SI article: UConn still struggling to find footing in post-Kemba Walker era

[HooperScooper]

UConn still struggling to find footing in post-Kemba Walker era

 

[Kitaman]

Thanks, a lot of this has been posted and discussed here. I think we also need to play some top competetion to fairly measure our potential and growth.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

i agree with a lot of the article but i dont think its fair to say Uconn has little buzz around them and honestly who cares Mid December if we arent playing as well as we should/can be? Drummond just got the mask off and boatright is in his 3rd/4th game as a freshman lol.

 

[EricLA]

i actually thought it was a really good article. offered a frank assessment of the team without being overly critical, or too soft. Boatright said that UCONN is only running offense correctly about 50% of the time and Lamb said "People need to know their roles. We just gotta pick it up on defense and really start executing our plays. Sometimes we go one-on-one too much or use the screens -- ball screens -- too much."

i'm really glad to hear them talking about the problems with doing too much 1 on 1. great to hear them talking about actually running offense. i assume part of the beef the players have (not named Shabazz) are that they aren't getting the ball into the post enough. and i'm not picking on Shabazz - i think overall he's really good. but like everyone on the team, there's a fair amount of room for improvement which will serve them really well come March/April...​

i'm not sure i get the writers comment about the "buzz" surrounding UCONN. is anyone surprised that Harvard, being ranked for the first time in a zillion years, got all the publicity leading up to the game vs. UCONN? notwithstanding the Duke/UNC/Kentucky discussions, is UCONN really being "discussed" any less than any of the other top 15 teams?​

 

[Scot-e]

I think it was spot on- not much to crow about if you are not a UCONN fan. We have won in unspectacular fashion- have not pulled away from anyone (those 20-30 point games are what the talking heads expect from a top 5 team- except dook) and while J lamb has been great he has not been national news worthy.
From a UCONN fan's perspective I think things are going pretty well with the exception of the loss to CF. Our backcourt, the biggest question prior to this season is kicking ass- yes there are a few issues to work out but 1-3 I am very pleased with what I have seen so far. I also can not see a world where AO and AD do not get their collective together by late Feb.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Article was good.

Title/Headline was misleading and poorly worded. I sometimes wonder if the headline writers read the articles or consult the writers to check intent before writing.

 

[HuskyFan32]

Article is spot on. Everything Ive been saying (and getting trashed for on this site). We need to establish roles, AND quit letting every 15 or 18 pt lead instantly disappear to 5 or 7. Drummond will be a force come Feb, and Boatshow will be awesome as usual. Like to see a few more plays run for Lamb coming off screens and Bazz limit his dumb shots/passes to 3 or 4 total from 7 or 8 but we are going to be dominant come Feb or March that is certain.

 

[dogpause]

OMG, look at Jeremy's arm length. I know the shot angle, and body angle, contribute, but when you talk about length, he has an amazing reach.

 

[ctchamps]

Good article. The offense is pretty close to last years team and that is happening with two integral pieces missing, KW gone and a much less efficient AO. As far as I'm concerned this team is ahead of where I expected them to be at this part of the season on offense.

I would love to see an analysis of this years offense with last years offense regarding assists and possession of ball handling by one player. I don't think this years team comes close to last years team with one on one ball playing and going past screens. I think we just excused that type of play more last year than this year.

The defense is definitely behind last years team. Kemba was the best defensive player on defense and his absence is noticeable. Furthermore JL and SN had to avoid playing aggressively on defense when RB was missing. RB's entry into the rotation allows the players to rest and to be less concerned about foul problems. I expect the perimeter defense to get significantly better particularly in the second halves of games such as we saw in the Harvard game and during the wins last year.

 

[BarkingDog]

Seems to me that the struggle with the offense is not unlike every other year since Calhoun has been coach. The offense never really starts playing well until the middle or the end of January.
I always thought it took that long because the new players needed two or three months to figure out what the hell Calhoun was saying in his disjointed, stream of conscience, 900 mph Boston accent.

 

[TheChamps990411]

what i find funny is if uconn wins the battle for atlantis theyd be the #1 team in the country right now in all likelyhood. what would people be writing then.

 

[Waquoit]

I think these guys are playing pretty well and will keep getting better. Let Cuse have their shirts. For now.

 

[arnie3]

Last year pre-conference we had 5 blowouts of 16 points or more. In fact, we beat Harvard 81-52. What happened when we got in the B.E.? We were blown out by Pitt and lost to ND. We won at home to USF by 5 in overtime. so we started out 1-2. Based on last year, it's hard for me to see any correlation on how good or bad we are now or will be in this year's B.E. On the surface, the B.E looks a bit down from last year- it's seems to be a case of the haves and the have-nots. Some of the teams that we are playing out of conference might be better than USF, ND, Rutgers and St Johns. I don't know, perhaps one or two of the mentioned teams will turn on a switch come conference time, and really improve. I thought that Rutgers would be better this year, and St Johns is way out of sync due to all the freshmen loses and Lavin's health issues. But ND, Rutgers and USF look really weak.
The article posits that the team is a work in progress, but what team isn't? UK made some bone-head plays against IU on Saturday. They'll learn from it. I thought that in certain bunches of minutes that the team really played well against Harvard, and perhaps that was UConn's best defensive game to date. But as many have said here, there was too much dribbling by the guards, and many lapses.
All in all, I think we're okay. Even after the win in Maui last year, there were a few games (USF, and Vermont to name two) that questioned whether that team would ever come around. It certainly did!

 

[mihusky]

Seems to me that the struggle with the offense is not unlike every other year since Calhoun has been coach. The offense never really starts playing well until the middle or the end of January.
I always thought it took that long because the new players needed two or three months to figure out what the hell Calhoun was saying in his disjointed, stream of conscience, 900 mph Boston accent.

if they only had Rosetta Stone for JC-speak..

 

[NOTaDIME]

if they only had Rosetta Stone for JC-speak..

He says "quite frankly" at least three times an interview.

 

[willie99]

seems to me we've been doing just fine the last three games

 

[HuskyBballFan]

How about this for some perspective - Uconn has had a double digit second half lead in every game we've played thus far.

 

[Danzz]

Thanks, a lot of this has been posted and discussed here. I think we also need to play some top competetion to fairly measure our potential and growth.

As I said in another post we need to add a competitive opponent in the Holy Cross slot. Most top teams play what amounts to scrimmage games early in the season unless they are in a good tournament.I get why they do it but as you said, at some point you have to find out what you have and playing all cupcakes doesn't do it.

 

[Waquoit]

As I said in another post we need to add a competitive opponent in the Holy Cross slot.

Like St Bonaventure? Fairfield could cause some trouble if the guys are looking ahead to Xmas. And USF on the road at 9:00 could be a problem based on last year's game (and UConn's penchant for lousy play in their 1st BE road game of the year.) But I'm not worried. We have a good bunch of guys here that play team ball for the most part. With repetition will come more precision in their sets and more cohesive play on D. This team didn't come out of the box ready to go like 99 and 04 squads. It's a new team without Kemba and the addition of the rooks. There will be a learning curve. I think that's going to be part of the fun watching them.