Kemba would drive and embellish any contact by throwing back his head. I think the BE Refs caught on. Shabazz Napier does it now, but with the new rules, it's called almost every time.
I personally had no expectations of the 2010-11 team. I thought the certain individuals gave up at the end of the '09-'10 season. Whether they were playing through pain or playing out of position, Dyson and Robinson didn't seem like they enjoyed playing and it permeated through the rest of the team. Walker was inconsistent as a sophomore and had not built upon the promise he showed during his freshman year. I also thought Calhoun was affected by the recent turmoil and, at his age (Not to mention the age of his top assistant coach), the game was beginning to pass him by. (Disclaimer: I'll probably take heat for that, given in such high regard some fans here hold Robinson and Dyson, but those were my thoughts at the time. I've defended them here in the past, but I don't want to do it again. My mind will not change about a team five years ago.)
That, and the overrating of the teams UConn played in Maui, is the basis of my Smoke and Mirrors comment and my low expectations. But Walker all of a sudden found his jump shot and played liked he enjoyed it again, which carried the team in the OOC schedule. They went 9-9 in the Big East, but you could begin seeing a pattern (i.e. Napier would play point when he and Walker were on the court together) and the gradual improvement of Jeremy Lamb. Regardless of their ranking, I thought UConn was a six or seven seed before the Big East Tournament and had to make at least the BE Semis to have a reasonable shot at improving their placement. They ended up with the auto-birth and a 3 seed, which was I thought was too high. Overall, I didn't think they would have the legs after playing five games in five nights. Gladly, I was wrong.
