Nolan's extra weight.

[Greathusky]

It seems that Nolan appears to be slower on the court than last year. His play has definitely regressed from last year. Anybody think that the extra weight may be a factor? I expected a stronger Nolan grabbing rebounds and using his "new" strength to post up but have seen little of that.

Everyone looked better on the court today except Phil. We did not need him today but will need him to step up when Brimah gets in foul trouble.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I don't think has regressed as much as stagnated.

Same ole Phil. Good for one offensive foul per game when he tries a post move, one blocking call when he is late trying to draw a charge, one drawn charge per game, one pass off his fingers and one to two shots where he gets stripped or blocked because he can't explode off the ground.

Seems like a nice kid and a good teammate. He'd destroy D2 competition where everything is 95% speed of D1.

 

[CallMeBruce]

He's definitely playing worse than last year, but if a 6-10 guy putting on muscle to get to 235 pounds is slowing him down too much, that's a bad sign. I think the issue is that he spent his entire offseason getting stronger but wasn't working on any of his actual basketball skills at the time.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Reminds me of last year after Olander put on weight to try to be a credible presence at the 5.

 

[boog204]

not to be a d.b., but has he EVER finished? i feel he is always blocked, stripped, or turns it over when he gets a bunny.

 

[joober jones]

He's definitely regressed if you remember his play against conference opponents last year.

 

[3rdbass]

Reminds me of last year after Olander put on weight to try to be a credible presence at the 5.

I mentioned this in another thread. I think like Olander the extra weight actually hurt his game and made him slower and less explosive. Both these guys had decent basketball skills but limited athletic ability. Once they gained the weight they lost most of their athletic ability and made it too much to overcome even with decent basketball skills. Neither of them are Larry Bird but both had some decent post of moves though without any explosiveness it has been lost.

 

[itgoeslike]

Nolan has a tendency to put it on the floor which creates problems especially if he's moving a step slower. He needs to get more comfortable going directly to the rim and asserting himself. Worst case he goes to the line and potentially gets the other team's big men into foul trouble. It's better than being stripped.

 

[donyell34]

I love Phil and hate to criticize the guy but really WTF has he really worked on in the off-season . He finished last season strong for Phil and was an important player in the rotation during the championship run. I really thought Phil was gonna build on that but it ain't happening . Was expecting so much more. Call it what you want but he ain't getting better and imo he's worse.

 

[mauconnfan]

Offensively everything he does he's thinking about, there's no natural moves going on there. Robotic and slow which is made worst when there's no explosiveness from the legs. If he just went with jump hooks he'd at least get shots off but he won't finish much unless he's wide open. Yesterday he tried to take a charge on a guy who was dribbling towards the sidelines, it seems to now be a game for him rather than a strategy. He needs to get his head on straight!

 

[BoatShow]

Dude got stuffed by the rim AGAIN last night. Lubin looked decent and played with the aggression that Phil lacks last night. With Facey going how he's going where he looks liable to go for a double each night Phil better step up or get ready to watch most of the games.

Would we get away with putting KFree in Nolan's uniform?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Offensively everything he does he's thinking about, there's no natural moves going on there. Robotic and slow which is made worst when there's no explosiveness from the legs. If he just went with jump hooks he'd at least get shots off but he won't finish much unless he's wide open. Yesterday he tried to take a charge on a guy who was dribbling towards the sidelines, it seems to now be a game for him rather than a strategy. He needs to get his head on straight!

the lack of explosion is what gives every teams defense a chance to recover. The difference in "bounce" between Facey/Brimah and Phil is enormous.

 

[GlastonTim]

Where's Clyde Vaughn when you need him

 

[CallMeBruce]

the lack of explosion is what gives every teams defense a chance to recover. The difference in "bounce" between Facey/Brimah and Phil is enormous.

I don't think the weight is what is making him so slow to the hoop. He was this way last year, too. Phil just isn't a very good player. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd like to see Lubin get more of Phil's minutes.

 

[Palatine]

He needs to get off the ground and play above the rim. I don't know know if you can learn hops but he needs to.

 

[CallMeBruce]

He needs to get off the ground and play above the rim. I don't know know if you can learn hops but he needs to.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I don't think the weight is what is making him so slow to the hoop. He was this way last year, too. Phil just isn't a very good player. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd like to see Lubin get more of Phil's minutes.

That was my point. Two years ago Phil was a skinny bean pole who didn't have the leg strength to explode. Now Phil is a more filled out player who doesn't have the leg strength to jump quickly. He and Lubin still fill different roles.

Lubin plays like a freshman and will be inconsistent. There was a play in the second half where Lubin should have been sprinting back to the paint on defense but was wasting energy trying to bird dog one of Coppin's guards as they were dribbing up the sideline.

And Lubin is painfully slow getting off the ground too. But he's got a bigger posterior and will contribute before he is done at UConn.

 

[donyell34]

Phil, Phil, Phil wear the damm shoes.

 

[CallMeBruce]

That was my point. Two years ago Phil was a skinny bean pole who didn't have the leg strength to explode. Now Phil is a more filled out player who doesn't have the leg strength to jump quickly. He and Lubin still fill different roles.

Lubin plays like a freshman and will be inconsistent. There was a play in the second half where Lubin should have been sprinting back to the paint on defense but was wasting energy trying to bird dog one of Coppin's guards as they were dribbing up the sideline.

And Lubin is painfully slow getting off the ground too. But he's got a bigger posterior and will contribute before he is done at UConn.

Lubin has been inconsistent, which is better than being consistently terrible, which is what Phil has been. Nolan isn't doing anything well enough to fill a role. We need someone who can give our bigs a rest, and at this point, I'm not sure that Lubin wouldn't be better suited to that.

 

[Silk31]

Nolan should take his extra weight and park it on the bench. He still remains soft as baby and now he's subscribing to the Duke big man school of thought which means he takes a charge at any and every opportunity.

I was utterly embarrassed when he flopped and got a blocking call when the Coppin State diminutive PG drove down the lane yesterday. At UConn, our big men are supposed to be paint enforcers not Floppy Divacs

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Nolan should take his extra weight and park it on the bench. He still remains soft as baby and now he's subscribing to the Duke big man school of thought which means he takes a charge at any and every opportunity.

I was utterly embarrassed when he flopped and got a blocking call when the Coppin State diminutive PG drove down the lane yesterday. At UConn, our big men are supposed to be paint enforcers not Floppy Divacs

". . . utterly embarrassed . . . "?

Oh my, that's serious.

 

[The Funster]

Offensively everything he does he's thinking about, there's no natural moves going on there. Robotic and slow which is made worst when there's no explosiveness from the legs. If he just went with jump hooks he'd at least get shots off but he won't finish much unless he's wide open. Yesterday he tried to take a charge on a guy who was dribbling towards the sidelines, it seems to now be a game for him rather than a strategy. He needs to get his head on straight!

This.

I see a kid that is thinking too much. Look, he's never going to be a polished low post presence in college. However, everything indicates that he is a good kid that works hard. A couple of good games back to back and he could be on his way to being part of a solid post rotation.

 

[Catsailor]

Offensively everything he does he's thinking about, there's no natural moves going on there. Robotic and slow which is made worst when there's no explosiveness from the legs. If he just went with jump hooks he'd at least get shots off but he won't finish much unless he's wide open. Yesterday he tried to take a charge on a guy who was dribbling towards the sidelines, it seems to now be a game for him rather than a strategy. He needs to get his head on straight!

Agreed. Problem appears to be between his ears and he's showing more and more frustration in his facial expressions and to a lesser extent body language. He not in AO territory, yet, but it's obviously a concern. We all expected improvement or at least hoped for more (than he's showed) and the team really needs him to be successful against strong comp.

When you think too much, unfortunately reactions slow down.

 

[Cheeky]

We usually have this thread about once per year.
My experience with weight lifting was pretty typical, I thought, of most men in their late teens and 20s. If you're not taking drugs, and you're busting your ass in the weight room for at least an hour a day, 5 days a week, a pound a month of muscle would be an excellent gain. That's 12 pounds a year.
Their is a very widely spread myth that a man can add "15 pounds of muscle in the off season." That's complete horsesh-t, unless you're on steroids. At that rate, you could put on 30 pounds of muscle a year and go from a 160 pound weakling to Arnold sized in 3 years. That's not how it works.

Phil did not - repeat, did not - put on 20 pounds of muscle between April and September. 10 pounds of muscle over that time period would have been a tremendous gain. If he put on 20 pounds, it was mostly fat.

Regarding training for vertical - pretty darn easy, really. Olympic squat athletes all have tremendous vertical.

When I started playing ball, I had about a 24" vertical. Pathetic. After about 4 years of heavy weight training and playing ball, my vertical was about 36". Acceptable. But my squat went from sets at 110 to sets at 300 over those 4 years.

I'm also not a believer that muscles make you slower or bulker or any of that, unless you're Mr. Olympia size. Most 18 year olds with a natural frame, like Phil, would benefit immensely from putting on 25 pounds of muscle, for quickness, vertical, and all of it.

The Florida before and after pics are proof of that - they didn't get slower by getting more muscular.

Phil is Phil.

 

[3rdbass]

I don't think the weight is what is making him so slow to the hoop. He was this way last year, too. Phil just isn't a very good player. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd like to see Lubin get more of Phil's minutes.

I disagree about this. Though he might not have ever been a jumper he has lost lateral quickness since his Freshman year with the added weight. He use to have some pretty fast post moves even though he missed them a lot. LOL. He now is just plain slow and it is painful. As soon as he moves the defense is there. He sucks but he is all we have back there to give AB some minutes so he has to learn to do the dirty work of rebounding better at least.