Let's speculate-

[boog204]

Here is the thing about 2011. Five minutes into every post season game our opponent saw in person that there was one player on the court that was virtually unstoppable. I attended every BE tourney with a really good friend of mine who is a die hard Cuse fan. By the quarter final game I had him saying "Kemba time". If you think its boring to have an electric player like that take over games I don't know what you want. If I was a recruit I would want to be that guy. Also I think we run and we will be running this season. As for the bigs we want them to be able to score but we will always work for a good shot. If they can score down low we will certainly use it to our advantage.

Sure, if I'm a guard/wing seeing Kemba time would be completely enticing. And if you were a big man? Setting screens/rebounding the entire game would be your desire?

I guess my view is that we lost out on a big man and we are trying to figure out why. I think part of it is that the last 3 years or so, mostly due to personnel, being a big man in our offense is to be a garbageman. Set screens, play D, and rebound. I don't find it surprising that a top 50 PF would not come here b/c they haven't seen UConn use a big man effectively in ages. If I'm Gottfried that's my pitch against us. AMA; if you go to UConn you are going to be expected to do all the dirty work while the guards/wings get all the acclaim.

 

[ctchamps]

Sure, if I'm a guard/wing seeing Kemba time would be completely enticing. And if you were a big man? Setting screens/rebounding the entire game would be your desire?

I guess my view is that we lost out on a big man and we are trying to figure out why. I think part of it is that the last 3 years or so, mostly due to personnel, being a big man in our offense is to be a garbageman. Set screens, play D, and rebound. I don't find it surprising that a top 50 PF would not come here b/c they haven't seen UConn use a big man effectively in ages. If I'm Gottfried that's my pitch against us. AMA; if you go to UConn you are going to be expected to do all the dirty work while the guards/wings get all the acclaim.

Certainly plausible that Gottfried pitched it that way and KO pitched it differently. And certainly with a potential of RB, Purvis, OC and DHam, Abu and Boswell were concerned that Abu would not have stood out in that line up, and for one or both of them standing out was important.

UConn was known a long time under JC as the donut team and that label existed until Jake changed the image. If PN or someone else starts getting buzz at the five then certainly a top 50 PF could observe how UConn utilizes the bigs.

Sooner or later one of the under rated bigs will demonstrate KO knows how to develop PF's/C's or a heralded high school big will want to come to UConn and be the one to demonstrate it. That's the cycle of recruiting.

 

[selles]

You are right, the press is more or less "out" nowadays. VCU though is battling us for a player and I'd think part of their pitch is that we have the "havoc" style of play. What's our pitch on style of play?

But in all honesty, UConn fandom aside, if you watched us would you really think, "wow, this is a fun team to watch?" We play hard. Nobody would ever discount that. But I remember last year there was a game thread on an Indiana game and basically everyone who posted stated that they wished we played like them. That it was exciting and fun to watch; a departure from our typical grind it out type of games. I'd think that recruits are attracted to that "exciting" sort of play as opposed to how we've played the last few years.

On the big men point, despite all of the NBA guys we've had, we have never had much success attracting the big name top 50 big men. Why do you think that is? We've always had good success with wing guys. But our great big men have all been fringe top 100 or lower guys who have been made into pros. We never know what could have happened with Bynum. Drummond was a pro regardless and Charlie V was a 3 man who we played inside.

Just my $0.02...

Interesting post. There's some truth there, though I think you overstate it - you make it sound like we're Pitt or something. Maybe we haven't been the Showtime Lakers the past several years, but we've been a far cry from the Pitt level of grind it out. We've still featured talent on the perimeter, and we've still given that talent a lot of freedom, and that's always a recipe for being more interesting than pure "grinder" teams.

A lot of style is about conference too. That's one of the more interesting and under-discussed aspects of the conference switch. Conferences usually develop their own brand of ball - what will the AAC's look like? If it's not as tough and grinding as the old BE (good bet), what impact will it have on our style going forward?

 

[boog204]

A lot of style is about conference too. That's one of the more interesting and under-discussed aspects of the conference switch. Conferences usually develop their own brand of ball - what will the AAC's look like? If it's not as tough and grinding as the old BE (good bet), what impact will it have on our style going forward?

This is a great point... The BE definitely changes a team style and we certainly were a reflection of that. I would think that the conference change, coupled with better players/worse teams will make us a much different looking team stylistically.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Last years teams had people who could. shoot. It was fun to watch.
This years team will have a maturity level rarely seen in these of early leaving. Plus be a good shooting team.
SB, RB, OH, DD, and NG could all shoot. We are talking men here.
Some of whom have already won a ring.

 

[Chief00]

Larrier will be a Husky. I go to both XL and Gampel games. I think this mythical student section is what people talk about who don't attend games and watch only the marque games on tv. Perhaps due to the change in the student lottery mechanism in recent years we don't get the students who would camp out for tixs and attend all games. Frankly the XL has been louder.

 

[Husky1]

We've lost several posts that we wanted but Bynum and Drummond were ok gets I think. Facey was NY state player of year, c kelley,was stud recruit. Amazed by all the negativity I read here. Let things pan out

 

[GemParty]

32 posts, all very interesting, yet I'm not sure one person addressed if AMA knew where he was going prior to our visit.

 

[upstater]

2011 BE regular season = Hack-Kemba
How many times did he go to the line?

There's a reason UConn was 23-0 outside the regular season, and it had everything to do with the way the games were called.

1.000 (23-0) versus .500 (9-9) is not a fluke.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Larrier will be a Husky.

You keep saying this....with the same conviction you had about XRM and Kuran Iverson.

 

[boog204]

32 posts, all very interesting, yet I'm not sure one person addressed if AMA knew where he was going prior to our visit.

Don't think he knew prior... Didn't he basically say that the feeling he got shooting around at NC State was better than at UConn?

 

[aceboon]

Don't think he knew prior... Didn't he basically say that the feeling he got shooting around at NC State was better than at UConn?

that was Purvis's quote.

 

[boog204]

Certainly plausible that Gottfried pitched it that way and KO pitched it differently. And certainly with a potential of RB, Purvis, OC and DHam, Abu and Boswell were concerned that Abu would not have stood out in that line up, and for one or both of them standing out was important.

For what it's worth I found this quote from AMA about why he chose NC State, "[I liked] how they used their forwards and how I would be a main option," Abu said

http://ncstate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1546330#sthash.KI1Q

 

[Gurleyman]

I enjoyed every second of the last 11 games in 2011 but before that they were inconsistent and they were boring. Last year was the first time in a few years where I truly enjoyed watching them. Better flow to tthe offense and better team play.

Really? It was a young team that hit a wall for a short spell in the BE grind, but other than a loss at St Johns that was a total clunker, I never remember being bored by them. The start of the season (Maui, Kemba's first "holy crap" game vs Vermont) was exciting as hell as we emerged from the darkness. Even our sluggish finish had some good games we lost (ND at home, OT games to Louisville and Marquette we probably should have won).

Maybe I was just forgiving of some of our dry spells, knowing we were young, but I was never bored or disillusioned by that team even in the valleys, especially coming off the 2010 season.

 

[boog204]

Really? It was a young team that hit a wall for a short spell in the BE grind, but other than a loss at St Johns that was a total clunker, I never remember being bored by them. The start of the season (Maui, Kemba's first "holy crap" game vs Vermont) was exciting as hell as we emerged from the darkness. Even our sluggish finish had some good games we lost (ND at home, OT games to Louisville and Marquette we probably should have won).

Maybe I was just forgiving of some of our dry spells, knowing we were young, but I was never bored or disillusioned by that team even in the valleys, especially coming off the 2010 season.

I found the dry spells extremely frustrating. JLamb hadn't come into his own and basically we needed Kemba to shoot the ball 25 times a game to win. While that worked sometimes, there were a handful of games that year where Kemba shot 30% because he had to go one on five every possession.

Case in point, those two OT games Kemba was 7-23 and 10-27... He did everything he could but when he didn't have his shot we still needed him to keep on shooting b/c we didn't really have anything else going on.

 

[superjohn]

I found the dry spells extremely frustrating. JLamb hadn't come into his own and basically we needed Kemba to shoot the ball 25 times a game to win. While that worked sometimes, there were a handful of games that year where Kemba shot 30% because he had to go one on five every possession.

Case in point, those two OT games Kemba was 7-23 and 10-27... He did everything he could but when he didn't have his shot we still needed him to keep on shooting b/c we didn't really have anything else going on.

That's because it was a team full of freshman, of course there was some growing pains. I happened to enjoy every minute from Maui to Manhattan to Houston. Wow we really have some spoiled fans here.

 

[upstater]

I found the dry spells extremely frustrating. JLamb hadn't come into his own and basically we needed Kemba to shoot the ball 25 times a game to win. While that worked sometimes, there were a handful of games that year where Kemba shot 30% because he had to go one on five every possession.

Case in point, those two OT games Kemba was 7-23 and 10-27... He did everything he could but when he didn't have his shot we still needed him to keep on shooting b/c we didn't really have anything else going on.

The difference between 30% shooting and his average is a few fouls. 5 more fouls sends him to the line for 7 more points and raises his shooting average to 10-22.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Larrier will be a Husky. I go to both XL and Gampel games. I think this mythical student section is what people talk about who don't attend games and watch only the marque games on tv. Perhaps due to the change in the student lottery mechanism in recent years we don't get the students who would camp out for tixs and attend all games. Frankly the XL has been louder.

This is a VERY compelling statement "chief". Because of the definitive nature of that statement...and the fact getting Larrier would amount to grand larceny against VCU (since they have already rung it up as a commitment) you are eligible for the Bluedoggyhouse Prognostication of the Year Award. Mr. Wonderful, Mauconn and Sir Fluedy have been nominated for the award. More to come...

The winner receives a 1 hour complimentary VIP Champagne room visit at the Hartford Gold Club (by default).

We def need Larrier on campus again. The weekend of Heart of a Champion he needs to be on campus. IF that happens we have a shot.

JMHO...

 

[Tenspro2002]

That's because it was a team full of freshman, of course there was some growing pains. I happened to enjoy every minute from Maui to Manhattan to Houston. Wow we really have some spoiled fans here.

At the time it wasn't apparent that we were about to do something unprecedented and cut down nets all over the place.

It looked like we were stumbling to another 10+ loss season, a middling seed, and an early NCAA Tournament exit.

In hindsight, it seems like things were much smoother, but a lot of the middle of that season was filled with handwringing and angst.

 

[boog204]

At the time it wasn't apparent that we were about to do something unprecedented and cut down nets all over the place.

It looked like we were stumbling to another 10+ loss season, a middling seed, and an early NCAA Tournament exit.

In hindsight, it seems like things were much smoother, but a lot of the middle of that season was filled with handwringing and angst.

There were lots of people actually ripping Kemba in the middle of that season when his shot was off and he had no help... Same way that Ricky is a legend nowadays when he was an absolutely hated his sophomore year. Made the treatment of Taliek look kind.

 

[UConnDad]

I found the dry spells extremely frustrating. JLamb hadn't come into his own and basically we needed Kemba to shoot the ball 25 times a game to win. While that worked sometimes, there were a handful of games that year where Kemba shot 30% because he had to go one on five every possession.

Case in point, those two OT games Kemba was 7-23 and 10-27... He did everything he could but when he didn't have his shot we still needed him to keep on shooting b/c we didn't really have anything else going on.

It was as we all know Kemba and the kids. And the kids were learning and playing D and playing hard and coming together .And then the post season came and every opposing coach knew all they had to do was cut off the head and the kids would falter. Not really arguing with your assessment of some of those games but they were beneficial. It made them help him however they could. Some games were frustrating but how much sweeter it made the victories!

 

[Gurleyman]

I found the dry spells extremely frustrating. JLamb hadn't come into his own and basically we needed Kemba to shoot the ball 25 times a game to win. While that worked sometimes, there were a handful of games that year where Kemba shot 30% because he had to go one on five every possession.

Case in point, those two OT games Kemba was 7-23 and 10-27... He did everything he could but when he didn't have his shot we still needed him to keep on shooting b/c we didn't really have anything else going on.

To each their own, I guess. People thought the program was on its deathbed going into that year (off an NIT year, "weak" recruiting class). We came out flying with a huge resurgence that carried almost into February, then came back down to earth a bit, but we were never a bubble team or anything. A little frustration maybe came from watching BET byes slip away, but I was eager for the NCAAs knowing we had one of the toughest guys in the country to guard (didn't think we'd make that run at MSG).

You know what frustrated me? The 2006 team giving up 80 points to any group of five janitors who threw on uniforms, figuring they would just score 82 and beat them. They could look pretty on offense, but that team frustrated the hell out of me with the lack of attention to detail on the little things, even during a two-loss regular season. I actually dreaded the Albany game - thinking we had the type of team that could be the first ever 1-16 loser.

The 2011 team having some offensive struggles with five freshmen in key roles was just part of growing pains. I was definitely frustrated by the St. John's game because that was the only time I thought we quit. But the season as a whole was pretty much enjoyable the whole way through to me. Even in a losing skid, they were an easy team to like.

 

[mcs333]

A couple of facts to off set some of the points made above. First the ACC is 5th among conferences in ave BB attendance per game. NCST had a very nice jump last year in attendance to 16k+, however the previous years were 13k +. They play at the PNC center which hold almost 20k for BB games. Very rarely does NCST sell out. Usually they play to 60-70 % of capacity. The ACC has been very overrated with only 4-5 teams out of 12 making the NCAA. I expect the AAC will have 5 which is 50% of their teams making the NCAA. Only the BE and BIG had about 50% of their teams make the NCAA' s in the past. While the AAC is not the old BE, they will hold their own in BB and will be rated higher than several of the so called power conferences.

 

[Gurleyman]

That's because it was a team full of freshman, of course there was some growing pains. I happened to enjoy every minute from Maui to Manhattan to Houston. Wow we really have some spoiled fans here.

Expectations do play a role. The 1999 season was very stressful - we ended 34-2, but we had Final Four angst and there were a lot of tight wins in that 34 (El-Amin on scorer's table, UMass was close, Miami in OT, Seton Hall in BET, etc.). Heck, we were off the rails on the Boneyard (assuming we were ever on rails) when our exhibition with Marathon Oil came down to the wire. 2004 was kind of stressful - preseason No. 1 and didn't show it at times. The bounce-back years tend to be fun rides. Donyell's year, Caron's year, Khalid's freshman year, Kemba's year.

I guess I can see some degree of late-February frustration in 2011 because the spectacular start began to look like a tease and we might not get back to our A game again. I know I was banking on a postseason second wind that would bring the Maui team back, but perhaps that was a leap of faith. Didn't think we would win it all, mind you, due to the heavy reliance on frosh going through it the first time, but I felt comfortable we would be a tough out. I was on board with Maker's Muppet from the first paragraph.

 

[Huskies4ever]

Here is the thing about 2011. Five minutes into every post season game our opponent saw in person that there was one player on the court that was virtually unstoppable. I attended every BE tourney with a really good friend of mine who is a die hard Cuse fan. By the quarter final game I had him saying "Kemba time". If you think its boring to have an electric player like that take over games I don't know what you want. If I was a recruit I would want to be that guy. Also I think we run and we will be running this season. As for the bigs we want them to be able to score but we will always work for a good shot. If they can score down low we will certainly use it to our advantage.

You have a friend who is a Cuse fan? You should have your Husky "fandomness" revoked. I just made up a word.