That hurt

[Rico444]

Credit Cincinnati's defense; they were very good. But Shabazz had two or three airballs. You NEVER see that from him.

I would hope with DD and Shabazz having an OK shooting night, we would beat them the next time we play. Guess we'll find out.

 

[Rico444]

Also, what really hurts me is that we're all but out of contention for the conference title. We haven't won one since 2006 and haven't even been in the running for one late since 2009. I would really love for us to win a regular season sometime soon. At this point, we can only really afford one more loss, and it can't be to Cincinnati. So we have to beat them, go 2-1 against the other three good teams, then avoid any WTF losses to the crappy teams. Gonna be really tough.

 

[8893]

With Daniels I have no doubt we win and Bazz picked the wrong time to have his worst game. Even a decent performance by Bazz or Boat and we win.

But I have no doubt we are the better team.

I don't think there is evidence to support the conclusion that we are the better team with or without Daniels. As noted above, we got the contributions needed/expected at that spot from others, including Kromah and Giffey. And Daniels has hardly been a model of consistency this season.

As usual, this team lives by the Bazz and dies by the Bazz. Period. He is a very good and sometimes great player, but last night he got beat head-to-head by a demonstrably better player who willed his team to win. The problem with Bazz remains his inconsistency and his inability to overcome his attitude on nights when things aren't going his way. He admits that he got in a funk because he wasn't getting foul calls, and you could see it during the game when he was unable to finish plays and he would come away pointing to his hand or shaking his head because he expected the call and didn't get it. Kind of surprising imo that he hasn't matured enough yet to rise above that. Playing through adversity and leading his team to win despite it is what he'll need to do if he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Kilpatrick, never mind Kemba or KEA. Time's getting short for him though.

 

[Kembacity]

This one hurts because it was so winnable. With Daniels I have no doubt we win and Bazz picked the wrong time to have his worst game. Even a decent performance by Bazz or Boat and we win. It also sucks because Bazz lost conference player of the year to Kilpatrick.

Yeah, its tough because they definitely had it in them, but also not all that awful because as you said, we were down daniels, Calhoun didn't wake up, Shabazz was as bad as he can look, and yet we were in control much of the way, and always just one great Shabazz hero shot away from a win or OT.

Just gotta dust it off and hope for the best going forward, hoping for a Houston style grudge match back home with a more determined and healthy Deandre to help us out

 

[Huskyforlife]

Napier airballed 3 3s, thats all you need to know

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Bazz played the whole 2nd half - he clearly could have used a breather. I thought Samuel looked good in his brief appearance in the 1st half. Overall we came up a little short on a night when our best player had his worst shooting game and our 2nd best player was injured

Yeah, I thought Samuel looked decent in his brief appearance - Why then the JC treatment. Was he not at least as good a OC?

 

[Marat]

Completely agree with this. If we had Daniels you take away critical minutes / stats for these other two.

I think that Bazz had to have played very well for UConn to have won - without Daniels. Deandre has the height that others don't on our team, and his ability to block shots would have helped on a few easy buckets that were given up. We'll find out when they play again in the beginning of March.

 

[Waquoit]

I don't think there is evidence to support the conclusion that we are the better team with or without Daniels.

I'm buying this. I thought we showed our best chemistry and cohesion on offense of the year last night. Would DD have helped or hurt that? OTOH, he was so good against Memphis and didn't force much. Take away Bazz' brainfarts and this game made me hopeful we are still improving as a team.

 

[Waquoit]

I think that Bazz had to have played very well for UConn to have won - without Daniels.

That turned out not to be the case. And that's a good thing going forward. An average Bazz and we win.

 

[CTBasketball]

Kromah and Giff likely took some of DD's points tonight. Not sure if we would have won, Cincy would have exposed DD's poor defense.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Oh god we suck! Just kidding we'll be fine. Kromah is just fantastic for us, thank you Hobbs. We have as much a chance as any for a deep run in March. This game hurt ALOT but we owned the #7 team in the country for 30 minutes, played even for 5, got slightly worked for the last 5.

Oh and brimah is going to be a very special player here.

 

[Bryan Lord]

Sucks how certain players get taken out of the game early by refs. Happened to DD against Louisville and Nolan yesterday. Brimah did pretty well with fouls though.

 

[Mots010]

Least upset I've been at a loss all year. Down a man, went toe-to-toe with a top 10 team on the road. Napier hits that 3 with 18 seconds left, and who knows.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No shame in losing to a 2 loss #7 team on their floor, in a close game, with your 2nd best player on the bench in street clothes. So really questionable calls in the last 7 minutes as well. That said, Bazz was terrible and tried to do it on his own instead of playing team ball. When he pulls it off, he's a hero. When he doesn't, he deserves the criticism. But really we are better when he is focused on drawing defenders and distributing. He needs to stop trying to take games over.

 

[David 76]

I don't think there is evidence to support the conclusion that we are the better team with or without Daniels. As noted above, we got the contributions needed/expected at that spot from others, including Kromah and Giffey. And Daniels has hardly been a model of consistency this season.

As usual, thisI team lives by the Bazz and dies by the Bazz. Period. He is a very good and sometimes great player, but last night he got beat head-to-head by a demonstrably better player who willed his team to win. The problem with Bazz remains his inconsistency and his inability to overcome his attitude on nights when things aren't going his way. He admits that he got in a funk because he wasn't getting foul calls, and you could see it during the game when he was unable to finish plays and he would come away pointing to his hand or shaking his head because he expected the call and didn't get it. Kind of surprising imo that he hasn't matured enough yet to rise above that. Playing through adversity and leading his team to win despite it is what he'll need to do if he wants to be mentioned in the same breath as Kilpatrick, never mind Kemba or KEA. Time's getting short for him though.

Then I will gladly take your money on the rematch. I imagine if Kilpatrick had a bad game yesterday, Bazz would still aspire to his greatness?

 

[freescooter]

I thought this game would be a really tough matchup for UConn. Cincy is tough inside, defends like UConn used to, AND they have a point guard who is capable of playing Napier. Without Daniels it was even tougher. Even when we got close down the final minute, to me it just didn't feel like we had a chance. Settling for long range, well defended 3 pointers is not going to get it done.

 

[ctchamps]

Great thread. Tough loss because it was winnable.

Hard to know what the affect of a healthy DD would have been because LK and NG were outstanding other than a 2 minute stretch towards the end of the game when NG wasn't aggressive. It was those two minutes plus the lack of quickness LK exhibited in driving into the lane 2nd half vs. first half that makes me tilt to the opinion that DD would have helped the team by allowing those two players to have played a few less minutes and play at the optimum at crunch time.

Bazz did not look like himself in this game right from the beginning. First time I saw him holding onto his shorts. He was winded. I felt it was more than a mental funk regarding his poor play. Those air ball threes were mostly well before the non called fouls. I would bet he has a touch of the flu but we'll never know because he doesn't believe in making excuses and won't let anyone know about it.

Last play in which Boat didn't take shot was a called play by KO in which Bazz was supposed to take last shot. RB pulled away from open three and you could see him trying to get the ball to SN. Credit Cinci for blanketing SN on that last shot. But I agree with Mau, UConn figured out the defense most of the game.

I felt KO did a great job in coming up with a game plan to execute against Cinci's defense. Only adjustments I would have made would have been to put TS in for a few minutes in the second half and I would have called a different last play of the game not drawing up a play for Mr. Clutch because he was laboring physically. But that last call is a tough one to make because SN has had tough games in the past and has played clutch at the end of games the past two seasons. So you really have to live and die by him.

 

[8893]

Then I will gladly take your money on the rematch. I imagine if Kilpatrick had a bad game yesterday, Bazz would still aspire to his greatness?

All I am saying is that I don't see the factual support for the conclusion that there is "no doubt" that we are the better team. I think we have a very good chance of beating them next time, but I still believe they are the better team based on what I've seen to date. I believe we are still improving, but to the extent that Bazz still hasn't figured out how to rise above adversity and lead his team to win even on his off nights, that is somewhat troubling in terms of our post-season prospects imo.

 

[ctchamps]

All I am saying is that I don't see the factual support for the conclusion that there is "no doubt" that we are the better team. I think we have a very good chance of beating them next time, but I still believe they are the better team based on what I've seen to date. I believe we are still improving, but to the extent that Bazz still hasn't figured out how to rise above adversity and lead his team to win even on his off nights, that is somewhat troubling in terms of our post-season prospects imo.

The number of games he has risen above adversity are far more numerous than when he hasn't over the past two seasons. No he hasn't done it 100%, but not many people have done it more frequently in college basketball. I would guess he is in the top 5% which is why so many people have lauded him this season.

It hurts because this could have been a signature win for this team and a resume builder for Bazz had he played just average. It didn't happen. But I'm not going to start a revisionist history of his play over the past two seasons based on this one game. Additionally I believe he was physically ill this game.

 

[Husky25]

Up by 11 and lose by 5. UConn played a different game in the first half than the second, but part of that was out of necessity. Cinci made good adjustments on defense and forced Napier into bad shots and some poor decisions. UConn did not adjust to Cinci's adjustments. Nolan was a nonfactor getting 3 fouls in about a minute and a half and I was disappointed that Samuel and Facey didn't play more and surprised at the negative impact of Olander in only 6 minutes. He really has not progressed at all over his 4 years. The foul on the loose ball with a couple minutes left was bush league, considering the physicality of the play over the first 36 minutes.

Be that as it may, UConn wins that game at home, provided a healthy Daniels on March 1.

 

[Husky25]

The number of games he has risen above adversity are far more numerous than when he hasn't over the past two seasons. No he hasn't done it 100%, but not many people have done it more frequently in college basketball. I would guess he is in the top 5% which is why so many people have lauded him this season.

It hurts because this could have been a signature win for this team and a resume builder for Bazz had he played just average. It didn't happen. But I'm not going to start a revisionist history of his play over the past two seasons based on this one game. Additionally I believe he was physically ill this game.

I agree except I don't think he was ill.

 

[PAHusky]

The question "how much of a difference would DD have made?" has less to do with how well LK and NG played last night and more to do with "which version of DD would have shown up?"

 

[Rico444]

Knocking Shabazz for his attitude? Seriously? This team would be nowhere without him. He had a bad game. He's still going to be an all-american and has the ability to lead this team deep into the postseason.

I hate this idea that people can tell what goes on in a player's head based on what they see on the court. Especially when they use that to further an agenda that knocks one of our players. "Boatright is selfish! Shabazz has a bad attitude!" Chap like that drives me nuts. Lay off.

 

[8893]

Knocking Shabazz for his attitude? Seriously? This team would be nowhere without him. He had a bad game. He's still going to be an all-american and has the ability to lead this team deep into the postseason.

I hate this idea that people can tell what goes on in a player's head based on what they see on the court. Especially when they use that to further an agenda that knocks one of our players. "Boatright is selfish! Shabazz has a bad attitude!" Chap like that drives me nuts. Lay off.

Uh, no. I based it on what he said himself about what was going on in his head. He admitted that he got into a funk when he wasn't getting the foul calls he expected. And it was on clear display based on his play. Pointing to his hand and shaking his head because he didn't get the foul call is not where his head should be imo. He should be getting his back on defense, because that's where this game was lost. And he had no answers for Kilpatrick.

I agree that this team would be nowhere without Bazz. That's what "live by the Bazz and die by the Bazz" means. But let's not overlook the fact that he still takes plays off, halves off and games off. He admitted that it happened during the Texas road trip from hell, too.

People are throwing up threads positing that he's the best PG in UConn history. Well if we want to anoint him, let's hold him up to the others then. Was there any secret that Kemba was going to be double and triple teamed? What happened then? It opened up opportunities for Jeremy and Shabazz. And in the first half Bazz was getting the ball to Giffey, Boat and Kromah, and that worked. It was when Bazz stopped doing that, started heaving threes and taking ill-conceived drives trying to draw contact that the game got away.

Bazz is a very good player, and when he plays that way we can be a very good team. But it remains the case imo that this team could do anything from losing in the first round to bringing home #4. It all depends on match-ups and whether Bazz rises to the occasion. We'll see.

 

[superjohn]

I thought this game would be a really tough matchup for UConn. Cincy is tough inside, defends like UConn used to, AND they have a point guard who is capable of playing Napier. Without Daniels it was even tougher. Even when we got close down the final minute, to me it just didn't feel like we had a chance. Settling for long range, well defended 3 pointers is not going to get it done.

Seriously are you really a UConn fan? If so what is your problem, there is so much wrong with this post.