Jalen Adams & game-deciding 14-0 run...

[August_West]

For now, I like what I see from this roster, though.

We are a work in progress, but I like thinking that some of these pieces fit together way better than the last few seasons. Thats why Id like to see KO get the rotation narrowed quickly early, to build absolute roles on the team where they can count on each other . Build a top 8 chemistry and then mix and match. He seems to like to do that in reverse.

 

[Scoe]

Thank god for that run I'm not gonna give this team any credit for winning last night because its Stony Brook we must play better just a sickening performance, and dont act like I forgot about last year.

 

[Danzz]

We need more of this stuff on the BY. I feel like there are way too many impulsive people looking for every game to be a blowout when we don't even understand what combinations we want to play. There is a GD fire Ollie post in every thread and it is super annoying. I like watching the Huskies improve over the course of the season and that is part of the fun. When they improve and learn without taking Ls then the process is a lot more fun.

- The Adams/Gilbert/Anderson combo looked promising. If our opponents have one slower piece in 1-3 then we can get penetration.
- AG carved through that defense last night and got almost half of the team's assists. He also drives into a hole and has to get bailed out or puts up a tough shot. As he sees that on tape he will get better at spotting the hedge man earlier to kick it out without getting stuck. Boatright had a similar problem and showed great improvement in about a half a season.
- The NBA high PnR offense was effective tonight. The bigs were setting great screens and all of the guards were using the screens. That how we only had 9 assists on 25 FGs. My only worry here is that we don't shoot the 3 ball well enough and the D will start sagging behind the screen. Look for our guards to try and knock down a 3 early in the game if the D sags. This will change how the D has to play.
- We have a lot of fouls with the bigs, DO and EC can play a similar game and are very active. That makes this fun.
- The high energy defense with a deep bench is going to wear teams down. We saw that pretty clearly last night.
- The million turnovers needs to come down to a reasonable number 12 or below. This is likely a function of them not gelling early in the season.
- Larrier was limited all night, but took some very confident shots. We haven't seen him and JA both play well on the same night. If they do, we can be scary good.
- If CV gets his sniper rifle back it will add a new dimension.

Lets enjoy watching this progress rather than be overly negative. This was a lot more organized than the PC game and this year we have players that actually want to win as a team. There is a lot to look forward to.

We have to blow out lesser teams or the whiners come out in droves and should we lose The Boneyard goes into fire everybody mode. It has always been like this except for maybe the early years of The Boneyard when we had less impulsive fans. Visiting this site after a loss is a waste of time.
Excellent post, good points.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

The difference between Bazz/Kemba and Jalen is a generational thing. Crazy, I know, they were here a few years ago but since about 2012 caring stopped being cool. Jalen is just too damn cool. Bazz never cared about being cool (rat tail) he just wanted to get buckets.

 

[husky429]

The difference between Bazz/Kemba and Jalen is a generational thing. Crazy, I know, they were here a few years ago but since about 2012 caring stopped being cool. Jalen is just too damn cool. Bazz never cared about being cool (rat tail) he just wanted to get buckets.

Being too cool to try hard as a kod has been a thing for 100 years, man. Don't kid yourself. It may just look different to you than it did in your day.

Its hard to tell what Jalen's attitude is. How he presents publically may be very different than in the gym.

All these accusations about hos work ethic are mind boggling. None of us have a clue bc we haven't been in the gym with him.

 

[HuskyHawk]

There is something wrong with the way we prepare for games. We should beat Stony Brook by atleast 15 on talent alone. And this isn't just based on last night. As some of you said, we've seen the same story for 4 straight seasons.
Every game, we are never prepared for the other team's strengths, and it's not until halftime that we figure out something to neutralize the other team.
This should be happening every practice leading up to every game, not at halftime after we are down 7.
Im not going to pretend like I know what adjustments they should make, but I know from an observer's perspective, the same issues happen each year with different UConn teams.

But Jalen does need to take over the game from the start, and slowly get others involved in scoring. Not the other way around.
If Jalen knocks the other team early with a few quick baskets, then that will start to open up other people.

I'm not complaining about our start. We're 2-0 with only two returning players. And Stony Brook is a good team. That being said, you hit on my biggest complaint with Ollie - he's the anti Bill Belichick. I don't see any real attempt to adjust to or game plan for the opposition. And if they are doing it, they aren't doing it well. It's been that way the entire time he's been HC. I suppose you could blame the players, but this has been the case no matter who the players are.

My honest opinion about his game plan last night? He wanted to get DO some minutes to see what he'd do. He wanted to work on the press, knowing it would be broken and we weren't very good at it yet. He essentially treated the game as a scrimmage, hoping our superior talent would win out. It did, so maybe it was the right move. Tough games loom on the horizon.

 

[aceboon]

Thank god for that run I'm not gonna give this team any credit for winning last night because its Stony Brook we must play better just a sickening performance, and dont act like I forgot about last year.

I'm sure the players are disappointed they won't get any credit from you

 

[tzznandrew]

We have to blow out lesser teams or the whiners come out in droves and should we lose The Boneyard goes into fire everybody mode. It has always been like this except for maybe the early years of The Boneyard when we had less impulsive fans. Visiting this site after a loss is a waste of time.
Excellent post, good points.

I'm not and have never been a "whiner." But let's not kid ourselves: not all 8-point wins are the same.

If we beat Stony Brook by 8 while being up roughly 5-12 most of the game, I'm a little annoyed. When they're down 9 with 5 minutes left, though?

 

[Scoe]

I'm sure the players are disappointed they won't get any credit from you

Its Stony Brook, I dont care if they dont care because I dont care if they care about me giving them credit.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

We have to blow out lesser teams or the whiners come out in droves and should we lose The Boneyard goes into fire everybody mode. It has always been like this except for maybe the early years of The Boneyard when we had less impulsive fans. Visiting this site after a loss is a waste of time.
Excellent post, good points.

By the same token, it's way better after a win.

In fact, I can comfortably visit The Boneyard on my tablet, where I'm not logged in, so I not only see every post from people I Ignore, but even the threads that they originate. And, surprise surprise, many are way more likable and reasonable (even funny) than when things were so bad over the last year.

Winning allows for enough breathing room to watch the individuals, see the moving parts, develop some familiarity & affection with so many new faces, and recognize that some annoying recent historical tendencies may or may not be a part of this season. We'll see. I'll be watching.
Go Huskies.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Thank god for that run I'm not gonna give this team any credit for winning last night because its Stony Brook we must play better just a sickening performance, and dont act like I forgot about last year.

They played better last night than you write. Clean your own house first.

 

[Matrim55]

They played better last night than you write. Clean your own house first.

They played great for the final 8 minutes of the game, which we've seen a lot of over the last few years.

One thing Ollie's teams know how to do is turn what could be a blow-out into a respectable-on-the-scoreboard loss. I suppose it should be heartening that last night was a could-have-been-a-morale-crushing-L that turned into a comfortable-on-the-scoreboard win, and that there were a few promising individual performances. But I can't quite get there.

 

[upstater]

We've been saying this for four years...

We have? No. They had a great D 4 years ago, and they played it well 3 years ago too. The 15-16s problem was offense, not defense. It was a mess.

Last year, I agree--but we had a slow-footed team last year. LOST ON D. This year's team is going to figure that out.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

They played great for the final 8 minutes of the game, which we've seen a lot of over the last few years.

One thing Ollie's teams know how to do is turn what could be a blow-out into a respectable-on-the-scoreboard loss. I suppose it should be heartening that last night was a could-have-been-a-morale-crushing-L that turned into a comfortable-on-the-scoreboard win, and that there were a few promising individual performances. But I can't quite get there.

And I can't really begrudge your closing sentence.

 

[August_West]

They played great for the final 8 minutes of the game, which we've seen a lot of over the last few years.

One thing Ollie's teams know how to do is turn what could be a blow-out into a respectable-on-the-scoreboard loss. I suppose it should be heartening that last night was a could-have-been-a-morale-crushing-L that turned into a comfortable-on-the-scoreboard win, and that there were a few promising individual performances. But I can't quite get there.

That’s true. But with a glaring difference . Yes the last few years we put ourselves in a hole only to mount “ almost comebacks” almost every time. The players play looser down double digits. Felt like they were going to lose anyway, and didn’t play scared in light of that. The glaring difference is that the last couple years when we would get it close again the “ game pressure” would rear its ugly head again and we would go back to thinking too much on the court and making mistakes of “ too careful”


Last night when we came back, we blew right through the “ game pressure” moment , didn’t look at the scoreboard and kept pouring it on.

That in and of itself is encouraging.

KO is right when he said last night "we dont win this game last year"

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Thank god for that run I'm not gonna give this team any credit for winning last night because its Stony Brook we must play better just a sickening performance, and dont act like I forgot about last year.

 

[August_West]

Post/handle

 

[ctchamps]

Being too cool to try hard as a kod has been a thing for 100 years, man. Don't kid yourself. It may just look different to you than it did in your day.

Its hard to tell what Jalen's attitude is. How he presents publically may be very different than in the gym.

All these accusations about hos work ethic are mind boggling. None of us have a clue bc we haven't been in the gym with him.

Kid played the most minutes last season and played at the end of the season even though he should have stayed on the bench because of his leg injury. So one scooter incident and a slow start to this season and people suddenly focus negatively on his demeanor and forget his heroic effort last year.

It's clear that KO is trying to develop Gilbert and Anderson. Jalen and CV got much quicker hooks than those guys. If he starts Jalen and CV and gives Jalen the keys from the start this game ends in a blow out even with Terry in foul trouble. Although it might be good for optics and give a short term boost this team goes further if Alterique becomes the third consistent option.

Interesting that most people commended Alterique's defense. He's an aggressive on ball defender, but he was lost on many defensive possessions. His player probably accounted for half or more of the threes given up by our guards. It's clear Alterique has a green light to shoot. Same as Terry preseason. KO is playing the long game, literally and figuratively. If Alterique clicks this team could surprise.

 

[Paesano]

LOL @ Ollie for saying (yet again) that he wants to pick up the tempo offensively. Ranked 299th in tempo through two games.

Tough to do when your best player is out of shape.

 

[Matrim55]

KO is right when he said last night "we dont win this game last year"

Yeah, but that's part of what has me down. The result has changed (against weak competition), but has the process? If the same things keep going wrong, then how much progress will we really make?

 

[8893]

I suppose it should be heartening that last night was a could-have-been-a-morale-crushing-L that turned into a comfortable-on-the-scoreboard win, and that there were a few promising individual performances. But I can't quite get there.

You will. You don't really have a choice. Ultimately, you know that hope is better than the alternative; it's more fun.

Look at the mopes with the pitchforks. Do you want to be going into the PK80 hoping you are proven right with a miserable performance? How is that going to make your Thanksgiving? Bad enough you have to choke down some tasteless foul with enough salt and alcohol to kill a horse; do you really want to being looking forward to a crappy game to prove you right?

Or, do want to be pacing yourself all day, knowing that glorious moment awaits when you can melt into your recliner, tune out the rest of the world and dream about your beloved Huskies catching lightning in a bottle again?

And, there is a basis for optimism, both for this season and for the recruits on the horizon.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Again.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Yeah, but that's part of what has me down. The result has changed (against weak competition), but has the process? If the same things keep going wrong, then how much progress will we really make?

We'll see.
Don't join the crowd angling to be the first in with a broad negative take.

 

[businesslawyer]

We have? No. They had a great D 4 years ago, and they played it well 3 years ago too. The 15-16s problem was offense, not defense. It was a mess.

Last year, I agree--but we had a slow-footed team last year. LOST ON D. This year's team is going to figure that out.

Last year's team's issues were less about being slow and more about having neither the depth nor the cumulative fouls to play hard D for 40 minutes. Let's give this a little time before jumping either on or off the bandwagon. The play hasn't been great but there are pieces that have shown things that can lead to optimism.

 

[Matrim55]

We'll see.
Don't join the crowd angling to be the first in with a broad negative take.

I'm definitely not gonna be that guy. Just felt it building during the preseason and the first two games, and needed to get it off my chest.

To be clear: I am glad that Jalen bailed us out last night, and hope that it spins forward into a commanding win against BU. I also take some heart from the fact that we went out and got some big, beefy rebounders this summer to address another long-standing concern, and I will hope that Jalen's leadership can knit this bunch together over the course of the season the way Shabazz did in 2014.

 

[The Funster]

I mean, can we talk about the game? Too many people care more about criticizing other posters than they do talking about the game. You don't agree with someone, either ignore them or engage them. It doesn't hurt to accept and debate differing opinions.