Rebounding Breakdown

[benjordan]

The Wolf thread seems to be all over the place, but I think the main thing to take away from it is that UCONN is clearly in need of better rebounding next year if we wanna take the next step.

The problem isn’t necessarily that certain players aren’t great rebounders, it’s that those players are getting too many minutes.

Below you'll see the 2012-2013 REB/Min averages for every main player who is returning. As you can see, Wolf is our best rebounder, and surprisingly Nolan comes in second with Daniels right behind him.

Clearly, Olander playing more minutes than any big guy except Daniels really hurt our rebounding.

Conversely, if you look at Louisville, a middle of the pack rebounding team, you see their 4 big guys all averaging .22 reb/min or higher.

UCONN's rebounding woes are correctable in two ways:

1.) Limit the minutes of your worst rebounders (Olander)
2.) Get players who rebound better

I think solving number 2 will naturally solve number 1. No one knows how good Facey/Brimah will be, but it's really not asking a lot for them to rebound at .20+ reb/min. Nolan could very easily see a little bump, and we'd be right back in business as an average rebounding team.

 

[IMind]

I'm still astounded at how bad a rebounder Olander is.

 

[61cygni]

Or get a big man coach who will teach them how to rebound.

 

[benjordan]

Or get a big man coach who will teach them how to rebound.

I will say, even when we had pretty good big guys in the last couple years.. they all seemed awful at boxing out.

 

[SubbaBub]

IMO, TO wasn't recruited to be starter. More of a guy who could spell both the 4/5 and make a few jumpers. I hoped that he'd have bulked up more than he has, but on whole, he has done a good job based on my initial expectations.

The lack of rebounding has more to do with who left (Drummond, Oriaki, Smith) than who is here. Those boards weren't going to replaced by bench guys and a true freshman.


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[HuskiesAllDay]

I will say, even when we had pretty good big guys in the last couple years.. they all seemed awful at boxing out.

Ahem, Oriakhi, cough cough.

 

[PomonaHusky]

The Wolf thread seems to be all over the place, but I think the main thing to take away from it is that UCONN is clearly in need of better rebounding next year if we wanna take the next step.........
UCONN's rebounding woes are correctable in two ways:

1.) Limit the minutes of your worst rebounders (Olander)
2.) Get players who rebound better

I think solving number 2 will naturally solve number 1. No one knows how good Facey/Brimah will be, but it's really not asking a lot for them to rebound at .20+ reb/min. Nolan could very easily see a little bump, and we'd be right back in business as an average rebounding team.

Nice breakdown Benjordan.

And this is exactly where Facey will have a very positive impact. I think we undervalue Facey's potential contributions simply because he doesn't have a polished offensive game. His initial value should be as a rebounder and defensive player. Yeah, he may not be bulky like Drummond, but neither is Gorgui Dieng...

Increased depth at the 4 & 5 alone should have a distinct positive impact.

As they say "Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships".

 

[benjordan]

Nice breakdown Benjordan.

And this is exactly where Facey will have a very positive impact. I think we undervalue Facey's potential contributions simply because he doesn't have a polished offensive game. His initial value should be as a rebounder and defensive player. Yeah, he may not be bulky like Drummond, but neither is Gorgui Dieng...

Increased depth at the 4 & 5 alone should have a distinct positive impact.

As they say "Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships".

I'm sure Ollie will be telling all our big guys that the way to more minutes is to rebound the basketball. You don't have to be Emeka Okafor to rebound, look at a guy like Kenneth Faried.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Great analysis. Wolf has a lot of room for improvement on the boards too. Oleander is bulked up. I don't think another 10 pounds of muscle will do anything but make him even slower. Nolan should be a great rebounder one day.

Another thing that stands out is how close Giffey is to Daniels. Daniels is an abysmal defender who I was a fan of because he is great offensively around the hoop and I thought we needed his rebounding. He isn't much better than Giffey on the boards, and Giffey is light years ahead of Daniels defensively.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I'm sure Ollie will be telling all our big guys that the way to more minutes is to rebound the basketball. You don't have to be Emeka Okafor to rebound, look at a guy like Kenneth Faried.

I don't get this comparison. Faried's better than Okafor.

 

[benjordan]

I don't get this comparison. Faried's better than Okafor.

Body wise I meant, sorry.

 

[UChusky916]

IMO, TO wasn't recruited to be starter. More of a guy who could spell both the 4/5 and make a few jumpers. I hoped that he'd have bulked up more than he has, but on whole, he has done a good job based on my initial expectations.

The lack of rebounding has more to do with who left (Drummond, Oriaki, Smith) than who is here. Those boards weren't going to replaced by bench guys and a true freshman.

This offseason TO knew he'd be our only returning frontcourt player and DID bulk up a bit in order to prepare. This hurt him more than it helped him. This year he seemed slow-moving on his feet and had a hard time getting off the floor. His quickness and craftiness at the 4 was one of his redeeming qualities, and he was a solid defender one-on-one at staying in between his man and the basket until this year. By bulking up, he basically lost his quickness and his only true asset at the 4 spot. He didn't play to his strengths and was trying to be something he was not.

TO is not meant to be the rebounding type by any means either. He should never have to play the 5 and should only be getting backup minutes at the 4 in case of foul trouble or based on match-ups (ND). He fairs pretty well operating as a distributing 4 in the middle of a zone, but that's it really.
TO was not recruited to be a starter, I agree. With the mass exodus of players leaving last year, he was pushed into a starter role and it only highlighted the fact that he's simply not a BE caliber starter.

As a whole, I'm not as concerned about the rebounding as much as others are. DD rebounded superbly from the 3/4 spot in the 2nd half of the year. Giffey is a solid rebounder for his height as well in the 3/4 spot. Between Nolan, Wolf, Facey, and Brimah, I think one or two will emerge as a good rebounder. Wolf and Nolan, when given minutes, clearly were better rebounders inside than TO.

I do agree that in order to be an elite team next year, Facey or Brimah will need to really contribute right away in the rebounding department. If not, they will need to be at least ADEQUATE with Nolan/Wolf making big strides in that deptartment.