Jacobs Article: UConn Men Must Be 'Bigger And Badder' Around The Rim

[intlzncster]

Good article. Unlike most here, I think he is good...IF he stays off his high horse

But we would be entering a 5th straight year w/o a strong front court and without the ability to rebound. Miller is somewhat of an an exception, but still, when the teams got big we couldn't handle it? Have to see if Enoch & Diarra can handle it. An addition would be great. But I don't think an effective replacement is likely.

We handled it in 2014 though (against some big teams: MSU/UK/FL). It's very much a team thing imo. Pretty similar front court to this year.

 

[aceboon]

We handled it in 2014 though (against some big teams: MSU/UK/FL). It's very much a team thing imo. Pretty similar front court to this year.

Yea, FL was bigger and bulkier at every position and they got mandhandled in the Final 4 game. The issue was talent/personel.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

He definitely did in 2003 after losses to both Pitt and Texas, who were each huge. Within a few years we had about the most ridiculous frontline anyone's ever seen

The following year we did. Okafor, Villanueva, Boone, and Armstrong would've gone right up against that KU front line on Saturday,

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Yea, FL was bigger and bulkier at every position and they got mandhandled in the Final 4 game. The issue was talent/personel.

FL had big guys, but they were not nearly as versatile as that KU front line, nor did they have the athletic guards who could shoot and penetrate. Patric Young was a monster, but he was a one-trick pony on the offensive end. Ellis can step out and shoot from the outside, penetrate, or post-up inside, making him ridiculously hard to guard. Young posted up well, but once he got 8-10 feet from the hoop he was offensively useless.

 

[gtcam]

Self's TO when we were playing UConn hoops and got it down to 9 was a "clinic." They came out, ran a play for their guy Ellis and he knocked down the shot. Then a missed shot or TO and they hit a 3 and bang - 15 down. 2 things happened there, a great TO called by the coach and having a player who could make that play at crunch time. We are close again but they had 2 up on us.

It was a time out that a ton of coaches would have made - yes - even KO. Let's not make it like it was a unique situation/call
The shot Ellis made was a buster AND it was a shot he made with his eyes closed all day
I honestly don't think UConn would ever get much closer - the inside game of UConn, AB, PN and SM was abysmal.
Time to get some real men to play those 4 and 5 positions - PRONTO
As I've said in past posts - If AB doesn't come back with a marked improvement in his hands, rebounding footwork and position and the ability to score within 2 feet of the hoop - its time to move on

 

[Jimdish255]

Do people really expect Diarra to be a physical presence or a big contributor as a Freshman? Adams is an exception to the rule.

 

[aceboon]

FL had big guys, but they were not nearly as versatile as that KU front line, nor did they have the athletic guards who could shoot and penetrate. Patric Young was a monster, but he was a one-trick pony on the offensive end. Ellis can step out and shoot from the outside, penetrate, or post-up inside, making him ridiculously hard to guard. Young posted up well, but once he got 8-10 feet from the hoop he was offensively useless.

Yea I know, I agree with what you're saying. That's my point, its not just about being "big and bad", its the personnel and talent. Our guards and wings were not creative enough or good enough off the bounce to deal with the defensive pressure and we could not get into our offense, that was the biggest problem more than anything, the team missed 12 straight shots(!) and the game was over before they could adjust to it. Adding another breakdown guard like Gilbert and expecting Adams and DHam to improve will help this offense.

 

[mauconnfan]

frontcourt definitely had its issues but that wasn't the only reason for the loss on Saturday, our guards were having alot of issues delivering passes and getting into the offense due to Kansas's defensive pressure on the perimeter. Mason/Graham/Selden were doing to our guards and wings what Boat/Bazz/TSam(at times)/Giffey were doing to perimeter players in the 2014 tourney.

Pretty easy to guard a team when they know no one in the front court can score though. They were all over Miller and overextended on the guards, we need a big who can catch the ball, pass it and also set a pick with the ability to roll and score. We have none for now and that hurts an offense. And Miller at 6'6" PF was overmatched in this one and it showed in size.

 

[aceboon]

*sighs* the only reason I even saw your response was because you are the last poster to respond to this thread. I've had you on ignore since the summer, please do me the favor and don't respond to my posts, I've long stopped entertaining your old dusty ass.

 

[gtcam]

*sighs* the only reason I even saw your response was because you are the last poster to respond to this thread. I've had you on ignore since the summer, please do me the favor and don't respond to my posts, I've long stopped entertaining your old dusty ass.

c'mon children everyone has an opinion

 

[aceboon]

c'mon children everyone has an opinion

he has an opinion that I've long since ignored, you're pretty much riding in that same boat.

 

[SubbaBub]

I believe the term amongst the internet kids is "ldo." "Like, duh, obviously," for you kids at heart.

I wonder what other 4 month old threads JJ is mining for ideas.

 

[jibsey]

This article is old news to us. Look if a team has overwhelming guard talent you can overcome the shortfall in bigs we had, but we didn't. Point guard was not ideal and we were manhandled in the paint. One and done all season and when we got a rebound neither big guy could finish. I really don't believe that we can get it done with Brimah and Facey. Don't get me wrong we can still be a good team blowing out lesser opponents and even playing well at times but look at what happened against Gonzaga, Maryland and Kansas. We had a big body, Enoch and yes he was foul prone as were Brimah and Facey but we played him 5 minutes a game. He needed to learn defense on the job by playing 20 minutes a game, making mistakes and getting better as he went along. Aside from Miller he had the best offensive moves. Now we are desperate for another rebounder and Kevin Freeman type player, someone who is not a stringbean and to this point we don't have one. Don't have an answer on how to correct this at this point in recruiting.

 

[Danzz]

Could be

Pretty easy to guard a team when they know no one in the front court can score though. They were all over Miller and overextended on the guards, we need a big who can catch the ball, pass it and also set a pick with the ability to roll and score. We have none for now and that hurts an offense. And Miller at 6'6" PF was overmatched in this one and it showed in size.

Enoch. Don't forget he was a very young 18. The kid has size and skills and just needs to develop some. He has the body and athleticism to rebound and score in the paint but he just needs to get more coaching and experience. I think we will have something in Enoch by the middle of next season as long as KO allows him to play through some mistakes.

 

[sledog]

Amen. Get a few brickshithouses.

 

[Chief00]

Jacobs is finally singing in my choir - the sad thing is Nolan, Facey and Brimah have been in our strength program for 3 or more years and have nothing to show for it - time to make some changes.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

It was a time out that a ton of coaches would have made - yes - even KO. Let's not make it like it was a unique situation/call
The shot Ellis made was a buster AND it was a shot he made with his eyes closed all day
I honestly don't think UConn would ever get much closer - the inside game of UConn, AB, PN and SM was abysmal.
Time to get some real men to play those 4 and 5 positions - PRONTO
As I've said in past posts - If AB doesn't come back with a marked improvement in his hands, rebounding footwork and position and the ability to score within 2 feet of the hoop - its time to move on

Didn't we win a NC with AB and PN plus an un-athletic German kid at the 4
Lock down the pentratation , clog the passing lane and make their bigs spectators.

We aren't getting the second coming of Emeka anytime soon. Better guard team defense puts Brimah at least in a better position to box out instead of worrying about a guard who penetrated.

 

[intlzncster]

Jacobs is finally singing in my choir - the sad thing is Nolan, Facey and Brimah have been in our strength program for 3 or more years and have nothing to show for it - time to make some changes.

Nolan actually put on a bunch of muscle a couple years ago. It actually hurt his game, according to some observers. He didn't have the same foot speed, and that took away one of his few advantages (defensively). He plodded.

 

[sdhusky]

Do people really expect Diarra to be a physical presence or a big contributor as a Freshman? Adams is an exception to the rule.

Yes. Because he is going to asked play defense, set screens and get rebounds. Nothing else.

He will be the best offensive rebounder the first day of practice and the guy with the highest motor on the team.

 

[mauconnfan]

*sighs* the only reason I even saw your response was because you are the last poster to respond to this thread. I've had you on ignore since the summer, please do me the favor and don't respond to my posts, I've long stopped entertaining your old dusty ass.

Wow what a d**k you are huh? Speaking of old dusty a** you're f'mn hilarious with that pitiful response. Do me a favor and GFY.

The post wasn't even saying anything against what you said funny stuff.

 

[sdhusky]

Yes. Because he is going to asked play defense, set screens and get rebounds. Nothing else.

He will be the best offensive rebounder the first day of practice and the guy with the highest motor on the team.

FYI

Freeman averaged more rebounds as a frosh than any returning player not named Hamilton. Same with Adrien.

 

[mauconnfan]

he has an opinion that I've long since ignored, you're pretty much riding in that same boat.

Sure we are and you don't like our boat do you poor baby. Grow some will ya. You're ignored no biggie

 

[3rdbass]

Yea, FL was bigger and bulkier at every position and they got mandhandled in the Final 4 game. The issue was talent/personel.

Yes, well at least we had two point/combo guards who could create their own offense with the 2014 team. This team really lacked a point guard or lead guard. JA tried but was just too inexperienced. Without a great backcourt and smaller front court we were over matched in all areas. At least 2014 team could overmatch you with our starting guards. This team didn't do that to compensate for their weak front court.

 

[willie99]

tell Jeff "Ollie knows what he's doing"

is his memory that short? who does he think he is? does he actually think he knows more about hoops than us?

how dare he!!!!!

 

[jibsey]

Didn't we win a NC with AB and PN plus an un-athletic German kid at the 4
Lock down the pentratation , clog the passing lane and make their bigs spectators.

We aren't getting the second coming of Emeka anytime soon. Better guard team defense puts Brimah at least in a better position to box out instead of worrying about a guard who penetrated.

We had 2 game changing point guards on the cloor at the same time. I don't know hiw KO is going to attempt to do this frankly but our talent level has to go up in some way, what we had was not good enough and it showed all year.