Said it many times before and will say it as often as is necessary

[UConn Hoops1]

to underscore the youth,inexperience,lack of leadership, and inconsistency of execution on both sides of the ball. Last year's NC was wonderful especially because it was so unexpected. It would not be unfair, in some respects to characterize it as a fluke. A fluke that we all have every right to be extremely proud of; but also a series of events that would never have happened without one Kemba Walker. But all of my commentary is designed to provide "context" for what this team is going through now. The context is both painful and wonderful as we watch yet another version of Huskymania grow and take shape. And this picture with Kevin as the nuturing father figure is a poignaant reminder that all is still very well in the land of Husky Hoops!

GO HUSKIES!!! BEAT THE IRISH!!!

 

[mauconnfan]

+1......well done

 

[BarkingDog]

People are always forgetting to think about context. Or think. Thanks.

 

[zls44]

Calling this team young is one of the biggest pieces of garbage I've ever seen.

Tennessee's program went through hell while UConn's went to the NC. Their best player was in high school a month ago. And they kicked UConn's ass for 40 minutes.

It's a disgrace and there is no long-term perspective, no positive greater good to be taken from this. None.

Stop trying.

 

[RuffRuff]

Look no further than Kentucky to disprove this argument. The key to winning on the college level - NBA players, irregardless of age. This team has two lottery picks, yet struggles immensely.

 

[ctchamps]

Well stated.

 

[UConn Hoops1]

One very important thing that, thank God, I don't have to share with you, is the bitterness that seems to be embedded in your DNA after games like this. It really has distorted your perspective almost to the point where I could imagine you wanting the remainder of the season cancelled as a terminal waste of time. In fact, after a 9-9 BE season last year followed by the runs through the BE and NCAA Tournaments, you must have been curled up in a dark closet with your criteria for reality testing all blown to hell. And, relative to another post in this thread, lottery picks are a guarantee of exactly nothing. Example #1 would be our preposterous collapse against Mason. Example #2 with specific reference to Calamari's Wonder Boys. when the chips are down, we beat them. End of story.

GO HUSKIES!!! BEAT THE IRISH!!!

 

[huskymagic]

One very important thing that, thank God, I don't have to share with you, is the bitterness that seems to be embedded in your DNA after games like this. It really has distorted your perspective almost to the point where I could imagine you wanting the remainder of the season cancelled as a terminal waste of time. In fact, after a 9-9 BE season last year followed by the runs through the BE and NCAA Tournaments, you must have been curled up in a dark closet with your criteria for reality testing all blown to hell. And, relative to another post in this thread, lottery picks are a guarantee of exactly nothing. Example #1 would be our preposterous collapse against Mason. Example #2 with specific reference to Calamari's Wonder Boys. when the chips are down, we beat them. End of story.

GO HUSKIES!!! BEAT THE IRISH!!!

You like many other posters in here are confused so let me clear this up for you. Do not look to last year's historic example to justify this team's problems and ineptitude. This is a totally different team. Last year's team had Kemba Walker who is an absolute beast and with who UConn won the Maui Tournament and all non-conference games the whole year. They did not lose a single game out of conference. This team lost its opening tournament in the Battle for Atlantis to UCF and we got lucky to win against FSU which is looking like a excellent win now thanks to Boatright's play. Now we have lost to Tennessee away. If you cannot beat mediocre teams like Tennessee who are rebuilding their program again from scratch then it doesnt bode well for us unless a dramatic turnaround happens. By the way the fact that we only lost the last 2 games by 3 points is not an indication of how good and close we played them .We got thoroughly outplayed by both Cincinnati and Tennessee, and that should not happen with the players we have on this team. Like I said before if we can't beat ND at home next weekend then this team will be an NIT bid for sure unless the changes are implemented immediately.

 

[UConn Hoops1]

It is absolutely unavoidable to include last year's team in any evaluation of this year's performance regardless of whatever reason(or reasons) you select to explain what happened last year. The astounding variety of analyses for the performances of this year's team acknowledge the loss(on a variety of levels) of Kemba Walker and yet the final results rarely have any meaningful impact on expectations either among media, fans, and, yes, even coaches. I simply don't get it. We have all been witness to the hype machine surrounding players and teams for may,many years. And the situations where the hype and the performance even come close to matching up are the definition of "rare". So now we have this varying degree of intense feeling/hostility surrounding the 2011-2012 Huskies. Why? Because they have everybody back except Kemba and they all have rings? Because Jeremy demonstrated some late season growth in his game at the end of last season? Because Jeremy garnered some(imo unwarranted) pre-season AA attention? Because somehow Andre Drummond was going to historically re-invent post play in Storrs?

I am simply looking for a way for this team to find the room and time to grow. I am perfectly willing to invest a season to let this happen. I have no interest whatsoever in watching the media/fan hype machine squeeze the life and confidence out of what can be a very special group of "young" athletes because we will all get a case of hives if there isn't another trophy in the cabinet in April.

 

[bobbygt]

Look no further than Kentucky to disprove this argument. The key to winning on the college level - NBA players, irregardless of age. This team has two lottery picks, yet struggles immensely.

As has been stated by many before, this year's returnees depended on Kemba for everything. Sure, Lamb broke out and is a very good player.

But I don't think you can compare this team's youth and Kentucky's simply for the fact that UK's freshman and sophs are overall just better than uconn's.

Sure, Andre was a #1 or 2, but anyone who knows a little basketball would see that, right now, there are probably 20 freshman who are better basketball players at their positions than Andre. He is just a tweener right now with his skill set. I know he has the potential to be an NBA all star, but who knows. I'm not sure about DD. I really don't know how he was ranked top 10 by certain services. I wonder if it's a matter of adjusting or confidence. I also think he can make the nba, however.

Kentucky's freshman, esp. Gilchrist-Kidd and Davis already look like college all americans. Teague looks good as well.

Then you have the other Lamb and Jones, who have Final Founr experience and are really good players.

I love all of uconn's guys and wouldn't trade them for anyone, but I think it's a simple matter of talent and basketball IQ and those fall in Kentucky's favor.

 

[huskymagic]

As has been stated by many before, this year's returnees depended on Kemba for everything. Sure, Lamb broke out and is a very good player.

But I don't think you can compare this team's youth and Kentucky's simply for the fact that UK's freshman and sophs are overall just better than uconn's.

Sure, Andre was a #1 or 2, but anyone who knows a little basketball would see that, right now, there are probably 20 freshman who are better basketball players at their positions than Andre. He is just a tweener right now with his skill set. I know he has the potential to be an NBA all star, but who knows. I'm not sure about DD. I really don't know how he was ranked top 10 by certain services. I wonder if it's a matter of adjusting or confidence. I also think he can make the nba, however.

Kentucky's freshman, esp. Gilchrist-Kidd and Davis already look like college all americans. Teague looks good as well.

Then you have the other Lamb and Jones, who have Final Founr experience and are really good players.

I love all of uconn's guys and wouldn't trade them for anyone, but I think it's a simple matter of talent and basketball IQ and those fall in Kentucky's favor.

Dont care about Kentucky but like I said many time before losing Moe Harkless was huge for us we could of have used his services and this team would have been a national title lock with Moe at the small forward spot for us.

 

[mauconnfan]

Lock with Harkless?...o but a better team i agree, and eily. But he's not here and we need some of our kids to grow fast o we din't talk about thee scenario's.

 

[ctchamps]

It is absolutely unavoidable to include last year's team in any evaluation of this year's performance regardless of whatever reason(or reasons) you select to explain what happened last year. The astounding variety of analyses for the performances of this year's team acknowledge the loss(on a variety of levels) of Kemba Walker and yet the final results rarely have any meaningful impact on expectations either among media, fans, and, yes, even coaches. I simply don't get it. We have all been witness to the hype machine surrounding players and teams for may,many years. And the situations where the hype and the performance even come close to matching up are the definition of "rare". So now we have this varying degree of intense feeling/hostility surrounding the 2011-2012 Huskies. Why? Because they have everybody back except Kemba and they all have rings? Because Jeremy demonstrated some late season growth in his game at the end of last season? Because Jeremy garnered some(imo unwarranted) pre-season AA attention? Because somehow Andre Drummond was going to historically re-invent post play in Storrs?

I am simply looking for a way for this team to find the room and time to grow. I am perfectly willing to invest a season to let this happen. I have no interest whatsoever in watching the media/fan hype machine squeeze the life and confidence out of what can be a very special group of "young" athletes because we will all get a case of hives if there isn't another trophy in the cabinet in April.

One of the best posts I've read. But then again you are preaching to the choir. For some of us there is a disconnect between reality and and the way we think. You have stated it masterfully. At least with fans all we have to lose is happiness. There has been more than one snake oil salesman who appealed to peoples desires and gave them nothing but sweet talk as they bilked them out of their cash. People who buy into the hype are ripe for the pickings.

 

[johnhuskies95]

A national title lock with Harkless? That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard on this board.

 

[ctchamps]

A national title lock with Harkless? That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard on this board.

Then you must not have been reading a lot of the posts.

 

[huskymagic]

A national title lock with Harkless? That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard on this board.

Do you know how good Harkless is that would give us a 6'8 small forward who is strong can shoot, and has excellent athleticism and driving abilities. With him that would take pressure off Lamb on the perimeter and the game would become so much simpler for everyone including our bigs. The dumbest thing I have heard here is most of you guys telling yourselves that Daniels is a stud and that he is an NBA player.

 

[johnhuskies95]

He shoots 45% from the floor and 25% from 3, he's not exactly a worldbeater.

It's pretty clear that this team works best with a 3 guard lineup. I don't think that "Moe" Harkless is the answer, and he definitely doesn't make this team a "national title lock".

 

[hoopsknowitall]

The sense of entitlement and arrogance of some UCONN fans is sickening. All UCONN fans should be forced to take a mandatory Big East 101 history lesson on how the Big East tourney and its dreaded 8-9 play in game was a Seton Hall/UCONN affair every year to see who would get killed at the next game up the chain.

We have no idea how good we have had it. Three national championships was unthinkable not so long ago never mind even winning the Big East. Now this year's team is a disgrace because they lost two close games playing without one of their better players? Get real. Get some perspective.

 

[uconNYC]

Not sure Harkless would be the same player at UConn he is at SJU. So many different variables - including Calhoun's coaching style.

 

[Wolferowski]

You like many other posters in here are confused so let me clear this up for you. Do not look to last year's historic example to justify this team's problems and ineptitude. This is a totally different team. Last year's team had Kemba Walker who is an absolute beast and with who UConn won the Maui Tournament and all non-conference games the whole year. They did not lose a single game out of conference. This team lost its opening tournament in the Battle for Atlantis to UCF and we got lucky to win against FSU which is looking like a excellent win now thanks to Boatright's play. Now we have lost to Tennessee away. If you cannot beat mediocre teams like Tennessee who are rebuilding their program again from scratch then it doesnt bode well for us unless a dramatic turnaround happens. By the way the fact that we only lost the last 2 games by 3 points is not an indication of how good and close we played them .We got thoroughly outplayed by both Cincinnati and Tennessee, and that should not happen with the players we have on this team. Like I said before if we can't beat ND at home next weekend then this team will be an NIT bid for sure unless the changes are implemented immediately.

relax. If boatright was here we would have beat Cincy and Tenn.

 

[Kitaman]

We may be young but we are not inexperienced. We are coming in to February, no excuses or justifications needed. Kids need to find a way to win on the road and not lose close games at home, its that simple. We are better than we look (or at least our roster is). Something is just not right and the coaches are scratching their heads for solutions.

No need to panic or blame either, we just are not there yet. Who knows if we will become complete as a team this season, nonetheless we are either a very good team or just a team with a very good collection of players. Which one will be determined by the end of next month either way they have enough to compete against anyone.

 

[M_Funkhauser43!]

It is absolutely unavoidable to include last year's team in any evaluation of this year's performance regardless of whatever reason(or reasons) you select to explain what happened last year. The astounding variety of analyses for the performances of this year's team acknowledge the loss(on a variety of levels) of Kemba Walker and yet the final results rarely have any meaningful impact on expectations either among media, fans, and, yes, even coaches. I simply don't get it. We have all been witness to the hype machine surrounding players and teams for may,many years. And the situations where the hype and the performance even come close to matching up are the definition of "rare". So now we have this varying degree of intense feeling/hostility surrounding the 2011-2012 Huskies. Why? Because they have everybody back except Kemba and they all have rings? Because Jeremy demonstrated some late season growth in his game at the end of last season? Because Jeremy garnered some(imo unwarranted) pre-season AA attention? Because somehow Andre Drummond was going to historically re-invent post play in Storrs?

I am simply looking for a way for this team to find the room and time to grow. I am perfectly willing to invest a season to let this happen. I have no interest whatsoever in watching the media/fan hype machine squeeze the life and confidence out of what can be a very special group of "young" athletes because we will all get a case of hives if there isn't another trophy in the cabinet in April.

I agree with everything you wrote in this post. I also agree that with your earlier point that last season's championship was somewhat flukey (though the team was playing its best basketball of the season in March) and set the expectations for this team perhaps a bit higher than they should have been.

I wonder what our preseason ranking would have been if Arizona's last three went down in the E8? One inch can make a mile of difference in perception. Arizona hitting that shot wouldn't have changed the personnel on this year's team, but I bet nobody would've been talking about a title run in the preseason and a lot more people would see this rut as growing pains as opposed to flushing a season down the toilet.

 

[jibsey]

relax. If boatright was here we would have beat Cincy and Tenn.

Yes, and yes.

 

[pete8122]

The youth excuse seems to be a popular one. However if you want to look at it realistically most of these "top programs" are gonna be dealing with youth it's the 1 and done early entry culture that we are living in now. You are rarely gonna see teams stocked up with seniors unless you're looking at mid majors or other non super power programs. Kentucky is a great example they turn over their roster every year with 1 and dones and yet they have no issues competing at the elite level.

The real issue with this team is not youth it's chemistry. You see it every game. The half court offense is the worst I can ever recall from any UConn team. People stand around while the guards dribble the ball for 25 seconds and you end up with a 1 on 1 chuck against the shot clock. The guards also don't seem to trust the front court players either. often times you'll see someone opened but not get the ball. People will post their hearts out and no entry pass and then have to reposition to not get a 3 second call. There is virtually no flow ever on any of the half court sets. Then to compound the problem often times people will get the ball in a position to score or make an aggressive move not even look at the basket and just pass it back out.

The problem is deep rooted and I'm not sure how you go about fixing something like this. In all honesty I think this group needs to go thru the pains of learning how to play together.

 

[huskymagic]

relax. If boatright was here we would have beat Cincy and Tenn.

Stop using Boatright as an excuse. Boatright was playing when we lost to Seton Hall and Rutgers and we lost those game. Its not just Boatright coming back that will solve the problems with the team its many thing that have to change. The gameplan has to change, the lineup needs to be finalized, the team needs to push the ball up tempo with Boatright as our starting point guard. Our bigs have to get tougher and learn to defend, rebound, and score like bullies on the block. We need to find the leader and go to guy on this team who can carry the team on its back and will them to wins in close games.

 

[huskymagic]

The youth excuse seems to be a popular one. However if you want to look at it realistically most of these "top programs" are gonna be dealing with youth it's the 1 and done early entry culture that we are living in now. You are rarely gonna see teams stocked up with seniors unless you're looking at mid majors or other non super power programs. Kentucky is a great example they turn over their roster every year with 1 and dones and yet they have no issues competing at the elite level.

The real issue with this team is not youth it's chemistry. You see it every game. The half court offense is the worst I can ever recall from any UConn team. People stand around while the guards dribble the ball for 25 seconds and you end up with a 1 on 1 chuck against the shot clock. The guards also don't seem to trust the front court players either. often times you'll see someone opened but not get the ball. People will post their hearts out and no entry pass and then have to reposition to not get a 3 second call. There is virtually no flow ever on any of the half court sets. Then to compound the problem often times people will get the ball in a position to score or make an aggressive move not even look at the basket and just pass it back out.

The problem is deep rooted and I'm not sure how you go about fixing something like this. In all honesty I think this group needs to go thru the pains of learning how to play together.

Good post Pete and your assessment is right on point. The youth excuse is the most baloney thing I hear on here. Last year's starting 5 was younger than this starting 5 and we won the national championship. Calamari gets one and dones every year and they never struggle in the regular season usually winning most of their games handily. The changes that I and burnsbro have stated already will be the remedy to the malaise that this team is currently facing.

 

[mets1090]

Good post Pete and your assessment is right on point. The youth excuse is the most baloney thing I hear on here. Last year's starting 5 was younger than this starting 5 and we won the national championship. Calamari gets one and dones every year and they never struggle in the regular season usually winning most of their games handily. The changes that I and burnsbro have stated already will be the remedy to the malaise that this team is currently facing.

Last year's starting 5 had a floor general whose equal we may not see in the next decade in college basketball.

Also Chuck started so there was a Junior, Senior, Sophomore and 2 Freshmen (for the most part). This year it's typically been 4 sophomores and a junior. Roughly the same amount of years if you want to look at it that way. And when Daniels has started this team has been younger. And when you have a leader like Kemba, you might as well take everyone else's youth and forget about.

And let's not pretend that last year didn't have exactly the same problems that people are talking about with this year's team. Pretty much every game came down to Walker dribbling out the shot clock and then going 1 on 1. Of course we don't have someone to rely on to just make that shot, or at least we don't think we do. The last two losses have come with UConn getting key threes down the stretch only to come up just short. So it's pretty much really similar to when UConn was losing games last year in February.

 

[jibsey]

Expectations have been a problem because we have a top rated freshman DD who is barely getting PT, probably deservedly so, but it wasn't unrealistic to expect him and Roscoe to put up better numbers. If they are both going to get better they need the time and it's hard to say the hell with it regardless of the consequences.

 

[Wolferowski]

Stop using Boatright as an excuse. Boatright was playing when we lost to Seton Hall and Rutgers and we lost those game. Its not just Boatright coming back that will solve the problems with the team its many thing that have to change. The gameplan has to change, the lineup needs to be finalized, the team needs to push the ball up tempo with Boatright as our starting point guard. Our bigs have to get tougher and learn to defend, rebound, and score like bullies on the block. We need to find the leader and go to guy on this team who can carry the team on its back and will them to wins in close games.

It isn't an excuse. Can you at least give him credit for the difference in the FSU? do you think we would have won that game without him?

 

[freescooter]

I really htink this team has huge issues with trying to find the rotation and it all starts with Andre Drummond. He is too big to not play but simply not good enough to be playing as much as he is playing. He doesn't seem to know the meaning of setting a pick..he's 6-10 275 or some such and he's taking jumpers or passing the ball instead of slamming it home. he gets pushed around by smaller players who have more experience. And his addition messed up a front court that ended last year playing like a well oiled machine. As I posted before, he moved Oriakhi out of the middle to the 4, which totally messed up that position where we already had solid depth. Now those guys don't get the play they should becuase they've been replaced by Oriakhi, who is really a better undersized 5 than a 4. This team is a mess. The guard play is good enough. Napier does hold the ball a long time, but when the front court pretty much stand around, not much you can do. In my view, Boatright or any pretty good backup guard, (this team would absolutley benfit from a Donnell Beverly) would absolutley help by letting Napier get some bench time, sometimes just to rest, sometimes to see what is happening better sometimes just to change to pace a little.