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UConn’s somewhat meteoric rise in defensive efficiency – from a disappointing 129th a year ago to 37th as of this moment – can be attributed in large part to the addition of Akok Akok. They simply do not make very many human beings like him, and to the extent that he’s elevated their defensive ceiling and overall margin for error is hard to overstate in terms of both physics and psychology. You always think you have a chance, in any game, when that kind of athletic freak is suiting up in your colors. That confidence boost alone is invaluable to a team and a coach trying to rebuild on the fly.
Whereas past UConn big men like Amida Brimah would sometimes struggle to replicate their defensive dominance against better teams, Akok has risen to the challenge against the best teams on UConn’s schedule, swatting 5 shots vs. Indiana, 6 against Miami, and 2 a piece vs. Florida, Buffalo, and Xavier.
You have to look beyond the raw numbers, however, to fully capture the scope of his impact. Not all blocked shots are created equal, and Akok’s willingness to meet force with force as the ball nears its summit has made for some especially demoralizing reminders that the paint is not a place for everyone.
But while Akok has restored every bit of box office appeal the program once offered, it is Junior big man Josh Carlton who remains UConn’s most indispensable player. Carlton has averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds in the Huskies’ five toughest games, shooting a nifty 57% while doing his best to lift a limited offense above water. His surprisingly adept passing skills have unlocked precious bits of real estate with which his teammates can use to cut, screen, or drive.
Carlton’s vast range of skills has enabled Dan Hurley to install something like the classic UCLA High-Post Offense, a motion-based attack that tends to favor balance over ball-dominance. It is a flavor that represents somewhat of a departure from UConn offenses of yesteryear, when premium perimeter talents were often empowered at the cost of developing healthier long-term habits across the roster.
But the guards on this team aren’t near that level. Alterique Gilbert’s shooting percentage looks like a misprint, and Christian Vital hoists more ill-advised shots than anyone I can remember. The two veteran guards have converted just 67 of their 205 shot attempts this season, yielding an average that would have finished tied for second in the American League batting race.
Of course, those numbers don’t reflect their value to the team. Gilbert has greatly aided Carlton’s production by soaking up bodies on his way to the rim, regularly heaving up the sort of missed shots that look like bricks in the box score but count for assists on the scoreboard. Vital has soldiered through countless possessions as the team’s only viable threat, always willing fight the worst fires in an offense that creates a lot of them.
Even still, it is clear that neither fits the mold of your traditional high usage guard. They’re both much better suited, at this point in time, to function within an offense of shared capital, or one that reduces their need to swim through multiple layers of help defenders. Carlton’s work at the high post has simplified their reads and opened up looks to players like Tyler Polley:
This is not a pass that any UConn big man in the last ten years dreams of attempting. We’re talking about a one-handed skip pass to the opposite wing that’s delivered right on the money. In this case, Polley (who makes a beautiful pass fake to get the defender lunging towards Vital in the corner) is the recipient, but in many cases that help defender will drift too far towards Polley and allow Vital to sneak back door for an easy layup, or more likely he’ll move the ball one more time and leave Carlton with the hockey assist. Either way, his average of 0.6 assists per game is not indicative of the value he adds as a passer.
While I wouldn't recommend these sets as a long-term solution, my impression is that Hurley’s far more concerned with cultivating the habits of good team basketball – and promoting the sort of intuitive movements that Gilbert demonstrates here - than running a niche offense to the letter-of-the-law. He is far from married to these formations, and I would not be surprised to see him yield to more traditional high ball screens as the season progresses and the guard play improves.
But the Huskies should still feel somewhat beholden to the guiding light that these sets have offered, especially as they prepare to navigate a daunting schedule that will pit them against a top 70 defense in 12 of their 18 conference games. With James Wiseman no longer enrolled at Memphis, the league crown is well within UConn’s reach. Notions of a painful rebuild have melted with a promising start, and so too has the comfort afforded to anyone who may have felt complacent. The program under Hurley is family, but it is also cutthroat; more cutthroat, perhaps, than it may have been in prior regimes. Inattentiveness is no longer tolerated, and apathy is no longer cool.
Since I don’t know these players, I won’t attempt to handicap or otherwise impose my expectations on their careers. Pride is best scored by the promises kept to oneself, and I don’t think anyone can access every thought that might flutter through a player’s head at any given time. Psychology is not an exact science, and coaching isn’t much better.
The best coaches find a way, though. They find some way – even if it means inspiring a bit of fear here and a bit of guilt there – to extract the level of focus and precision their team’s will need to churn through conference play.
Playing college basketball isn’t always the most dignifying experience. It involves a lot of open interrogations on the court and in the film room, in addition to all the grueling conditioning work that makes you want to die. Your most frivolous motions on the floor are placed under constant scrutiny, to the point that you eventually begin to doubt your instincts and lose your confidence. Should I come to a jump stop right now or elevate in one motion towards the rim? Am I really supposed to throw this entry pass that far to the back shoulder when the weakside defender is cheating in? Do I trust myself to take an extra half-step on this close-out or will I get burnt off the dribble?
For all the talk about the influence of analytics on basketball, the math to the sport has always been self-evident. The dimensions of the floor, coupled with the height of the rim, tend to favor tall, long people who jump high and run fast. The advantages of being short, while still real, are not unique to the sport itself (whereas Alterique Gilbert’s quickness would benefit him in any number of sports, Josh Carlton’s height only matters so much in the one he plays).
The challenge for coaches becomes converting the tenuous cognitive ingredients of any given kid into readily discernible systems that reinforce the mathematical realities of their sport. Doing so amounts to a lot of soulless auditing work that can sometimes rob the game of its spontaneous nature, but it is still a necessary evil for any team that intends to unflinchingly invest in the process of winning.
UConn’s offense is flawed because their players are flawed. Dan Hurley knows this, and he knows – as a result of his team’s foundational limitations – that he must empower his starting guards with the discretion to occasionally launch bad shots. It is a concession to human nature that all teams make.
You do need to have standards, though, and as the Huskies ponder the massive implications of their long-awaited conference opener in Cincinnati on New Year’s Day, where they will stand eye to eye once again with the program that has beaten them seven straight times, it’s worth asking whether there’s any time quite like the present to raise them.
Of course, we should be realistic. Kevin Ollie racked up quite the repair bill over his final two years in Storrs, and I think it’s important for the sake of my own credibility to firmly dispel the idea that I am or ever was sympathetic to the coaching malpractice we witnessed during that period. Somehow, I think the staggering ineptitude of that farewell season has actually been understated. UConn finished the year at 14-18 – having played only the nation’s 69th toughest schedule - and still graded out as the 26th luckiest team on KenPom. Think about that.
Twelve games into year two, Hurley has at worst kept the program on schedule, if not well ahead. The team on the floor has continued its rapid ascent in the KenPom rankings, climbing from 179th when he first took the job, to 98th last year, to 55th this season. His first recruiting class was lined with studs, some of whom have already as Freshman splashed onto the scene with dazzling plays in high-profile games. Next year’s return to the Big East will help nudge the program back towards its roots, reuniting the fanbase with many of its traditional rivals and perhaps securing some overdue reparations – buoyed by a staff acclaimed for is strong ties to the east coast – as conference realignment’s longest suffering victim.
But Christian Vital doesn’t care about any of that. He’s never played in the NIT, much less the NCAA Tournament. The moments so many Husky players have taken for granted over the years – hearing your school’s name called on selection Sunday, feeling the volcano of do-or-die basketball erupting inside your veins, staring into the eye of an empty bracket, knowing the possibilities that await – are exactly the ones that these players envy so fervently. There is something uniquely charming, uniquely endearing, about the modest task that confronts them now. It’s not a message that resonates with just any group of players, but it’s a message UConn’s upperclassmen leaders – the aforementioned Christian Vital, in addition to Juniors Alterique Gilbert, Josh Carlton, Tyler Polley, and Isaiah Whaley – have taken to heart.
Whereas past UConn big men like Amida Brimah would sometimes struggle to replicate their defensive dominance against better teams, Akok has risen to the challenge against the best teams on UConn’s schedule, swatting 5 shots vs. Indiana, 6 against Miami, and 2 a piece vs. Florida, Buffalo, and Xavier.
You have to look beyond the raw numbers, however, to fully capture the scope of his impact. Not all blocked shots are created equal, and Akok’s willingness to meet force with force as the ball nears its summit has made for some especially demoralizing reminders that the paint is not a place for everyone.
But while Akok has restored every bit of box office appeal the program once offered, it is Junior big man Josh Carlton who remains UConn’s most indispensable player. Carlton has averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds in the Huskies’ five toughest games, shooting a nifty 57% while doing his best to lift a limited offense above water. His surprisingly adept passing skills have unlocked precious bits of real estate with which his teammates can use to cut, screen, or drive.
Carlton’s vast range of skills has enabled Dan Hurley to install something like the classic UCLA High-Post Offense, a motion-based attack that tends to favor balance over ball-dominance. It is a flavor that represents somewhat of a departure from UConn offenses of yesteryear, when premium perimeter talents were often empowered at the cost of developing healthier long-term habits across the roster.
But the guards on this team aren’t near that level. Alterique Gilbert’s shooting percentage looks like a misprint, and Christian Vital hoists more ill-advised shots than anyone I can remember. The two veteran guards have converted just 67 of their 205 shot attempts this season, yielding an average that would have finished tied for second in the American League batting race.
Of course, those numbers don’t reflect their value to the team. Gilbert has greatly aided Carlton’s production by soaking up bodies on his way to the rim, regularly heaving up the sort of missed shots that look like bricks in the box score but count for assists on the scoreboard. Vital has soldiered through countless possessions as the team’s only viable threat, always willing fight the worst fires in an offense that creates a lot of them.
Even still, it is clear that neither fits the mold of your traditional high usage guard. They’re both much better suited, at this point in time, to function within an offense of shared capital, or one that reduces their need to swim through multiple layers of help defenders. Carlton’s work at the high post has simplified their reads and opened up looks to players like Tyler Polley:
This is not a pass that any UConn big man in the last ten years dreams of attempting. We’re talking about a one-handed skip pass to the opposite wing that’s delivered right on the money. In this case, Polley (who makes a beautiful pass fake to get the defender lunging towards Vital in the corner) is the recipient, but in many cases that help defender will drift too far towards Polley and allow Vital to sneak back door for an easy layup, or more likely he’ll move the ball one more time and leave Carlton with the hockey assist. Either way, his average of 0.6 assists per game is not indicative of the value he adds as a passer.
While I wouldn't recommend these sets as a long-term solution, my impression is that Hurley’s far more concerned with cultivating the habits of good team basketball – and promoting the sort of intuitive movements that Gilbert demonstrates here - than running a niche offense to the letter-of-the-law. He is far from married to these formations, and I would not be surprised to see him yield to more traditional high ball screens as the season progresses and the guard play improves.
But the Huskies should still feel somewhat beholden to the guiding light that these sets have offered, especially as they prepare to navigate a daunting schedule that will pit them against a top 70 defense in 12 of their 18 conference games. With James Wiseman no longer enrolled at Memphis, the league crown is well within UConn’s reach. Notions of a painful rebuild have melted with a promising start, and so too has the comfort afforded to anyone who may have felt complacent. The program under Hurley is family, but it is also cutthroat; more cutthroat, perhaps, than it may have been in prior regimes. Inattentiveness is no longer tolerated, and apathy is no longer cool.
Since I don’t know these players, I won’t attempt to handicap or otherwise impose my expectations on their careers. Pride is best scored by the promises kept to oneself, and I don’t think anyone can access every thought that might flutter through a player’s head at any given time. Psychology is not an exact science, and coaching isn’t much better.
The best coaches find a way, though. They find some way – even if it means inspiring a bit of fear here and a bit of guilt there – to extract the level of focus and precision their team’s will need to churn through conference play.
Playing college basketball isn’t always the most dignifying experience. It involves a lot of open interrogations on the court and in the film room, in addition to all the grueling conditioning work that makes you want to die. Your most frivolous motions on the floor are placed under constant scrutiny, to the point that you eventually begin to doubt your instincts and lose your confidence. Should I come to a jump stop right now or elevate in one motion towards the rim? Am I really supposed to throw this entry pass that far to the back shoulder when the weakside defender is cheating in? Do I trust myself to take an extra half-step on this close-out or will I get burnt off the dribble?
For all the talk about the influence of analytics on basketball, the math to the sport has always been self-evident. The dimensions of the floor, coupled with the height of the rim, tend to favor tall, long people who jump high and run fast. The advantages of being short, while still real, are not unique to the sport itself (whereas Alterique Gilbert’s quickness would benefit him in any number of sports, Josh Carlton’s height only matters so much in the one he plays).
The challenge for coaches becomes converting the tenuous cognitive ingredients of any given kid into readily discernible systems that reinforce the mathematical realities of their sport. Doing so amounts to a lot of soulless auditing work that can sometimes rob the game of its spontaneous nature, but it is still a necessary evil for any team that intends to unflinchingly invest in the process of winning.
UConn’s offense is flawed because their players are flawed. Dan Hurley knows this, and he knows – as a result of his team’s foundational limitations – that he must empower his starting guards with the discretion to occasionally launch bad shots. It is a concession to human nature that all teams make.
You do need to have standards, though, and as the Huskies ponder the massive implications of their long-awaited conference opener in Cincinnati on New Year’s Day, where they will stand eye to eye once again with the program that has beaten them seven straight times, it’s worth asking whether there’s any time quite like the present to raise them.
Of course, we should be realistic. Kevin Ollie racked up quite the repair bill over his final two years in Storrs, and I think it’s important for the sake of my own credibility to firmly dispel the idea that I am or ever was sympathetic to the coaching malpractice we witnessed during that period. Somehow, I think the staggering ineptitude of that farewell season has actually been understated. UConn finished the year at 14-18 – having played only the nation’s 69th toughest schedule - and still graded out as the 26th luckiest team on KenPom. Think about that.
Twelve games into year two, Hurley has at worst kept the program on schedule, if not well ahead. The team on the floor has continued its rapid ascent in the KenPom rankings, climbing from 179th when he first took the job, to 98th last year, to 55th this season. His first recruiting class was lined with studs, some of whom have already as Freshman splashed onto the scene with dazzling plays in high-profile games. Next year’s return to the Big East will help nudge the program back towards its roots, reuniting the fanbase with many of its traditional rivals and perhaps securing some overdue reparations – buoyed by a staff acclaimed for is strong ties to the east coast – as conference realignment’s longest suffering victim.
But Christian Vital doesn’t care about any of that. He’s never played in the NIT, much less the NCAA Tournament. The moments so many Husky players have taken for granted over the years – hearing your school’s name called on selection Sunday, feeling the volcano of do-or-die basketball erupting inside your veins, staring into the eye of an empty bracket, knowing the possibilities that await – are exactly the ones that these players envy so fervently. There is something uniquely charming, uniquely endearing, about the modest task that confronts them now. It’s not a message that resonates with just any group of players, but it’s a message UConn’s upperclassmen leaders – the aforementioned Christian Vital, in addition to Juniors Alterique Gilbert, Josh Carlton, Tyler Polley, and Isaiah Whaley – have taken to heart.
