Roscoe Smith article

[husky99]

Sweet 16: Roscoe Smith, Connecticut
Baltimore Sun

 

[Donyell]

Most of us on the boneyard recognize Scoe's value and total contributions to the run to the championships last year. Love Roscoe and what he brings to the table.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Defense, rebounding, blocked shots

 

[UChusky916]

RS was truly one of the unsung heroes of the team last year. He did the dirty work in the trenches; came up with some huge rebounds and excelled at defending anyone he was matched up against.

Ollie kept mentioning "energy." That's key for 'Scoe. If he can keep up the energy, his athleticism and skill will continue to flourish.

He also is a great teammate and one of the funny guys on the team, see my avatar

 

[Kitaman]

Who is Roscoe Smith?

Good to see him getting some press.

 

[bobbygt]

RS was truly one of the unsung heroes of the team last year. He did the dirty work in the trenches; came up with some huge rebounds and excelled at defending anyone he was matched up against.

Ollie kept mentioning "energy." That's key for 'Scoe. If he can keep up the energy, his athleticism and skill will continue to flourish.

He also is a great teammate and one of the funny guys on the team, see my avatar

He was to 2011 what Boone was in 2004.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

“I’m just not playing for myself,” Smith said. “I’m also playing for the University of Connecticut and all the Baltimoreans that came out of Baltimore to UConn – Josh Boone, Rudy Gay. I’m just continuing the great history of all the Baltimore guys that came to UConn and were successful.”

 

[aceboon]

Roscoe has become kind of the forgotten man with the addition of the freshmen and with Bazz, Lambo, & AO becoming the main 3 of the returning players. Roscoe came in with the reputation as a shooter so I expect him to become much more consistent in that area now that he's settled in. With AO & AD commanding double teams in the post and Bazz being more of a distributor and drive and kick guy, there should be plenty of open looks for him spotting up from deep. With how deep we are it will likely limit his touches but I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the double digit mark in scoring.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I love that kid. He's got a great personality, he's a great teammate, and he always made an impact on the game without plays being run for him. It's crazy to think that these kids were freshmen last year.

 

[ctchamps]

Roscoe has become kind of the forgotten man with the addition of the freshmen and with Bazz, Lambo, & AO becoming the main 3 of the returning players. Roscoe came in with the reputation as a shooter so I expect him to become much more consistent in that area now that he's settled in. With AO & AD commanding double teams in the post and Bazz being more of a distributor and drive and kick guy, there should be plenty of open looks for him spotting up from deep. With how deep we are it will likely limit his touches but I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the double digit mark in scoring.

+1. My hope is he develops a consistent midrange shot.

 

[aceboon]

+1. My hope is he develops a consistent midrange shot.

Yes, that too. There was a play in the 2nd half of the Kentucky game where he just rose up and took a midrange baseline J ala Lamb. I would love to see more of that because with his height and length that's there for him everytime from the 3 spot against smaller wings, and then he can do the same by pulling bigger 4s out of their comfort zone. Either way, we know he's still gonna contribute on the defensive end and on the boards.

 

[Chin Diesel]

He has a chance to become a Robert Horry or Bruce Bowen type player. He doesn't score a ton of points, but he knows how to play in a system, doesn't make mistakes (he's allotted one 90 foot heave with 10 seconds left in a game once per year), but always seems to be in the right spot at the end of the game.

He'll figure out how to get 20-25 minutes a game this season. He runs hard, grabs rebounds, interrupts passing lanes and gets blocks.

He showed his mettle playing with the swollen black eye. The eye was metaphorical (don't know if that's a word or not, it should be thought) of the never give, don't feel sorry for yourself attitude of last year's team.

I've mentioned it before and I'll stick with the comparison. He can turn in to a Stacey Augman type defender.

 

[nomar]

Lest we forget his greatest moment...

 

[Kitaman]

Nomar you are cold-blooded.

 

[61cygni]

Hey, that shot goes in and Roscoe becomes legendary!

 

[DogMania]

RS was truly one of the unsung heroes of the team last year. He did the dirty work in the trenches; came up with some huge rebounds and excelled at defending anyone he was matched up against.

Ollie kept mentioning "energy." That's key for 'Scoe. If he can keep up the energy, his athleticism and skill will continue to flourish.

He also is a great teammate and one of the funny guys on the team, see my avatar

Yeah, he came up huge during the 11 game run. I can't remember if it was -4 or NC game, but he hit a huge highly contested midrange J after catching the ball in the corner and taking it toward the basket. I can't even count the number of shots he blocked or altered.

Last year's team turned out to be one of the best defensive teams I've ever seen, and this year's team has the makings of being even better in that regard. The season can't start soon enough!

 

[ctchamps]

The way I recall things, most of us were high on Roscoe early in the season.
Then Shabazz looked good for a while and we focused less on Roscoe. And when Lamb got hot he was the freshman we focused most of our attention. Bottom line is everyone on the team contributes even when we don't observe it or argue about it.

Roscoes attitude, to do what the coaches want and be a team player, is the correct attitude. Sometimes we tend to star gaze and forget the team focus and the value everyone has on the team.

 

[huskiesnyc]

Roscoe is my favorite player and that's not a knock on anybody else. Check out his interview after the BE championship. It's not youtube so i can't embed it

http://www.bigeast.org/BIGEASTTV/On...ball-Championship-Interview-Roscoe-Smith.aspx

 

[ctchamps]

Roscoe is my favorite player and that's not a knock on anybody else. Check out his interview after the BE championship. It's not youtube so i can't embed it

http://www.bigeast.org/BIGEASTTV/On...ball-Championship-Interview-Roscoe-Smith.aspx

Great interview. Thanks for the link.

 

[champs99and04]

I like the part where Ollie talked about his improvement in the dribble drive game and usage of the pump fake. If he can improve in that area I believe his game will ascend to the next level. But as others have mentioned, Scoe is already one of the key pieces to this teams success.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

If either of his two predecessors (Rudy, Stanley) had 1/10th Roscoe's toughness we would have two more titles at the moment.