Just dissapointed with this team. Love 'em, just dissapointed. | The Boneyard

Just dissapointed with this team. Love 'em, just dissapointed.

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I realize the team had its adversity. JC's suspension and health. Boatright's suspensions. Bazz's injuries. AD had his set back with the broken nose. The team needing to find it's identity of life after Kemba. Guys were in new roles this year even though they had solid experience coming of the 2011 NC. They were very young still, sophs and freshmen.

With all that said, I'm disappointed with how poorly the rebounded the ball. IMO the results in that areas doesn't match up with their talent and personnel. They should have been better. Some disagreed with me in the chat, that I felt the staff did not hold them accountable for not boxing out. I rarely criticize the coaching staff, but if I was coaching them, the moment one of them didn't box out, I'd hall their ass to the bench, chew them out, encourage them back up and send them back out. If it meant sitting them longer at the expense of the team earlier in the seasons, I'd do it. Some said they saw JC do that with some of the players, but I don't recall seeing it much. Even if it was one of the guards not putting his body between his man and the long rebound, I'd sit him and tell him if he wants to play more he's got to do the little things. I felt this team lost a lot of games because of the little things. All it takes is giving the other team a couple extra shots to beat you. We lost a lot of games where one or two more plays would have make those Ls, Ws.

Poor execution on offense. I felt they used way too much dribble penetration and not enough motion offense. Without Kemba Walker, only Boat is equipped for that offense, and even he's too young for the team to relay on him. Isolating lamb out on the perimeter to break his man off the dribble simply didn't work, or at least work enough. They should have run more plays where they set multiple screens for him, and where there were secondary parts of the set where he even sets screens for the other players who had the ability to catch, curl and shoot or drive. Bazz, Boat, Scoe, Giffey and Daniels can do that but the offense wasn't run to execute such. We see other teams run multi-motion sets successfully and I can't help but wonder why can't our team do so. We certainly had the talent. At most we'd see them run one guy through a screen or two while the rest just stood there. Once it didn't work they'd reset and try it again or simply spread the floor out or run that high pick and roll over and over again. Maybe I'm dead wrong, but I just think they didn't run the best offense for the personnel they had. It's not like they haven't run what I'm talking about here at UConn. The 99 tam ran it to perfection. And other JC coached teams have run the multi-motion offense frequently.

Perimeter D was spotty all season long. Part of that was due to Bazz being banged up and gutting it out on one leg. Part of it is a by produce of having a small backcourt. But a big part was simply not outworking their opponent which has been a marque of JC coached teams. Typical of this season, ISU outworked us most of the night beating us to loose balls or spots on the floor for rebounding zones, etc.

Poor finishing team. Wow, AD missed two point blank bunnies. Unlike last year where they simply made that one more play than the other team, this team squandered lots of open and lightly contested looks. I thought they were going to be a good shooting team. I think they started out shooting the ball well at the start of the season, but they struggled in that area most of the season. For example, they made SU work much harder for their shots than SU made it on UConn. The problem was our Huskies didn't make the most of those good looks.

I'm disappointed with the lack of both team and individual improvement. Is it the players fault? Is it the coaching? Is it that the players are simply only as good as what we saw. I think they're better than what they showed up throughout most of the season.

I didn't expect a repeat NC, but had hoped for an Elite 8 or at least a S-16. Bowing out in their first game is not what I had expected. I still believe their talent warranted a better ending. Part of it is due to not overcoming the adversity mentioned above, but part might stem from a lack of coach-ability or a lack in some area of coaching this season.

Really what are our choices? This team is really no better than a first round tournament team? This team is better than it showed? I'm very concerned with what next year might look like with defections and/or not as much upside as I had hoped. Hopefully the returning players will show a dramatic improvement and will have a better outcome next season.
 
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this off season is going to be interesting. we could potentially lose AO,AD,JL and possibly JC. I personally think the time is right and jc should retire. next season we problably wont be eligible for the ncaa tourney so kevin ollie or whomever is the head coach wont have the pressure of makin the tournament over their head and can just concentrate on playing solid basketball and gaining experience as a coach. this season was as disappointing as last year was amazing.
 

UConnSwag11

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People said he should retire after the '10 season also. He can retire when he wants to. We just came off a NC season and had an extremely talented team but also ak extremely young team with not the leadership of a kea price or kemba or any chemistry along with the NCAA really out to get uconn with the boatright situation
 

UConnSwag11

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Also didn't it seem that Alex was detached from this team? Shabazz actually to me seemed like he cared the whole season regardless of outcomes. Same thing with roscoe
 
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Also didn't it seem that Alex was detached from this team? Shabazz actually to me seemed like he cared the whole season regardless of outcomes. Same thing with roscoe

I don't think Alex ever recovered from being benched in the Bahamas. I think he took it personal. He felt he was owed patience through some struggles based on his play last season. When he didn't get it I think he said to hell with everyone. The team, the fans, the coaches. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone at Hofstra egged him on even further.
 

RichZ

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Disappointed and perplexed. And yet, had they won two more games, I would have been thrilled. Only two games from thrilled with the outcome can't be too disappointed, can it? I guess it's not a matter of being disappointed with the outcome as much as with the season. Husky basketball is supposed to be fun to watch. It too often wasn't fun this year. There was something out of sync or our of sorts with this group this year. If JC couldn't put his finger on what was wrong with the team, I sure as hell ain't going to be able to. Maybe I just missed Kemba's enthusiasm and Joie de vivre. In which case, I guess I'm just spoiled by last year.
 

The Funster

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I think the team lacked leadership. IMO, we see now just how much of that came from Kemba. I'm not just talking about on the court leadership, either. All the stuff in the OP could have shown improvement with a leader. Someone other than a coach to get on AD to finish strong. Someone to pick up Alex and get him focused on the little stuff the team needed him to do. Someone to light the fire under Lamb's ass. Bazz tried, in his own way, but it didn't work.

I watched that pregame cut of the team dancing and laughing and I felt pretty good about the game and then White came out and with the first two plays knocked the team back on it's heels. It took the team 15 minutes to recover from that start. Calhoun tried, moving guys in and out but that is when you need someone on the court. Make a big shot, get in a teammate's grille, give someone a pat on the ass to pick them up...that's what we lacked this season.

I hope the entire team comes back and I hope the NCAA gives them a shot at redemption. I wouldn't expect 30-2 but I would expect to see better; especially if someone steps up and can be a leader.
 
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The most disappointing thing to me is that this team regressed as the year went on. What has made Calhoun a Hall of Fame coach was his ability to have kids, both 5 star recruits and far less heralded ones(see hilton armstrong), develop from the moment they stepped foot on campus. Name one player on this team who got better from the first game of the season, or was any better than last year. Some of it I am sure had to do with Calhoun's absence, but still this team looked better in Dec. than March.
 
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I think the team lacked leadership. IMO, we see now just how much of that came from Kemba. I'm not just talking about on the court leadership, either. All the stuff in the OP could have shown improvement with a leader. Someone other than a coach to get on AD to finish strong. Someone to pick up Alex and get him focused on the little stuff the team needed him to do. Someone to light the fire under Lamb's ass. Bazz tried, in his own way, but it didn't work.

I watched that pregame cut of the team dancing and laughing and I felt pretty good about the game and then White came out and with the first two plays knocked the team back on it's heels. It took the team 15 minutes to recover from that start. Calhoun tried, moving guys in and out but that is when you need someone on the court. Make a big shot, get in a teammate's grille, give someone a pat on the ass to pick them up...that's what we lacked this season.

I hope the entire team comes back and I hope the NCAA gives them a shot at redemption. I wouldn't expect 30-2 but I would expect to see better; especially if someone steps up and can be a leader.

That might be hard to do, if they are not eligible for the tourney. Yeah they can go 30-2, and SO WHAT. It is almost a foregone conclusion that, if they are not eligible, Drummond, and Lamb are gone. Recruiting will be in shambles with the uncertainty of the head coaching. Yes, the off season will be a bit more interesting than the regular season is. One has to hope that Calhoun does not let this thing about his future last for a long time.
 

hungry husky

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The most disappointing thing to me is that this team regressed as the year went on. What has made Calhoun a Hall of Fame coach was his ability to have kids, both 5 star recruits and far less heralded ones(see hilton armstrong), develop from the moment they stepped foot on campus. Name one player on this team who got better from the first game of the season, or was any better than last year. Some of it I am sure had to do with Calhoun's absence, but still this team looked better in Dec. than March.

The team never really gelled. Their roles were never fully established. I would say that nobody individually regressed except AO but the team as a whole did, but these guys clearly thrived in their roles from last season and the transition to larger roles wasn't as smooth as we all anticipated. I'm worried about the frontcourt for next season...
 
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something was never quite right this season, everyone has an opinion as to what the problem was, I'm not sure i can put my finger on it either, but something just wasn't right, even when things were going well, you could sense that something was off.
 

hungry husky

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They just didn't play with the same intensity we supported em with.
 

caw

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Well, on the plus side this team will be older next year and in two years will actually be senior led with Bazz/Roscoe/Giffey.
 
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truth is, this team has been telling us(screaming) since the game vs. central florida who they were going to be and we as fans chose to ignore it. the hardest thing sometimes is to be honest with yourself, especially about something you are passionate about or have a vested emotional interest in. truth is, as talented as this team may be individually and on paper, collectively they just weren't a very good basketball team. i stopped blaming ao and shabazz and blaney and started blaming myself. i blame myself for choosing not to recognize this team's faults. i blame myself for constantly justifying and rationalizing their poor play. i blame myself for thinking and believing this team would eventually turn it around. truth is, they never did. truth is, the writing has been on the wall since the tournament in the bahamas.
 

caw

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truth is, this team has been telling us(screaming) since the game vs. central florida who they were going to be and we as fans chose to ignore it. the hardest thing sometimes is to be honest with yourself, especially about something you are passionate about or have a vested emotional interest in. truth is, as talented as this team may be individually and on paper, collectively they just weren't a very good basketball team. i stopped blaming ao and shabazz and blaney and started blaming myself. i blame myself for choosing not to recognize this team's faults. i blame myself for constantly justifying and rationalizing their poor play. i blame myself for thinking and believing this team would eventually turn it around. truth is, they never did. truth is, the writing has been on the wall since the tournament in the bahamas.

I get your point, but Central Florida was the second game in two days without a backup guard. I'm not sure how anyone was supposed to take that game and extrapolate to this once Boatright was eligible and they beat a darn good FSU team a day later.
 
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fsu was far from darn good at that point and we still needed a prayer to win that game.....but i do see your pt.
 
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truth is, this team has been telling us(screaming) since the game vs. central florida who they were going to be and we as fans chose to ignore it. the hardest thing sometimes is to be honest with yourself, especially about something you are passionate about or have a vested emotional interest in. truth is, as talented as this team may be individually and on paper, collectively they just weren't a very good basketball team. i stopped blaming ao and shabazz and blaney and started blaming myself. i blame myself for choosing not to recognize this team's faults. i blame myself for constantly justifying and rationalizing their poor play. i blame myself for thinking and believing this team would eventually turn it around. truth is, they never did. truth is, the writing has been on the wall since the tournament in the bahamas.
The same way the St. Bonaventure game foretold the whole season in 2001-02?

The problems with this season were team chemistry, which were predominantly caused by Boat's suspensions and JC's absences.

You keep that team all together the whole year and they are a 3-5 seed. Without it, they fell apart.
 
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