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Based on body of work, there's not a lot that gives me confidence that they will finish strong enough to save their tournament hide, but I sure welcome them proving me wrong. I'm never shy at admitting I'm wrong and eating my pound of crow. I thought I'd get that out of the way. I'm usually a glass half full kind of guy, but over the season my cup keeps on getting tipped over and its content has finally dipped below the half-way mark. Don't interpret this that I've given up on the team and won't be cheering my brains out, like I was on Saturday against Marquette.
Getting to my point, I'm just not sure if the problems with this team are a matter of just not having as talented players as I had thought or if it's a matter of having talented players that simply didn't improve as much and as quickly as I had hoped. Or a combination of both. Even with JC at the helm this team has sputtered along most of the season.
I really thought that this team would be at least a S-16 and really felt they were E-8 or better. I knew that Kemba did a lot of heavy lifting last season, but I thought that a combination of improvement from the returning players and the addition of the new ones would come close to making up for Kemba moving on, but boy was I wrong...at least so far. I really can't point to a single returning player who showed, never mind marked improvement, but much if any improvement. just compare what each player has done on a consistent bases this season compared to how they performed during that 11 game NC ending stretch. Has any of them played better consistently than they did during that time? IMO, No! A few players such as Lamb, Bazz, Olander and maybe Giffey had some small stretches where they built on what they did last post-season, but none of those players are back anywhere close to that high-water mark over the past month or so.
As for the Newbies, neither Wolf nor Bradley have been able to contribute. I can't complain about Boatright, other than not being available during some stretches and the impact that has had on the team and his development. If we had him for the entire season, they'd likely have enough Ws at this stage plus feeling relatively good about themselves, if he had been available from the start. Still the his teammates should have developed and contributed enough to win a few more games than they did and not been in this situation. AD has been what I expected for the most part, which is give you over 15 pts 10 rbs some blocked shots one night and give you close to nothing the next, like a lot of freshman do. But by this stage in the season, I was expecting him to hit his stride and be a 15-8-3 blks conistent player heading into post season play. IMO, it's not the lack of numbers but the lack of effort in some of the little things that has really hurt this team. Against Marquette, the team was finally scoring some points but they gave them up right away by not getting back not just once, but 3 times in a row to start that game. AD was responsible for at least one of those. As talented as he was in HS, I noted that he had a tendency to rely on his over-the-top size and athleticism and not do the little things like run back on D, box out, fight for position, be discipline with his shot selection, etc. These are all things when combined in one game are likely costing us 8 to 10 points, if not more. Take into account how many close games we won during that 11 game stretch last year. Much of that wasn't just Kemba, but the other guys doing the little things well and not giving away a lot of opportunities like AD and his teammates are doing. This is an area (the little things), that I'm most concerned about that I don't think this team can fix in time. Lastly, Daniels, who looked quite promising during the first 1/4 of the season has regressed and the team has gotten very little from the wing position.
While I'm on a role
one thing that really caught my eye against Marquette was how physically weak they were compared to the upper-class laden Golden Eagle team. I give the freshman a bit of a pass on this. I don't know if guys like Lamb and Bazz simply have the wrong body types and simply won't be able to bulk up till they're much older if at all. I hope I'm wrong. You couldn't tell as much from TV, but sitting at the game, Marquette was bigger (not necessarily taller) and stronger at most positions, especially at the 1-3. They swallowed up our handlers on D and constantly were able to turn the corner and drive by our perimeter guys all day long, which is usually a sign of strength verses weakness, plus having the handle to do so. I've been harping for the past few years how the staff has been unable to recruit that big combo guard and has had to settle for smallish and thing guards and wings. Kemba was able to make up for it last season. He was surprisingly strong for a li'l guy and our bigs did an excellent job of making up for the lack of heft at the perimeter with their length, instincts and quickness with their help D, something that has been spotty most of the season.
Lastly, what may have surprised me the most is how poorly this team shoots the ball, not just from deep but all over the court. Our bigs are terribly inefficient. AD's missed short Js simply came at the worst times in the game and absolutely killed us. The result was often makes down the other end by Marquette. Alex has not converted well inside. Tyler seems to be afraid at times and passes off where he should take that extra dribble and take it to the basket or lay up for the short J. After starting out strong from the perimeter, our jump shooters have be extremely inconsistent. Early on Lamb, Bazz even Daniels, Giffey and Boatright (when he became available) were hitting their open and lightly contested Js. Lately none of them seem to be able to get many good looks and when they do, their not hitting them at a good clip. Boatright seems to hit a good percentage. Lamb seems to hit and miss shots in bunches, but I think part of his problem is he's not healthy and has had to work really hard for his shots and wears down as the game goes on.
I could go on and on, such as horrible rebounding due to poor technique and positioning, poor half-court execution, poor leadership, lack of a transition game, not getting back, ducking under screens instead of working hard to go over them (note part of this is due to a lack of anticipation and strength. Have you ever seen a team that gets so many players so often pinned to the screener like they're made of Velcro. If there is anything worse than going under the screen it is getting completely blown up by it which happens to Bazz and Boat on a regular basis.) I can't believe I keep on coming up with so many vulnerabilities that this team has. They are simply not a very good team at the moment.
My conclusion is that their personnel is simply not as good as I had thought. They've been poor learners though I realize JC's health issues and inability to coach this team has had an impact though even if he was around all season, I think this team would still struggle to learn to do what he expected them to do. Looking ahead to next year, I'm very concerned about this team especially if it loses AD and/or Lamb. The returning players better get a lot stronger, improve in many aspects of their individual games, especially the wings ability to put it on the floor, create and finish, and learn the effort and team stuff expected of a UConn team. IMO, they also need another big who can come in and play right away which is often extremely hard to find. I think they still need a big physical combo guard, though maybe they can make up for not having that like they did last season. They clearly have needed that on both ends of the floor in many of the games this season. They could probably use a strong and skilled wing who can both score and defend. I find it hard to believe they'll have room to add that many needed additions who will be good enough to contribute next season considering the problems their facing, but JC and his staff have surprised me the past 2 seasons adding what talented recruits. I think although he's added a lot of talent, he's missed out on some players he wanted that would have filled some needs that are being exploited this season, which Kemba was able to masque. Needless to say, I was very wrong about this group coming anywhere close to making up for what Kemba did for this team. For a little guy, I don't think there has ever been a player who's carried a team on his shoulders like he did. This season has simply shown how much more remarkable he actually was last season.
I hope this team makes this long post look crazy silly and goes not a very good run (i.e. low water mark of finish strong with some combination of Ws that gets them into the NCAAs and to at least the S-16. I just don't feel all that confident they can do it.
Getting to my point, I'm just not sure if the problems with this team are a matter of just not having as talented players as I had thought or if it's a matter of having talented players that simply didn't improve as much and as quickly as I had hoped. Or a combination of both. Even with JC at the helm this team has sputtered along most of the season.
I really thought that this team would be at least a S-16 and really felt they were E-8 or better. I knew that Kemba did a lot of heavy lifting last season, but I thought that a combination of improvement from the returning players and the addition of the new ones would come close to making up for Kemba moving on, but boy was I wrong...at least so far. I really can't point to a single returning player who showed, never mind marked improvement, but much if any improvement. just compare what each player has done on a consistent bases this season compared to how they performed during that 11 game NC ending stretch. Has any of them played better consistently than they did during that time? IMO, No! A few players such as Lamb, Bazz, Olander and maybe Giffey had some small stretches where they built on what they did last post-season, but none of those players are back anywhere close to that high-water mark over the past month or so.
As for the Newbies, neither Wolf nor Bradley have been able to contribute. I can't complain about Boatright, other than not being available during some stretches and the impact that has had on the team and his development. If we had him for the entire season, they'd likely have enough Ws at this stage plus feeling relatively good about themselves, if he had been available from the start. Still the his teammates should have developed and contributed enough to win a few more games than they did and not been in this situation. AD has been what I expected for the most part, which is give you over 15 pts 10 rbs some blocked shots one night and give you close to nothing the next, like a lot of freshman do. But by this stage in the season, I was expecting him to hit his stride and be a 15-8-3 blks conistent player heading into post season play. IMO, it's not the lack of numbers but the lack of effort in some of the little things that has really hurt this team. Against Marquette, the team was finally scoring some points but they gave them up right away by not getting back not just once, but 3 times in a row to start that game. AD was responsible for at least one of those. As talented as he was in HS, I noted that he had a tendency to rely on his over-the-top size and athleticism and not do the little things like run back on D, box out, fight for position, be discipline with his shot selection, etc. These are all things when combined in one game are likely costing us 8 to 10 points, if not more. Take into account how many close games we won during that 11 game stretch last year. Much of that wasn't just Kemba, but the other guys doing the little things well and not giving away a lot of opportunities like AD and his teammates are doing. This is an area (the little things), that I'm most concerned about that I don't think this team can fix in time. Lastly, Daniels, who looked quite promising during the first 1/4 of the season has regressed and the team has gotten very little from the wing position.
While I'm on a role
one thing that really caught my eye against Marquette was how physically weak they were compared to the upper-class laden Golden Eagle team. I give the freshman a bit of a pass on this. I don't know if guys like Lamb and Bazz simply have the wrong body types and simply won't be able to bulk up till they're much older if at all. I hope I'm wrong. You couldn't tell as much from TV, but sitting at the game, Marquette was bigger (not necessarily taller) and stronger at most positions, especially at the 1-3. They swallowed up our handlers on D and constantly were able to turn the corner and drive by our perimeter guys all day long, which is usually a sign of strength verses weakness, plus having the handle to do so. I've been harping for the past few years how the staff has been unable to recruit that big combo guard and has had to settle for smallish and thing guards and wings. Kemba was able to make up for it last season. He was surprisingly strong for a li'l guy and our bigs did an excellent job of making up for the lack of heft at the perimeter with their length, instincts and quickness with their help D, something that has been spotty most of the season.Lastly, what may have surprised me the most is how poorly this team shoots the ball, not just from deep but all over the court. Our bigs are terribly inefficient. AD's missed short Js simply came at the worst times in the game and absolutely killed us. The result was often makes down the other end by Marquette. Alex has not converted well inside. Tyler seems to be afraid at times and passes off where he should take that extra dribble and take it to the basket or lay up for the short J. After starting out strong from the perimeter, our jump shooters have be extremely inconsistent. Early on Lamb, Bazz even Daniels, Giffey and Boatright (when he became available) were hitting their open and lightly contested Js. Lately none of them seem to be able to get many good looks and when they do, their not hitting them at a good clip. Boatright seems to hit a good percentage. Lamb seems to hit and miss shots in bunches, but I think part of his problem is he's not healthy and has had to work really hard for his shots and wears down as the game goes on.
I could go on and on, such as horrible rebounding due to poor technique and positioning, poor half-court execution, poor leadership, lack of a transition game, not getting back, ducking under screens instead of working hard to go over them (note part of this is due to a lack of anticipation and strength. Have you ever seen a team that gets so many players so often pinned to the screener like they're made of Velcro. If there is anything worse than going under the screen it is getting completely blown up by it which happens to Bazz and Boat on a regular basis.) I can't believe I keep on coming up with so many vulnerabilities that this team has. They are simply not a very good team at the moment.
My conclusion is that their personnel is simply not as good as I had thought. They've been poor learners though I realize JC's health issues and inability to coach this team has had an impact though even if he was around all season, I think this team would still struggle to learn to do what he expected them to do. Looking ahead to next year, I'm very concerned about this team especially if it loses AD and/or Lamb. The returning players better get a lot stronger, improve in many aspects of their individual games, especially the wings ability to put it on the floor, create and finish, and learn the effort and team stuff expected of a UConn team. IMO, they also need another big who can come in and play right away which is often extremely hard to find. I think they still need a big physical combo guard, though maybe they can make up for not having that like they did last season. They clearly have needed that on both ends of the floor in many of the games this season. They could probably use a strong and skilled wing who can both score and defend. I find it hard to believe they'll have room to add that many needed additions who will be good enough to contribute next season considering the problems their facing, but JC and his staff have surprised me the past 2 seasons adding what talented recruits. I think although he's added a lot of talent, he's missed out on some players he wanted that would have filled some needs that are being exploited this season, which Kemba was able to masque. Needless to say, I was very wrong about this group coming anywhere close to making up for what Kemba did for this team. For a little guy, I don't think there has ever been a player who's carried a team on his shoulders like he did. This season has simply shown how much more remarkable he actually was last season.
I hope this team makes this long post look crazy silly and goes not a very good run (i.e. low water mark of finish strong with some combination of Ws that gets them into the NCAAs and to at least the S-16. I just don't feel all that confident they can do it.
