Miserable awful thoughts

[HuskyHawk]

I think you're underselling Boat. Boat appeared drained to me. Likely because he's running this team without any compliment himself. Bazz had Boat; Boat doesn't have that.

And Bazz wasn't very good against the press either last year.
....

Boatright is very, very good. I am thrilled he is a Husky. He isn't in the category that Kemba was as a Junior or Bazz was last year, where they could just take over a game and be unstoppable. He's just not. If he tries to play as if he is, he'll end up hurting the team. As for complimentary players, this team has more weapons, and is deeper than last year. They all stunk against WVU, but Purvis was averaging 14 coming in, and Hamilton has shown great offensive ability. Brimah is better, Facey is better, Cassell needs to get a role he understands, but has ability.

 

[Deadrody]

9) Kentan Facey. Four games in....25.0 minutes per game, .500 FG%, six points, seven rebounds. Whatever we thought we might get out of Nolan and Lubin, we're getting it from Facey. He's becoming a very interesting player.

Absolutely out of character for a young UConn big. Actuall athletic and smooth around the basket. Looks under control and capable. Like he won't miss layups, throw up airballs, chip the paint on the rim or crack the backboard with some wild-ass shot.

And very quick off the floor for rebounds. Really good stuff

 

[Deadrody]

Well, here's one good thought... As badly as UConn played - and let's be honest, they stunk - WVU made a lot of shots. And I don't mean layups and open threes, I mean contested jumpers. In a lot of cases, UConn played solid defense and WVU still scored. When the announcers were talking about that "elbow jumper" being open all game, I was like "wow, great for WVU. The moving, pull up 17' jump shot from the elbow could be the worst shot in all of basketball. Take all of them you like". And they did. And made them. And Dan Hamilton had 8 turnovers. Enough to account for the margin of victory single handedly.
They'll be fine

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I think about 6 of Hamilton's turnovers were the result of his nasty habit of leaving his feet to pass as soon as he picks up his dribble - often before he even knows who he's going to pass to.

Seems like something that should be an easy fix. And it's the only part of his game that reminds you that he's a freshman. His ball handling, midrange game, and rebounding are even better than I imagined and despite Jeff Goodman's analysis of his AAU days, he hardly ever takes a bad shot.

 

[Chief00]

Somebody improving their shot has to be proven to me; doesn't happen much in a significant fashion.

 

[Excalibur]

Somebody improving their shot has to be proven to me; doesn't happen much in a significant fashion.

It won't happen within a season, but certainly can happen over a career. See Giffey, Neils (33.7% over first 3 years, 48% senior season) and Daniels, DeAndre (28% to 41%). Even Shabazz went from 32 to 35 to 39 to 40% over four years.

 

[Chief00]

It won't happen within a season, but certainly can happen over a career. See Giffey, Neils (33.7% over first 3 years, 48% senior season) and Daniels, DeAndre (28% to 41%). Even Shabazz went from 32 to 35 to 39 to 40% over four years.

Agree it can be demonstrated if a guy is really committed to practice by himself in the gym. Ben Gordan did it; another UConn guard did not do that prep.

 

[intlzncster]

Boatright is very, very good. I am thrilled he is a Husky. He isn't in the category that Kemba was as a Junior or Bazz was last year, where they could just take over a game and be unstoppable. He's just not. If he tries to play as if he is, he'll end up hurting the team. As for complimentary players, this team has more weapons, and is deeper than last year. They all stunk against WVU, but Purvis was averaging 14 coming in, and Hamilton has shown great offensive ability. Brimah is better, Facey is better, Cassell needs to get a role he understands, but has ability.

I wasn't saying he was Kemba or Bazz, simply that he doesn't haven't a stud PG playing along side him. UCONN has only 1 real PG. That's significant pressure on Boat. Imagine if Kemba didn't have Bazz? That puts a lot more pressure on the player (has to do more, can't play off ball, etc).

 

[intlzncster]

Agree it can be demonstrated if a guy is really committed to practice by himself in the gym. Ben Gordan did it; another UConn guard did not do that prep.

And some people just don't improve. Shaq shot a bazillion free throws during his time, and still couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. It's different for everyone.

 

[Gurleyman]

It won't happen within a season, but certainly can happen over a career. See Giffey, Neils (33.7% over first 3 years, 48% senior season) and Daniels, DeAndre (28% to 41%). Even Shabazz went from 32 to 35 to 39 to 40% over four years.

It can sometimes happen within a season once confidence is gained - particularly with freshmen when the game slows down a little for them and they get used to the big crowds and big arenas. Lamb is a good example. Mediocre shooter early on, but light's out at the end.

Purvis and Cassell aren't freshmen, but both are in an adjustment phase, so we can hold out some hope they'll be a little better in March than they are now. They won't transform into Ray Allen, but they could be guys who could make you pay more consistently if you leave them open.

 

[Mr. French]

Very interesting thoughts by a lot of posters. Too many to respond to. Also, a ton to take away from that game, so all I'll say is this: It's a learning experience game. This team doesn't have the set roles this early in the season that some of our better teams had. Just remember that. EVERY guy is in some way a new role. It takes time for teams to understand individual roles, rotations, who can do what, when certain guys should do more or do less, etc. Essentially a long-winded way of saying they are early on and finding their roles and responsibilities and contributions. Leaders like Bazz and Kemba and other guys knowing and filling their roles properly I not an every year thing, sometimes it takes time to figure that out.

 

[HungryHuskies]

Boatright is a very good and talented basketball player. Although, I think Boatright needs to work on his body language if he expects to be a leader of this team. I understand this was a frustrating and physical game, but his body language isn't going to help his team. He did have some supportive body language by clapping after big plays, but flailing his arms and shrugging his shoulders after missing free throws is going to bring the energy down. He's definitely an emotional player that fuels the fire on the court, but some players may not benefit from it. He needs to learn how to control his emotions in a way that could help him, but not affect his teammates.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Boatright is a very good and talented basketball player. Although, I think Boatright needs to work on his body language if he expects to be a leader of this team. I understand this was a frustrating and physical game, but his body language isn't going to help his team. He did have some supportive body language by clapping after big plays, but flailing his arms and shrugging his shoulders after missing free throws is going to bring the energy down. He's definitely an emotional player that fuels the fire on the court, but some players may not benefit from it. He needs to learn how to control his emotions in a way that could help him, but not affect his teammates.

Ugh.

 

[Inyatkin]

Boatright's body language cost the team four rebounds and at least six missed free throws. That's basic math.

 

[Pudge]

Oh, God no.

I realize that most people seem to enjoy whistling past the graveyard regarding our recruiting, but the last thing we need to is start stretching further with our recruiting.

On that earlier note ...can someone run a regression analysis & standard deviation on people hitting Like on different posters.

 

[B1GEast]

I think that there may be mojo somewhere associated with the number 4, not sure though yet

 

[Chief00]

Qu

Facey has been our most consistent player all year. No one was talking about him this summer, but he's been everything we could ask for and more at the 4. Chap saying Lubin would have made any sort of difference is laughable; Lubin looks like he could be a good contributor down the line but CofC and Dayton rattled him, he would have been a mess last night. To me, the most dissappointing players so far are TSam and, to a lesser extent, Brimah. To me, TSam really hasn't brought much to the table beyond what he did last year, and he's been really error prone. His defenders know that he can't shoot - I don't think he's made a three and he badly bricked a few jumpers yesterday - and when he gets in the lane he seems indecisive compared to last season. His defense has been solid, but for a pg who can't shoot he doesn't seem to be super comfortable running the offense when Boat gets a blow, which is worrying. I'm sure he'll figure it out, but here's hoping that happens sooner rather than later. As far as Brimah, he's a complete beast on the defensive end and even cut back on the fouls last night, but his rebounding for a guy that size is borderline atrocious. I think our full offensive potential depends a lot on us running, and when our guards and wings are forced to do the rebounding we start the break infinitely slower.

Quite frankly, I did mention Facey throughout the summer months because I was getting such good reports on how hard he was working along with TSam and Brimah.

 

[uconnbill]

Boat is a very good player who can lead this team far, but he needs a someone to step up like he did last year. I am not sure who that will be, but without that UCONN is a 20-25 team at best.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The press didn't kill us against WVU, outside shooting did. 19 TO's is not terrible against a good pressing team, and about 7 of those TO's were not from the press but from out of control drives to the rim. If defenses can pack it in against us, it will be hard to beat good teams.

 

[B1GEast]

The press didn't kill us against WVU, outside shooting did. 19 TO's is not terrible against a good pressing team, and about 7 of those TO's were not from the press but from out of control drives to the rim. If defenses can pack it in against us, it will be hard to beat good teams.

their press created a large number of TO's, which led to a lot of easy baskets for WVU.

 

[tzznandrew]

The press didn't kill us against WVU, outside shooting did. 19 TO's is not terrible against a good pressing team, and about 7 of those TO's were not from the press but from out of control drives to the rim. If defenses can pack it in against us, it will be hard to beat good teams.

If they made their shots, we wouldn't be talking about TOs...except Daniel Hamilton's, whose TOs were almost all from the press, and many led to easy hoops for WVU.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

The press didn't kill us against WVU, outside shooting did. 19 TO's is not terrible against a good pressing team, and about 7 of those TO's were not from the press but from out of control drives to the rim. If defenses can pack it in against us, it will be hard to beat good teams.

Obviously it was a combination of both poor shooting and the turnovers, but the press absolutely did kill us. When you miss a bunch of jumpers at least you have a chance to grab the ball off the rim, which we did 16 times. When you commit live turnovers in the backcourt, it leads directly to layups or free throws for the other team. Without looking it up, I'm sure WVU scored at least 10 points off of live turnovers in the backcourt, and that's the ball game.

 

[huskyharry]

I still haven't seen the whole game but two points stuck out: RP missing the dunk and getting injured and then just after Boat made a play that got us to within two (20-22 iirc) DHam lost his composure and made two live ball turnovers in a row and we totally lost the momentum.
Lack of poise and execution were the leading factors in the loss IMHO. Lack of depth also contributed, as this led to fatigue and more mistakes.
Too many times after breaking the press, instead of attacking and scoring, we played back on our heels and pulled the ball out to run set plays. Refs tend to reward the aggressive team in those situations and it snow-balled from there. UCONN is talented and the players have a good work ethic and attitude. Improvement will follow!