Improvement

[SubbaBub]

I would have been very impressed with the play today if we had not disappeared for 15 minutes, again. Team is going nowhere until they figure it out. A little less friendly whistle and a little better 3pt shooting from the Hoyas and this is another WTF loss to a team we should have beaten.

 

[tzznandrew]

I just want to say THANK GOD we finally have a Uconn team that can hit their free throws. 29 for 36...not too shabby.

Didn't used to always be like this with past Husky teams. If this Georgetown team fouled as much as they did against the last 10-15 Husky teams we've had they would've definitely won the majority of them.

Can't express enough how important it is that Gibbs, Hamilton, & Miller are all great free throw shooters....and Purvis is coming along!! surprise surprise

Umm...the 2013-2014 was so good from the line that UK didn't foul us with under a minute left because what was the point. They were 77% from the line as opposed to the 76% they are right now.

And last year they were 71%.
And 73% in 2013.
And 76% in 2011.

I don't know where you get this...our recent teams have been damn good from the line, in particular KO's teams.

 

[tcf15]

Umm...the 2013-2014 was so good from the line that UK didn't foul us with under a minute left because what was the point. They were 77% from the line as opposed to the 76% they are right now.

And last year they were 71%.
And 73% in 2013.
And 76% in 2011.

I don't know where you get this...our recent teams have been damn good from the line, in particular KO's teams.

Was just gonna say - UConn set the NCAA record for best FT% in NCAA Tourney in 2013-14 after they went 101/115 (87.8%).

 

[Rewster]

The biggest not so good was the 3 point defense the first 35 min of the game, it was atrocious. It was great the last 5 min, need to play like that all game.

Outside of that no major complaints.

Agree
Hoyas didn't shoot well but had a lot of great looks.

 

[selles]

Miller has to be on the floor for as close to 40 as possible. The offense went off the rails against Tulane as soon as he went to the bench with foul trouble. They're never going to look like the Golden State Warriors, but - to me - they are a far, far better team offensively when Miller's in the game.

I agree with this. Miller's an outstanding post presence and the stability he provides often keeps the offense from imploding.

We've improved at getting him the ball over the course of the year, and we need to continue that improvement because there are games where it looks like he could get an easy 25-30.

He, though, needs to improve his 3 point closeouts. Too mechanical, too slow. We got burned by that several times today, including on a couple of the early second half 3's that got Georgetown back in the game.

 

[UCOnions]

If you go back and watch.. even though calhoun didnt have the scoring touch, he did good at penetrating and dishing to the open man, which was a breath of fresh air, we need more of that.

 

[Giddyup5]

I just want to say THANK GOD we finally have a Uconn team that can hit their free throws. 29 for 36...not too shabby.

Didn't used to always be like this with past Husky teams. If this Georgetown team fouled as much as they did against the last 10-15 Husky teams we've had they would've definitely won the majority of them.

Can't express enough how important it is that Gibbs, Hamilton, & Miller are all great free throw shooters....and Purvis is coming along!! surprise surprise

Where the hell do people come up with this crap??

 

[InKembaITrust]

Where the hell do people come up with this crap??

If you don't know what you're talking about you should probably just keep your mouth shut, especially if you have nothing to contribute. If you want proof that this team has floundered from the free throw line time and time again, go look at their TEAM FT% the last 10-15 years and you'll see the definition of inconsistency, particularly in the 2000s.

11-12: 66%
09-10: 68%
08-09: 67%
06-07: 62%
03-04: 62%
02-03: 67%
01-02: 69%

I was making a point with my last post that THANK GOD this current team doesn't fall in the same category as some of the past Uconn teams who would not have made 29 of 36 FT if their life depended on it.

By the end of this year this team could be the best free throw shooting team we've had in the last 20 years....and it's going to come up big for us with all of these close games we're having, AND come tournament time.

 

[7774]

If you don't know what you're talking about you should probably just keep your mouth shut, especially if you have nothing to contribute. If you want proof that this team has floundered from the free throw line time and time again, go look at their TEAM FT% the last 10-15 years and you'll see the definition of inconsistency, particularly in the 2000s.

11-12: 66%
09-10: 68%
08-09: 67%
06-07: 62%
03-04: 62%
02-03: 67%
01-02: 69%

I was making a point with my last post that THANK GOD this current team doesn't fall in the same category as some of the past Uconn teams who would not have made 29 of 36 FT if their life depended on it.

By the end of this year this team could be the best free throw shooting team we've had in the last 20 years....and it's going to come up big for us with all of these close games we're having, AND come tournament time.

"Guys, I know we've been consistently great at free throw shooting the last few years. When I said THANK GOD we finally have a team that can shoot free throws, I clearly meant we had a team 10 years ago and a team 13 years ago that were bad. It's obvious."

LOOOOL. What. An. Idiot.

 

[tzznandrew]

If you don't know what you're talking about you should probably just keep your mouth shut, especially if you have nothing to contribute. If you want proof that this team has floundered from the free throw line time and time again, go look at their TEAM FT% the last 10-15 years and you'll see the definition of inconsistency, particularly in the 2000s.

11-12: 66%
09-10: 68%
08-09: 67%
06-07: 62%
03-04: 62%
02-03: 67%
01-02: 69%

I was making a point with my last post that THANK GOD this current team doesn't fall in the same category as some of the past Uconn teams who would not have made 29 of 36 FT if their life depended on it.

By the end of this year this team could be the best free throw shooting team we've had in the last 20 years....and it's going to come up big for us with all of these close games we're having, AND come tournament time.

So, to prove that we finally have a team that can shoot FTs, you skip all the years we shot 70+ which included last year, the year before, and the year before, and jump to teams a decade old.

Four of the last five years (not including this year), they've shot 71%+ percent, including some years at a higher percentage than this year.
Seven out of the last eleven years, they've shot 70% or higher.

 

[CL82]

I would have liked to see more Steve too but reality is there was no reason. Hayes only had 3 hoops so I'm not sure how he burned us other than a couple offensive rebounds too. Phil played him hard and made him work and get rid of the ball a lot so the staff made the right call on that one.

Good call on Omar though he was good down the D end.

I used to dread when Omar came in, although I felt a little guilty about it. I still admit to a little nervousness, but every time he makes a play, offensively or defensively, I'm pretty psyched. Good for him, good for the team.

 

[intlzncster]

I just want to say THANK GOD we finally have a Uconn team that can hit their free throws. 29 for 36...not too shabby.

Didn't used to always be like this with past Husky teams. If this Georgetown team fouled as much as they did against the last 10-15 Husky teams we've had they would've definitely won the majority of them.

Well, we had one of the best in the country just two years ago. A team that frankly had the greatest NCAA tournament free throw display that I personally have ever witnessed.

EDIT: I see tzz already took care of this.

 

[SixRings]

Well, we had one of the best in the country just two years ago. A team that frankly had the greatest NCAA tournament free throw display that I personally have ever witnessed.

EDIT: I see tzz already took care of this.

Yep. The best part of that is that they were PERFECT from the line (10 for 10) in the championship game. I've tried thousands of different calculations and have decided that no team can ever beat that percentage.

 

[intlzncster]

I used to dread when Omar came in, although I felt a little guilty about it.

Why? It was fair at the time. He's playing well right now. Love what he brings on the defensive end, something they sorely needed. And I also loves when he takes it to the rim on O. That aggressiveness also sorely needed. If his shot is falling, that's just an added bonus.

Nolan was the same way early in the season. Absolutely dreaded seeing him. If he can put together more games like he's had recently. I'm happy to see him give the starters a blow.

 

[InKembaITrust]

So, to prove that we finally have a team that can shoot FTs, you skip all the years we shot 70+ which included last year, the year before, and the year before, and jump to teams a decade old.

Four of the last five years (not including this year), they've shot 71%+ percent, including some years at a higher percentage than this year.
Seven out of the last eleven years, they've shot 70% or higher.

Alright this will be my last post touching on this topic, don't want to waste anymore trivial time on both sides here.

I will agree that I shouldn't have used the word "finally" when describing the team's free throw percentage. I'm privy to the fact that the past 4 or 5 years have been pretty solid during the Ollie-era.

I think in a historical context I'm very happy to see our team hitting 29 of 36 free throws, because it instinctively gave me a flashback to the Calhoun days when this was a major achilles-heel for us. The old Big East teams would play overly aggressive defense against us, (particularly our bigs), b/c they knew we wouldn't be able to capitalize at the line. It became a reoccurring foul for 1-2 missed FT tradeoff that teams were willing to use against us when push came to shove. I can think of a handful of games off the top of my head, the Notre Dames, Marquettes, & especially PITTS (those bastards) that would use this against us, and it was the most frustrating aspect of watching Uconn losses in those times.

To rephrase my initial post.... I'm happy that now and atleast throughout the Ollie days we are able to avoid this achilles-heel, not allow opponent's defense to be overly aggressive with us, b/c they know we'll capitalize and respond at the line consistently.

 

[CL82]

CL82 said:
"I used to dread when Omar came in, although I felt a little guilty about it. "

Why? It was fair at the time. He's playing well right now. Love what he brings on the defensive end, something they sorely needed. And I also loves when he takes it to the rim on O. That aggressiveness also sorely needed. If his shot is falling, that's just an added bonus.

Nolan was the same way early in the season. Absolutely dreaded seeing him. If he can put together more games like he's had recently. I'm happy to see him give the starters a blow.

Because I root for the kids as much as the team. So when kid like Omar, who was such a huge contributor as freshman, comes in and I groan, I feel like I'm being disloyal.

 

[intlzncster]

Because I root for the kids as much as the team. So when kid like Omar, who was such a huge contributor as freshman, comes in and I groan, I feel like I'm being disloyal.

I'm always rooting for the kids, don't get me wrong. But a sense of dread is perfectly normal when a kid is (semi) permanently stinking up the joint. Doesn't mean you are against the player or anything.