New thoughts on Alex Oriakhi

[61cygni]

Neither of those were fouls by the way. In each case Tyler crashed the boards, caught the ball and then came down on the back of a defender who had position. That is not a foul -- it's a "play on." If Alex was Drummond and instead of coming down with the ball on the defenders back he jammed it through while coming down on the defender's back, nothing gets called.

Exactly, you see plays like that especially in the NBA. Instead of a foul being called, it's "that guy got posterized!" He makes the dunk (on the first one) and it's a no call.

 

[61cygni]

1) on a per minute basis he is pretty close to last years averages, if not slightly ahead in a few places. 10 less minutes, 2.5 less points, .3 less blocks, 3.8 less rebounds. Really the rebounding is the only huge dropoff (somewhat attributed to better frontcourt teammates). It's one thing to be rebounding against a freshman Roscoe and Chuck and another with soph Olander/Smith and Drummond.

This is what's important, I agree.

Look at it this way, last year, Alex grabbed a bunch of boards. 42% of those were offensive rebounds. What do you think is going to happen, when you bring in Drummond, who has 49% of his rebounds coming off the offensive glass? Something has to give. AD swallows rebounds on both sides of the court.

What is promising, is look at this: We averaged 40 rebounds per game last year. Guess how many we are averaging this year? That's right, 40.

Point aside that we have just started the BE, Alex isn't losing boards to the other team, he's losing them to teammates! Just my opinion.

 

[baldinghusky]

This is what's important, I agree.

Look at it this way, last year, Alex grabbed a bunch of boards. 42% of those were offensive rebounds. What do you think is going to happen, when you bring in Drummond, who has 49% of his rebounds coming off the offensive glass? Something has to give. AD swallows rebounds on both sides of the court.

What is promising, is look at this: We averaged 40 rebounds per game last year. Guess how many we are averaging this year? That's right, 40.

Point aside that we have just started the BE, Alex isn't losing boards to the other team, he's losing them to teammates! Just my opinion.

We averaged 40 including a BE season and NCAA tourney against the highest-calibre teams. We are averaging 40 now when we've played mostly lesser-calibre teams. We could certainly get better at this as the season progresses, but I haven't been all that impressed with our rebounding this year.

 

[61cygni]

Stony Brook (56), Vermont (42), Wichita St. (29), New Hampshire (37), UMBC (41), Farleigh Dickinson (46), Coppin St. (55), Harvard (39), Tennessee (31)

41.8 rebounds per game against the un-ranked OOC teams we faced in the regular season if I did that correctly. Slightly higher, and I did allude to the point that we are earlier along in the season, so the comparison wouldn't be perfect. No idea what happens when you adjust for pace, would love to see it if anyone has the time!

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, the biggest flaw in this team is turnovers.

 

[John Fryer]

. It's not the Ivy League where kids go to school to learn.

Please tell us that you are not saying that UConn students don't go to school to learn.

Peace,

John Fryer

 

[Waquoit]

I'm watching the replay of last year's Texas game on ESPN Classic. AO should do the same thing, he was great in that game.

 

[mauconnfan]

No, he wasn't lazy at all. He went in and mixed it up with their bigs. He was aggressive, but the shots would not go down and he got called for some charges that would have gone the other way if he had kept his arm in. It looks to me that he is pressing and anxious in the game and that makes him rush and not shoot in rhythm. I would have to watch again to be sure, but I bet that Alex helped get fouls on their 2 big guys, both of whom had 2 fouls in the first half.

I was more concerned that Andre seemed to have difficulty getting involved in this game until the latter part of the second half. Part of that was his having to defend out to the 3 point line. The frontline did much better on the offensive glass in the second half after only having 3 offensive rebounds in the first half. Tyler did a good job being more aggressive, although he too got called for multiple over the back-type fouls.

"LAZY" is certainly not the word but with AO I'm not quite sure what it is? He doesn't utilize his strengths and fundamentalss to gain rebounding advantage....how's that. Yeah he mixed it up a little but not enough. Again, 1 rebound for his size is really awful. He should be Rodman in college basketball and its really is that simple. The charge wasn't a charge but it happens. No excuses he needs to be a lot better and HE, not the guards, needs to get the confidence flowing in the guards to throw it to him. For now his bobbles and mishandling of very good passes would have any guard concerned on throwing it in there. Add to it he still hasn't found a way to finish on the right and his left hook is a throw most of the time, why would Bazz, Jeremy or Boat throw it in there?

This is on Alex not anyone else. We need AO really bad to be a better team so I'm rooting like hell for him but he needs to play with his head up and constant energy.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

View attachment 458

AO played like a 1st team McDowell's All American tonight

THIS is the way to make the negative point, though the simple post laying the blame with questionable foul trouble has some merit. Still, we could probably use a little haiku:

What if BabySheep
and HuskyFan32
both left? Any tears?

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Division 1 college basketball sure is a lot easier from the couches all across Connecticut.

 

[UConnMatt813]

I don't mind pointing out how poorly he's playing, just still can't stand people who trash him like he plays for Syracuse.

I agree 110%. He just needs to get his mind right, have a few breaks go his way, and he'll be a solid contributor to this team's success.

 

[Gurleyman]

One rebound in 16 minutes is a poor stat, but it isn't enough of a sample size, especially against a team that was playing a slow-down game where possessions were more limited. Sometimes you do all the work boxing out and the rebounds come off the rim on the other side (or come out long) - or your work boxing out lets a teammate get the ball. And some days rebounds just keep finding you -- opposing team's missed foul shots to your side on the low block, right place at the right time, etc.

Obviously, failing to box out, letting rebounds hit off your hands or getting outscrapped for a loose ball are when the issues arise, but sometimes the box score alone isn't enough to get a fair evaluation. There's no stat in the box score to assess how many rebounds you could have realistically had. Coaches breaking down film can get a better sense of that.

 

[baldinghusky]

Stony Brook (56), Vermont (42), Wichita St. (29), New Hampshire (37), UMBC (41), Farleigh Dickinson (46), Coppin St. (55), Harvard (39), Tennessee (31)

41.8 rebounds per game against the un-ranked OOC teams we faced in the regular season if I did that correctly. Slightly higher, and I did allude to the point that we are earlier along in the season, so the comparison wouldn't be perfect. No idea what happens when you adjust for pace, would love to see it if anyone has the time!

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, the biggest flaw in this team is turnovers.

Actually, I just took a look at the stats. Where are you getting 40 rpg from? We're averaging 36.6 rebounds per game this year. Our margin, however, is better (6.4 vs. 4.4), though that's likely to narrow in the BE season. And you're absolutely right about pacing...the numbers themselves tell us less than the pacing (also # of missed shots, for and against...more misses = more rebounds to get).

 

[UConn3432]

Please tell us that you are not saying that UConn students don't go to school to learn.
Peace,
John Fryer

Pull the broom out. I was clearly talking about basketball players. I am a UConn fan and would never talk trash about UConn. Having said that, education comes second to partying in a lot of general population scenarios, including mine.

 

[Gurleyman]

Actually, I just took a look at the stats. Where are you getting 40 rpg from? We're averaging 36.6 rebounds per game this year. Our margin, however, is better (6.4 vs. 4.4), though that's likely to narrow in the BE season. And you're absolutely right about pacing...the numbers themselves tell us less than the pacing (also # of missed shots, for and against...more misses = more rebounds to get).

Officially, we are averaging 39.8. Sometimes, websites don't include team rebounds in the stats (we average 3.3 team rebounds per game), which they are supposed to, since they go into a team's official rebounding totals.

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html

 

[61cygni]

Yea, I was looking at the ESPN stats, under the assumption that they were accurate.

 

[Giddyup5]

This is what's important, I agree.

Look at it this way, last year, Alex grabbed a bunch of boards. 42% of those were offensive rebounds. What do you think is going to happen, when you bring in Drummond, who has 49% of his rebounds coming off the offensive glass? Something has to give. AD swallows rebounds on both sides of the court.

What is promising, is look at this: We averaged 40 rebounds per game last year. Guess how many we are averaging this year? That's right, 40.

Point aside that we have just started the BE, Alex isn't losing boards to the other team, he's losing them to teammates! Just my opinion.

I agree. AO has definitely been frustrating. I do think that he will continue to come around as he adjusts to playing the 4 and decreased playing time. I do not think he is playing lazy, thought 1 rebound is pretty disappointing.

I think a lot of fans would give him more leeway if he had better basketball "attitude" on the court. I hate it when he moans and groans after every god damn call in the game. I finally accepted that this is who AO is and its not changing anytime soon. Some players are very stoic in the game (Lamb, Dyson), while others where their emotions on their sleeves (AO, Kemba-obviously in a different way).

I do think that AO is the type of player that will respond to positive encouragement better than negative. He probably gets ripped nonstop by the coaching staff. As fans there isn't much that we can do to help. But hey, whats the harm in giving some extra support at our next few home games? I know i'll be cheering for him.

 

[pete8122]

I think some of it has to do with him trying to expand his game to show for the scouts. He is now a junior and the NBA is definitely weighing on his mind. You can tell he's trying very hard to show he has a back to the basket game. Also him taking those 18 foot jumpers is another example. As someone mentioned earlier if he just goes back and focuses on what has made him successful the last couple of years he will end up helping the team more.

Having said that I do wish they would try and feed the post a little more. Sometimes it feels like there's too much dribbling and 1v1 from the guards.

 

[mauconnfan]

I want him to do better and we need him too. My question to all who want the post fed a little more is why? Has anyone besides maybe Andre shown the confidence to take a good shot or throw the ball to someone open? For now everything is fine until the post players step up, And lets quit the "4" or "5" card for an excuse. He's a post player no matter - post op and rebound.

 

[baldinghusky]

Officially, we are averaging 39.8. Sometimes, websites don't include team rebounds in the stats (we average 3.3 team rebounds per game), which they are supposed to, since they go into a team's official rebounding totals.

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html

Interesting. The Big East web site has us at 36.6.

 

[Giddyup5]

I want him to do better and we need him too. My question to all who want the post fed a little more is why? Has anyone besides maybe Andre shown the confidence to take a good shot or throw the ball to someone open? For now everything is fine until the post players step up, And lets quit the "4" or "5" card for an excuse. He's a post player no matter - post op and rebound.

I actually thought AD had one of his most disappointing games. He could not do anything with the ball down low and resulted in a 6'10 center taking two 10 foot fade away jumpers. Regardless, he is young and the world is his oyster.

I think there is a big difference playing the 4 vs 5. The 4 in JC's offense is much more likely to get the ball at the top of the key and expected to make a basketball play than the 5. Also when teams play zone against us, the 4 is generally the player flashing to the foul line. I do agree that in terms of rebounding there is no real difference.

 

[Gurleyman]

Interesting. The Big East web site has us at 36.6.

That is weird - especially since the team rebounds are counted for other teams - or at least Pitt, which is the one I checked:

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html

 

[ctchamps]

That is weird - especially since the team rebounds are counted for other teams - or at least Pitt, which is the one I checked:

http://www.pittsburghpanthers.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html

Further evidence of the ESPN conspiracy against the BE. You should put this on the Conference Realignment Board or make sure neslonmuntz gets this info.

 

[Dove]

I was just sad to watch him kind of be whiny after each muff last night. I love AO and think the season will be a good one for him. Right now things are rough.

 

[baldinghusky]

I was just sad to watch him kind of be whiny after each muff last night. I love AO and think the season will be a good one for him. Right now things are rough.

Him whining after a missed shot is nothing new. It's one of the few things I really don't like about him. If you miss a shot, don't throw your arms up and look at the refs like "come on man!" Get the hell back on defense.

 

[ctchamps]

Him whining after a missed shot is nothing new. It's one of the few things I really don't like about him. If you miss a shot, don't throw your arms up and look at the refs like "come on man!" Get the hell back on defense.

It's a reflex, a very bad habit.