I think it's time to bring back the press this season

[champs99and04]

Let's be honest--our frontcourt is definitely going to struggle defending and protecting the rim. We'll probably lose the rebound battle most of the time, and we'll probably get abused by far superior big men, like say, Chane Behanan. Couple that with the fact that our best two players are small point guards, and we're likely going to struggle on defense for much of the year barring Phillip Nolan turning into the next Okafor overnight.

That said, I believe we can compensate for that lack of height by using our advantage in speed and quickness to our advanage. Once upon a time, Calhoun didn't have two NBA sized big men at his disposal, and he had to rely on a more franetic pace.

Clearly we have a shortage of NBA talent in comparison to past years, but there is no reason you can't make up for that by junking up the game, speeding teams up, and beating teams by simply being in better shape than them.

This may or may not work, but it's certainly worth a try. Boatright and Napier have both shown the tendency to harass opposing guards. Look at Louisville this season with Siva and Russ Smith. Those guys weren't huge, but they were extremely disruptive.

Last years defense was very good in limiting teams to a low FG%, but they also had a very low turnover rate, and that was the difference between last season's team and the 2010-11 team. How many fastbreak opportunities were created by Kemba, Shabazz, and Lamb in 2011? We saw very few of them last season. So even if they let teams shoot 44% instead of 37% this season, they can still be a solid defensive group by increasing their turnover rate.

This might not be a popular opinion, and most people around the country will probably laugh at me, but I think this season's team will be better than last years. Offensively, you're likely going to be seeing five guys on the court at a time who can A) Put the ball in the basket B) Move the ball and C) Space the floor. Shabazz, Calhoun, Boatright, and Evans can all handle, pass, and knock down shots. Giffey and Daniels can hit three pointers, and become efficient offensive players if their game develops further. Olander will likely come as a breath of fresh air offensively after we witnessed Oriakhi and Drummond fumble the ball around all of last year.

Look, Roscoe, Drummond, and Oriakhi will be sorely missed. But to some extent, those guys held us back last year. Drummond didn't know how to position himself defensively, Alex couldn't guard the majority of college fours, and all of them lacked the skill necessary to make this team an efficient offense. I expect the 12-13 team to be greatly improved in some of the overlooked aspects of the game. They'll move the ball better, shoot it a lot better, handle it better, and as a whole, play together more cohesively.

Defensively, they'll certainly struggle at times, but our quickness could pay dividends. Keep in mind, few college teams possess the Sullinger, Thomas Robinson type, the kids who could really expose our post defense. Last season UConn was on its toes at nearly all times, this season I expect them to play their brand of basketball, cause mis-matches for opposing teams, and do what UConn does best: surprise people.

Tournament or no tournament, I think it should be a fun season.

 

[GemParty]

Good post. It's a constant puzzle how to make pieces fit. Drummond's tweet of repeat, really couldn't be further from the truth, yet every fan would take last years team on paper, vs this years. Chemistry cannot be measured on paper. I remember JC losing to Texas, I think Caron's era, and he was facing BIG after BIG, plus vs MD w/Baxter backing down everyone in the paint. He vowed to never be out muscled in the paint again. Then came our shot blocking Era. I don't really see the shot blockers or muscle on this team to survive. Depending on your views of this (Ban) season, maybe we are just a Big and some experience away from storming back for another Title Run very soon?!

 

[gibhunter]

Every year someone says to bring back the press and every year we don't. Coach likes to play 8 and with 8 press is not coming back.

 

[uconnfan68]

Let's be honest--our frontcourt is definitely going to struggle defending and protecting the rim. We'll probably lose the rebound battle most of the time, and we'll probably get abused by far superior big men, like say, Chane Behanan. Couple that with the fact that our best two players are small point guards, and we're likely going to struggle on defense for much of the year barring Phillip Nolan turning into the next Okafor overnight.

That said, I believe we can compensate for that lack of height by using our advantage in speed and quickness to our advanage. Once upon a time, Calhoun didn't have two NBA sized big men at his disposal, and he had to rely on a more franetic pace.

Clearly we have a shortage of NBA talent in comparison to past years, but there is no reason you can't make up for that by junking up the game, speeding teams up, and beating teams by simply being in better shape than them.

This may or may not work, but it's certainly worth a try. Boatright and Napier have both shown the tendency to harass opposing guards. Look at Louisville this season with Siva and Russ Smith. Those guys weren't huge, but they were extremely disruptive.

Last years defense was very good in limiting teams to a low FG%, but they also had a very low turnover rate, and that was the difference between last season's team and the 2010-11 team. How many fastbreak opportunities were created by Kemba, Shabazz, and Lamb in 2011? We saw very few of them last season. So even if they let teams shoot 44% instead of 37% this season, they can still be a solid defensive group by increasing their turnover rate.

This might not be a popular opinion, and most people around the country will probably laugh at me, but I think this season's team will be better than last years. Offensively, you're likely going to be seeing five guys on the court at a time who can A) Put the ball in the basket B) Move the ball and C) Space the floor. Shabazz, Calhoun, Boatright, and Evans can all handle, pass, and knock down shots. Giffey and Daniels can hit three pointers, and become efficient offensive players if their game develops further. Olander will likely come as a breath of fresh air offensively after we witnessed Oriakhi and Drummond fumble the ball around all of last year.

Look, Roscoe, Drummond, and Oriakhi will be sorely missed. But to some extent, those guys held us back last year. Drummond didn't know how to position himself defensively, Alex couldn't guard the majority of college fours, and all of them lacked the skill necessary to make this team an efficient offense. I expect the 12-13 team to be greatly improved in some of the overlooked aspects of the game. They'll move the ball better, shoot it a lot better, handle it better, and as a whole, play together more cohesively.

Defensively, they'll certainly struggle at times, but our quickness could pay dividends. Keep in mind, few college teams possess the Sullinger, Thomas Robinson type, the kids who could really expose our post defense. Last season UConn was on its toes at nearly all times, this season I expect them to play their brand of basketball, cause mis-matches for opposing teams, and do what UConn does best: surprise people.

Tournament or no tournament, I think it should be a fun season.

Well, we got killed all year by 3-pt shooters. I hope we defend that better. Maybe we will knowing there aren't any shotblockers back there.

 

[RabidHusky]

Let me paraphrase a JC quote from several years back he said the press was no longer the surprise to many teams as it was and most everyone knows how to prepare for it now, but it remains an occasional weapon, if not a full game strategy. I think he'll evaluate the talent and coach to what he has and what the ops have. Could see a lot of different stuff this year including some all out pressure.

 

[champs99and04]

Good post. It's a constant puzzle how to make pieces fit. Drummond's tweet of repeat, really couldn't be further from the truth, yet every fan would take last years team on paper, vs this years. Chemistry cannot be measured on paper. I remember JC losing to Texas, I think Caron's era, and he was facing BIG after BIG, plus vs MD w/Baxter backing down everyone in the paint. He vowed to never be out muscled in the paint again. Then came our shot blocking Era. I don't really see the shot blockers or muscle on this team to survive. Depending on your views of this (Ban) season, maybe we are just a Big and some experience away from storming back for another Title Run very soon?!

I posted this a while back, but this could potentially be the first season since 08-09 where we return our whole starting lineup. In an era of college basketball where continuity is rare, returning a full starting linup--even if they aren't legitimate NBA prospects--puts you at a huge advantage. There is always the chance Shabazz or Boatright decide to enter the draft, but I would bet on everybody returning as of today, considering our two best players are undersized and likely not overly desired by NBA GM's. Louisville doesn't have a plethora of NBA talent returning this season, but yet they are one of the tournament front runners.

So do I expect this team to legitimately contend for a title next season (assuming they were tournament eligible)? No, but it could certainly be a building block towards 2013-2014 (likely Calhoun's swan song).

And if UConn has a good year this season, and returns pretty much everybody, I'm sure Calhoun, even in his old age, will have no trouble getting a couple of decent big men to sign on.

 

[champs99and04]

Every year someone says to bring back the press and every year we don't. Coach likes to play 8 and with 8 press is not coming back.

The difference is that this season, we may not have a choice. Evaluating our team defensively, we have what, maybe one above average defender in Giffey? Every other returnee struggled defensively last season, so I certainly expect some lumps in the road next season on that end of the court.

Point is, UConn had the option of not applying the press in past years because they were so stout in the half court. This season we may have no choice but to speed pu the game, make teams uncomfortable, and hopefully force them into mistakes.

 

[champs99and04]

Well, we got killed all year by 3-pt shooters. I hope we defend that better. Maybe we will knowing there aren't any shotblockers back there.

That's true. Sometimes when you've got shotblockers behind you like Scoe, Oriakhi, and Drummond, you can let your guard down on defense. This season guys know that if their man gets by them, they're likey going to turn around to the site of Olander or Wolf getting a faceful of nuts.

 

[Danzz]

It is doubtful we will press. Our PGs are short making it easier to pass over the top and we have no shot blocker if the press is beaten. With our thin frontcourt we may not see opponents taking 3's. It is more likely that teams will try to exploit the paint.

 

[Waquoit]

We can bring back the set shot while we are at it.

 

[champs99and04]

Why do some of you act like the press is some kind of foreign concept? We've seen the press play a big role in final four runs in the last two years (VCU 2011, Louisville 2012). And we have the personal to do it.

 

[61cygni]

Last year we had the personnel for it, fast guards and forwards with huge wingspans.

 

[mauconnfan]

Why do some of you act like the press is some kind of foreign concept? We've seen the press play a big role in final four runs in the last two years (VCU 2011, Louisville 2012). And we have the personal to do it.

Have to go with Danzz on this one.......while our guards will be real quick they are easily passed over........and the Burrells and Henefelds needed on the next line of defense just aren't showing up on the roster.........

While they may use some 1/2 court traps and some 3/4 traps to speed up the game this roster has nothing that the 89-90 team had, nor has too many in the recent past. That was a special mix, it's not coming back any time soon. The kids, the chemistry, the size of the guards, the committment of that team was something you honestly don't find anymore!

 

[boog204]

JC decided a few years ago that the press was not effective and that's it. I don't think we'll ever see it as a consistent weapon again. It takes more than athletes to make a press work, it takes understanding of how to make it work. Plus, while a press *can* help as an offensive weapon, there is this myth that our press post 89-90 was some sort of steal/turnover machine. It was more a tempo thing. We generally played a fairly passive 2-2-1 in our heyday that was there to rush the other team's half-court offense.

 

[Waquoit]

Two keys to that 89-90 press that we won't see again. One was Henefeld, the guy was uncanny in the middle, the way he would read and react. Second, that press got a ton of steals off the 2nd trap. Today, once the first trap is beaten the guys just give up on the press.