Shabazz

[Rico444]

He got schooled defensively in this game. Their PG has some skills, but every PG in the Big East is going to be good. Hope he can get it together.

 

[caw]

Hard to play aggressive D when you have no back-up. He did give up on a few plays though.

 

[aceboon]

I guess Shabazz is supposed to play stick-um D while running an offense and having to score for 40 minutes. Not sure how Shabazz is getting called out when Lamb was terrible defensively and it seemed like every breakdown off of dribble penetration was due to his man getting by him. And I don't mean that as a shot at Jeremy, I think both of them are having to play too many minutes and be responsible for too much of the offense.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Are you kidding me? Shabazz has no backup and had to bring the ball up against full court pressure for virtually the entire game tonight - and he got 21 points in the process. I thought he was outstanding tonight. It's absurd how badly he needs Boatright back to help ease the burden he's carrying.

 

[jleves]

Wow - calling out Napier? For real? He was the best player on the court hands down. He was fine on defense considering he can't gamble one bit. He kept his man in front of him all night long. Lamb did not have a great defensive night and overall, the team went for help far too much. Seems to be a standard problem early for UConn. Help too much and get burned. Everyone needs to stay with their man.

Napier is playing very well in the first two games. That was one of the areas people had question. He's running the team fine and he can score when the team needs it.

My general take on the game is that there are a lot great pieces that haven't learned how to work together.

Everyone was down on Alex and Drummond and they both had incrementally better games. If they keep improving, we get Boat back and learn how to work together and we'll be more than fine.

My other take from this game, they are really young. We were really young last year but had Kemba. We're really young this year and need some time to grow up. I think they'll be fine in 8 weeks. That's when you want to be fine. No team that peaks in November/December wins anything.

 

[61cygni]

Earlier, there was a preemptive thread about Boatright potentially being a scapegoat or something like that for this team if it struggles. Can we get a thread like that for Shabazz?

If he's catching this much flak when we're winning, I don't even want to load up the Boneyard if we lose a game.

 

[superjohn]

Shabazz was by far the best player on the floor tonight, I thought Lamb had a very poor game, he seemed out of it the for the last 25 minutes of the game. Sloppy, turnovers, lazy defense and his shot was wayyy off. He still manged to score 20, kind of shows you how easily he can score.

 

[HuskyFan32]

He got schooled defensively in this game. Their PG has some skills, but every PG in the Big East is going to be good. Hope he can get it together.

Just an ok game for Bazz. 1 assist?? He played much more like a combo guard than a pg tonight. Id like to see him look to creative his offense a little less. We all know he can score and he had some great plays, but we need him as a PG more than a scorer this year. Something thats going to take some time for him to adjust to. He still has times where he wants to be an offensive spark.

 

[HuskyFan32]

At the same time Bazz' offense saved us at times too. We def needed him in stretches, but Id like to see him get others involved a little more

 

[Rico444]

Im not saying the kid had an awful game. He scored 21 points, so obviously he didn't. But he was having trouble with their point guard, and the penetration he got lead to a lot of our defensive problems. The reason we had to help so much is because they were penetrating so well. Just something he'll have to do better moving forward.

I'd like to think we can post some constructive criticism on this board. The team is far from a finished product, but I like the potential I see in them a lot. Clean up some stuff, get Boatright back and i'll go to war with these guys any day of the week.

 

[WingU]

The one thing I noticed was that whenever we run the pick and roll with shabazz he never is able to either turn the corner or get it to the big man. When we run the pick and roll with Lamb I feel like Lamb looks to try to make the pass. I would like to see more pick and rolls with lamb and drummond. I think that could become one of our best plays by mid season if we run it more.

 

[DieHardHusky]

I love how he was driving to the hole trying to get fouls tonight. Seemed quite often.

 

[Rico444]

...and now im reading that Shabazz was playing with a fever, and almost passed out on the court at one point.

Guess I can give him a pass here.

 

[NaughtybyNapier]

...and now im reading that Shabazz was playing with a fever, and almost passed out on the court at one point.

Guess I can give him a pass here.

Lol.

I agree w/ everyone who said he was the best player on the court tonight.

 

[ctchamps]

At least Dyson went 12 games before the jackals turned on him.

 

[hooskies]

I should just stay away from this board until big east play...

 

[Kitaman]

Bazz was very sick with the flu, totally exhausted but gutted out the win. That's leadership. The only problem with Bazz is he has no relief until Ryan comes back. Calhoun is notoriously known around here for not resting his players during games. So he can't look for help from the coach. But Bazz clearly needs a backup, and soon. Until then I just want Bazz to manage his energy, fouls and health. We can't win the BE without him.

Bazz was ill.

 

[Waquoit]

Sick or not, Bazz was the best player on the floor tonight. Calling him out is ridiculous.

 

[intlzncster]

Bazz was very sick with the flu, totally exhausted but gutted out the win. That's leadership. The only problem with Bazz is he has no relief until Ryan comes back. Calhoun is notoriously known around here for not resting his players during games. So he can't look for help from the coach. But Bazz clearly needs a backup, and soon. Until then I just want Bazz to manage his energy, fouls and health. We can't win the BE without him.

JC doesn't really have a choice though. We've got no one to turn to ATM, other than a walk on.

 

[Vehcoo23]

If anything, I thought Lamb should be called out instead of Napier. He was pretty lazy on defense and a little sloppy on the offensive end. Doesn't take talent to hustle but I didn't see Lamb get any time on the bench. Him and Napier have to be getting tired.

 

[DogMania]

I guess Shabazz is supposed to play stick-um D while running an offense and having to score for 40 minutes. Not sure how Shabazz is getting called out when Lamb was terrible defensively and it seemed like every breakdown off of dribble penetration was due to his man getting by him. And I don't mean that as a shot at Jeremy, I think both of them are having to play too many minutes and be responsible for too much of the offense.

Wow! I wasn't sure where to jump in on this thread, but my gosh! Bazz was very good last night. From what I read, he might have been battling the flu ontop of everything else. He had to play some crazy prolonged minutes against one of the most aggressive backcourts I've seen in sometime...oh...and doing so while making sure he stays out of foul trouble. Because when Bazz looks behind him for his back-up all he sees is his own ass.

Of all the players to criticize last night, he should be the last on anyone's list.