The Offensive Balance

[Frank06830]

O.K., so with Clingan moving like last year’s Clingan we are, at worst the second best defensive team in the country. But let’s put that aside for a moment. Let’s also put aside that as great a crowd as that was yesterday, WE HAVE NO CLUE how great that crowd might have been. The crowd was never tested by a hugely important possession, or a quick kill run where we ran off 10 points in rapid succession (the only kill run I remember was when the margin opened up late in the first half, but that was more about them not scoring for 5 minutes than us putting 3 or 4 offensive possessions together).

But while obviously the defense is only elite with Clingan in the lineup, remember that except for the game during which he got hurt we didn’t lose any games while he was out, because the offense was good enough to carry a mediocre defense. The thing about this offense that is really amazing is its balance. All 5 starters averaging within a few points of each other, and guys on the bench who can get you double figures on a good day if they’re needed to. I am fairly certain I’ve never seen a UConn team so balanced offensively (the closest I remember is the year we lost to UCLA in the Elite 8, but neither Jake nor KO was as good offensively as any of this year’s starters), but I also can’t remember any other college basketball team more balanced offensively than this one. Frankly, the best comp I can come up with is the ‘69 Knicks championship team, where you were just as confident with any of the starters getting the last shot.

I’m sure that some of you young guns will pull up analytics to show me that this is all in my head, but to me the offensive balance on the team is maybe the most remarkable thing about this team.

Agree . The ‘69-’70 Knicks championship team. I was fortunate to attend every home game of that championship run. The thrill, looking back, at the game they played instilled by Red Holzman’s find the open man team play, is what Hurley has achieved with this UCONN. Like the Knicks, ball movement, selfless play and team defense make this 2024 very special. Like the Knicks when Willis went down, the rest came up big In game 5 vs Lakers. Then game 7 vs Lakers Frazier, 36 pts 19 Assists.

Perhaps not relevant, the other team that comes to mind are the ‘98 Yankees from the standpoint of a team who’s sum was greater than their parts. As you stated, anyone is capable of dropping 20+ on any given night. Like the Yanks, someone else ready to pick up the baton….We are so lucky to be UCONN fans

 

[Gurleyman]

Biggest difference for me - I can’t recall any team having multiple elite passers at their position.

Clingan, caraban, diarra, castle. All of them are elite passers. Everyone else is at least passable, if not good.

All our other teams went through , at most, 2 distributor starters. After that, a big tail off. We can pass at an extremely high level with basically any lineup. It shows in our assist numbers.

i was having this conversation recently too. All five starters (and Diarra) aren’t just good passers - they seem like they all genuinely love to pass, and I haven’t seen many teams like that. I still remember game one against Northern Arizona, Cam, our hired gun, came out turning down good looks and dropping dimes and Hurley praised him repeatedly after. Then Newton, with 31, didn’t take a hero shot and found Cam for a great look at Kansas. It missed, but I thought about how much that would help building culture over the long term (“It’s not about me. I trust my teammates to make the shot or the play.“).

Perhaps we’ll need a brief selfish streak from someone with a hot hand or a matchup to exploit. But it isn’t our default mode.

 

[superjohn]

It's a little ridiculous, actually, how we won a championship in 2014 with our offense consisting largely of Bazz (and, to a lesser extent, Boat) hero ball.

Yes, Daniels had a big game against Iowa State, Giffey hit some big shots, but most of those games, Villanova, Michigan State, even in the Final Four, were a lot of low-scoring games with late-clock 3s.

But, yes, going back further, we won in 2004 playing a center who couldn't score past the foul line and a PF who couldn't score outside of 5 feet. In 1999, Freeman had some game in the frontcourt, but we had at most 2 guys who could shoot from the outside. In 2011 we had some semblance of modern offense with Roscoe Smith at the 4 alongside Kemba, Lamb, Bazz, and Oriakhi, but it was heavily on Kemba.

Agreed, they won it with outstanding defense especially from Boat and Bazz, ft shooting and late clock bailout shots from Bazz. Daniels was also great in the final four against Florida.

 

[TheChamps990411]

O.K., so with Clingan moving like last year’s Clingan we are, at worst the second best defensive team in the country. But let’s put that aside for a moment. Let’s also put aside that as great a crowd as that was yesterday, WE HAVE NO CLUE how great that crowd might have been. The crowd was never tested by a hugely important possession, or a quick kill run where we ran off 10 points in rapid succession (the only kill run I remember was when the margin opened up late in the first half, but that was more about them not scoring for 5 minutes than us putting 3 or 4 offensive possessions together).

But while obviously the defense is only elite with Clingan in the lineup, remember that except for the game during which he got hurt we didn’t lose any games while he was out, because the offense was good enough to carry a mediocre defense. The thing about this offense that is really amazing is its balance. All 5 starters averaging within a few points of each other, and guys on the bench who can get you double figures on a good day if they’re needed to. I am fairly certain I’ve never seen a UConn team so balanced offensively (the closest I remember is the year we lost to UCLA in the Elite 8, but neither Jake nor KO was as good offensively as any of this year’s starters), but I also can’t remember any other college basketball team more balanced offensively than this one. Frankly, the best comp I can come up with is the ‘69 Knicks championship team, where you were just as confident with any of the starters getting the last shot.

I’m sure that some of you young guns will pull up analytics to show me that this is all in my head, but to me the offensive balance on the team is maybe the most remarkable thing about this team.

You have to go all the way back to an NBA team 50 years ago to find a balanced team? Theres been plenty. The early dook teams of the 90s and the 99 team we beat for the title, Gtech with Kenny anderson and dennis scott had a great starting 5, UNLV, Kentucky 96 iirc and several others i cant think of.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I hate bringing up these memories but the 05-06 team never really wanted to break a sweat and in the tournament they were basically begging someone to knock them off. The edge that Spencer has, which I pointed out in a different thread was something that team sorely needed. The couple of players who actually did have some of that were so deep behind the starters that they didn't see the floor enough to give that team what it lacked.

Earlier this season Hurley specifically mentioned Spencer never having played big time NCAA tourney level games and would be hungry for success at UConn.
And Hurley says he looks for hungry transfer portal players.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

2014, absolutely. Although I think a lot of fans don’t remember how good Daniels was that year because of his utter failure to achieve on the professional level. While this team is clearly better than ‘11 over the course of the season, don’t underestimate how hard it is to stop a national player of the year point guard when a career NBA off guard and future NPOY candidate guard are alongside him.

Clingan is really the difference maker in all these games. There’s just no way Nolan and Brimah contain him. Bazz and Boat would give these guards hell though on both ends of the floor. But the 2024 front court just has a huge advantage after that.

2011, I can’t bet on anyone beating Kemba. Oriaki and Okwandu may be able to hold their own against Clingan and then yeah, the Kemba, Lamb, and Bazz combo could be a lot for the 2024 team to handle. Roscoe was able to contain Kawhi Leonard and Derrick Williams too so I don’t think Karaban would have much of an advantage there.