zls44 said:
Uconn is 2-5 without the full team. They're 4-1 with them. This isnt freaking complicated
I usually skew towards sunny optimism, but we are 0-1 in the AAC (with a home loss), so 17-1 is the best we can do, and the only way we can win more than 15 in league is to be almost perfect - and in a league that won't raise our RPI much as we go. I don't expect Boat to be himself at Florida (if he plays), so I'm not expecting a win there, and it might not help much anyway since they are on the same slippery slope that we are down around 100 in the RPI (at least they have a couple chances against Kentucky). If we win both Florida and Stanford on the road, I'll adjust my analysis upward.
The bottom line is I just don't think this team is capable of navigating through 20 games without a couple hiccups, as offensively challenged as we are. There will be days, especially on the road, when we can't buy a bucket. I think we are better served to develop Hamilton as much as possible to be a go to guy late in the year, even if we lose another tight one or two as we live with his mistakes. He'll have to learn how to shoot the 3 with confidence consistently (I.e. forget about the last miss) and tighten up his dribble in traffic/read the collapsing D. I love Boat and know he'll leave it out there in his last game - be it early March or early April - but even healthy, he can't be the only guy who wants the ball late - only so much a 5-10 guy can do. Kemba did a lot himself, but he needed Lamb. Hamilton has all of the tools, but he just tends to let his last mistake or miss make him too hesitant to do it again. We don't have enough weapons for him to be hesitant.
I'd like to say that Purvis could develop too, but I just don't see it with him. He can't even get his shot off most of the time when he's got a defender matched up with him. He can be the third guy who attacks a broken down defense or shoots open shots on kickouts, but I'm not seeing a guy who can create on his own.