Nice, easy win

[Fishy]

I am sure 85% of the board has doused themselves with gasoline because some number somewhere in the boxscore has triggered their self-immolation gene, but this was a breeze.

I expected a trip to the dentist type of game - the 14-14 halftime score of their game against Florida State was in my mind. Things are coming together nicely.

They've seven guys playing getting 22 minutes and up and the eighth and ninth guys in the rotation are DeAndre Daniels and Neils Giffey. And Bradley is still waiting to come on line.

Pretty good place to be on December 8th.

 

[Chief00]

Fishy, I don't disagree. We are in a pretty good place.

When he plays I would like Daniels to play with the Boatshow, because he runs the court well. Once UConn stopped collapsing on D and staying on outside shooters that was effectively the game. AD likes to dunk. It's amazing how some players don't realize Calhoun wants you to go to the floor for loose balls and not stand and reach......an almost guaranteed immediate exit as Alex found out.
Lamb still needs to work harder for the ball late in the game. He is so talented. But we are nit picking here for early December.

 

[champs99and04]

Not too much to complain about. It seems like this team is improving every game, they've already come a long way from the UCF debacle.

Defense has been MUCH better in these last two games. Arkansas and Harvard have both shot well under 40%. Drummond played great tonight, and Oriakhi showed some signs towards the end of the game.

Offense can get a little stagment at times, but when you have guys like Lamb, Boat, and Bazz, the offense doesn't need to be a well-oiled machine to put up some points.

If UConn plays Harvard again in March they win by 20.

 

[Dove]

I never worried for a second about this one. The lock-down defense out of the locker room in the 2nd half was predictable. And no way was Harvard going to overtake the boyz on three pointers alone.

 

[Rico444]

It was really nice to see us build on the FSU game and look better as a team. We played terrific defense for pretty close to 40 minutes. Drummond is scary good.

 

[rw005]

You know this was a good all-around effort is when Olander hits a 3 pointer.

Only thing I want to see an improvement is, free throw shooting.

 

[RuffRuff]

This game kind of played out how you thought it might - Harvard sticks around with their system for a half, then are worn down physically in the second half. Was at the game. Spread was fishy on this one at 6 - low. With the oddsmakers as good as they are, seemed like the sucker bet.

Players to feel really good about right now - Ryan Boatright, Jeremy Lamb and.....Tyler Olander. Will eat crow on that kid - didn't think he was high level D1 caliber. But he plays within himself, knows his strengths and is just a smart kid. I keep thinking his minutes will wane once some of the other more talented pieces come together, but I think JC just trusts this kid. He took a bad entry pass down near his ankles, scooped it up and turned for a bucket that really impressed me. Boatright is going to be a special player - that is a given. It will be impossible not to get him major minutes on the floor. He brings tons of energy out there and is all over the floor. No need to explain Jeremy.

Pieces that have to come together for this team to improve:
AO - no need to explain there. He's been consistently horrible.
Shabazz - as much as I like the kid, he can play flighty and makes a lot of bad decisions. It's starting to worry me a bit.
Mr. Drummond - as physically talented as the kid is, he's incredibly unrefined. He took a ball in the post that followed a move similar to what a polio attack might look like. The most awkward looking thing I've ever seen. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but man, this kid is no where ready for the NBA level.

Offensive flow - none. It's very much a create you own shot offense right now, but usually the deal early in the year with a JC team.

Why does this team never run a break - I don't think they ran one all game? No one pushes the ball up the court and it's an athletic and deep team.

 

[Danzz]

I am sure 85% of the board has doused themselves with gasoline because some number somewhere in the boxscore has triggered their self-immolation gene, but this was a breeze.

I expected a trip to the dentist type of game - the 14-14 halftime score of their game against Florida State was in my mind. Things are coming together nicely.

They've seven guys playing getting 22 minutes and up and the eighth and ninth guys in the rotation are DeAndre Daniels and Neils Giffey. And Bradley is still waiting to come on line.

Pretty good place to be on December 8th.

We were just too big and strong for Harvard inside. They basicly had 1 player who could rebound.

 

[Davidm]

Mr. Drummond - as physically talented as the kid is, he's incredibly unrefined. He took a ball in the post that followed a move similar to what a polio attack might look like. The most awkward looking thing I've ever seen. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but man, this kid is no where ready for the NBA level.

Ahaha, Was it the one where he was under the hoop and Doug was praising him, then suddenly he just had his hand flail in the air awkwardly? Doug then went on to just say "As you can see he still needs area's of improvement" or something along those lines

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

When Harvard had 3 points in the first 8 minutes of the second half, the announcers said something like, "Harvard can't seem to get its offense going" like Harvard had anything to do with it. Same thing with the final 4 minutes or so. I like to watch UConn play defense. Always have, always will.

 

[uconNYC]

Mr. Drummond - as physically talented as the kid is, he's incredibly unrefined. He took a ball in the post that followed a move similar to what a polio attack might look like. The most awkward looking thing I've ever seen. I know the NBA drafts on potential, but man, this kid is no where ready for the NBA level.

The kid scores 12pts with his eye's closed. What NBA GM would not want him? And on defensive he's already 75% of the way there.

 

[zls44]

Drummond would be a Top 15 center in the NBA if he joined a team tomorrow. It helps that the NBA only has 6 of them.

 

[TheChamps990411]

drummond is going to be scary by march. boatright will be unguardable by march. alex will have a perfectly trimmed beared by march. this team has a ways to go but when this team starts to click and run on all cylinders its going to be a thing of beauty. they will run teams out the gym.
that being said, DD needs to be put back in the starting lineup. his shot stretches the defense and opens up the paint where as RS still cant hit a jumper or drive to the basket.

 

[Giddyup5]

Agreed. I think it was a solid win and continued improvement.

Thats all that matters to me is that the team continues to improve. As the players adjust to their roles I think we will get even better. I'd like to get our low post game involved more (as does everyone).

IMO Bazz needs to be more PG and less scorer for us. To many times he is going 1 on 1 or taking a forced shot after the pick and roll. Am I being nitpicky? Yes, but I expect a lot from our PG captain. How many times have you seen Bazz pass the ball after the pick and roll?

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Agreed. I think it was a solid win and continued improvement.

Thats all that matters to me is that the team continues to improve. As the players adjust to their roles I think we will get even better. I'd like to get our low post game involved more (as does everyone).

IMO Bazz needs to be more PG and less scorer for us. To many times he is going 1 on 1 or taking a forced shot after the pick and roll. Am I being nitpicky? Yes, but I expect a lot from our PG captain. How many times have you seen Bazz pass the ball after the pick and roll?

None of our recent PG's have passed the ball out of the pick and roll, including Kemba Walker. AJ did sometimes. It's a risky play and our guards are short. Bazz did a good job adjusting after a bad stretch in the second half where we built the lead and he took a rushed 3 pointer. After a timeout, he starting feeding the post with good entry passes, playing more like a pass-first PG. Boat was very shaky with the ball last night, but no mention of that on this board. My point is that all of these kids are young, they will make mistakes. Hopefully get better, but I do not think they will be perfect. Bazz has been much better than I expected so far this year with his overall play and decision-making. He can get a little wild and impulsive and JC needs to help him pull it back in at times. That is the price of having a young and confident player who will step up and take the big shots.

 

[UconnDon]

Yep, they did look like something's really coming together. In fact, there never was a doubt as to the outcome last night, and imo Harvard was beaten more thoroughly than reflected by the score. The D looked better after the half, but why do we need a half time to improve the perimeter defense?? That should be a mindset from the outset. Also, the boys resorted to one-on-one street ball for a bit in late second half. Bazz firing up a 25 footer with 17 seconds on the shot clock, (and missing both shot and rebound) and Harvard within sniffing distance. But if these are our only concerns, it will be a wonderful season.

It already is! As the PGA says, "These guys are good".

 

[mauconnfan]

Drummond would be a Top 15 center in the NBA if he joined a team tomorrow. It helps that the NBA only has 6 of them.

C'mon zls you kidding. I love Andre and I can't wait for the light to go off and the education to continue but please. He has so so much to learn about the game and that's all good. He still plays like everyone around him is 6'4" and he doesn't shoot it well as of yet. His footwork on D is weak at best as he always prepares to block shots (and thats okay) but never moves his feet to stay with his man much like AO. He is already a game changer but hasn't scratched the surface of what he will be and I can't wait, love the kid. Long way to go and in the NBA you don't learn on the run, intstead you don't play and he wouldn't. You learn at UConn under JC and he will - we all get to see the tranformation and that's exciting.

Also love the continuous hammer on Bazz. No doubt he gets a little crazy with the ball but most of the time it's all good. Maybe we should just take it out of his hands and see how we do?? lol

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

The problem is that DD isnt a great defender yet and his defense hurts the team, thats why he hasnt seen a lot of minutes

 

[Giddyup5]

None of our recent PG's have passed the ball out of the pick and roll, including Kemba Walker. AJ did sometimes. It's a risky play and our guards are short. Bazz did a good job adjusting after a bad stretch in the second half where we built the lead and he took a rushed 3 pointer. After a timeout, he starting feeding the post with good entry passes, playing more like a pass-first PG. Boat was very shaky with the ball last night, but no mention of that on this board. My point is that all of these kids are young, they will make mistakes. Hopefully get better, but I do not think they will be perfect. Bazz has been much better than I expected so far this year with his overall play and decision-making. He can get a little wild and impulsive and JC needs to help him pull it back in at times. That is the price of having a young and confident player who will step up and take the big shots.

Agreed. Overall I think Bazz has surprised me as well, especially with his shot making ability. Maybe my expectations for him are too high, but I want him to develop the feel for the game that I know he can. It seems like he doesn't have any confidence issues. He can miss 10 shots and will still gun the next one fully believing it will go in, and I love that in a player.

But as a PG, I want him to be a facilitator first, and if our other options aren't working or having a bad night than try to look for his offense more. Should he pass up wide open shots, of course not. But there is no need to force up shots early in the game, early in the shot clock, with a hand in his face.

People were talking earlier about Bazz being one of the best PGs in the country. IMO developing this feel for the game can take him to that level.

 

[Gurleyman]

There are times that Shabazz has looked unbelievable - 10-minute stretches of games when he has played virtually flawless basketball - hitting his shots, making the right passes, reading the game perfectly. He's looked like a maestro. He hasn't sustained it for entire games - due to a combination of factors. Other teams make adjustments, and find the right defender or scheme to bother him a little. Or we lead by 10-15 in the second half and collectively get too passive (we're a young team, so that fine line between staying in attack mode and being smart is a difficult thing). Or the other team makes a little run and maybe he feels he needs to step up and tries to do too much. In the Central Florida game, for example, I thought he was brilliant in the first half with only two points, before he picked up his second foul and sat for a while. Then he started the second half with a couple mistakes to maybe get him off his game, and when UCF made their run, he started pressing, couldn't find that same rhythm, their zone bothered us, and he played very poorly.

Given that he's only a month into his sophomore season (which was originally going to be his freshman season before he re-classified), and his first as the team's leader, he's pretty much right where I hoped he'd be -- he has taken a big leap forward from last year, shown sustained flashes of how good he can be, but is still adapting, making some mistakes, and learning how to close games out. As he progresses, he'll hopefully sustain his "A" game for longer stretches, and his bad stretches will only last a couple plays before he shrugs them off and gets back on track. But we can't throw our hands up every time he makes mistakes or forces things, because all of our great ones went through the same learning process - Kemba last year went through them as a junior, Ben frustrated the hell out of us some nights, Khalid had some serious clunkers, Rip had days where he looked passive, it didn't click for Caron full time until February of his sophomore year, etc. It doesn't mean that Shabazz has a fundamental flaw in his game or his mental make-up if he goes through decision-making slumps.

 

[ctchamps]

None of our recent PG's have passed the ball out of the pick and roll, including Kemba Walker. AJ did sometimes. It's a risky play and our guards are short. Bazz did a good job adjusting after a bad stretch in the second half where we built the lead and he took a rushed 3 pointer. After a timeout, he starting feeding the post with good entry passes, playing more like a pass-first PG. Boat was very shaky with the ball last night, but no mention of that on this board. My point is that all of these kids are young, they will make mistakes. Hopefully get better, but I do not think they will be perfect. Bazz has been much better than I expected so far this year with his overall play and decision-making. He can get a little wild and impulsive and JC needs to help him pull it back in at times. That is the price of having a young and confident player who will step up and take the big shots.

I agree with every point you made, particularly the point about Boat's game last night. I made the same statement in another thread.