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This morning's Courant article quotes Ollie as saying that once our kids start believing in themselves, they "can beat anyone anywhere."
This is not some bug-eyed Boneyarder talking. This is the team's head coach.
Mt wife's a Dukie, so I was compelled to watch Duke play Evansville last night. Evansville came into into the game 10-2, the best 3-point shooting team in the country. They were playing without two injured starters, but you wonder if their coach might have thought "If we believe in ourselves, we can beat anyone anywhere."
Duke won 104-40.
To my eye (an eye conditioned to watching UConn over these first ten games), Evansville looked like a competent, well-coached team -- a team that would UConn a battle. I was particularly taken with their junior center, a burly 6-9 Lithuanian, something of a Kisunas look-alike although a bit broader in the shoulders. This guy had an assortment of post-moves, got free on pick-and-rolls a number times, never seemed flustered to discover the ball in his hands. He looked like a competent European-trained player. He finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds in 27 minutes. I was thinking how satisfied I would be if Kisunas could give us a few games like this next year against quality opponents.
But Duke won 104-40.
Evansville found itself overwhelmed defensively, unable to contain Duke's freshman bigs Bagley and Carter and unable to keep pace with Duke's perimeter quickness. But, even offensively, they were overwhelmed -- challenged at the 3-point line and time after time getting stuffed underneath by taller, more athletic players.
Kind of reminded me of the 1964 Elite Eight game UConn played against Duke. That was a good UConn team -- good enough to beat the Temple team of Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear and good enough to stop Bill Bradley. You can bet they believed in themselves. But they lost 109-54. After the game, Fred Shabel sat them down and acquainted them with the realities of big-time recruiting.
My point. You either have the Bagleys and the Carters (and the Allens) or you don't. Evansville doesn't. UConn doesn't and won't next year. It takes more than belief when you are no longer in the competition for big-time recruits.
This is not some bug-eyed Boneyarder talking. This is the team's head coach.
Mt wife's a Dukie, so I was compelled to watch Duke play Evansville last night. Evansville came into into the game 10-2, the best 3-point shooting team in the country. They were playing without two injured starters, but you wonder if their coach might have thought "If we believe in ourselves, we can beat anyone anywhere."
Duke won 104-40.
To my eye (an eye conditioned to watching UConn over these first ten games), Evansville looked like a competent, well-coached team -- a team that would UConn a battle. I was particularly taken with their junior center, a burly 6-9 Lithuanian, something of a Kisunas look-alike although a bit broader in the shoulders. This guy had an assortment of post-moves, got free on pick-and-rolls a number times, never seemed flustered to discover the ball in his hands. He looked like a competent European-trained player. He finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds in 27 minutes. I was thinking how satisfied I would be if Kisunas could give us a few games like this next year against quality opponents.
But Duke won 104-40.
Evansville found itself overwhelmed defensively, unable to contain Duke's freshman bigs Bagley and Carter and unable to keep pace with Duke's perimeter quickness. But, even offensively, they were overwhelmed -- challenged at the 3-point line and time after time getting stuffed underneath by taller, more athletic players.
Kind of reminded me of the 1964 Elite Eight game UConn played against Duke. That was a good UConn team -- good enough to beat the Temple team of Guy Rodgers and Hal Lear and good enough to stop Bill Bradley. You can bet they believed in themselves. But they lost 109-54. After the game, Fred Shabel sat them down and acquainted them with the realities of big-time recruiting.
My point. You either have the Bagleys and the Carters (and the Allens) or you don't. Evansville doesn't. UConn doesn't and won't next year. It takes more than belief when you are no longer in the competition for big-time recruits.
