[QUOTE="dwalks93, post: 1579980, member: 5598"
Last night in the Tulsa game the biggest baskets down the stretch were made by Dham (2 back to back 3 points), and a runner by Purvis. Those big baskets need to be made by your point guard if you want to succeed on a regular basis. There is a reason Walker, Napier and Boatright are UConn legends. On the other hand, Gibbs missed a layup and missed several wide open teammates for break away layups down the stretch. It almost appeared Gibbs was more interested in getting to foul line than he was facilitating for teammates. Perhaps that is a little unfair as Gibbs is a very good free-throw shooter but he even misses some of those key free throws when they count the most.
Right now UConn lacks a mental toughness and going into the Tulsa game its confidence was shattered. The good news is UConn did enough last night to win. They held off a streaking Tulsa team in the second half and got the win. UConn's play may have left a lot to be desired down the stretch but UConn did accomplish what it could not against Temple, it found a way to win. Hopefully we can build on it but if we are going to do something in the tournament UConn needs a leader at the guard position.
I disagree in part. Purvis hit a huge 3 last night. Hamilton hit 2 but has killed us so many games before. Adams is a mixed bag. His supporters ignore his weaknesses, but last night he came in and immediately botched two plays
You are generalizing based on their performance last night. And how many big free throws has Gibbs missed? One yesterday and few in totality.
Generally, at crunch time the ball is shared by DHam and Gibbs with lousy results. Of our guards and Ham, Gibbs is least likely to hand the ball to the opposition. He does nothing with it, though and we end up with a shot clock violation or a horrible late shot with a lame attempt to draw a foul. In my memory, for the past 2 months, DHam has been even more consistently horrible at crunch time (excepting last night). So, less Gibbs at those times, yes. But less DHam too.
We can hope Adams plusses outweigh his minuses. We can give it to Rodney and hope he doesn't turn it over and he does hit his free throws. But I think we need to get the ball to the one tough-nosed player we have. To the one guy who can create in the paint. Shonn Miller The more panicked our perimeter players are, the less they think of going inside, and the more we should[/QUOTE]
I agree with you that our best, most consistent player is Miller. He is the least likely to make a poor decision and has the highest basketball IQ on the team. Miller looks and plays like a 5th year senior and he should be our #1 option in crunch time.
The problem becomes, when UConn is trying to bleed the clock, the offense runs through the guards. It is very hard to run the clock down to under 10 seconds and then successfully throw an entry pass into Miller. Also it seems like teams lock down on Miller at end of the games. To make matters worse Brimah and Nolan always seem to be foul trouble so Miller is forced to play purely inside. I agree with you Miller should be the 1st option but inside players can't close a game the way a guard can.
UConn struggles to finish games because UConn struggles at PG. UConn does not have a guard who can run down the clock to 8 seconds and then break down a defense on his own. Miller is an excellent player but he doesn't have the ball in his hands at the end of shot clocks.
BTW Yesterday was not the first time Gibbs missed free throws in crunch time. Gibbs shoots a much higher free throw % before crunch time. Of all the UConn players I'd still want Gibbs at the line in crunch time but it is not the same "done deal" as we've had with Napier and Boatright.
I am not bashing Gibbs, only saying he is not a PG and he is by necessity playing out of position. The difference between yesterday and other games we've lost is Dham made some big shots. That said, I'd agree he is probably more likely to force bad shots than drain game winners. Dham like Gibbs is trying to fill the PG role at the end of games and that is not his position.
