Some thoughts...

[boog204]

First, what a great, great win for the program, KO, and for the players who stuck around. I was very impressed with our composure, defense, overall toughness.

The good:

1) Shabazz and Boat were great offensively and defensively. They hit big shots, hit big free throws, and were feisty as hell on the ball defenders.
2) TO and DD had some huge boards down the stretch.
3) I love Niels and wish he got more time. He does lots of little things that go unnoticed and is a calming influence.
4) RJ brings a toughness and aspect of "senior" leadership that this team hasn't had in recent years.
5) KO looks the part and the players love him. I like that he let the guys play a bit as opposed to JCs hook and scream fest.
6) DD showed some of the talent that made him so highly regarded. He forced things in the 2nd half, but he should be a great 3rd/4th option.

The bad:

1) The first 10-12 minutes we ran nice stuff offensively. There were post up opp's, we ran off makes and misses, and we moved the ball well. The last 25-30 minutes it was essentially the Boat and Bazz (and to a lesser extent DD) show. All one on one, high pick/roll, tons of quick, settled perimeter J's, overpenetrating, etc. Essentially it became last year's offense.
2) We are going to really struggle on the boards and on interior D. We were outrebounded by 14 but it felt much wider. Mich St. is notoriously a great team on the boards, but their bigs were in my opinion (save Dawson) not all that impressive.
3) Omar obviously had the first game jitters and will improve but we need him to be a major offensive threat.

Overall a great, great win and a huge moment in the next stage of UConn bball.

 

[djct1999]

No doubt yesterday was a great win. What was more telling to me than the score was how the kids responded to Coach Ollie. The interview at the end of the game was all I need to know. This season will have some surprising wins and frustrating loses, but more important is that they will play hard, have fun, and represent the UConn family well by "putting the name on the front of the jersey as what matters and not the name on the back." Whenever Coach Ollie speaks I am moved, so I can only imagine the impact he is having on 20something year old kids. I saw it in his eyes when he spoke about the loyalty the kids that stayed showed and I saw it in the kids eyes the whole game, especially at the end. The score was great, but I saw things yesterday even better than a win over the 14th ranked team in the country.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Good point about the offensive sets. Hard to understand why the offensive movement pretty much just stopped (like last year) unless it was fatigue related. KO shortened the bench a great deal for this game, even more so in the second half where there was very little substitution. I would have liked to see more of Giff and Wolf in the second half, but cannot complain about the result.

You know, it was a great job by Bazz to play all the minutes he played without being able to go full tilt in practice for so long. That spinning, twisting reverse layup he made late in the game must have taken some real energy and he got it down. A big, big play as points were hard to come by.

Boat also came up very big by playing the rest of the game after what looked like a nasty sprain. Hope he is recovering quickly.

 

[ctchamps]

Good point about the offensive sets. Hard to understand why the offensive movement pretty much just stopped (like last year) unless it was fatigue related. KO shortened the bench a great deal for this game, even more so in the second half where there was very little substitution. I would have liked to see more of Giff and Wolf in the second half, but cannot complain about the result.

You know, it was a great job by Bazz to play all the minutes he played without being able to go full tilt in practice for so long. That spinning, twisting reverse layup he made late in the game must have taken some real energy and he got it down. A big, big play as points were hard to come by.

Boat also came up very big by playing the rest of the game after what looked like a nasty sprain. Hope he is recovering quickly.

I thought it was a combination of fatigue and the MSU players preventing UConn players from making cuts in the second half. At the end of the game SN and RB were moving side to side and that was the reason for the victory. RJ was in the game a good part of the second half primarily for defense and to stabilize the team on the offensive end. But he does not offer the same offensive options as OC (Izzo did his homework and players sagged off RJ when he was on the perimerter), so the offense started to stagnate.

 

[60'sfan]

I thought it was a combination of fatigue and the MSU players preventing UConn players from making cuts in the second half. At the end of the game SN and RB were moving side to side and that was the reason for the victory. RJ was in the game a good part of the second half primarily for defense and to stabilize the team on the offensive end. But he does not offer the same offensive options as OC (Izzo did his homework and players sagged off RJ when he was on the perimerter), so the offense started to stagnate.

I would agree. I think MSU made some adjustments and that's why our offense wasn't as effective. They are still a top-20 team with a great coach. I was actually very impressed with R.J. Evans. He may not be a great shooter but he is not afraid to take the ball to the basket. His points came at very important times and he was a stabilizing influence when he was in the game. He reminded me a lot of Donnell Beverly two years ago. I think he will play a big role on this team.

 

[boog204]

I think there was obviously some adjustments by MSU but the second half was essentially Bazz or Boat (or DD for 3 possessions in a row) trying to go one on one. Sometimes this is effective due simply to talent but more often than not there was one guy pounding the ball and 4 guys watching. The early part of the game you had post up scores by TO and RJ and lots of times TO, Wolf, and DD with the ball at the high post with cutters/baseline screens. That completely disappeared in the 2nd half. Obviously, you can't complain w/ the win, but I'd definitely like to see more of the sets we saw early on and more of what KO spoke about in regards to a "west coast" style of offense as opposed to what we settled for in the 2nd half.

 

[huskiesnyc]

One thing that has frustrated me the last few seasons has been our half court offense. Basically dribble out the clock at the top of the key and then drive with a few seconds left 1 on 5. Unless Kemba is on the team that just doesn't work. Last night I saw crisp outlet passes by the bigs, and a relentless west coast attack on offense. That's how the huskies played in the 90's and early 00's. I also love the pick and roll and backdoor passes from TO to a slashing guard. Our bigs might not have a lot of size, but they are quick and can extend the perimeter. I knew KO could motivate these guys, but I was more impressed with his x's and o's in last nights victory.

 

[mauconnfan]

The outlet passes were fantastic to see after suffering through a few years of inability to get it out and fly........they looked so much faster than MSU when they were able to rebound defensively and push it.....fun to watch!!

 

[eos91]

Regarding the slowing of the offense, it coincided with getting gassed, but also with Tyler going to the bench... When they used him in the offense, it flowed much better.

Very positive notes all around and something to clearly build on