Problem - These teams are just better.

[Fishy]

This will be harsh and I'll no doubt be more optimistic the further in the rearview mirror this week gets, but if you're one of the peeps who posts wearing pom-poms, you should probably stop here and go look at these kittens instead.

Forget the AAC Tournament.

Four wins in four days? No. The teams above us in the conference are better and play harder and smarter than we do. If they all get off the plane at Bradley, we're not making it.

Want to help UConn? Form a human chain and block the runways into the state.

It's not simply youth, it's talent and coaching. Too many players with hard ceilings, too many players who haven't moved forward.

It's March and Brimah is still trying swat 12' jump shots and having guys dunking behind him as he lands. Hamilton still feels comfortable watching someone catch the ball eight feet from him before he thinks about moseying out to play D on a three-point attempt. Samuels and Calhoun still seem surprised that the ball is round. Brimah, Nolan and Facey are still running out there for 25 minutes a game and maybe grabbing two or three rebounds between them.

If you're waiting for Samuel to become a lead guard and Calhoun to become that scoring wing and Nolan to become a serviceable center...stop. The they're seventh, eighth and ninth off the bench for a better team. I have no idea if Rakim Lubin can play or not. (Semi-related - what on earth could have possible concussed Lubin? Was he hit by a truck? A planet?)

We have Hamilton, Brimah and Purvis to build around. Although he was pretty bad over the past month, I suspect Facey will be better next year. Add in Adams and we have a serviceable starting rotation and a bench that will cause us to hold our breaths every time there's a hard foul.

It's not enough to project this team into the NCAAs next year. There are still serious questions with depth, shooting, ball-handling and rebounding with few solutions available. Ollie and crew need to get their s--- together in a hurry.

As for the Temple game...I thought Boat and Rodney were very good, Hamilton had one of those games and the rest of them didn't do a thing. Dunphy adjusted to Boat at the half and then the better team exerted itself with vigor.

Nothing much more to add to that. The irony is that we probably will win the AAC tourney.

 

[mauconnfan]

They are all "smarter" too, no doubt.

 

[Kitaman]

I'm getting my popcorn ready waiting for Scrappy to respond.

 

[zls44]

KO claiming Temple made no 2nd Half adjustments on Boat was terrifying.

Was he watching the game?

 

[tzznandrew]

KO claiming Temple made no 2nd Half adjustments on Boat was terrifying.

Was he watching the game?

I guess Boat decided to stop getting in the lane and making shots in the second half, because he decided--apparently for fun--that he had to do different things against the same defense.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Four wins in four days? No. The teams above us in the conference are better and play harder and smarter than we do. If they all get off the plane at Bradley, we're not making it.

I think we found our angle. Anyone know anyone at the FAA?

 

[Cheeky]

Nothing much more to add to that. The irony is that we probably will win the AAC tourney.

I love the attempt at reverse psychology; it's likely all we have left.
Agree with everything except Purvis.
Purvis had a very good offensive game. But he had 3 turnovers and zero assists. The play that perfectly exemplifies why Purvis is false hope is the play on which Cummings went reverse under the basket and laid it in with Brimah coming over too late and Doris calling for a hard foul. Back that play up 3 seconds. What you see is Purvis with his back to Cummings, 10 feet away, completely unaware of his man. Ballhandler comes to the middle of the floor, Cummings makes a bee line to the basket. By the time Purvis turns toward Cummings and takes a step, he is way out of position and moving in the wrong direction. Cummings gets to the rim at full bore, never having veered off the straight line. Coach yells at Brimah. Within a minute or two Purvis fouls a guy unnecessarily and puts him on the line. Purvis lights up the points column on occasion. He costs the team, however, in intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, like blow-bys given up and not getting his teammates engaged with effective court management and passes.

Dead on agree about Brimah giving up the rebound dunk on the impossible block attempt.
Dead on agree about DHam being unaware on D.

TSam is a disaster this year. He is less talented than DBev.

Calhoun had 3 bad turnovers, but otherwise played well. 2 for 3 from 2, 2 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal in 21 minutes. Played reasonably on D.

 

[Husky Dad]

Great post. I also heard Kevin Ollie owns a snow plow company on the side and it's just been a busy season for he and the guys who he uses as drivers.

 

[tzznandrew]

Great post. I also heard Kevin Ollie owns a snow plow company on the side and it's just been a busy season for he and the guys who he uses as drivers.

 

[Gampeltiles]

They are all "smarter" too, no doubt.

They have better talent than Tulsa, Memphis or Cinncy. I don't know, they look tired which leads to bad defense. They get out hustled. Lets try for the travel has taken its toll and KO should let up on them in practice.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Purvis had a very good offensive game. But he had 3 turnovers and zero assists. The play that perfectly exemplifies why Purvis is false hope is the play on which Cummings went reverse under the basket and laid it in with Brimah coming over too late and Doris calling for a hard foul. Back that play up 3 seconds. What you see is Purvis with his back to Cummings, 10 feet away, completely unaware of his man. Ballhandler comes to the middle of the floor, Cummings makes a bee line to the basket. By the time Purvis turns toward Cummings and takes a step, he is way out of position and moving in the wrong direction. Cummings gets to the rim at full bore, never having veered off the straight line. Coach yells at Brimah. Within a minute or two Purvis fouls a guy unnecessarily and puts him on the line. Purvis lights up the points column on occasion. He costs the team, however, in intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, like blow-bys given up and not getting his teammates engaged with effective court management and passes.

I was on a work call with the game on mute so I don't know the specific play to which you're referring, so I'm not disputing the accuracy of your description. But the problem is that you seem to be saying that this sort of lack of situational awareness is a problem that's specific to Purvis, and it really seems to be a hallmark of the team generally. Every single guy on the team does stuff like this - repeatedly - every game. At least Rodney offsets it on occasion with some offense. Other guys don't.

 

[rip7774]

I feel like they are so limited offensively they know they have to play almost flawless and they play tight. Regardless, the defensive effort should be a lot better. They drop their heads a lot. I trust KO but I agree with Fishy these hard ceilings are a failure of recruiting and Boat is walking out that door. These assistants seem fat and happy and not grinding at all.

 

[ctchamps]

I love the attempt at reverse psychology; it's likely all we have left.
Agree with everything except Purvis.
Purvis had a very good offensive game. But he had 3 turnovers and zero assists. The play that perfectly exemplifies why Purvis is false hope is the play on which Cummings went reverse under the basket and laid it in with Brimah coming over too late and Doris calling for a hard foul. Back that play up 3 seconds. What you see is Purvis with his back to Cummings, 10 feet away, completely unaware of his man. Ballhandler comes to the middle of the floor, Cummings makes a bee line to the basket. By the time Purvis turns toward Cummings and takes a step, he is way out of position and moving in the wrong direction. Cummings gets to the rim at full bore, never having veered off the straight line. Coach yells at Brimah. Within a minute or two Purvis fouls a guy unnecessarily and puts him on the line. Purvis lights up the points column on occasion. He costs the team, however, in intangibles that don't show up on the stat sheet, like blow-bys given up and not getting his teammates engaged with effective court management and passes.

Dead on agree about Brimah giving up the rebound dunk on the impossible block attempt.
Dead on agree about DHam being unaware on D.

TSam is a disaster this year. He is less talented than DBev.

Calhoun had 3 bad turnovers, but otherwise played well. 2 for 3 from 2, 2 boards, 4 assists and 1 steal in 21 minutes. Played reasonably on D.

He was hedging on that play because DHam was totally out of position and his player was about to drive to the basket. He ran to DHam's player, the ball was passed to Cummings and the rest is as you described it.

His intangibles are he took three awful hits in two games and still was the second best player in this game. He showed me grit and pluckiness that I'm still looking for in several of the other players.

 

[Cheeky]

I was on a work call with the game on mute so I don't know the specific play to which you're referring, so I'm not disputing the accuracy of your description. But the problem is that you seem to be saying that this sort of lack of situational awareness is a problem that's specific to Purvis, and it really seems to be a hallmark of the team generally. Every single guy on the team does stuff like this - repeatedly - every game. At least Rodney offsets it on occasion with some offense. Other guys don't.

We're going to have to respectfully disagree on this one, Big Ern, and probably for the next 2 years. Purvis plays like a thoroughbred horse that has blinders on that has broken out of the stable and is unsure of which direction to run. He was our 2 guard for 35 minutes today and he had zero assists. He's averaging just about 1 assist per game. That means that the other 4 guys on the court know that when Purvis catches the ball, they have virtually no chance of getting a pass that's going to result in them getting a good look. When he is in "giveth" mode, this is fine. 4 guys become spectators and Purvis goes off for 20. When he is in "taketh away" mode, however, not only does he go 1 for 10, but the the other 4 guys don't get involved and so his poor night is not mitigated at all.
Omar, for all of his issues, had 4 assists today in only 21 minutes.

 

[upstater]

I don't know, they look tired which leads to bad defense. They get out hustled.

Definitely look tired. Sometimes they have jump in their legs, you can see it. But today, they were even short on jumpers and didn't really shoot with much confidence. You could see it early on.

They are also letting the refs get into their heads too much. Boatright kept arguing with a ref about the ball being off a Temple guy's knee at the end (and it probably was) while the ball was in play, and the team just lets down in those crucial moments. They were only down 3 when that play happened, and before you knew it, they were down 9, and soon 12. In a flash.

 

[Cheeky]

He was hedging on that play because DHam was totally out of position and his player was about to drive to the basket. He ran to DHam's player, t

That is nonsense. He was "hedging" only in the sense that he was out of position. He didn't "run" to anywhere - he was simply out of position. And his job is not to leave his guy at the 3 point line completely open so he can "hedge" 10 feet away.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

We're going to have to respectfully disagree on this one, Big Ern, and probably for the next 2 years. Purvis plays like a thoroughbred horse that has blinders on that has broken out of the stable and is unsure of which direction to run. He was our 2 guard for 35 minutes today and he had zero assists. He's averaging just about 1 assist per game. That means that the other 4 guys on the court know that when Purvis catches the ball, they have virtually no chance of getting a pass that's going to result in them getting a good look. When he is in "giveth" mode, this is fine. 4 guys become spectators and Purvis goes off for 20. When he is in "taketh away" mode, however, not only does he go 1 for 10, but the the other 4 guys don't get involved and so his poor night is not mitigated at all.
Omar, for all of his issues, had 4 assists today in only 21 minutes.

Honestly, the only conclusion I can come up with is that your analysis is drawn primarily from a review of the box score. By the way, your post was entirely addressed to a defensive lapse, which is endemic to the team as a whole. And now your response is about assists. I just think you have a laser focus on Purvis given the position you've staked out and it leads you to ignore basically everything else that is plaguing this dumpster fire of a team.

 

[ctchamps]

That is nonsense. He was "hedging" only in the sense that he was out of position. He didn't "run" to anywhere - he was simply out of position. And his job is not to leave his guy at the 3 point line completely open so he can "hedge" 10 feet away.

Let's just assume you are correct on this call. What's your impression with the defense of the remaining players in this game? How much better or worse were they than Rodney in your opinion?

I felt that only two players played as good as Rodney on the defensive end, Ryan and Phil.

At least we can eliminate Rodney as being the player you pointed out as the reason for the five previous losses because he didn't score. DHam made the case for scoring goat in this game. How about those free throws by Rodney. And he didn't air ball the last shot. Still making a case for OC over RP.

 

[Offhegoes]

TSam has had a bad stretch of games, but by no means is he less of a player than Dbev was as someone stated earlier. Hell, Tsam had some huge buckets in the NCAA tourney last year. It's growing pains. It's college basketball. This is what happens when kids stick around and grow as players. Get over it and stop being spoiled.

 

[ctchamps]

TSam has had a bad stretch of games, but by no means is he less of a player than Dbev was as someone stated earlier. Hell, Tsam had some huge buckets in the NCAA tourney last year. It's growing pains. It's college basketball. This is what happens when kids stick around and grow as players. Get over it and stop being spoiled.

I hope I'm not wasting my time hoping OC can be better 3 point shooter next season and TSam can get some consistent shooting out side of 3 feet. If TSam had any mid or deep shooting ability I think he would be a decent distributor. But it's hard to drive to the basket and create when everyone knows you're going to drive to the basket and try to create.

 

[dtrumpet]

TSam has had a bad stretch of games, but by no means is he less of a player than Dbev was as someone stated earlier. Hell, Tsam had some huge buckets in the NCAA tourney last year. It's growing pains. It's college basketball. This is what happens when kids stick around and grow as players. Get over it and stop being spoiled.

no, he's not Dbev, you're right in calling that out. BUT he's not growing. Before todays breakout 2/3 from the floor he was 4-17 in the last 7 games, with 8 turnovers. Plus, last year, especially in the tournament, he was an outstanding perimeter defender, now guys just seem to blow by him. Cassell's injury has given him more minutes, and he's done practically nothing with them. I'm rooting for him, but I cringe every time he has the ball.

 

[superjohn]

I think we are a tournament team next year because I think Brimah, Purvis and Facey will improve and I think Hamilton will become a star but it really is starting to look like a 3 or 4 man team. I thought Samuel would improve enough to be at least serviceable and I thought Calhoun would become a consistent jump shooter/guy who could stretch the D, the fact is they are what they are and it's pretty bad, same goes for Nolan and most likely Cassell. We would be so much better with a star point guard which I think Adams will look like a lot next year and much more his sophomore season and another very good ball handler distributor, Purvis is not that guy and Samuel is nothing more than an energy guy to provide 5 or 10 minutes backing up on a good team. We desperately need that second point guard and it scares the heck out of me that we don't have it. I'll keep my fingers crossed that Ollie brings in Carter or a rabbit out of the hat. Most likely it's slim pickings now for the '15 class but Ollie better sure as hell bring in major talent in '16 and '17. We seem to be in a great position with several studs but it looked that way for '15 and we now just have a 2 man class. Bruce Brown and Carter commit and things will look a whole lot better for next year but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Beverly nutted up in some big moments. No need to belittle the kid.

I found myself wondering today if Samuel is better than Rob Garrison, who was overmatched at UConn but was also competing with much better players for minutes and then became a pretty decent player at Niagara.

 

[NEforceUConn]

.............., you should probably stop here and go look at these kittens instead.

..................

I'm just wondering how long it took you to find that kitten picture?

 

[Cheeky]

DHam made the case for scoring goat in this game. How about those free throws by Rodney.

DHam had 6 boards, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and was 5 of 7 from the line, so his 1 for 12 is not Purvis-esque.