Quick thoughts from a bad win..

[uchusky32]

Jalen played without focus. Physical pain doesn't have to lead to mental lack of focus. But this is what this team has been. KO calls a timely timeout to stop a USF run and Jalen throws a weak terrible pass. That pass wasn't because he was in pain. He has done things like that when he was healthy (1st half of a game he went off in in the 2nd half).

 

[mauconnfan]

Sorry, but I'd love KO to succeed, but the hallmark of his teams are totally uneven performances most of all on D. That's one part of the game that shouldn't vary so much. Been that way every season.

He can't make shots for his players, but he needs constant focus on D. That comes from coaching.

2 guys in the front court who don't play good on man D, don't hedge and get back and really at times are lost. 4 years later for 2 of them and the kids coming in (Steve and Juwan are young and do the same stuff) they just aren't in position. You guys talk about blocked shots and impact, he's had more people score in his face the last 2-3 games than shots he's blocked. AB got caught under the basket twice in situations in which he should have been moving towards to scorer to block his shot and instead is under the play with no chance instead swinging an missing. This is not a very smart core of defenders it is so obvious. You can teach until you're blue in the face if guys don't get it your defense will suck. Add to it Adams who isn't a chair even right now, Vance who isn't quick enough to guard people yet and make mistakes, I'm not at all sure what you are expecting? Have to have the players and the only 2 decent on man defenders are Rodney and Vital. And even Vital takes too many chances on D instead of staying put.

 

[cohenzone]

Same here cohen and the lack of offense wasn't because they weren't running offense which they were, it's because you throw it to people who can't do anything with it meaning can't score the ball or pass it. What is Ko and the staff going to do with Kentan Facey bouncing it off his foot twice, missing short shots and the other guy, well I won't continue to offer his inability to get a shot off. Vance jackson was short on everything. I mean if Facey makes 3 shots, just 3, Brimah makes a jump hook or 2 and Jackson makes a 3 and a lay in they score almost 90 then no one bit**es about offense. Problem is you can't count on any of these guys to be consistent. And to even attempt to look at it in any manner with Adams playing like that is ridiculous. Can't go out and play for them sorry, they aren't very smart - it will be different with better players on the court. If I ever grabbed a pad and wrote down the stupid stuff they do throughout the game on both ends of the court, things a basketball player shouldn't do no matter who their coach is, I would make a DogMania post look like a one liner for crying out loud. This year is frustrating and I'm sure it's worst for the staff - but that's me!

Every year but one has been frustrating with him. And that one year was one big play by Brimah from never happening. During that regular season their play was just as roller coaster as every other one of his teams. The injuries this year give him a bit of a pass. But the plsy of his seniors, none of whom were absent. was as erratic as any of them, maybe excluding Facey who was pretty steady. But he isn't a franchise type. If you were to watch a tape of all of his games since day one, you'd see that pattern of either falling way behind, then making a big run and maybe winning some of those, and just the opposite, getting wsy ahead and then falling apart and again maybe winning. That's not just once in awhile. It's typical. And it all comes down to uneven performance on D, which should rarely vary so much. And I think that all goes back to practices and preparation.

Now watch them win the NC. Personally, I think this is a team that would benefit from the NIT where maybe they could win a few. But with their record, they probably need to win the next two games to make that tournament. Get kids like Durham and Enoch out there as much as possible.

 

[RJScootin]

" Problem is you can't count on any of these guys to be consistent. "

" If I ever grabbed a pad and wrote down the stupid stuff they do throughout the game on both ends of the court, things a basketball player shouldn't do no matter who their coach is, I would make a DogMania post look like a one liner for crying out loud."

Could not agree more Mau. Many posters are questioning Ollie. However,those stupid plays you are talking about are not on the coach. Using the word stupid is being kind. Many turnovers were beyond head scratching. I watched last nights game in my recliner, chin resting in hand leaning. The whole game.

There's no accountability for bad/lazy plays on this team and that goes back to the coach. If Ollie made any one of those passes last night he knew JC would have found a spot on the bench him for very quick. The players are students and the coach is the teacher, why aren't they learning? If they're not capable of learning why are they getting recruited?

 

[mauconnfan]

There's no accountability for bad/lazy plays on this team and that goes back to the coach. If Ollie made any one of those passes last night he knew JC would have found a spot on the bench him for very quick. The players are students and the coach is the teacher, why aren't they learning? If they're not capable of learning why are they getting recruited?

Brimah was recruited because they needed to take a flyer on a big at a rough time, no others in sight. Facey was POY in NY, who woulda thunk he'd be lacking in the improvement area? But both are obvious, coaches aren't magicians - "BAM you now have the instincts to play the game"....hopefully doesn't happen with Enoch, Durham, Carlton and Cobb.

 

[polycom]

ITT: People who've spent no time around the team acting like they are beat reporters.

 

[cohenzone]

Gotta attribute a chunk of that to coaching and practice. I agree absolutekybon over hyping dunks for a guy who after 4 years still gets used by every big man he faces. My key is Enoch. Kid has the size, strength and atleticism to be really good. Maybe Chris Dailey should coach him.

2 guys in the front court who don't play good on man D, don't hedge and get back and really at times are lost. 4 years later for 2 of them and the kids coming in (Steve and Juwan are young and do the same stuff) they just aren't in position. You guys talk about blocked shots and impact, he's had more people score in his face the last 2-3 games than shots he's blocked. AB got caught under the basket twice in situations in which he should have been moving towards to scorer to block his shot and instead is under the play with no chance instead swinging an missing. This is not a very smart core of defenders it is so obvious. You can teach until you're blue in the face if guys don't get it your defense will suck. Add to it Adams who isn't a chair even right now, Vance who isn't quick enough to guard people yet and make mistakes, I'm not at all sure what you are expecting? Have to have the players and the only 2 decent on man defenders are Rodney and Vital. And even Vital takes too many chances on D instead of staying put.

a

 

[RichCTBB]

Something that doesn't get much mention is how the injuries impact the quality of practice. We already know that practices have been lighter in intensity so that KO can save the players wind for the games. We don't have the conditioning that we are used to be a hallmark of our program. Add in the fact that we don't even have quality players to scrimmage against and it's no wonder that we can't get it together come game time. Our guys are understandably fatigued and I can't fault them for that.

 

[Fishy]

Khalid played his gutts out after a severe high ankle sprain 2 days earlier, JA's ankle was not even close to being as bad and he rolled his ankle like 2 weeks ago. AG will need to be a stud next year.

Khalid played 13 minutes, went 1-2 from the field and scored three points.

Good of him to try to be on the court with Robertson and Cox being so overmatched, but Khalid didn't do anything while he was out there.

 

[mauconnfan]

Gotta attribute a chunk of that to coaching and practice. I agree absolutekybon over hyping dunks for a guy who after 4 years still gets used by every big man he faces. My key is Enoch. Kid has the size, strength and atleticism to be really good. Maybe Chris Dailey should coach him.

a

I know you're a women's guy but please, she wouldn't know where to start.

I will end it by repeating AB and Kelis Fisher are NOT the coaching these 2 are easy. But as far as Enoch, if he doesn't become a 10/8 guy by year 4 then we may agree. Until then, they've done what they could but ther rabbit wasn't in these 2 particular hats I'm afraid.

 

[mauconnfan]

Khalid played 13 minutes, went 1-2 from the field and scored three points.

Good of him to try to be on the court with Robertson and Cox being so overmatched, but Khalid didn't do anything while he was out there.

This was the Tennessee game correct? He was worst than Jalen by far.

 

[jibsey]

The Glen Miller postgame interview was that Jalen and Vance had not been practicing and are not 100%. No excuses just a fact.

 

[cohenzone]

I know you're a women's guy but please, she wouldn't know where to start.

I will end it by repeating AB and Kelis Fisher are NOT the coaching these 2 are easy. But as far as Enoch, if he doesn't become a 10/8 guy by year 4 then we may agree. Until then, they've done what they could but ther rabbit wasn't in these 2 particular hats I'm afraid.

Chauvinist ;-) A good coach is a good coach. Let's put it this way. She couldn't do any worse than any of the men who've coached these guys. There's a problem when a senior with athletic ability hasn't been coached out of freshman mistakes and taught how to use the gifts they do have in order to make the other guy have to contend with their skills. And in Enoch's case, there is a lot of great raw material to work with.

 

[Dogdeacon]

This was the Tennessee game correct? He was worst than Jalen by far.

Yep, my recollection of that game is we had no chance because Khalid, though he tried had zero to give due to injury.

Very different vs Jalen last night, but definitely can attribute the lapses to injury and the injury/condition to the ridiculous burden on him vs the rest of the knuckleheads - he's regressing to knucklehead mean and this is classic bad team over-reliant on its one good player and coach slowly sabotaging his one asset. No other choice though and hopefully Jalen can suck it up for one more game tonight - .500 is as important to UConn as possible NCAA is to Houston.

 

[husky429]

If they gave out +\- he was a clear negative. Worse than a walk on would be. He looked unhappy that he had to be bothered to play, like he wanted the season over. Facey didn't look much better.

Not sure you know how +/- works... but if Jalen played 39 minutes, his +/- would be right around +5.....

Unles you're talking about BPM. Which people ususally call BPM. not +/-?

And yeah, I've played with Mike Noyes. Jalen was better on one leg. I promise.

 

[ctchamps]

Would have loved that Jalen didn't hang his head during this game because it gives ammo to people to make the claim that he quit because of attitude as opposed to not having the ability to play the game.

I guess I was wrong to believe bb is a team sport and that a team is only as good as it's weakest link.
We already know that we are missing a five who can put an entire game together, but an injured Jalen allowed USF to not have to worry about him driving on them so they overplayed him on offense and they torched him on defense. People can go on and on about Amida and Steve this game, and a lot of those critiques are accurate, but a good part of the defense failed because Jalen could not move laterally or run up and down the court.

 

[mauconnfan]

Not sure you know how +/- works... but if Jalen played 39 minutes, his +/- would be right around +5.....

Unles you're talking about BPM. Which people ususally call BPM. not +/-?

And yeah, I've played with Mike Noyes. Jalen was better on one leg. I promise.

With all due respect to Mike Noyes he doesn't even look like he was a very good HS basketball player. I am sure he is a nice kid and works his a** off but there's not a lot there.

 

[ctchamps]

With all due respect to Mike Noyes he doesn't even look like he was a very good HS basketball player. I am sure he is a nice kid and works his a** off but there's not a lot there.

He's better than Tierney Lawlor which proves that Kevin is a better coach than Geno when it comes to coaching walk ons. And yes I know Tierney got a scholarship.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

At what point does the lack of basketball skills/development fall on the coach? I think we can all agree that Brimah and Facey didn't develop as much as we would have liked, but given the circumstances they were recruited under and coached under (KO's first years) I think we have to give it a pass. They just aren't that good.

The real test for me is, as others have mentioned, Enoch and Durham. If Enoch as a senior and Durham as a junior follow the same path that Brimah and Facey did, it's going to be more than fair to put that directly on Ollie. Either he's doing a bad job of developing kids or he's recruiting kids that maybe aren't cut out for the level we expect at UConn.

This season has been an unmitigated disaster from all sides and I'm willing to go into next season with a clean slate, but if we see the same results and have a similar season, that's when a reall tough decision will need to be made.

 

[Fishy]

With all due respect to Mike Noyes he doesn't even look like he was a very good HS basketball player. I am sure he is a nice kid and works his a** off but there's not a lot there.

Mike Noyes probably looked like Michael Jordan in high school - I'm sure he's better than 99.995% of the high school players out there.

But even a guy like that looks like he just discovered the game when you compare him high-major players. Sometimes we forget just how good these guys are in the grand scheme.

 

[mauconnfan]

Mike Noyes probably looked like Michael Jordan in high school - I'm sure he's better than 99.995% of the high school players out there.

But even a guy like that looks like he just discovered the game when you compare him high-major players. Sometimes we forget just how good these guys are in the grand scheme.

Not sure about this one but I hear what you're saying. Now that my son has played HS and JC hoops we talk about the walk ons and I need to let him know honestly how good many of them are. He's pretty sure he could have walked on at UConn (I agree with him at the time of course because I love him) while I'm pretty sure he couldn't have. Some were studs in HS, I just don't see it here.

 

[cohenzone]

Would have loved that Jalen didn't hang his head during this game because it gives ammo to people to make the claim that he quit because of attitude as opposed to not having the ability to play the game.

I guess I was wrong to believe bb is a team sport and that a team is only as good as it's weakest link.
We already know that we are missing a five who can put an entire game together, but an injured Jalen allowed USF to not have to worry about him driving on them so they overplayed him on offense and they torched him on defense. People can go on and on about Amida and Steve this game, and a lot of those critiques are accurate, but a good part of the defense failed because Jalen could not move laterally or run up and down the court.

So why is the D prone to long lapses every year including games when everyone is available and this year when Jalen is healthy? I promise you I'm not an isolated observer regarding how inconsistent his teams are within games and from game to game on D. I have a hard time thinking they have great practices and coaching that doesn't translate into consistent D during games. Offense is a whole other matter. But pretty much constant intensity and focus on D should rarely be an issue.

 

[ctchamps]

So why is the D prone to long lapses every year including games when everyone is available and this year when Jalen is healthy? I promise you I'm not an isolated observer regarding how inconsistent his teams are within games and from game to game on D. I have a hard time thinking they have great practices and coaching that doesn't translate into consistent D during games. Offense is a whole other matter. But pretty much constant intensity and focus on D should rarely be an issue.

Even healthy Jalen is sill only an adequate perimeter defender. Christian is decent and Rodney is very good imo. Alterique had a reputation of being an outstanding defender. His loss not only forces us to use Christian and Jalen to be better than they are capable of being currently but adds to the wear and tear of the three guards decreasing their abilities as time goes on.

Kentan has done a decent job. But even his body is showing signs of wear and tear. Earlier in the season I was actually concerned with Terry's one on one defense. So this team still lacks a Niels Giffey lockdown wing.

The big failure has been with Amida/Steve. And opposing teams have exploited this weakness all year long. Our guards are forced to overplay opposing guards if opposing teams lack decent bigs who can shoot from the perimeter. Teams expose Steve and Amida on the pick and roll. Or if they have decent big shooters like Cinci than opposing teams force our guards to move off the players because Steve and Amida lack the instincts to get back to the basket for rebounds or play adequate one on one defense.

It's definitely a game where the team is as good as it's weakest link and this team has had a weak link in the five position that was made a lot worse because of injuries.

 

[selles]

Not sure about this one but I hear what you're saying. Now that my son has played HS and JC hoops we talk about the walk ons and I need to let him know honestly how good many of them are. He's pretty sure he could have walked on at UConn (I agree with him at the time of course because I love him) while I'm pretty sure he couldn't have. Some were studs in HS, I just don't see it here.

Here you go. Everyone has a highlight tape these days. He looks solid, if a little earthbound.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

Even healthy Jalen is sill only an adequate perimeter defender. Christian is decent and Rodney is very good imo. Alterique had a reputation of being an outstanding defender. His loss not only forces us to use Christian and Jalen to be better than they are capable of being currently but adds to the wear and tear of the three guards decreasing their abilities as time goes on.

Kentan has done a decent job. But even his body is showing signs of wear and tear. Earlier in the season I was actually concerned with Terry's one on one defense. So this team still lacks a Niels Giffey lockdown wing.

The big failure has been with Amida/Steve. And opposing teams have exploited this weakness all year long. Our guards are forced to overplay opposing guards if opposing teams lack decent bigs who can shoot from the perimeter. Teams expose Steve and Amida on the pick and roll. Or if they have decent big shooters like Cinci than opposing teams force our guards to move off the players because Steve and Amida lack the instincts to get back to the basket for rebounds or play adequate one on one defense.

It's definitely a game where the team is as good as it's weakest link and this team has had a weak link in the five position that was made a lot worse because of injuries.

Wasn't that same weak link at the 5 present in 2013-2014, but in a less experienced freshman body?

 

[Nostical]

Jalen isn't the problem, our bigs are. Brimah's hands simply can't catch the ball with authority nor does he have the finesse to operate down low without fouling or stumbling. It's a huge relief to see him simply shoot the ball toward the hoop or (much less often) kick it out for a three. All of the bigs seem to lack toughness and confidence. Facey seems surprised by any success he has. There's no swagger. And Enoch is one of those lumbering players the refs love to call ticky-tack fouls on. If they have him in their sights he should at least attack the basket with more vengeance. This late in the season, Ollie's strategy of throwing it into the bigs with the same marginal results seems to fit the textbook definition of insanity.

 

[ctchamps]

Wasn't that same weak link at the 5 present in 2013-2014, but in a less experienced freshman body?

Team looked best when they went small with DeAndre and Niels. I felt Phil gave decent minutes when teams exposed Amida. Bigs shot over Phil but he was far better on the pick and roll than Amida. And I distinctly remember @mauconnfan and I taking this position. But people were impressed with Amida's blocking ability so they overlooked his weaknesses. Not the case the past two seasons.

 

[Fishy]

If there's one thing that I'd like to see our bigs start doing*, it's not bringing the ball down every time they get it.

Brimah frequently does it, but Facey almost always brings the ball down below his waist every time he touches it. Bad things happen to both when it happens.

* Given that their remaining careers are likely down to minutes rather than games, I am not hopeful.

 

[huskymagic]

Just to remind everyone that we won the title in 2014 with Amida, Phil, Olander, and DeAndre(stretch 4) as our big men. This year's big men crew is better than 2014 when we actually won the NCAA title. Our big men crew is not great no one would say otherwise, but it is our perimeter crew that is the big problem.

Jalen is not a good defender and frequently plays carelessly like he is playing summer pickup games. Vance is completely unathletic and can't stay in front of his man. Terry when he played wasn;t a great defender. Alterique has the potential to be Boatrightesque, but wasn't great in his first 2 games and is injury prone.

We need an athletic wing who is a lock-down defender to take out the opposing team's best player like Roscoe, like Giffey, like Boat and Bazz senior year. Our defense and discipline is a bigger problem than our offense. Great defense produces easy scoring opportunities that any team needs and takes pressure off the offense in half-court situations.

PS: We need a freak athletic wing like Sid Wilson or a Zhaire Smith type and a Cole Swider/AJ Reeves type who can shoot with confidence. This is why wasting scholarships at this point is not a good idea. When your foundations are not solid you cant afford a charity item.

 

[Matrim55]

So why is the D prone to long lapses every year including games when everyone is available and this year when Jalen is healthy?

Because defensive rebounding is part of "defense" and we're a miserable defensive rebounding group (which was always going to be the case when DHam left). Last year we had the 12th best defense in the country as per KenPom, and this year we're around 60th. Almost all of that can be attributed to second-chance points, with the rest falling under fast-break points after missed bunnies and/or bad turnovers.

We have very flawed players, and that's led to a very flawed team.

If there's one thing that I'd like to see our bigs start doing*, it's not bringing the ball down every time they get it.

Brimah frequently does it, but Facey almost always brings the ball down below his waist every time he touches it. Bad things happen to both when it happens.

* Given that their remaining careers are likely down to minutes rather than games, I am not hopeful.

You should enjoy the Carlton game film that's available, at least. Dude reminds me of Billy Curley with how high he keeps the ball and how quick he is to get it back up and in the hoop. Fundamentally he's going to be our best big man around the hoop since... damn, I really don't know when.