needs to bring this back to the future. I am a Kevin Ollie fan; but, I think we have lost the scramble we used to have in wanting that ball. Plus Post Moves.

 

[ZenConn]

I would send Amida Brimah and Kentan Facey to Pete Newell camp. But I have a better idea ...

Make it the Jim Calhoun big man camp. The guy who taught Keith Motley and Mark Halsel to leading rebounding status at Northeastern & then brought Old School to UConn needs to bring this back to the future. I am a Kevin Ollie fan; but, I think we have lost the scramble we used to have in wanting that ball. Plus Post Moves.

I personally could care less about the offensive moves Brimah and Facey have.
If they're rebounding, they'll get their numbers up on putbacks, dunks and easy layups.

We're a guard oriented team that can't shoot, dribble or pass and that's a big problem. That's surprising since we have an ex NBA PG as our coach and one of the best PG's in the nation playing for us.

Aside from Boat, the rest of the guards need to shoot 1000 jumpers a day, improve their handle and know where and when to pass the ball.

 

[mauconnfan]

@mauconnfan so I watched some of the 08 Uconn Cinci matchup (last game of the regular season that year), a couple thoughts:

Hash's size and his use of it are obviously far beyond what Amida is working with at the moment. Hash got position on one play and "hit" his box out assignment hard in the chest getting position. That was definitely an "oh" moment where you could see the difference in the two at this point. Hash also was able to avoid body contact on his blocks because of his size and his wingspan. Where Amida "winds up" on his blocks Hasheem seemed more disciplined. Hash's stroke looked good from the FT line.

That being said, Hash looks in slow motion compared to Amida. Amida's closing speed defensively is much faster and he's certainly much quicker in the open floor.

I think my general conclusion is Hash's sheer size afforded him to be more effective in the same proximity to AB on the same learning curve. Hash was also helped by Adrien's 15 and 10 threat on the other block. So eye test to Hash, but I don't think it ends the AB upside argument, it actually makes me even more optimistic.

Sorry my friend, slow motion if indeed it is, works much better!

 

[Jerry1714]

How were Marcus White and Gavin Edwards big time disappointments or underachievers. Marcus White was a great player for us that year we lost to texas in the Elite 8 and Gavin Edwards became a very serviceable big after not coming in with great expectations. I might even argue against lumping DB in there too as he was so important to our 2011 team as a another ball handler but that might be pushing it. Though I agree most of the other players definitely didn't pan out.

Gavin Edwards was probably the softest player we had at UConn under Calhoun. Guy was a "serviceable" player on a bad team.

 

[mauconnfan]

Gavin Edwards was probably the softest player we had at UConn under Calhoun. Guy was a "serviceable" player on a bad team.

Gavin Edwards turned out to be a very nice player. We would absolutely love him right now!

 

[3rdbass]

Gavin Edwards turned out to be a very nice player. We would absolutely love him right now!

Exactly he had more effective post moves than AB and Kelis Fisher combined. Of course that isn't saying much but at least he was an option down low.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Gavin Edwards turned out to be a very nice player. We would absolutely love him right now!

Agreed.Edwards would be our 3rd best offensive option right now and start at PF.

That being said, I did think he was a bit soft and that blown dunk/layup to lose to Virginia Tech in the NIT was particularity painful to watch.

 

[storrsroars]

Let me remind you that we barely had the Internet & Saint Jim Calhoun had not been on the job more than a handful of years and we were often circling .500 and NIT bound. Even after National Championships in 1999 and 2004, we had ... cough cough ... less than stellar years.

Let me remind you that we were in the Big East. With top flight basketball schools as our competition. We could have a mediocre record and still have a respectable RPI and more often than not at least reach "bubble team" status.

 

[Mooch82]

Gavin Edwards was probably the softest player we had at UConn under Calhoun. Guy was a "serviceable" player on a bad team.

He was a good player on a bad team in 2010, but was a very serviceable backup big man on a final 4 team as a junior in 2009. As a late signed 3 star recruit, he was definitely not a disappointment.