Over the past two days UConn has looked young and inexperienced for the most part | The Boneyard

Over the past two days UConn has looked young and inexperienced for the most part

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Napier, who had a bad game yesterday, played with poise. He hit some big time shots and had some nifty dribble drives as well.

AD played very well, though has a ways to go. He was a beast around the rim, but needs to box out better. Let guys slither through, giving up way too many offensive rebounds. He's a typical big who didn't need to box out in HS to pull down 20 RBs, but will need to do so to pull down double digit at this level. That baseline move of his in the first half was big time. Want to see more of that. In fact, they need to run more plays where they back-screen and free our bigs for back side dunks and ally-oops. Not nearly enough of those for a team with this size and length. Way too much high screening for our guards. Yeah, we're very strong at the perimeter, but more balance is needed. Teams will adjust if they see the same play over and over again. Mix it up more, and get the ball to our long wings and bigs around the baseline to about 6 feet out. Just my opinion.

Boatright was very good for his first game. Imagine how good he would have looked with 5 games under his belt. He showed confidence beyond his years driving the ball and knocking down those 3 huge FTs to get them to OT. I've said all along he's the most important newcomer. I think the half-court offense will improve as he becomes more part of the rotation.

Lamb was MIA during much of the game. I think FSU's quickness on the perimeter snuffed him out some. He might be slowed a tad by a bad wheel. FSU did a great job of not allowing our guards to turn the corner at the top of the key and get into the paint.

Transition offense has been MIA most of this early season. I'd like to see them run a tad more. Now that they have more backcourt depth with RB, I'd also like to see them push the ball up the court and try to score early before the D is set. They get way too many bad shots as the clock is running out for my taste. I'm not saying they should jack up quick shots all the time, but to push it and get into the paint and take open floaters, dump down to our bigs who run the floor or kick it out for wide open 3s. If they don't have a good look, pull it out and then run their stuff. I just don't like it when they bring it up slowly and then passively do the windshield wiper offense and then get off a bad shot with the clock running out. IMO, this tactic will give them more good looks for the time being, and can be phased down once their halfcourt offense begins to improve and create good looks, which it hasn't been doing very often.

As for the rest, not so good.

Olander played hard but shot the ball poorly and had a bucket full of TOs.

Alex has been MIA for weeks now. Someone needs to help him get back on track.

Roscoe shows a lot of energy on D, but has lost some confidence in his offense the past two games, after showing some life in the prior ones.

Daniels seems to struggle in tight games, which is common for young players. Hopefully it's just a mini-wall he's hitting now and will gain confidence with his J and dribble penetration. He's shown us what he's capable of doing. Just needs to settle down and take what the D gives him. He also needs to be a little more assertive, though selectively. Don't try to do too much, especially when there are so many good scoring options on the floor. That has not been his problem. His problem at times is simply catching the ball and passing it back and being a non-entity out there. This is something that will come with time.

No Giffey. Surprised he didn't get some time, but the addition of Boatright, where JC goes to the 3G-Set (+ Bazz & Lamb) likely cut into much of his PT.

We often forget that many of these players were primary options on their HS teams. It's not easy to figure out their role, as in when to catch and shoot, when to drive, when to pass, etc. If they look too much for their offense, they'll find themselves quickly on the bench, but if they play too passively, the same outcome. They need to pick their spots and convert some of them. Today the role players couldn't seem to convert, putting much of the scoring on the shoulders of too few.

This team will look a lot better in January and February than they do now, though expect a bump in the road when the begin to face BE competition.

I like our team, but boy did their half-court D look bad at times. Lots of room for progress, but I'm not worried. They're young and talented. They just need time.
 
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"This team will look a lot better in January and February than they do now"
This is still a very young team and the players with experience are adjusting to new roles and new teamates. Our youth is going to cost us some games but I agree, we'll be a lot better late in the season.
Shabazz is also going to get a lot better with Boatright providing a breather. We are asking Shabazz to run the team, break the press, guard the opponents PG and score 15+ ppg and that is a lot to ask of a sophmore replacing the best guard in the country. I like this team a lot.
 
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DM- you are spot on. I would include all the games in the title of this post.

I am still looking forward to watching this team come together- we have not looked like a top ten team yet but it does look all the pieces to be a FF caliber team.

On a side note- while UNC, Kensucky,OSU and even Cuse have looked good- I am less impressed with the idea that there are" super teams"this year.

We have a long way to go - and are most certainly DOOMED!!!!!!
 
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Cuse did struggle with Stanford yesterday.. but yeah, UNC,UK and OSU have looked pretty good.
 
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Agreed we are not clicking on all cylinders yet. Also this may be what we thought would be the 'after Kemba' effect. Roscoe and Alex are not in last year's form. New pieces and a whole lot of youth. We just need time, this was not an easy game and could have gone either way. They showed a lot of heart to pull this out, that's a good sign.
 
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People forget-This is still a very young team. We have one upper class man on this team and he has not played like one thus far. Despite the fact that these young kids played so many pressure packed games this year, they look like the little boy learning to ride the bike without the training wheels (kemba) at times. Shabazz has his moments, he also has his moments where you're left scraching your heaad. I'd say overall he played a good game today despite the six turnovers.

Lamb had a very quiet 19 points on just 9 shots, but you're right in saying he was MIA at points. He, like Shabazz, is going to have to take better care of the basketball. You don't want your two guards turning the ball over ten times. In the future I would like us to make a more concerted effort to get Lamb the ball on the wing. That's where he does most of his damage, not at the top of the key.

Drummond and Boatright were both outstanding. I knew Boatright had a lot of talent, but to come in and penetrate the lane at will in your first college game against one of the best defenses in the nation? Wow. And don't get me started on the three free throws he drained at the end.

Oriakhi put up a concerning line of 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals, and 0 assists in ten minutes. He also turned it over. That won't be earning you any more minutes big guy.

Defense was bad at times in the second half, but they got stops when they needed them. One of those, "take the win and get out of there" games, but overall I think the team is going to be a lot better leaving the Bahamas than they were coming in, and that's what you want out of pre-season tournaments.
 
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People forget-This is still a very young team. We have one upper class man on this team and he has not played like one thus far. Despite the fact that these young kids played so many pressure packed games this year, they look like the little boy learning to ride the bike without the training wheels (kemba) at times. Shabazz has his moments, he also has his moments where you're left scraching your heaad. I'd say overall he played a good game today despite the six turnovers.

Lamb had a very quiet 19 points on just 9 shots, but you're right in saying he was MIA at points. He, like Shabazz, is going to have to take better care of the basketball. You don't want your two guards turning the ball over ten times. In the future I would like us to make a more concerted effort to get Lamb the ball on the wing. That's where he does most of his damage, not at the top of the key.

Drummond and Boatright were both outstanding. I knew Boatright had a lot of talent, but to come in and penetrate the lane at will in your first college game against one of the best defenses in the nation? Wow. And don't get me started on the three free throws he drained at the end.

Oriakhi put up a concerning line of 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 blocks, 0 steals, and 0 assists in ten minutes. He also turned it over. That won't be earning you any more minutes big guy.

Defense was bad at times in the second half, but they got stops when they needed them. One of those, "take the win and get out of there" games, but overall I think the team is going to be a lot better leaving the Bahamas than they were coming in, and that's what you want out of pre-season tournaments.
Interesting you mentioned that (in red) Champs. I posted a few games ago that Lamb struggles when he has the ball at the top of the key and doesn't seem to be able to take his man off the dribble. I'm still not sure if it's a matter of confidence or a lack of a quick first step which sure helps. He's best when he receives the ball at the elbow with a little head of steam in attacking the paint. I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to think that it's a lack of a quick first step to gain an edge to get by his man. You either have to be quick or strong, or both, to break down the defender from the top. He just doesn't seem quick enough to get by his man and beat the weakside help from straight on. I hope he proves me wrong. Keep in mind that FSU is a very good defensive perimeter team, though he struggled a bit with this against UCF.

He's not been very good on D lately either, something he tightened up late last season. I wonder if his leg injury is the problem and he's lacking that extra burst. He's still a very skilled offensive player. Maybe JC needs to find better ways to facilitate his scoring. With the addition of Boatright, Lamb now has two players who can initiate the offense from the top who can get the ball to Lamb from the wing.
 
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Cuse did struggle with Stanford yesterday.. but yeah, UNC,UK and OSU have looked pretty good.
You and Scot-e must have jinxed UNC. UNLV just took them down.
 
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I don't think Calhoun had this team's full attention and commitment until now. As a result, their progress was not proceeding at the pace JC wanted. Boatwright's absence and a weak schedule may have played a role. Now they have a week before their next game so I think you'll see a significant leap forward. They'll probably run more, and the defense will be more focused and aggressive. Offensively, they'll not only run more, but we'll see a lot more assisted baskets.
 
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Lamb is most effective at the elbow/wing AND on the baseline.

Late last year he became very effective at running through baseline screens to free up a 15-18 foot shot. Further, many times he would be able to catch the ball on the baseline and penetrate for his little floater. I really would like to run Lamb on the baseline more because I think that will help with overall spacing and ball movement as that area is generally under utilized.
 
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Interesting you mentioned that (in red) Champs. I posted a few games ago that Lamb struggles when he has the ball at the top of the key and doesn't seem to be able to take his man off the dribble. I'm still not sure if it's a matter of confidence or a lack of a quick first step which sure helps. He's best when he receives the ball at the elbow with a little head of steam in attacking the paint. I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to think that it's a lack of a quick first step to gain an edge to get by his man. You either have to be quick or strong, or both, to break down the defender from the top. He just doesn't seem quick enough to get by his man and beat the weakside help from straight on. I hope he proves me wrong. Keep in mind that FSU is a very good defensive perimeter team, though he struggled a bit with this against UCF.

He's not been very good on D lately either, something he tightened up late last season. I wonder if his leg injury is the problem and he's lacking that extra burst. He's still a very skilled offensive player. Maybe JC needs to find better ways to facilitate his scoring. With the addition of Boatright, Lamb now has two players who can initiate the offense from the top who can get the ball to Lamb from the wing.

I watched a lot of Lamb's games for the US team this summer and he did a lot of his penetrating from the top of the key. Might simply be different defenses or players slower afoot on the world teams (as difficult as that is to believe) or it could be Lamb was playing with All-Stars so the opposition wasn't keying on him as much.
 
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I'm more concerned about the defensive intensity.
We saw it at the very end of the game against FSU but it seemed non-existent until then.
The offense takes a while to come together and that's perfectly fine, but certainly you'd like to see more effort from the defense.

I also want to see Tyler and Andre put the ball back up right away on offensive rebounds rather than dribbling once or twice.
 
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I'm more concerned about the defensive intensity.
We saw it at the very end of the game against FSU but it seemed non-existent until then.
The offense takes a while to come together and that's perfectly fine, but certainly you'd like to see more effort from the defense.

I also want to see Tyler and Andre put the ball back up right away on offensive rebounds rather than dribbling once or twice.

Agreed upstater.............way too many times seeing Jeremy and Shabazz's guys getting by them and then they try to flip it from behind. Never a good sign for defensive effort!!
 
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I had hoped Shabazz had learned from letting Siva kill him off the dribble last year. I guess not yet.
 
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