Jalen Adams: Got Keys?

[Kitaman]

Point Guards: Freshman = Turnovers

Just saying. . . . . . . . .

 

[mauconnfan]

He was really good yesterday huh? He has a gear we have all seen but now we saw him slow down when he had to make plays too, not forcing anything with speed. He gets to the rim effortlessly just needs to get a nice stop and pop like Kemba now. When he's playing like that they will play with mostly anyone. Shonn too, get him the ball even more please.

 

[OkaForPrez]

He was really good yesterday huh? He has a gear we have all seen but now we saw him slow down when he had to make plays too, not forcing anything with speed. He gets to the rim effortlessly just needs to get a nice stop and pop like Kemba now. When he's playing like that they will play with mostly anyone. Shonn too, get him the ball even more please.

That reminds me of my favorite play he made yesterday. He was pushing the ball on the break, saw it wasn't there and took it from 4th gear down to third. Shortly after he did a lane appeared and he popped it up into 5th and attacked again. That's not freshman stuff. That's Upperclassman stuff.

 

[Chief00]

It sure seems that way. AND, Adams has no problem taking them. I always said this kid is special. Now, I believe it is more than special. Jalen is doing everything. His drives to the hoop are masterful. Rodney does the same but Adams seems to finish. I agree it is only going to get better and it IS right on time.

Jalen can use either hand, Rodney can't.

 

[August_West]

We've now laid the wood to three teams in a row, two on the road. If not for a late collapse on a 4 point lead with a minute left against cinci we'd have won 7 in a row. We've made teams quit back to back. Let's pump the breaks on pumping the breaks too. We know we have an elite defensive team. We've seen all of our offensive pieces firing at different times throughout the season and lately we're seeing more of them fire together. The only game that ended out of reach for us was Maryland and after 38 minutes we were down a bucket. There are no clear favorites this year. Of course were a final four contender.

Im a pessimist by nature when it comes to these things and I gotta say, Im starting to believe. It took a while. KO I think has been stubborn in trying to get certain pieces to fit certain ways out of respect and in deference to upperclassmen, but in the end I really like the formula he has found recently. The D came around first and it is not an aberration. We are playing elite D EVERY game for quite a while now. We took a few heartbreaking losses while our go to guys: Purvis and DHam were in some wildly bad slumps, but in retrospect it was amazing we were that close in some, and won others. Now Brimah is back, and while he is not an "answer" he is good for team chemistry and we are getting solid depth at the five. DHam has shown signs of turning the corner finally out of that slump. He has been great the last two. And Purvis is being a man and being exactly what we need off the bench. Adams playing with confidence and big minutes, and is the final and most important piece of this puzzle.
Im in.

Now lets go prove it right at Temple. I cant take another up and down. I was ready to cash it in after Cinci.

 

[mauconnfan]

That reminds me of my favorite play he made yesterday. He was pushing the ball on the break, saw it wasn't there and took it from 4th gear down to third. Shortly after he did a lane appeared and he popped it up into 5th and attacked again. That's not freshman stuff. That's Upperclassman stuff.

I know we are talking the same play, really impressive and as you say, nothing freshman about that. Think we may have lost one freshman for good this year, that would be nice. He's smiling and confident, great to see.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Love this quote from JA.

"Just hanging around the guys, I get to know them, so I know what gets them going when they're down, stuff like that," Adams said. "Daniel — sometimes you've just gotta smack him upside the head, then he'll start playing again. … Sterling, once you find him, he gets going. I just tell him, 'you're a great shooter, you're going to get your shot" and eventually he starts believing again. The big men are always fired up to play. Amida [Brimah] fires them up."

Perhaps our questions about leadership on this team are being answered.

Gibbs and Hamilton were never going to be the guys. I'm glad Ollie has acknowledged who needs to be the on-ball leader.

 

[August_West]

That reminds me of my favorite play he made yesterday. He was pushing the ball on the break, saw it wasn't there and took it from 4th gear down to third. Shortly after he did a lane appeared and he popped it up into 5th and attacked again. That's not freshman stuff. That's Upperclassman stuff.

Here is the play yesterday that did it for me.
about a minute left in first half. Dham grabs a rebound and pushes. Nothing new there. But this time instead of pushing to the Arc he crosses 1/2 court and gives it up to Adams streaking down the right side. Adams immediately gets a good angle and delivers a beautiful on point cross court pass to Gibbs in the left corner, who catches in rhythm and drains a 3.
It was 3 players each playing to their strengths. It was quick, it was precise, and it was decisive. It wasnt 1 on 3 attacking the rim as sometimes Purvis and DHam can get caught up in. (but Jalen seems to finish). it was great team basketball from guys who have found their roles. Im starting to buy in to the things have changed. I really think we can win out.(doomed). 2 weeks ago I would have had us with four losses in the closing stretch. Will we win out? Probably not, but we can. We will be in these games. This team is finding itself in front of our eyes. Im believing it. And if they can pull Temple out on Thursday I think they will start believing it too, and that will make them very dangerous. Success feeds on itself.

 

[mauconnfan]

Perhaps our questions about leadership on this team are being answered.

Gibbs and Hamilton were never going to be the guys. I'm glad Ollie has acknowledged who needs to be the on-ball leader.

I think everyone knew the answer Tenns, but the answer took a while to come to the forefront. Hopefully he's here to stay. I think he now deserves to play through any mistakes at this point which maybe they didn't feel comfortable with before.

 

[imno1]

Lets pump the brakes a little, we beat ECU at home, and now all of a sudden we're a legit Final Four contender?

The kid is good no doubt, but he's a freshman. Inconsistency is a great word to describe that.

OK DD. We are fans. Let's not pump the brakes but push hard on the pedal and enjoy the ride. The last few games have been really fun and reminds me of our team of old. So until the team pumps the brakes I aint either.

 

[Rico444]

He was really good yesterday huh? He has a gear we have all seen but now we saw him slow down when he had to make plays too, not forcing anything with speed. He gets to the rim effortlessly just needs to get a nice stop and pop like Kemba now. When he's playing like that they will play with mostly anyone. Shonn too, get him the ball even more please.

Agreed, especially the last point about Miller. When's the last time you saw him catch the ball in the low post and not get a good look at the basket? Dude is money down low, I want him touching the ball every half-court possession. I hope the guards make more of an effort to get him the ball in the low post.

Here is the play yesterday that did it for me.
about a minute left in first half. Dham grabs a rebound and pushes. Nothing new there. But this time instead of pushing to the Arc he crosses 1/2 court and gives it up to Adams streaking down the right side. Adams immediately gets a good angle and delivers a beautiful on point cross court pass to Gibbs in the left corner, who catches in rhythm and drains a 3.
It was 3 players each playing to their strengths. It was quick, it was precise, and it was decisive. It wasnt 1 on 3 attacking the rim as sometimes Purvis and DHam can get caught up in. (but Jalen seems to finish). it was great team basketball from guys who have found their roles. Im starting to buy in to the things have changed. I really think we can win out.(doomed). 2 weeks ago I would have had us with four losses in the closing stretch. Will we win out? Probably not, but we can. We will be in these games. This team is finding itself in front of our eyes. Im believing it. And if they can pull Temple out on Thursday I think they will start believing it too, and that will make them very dangerous. Success feeds on itself.

If we're going all in, let's go all in. I don't want this team to "be in" the Temple game and "pull it out," I want them to go in there and be in control from tip to finish. Temple is a bottom-100 KenPom team. They're ranked lower than Memphis, this is a game we should absolutely win if we want to be seen as a dangerous tournament team. Obviously, a win is a win, but a close buzzer-beater type win will squash all this momentum we've built up.

 

[August_West]

Agreed, especially the last point about Miller. When's the last time you saw him catch the ball in the low post and not get a good look at the basket? Dude is money down low, I want him touching the ball every half-court possession. I hope the guards make more of an effort to get him the ball in the low post.



If we're going all in, let's go all in. I don't want this team to "be in" the Temple game and "pull it out," I want them to go in there and be in control from tip to finish. Temple is a bottom-100 KenPom team. They're ranked lower than Memphis, this is a game we should absolutely win if we want to be seen as a dangerous tournament team. Obviously, a win is a win, but a close buzzer-beater type win will squash all this momentum we've built up.

I believe we can do just that. Why I got so high on this team in the last couple weeks is because they are winning by imposing THEIR will. Defensively and offensively. Earlier in the year even when we got wins against cupcakes it was because we out talented them. We didn't impose our will on Sacred Heart of Umass Lowell. In fact I remember calling the Sacred Heart win "the worst 30 plus point win in the history of Uconn" . We just made more baskets. There was nothing to make you think that this team had any kind of internal identity or organization other than disorganization. There was nothing you could hang your hat on and say "that is who we are no matter who we play".

I believe we have that hat rack now.

 

[CallMeBruce]

It now becoming obvious that high schoolers rarely specialize in all facets of basketball.

That's because it's impossible to specialize in all facets of something. That's literally the opposite of specialization.

 

[Matt1010]

http://247sports.com/Article/College-basketball-freshmen-rising-and-sliding-stock-43592484

Meyer must have missed the last 4 games...

 

[Silk31]

http:// /Article/College-basketball-freshmen-rising-and-sliding-stock-43592484

Meyer must have missed the last 4 games...

Well as long as Adams' stock is rising with UConn then that's all that matters.

It's funny that you can weed out the pretenders from the contenders on the "experts" when they try to make statements on your team that are way off base. Casually paying attention doesn't make you an "expert"

 

[aceboon]

if we're talking the season as a whole up to now then its fair, Jalen hadn't played all that well and even KO as of the first Memphis game was quoted as saying he thought he would be further along by now. He's clearly trending upwards tho.

 

[ctchamps]

Yes he has the keys! Question is what car! I'll start with a Ferrari.

 

[CallMeBruce]

if we're talking the season as a whole up to now then its fair, Jalen hadn't played all that well and even KO as of the first Memphis game was quoted as saying he thought he would be further along by now. He's clearly trending upwards tho.

What is the utility of pointing out that a freshman wasn't playing well as of four games ago?

 

[OkaForPrez]

That's because it's impossible to specialize in all facets of something. That's literally the opposite of specialization.

It's so satisfying to read "literally" used properly and effectively. It LITCHERALLY makes my skin crawl when its used to emphasize. I'm never that guy when it comes to spelling, grammar, word choice, et al. Obviously. But this will always bother me.

Yes I misused it on purpose.

 

[BobbySteels]

Is Jalen's emergence as a PG who can run the team a little reminiscent of Kemba's freshman year and what he was able to do for the '09 team filled with upperclassmen? Don't fret, I'm not comparing the 2 and who is more talented, just that there roles and what they bring to their respective teams seem similar. I don't think it's too far fetched to say his development Could make us a FF caliber team

 

[blackbird]

Kemba didn't run the team as a freshman. And he didn't take the lead as a sophomore either. It was his junior year when he took the reigns.

We have a young team as it is, so it's a little easier for Jalen to come and do that (Kemba was on a team full of seniors and juniors), but the fact that he's clearly comfortable in a leadership position..and seems to be mature enough to handle what we want in that position is really impressive.