Shabazz is AS clutch as Kemba

[UChusky916]

This discussion is closer than people think.

Don't forget about this:

 

[Marat]

Last year in the BET, against West Virginia Napier led the comeback in the final minutes with his steals and made baskets to send it into OT where UConn won. That was another display of clutch stuff.

"Napier’s 20-point second half came after West Virginia built a 30-26 intermission lead. Napier single-handedly led the Huskies on a 9-0 run that tied the game at 63-63, highlighting the stretch by converting two fast-break layups off a pair of steals."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/s...0-point-half-leads-huskies-comeback.html?_r=0

 

[Scoe]

Lets slow it down just a little bit. I have no doubt SN is clutch and we don't win it in 2011 if he doesnt step up. If Bazz does what he did last night 5 games in 5 days, plus 6 more then he is a clutch as Kemba. Bazz will rank somewhere amongst the Uconn greats though, hopefully we see him next year in a husky uniform.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

Damn I wish I could get this excited over a Cincy win. You must have just come down from the cuse game only to go up again.

Hahah with no postseason I'm left with no choice

 

[Jerry1714]

I don't care what the rest of the yarders think. Look at shabazz's OT stats. You can't honestly tell me that Kemba is better. Kembas FG% was much lower. Shabazz has a clutch genetic in him that is abnormal.

Well, maybe not better than Kemba, but he's certainly up there with him. Equal im my book.

Honest question, did you follow UConn pre 2009?

Just wondering based on all your posts, I do not mean for this be offensive.

 

[freescooter]

don't know that he is Kemba, but I was thinking that he is doing a damned good imitation right now. he played about as well as you could ask of a player in the Syracuse game. And he was clutch last night. If I could only pick one, I'd go with Kemba, but it wouldn't be bad to be "stuck" with Napier. He is an excellent college point guard. I'm not sure he will be a great pro, and he really should stay another year, but as a college point guard he's outstanding.

 

[Gurleyman]

Look, I like Bazz and all, but are we already starting to underrate what Kemba did after two years? In the 64-team era, he's in a conversation with Danny Manning and Carmelo Anthony for willing teams to titles, and neither of those guys won the conference tournament preceding it.

Bazz has had some pretty great clutch shots and OT performances, and it is fair to say he can match what Kemba did in the regular season (Wichita State, Michigan State, Texas, Villanova). But what Kemba did in the postseason under intense pressure takes it to another level. Not only did he earn a spot in forever's highlights against Pitt, but he put up 28 against Gtown, 33 and 13 boards against Cuse, had the pass to beat Lville, the stepback to beat Arizona, 36 against SDSU, 33 against Cincy (half our points), a tough 20 and 7 and 19 and 7 in the defensive battles with Arizona and Kentucky. The stat line doesn't look good against Butler, which is a shame storybook ending wise, but I thought he played his balls off and the team fell in line behind him, effort-wise.

We don't win the NC without Bazz, but truthfully, if you go by the "we're screwed if he goes down" theory of ranking the importance of everyone, it would have been Walker-Lamb-Oriakhi-Napier. Also moreso that the foul shots (which came after he turned the ball over and Kemba battled Kentucky's front line to tip the defensive rebound to him), the biggest thing he did was run the offense in the second half against Butler. He shot 1-6, but I think he played all 20 minutes in the second half as the point and even though he only had two assists, I feel like he got us sorted out. When Butler went zone, Napier picked it apart. Much like Kemba, the stat line doesn't reflect how important his contribution was that day.

The book on Kemba has been written, and Bazz has time left in his career to make that jump, but until he does, this argument is a non-starter. If Bazz leaves and doesn't get another postseason run at it, we can fairly say that he lost his chance to move into that stratosphere, but we can't say he would have.

As for FG percentages:

Freshman - Kemba 47.0, Bazz 37.0
Sophomore. - Kemba 40.4, Bazz 38.9
Junior - Kemba 42.8, Bazz 44.4

 

[billythekid]

This is the Kemba video you want. Turn up the sound.

I can't help but smile every single time I watch a replay of that shot. It just doesn't get old.