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Message: [QUOTE="ThabeetDown, post: 4829578, member: 4336"] Was at the game. Few observations: [LIST] [*]Game sadly came down to who could deal with trash officiating better. Thankfully it was us. Val Ackerman is terrible at her job for a number of reasons, the officiating being one of them. The game was not UConn vs St. John’s but rather UConn vs the refs and St. John’s vs the refs. [*]Pitino outcoached Hurley in the first half (again, just like in March) but ultimately didn’t have the talent to compete for 40 min like the Iona game. He’s a HOF coach for a reason. Our staff lost the first 20 min. [*]Alleyne shot himself out of this one. Really wanted to play hero in his homecoming and thankfully for us he was 1-6 for 2 pts, mostly ill advised mid range shots. Love the kid, but though one for him. [*]Didn’t know what we would get from Singare in backup minutes but I was VERY impressed. Granted, it was far from perfect and he’s still very raw, but if he can give us 10 min a game even at a -3 +/- I’ll take that. Definitely a confidence booster and something for him to build on. [*]Castle was pretty much awful for the first 30 min but was huge down the stretch. Really wish he made that and one. I’ve been impressed with his attitude the whole season, and that allowed him to break out of his funk towards the end. His confidence with his shooting is absolutely shot still, he really needs to get it back ASAP as it unlocks the rest of his game. Very impressed with his ability to basically play the 4 and snag 7 boards. Shocked he’s only listed with 1 TO, I counted at least 3 but so it goes. [*]Joel Soriano was so unimpressive. I didn’t think he deserved First Team preseason but I respected him enough to think he’d be a major problem without Clingan. He wasn’t. And the fouls weren’t even an excuse for him. Just not dominant at all. Looked like he belonged at Fordham where he started his career. Slightly disappointed even we didn’t get to compete with a first team player but not going to be upset about it! [*]Glad Samson got his mojo back. And glad it happened early. He’s critical (uhh duh) with Clingan out. [*]Newton didn’t have his shot again tonight but a sneaky 15/9/6. Crazy he had that line and didn’t even really play well (4-14 FG). All-American gritty performance when he didn’t have his A game. [*]Props to Pitino for icing Cam out first half — don’t think he had a single 3PA. Finished with 15 (2-4 3) but Pitino did the best job scheming him out of his game so far this year. Hurley and co need to do a better job and creating plays for him to get open shots especially vs the zone. [*]Speaking of which, UConn continues to be allergic to a zone. Going on 3 coaches now. And they have the players to break it. So do it! How do they not gameplan for it? [*]Rough game for Alex. Never got into a rhythm. Thought his defense was pretty solid for his standards with his expanded role. [*]Crowd was awesome. Old Mall was rocking! [/LIST] [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach