Nolan thread

[TheChamps990411]

Im really concerned with nolan. hes tall and has some athleticism but thats about it. He is not a good defender. doesnt block shots. doesnt score in the post. terrible in pick and roll. loses his man on defense. ive seen no real improvement in his game and this scares me and should scare us all. unless AB really starts to put it together we could be in serious trouble if TO becomes our best option at the 5. anyone else as alarmed as i am?

 

[joober jones]

I'd say shocked more than alarmed, but that's kind of splitting hairs I guess. I like Nolan a lot and feel he has tremendous potential but he hasn't progressed to where I thought he'd be at this point. I don't put all the blame on him though - he is able to position himself well offensively but it's like our guards can't see him. He'd have at least 6 points on point-blank buckets every game if it weren't for this. The foul trouble however is on Phil. He needs to work on that.

 

[uconnfan68]

Im really concerned with nolan. hes tall and has some athleticism but thats about it. He is not a good defender. doesnt block shots. doesnt score in the post. terrible in pick and roll. loses his man on defense. ive seen no real improvement in his game and this scares me and should scare us all. unless AB really starts to put it together we could be in serious trouble if TO becomes our best option at the 5. anyone else as alarmed as i am?

If he keeps posting lines of zero points, rebounds, assists, but 3-4 fouls in less than 10 minutes, then you have every right to be concerned. Tyler is marginally better than that. Amidah just isn't ready for a full game. Facey isn't either. It will be a position strictly by committee this year. With any luck at all they will collectively be a plus. A year of weight gaining and training will help.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I actually think he has the best post moves on the team. He just never gets the ball down there. He makes strong moves and appears to have a strong go to move and a counter.

 

[Gurleyman]

As always, it helps to remember - progress isn't linear.

He had no expectations last year - and improved quite a bit as the year went on. Now his circumstances have changed - he's starting, wants to keep the job and has been dealing with foul trouble every night. Foul trouble gets in your head. You want to stay on the floor, so you are a little less aggressive and a little more hesitant and things snowball as you lose rebounds or don't position yourself right in help defense as you try to avoid fouling more than remembering your fundamentals. So he's regressed a little. Once he has a game where he can stay on the floor and makes a few positive plays, he'll starting getting his progression arc pointing back in the right direction.

 

[mauconnfan]

"alarmed" isn't quite the word I would have used. I guess if expectations were real high then you would be alarmed but I'm not sure we should expect much out of any of our middle guys. We know Phil got better end of last years campaign but he's still a 6'8" thin kid learning to play the game from the post. I would like to see more and I still think we will but the numbers right now don't prove all of that. While you hammer him for basically every part of his game he is still our best option. This team will win by using all 3 guys in every game although their minutes will always vary. Amidah is a shot blocker who still doesn't know where to position himself a lot of the time but has great feet and will eventually be real good. Tyler is Tyler, okay on the offensive end, can't guard a chair because he can't move his feet but at times his experience can help.

I'm alarmed at getting as little as we do from the 3 of them, but at any one particular kid!

 

[Waquoit]

He's doing better so far than I expected. He will be much better in March, I'm not alarmed at all.

 

[Kitaman]

If everyone lowers expectations our fan base would be fine. It is what it is, right now.

As a sophomore it's no longer about 'superb' potential, but development, performance and contribution. Only Brimah and Facey get the potential label and also a one year mulligan.

 

[husky91]

Dude is averaging 2.3 points and 2.3 rebs. As we get into the season hopefully we can just go with the hot hand. Right now it is pretty ugly.

 

[CL82]

I think they've been okay collectively. Whether the three headed monster can keep it up against is debatable. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[SeattleHoop]

It's not hard to tell your the type of poster who wishes a player performs badly so that you could prove a point. For that reason I don't regret calling you a dumb a** because I really, and I mean truly believe that Nolan will prove you are a dumb a* by the end of the year.

A lot more games to go, I'll try not to rub it in when Nolan proves you wrong but no guarantees.

 

[Ts5034]

Well to be fair to Nolan, he wasnt a 5 star recruit so i dont think its right to expect 15 and 10 from him. As a whole, keep in mind Indiana was averaging around 50 rebounds per game and we were averaging around 30. The final rebounding numbers from the Indiana game was 37-34 in their favor so this could be a step in the right direction

 

[phillionaire]

It's early in the season. Maybe he's just off to a slow start like Daniels was.

 

[ford82]

I actually think he has the best post moves on the team. He just never gets the ball down there. He makes strong moves and appears to have a strong go to move and a counter.

I haven't seen either a strong go to move or counter yet . Maybe he has them but can he it do them against higher D1 competition? He needs to start off by focusing on rebounding and defense. Lets be honest, he hasn't really earned the right to get the ball down low yet.

 

[johnhuskies95]

I haven't seen either a strong go to move or counter yet . Maybe he has them but can he it do them against higher D1 competition? He needs to start off by focusing on rebounding and defense. Lets be honest, he hasn't really earned the right to get the ball down low yet.

He's the only post player on the team who knows what he's going to do with the ball when he gets it. He made a really nice move on Friday to free himself for a lefty hook, it just rimmed out. If he stays out of foul trouble I think he'll be productive.

 

[BearJWS]

I think Brimah has a higher ceiling than Nolan, based on size, athletic ability & intensity. A change up could be what each players needs right now. Bringing Nolan off the bench might bring more fire from Nolan. I think he plays better with a chip on his shoulder, like last year. Nolan seems to be going through the motions right now, but he has potential. Brimah just needs more experience & needs to figure things out for himself. He has big time potential, similar to Thabeet. Yeah, I think both players need to improve. Not knocking either player. Would be nice to see how each player reacts to different roles...

 

[BearJWS]

PS - Stop insulting each other. I hate crap like this. Open dialog is best. Calling someone a "dumb@ass" or "baffling" just annoys me. Just base your opinions on play/facts, etc. Too many bullies on here. We're all UConn fans, so stop beating on each other.... Positivity is best!

 

[ctchamps]

I'm not ready to throw in the towel on Nolan. He's about where I expected him to be at this stage. Last season I was excited about his play in the last four games because PN finally played within the flow of the game and didn't have to be constantly orchestrated where he should be on the floor. But he wasn't dominating his position and there was little chance he was going to come out of the gate with a greater game than he showed at the end of last season.

His biggest problem this season is staying on the floor. He's getting fouls too often not allowing him to get any rhythm. IMO he's got the best potential to be an inside scoring threat on offense and the best rebounder over TO and AB.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

For you to think that something is going to change and Phil is going to have an epiphany resulting in increased dedication and productivity is a bit of a reach, don't you .

Who said anything about an epiphany? What are you talking about? **** do you know about his dedication? It's a reach to think he'll get better?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

As always, it helps to remember - progress isn't linear.

He had no expectations last year - and improved quite a bit as the year went on. Now his circumstances have changed - he's starting, wants to keep the job and has been dealing with foul trouble every night. Foul trouble gets in your head. You want to stay on the floor, so you are a little less aggressive and a little more hesitant and things snowball as you lose rebounds or don't position yourself right in help defense as you try to avoid fouling more than remembering your fundamentals. So he's regressed a little. Once he has a game where he can stay on the floor and makes a few positive plays, he'll starting getting his progression arc pointing back in the right direction.

This is exactly right. Furthermore, he is being asked to do a lot more as the starter than he was last year in spot duty. It is not unusual for Sophomores to take what looks like a step back, just because they are being asked to be more multidimensional than they were as freshman. If he is playing like this in February, I would reset our expectations on him.

 

[SeattleHoop]

I'm not cranky right now so I'm not gonna call you any names this time. Also teddy bear softened me up a bit...

But anyway, I don't see how it is reach given we have only played 5 games and still have around 25 more to go. As Uconn fans we should know that a player's development through the course of one season is usually incremental, especially when it comes to big men. Almost every Uconn team since I have been watching (98') has had 1 or 2 big men that show increased production by the end of the season. I think Brimah will show the most improvement but I actually think you are the one taking the reach when thinking that Nolan will show zero improvement. I think you will be proven wrong.

Also, nice one calling me "moron" instead of Moran. Haven't heard that one since 2nd grade.

Keep on gettin' that paper D Money spending time on here might knock your hustle.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

The guy barely played last season and were only a handful of games into this one.

He's raw, but he plays hard and seems to be a decent enough athlete. Given that, I trust Ollie and co. get him ready to contribute sooner than later.

 

[joober jones]

I don't understand where the accusations of a lack of desire or attitude problem come from. From his body language and general personality on the court and even on the bench, you can tell this kid has a lot of heart and wants to win. To me he appears anything but apathetic.