The most disappointing part about today was the lack of effort

[champs99and04]

I think even the most passionate UConn fan would agree that the effort was not all there today. I'm usually not one to question the effort simply because of a disappointing outcome. Last season they struggled down the stretch, but it was never a matter of effort.

As I watched the first eight minutes of the game from my seat in the XL, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Three or four times in the first five minutes, guys were flat out beaten down the court off a MADE basket. That should never happen once, let alone multiple times. If Calhoun was on the sidelines he probably would have punched somebody in the face.

Getting outrebounded by the smallest team in the Big East is embarassing. 7 total rebounds by Oriakhi and Drummond speaks to a lack of effort, desire, and toughness.

Taunting when you're still down four and trying to get back into the game shows me a lack of value on each possesion.

This isn't the first time I have questioned the effort and resolve of this team after a loss. Coming off a national championship, everything is gravy. But as a paying customer, I had at least hoped for a little bit more out of these guys, during a game that they really needed to win in order to clinch their tournament spot.

 

[mauconnfan]

I have such a tough time calling them out for "lack of effort" but like it or not it can't just be all dumb plays. Tyler and Roscoe both come in the game (I have replay ability on every play and do this so many times during timeouts...) yesterday for their first time and allow little Crowder and someone else to fight for position, without a fight from our guys mind you, and get offensive rebounds for another chance to score. Is it stupid as they find themselves out of position or do they just accept the fact they've been outworked and hope for a long rebound? How can either of them, fighting for their lives for minutes, get outworked so consistently. If it meant never helping on D my guy would never box me out. And some of the root of this problem quite honestly is the idea they need to help and BLOCK SHOTS. Quit trying to block shots and everyone do their jobs boxing out and we'll be fine. The next time a UConn player takes a charge will be the first time. Someone needs to slide their feet (instead of jumping to block shots of course) and give up their body. I'm not asking for Dukish performances, or even Crowder-like, just take a charge on occasion as it is a very good defensive play in opportune times. Are they afraid to give up their body? Are they always thinking block, which they shouldn't be unless their name is Andre because noone else can?? The bigs got beat up and down the court in the first half, they love to celebrate and blwo kisses to the crowd and pump fists - can't do it against Marquette guys!! Although maybe I would celebrate too if I were one of our bigs because they score so little!! Andre came in after sitting with his 3rd foul for a period of time and right away, hedges at the FT line and takes his time getting back and Wilson gets an easy alley oop layin. If he hedged and flew back there wouldn't even had been an attempt to throw the pass but the guard read the lacadaisical effort in getting back to his man.

I'm hammering the bigs but the little guys were looking for outlet passes a few times rather than getting long rebounds, giving Marquette more chances. Loose balls don't seem to go our way enough although we do hit the floor lately more than ever, last few games it seems they do try. On a fastbreak/runout yesterday for Marquette 2nd half Lamb and Bazz were back and either could've slid and taken a charge or just made a defensive play, instead they both allowed him to sneak between them and reached fouling him. Intelligence, lack of concentration or lack of effort??

There are so many things you can point to every game, especially in losses, it is ridiculous. They need to play smarter, harder and make the right decisions more often!! Not sure if there's enough time for this team to make that happen!

 

[cohenzone]

The lack of effort thing overall is total bs, Marquette is an older, better team. If you were there in person and really saw a lack of effort or desire, I think you weren't watching. I did see immaturity, which is not the same as lack of effort. The early problems which led to too easy penetration and being beaten down court were resolved. I saw a stretch of horrendous shot decisions which is arguably too much effort and not enough smarts. I saw RB take an unexcusable technical - I don't know how deserved it was - that wound up making a 4 point deficit into an 8 point deficit. I saw an official totally screw another comeback that took a 5 point lead and should have been UConn with the ball and it became an 8 point game, followed by another very bad incorrect foul call on SN that gave MU another 2 points to the lead. That deflated the team. Plus UConn sucked from the foul line, including kids who usually shoot a little better than they did. And does AD shoot them in practice and does anyone coach him on a few simple mechanics like slow the forearm down from catapult warp speed to something closer to snail's pace and using his finger tips to get a little feel? But I did not see a lack of effort by anyone.

 

[Waquoit]

We lost to a better team. They beat us the way we used to beat team. The team played hard and fought back but they didn't let us over the hump.

 

[huskymagic]

We lost to a better team. They beat us the way we used to beat team. The team played hard and fought back but they didn't let us over the hump.

Marquette is not a better than us that is just foolish. They are a more experienced and a harder working group who play very hard but we beat ourselves in this game with bad plays, stupid turnovers, Boatrights technical, the referees giving every call against us, etc,etc. Marquette didnt win this game we lost this game.

 

[UConn76]

Marquette is not a better than us that is just foolish. They are a more experienced and a harder working group who play very hard but we beat ourselves in this game with bad plays, stupid turnovers, Boatrights technical, the referees giving every call against us, etc,etc. Marquette didnt win this game we lost this game.

Disagree totally with your view in this case.
Marquette completely controlled the tempo of the game.
Man to man full court pressure which forced us to start of our offense 10-15 seconds into the shot clock, overplaying our screens, taking charges, double teaming, offensive rebounding.
Frustrating in that UConn never seems to switch things up defensively, always the straight up man to man..and as indicated earlier in this thread, our continued focus on blocking shots and sloughing off.

 

[huskymagic]

Disagree totally with your view in this case.
Marquette completely controlled the tempo of the game.
Man to man full court pressure which forced us to start of our offense 10-15 seconds into the shot clock, overplaying our screens, taking charges, double teaming, offensive rebounding.
Frustrating in that UConn never seems to switch things up defensively, always the straight up man to man..and as indicated earlier in this thread, our continued focus on blocking shots and sloughing off.

They controlled the tempo because our guys let them control it for the entire first half then we came out and played UCONN basketball and played very well the first 10 minutes after halftime and got the game down to 4 points before Boatright's technical which deflated the team and we never recovered after that. We lost this game and let another one get out of hand.

P.S. Boatright I believe was right when he said earlier in the year after a loss that there was animosity in the locker room between some guys. I believe that there is a lot of animosity between Napier, lamb, and oriakhi, and their chemistry problems are showing on the field. I dont see a camaraderie and a brotherhood between the players on the court like we had last year. Even more embarrassing was Doris Burke pointing this stuff out constantly on national television and then zooming in during a media timeout showing Napiers negative demeanor and body posture not shaking Wolf's hand or anyones on the bench and looking dejected.

 

[Waquoit]

Marquette is not a better than us that is just foolish. They are a more experienced and a harder working group who play very hard ...

Yeah, better.

 

[husky91]

I guess I don't see the whole "lack of effort" but rather lack of skill (bench) and awful offensive execution. If we had a legit 3 like a Harkless we'd be able to implement a real offense and go 3 guards for spells, not always.

 

[mauconnfan]

I guess I don't see the whole "lack of effort" but rather lack of skill (bench) and awful offensive execution. If we had a legit 3 like a Harkless we'd be able to implement a real offense and go 3 guards for spells, not always.

Have to admit the thought of Bazz, Boat, Lamb, Harkless and one of the bigs is sweet!!!

 

[businesslawyer]

I have such a tough time calling them out for "lack of effort" but like it or not it can't just be all dumb plays. Tyler and Roscoe both come in the game (I have replay ability on every play and do this so many times during timeouts...) yesterday for their first time and allow little Crowder and someone else to fight for position, without a fight from our guys mind you, and get offensive rebounds for another chance to score. Is it stupid as they find themselves out of position or do they just accept the fact they've been outworked and hope for a long rebound? How can either of them, fighting for their lives for minutes, get outworked so consistently. If it meant never helping on D my guy would never box me out. And some of the root of this problem quite honestly is the idea they need to help and BLOCK SHOTS. Quit trying to block shots and everyone do their jobs boxing out and we'll be fine. The next time a UConn player takes a charge will be the first time. Someone needs to slide their feet (instead of jumping to block shots of course) and give up their body. I'm not asking for Dukish performances, or even Crowder-like, just take a charge on occasion as it is a very good defensive play in opportune times. Are they afraid to give up their body? Are they always thinking block, which they shouldn't be unless their name is Andre because noone else can?? The bigs got beat up and down the court in the first half, they love to celebrate and blwo kisses to the crowd and pump fists - can't do it against Marquette guys!! Although maybe I would celebrate too if I were one of our bigs because they score so little!! Andre came in after sitting with his 3rd foul for a period of time and right away, hedges at the FT line and takes his time getting back and Wilson gets an easy alley oop layin. If he hedged and flew back there wouldn't even had been an attempt to throw the pass but the guard read the lacadaisical effort in getting back to his man.

I'm hammering the bigs but the little guys were looking for outlet passes a few times rather than getting long rebounds, giving Marquette more chances. Loose balls don't seem to go our way enough although we do hit the floor lately more than ever, last few games it seems they do try. On a fastbreak/runout yesterday for Marquette 2nd half Lamb and Bazz were back and either could've slid and taken a charge or just made a defensive play, instead they both allowed him to sneak between them and reached fouling him. Intelligence, lack of concentration or lack of effort??

There are so many things you can point to every game, especially in losses, it is ridiculous. They need to play smarter, harder and make the right decisions more often!! Not sure if there's enough time for this team to make that happen!

Being willing to surrender offensive boards for blocked shots is clearly a coaching decision, not players failing to "get it." We have been doing this for years, and we did it last year. It just hasn't worked as well this year because we don't play as good defense.

 

[jibsey]

Players get down when they lose in any sport, so losking contributes to bad attitude. I don't really understand the non defense on 3's which killed us.

 

[Prezidint]

Marquette is not a better than us that is just foolish.

If we're better than them, how do you define better?
Better on paper?
Better in principle?
Better IF we played without mistakes.

Think about what you're saying. It's completely wishful thinking, and not reality.

We're lost what? 8 of our last 10?

They are clearly the better team.

A sure sign that I'm correct will be when somewhere not wearing 4" thick homer goggles actually gives them a ticket to the Big Dance, while we get a spot up in the bleachers to observe the dance.

Saying that they're better is not the same thing as saying that they have more talent.
It just means that, if we played them 100 times, they'd win about 95 of them. Really. Maybe more.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The lack of effort thing overall is total bs, Marquette is an older, better team. If you were there in person and really saw a lack of effort or desire, I think you weren't watching. I did see immaturity, which is not the same as lack of effort. The early problems which led to too easy penetration and being beaten down court were resolved. I saw a stretch of horrendous shot decisions which is arguably too much effort and not enough smarts. I saw RB take an unexcusable technical - I don't know how deserved it was - that wound up making a 4 point deficit into an 8 point deficit. I saw an official totally screw another comeback that took a 5 point lead and should have been UConn with the ball and it became an 8 point game, followed by another very bad incorrect foul call on SN that gave MU another 2 points to the lead. That deflated the team. Plus UConn sucked from the foul line, including kids who usually shoot a little better than they did. And does AD shoot them in practice and does anyone coach him on a few simple mechanics like slow the forearm down from catapult warp speed to something closer to snail's pace and using his finger tips to get a little feel? But I did not see a lack of effort by anyone.

I really agree with this (and I have voiced similar thoughts, so it must be right). When they experience adversity, they press and seem to forget what they are supposed to do or try to make up the deficit in one play. Both Lamb and Shabazz took very ill advised 3 point shots early in the shot clock that killed our momentum. Our guys had been playing better by moving the ball and getting some better shots, then they get impatient and hoist up bad shots. AD does this all the time (although I think that he should pretty much only shoot dunk attempts)--come on, Andre, pass the ball back out.

 

[huskymagic]

If we're better than them, how do you define better?
Better on paper?
Better in principle?
Better IF we played without mistakes.

Think about what you're saying. It's completely wishful thinking, and not reality.

We're lost what? 8 of our last 10?

They are clearly the better team.

A sure sign that I'm correct will be when somewhere not wearing 4" thick homer goggles actually gives them a ticket to the Big Dance, while we get a spot up in the bleachers to observe the dance.

Saying that they're better is not the same thing as saying that they have more talent.
It just means that, if we played them 100 times, they'd win about 95 of them. Really. Maybe more.

I am going to repeat what I said above:

They controlled the tempo because our guys let them control it for the entire first half then we came out and played UCONN basketball and played very well the first 10 minutes after halftime and got the game down to 4 points before Boatright's technical which deflated the team and we never recovered after that. We lost this game and let another one get out of hand.

P.S. Boatright I believe was right when he said earlier in the year after a loss that there was animosity in the locker room between some guys. I believe that there is a lot of animosity between Napier, lamb, and oriakhi, and their chemistry problems are showing on the field. I dont see a camaraderie and a brotherhood between the players on the court like we had last year. Even more embarrassing was Doris Burke pointing this stuff out constantly on national television and then zooming in during a media timeout showing Napiers negative demeanor and body posture not shaking Wolf's hand or anyones on the bench and looking dejected.

 

[Prezidint]

I am going to repeat what I said above:

Why yell the same wrong thing twice? We all heard you the first time.

 

[huskymagic]

Why yell the same wrong thing twice? We all heard you the first time.

lol just to reiterate my point that if we didnt have the animosity/chemistry problems between some of our most important players like Lamb, Oriakhi, and Napier then we would dominate Marquette 95 out of 100 times, and not the other way around. To be outworked, outhustled, outmuscled, and outplayed by an undersized Jae Crowder and an undersized Jamil Wilson is unacceptable and has nothing to do with them but has to do with what we are doing. I dont understand what the gameplan before games are for the team. Everyone knows that Marquettes best players are DJO and Jae Crowder and if you shut down one of them they will lose the game, and UCONN did the opposite. These are things that our coaching staff and our players have to take responsibility for and not be attributed to Marquette for being the better team.

 

[RuffRuff]

How can we claim lack of maturity when the brunt of this team won a NC last year - they know what it takes and learned from the best. It's effort.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

LMAO at anyone saying we're better than Marquette. What are you blind? They were smarter, they out worked us, they rebounded better than us, they shot better than us, they played better defense than us, they kicked out ass at our house, are ranked 12th in America and are #2 in the BIg East.

But you're right were better.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Why yell the same wrong thing twice? We all heard you the first time.

Huskymagic is just like the guy on the Planet Fitness (or whatever) commercial who only says "I pick things up and put them down," over and over and over.

 

[champs99and04]

The lack of effort thing overall is total bs, Marquette is an older, better team. If you were there in person and really saw a lack of effort or desire, I think you weren't watching. I did see immaturity, which is not the same as lack of effort. The early problems which led to too easy penetration and being beaten down court were resolved. I saw a stretch of horrendous shot decisions which is arguably too much effort and not enough smarts. I saw RB take an unexcusable technical - I don't know how deserved it was - that wound up making a 4 point deficit into an 8 point deficit. I saw an official totally screw another comeback that took a 5 point lead and should have been UConn with the ball and it became an 8 point game, followed by another very bad incorrect foul call on SN that gave MU another 2 points to the lead. That deflated the team. Plus UConn sucked from the foul line, including kids who usually shoot a little better than they did. And does AD shoot them in practice and does anyone coach him on a few simple mechanics like slow the forearm down from catapult warp speed to something closer to snail's pace and using his finger tips to get a little feel? But I did not see a lack of effort by anyone.

Listen...I'm usually not one to question the effort of a team that struggles to score so much, but if you didn't think Marquette was the hungrier team yesterday, I'm not sure you were watching very carefully. Doris Burke questioned the teams urgency during the first half of yesterday's game, Doug Gottlieb said they laid down after they got behind ten, and even Jay Bilas has questioned the intensity at times this season.

I watched the replay of the first twelve minutes last night, and at least three times, I heard something along the lines of, "And Crowder outworks three Huskies to get the board!". Again, how do you explain getting beaten down the court three times off a made basket? That's inesxcusable at every level of play.

I'm not saying they didn't play hard for most of the game. The effort early in the second half was obviously great, and you're right in that most of the reason they lost was because of maturity and leadership. I understand the flaws in this team, and the elements of a great basketball team that they are lacking. It's normal to think that the better team "played harder" because, they are better. But when many casual observers think Marquette is playing harder, it's probably true, at least to some extent.

 

[ruskin]

Throughout this streak we have been getting killed on Tommy Points, 50-50 balls, etc. Maybe it's not "lack" of effort but in most cases the other team is trying harder. And it's painfully obvious there's some kind of issue between key players.

 

[Kitaman]

Marquette is not a better than us that is just foolish. They are a more experienced and a harder working group who play very hard but we beat ourselves in this game with bad plays, stupid turnovers, Boatrights technical, the referees giving every call against us, etc,etc. Marquette didnt win this game we lost this game.

We may have the better players but Marquette is the better team. Unfortunately the results reflected that.

btw: Better team doesn't mean we can't beat them or other better teams (e.g. UConn 2010-2011).

 

[uconnsox23]

I'm glad the players didn't take the loss too hard. Oriakhi and Lamb among others were hitting the bars last night having a good time.

 

[tzznandrew]

I'm glad the players didn't take the loss too hard. Oriakhi and Lamb among others were hitting the bars last night having a good time.

Do you want them crying in their room?

They have a game to win tomorrow. If they sat around all day whining, they wouldn't have much of a chance.