KO & JC Discuss "Championship Hangover"

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Great analysis guys. With many guys gone, Bazz, Giffey, Olander, Kromah, DD all gone, and a bunch of new players on the team, who is the go to guy this year. I remember that to be a great team, that team has to have a go to guy. I am not sure that RB is the guy.I like RB but is he the go to guy? Bazz was the unquestioned go to guy. Who is the ONE?

There is precedent via last years championship run that Boatright is fully capable of turning himself into the designated "go to guy". On the biggest stage (NCAA's Final4) he delivered enough last year to put himself at the top of the food chain nationally.

Boatright shot 10-15 fg's cumulatively in the most pressure packed games of the college basketball season (against Florida & Kentucky). BoatShow also shot 100% from the line in the Final4. My friend those are some gaudy stats to digest. This does not even take into consideration his defensive prowess in these games.

Boatright was money just ask the WYNN.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Yeah, Boatright has had some issues in the past, but I'm feeling really good about him going into this year. I wouldn't be even slightly surprised to see him have an AA type of season.

 

[pj]

Boatright turned in a magnificent performance. He has become a truly outstanding player. We're blessed to have him leading the team this year.

 

[ktuck911]

Looking forward to seeing Omar Calhoun join the party.... Last year was a completely off year for him... I think he'll be the surprise player of this team... He showed quite a bit of promise his frosh year then last year he was just not who he was. He's gonna be the guy to silence folks... My opinion... Can't wait to see that happen...

 

[Pudge]

I have no problem with KO or JC giving generic answers because how else could you possibly answer them?

I think the column was stupid and lazy by Amore, when going into it you know the exact answers the coaches are going to give.

Like, what did you expect KO to say? Yea we won it last year so we're pretty content with that and assume we'll be able to coast to another title?

It's just a lazy job by what should be an extremely coveted gig within the state.

You're not very good with nuance.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You're not very good with nuance.

Haha Pudge keeping our beef alive. Very cute.

 

[David 76]

Agree on defense. Disagree on offense. We saw them play together last year. Then it was lots of fouls and very little offense. They will improve but I don't think they will be unrecognizable.
If you get very little offensive production from 2 spots (C & PF) you are going to need a ton from your 1, 2 & 3, Makes me nervous.
We will see how it works out but I'm thinking Brimah will be the best big and Facey will be our best PF

 

[David 76]

I'm hoping our go to guy will be Purvis with a chance of Hamilton. I love Boat, but if he is running our offense, playing the outstanding defense we saw him play and being the "go to guy", I think we are in trouble.
Boat will win his share of games for us and contribute every night. But he has tools to use at the wings and I think that is his primary job. Not playing the way he did 2 years ago.

 

[champs99and04]

Based on what? I'm not being snarky, but this is a pretty lightly-regarded kid who's going to be undersized at his position. There's really no body of work that justifies these outsize expectations. There was somebody on here last month talking about he's Charles Oakley with better intangibles, whatever that means, and he's off to the NBA after three years.

Maybe Lubin will step in right away and be Jeff Adrien as a freshman, but Jeff brought a much bigger rep with him than Lubin does. I just don't see where all the Lubin hype is coming from.

I agree with this. I trust Ollie's eye for talent, and I won't pretend to have any sort of informed opinion on Lubin's game. But I don't expect the kid to contribute much this year - he's probably behind Facey, Nolan, and Brimah on the depth chart, and unless you're a big time talent, you're probably not going to play much as a freshman at a program like UConn. Of course, I've been wrong before, I just hope expectations aren't too high.

 

[champs99and04]

I agree with you in principle, and won't mind seeing those two on the court at the same time. I'd counter with potential foul trouble situations though. Even with improvement in Nolan/Brimah, I expect them to still get in some foul trouble, and realistically, those are the only two guys who can play the 5. So I'd be hesitant to go Nolan/Brimah as the main combo full time.

Yeah, foul trouble is probably what will prevent the Brimah/Nolan pairing from seeing any significant run. Unless Facey or Lubin can play center - which seems unlikely - those two are really our only options at center, and both had high foul rates a year ago. It's not even like we can plug in Giffey at center this year for pinches. We need those two to stay on the court.

 

[David 76]

Yeah, foul trouble is probably what will prevent the Brimah/Nolan pairing from seeing any significant run. Unless Facey or Lubin can play center - which seems unlikely - those two are really our only options at center, and both had high foul rates a year ago. It's not even like we can plug in Giffey at center this year for pinches. We need those two to stay on the court.

Can't even plug in Tyler