Not as invincible as thought?

[Jay-Bone]

Conference play is just getting started and the top 4 teams all had difficulty over the last two nights with par competition. A lot can change within a season, development vs experience. And don't count out chemistry and coaching. Don't write us off just yet.

 

[Matrim55]

If we're going to compete with the best teams, then three things need to happen:

1) Everybody stays healthy
2) T-Sam becomes more effective running things in the half-court
3) Rodney, DHam, Omar and occasionally Facey become reliable jump-shooters

We have seen progress on Nos. 2&3. No. 1 is a crapshoot.

 

[ctchamps]

If we're going to compete with the best teams, then three things need to happen:

1) Everybody stays healthy
2) T-Sam becomes more effective running things in the half-court
3) Rodney, DHam, Omar and occasionally Facey become reliable jump-shooters

We have seen progress on Nos. 2&3. No. 1 is a crapshoot.

If UConn gets to the final four this season I'm going to repeat JJ's proclamation last season when he stated he would jog from Hartford to Storrs.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... except I will literally follow suit. I will insist he wears a suit and sit on his back while he repeats the feat. I'm not stupid enough to ever second guess a Uconn team. Not after the past two NC's.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

Love that other guys besides Boat over the last couple of games be "trusted" handling the ball.

If we play like we did the second half of both Florida games......we'll be tough to handle.

Nobody will want to play us in March if we hit our stride.

 

[Leebo]

Who was saying anyone was invincible? Other than maybe people saying UConn would walk away with the conference.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Who was saying anyone was invincible? Other than maybe people saying UConn would walk away with the conference.

Have you not been on the board or ESPN in the last 3 months? Ummmmm, Kentucky? Also threads about the top 4 being top heavy and the top 2 being among the best teams in history. And a poll on ESPN of Kentucky beating the Clippers. Do I have to go on?

 

[SellersElbow]

Have you not been on the board or ESPN in the last 3 months? Ummmmm, Kentucky? Also threads about the top 4 being top heavy and the top 2 being among the best teams in history. And a poll on ESPN of Kentucky beating the Clippers. Do I have to go on?

Yep, the hype machine has been squawking about how the squid's squad is undefeated since before their first game. When a legitimately impressive Dook team gets less salivating over, you know it's bad.

 

[SellersElbow]

3) Rodney, DHam, Omar and occasionally Facey become reliable jump-shooters.

I love the concept of being occasionally reliable. We should all strive to be reliable, occasionally.

 

[OkaForPrez]

I love to hate Kentucky, but it's time to declare them for real. The difference between this years UK and last years is that this team plays very tough defensively and they've added a really efficient freshman point guard in Ulis. Ulis is averaging 5.5 ppg and 4 apg (vs. 1.1 topg) in 20 min on 48% shooting. He's having an impact on UK like Ennis had for Cuse last year but with limited minutes. In fact, I think UK is even scarier if they start giving Ulis the bulk of the minutes at the point. He's got the court presence Harrison doesn't.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I love the concept of being occasionally reliable. We should all strive to be reliable, occasionally.

I've been occasionally reliable most of the time for all of my life, more or less.

 

[Leebo]

Have you not been on the board or ESPN in the last 3 months? Ummmmm, Kentucky? Also threads about the top 4 being top heavy and the top 2 being among the best teams in history. And a poll on ESPN of Kentucky beating the Clippers. Do I have to go on?

Assumed you were talking about AAC conference play when you said "conference play." Misunderstood it.

But yeah, I guess that assumption means I've written off the team from being in the top 25 for the rest of the year. They kind of have to run the table to have a shot at that.

 

[Matrim55]

I love the concept of being occasionally reliable. We should all strive to be reliable, occasionally.

Probably not my best turn of phrase ever.

Let me put it this way: I only want Facey working from the perimeter occasionally. But when he's there, I want him to reliably hit 45% of his jumpers.

The other guys I listed all need to be reliably reliable.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Assumed you were talking about AAC conference play when you said "conference play." Misunderstood it.

But yeah, I guess that assumption means I've written off the team from being in the top 25 for the rest of the year. They kind of have to run the table to have a shot at that.

I was more so referring to the top ranked teams running into challenges right away in their conference play against teams considered to be to the middle/back half of their respective conferences. I wasn't really eluding to Uconn other than the fact that we can possibly gel and beat these teams. But yes, Uconn really has their work cut out before thinking of making a run in the tourney. This quote above says it best. "I'm not stupid enough to ever second guess a Uconn team." College basketball has become very mercurial in the last decade. The dominant players leave before they even become experienced. Anything can happen. This past week convinced me that the top tier teams are not infallible. Kentucky and Duke will rise quickly as the season goes on, but they are still predominantly freshmen, and we know freshmen make mistakes. Ever since Chris Webber. As much as I love D-Ham, one of him is enough face palms for me.

 

[RichZ]

Probably not my best turn of phrase ever.

Let me put it this way: I only want Facey working from the perimeter occasionally. But when he's there, I want him to reliably hit 45% of his jumpers.

Still illogical. If he is hitting 45% of his jumpers, why would you only want to take advantage of it occasionally? If anyone on this team is hitting 45% from outside, he should be shooting it a lot. Yes, we need KF inside. But if he's hitting from the outside, moving him out there more than just occasionally will draw a big away from the paint and open things up for Amida more. And allow DHam to cut inside more. Theoretically into less traffic, which could only help his turnover rate, which right now is his most glaring flaw.

FWIW, Facey is currently 2nd to Amida in FG% on the team. Obviously that includes dunks and putbacks, but I'd be surprised if his % on his limited sample of jumpers from inside the 3pt line isn't a decent number right now. My only problem with letting him shoot more from the outside is that he's far and away our best offensive rebounder. Surprisingly, after him and Amida, our next best on the O boards is TSam.

I think that last fact speaks to a need you didn't address. DHam needs to be more active on the O Boards (Last year, both NG and DD proved that being a perimeter player does not preclude you from being a reasonably effective offensive rebounder). He also needs to improve his handle a lot, as he leads the team in TOs. Nearly 3 times the rate (once every 10 minutes of PT) as Facey (once every 29.9 minutes). Obviously, he has the ball in his hands more per minute of PT than Kentan, but logically, the guys who handle it more need to be the ones with the best handles.

 

[jibsey]

Thought the thread title was referring to Kentucky, especially after seeing them play Mississippi the other day. If you watch ESPN it's all over except the trophy presentation and the confetti. UCONN doesn't get mentioned as even a fringe possibility for any damage this year but based on our season so far, no argument with that.

 

[Matrim55]

Still illogical. If he is hitting 45% of his jumpers, why would you only want to take advantage of it occasionally? If anyone on this team is hitting 45% from outside, he should be shooting it a lot.

Not necessarily. As volume increases, shooting percentages tend to go down for all but elite shooters.

Facey has a smooth motion and high release, but he is not elite. Right now he takes about two jumpers a game; more than that, and chances are he'll see his percentage fall off pretty steeply. And then, as you say, we've got no particularly good offensive rebounder there to help clean up the mess.

The point with regard to Facey's perimeter play is that he has to be confident and reliable in knocking down 18 footers on those occasions where the extra pass is made and he has time to square up. So far, that looks promising. But even if he hits 45% of those shots, he's not yet skilled enough as a shooter or straight-line driver to be a true stretch 4 in the way DeAndre was last year.

 

[Bryan Lord]

invincible? more like invisible.