Oriakhi just may be....

[huskyniner]

Is Oriakhi becoming the new Dyson? I seriously hope not.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The difference is that Oriakhi has won a tournament game.

I kid, I kid.

 

[Gurleyman]

Also, Gurleyman somehow seems to suit you.

I thought about something with Horsebarn Hill, since I went sledding there as a kid, but I felt like I'd be ripping off Citizen Kane.

I forgot about that re-writing of history. Shame on Joyce for trying to re-write it and somehow give Syracuse credit for Miami's win. Props to the Hurricanes, of course. They beat us fair and square.

 

[mauconnfan]

alex was okay today - his effort was much much better no doubt. Having said that fundamentals still missing didn't put a body on anyone when he had postition for a board, especially weakside a few times. His hands are awful and seemingly worst today which is the reason he came down with a rebound by the waist and was tied up by the big dude from Arkansas. The post move when he turned and faced and got tied up again was way too robotic.........but hey baby steps people. He played hard, would've had 20 boards with hands but they will never be there. Need him backfull of confidence soon!

 

[huskyharry]

Soft is the wrong word for him. He doesn't mind throwing his body around, and he's going to have days when he dominates the middle. If he has a consistent fault, it's that he just doesn't seem to be instinctual enough - if there's a deflection on a loose ball or a crazy carom, it's usually not going to end up in his hands. He did not miss his calling as a hockey goalie. Similarly, if his first move is taken away on offense, he tends to just stick with that first move and throw something at the rim through the defender.

Right! He is definitely not soft...he is a bull of a kid and not afraid to mix it up and he showed a lot of,good,things out there today. However, he did struggle (not the only one btw)in catching the ball, snatching rebounds, bringing the ball down low so the opponent can grab it and being out of position (timing off on his jumps leaving him out of balance and unable to box out for proper position)...step forward today IMO for AO...keep it up!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

When did it become OK to call out productive players on the team? This is one of the worst threads I have seen on this board.

 

[UCHuskies08]

When did it become OK to call out productive players on the team? This is one of the worst threads I have seen on this board.

The internet is proving UConn fans to be idiots in general. People are shit talking Drummond on twitter as soon as the game is over.

I bet Sammydabiz is one of them.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Sorry. Anyone who has averaged nearly 10 rpg is not soft. Adrien averaged .1 rpg more his sophomore year than did AO (9.6 as a sophomore for AO, 9.7 for JA). The issue is his struggle on offense.

FWIW, I thought Jeff Adrien had soft hands too...but he was a different player than Oriakhi in many aspects. Plus, physically, his hands were much smaller. I thought that Adrien played above his ability for his bodily characteristics. On the other hand, I don't think Oriakhi is. I didn't watch the whole game (traveling back from the Cincy/UConn football game) but the second half, I just saw us get dominanted on the offensive board.

Yes, some of the offensive boards were from ridiculous bounces off the rim, but there were a few series where UConn as a team just did not box out. I'm really not sure how 2-3 Arkansas players were able to get under the rim with position for some of those rebounds. It doesn't make sense.

As far as AO getting angry - that typically leads to technicals. And regardless of how soft he is, we don't really have much depth at the post - so I'd rather him not get T'd up if it puts him on the bench or renders him even more useless in the game (playing it safe.)

I'm not sure that it's about AO being soft anymore. I just think his basketball IQ is pretty low. Maybe not in terms of what we've seen from him in his best games - but in a lot of these games, he has problems with boxing out, or learning when (not) to take the shot. Some games he's been brilliant, but I think more often than not, we are underwhelmed by his performances. We know he's extremely talented - but can he effectively turn that talent into results?

As of right now, Alex Oriakhi will not make it into the NBA. He may get picked up by a D-league team or get a late 2nd round pick his senior year based on his physical attributes - but at this point, it appears he may go the Stix route.

 

[61cygni]

Is this serious. Any and every UConn National Champion gets a pass.

Soft =/= inconsistent. And calling him a "bitch" is just ridiculous.

 

[NHUConnfan]

If this is what you think of Alex I would love to hear what you think of Tyler O. Please tell.

I think the general thing is that with Ty, we can physically see the effort. Let's be honest, Tyler is physically awkward. He just isn't your prototype player who makes it into the NBA. Yet, it is plain obvious to see that Tyler put in great effort this summer to be better - make smarter plays. At least now we can get many serviceable minutes from Ty. He's improved so much from last season.

On the other hand, many NBA scouts have fawned over Alex's physical attributes. And definitely in some games, when we've seen Alex put in 110%, he's been freaking unstoppable. While we don't expect that every game, those games are few and far between. He should just be dominating some of these smaller teams and he quite frankly isn't.

So while they're putting down similar statistics (and dare I say Tyler has been playing better this year?) there are contrasting observations of their talents and physical gifts.

 

[caw]

I maintain Alex did not seem to be getting off the floor as well as last year. No clue if he has a tweak, but something looks off physically.

I also don't get why people are ripping because he had one rebound tied up. It's not like it was due to bad hands or bad positioning. He just swung the ball the wrong way. Heck he didn't even get the ball pulled out of his hands. Dude tight him up and had to fall to the ground to loosen the ball from AO's grip on that play.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Wow, I just looked at the box score. Like I said, I missed the first half of the game. I'm not sure what happened but I was glad to see UConn up and playing well (thanks to Boatright.) But after looking at the box score, someone is really going to have to explain this to me...

23 offensive rebounds for Arkansas

Really????! 23 rebounds by itself is a lot.

 

[UCHuskies08]

Wow, I just looked at the box score. Like I said, I missed the first half of the game. I'm not sure what happened but I was glad to see UConn up and playing well (thanks to Boatright.) But after looking at the box score, someone is really going to have to explain this to me...

23 offensive rebounds for Arkansas

Really????! 23 rebounds by itself is a lot.

And yet they had 12 second chance points.

 

[NHUConnfan]

And yet they had 12 second chance points.

Yes, and we won the game. I'm just saying - that number will be on the bulletin board tomorrow during their practice. That number is unacceptable when we actually play teams with talent.

 

[UCHuskies08]

This same happens every year, and people freak out about it, every year.

 

[NHUConnfan]

This same **** happens every year, and people freak out about it, every year.

If you mean last year by every year, then yes. But I seem to recall that UConn had some excellent rebounding teams prior to 2009.

I also guarantee that you would not be saying this if UConn didn't win the championship last year.

I'm not sure what's up with you UCHuskies08 - but your posts have been a bit more polemic than usual.

 

[UCHuskies08]

I feel like we've had games here and there throughout the years where we get killed on the boards, yet still win. Has a lot to do with how many shots we try to block, I'd think.

 

[NHUConnfan]

I feel like we've had games here and there throughout the years where we get killed on the boards, yet still win. Has a lot to do with how many shots we try to block, I'd think.

Surely it factors in the equation somewhat, but I do think that for the bits and pieces I saw that UConn had trouble getting in position. That's all.

Anyway, I need to call it a night.

 

[Northbound]

Good god, I hope to hell other teams fans to actually start looking at the board outside of the threads that concern their teams or this fan base would be outed as the dumbest around. Between that idiotic Drummond is a bust thread and this thread....to name just two recent examples of blatant stupidity, I'm wondering if these numb nuts have any historical perspective on the game, UCONN hoops, the trajectory of player development and the ebbs and flows in that equation, the difference between HS and top tier college basketball.

It's is actually possible to take a step forward and then take a step back, it's also possible that the dudes on the other team which also happen to be on scholarship (so it's likely they're a little bit better than your run of the mill HS player) have a skill set that negates AO, AD, TO, RS, etc. skill set. It's also possible for any player to be out of position resulting in results that are less than ideal, that's not softness, it may be a result of lack of quickness, forethought, game feel, and just thinking too much, etc., but not softness.

There should be a warning on here for all our sakes, take a breath before you post, have a point and be able to articulate how you arrived at the your point of view that doesn't include "when I'm playing my college basketball video game I can always get the rebound", or be doomed to the idiot pile forever.

The internet is proving UConn fans to be idiots in general. People are shit talking Drummond on twitter as soon as the game is over.

I bet Sammydabiz is one of them.

 

[Waquoit]

I maintain Alex did not seem to be getting off the floor as well as last year. No clue if he has a tweak, but something looks off physically.

Before the start of the 2nd half I noticed a player laying on the floor face down with a trainer doing a stretch I hadn't seen before. The knees were bent and out on an angle, kind of like a breaststroke kick. The trainer was gently pulling the legs by the ankles back toward the body. Turned out to be AO. So he might have something going on with his back or hammy's or something.

 

[Tenspro2002]

There are a few traits, physical and mental, working to Alex's detriment:

- Stone hands; his hands aren't good enough to snatch the ball out of the air at its highest point, which leads to him having to catch/cradle it against his body on rebounds -- this contributed to him getting tied up on that one play, also hurts his offense, getting stripped or unable to secure passes in traffic

- His documented relatively weak lower body; he doesn't get great power into his jump, which prevents him from going as strongly to the rim as we'd like to see out of a big man, and may also hinder his rebounding

- Modest BB IQ; he ends up out of position (e.g. rebounds falling to guys right behind or beside him, getting turned around/sideways on defense) which leads to easy and-1's, still makes some boneheaded shot-block attempts which result either in goaltending or in vacating the weak side for an offensive rebound

- Tendency to get frustrated and down on himself due to the above factors

I wouldn't characterize any of these things as being "soft" or unwilling to mix it up. He's a great kid and the sort of person you want to root for, but can be frustrating as a fan or teammate (we've all played with guys like this).

 

[Scot-e]

He is averaging almost a DD a game with limited minutes. I mean we are really getting knit picky here.

 

[jleves]

He is averaging almost a DD a game with limited minutes. I mean we are really getting knit picky here.

While I agree that the original post is over the top, he isn't close to a double double. He's not really close to a single double yet.

 

[HistoryMajor]

sammydabiz said: ↑

the softest Big Man . . . blah blah blah​

Sammy - I was tempted to give you the same response as Prez but decided to be more civil. Suggest you go troll somewhere else.

 

[ctchamps]

Good god, I hope to hell other teams fans to actually start looking at the board outside of the threads that concern their teams or this fan base would be outed as the dumbest around. Between that idiotic Drummond is a bust thread and this thread....to name just two recent examples of blatant stupidity, I'm wondering if these numb nuts have any historical perspective on the game, UCONN hoops, the trajectory of player development and the ebbs and flows in that equation, the difference between HS and top tier college basketball.

It's is actually possible to take a step forward and then take a step back, it's also possible that the dudes on the other team which also happen to be on scholarship (so it's likely they're a little bit better than your run of the mill HS player) have a skill set that negates AO, AD, TO, RS, etc. skill set. It's also possible for any player to be out of position resulting in results that are less than ideal, that's not softness, it may be a result of lack of quickness, forethought, game feel, and just thinking too much, etc., but not softness.

There should be a warning on here for all our sakes, take a breath before you post, have a point and be able to articulate how you arrived at the your point of view that doesn't include "when I'm playing my college basketball video game I can always get the rebound", or be doomed to the idiot pile forever.

I like this post. The only thing I would add is that UConn does not have a monopoly on over the top, off the wall comments about teams and players. I bet it exists everywhere and goes back before the Greeks started the Olympics.