Napier's D = broken record

[uconngb]

the two 3 pointers he allowed by wandering 15 feet away from his man just after UConn had taken the lead were the backbreakers. for all his flash on the offensive end (which includes a ton of unforced turnovers), he is an unbelievable defensive liability. forget ball/you/man, he should stay locked on looking at his man....wanders off way took much, and tonight, it killed us. and please no "he had huge balls to make that 3 to tie it up". never should have been in that position. i don't understand how they can't get him to just guard his man...it's been exactly the same thing for over a year now

ok, rant over

 

[Husky68]

Posted in another thread on this, agree. My wife left the room 'cause I was complaining about this so much. Also, what kind of offense is this, one time I counted 9 seconds left on the clock and Bazz was still dribbling the ball and no one had touched the ball yet. It's on the coach to get Bazz right on both offense and defense.

 

[UC990411]

When you play 40 minutes you're going to be tired on D...thats what i blame it on

 

[uconngb]

When you play 40 minutes you're going to be tired on D...thats what i blame it on

maybe...but i guarantee, if you watch tape, from both last year and this, he loses his man ALL the time by staring at the ball. it ain't that hard to just focus on your man and stay with him. i'm not talking guys shooting over him....those two backbreaking, momentum-killing 3s his man was open by 15 feet

 

[aceboon]

the game was tied with 9 seconds left, how does Lamb getting a pass for sagging off on Kilpratick? He got away with it against Snear in the FSU game, not so lucky this time.

 

[UC990411]

Lamb has been playing like dungiss

 

[huskymagic]

the two 3 pointers he allowed by wandering 15 feet away from his man just after UConn had taken the lead were the backbreakers. for all his flash on the offensive end (which includes a ton of unforced turnovers), he is an unbelievable defensive liability. forget ball/you/man, he should stay locked on looking at his man....wanders off way took much, and tonight, it killed us. and please no "he had huge balls to make that 3 to tie it up". never should have been in that position. i don't understand how they can't get him to just guard his man...it's been exactly the same thing for over a year now

ok, rant over

Havent I already said this many times before that he is a huge liability on defense and that cost us tonight. Kilpatrick was raining threes on us all day. Napier's crossover or slow footed Eurostep are also very bad. However, he was the only one scoring on this team, but thats exactly the problem he is too much of a scorer and not enough of a point guard.

Lamb has not been playing well himself lately as I dont want to put the blame just on Napier. He needs to be more physical especially on defense where Kilpatrick just walked up and drained a 3 on him to win the game. We dont have a go to guy who can just carry and will the team to a win like Kemba or a Rip. I really hope we find that person very soon.

 

[huskymagic]

the game was tied with 9 seconds left, how does Lamb getting a pass for sagging off on Kilpratick? He got away with it against Snear in the FSU game, not so lucky this time.

Your right Lamb's play hasnt been good past couple of games including today.

 

[caw]

When you play 40 minutes you're going to be tired on D...thats what i blame it on

Come on, Allen played a bit

 

[UConnfan8]

This is weird because Bazz did score 27 points tonight...but does anyone else feel that Bazz has the ball way too much? It may be just me and it could be for a number of reasons...i.e. our bigs went 3 for 16, no Boatshow, Lamb was off....but I feel as if Shabazz just has the ball in his hands way too much. It wasn't just tonight, in fact its been this way all season even with Boatright.

 

[wpq4elamin]

to be fair, he's playing 35-40 mins every night.... not that he wouldn't lose his man or get beat by his man occasionally playing 25 minutes, but it's tough to fault bazz when he was pretty clutch down the stretch and when his teammates left 4-5 assists out there.... he should have had 27 and 13 assists tonight... that's a pretty nice evening, whether you're playing d or not.... (of course, we'd prefer him playing d)

he looked like he was having trouble handling the ball in the first half, losing a few balls off his feet or legs... I think both him and Lamb are tired, and this boatshow needs to be put to rest so we can get our freaking team back together... the NCAA is really this one up royally

 

[wpq4elamin]

This is weird because Bazz did score 27 points tonight...but does anyone else feel that Bazz has the ball way too much? It may be just me and it could be for a number of reasons...i.e. our bigs went 3 for 16, no Boatshow, Lamb was off....but I feel as if Shabazz just has the ball in his hands way too much. It wasn't just tonight, in fact its been this way all season even with Boatright.

I agree... I think we're a better team when Shabazz is not our leading scorer, but he did have a pretty good night shooting and dishing.... the problem tonight was that we had Giffey, Roscoe, AO and AD in the game a ton, and none of them can really handle the ball out in front... so that leaves Lamb or Bazz and Lamb is busy running around off screens... so that's probably why it looks like he always has the ball... When we are at our best, Boat, Bazz and Lamb are all out on the court and any one of them can be the guy running off screens or handling the ball

 

[UConnSwag11]

how many 3's did cinci make? every game we can't guard the perimeter

 

[joober jones]

I wish he'd stop the head snap try-to-get-a-foul-call move

 

[wpq4elamin]

I wish he'd stop the head snap try-to-get-a-foul-call move

i agree most of the time, but kemba seemed to get more and more of those come tourney time... it doesn't seem to work in the big east, but it certainly does in the NCAA tourney

 

[Fishy]

Without Napier tonight, this one is just a bloodbath - I give the kid credit for doing as much as he did.

Yes, he could have played better defense, but he did everything for UConn but jam a broomstick in his ass and sweep the court while he was playing.

 

[wpq4elamin]

Without Napier tonight, this one is just a bloodbath - I give the kid credit for doing as much as he did.

Yes, he could have played better defense, but he did everything for UConn but jam a broomstick in his ass and sweep the court while he was playing.

totally agree... idk why anyone would be on napier tonight after the bigs fumbled away assist after assist and also considering he hit some pretty big shots.... he also was the only point guard out there for most of the game and gritted out a tough ball handling day (he lost it a few times unforced in the first half and looked a big off dribbling wise tonight)

he looked a lot like kemba did in some games last year where it seemed like no one else wanted to play.... and he almost pulled it out a la kemba at the end...

 

[huskyharry]

Fatigue certainly affects judgment, so undoubtably it plays some role in SN's poor positioning on defense but I also think he trying to put himself in a sneaky position to get a steal. This goes along with his love of looking for the highlight play too often on offense.

On the other hand, I do not lay most of the blame for the stagnating offense which causes him to have to force shots at the end of the shot clock. The other players are not getting into position, not setting screens properly and not cutting off screens properly, so he is forced to,wait. Now, some of this has to do with Big East zebras who allow the clutch and grab defense, which is also a big reason why JLamb is struggling. Same thing happened last year in the middle of the Big East season, which led to Kemba's slump and our losing streak.

However, when we hit the BET and the NCAAs, the zebras started calling fouls more appropriately and the team came together

 

[wpq4elamin]

Fatigue certainly affects judgment, so undoubtably it plays some role in SN's poor positioning on defense but I also think he trying to put himself in a sneaky position to get a steal. This goes along with his love of looking for the highlight play too often on offense.

On the other hand, I do not lay most of the blame for the stagnating offense which causes him to have to force shots at the end of the shot clock. The other players are not getting into position, not setting screens properly and not cutting off screens properly, so he is forced to,wait. Now, some of this has to do with Big East zebras who allow the clutch and grab defense, which is also a big reason why JLamb is struggling. Same thing happened last year in the middle of the Big East season, which led to Kemba's slump and our losing streak.

However, when we hit the BET and the NCAAs, the zebras started calling fouls more appropriately and the team came together

agree totally- I said this same thing regarding napier's whiplash fake (a la kemba) whenever he gets hit.. it doesn't work in the BEast at all, but it def works outside of the conference

 

[huskyharry]

Without Napier tonight, this one is just a bloodbath - I give the kid credit for doing as much as he did.

Yes, he could have played better defense, but he did everything for UConn but jam a broomstick in his ass and sweep the court while he was playing.

SN's offense in the last 3 minutes was breathtaking and you are right that his toughness kept us in it during most of the rest of the game

 

[aceboon]

In regards to Shabazz being in the lane, is that the actual coaching strategy? It would be hard to believe that you would have a 6'0" guard in the lane as help D but the fact that he seems to be in there a number of times makes it seem like it is. Gottlieb even commented on that play in particular when Wright hit a deep 3 that Bazz couldn't rotate over to contest in time that it was Giffey who should've rotated over to cover for Bazz. It doesn't seem to make sense, but the fact that we see it throughout every game seems like thats the case.

 

[mauconnfan]

In regards to Shabazz being in the lane, is that the actual coaching strategy? It would be hard to believe that you would have a 6'0" guard in the lane as help D but the fact that he seems to be in there a number of times makes it seem like it is. Gottlieb even commented on that play in particular when Wright hit a deep 3 that Bazz couldn't rotate over to contest in time that it was Giffey who should've rotated over to cover for Bazz. It doesn't seem to make sense, but the fact that we see it throughout every game seems like thats the case.

Can't be - always ball opposite you're between the ball and your man with the idea of getting there on ball reversal. In this case he was caught way too deep and it was because he's looking for a steal or an errant pass - or to help and interior pass. But they had no inside game so he should have been closer to the shooter period!! He kept us in the game and gave us a chance while playing 38 minutes or more. Tough to hammer the guy I guess..............

 

[Cassius Klaiber]

I'll agree that his offense carried the team in the last few minutes, but he looked winded to me - on the few occasions that he didn't have the ball down the stretch, I saw him bent over with his hands on his knees a lot. This would've been a great game to have another primary ball-handler available (hint, hint, NCAA).

 

[ctchamps]

totally agree... idk why anyone would be on napier tonight after the bigs fumbled away assist after assist and also considering he hit some pretty big shots.... he also was the only point guard out there for most of the game and gritted out a tough ball handling day (he lost it a few times unforced in the first half and looked a big off dribbling wise tonight)

he looked a lot like kemba did in some games last year where it seemed like no one else wanted to play.... and he almost pulled it out a la kemba at the end...

Pretty much echoes my point of view. SN was the only reason the game was close. JL was the only other ball handler and he couldn't create for anyone in this game and he was missing too many shots. The front court played as poorly as any game this season on offense. Shabazz should have had several more assists if the bigs could have made their bunnies. And after a getting burnt several times by failed execution the point guard has to make the decision to try different options.

Doug Gottlieb described SN's defense on one play where SN was playing off his man. I'm not a big DG fan, but he described how these kids are coached to be in the position they are in on defense and how the rotation by the guards to pull to the center is coached and how other players, knowing this type of defensive position, need to rotate. In one case he detailed how SN moved under the rim and NG was the player who missed the coverage on SN player.

It just becomes sour grapes to be upset with a player who is doing what the coaches want.

 

[joober jones]

Napier was definitely key, I wasn't trying to knock him at all as without him we wind up with a humiliating rout instead of a loss at the buzzer.