People seriously need to stop trashing Lamb

[champs99and04]

First of all, he tried to dunk the ball in garbage time. Who the *k cares? You're not showing up the other team if you're down 13 points. Yeah he looked dumb, but to say it was classless or what not is just stupid. If they were up 15 it would have been a different story.

Secondly, if you're disappointed in Lamb because he didn't live up to expectations, then that's your own fault for setting expectations that he couldn't reach. Unfortunately, Lamb is a kid that was underrated for so long that people started vastly overrating him. Jeremy Lamb was meant to be the second option, not the go to guy. It's not in his DNA to be the alphadog, he doesn't have the handle to go one on one, he's not overly explosive off the bounce, and he's not tall enough to shoot over people. He's a kid who is going to get his 15-20 points in the flow of the offense and if you're expecting more than that you don't know basketball. With another year he could be a first team AA, but with the lack of gratitude shown on here, I wouldn't blame him for taking the money and leaving.

These kids, especially Lamb, owe us nothing. After last season, anything else kids like Oriakhi and Lamb gave us would have been the cherry on top of a heck of a career. With the inredible success this program has had, the incredible difficulty of winning a national title seems to be lost on you guys. I don't remember the exact numbers off the top of my head, but over the final eleven games last season, he shot around 57% scoring about 18 a game with 5 boards and 2 steals. That's a hell of a stat line for somebody who was the second best player on the team. During March last season he was one of the ten best players in America, but you could argue Kemba needed Lamb as much as Lamb needed Kemba. Lamb stepped up time after time last season, never disappointing in the big moments, and he was an 18 year old kid not ranked in the top 100 on ESPN.

It's not like he was a stiff this year, either. He averaged 18 points and 5 rebounds on 48% shooting. At the end of the day, the team as a whole just wasn't tough enough or cohesive enough to make a run or beat good teams. It's not the fault of one player, it's the fault of the team. This program still has a bright future, so step off the ledge, stop calling out players who have made this program extremely proud, and look forward to next year.

 

[djct1999]

agreed. without lamb, this year would have been even more miserable. say what you want, but he was always uconn's best player on the court. i always worried, when he went to the sidelines, how we were going to score. most times, we didn't.

 

[UConnSwag11]

yeah same thing with every other player, we were an extremely young team and they'll learn from this, at least at this moment they can win the big east title which we haven't since idk 06?

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

no sports teams owe us anything, doesnt mean me still cant get upset when they underachieve.. its human nature...

I'm not saying to verbally attack players or post on their twitter feeds but u cant help but be critical of poor play

 

[caw]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lamb is on the same projection as Ray and Rip were. The biggest difference is the lack of help he is getting from the bigs on the screens.

 

[Greathusky]

The steal and missed dunk was an embarassment to him, JC and the team. This board would have been all over an opposing player if that occurred.

 

[champs99and04]

no sports teams owe us anything, doesnt mean me still cant get upset when they underachieve.. its human nature...

I'm not saying to verbally attack players or post on their twitter feeds but u cant help but be critical of poor play

I don't have a problem with people like you. I was very upset last night myself, especially with the defense and rebounding. What I don't get is people who completely disregard what some of these kids did last season because of their struggles this season. It's incredibly hard to win a championship and even harder to repeat. People posting things like, "That missed dunk will be the lasting memory of Lamb at UConn" are the ones that need to stfu.

 

[champs99and04]

The steal and missed dunk was an embarassment to him, JC and the team. This board would have been all over an opposing player if that occurred.

Anybody still concerned about what Lamb did at the end of the game is way too sensitive. I would have had no problem if that had happened to UConn because you're not showing the other team up down 15. Did he make a fool of himself? Yeah. But was it classless? No.

 

[uconnbill]

Without him UConn doesn't win it all last year. I have no issue with Lamb at all and wish him well no matter what he decides to do in the future.

 

[ruskin]

He's certainly in the Rip/Ray class, and if he goes I wish him well at the next level. But he's gonna need to play with a Kemba-type leader who won't tolerate him standing off to the side with bad body language when plays don't develop the way he expected them to.

 

[Kitaman]

He's so young and not fully developed. He seemed to miss Kemba the most. He's not gone yet.

 

[boog204]

i'm only trashing JLamb b/c it was so incredibly lame... He's always a champion b/c he was integral last year. But that move by him at the end of the game, to me, showed, that he is absolutely clueless. Down 15, after more or less getting our asses kicked, he decided that that stage was his opportunity to steal the ball from someone who had stopped playing and then go in and showboat. Yes, he's a kid. But it was just so un-Uconn like in how we generally carry ourselves. I would expect that out of other certain, unnamed teams. But not us.

 

[mauconnfan]

i'm only trashing JLamb b/c it was so incredibly lame... He's always a champion b/c he was integral last year. But that move by him at the end of the game, to me, showed, that he is absolutely clueless. Down 15, after more or less getting our asses kicked, he decided that that stage was his opportunity to steal the ball from someone who had stopped playing and then go in and showboat. Yes, he's a kid. But it was just so un-Uconn like in how we generally carry ourselves. I would expect that out of other certain, unnamed teams. But not us.

It's not a good basketball practice at the end of the game, they were running out the clock our Huskies should walk to the sideline period. But it wasn't just Jeremy the guards were whacking at the ball................not good!

Having said that he's a very good player and scorer. Hope we get to see more of him although he may be gone. He could turn himself into quite a player and a Top 3-5 if he stays!! I think he's a little unfairly judged because of his nature but he could moce a bit more like Rip than he does........

 

[caw]

I don't know why Lamb did that, seems to be a bad trend with teams doing stuff like that recently. I thought it was stupid and him flubbing it just made it dumber.

 

[mike40]

How can anyone say he is in the ray/rip class? Seriously??

 

[mets1090]

How can anyone say he is in the ray/rip class? Seriously??

Because if he came back for his JR year like they did he would probably average like 20 points per game and be more likely to take over a game? It's really hard to be that guy as a sophomore.

For the record I wouldn't put him in that class. But I do think he could reach that class if he came back next year.

 

[husky711]

How can anyone say he is in the ray/rip class? Seriously??

I was wondering the same thing. That makes absolutely no sense to me. Ray and Rip were the go-to guys, the stars, and the leaders of their teams... Lamb has not been that yet. Yes, he is a very good player and played an integral role in last year's NC.. but not the type of role Ray/Rip played. If he came back for another year and developed the ability to take over games (as mentioned in the post above me), then he could very likely be considered in the Ray/Rip class. But at this point... I definitely do not agree. That is not a knock on him at all.. I haven't been insulting him or ripping on him for the moronic missed dunk (though it was moronic) at all. I just don't get how you can put him in that class already. Potential to get there with another season? Yes. There already? No way.

 

[TheRogers]

Just saw the last play for the first time. Oy!

 

[Gurleyman]

Leaving the last play aside -- I didn't like it at all, but whatever - the season was over, people react in funny ways when they reach the end of a six-month grind, and as long as he didn't spit in his hands before going through the "good game" line, or flash his junk at the ISU cheerleaders, I can shrug it off.

Most importantly, every step in a basketball player's progression isn't supposed to be easy. Just because he turned up his play late last year doesn't mean he's going to be a consistent superstar this year. Even over the summer, he was fantastic against Lithuania, but also had a 2-16 game against someone else. The progression from solid wingman to focal point of the other team's defense is really tough - especially when the supplemental weapons are inconsistent and don't take the pressure off you. Kemba had a hard time last year in February until Lamb stepped up as a consistent supplemental weapon -- and Kemba was a year older and wiser (and a much better shot-creator in isolations).

But to call him gutless or say "that sums Jeremy Lamb up in a nutshell" is just being a fan. What sums Jeremy Lamb up is that his cool, unflappable demeanor allowed him to dominate an NCAA Regional as a freshman and score 13 second half points in a national championship game. If you're disappointed that he didn't progress as a go-to guy as much as we hoped this year, ok, but to act like last year doesn't matter or didn't even happen. That's just being a dick. If Lamb leaves this year, he would have won a national championship in 50 percent of his seasons in a UConn uniform. If you can't call that a successful career or remember him fondly when he's gone, then something's wrong with you.

 

[ruskin]

Amending earlier post, a Ray/Rip prototype with potential to be in that class. Lotsa indications he could reach that level last year, not quite as many this year.