Miserable awful thoughts

[Shabazzkets]

For me the "good news" from last night is that the mistakes are fixable.:

--Hamilton is too good to turn the ball over as much as he did last night. That will correct itself.
--Calhoun, if he can recapture his freshman year form, should be able to connect on open 3s better than anyone on the team currently. That will stretch the court.
--They will not shoot that poorly from the line again, IMO.
--The freshmen will improve as the season goes on.
--Last year's team was poor at times early in the season as well, and that team still ended up in a pretty good spot.

I have a lot of concerns--the lack of perimeter shooting, several weak defenders in the regular rotation, Purvis being completely unimpressive, doubts about Ryan's ability to "pull a Kemba," etc.--but in the end I still have a lot of faith that Ollie can have this team ready by March. I only hope that the weakness of the conference doesn't result in UConn's March playing out in the NIT.

 

[DogMania]

So basically switching Facey for Lubin would have led to us kicking WV's ass huh? Why do you even bother typing? Seriously?

By the way, hows that "DHam can't shoot because All I can do is pay attention to his old high school stats and can't bother to see what he's doing right in front of my eyes" working out for you?

You are the worst, most annoying poster ever, hands down. Unless you are a 12 year old girl, your grammar isn't cute or cool, it's f- cking stupid. Really, really, extra f- cking stupid.

You are annoying beyond belief, disrespectful towards others and a know it all (telling posters they need to open their eyes, or that they must not have played ball if they don't agree with you). And yet you don't contribute anything meaningful.

Let me make my point clear in a way you can understand: youz don't knowz Huskydood. Youz ares super annoying. Pleaze go beat youselvz to death with both a dictionary and a book of common sense.

Apparently I'm not the only one that gets annoyed trying to decipher Chappy's posts. Now you were a bit harsh, 33, on poor old chappy, but he does come off as he's all knowing.

I called him out in the other post where he claims that DHam is a horrible jumpshooter. I'm assuming you were referring to that one too. So far DHam has been pretty consistent from deep, and I think he has a really nice stroke. But then again, what do I know? I think dementia must be setting in, since I must not have a clue what my eyes are seeing.

 

[DogMania]

Call me a pom-pom wearer, but I came away from this game with a lot of optimism. WV plays a style that is tough to be prepared for so early in the year, especially when you're replacing 60% of your starting lineup from last season. Better shooting would have changed everything. Our shooting has not been good so far this season

DHam had 8 of our 21 turnovers, mostly on being too aggressive with his passes. However, he also looked like he could win games singlehandedly.

Our passing wasn't all that bad, and at times it was beautiful. WV is going to get TO's.

We're going to be a tough out come March.

All good points, dogpause. I was surprised to see in the Box that DHam had 8 TOs. That's a killer on the Assist:TO ratio. I'm sure he hadn't seen that type of defensive intensity before, or at least not very often. There's no doubt, they were unprepared to handle the pressure they faced and will learn to handle it better moving forward. They were clearly taken out of their offense. Throughout most of the game, I wasn't sure they were even running anything. This is where Bazz would have settled the team and got them into their offense. Hopefully Boat will learn to do likewise. It's the first time that this team is his, so we need to give him and his teammates time to put it all together.

 

[Thirty Three]

Apparently I'm not the only one that gets annoyed trying to decipher Chappy's posts. Now you were a bit harsh, 33, on poor old chappy, but he does come off as he's all knowing.

I called him out in the other post where he claims that DHam is a horrible jumpshooter. I'm assuming you were referring to that one too. So far DHam has been pretty consistent from deep, and I think he has a really nice stroke. But then again, what do I know? I think dementia must be setting in, since I must not have a clue what my eyes are seeing.

I was a bit harsh based on just his post in this thread. It was a pent up, cumulative rant though (based on all of his idiocy). I had to finally get it out. I couldn't help it.

 

[The Funster]

Yeah we got killed but we did get it down to 2 with about 4 left in the first half. The lack of a good second handle will hurt. It was evident from more than just the press too. Everyone not named Boatright was unable to put the ball in the hands of our bigs in an acceptable fashion which led to TOs as well. What I did see was Boat pulling DHam and someone else aside on a few occasions to talk to them. Teaching moments.

 

[PAHusky]

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.

 

[8893]

I was a bit harsh based on just his post in this thread. It was a pent up, cumulative rant though (based on all of his idiocy). I had to finally get it out. I couldn't help it.

I enjoyed your rant, mostly because it reaffirmed the virtues of the "ignore" feature, which I have used for chap for the past few weeks. He is the only poster for whom I have ever used this feature. I highly recommend it.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I enjoyed your rant, mostly because it reaffirmed the virtues of the "ignore" feature, which I have used for chap for the past few weeks. He is the only poster for whom I have ever used this feature. I highly recommend it.

Not the only poster for me, but the one I'm enjoying it the most with.

 

[johnhuskies95]

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.

Uh, no, Boatright has been the most consistent player this year.

 

[PAHusky]

Uh, no, Boatright has been the most consistent player this year.

Boatright has been our best player, Facey our most consistent.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Boatright has been our best player, Facey our most consistent.

Boatright has outplayed Facey in every game. Let's not all get stupid here.

 

[intlzncster]

rockski picked wrong nite to snooze

If he was actually snoozing there would have been no problems.

 

[intlzncster]

If UConn shot free throws in the tourney the way they did last night, St. Joe's might be national champ. If they shot wide open threes last season like they shot last night, Ollie would now be
an assistant coach in Oklahoma.
Did Ollie hire Diaco to work on the teams shooting?
Either Cassell or Calhoun has to be a knock down three point shooter even if they do nothing else.

No, but he did graduate the 3 best shooters from the year before, and replaced them with guys who are not so much.

 

[intlzncster]

Boat/Bazz type guards will struggle against a physical press like WVU's just because of their size. Hamilton is they type of guy you need to break that press, and he hadn't seen anything like it before. I suspect if we were to see a similar press in 2 months we wouldn't have any issue with it.

Don't agree here. Small guards like Smith and Siva from Ville crushed presses.

 

[intlzncster]

1. Boatright is not Shabazz. He's a darned good PG, but the press exposed him and his shooting, even FTs, was awful. He isn't a guy who can carry a team, he's a really good complimentary piece.

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.

3. Brimah is better than last year, but I have not seen the huge leap we heard about, just incremental improvement.

People thought Brimah wouldn't miss a beat given offseason improvement. Unfortunately, we are forgetting or discounting the fact that he had offseason shoulder surgery. We discounted that with Omar last year, and you saw the results. Brimah essentially had a very limited offseason.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Brimah has improved a great deal in his post offense and his ability to avoid fouls. His rebounding is still crappy.

 

[intlzncster]

I'm not signing up to that. But I think all "punch them in the mouth" analysis is silly. UConn didn't back down, they kept fighting. The stretch that final killed them was when they cut it to six and couldn't get over that hump despite several stops on D. That was due poor shooting and selection than any after-effects from being punched in the mouth.

As others have said, you can't get down by double digits at the half, especially against a team like WVU. Heck, you can't do that against teams like Bryant. You won't win many games that way.

 

[intlzncster]

Brimah has improved a great deal in his post offense and his ability to avoid fouls. His rebounding is still crappy.

Likely because he wasn't able to have any physical contact in the offseason. Not surprising. I'm willing to bet he did zero.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Likely because he wasn't able to have any physical contact in the offseason. Not surprising. I'm willing to bet he did zero.

That's part of it, I'm sure, but rebounding isn't something you can learn in an offseason. He doesn't have the positional instincts of a guy like Facey or the power of a guy like Lubin. I wouldn't be surprised if Brimah was always a below-average rebounder for his size. If his offense keeps improving and his shotblocking even remains static, he's definitely an NBA player, even with pedestrian rebounding.

 

[Pudge]

With what's written above ... and then thinking about what I saw from Syracuse at MSG, I'd advocate that Jalen Adams be joined by another PG ballhandler type. And, I don't think this is all that difficult a get. We (*UConn) have played lots of 2PG and done that successfully. When we had AJ, we got Kemba too; Kemba and we got Shabazz; Boat came with Shabazz here. I would say that Adams is our #1 guy when Boatright is gone down 195; but, we can go find the 100-200 level guy in rankings that will be perfect for what we need. Maybe, he develops into a top shooter gutsy guy (like Bazz) or has the jets/defense (like Boat). All good for us going forward.

 

[PAHusky]

Boatright has outplayed Facey in every game. Let's not all get stupid here.

No one is getting stupid. Boatright has outplayed Facey, sure. He's the leader of the team and expectations for him are sky high. He's done well so far, but he has stretches during games where he either loses it a bit mentally (the free throw debacle) or just doesn't have his shot falling. Facey hasn't been anywhere near as good, but he's done exactly what's expected of him - rebounding, good defense and put backs - consistently every game. There is a different between "outplaying"/best and most consistent.

 

[superjohn]

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.

It's laughable that you think Facey has been our most consistent player all year. Facey has been good but Boat has easily been the most consistent, followed by Hamilton.

 

[7774]

Boatright has been our best player, Facey our most consistent.

I don't know how you could watch the games and think that Facey has played at a more consistent level than Boatright.

 

[August_West]

I enjoyed your rant, mostly because it reaffirmed the virtues of the "ignore" feature, which I have used for chap for the past few weeks. He is the only poster for whom I have ever used this feature. I highly recommend it.

You can still see his posts if people quote him, right? Gives me an idea.............

 

[8893]

You can still see his posts if people quote him, right?

Actually, no. Which is different from the "ignore" feature I've seen on other boards. And more awesomer.

 

[PAHusky]

It's laughable that you think Facey has been our most consistent player all year. Facey has been good but Boat has easily been the most consistent, followed by Hamilton.

Hamilton? Last night Hamilton was equal parts brilliant and cringe inducingly turnover prone. That's basically the polar opposite of consistent. Boat has been fantastic, and probably the second most consistent player on the team, but I think Facey, while clearly not the best player on the team, has been incredibly steady in terms of his production, especially with rebounding and defense.

Again - there's a huge difference between who our best players have been (definitely agree that Boat and Hamilton deserve that accolade) and who our most consistent has been (again, I'd argue Facey over Boat by a slim margin, and yes, I've watched the games). Don't seem to be arguing this point very well though, so I'll let it go after this post, my apologies.

 

[August_West]

With what's written above ... and then thinking about what I saw from Syracuse at MSG, I'd advocate that Jalen Adams be joined by another PG ballhandler type. And, I don't think this is all that difficult a get. We (*UConn) have played lots of 2PG and done that successfully. When we had AJ, we got Kemba too; Kemba and we got Shabazz; Boat came with Shabazz here. I would say that Adams is our #1 guy when Boatright is gone down 195; but, we can go find the 100-200 level guy in rankings that will be perfect for what we need. Maybe, he develops into a top shooter gutsy guy (like Bazz) or has the jets/defense (like Boat). All good for us going forward.

That's what scares me most about next year. Jalen Adams and then what? One Ball handler UConn teams aren't traditionally the elite ones. Our main ballhander is going to be a Freshman? Extra scary. If Marcus Williams had AJ in 2006 there is no George Mason..... If El Amin had someone other than Freshmen Tony Robertson and Marcus Cox, in 2000 who both spit the bit in that Tennessee tournament game when El Amin was hurt. Taliek was such a whipping boy around here because he was asked to do too much too early in his career.

El Amin had Ricky
AJ had Kemba
Kemba had Bazz
Bazz had Boat

Jalen (a frosh) has who? Nobody on this current squad. I guess Samuel by default?

 

[CallMeBruce]

Hamilton? Last night Hamilton was equal parts brilliant and cringe inducingly turnover prone. That's basically the polar opposite of consistent. Boat has been fantastic, and probably the second most consistent player on the team, but I think Facey, while clearly not the best player on the team, has been incredibly steady in terms of his production, especially with rebounding and defense.

Again - there's a huge difference between who our best players have been (definitely agree that Boat and Hamilton deserve that accolade) and who our most consistent has been (again, I'd argue Facey over Boat by a slim margin, and yes, I've watched the games). Don't seem to be arguing this point very well though, so I'll let it go after this post, my apologies.

Facey was basically invisible against CoC. You're being ridiculous.

 

[7774]

Hamilton? Last night Hamilton was equal parts brilliant and cringe inducingly turnover prone. That's basically the polar opposite of consistent. Boat has been fantastic, and probably the second most consistent player on the team, but I think Facey, while clearly not the best player on the team, has been incredibly steady in terms of his production, especially with rebounding and defense.

Again - there's a huge difference between who our best players have been (definitely agree that Boat and Hamilton deserve that accolade) and who our most consistent has been (again, I'd argue Facey over Boat by a slim margin, and yes, I've watched the games). Don't seem to be arguing this point very well though, so I'll let it go after this post, my apologies.

Go calculate the standard deviation of points, rebounds, assists, etc. for Facey and Boatright. Facey is not more consistent. , Facey had one game where he scored 5X as many points as he scored in another game.

It's not that you're arguing your point poorly, it's that your point has no connection to reality whatsoever.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Go calculate the standard deviation of points, rebounds, assists, etc. for Facey and Boatright. Facey is not more consistent. , Facey had one game where he scored 5X as many points as he scored in another game.

Too many people think that being smart means saying something that no one else could possibly agree with.