Pare Down Rotation To Gain Rhythm

[Chin Diesel]

Painfully obvious to all who watched this week's debacle is that these Huskies have no idea how to play with each other as a team. And that wasn't unexpected with all the newcomers.
In years past the first part of the season was used to develop depth and work rotations.

This year isn't the year to do it with the front loaded schedule. Team needs to focus on an 8 man rotation in practice and get things moving. The team was off with their timing on passing, defensive assignments were atrocious and offense was slllooowwww. There is enough talent for this team to win, but this isn't youth rec ball. Coaches have to get a "team" out there soon.

Here's what I'd do:

Guards (4)- Adams, Vital, Gilbert and Anderson. Need all four available since it looks like a 3 guard line up will be used significantly and UConn needs to adapt on one play's notice if Gilbert gets re-injured. Anderson is the big wild card since he looked frantic running all over the place.
Wings (2)- Larrier and 1/2 Polley. Larrier, good/bad/otherwise, and right now it looks like he is all 3, is going to get minutes. Getting him to learn where and when in the offensive sets to score, is the #1 priority the next month. Team literally cannot win with him playing like he did against Providence. He needs relief and Polley looked better than Whaley. Compressed timeline choices have to be made. Polley it is.
Bigs (2)- Carlton and Cobb. Both looked the part and showed good hands and court awareness. Even shot FT's decently. The other half of Polley goes here for a very small lineup.
So Sad, Wait Your Turn (4)- Whaley, Williams and Diarra. Someone has to sit it out early on for chemistry and these three are out for now. Out of all the bigs and wings that played, they looked like they had the furthest to go. Onourah didn't play so he goes there for now as well. If he plays well in exhibitions he becomes the 9th man in the rotation.

 

[businesslawyer]

You know you just actually typed "pare down rotation" while we're still in the preseason? Sheesh. That may be the first time those words were ever said on October 27.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You know you just actually typed "pare down rotation" while we're still in the preseason? Sheesh. That may be the first time those words were ever said on October 27.

Hell, we aren't even in the pre-season. The PC "game" wasn't even supposed to happen. It was a one time thing the NCAA allowed. We haven't had our first preseason game yet. Remember the old Marathon Oil games?

 

[Chin Diesel]

You know you just actually typed "pare down rotation" while we're still in the preseason? Sheesh. That may be the first time those words were ever said on October 27.

Hell, we aren't even in the pre-season. The PC "game" wasn't even supposed to happen. It was a one time thing the NCAA allowed. We haven't had our first preseason game yet. Remember the old Marathon Oil games?

Yep. Need to find a core group of players that will become a team. UConn isn't Kentucky where the norm is have 10 players randomly on the court and calling it a team. The talent level on this roster is good, but there isn't enough time to screw around with rotations in practice and learn.

Normally, I'm comfortable being shaky to start the season and build for the post season. After last season's performance and this season's early schedule, I'd build differently.

I'd say it was similar to what Edsall said he needed to do with QB this preseason. Make a decision and give that player the snaps with the 1's on offense (Okay, he made a really bad choice, but I know he made the correct percentage call).

 

[selles]

Painfully obvious to all who watched this week's debacle is that these Huskies have no idea how to play with each other as a team. And that wasn't unexpected with all the newcomers.
In years past the first part of the season was used to develop depth and work rotations.

This year isn't the year to do it with the front loaded schedule. Team needs to focus on an 8 man rotation in practice and get things moving. The team was off with their timing on passing, defensive assignments were atrocious and offense was slllooowwww. There is enough talent for this team to win, but this isn't youth rec ball. Coaches have to get a "team" out there soon.

Here's what I'd do:

Guards (4)- Adams, Vital, Gilbert and Anderson. Need all four available since it looks like a 3 guard line up will be used significantly and UConn needs to adapt on one play's notice if Gilbert gets re-injured. Anderson is the big wild card since he looked frantic running all over the place.
Wings (2)- Larrier and 1/2 Polley. Larrier, good/bad/otherwise, and right now it looks like he is all 3, is going to get minutes. Getting him to learn where and when in the offensive sets to score, is the #1 priority the next month. Team literally cannot win with him playing like he did against Providence. He needs relief and Polley looked better than Whaley. Compressed timeline choices have to be made. Polley it is.
Bigs (2)- Carlton and Cobb. Both looked the part and showed good hands and court awareness. Even shot FT's decently. The other half of Polley goes here for a very small lineup.
So Sad, Wait Your Turn (4)- Whaley, Williams and Diarra. Someone has to sit it out early on for chemistry and these three are out for now. Out of all the bigs and wings that played, they looked like they had the furthest to go. Onourah didn't play so he goes there for now as well. If he plays well in exhibitions he becomes the 9th man in the rotation.

I understand your logic and don't think it's crazy, but I don't think we're going to have the luxury of taking bigs out of the rotation. With so many young guys foul trouble is going to be an issue and we're going to need all (or almost all) of them. Especially early in the season.

 

[pj]

This is totally wrongheaded. We have no idea who will emerge as the top PF among Whaley, Diarra, and Williams, but you don’t even give those playing time.

 

[upstater]

Whaley is a human pogo stick and might emerge into a major asset. And soon.

While I understand the urgency, does anyone expect these guys to be huge assets on offense? I'm expecting little offense from Polley, Whaley and Diarra. So, I don't see why the PF position needs to be pared down.

I'd actually prefer to see the 3 top guards get 99% of the minutes there, with Whaley and Diarra battling at the 4 for playing time, and also Whaley playing the middle at times in the game.

 

[jibsey]

Don't know if anyone noticed but with the 3 guard lineup PC had some easy putbacks and set plays. Some of those layups were unchallenged. We're going to put out a 6'2, 6'1 and a 5'10 group of guards with Larrier 6'6 as a 4?

 

[krinklecut]

This is absurd. You don't pare down rotation for exhibitions.

 

[len0322]

Play the starting 5 the whole 40 minutes...if anything, i would limit Adams because you know he's going 35 minutes a night barring injury or foul trouble.

 

[Palatine]

We do need to find a rhythm. But I would rest Adam and maybe Vital because we know what they bring.

 

[August_West]

This year isn't the year to do it with the front loaded schedule. Team needs to focus on an 8 man rotation in practice and get things moving. The team was off with their timing on passing, defensive assignments were atrocious and offense was slllooowwww. There is enough talent for this team to win, but this isn't youth rec ball. Coaches have to get a "team" out there soon.
.

I agree with this 1000 percent.

 

[Penfield]

I felt the one benefit of all the injuries last year is that it forced Ollie to limit substitutions. I always felt he made some really odd decisions and it often seemed he forgot when someone important was on the bench. How many times have we seen the hot hand sit for a short breather only to have it turn into missing 8 min of game time? Unfortunately injuries took out some of our better players resulting in a bad team, and most of the ones that benefited from increased playing time left the program.

It might be too early to decide what the rotation should be but I agree with idea. Hopefully the assistants help him manage this better.

 

[zepfan]

Painfully obvious to all who watched this week's debacle is that these Huskies have no idea how to play with each other as a team. And that wasn't unexpected with all the newcomers.
In years past the first part of the season was used to develop depth and work rotations.

This year isn't the year to do it with the front loaded schedule. Team needs to focus on an 8 man rotation in practice and get things moving. The team was off with their timing on passing, defensive assignments were atrocious and offense was slllooowwww. There is enough talent for this team to win, but this isn't youth rec ball. Coaches have to get a "team" out there soon.

Excellent point. Established rotations and time on the court together is critical to a cohesive team. However, I agree with other comments about using the preseason to test which players should have the most time and in what role. Very few players can play at their best in a vague, poorly defined system where there is considerable reliance on individual play vs. team cohesion. With all the new players this year, Ollie will need some time to do this. It is one of the reasons why our poor performance vs. PC isn't the end of the world. Players need time to get comfortable in their roles and with each other. Generally agree with your personnel critique but feel the jury is still out on Whalley - he could end up with some time. Also, with the 3 top guards possibly being our best players, not sure how much time Anderson will get. Next two exhibitions and first couple games will narrow down rotations. Playing to win and playing to get a look at your players are two different things.

 

[Chin Diesel]

To clarify, for this roster with this schedule I don't think the time needed to parse talent gaps between players is more important than using the time to get a cohesive team out there familiar with each other's moves and nuances.

 

[Kitaman]

Ollie doesn't even know what he has to pare down. Until December I see him paring up before he can pare down.