team had zero answers last night

[Marty Jackson]

SMU could do anything they wanted and uconn could do nothing. The bigger, aggressive guards have always bottled up the small uconn guards. UofL did it last year as well with Shabazz. They pressured the ball all the way out to half court. Nothing uconn could do.

What happened to the Purvis we've seen the past couple games? Did he even step on the court last night because I don't remember seeing him at all.

 

[Kitaman]

Coach can't expect Boat to play the full game and not get worn down. At the end of the game it seemed fatigue hit him. He's scoring, rebounding, making assists, setting up plays, defending, leading, the kid got no rest, and SMU is a high caliber team.

We actually didn't have an answer for Boat.

So sad this is happening to such a great player.

 

[jibsey]

Coach can't expect Boat to play the full game and not get worn down. At the end of the game it seemed fatigue hit him. He's scoring, rebounding, making assists, setting up plays, defending, leading, the kid got no rest, and SMU is a high caliber team.

We actually didn't have an answer for Boat.

So sad this is happening to such a great player.

To me he is as great as Bazz, maybe greater considering what he has to work with.

 

[Jaker]

SMU owns us, we just need to accept it and move on.

 

[Matrim55]

SMU owns us, we just need to accept it learn from it and move on.

Fixed that for ya.

KO has shown the ability to learn from great coaches in his 2.5 years on the bench. Brown gave him another painful lesson.

But KO will keep improving, DHam will keep improving, Amida, Kentan, TSam will keep improving. Maybe Purvis will join them, too.

This has been a tough, frustrating year. But the seeds for a return to the Final Four sometime in the next two seasons are being sown now. Try to keep that in perspective.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Fixed that for ya.

KO has shown the ability to learn from great coaches in his 2.5 years on the bench. Brown gave him another painful lesson.

But KO will keep improving, DHam will keep improving, Amida, Kentan, TSam will keep improving. Maybe Purvis will join them, too.

This has been a tough, frustrating year. But the seeds for a return to the Final Four sometime in the next two seasons are being sown now. Try to keep that in perspective.

I would totally concur if Boat was a sophomore or junior and was coming back next year. This squad, with a freshman point guard next year, ain't very good. Maybe 2017

 

[Matrim55]

I would totally concur if Boat was a sophomore or junior and was coming back next year. This squad, with a freshman point guard next year, ain't very good.

This squad wins the AAC and makes the Elite 8 next year.

Maybe 2017

That's when we win our next title.

 

[Husky1964]

Am as frustrated as everyone. Some points; Boat has no help: Purvis needs another yr to show Ferrari. Calhoun still recovering. Dham is young. Brimah needs time. We may still make it. Non-player issues: We need to get out of this conf AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!! Our piss poor performance is somewhat related to the unbelievable travel we face. Related to that and heard on this board today after last night's officiating is the quality of the refs. Give me Higgins, Cahill, Burr, Corbett, Stephens et. al. instead of last night's crew. Edsall is usually OK. The other 2 phantoms Dixon and George are Conf USA and Big 12. Their perf last night was POOR. Pray for the Big 14

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

This squad wins the AAC and makes the Elite 8 next year.


That's when we win our next title.

These are nice rah rah sentiments but what are they based on?

 

[Kitaman]

These are nice rah rah sentiments but what are they based on?

If I didn't know any better I would think you are discreetly trying to find out who his dealer is.

 

[Matrim55]

These are nice rah rah sentiments but what are they based on?

• Overall talent (DHam & Amida especially)
• Defense (we're going to be killer next year, last night not withstanding. I can't stress enough how well-drilled and sophisticated SMU are)
• Expected improvement curve (Amida, Kentan & TSam are all significantly improved in Year 2 under KO; I expect the same out of DHam & Purvis next year)
• Specialist depth (Omar's shooting; Phil's hedging vs. P'n'R-heavy teams; Enoch as an additional rim-protecting big)
• Chemistry (9 of 10 guys will be back)
• Kemba-in-'09-level contributions from Adams

The teams we've looked horrible against this year aren't the super-talented ones, like Duke & Texas. It's been the well-drilled, well-coached veteran teams like SMU and Stanford. Those teams are what we were last year, and while I don't believe Stanford can make the Final Four, I sure as * think SMU can get there. Neither's loaded with lottery picks, but both are stuffed with guys who know how to win college basketball games by punishing slow defensive rotations and drawing tons of fouls.

Replacing Boat won't be easy, and I'm sure there will be some ugly losses in December and January. But I'll be shocked if we're not consistently excellent defensively. It's easy to forget how young - not just in terms of age, but in terms of basketball experience - guys like Brimah, Facey and DHam are. They simply don't know how to execute yet because they don't have the number of high level reps that last year's team did.

So, next year they'll be better. Hell, I think next week they'll be better. I'm not sure if, by next month, they'll be good enough to win the AAC tournament. But I wouldn't be comfortable betting against them.

 

[champs99and04]

This squad wins the AAC and makes the Elite 8 next year.


That's when we win our next title.

I agree with the premise, but SMU looks like they're going to be even better next year. Assuming the NCAA doesn't nuke them, they're the favorites.

 

[CAHUSKY]

• Overall talent (DHam & Amida especially)
• Defense (we're going to be killer next year, last night not withstanding. I can't stress enough how well-drilled and sophisticated SMU are)
• Expected improvement curve (Amida, Kentan & TSam are all significantly improved in Year 2 under KO; I expect the same out of DHam & Purvis next year)
• Specialist depth (Omar's shooting; Phil's hedging vs. P'n'R-heavy teams; Enoch as an additional rim-protecting big)
• Chemistry (9 of 10 guys will be back)
• Kemba-in-'09-level contributions from Adams

The teams we've looked horrible against this year aren't the super-talented ones, like Duke & Texas. It's been the well-drilled, well-coached veteran teams like SMU and Stanford. Those teams are what we were last year, and while I don't believe Stanford can make the Final Four, I sure as * think SMU can get there. Neither's loaded with lottery picks, but both are stuffed with guys who know how to win college basketball games by punishing slow defensive rotations and drawing tons of fouls.

Replacing Boat won't be easy, and I'm sure there will be some ugly losses in December and January. But I'll be shocked if we're not consistently excellent defensively. It's easy to forget how young - not just in terms of age, but in terms of basketball experience - guys like Brimah, Facey and DHam are. They simply don't know how to execute yet because they don't have the number of high level reps that last year's team did.

So, next year they'll be better. Hell, I think next week they'll be better. I'm not sure if, by next month, they'll be good enough to win the AAC tournament. But I wouldn't be comfortable betting against them.

Kemba had AJ Price. That's the difference. If Boat were a Junior I would be on board.

 

[3rdbass]

Am as frustrated as everyone. Some points; Boat has no help: Purvis needs another yr to show Ferrari. Calhoun still recovering. Dham is young. Brimah needs time. We may still make it. Non-player issues: We need to get out of this conf AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!!! Our piss poor performance is somewhat related to the unbelievable travel we face. Related to that and heard on this board today after last night's officiating is the quality of the refs. Give me Higgins, Cahill, Burr, Corbett, Stephens et. al. instead of last night's crew. Edsall is usually OK. The other 2 phantoms Dixon and George are Conf USA and Big 12. Their perf last night was POOR. Pray for the Big 14

Disagree with that! Dham was helping him out but his shot wasn't falling. Unfortunately no one took to DHAM's lead and tried to help out. RP as a point guard? Where did this come from as his handle is so poor! RP is a shooting guard with a bad handle. Well not as bad as OC. LOL!

 

[Tenspro2002]

• Kemba-in-'09-level contributions from Adams

Next year's team will need Kemba-in-'11-level contributions from Adams to be a Top 10 team.

 

[whaler11]

I don't know how you can worry about 2017 nevermind make predictions about it.

 

[Gurleyman]

Next year's team will need Kemba-in-'11-level contributions from Adams to be a Top 10 team.

Hamilton will be far, far better than anyone Kemba had around him.

Our best hope for a big leap next year is a Caron '02 out of DHam. Then the other pieces fall into place: Adams as an '02 Gordon, Brimah as an '02 Oak, Purvis as Tony Robertson (or Selvie - since he wears 44 and steps out of bounds a lot), TSam as a Taliek, and role players as role players.

May ask a lot out of DHam to make the Caron leap, so I'm not making any predictions. But that's our most likely formula.

 

[Matrim55]

Next year's team will need Kemba-in-'11-level contributions from Adams to be a Top 10 team.

I think that's pessimistic. We're not going to be a great offensive team by any stretch, but we'll be one of the country's best defensive & rebounding teams. That alone will make us a top 15 squad.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I think that's pessimistic. We're not going to be a great offensive team by any stretch, but we'll be one of the country's best defensive & rebounding teams. That alone will make us a top 15 squad.

Dham is a good rebounder. Facey likely will be too. Phil and Amida are disastrous. I'm one of the most positive guys you'll find but even I don't have high hopes for us to be a strong rebounding team.

 

[Fishy]

There isn't enough talent here to be a top-15 team next season.

We're replacing our best player with a freshman point guard and then expecting him carry much of the same burden.

Among the best defensive teams in the country? I don't know. The best rebounding teams? Jesus, stop.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The teams we've looked horrible against this year aren't the super-talented ones, like Duke & Texas. It's been the well-drilled, well-coached veteran teams like SMU and Stanford.

It would be more accurate to say that they've looked horrible against all sorts of teams. They've eked out wins against bottom dwellers that won't sniff a post-season tournament. Hell, they haven't been able to do that at times.

It's nice to chalk this season up to youth or "lack of reps" as you seem to be doing but when they can't control some of the slap di ck squads that have taken them to the wire it's more than that.

It also seems foolhardy to try to identify any sort of linear progression with this team. People keep referring to last night as a "regression," but regression from what? One very solid performance against a team that's going to pull a double digit seed in the tournament and has one win against a top 50 team?

This team is not going to be close to the bubble at the end of the season, they're losing a player that probably has to do more for his team to win than any player in the country, and they're replacing him with a freshman point guard (and great point guards have struggled as freshmen even with an upperclassmen to learn from) and a project big man. And you put that team in the Elite 8? I admire the optimism, but like I said it sounds more like rah rah blind faith.

 

[huskiesnyc]

There isn't enough talent here to be a top-15 team next season.

We're replacing our best player with a freshman point guard and then expecting him carry much of the same burden.

Among the best defensive teams in the country? I don't know. The best rebounding teams? Jesus, stop.

The only returning player next year that's an upperclassman is Omar, that's how young we are. I think we'll be much better next year losing Boat and adding 4-5 new players that fill a need. Most frosh improve a lot in their first two years.

 

[BUConn10]

Boatright's greatness this year is being wasted on this inexperienced, heavily lacking team.

 

[Matrim55]

Dham is a good rebounder. Facey likely will be too. Phil and Amida are disastrous. I'm one of the most positive guys you'll find but even I don't have high hopes for us to be a strong rebounding team.

Phil's a disaster, but Amida is averaging 10/5/3 in 25 MPG, and there's a distinct inverse correlation between his his rebounding and shot blocking numbers - i.e., when he sells out to protect the rim, he's never going to pull down Hasheem-like rebounding totals. He clearly has to get better at picking and choosing, but I'd argue that he's already shown some improvement in terms of his recognition. Not enough, but some.

The other issue he has to work on is lower-body strength. If he's tougher to move, he'll be a better area rebounder.

Anyway, we out-rebounded Texas, who are one of the top rebounding teams in the country. We out-rebounded West Virginia. We played Cincy to a draw over two. We got pounded by Duke & Stanford. We crushed Temple, who are the best rebounding team in our conference. SMU out-rebounded us by 4.

So we've been all over the place this season, which is to be expected with a young team. But if we start DHam, Facey & Brimah on the front line (which I suspect we will) and two big guards (TSam & Purvis, or TSam & Adams), we'll end up owning the backboards.

Teams get better. Remember last year, when we got absolutely destroyed on the backboards early in the season? Well, we got better with experience and as KO made adjustments, and ended up winning the rebounding battle in 4 of our 6 tournament games - including both in the Final Four - with much less in the way of raw materials to work with.

We'll end up looking like an Izzo team next season. I can live with that.

 

[Fishy]

"This team is young."

This is the oldest young team in the universe. These guys are physically mature - everyone save Hamilton, Lubin and Samuel are over 21. Even the freshmen old for the grade - they'll both be 20 before next season.

I'm not even going to tackle the rebounding thing because it requires a complete departure from reality to even get into that particular discussion.