Omar Calhoun is a terrific offense of player...

[Gurleyman]

The stat line I see is 4 minutes, 3 shots. 3 misses. 0 rebounds. 0 steals. 0 assists. 0 blocks.

I would love to get 8 minutes, 1 shot, 1 rebound and 1 steal or assist a game from Calhoun.

Looking for exact stat lines is backwards. You need to look at how the game develops and the reads/decisions. If you get three open looks and shoot three times, hey fine. If you take one shot in 8 minutes, but it is under heavy defensive pressure because you decide you need to get a shot up, that's not fine.

He would have had an assist if Boat hit the wide open 3 he gave him. If he split the bounces and went 1-2, and got a call on his drive, he might have had a pretty efficient shift. Of course, ifs and buts, candy and nuts and all that - the stat line is what it is. But I have seen him make lousy decisions driving when there was nowhere to go and rushing shots when he wasn't open, so his approach is good - the results still aren't. And we do need some results soon if he's going to be in the postseason rotation.

I think you can argue that he should have been less aggressive on the drive and perhaps just reversed the ball. The lane did open up and help did not rotate between him and the basket, and he went strong, so all of the reads and decisions were pretty good. I thought he was fouled live, but I could be wrong. He didn't go soft like DD did a couple times (or Bazz, even) so I didn't mind the attempt.

 

[ChrisSmith]

That's funny because I think the people who post the snarky, assholish posts about our players ("Omar is a terrific offensive player... for Cincinnati" HAHAHAHAHHAH so funny bro) after every single game win or lose, nevermind a win over #11 Cincy, are the worst kind of message board posters out there. Message board warriors with incomplete information who, worst of all, are convinced they know everything.

What if Ollie is telling him to go out there and shoot every time he's open? Should he do it, or should he do what you say, to play like Samuel? Well, you and I have no idea what Calhoun is being coached to do, so to make definitive statements about how he should play like Samuel is silly.

My post was actually during the game, not after it. The point was that UConn was doing a spectacular job on D, Calhoun came in, missed 3 shots and two of them lead to Cincinnati baskets. Bad shots often lead to good opportunities for the other team.

If that's what Calhoun is being coached to do, I think it's bad coaching. When your shot isn't falling, do something else to help your team win.

 

[mauconnfan]

See, I don't think that's well said at all. Denham was struggling his sophomore year and got benched for Rashad, but we don't beat Duke without him hitting a couple big shots late in the first half to keep us in striking distance. Albie had a knee injury as a sophomore late in the year and started struggling, but he gave us separation against Iowa with a couple big second half threes. Over the course of a long postseason run, you need guys to step up at different times. Who knows what the halftime score would have been against Butler if Beverly and Okwandu didn't hold the fort defensively while we couldn't score with our key guys in foul trouble?

Samuel has played well and deserved his second half minutes today and deserves minutes going forward. But looking ahead, we already have a non-offensive threat at the 5, so Samuel being in there leaves us vulnerable to junk defenses on Bazz. A mediocre OC at least can pull defenders out, if we can somehow get him built back up to mediocre. Samuel spotting up in March won't draw defenders. There may be more days like today when Samuel is a much better option with his D and hustle, and there may be a day when we need to look for a perimeter shooter against packed in defenses (such as what Stanford did to us with their zone). Having more arrows in the quiver gives you a chance to make adjustments.

If you bail on him entirely, you'll never have that option. If you give him spot minutes now, you can keep him mentally engaged and feel like there's a point to the extra work in practice. If as a team, you can't overcome a missed shot or two in the first half, you have bigger problems or you're just looking for a scapegoat.

That said, If OC doesn't have a game soon where he knocks down a couple, we may have to just shorten our rotation in the postseason and leave him out unless we are totally desperate and have nothing to lose. But for now, it behooves us to try to get him going.

Soon? We have 2 games left Gurley, I'm a patient guy but 29 games in tells me all I need to know. See i do not have a problem at all with him taking a shot, the one's he took today were all fine. He just doesn't make anything and while people contend his defense is improved it's still a huge liability compared to those who can take his minutes. Cincy's biggest run was with OC in the game. I'm not bailing on him, that's what people don't understand, his game bailed on him this year. Damn I hope he comes in and you guys send me crow dinners like mad, but my guess is moving forward we have a much better chance of surviving and advancing w/o his minutes. I hope to dear God I am wrong and you guys ring me up……….as of now though I have more proof than you guys that's for sure! And I'm not trying to win anything, I love you guys!