This is what I envisioned to start the season.
- Thread starter gibhunter
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The Marquette game on Saturday will say a lot about where this team is at. They played well tonight, but they also went through dry periods offensively where they couldn't seem to run anything other than pick and rolls. It will be interesting to see what Marquette's approach is defensively. Do they go zone, or do they play man? Haven't seen Marquette a lot this season, but I'm guessing their primarily a man to man team. One thing I know about Marquette: They love to run, and often times there does not appear to be any type of organization or set offense. I expect a run and gun game. This seems like the type of contest where Boatright has a big game because he's so good in transition.
If UConn wishes to win on Saturday, they'll have to do a better job closing out on three point shooters. They did a decent job of this tonight, but they still get lazy or lose focus at times. I know DJO would love the opportunity to go off on this team if they give him the chance.
Furthermore, Marquette isn't as small as they have been in past years, but I still feel this is an opponent for Drummond to take advantage of. My guess is Oriakhi will draw the assignment on Crowder, and the glass will be open for Drummond. I've heard Otulo (sp?) might not play, so if that is the case, Drummond should have a field day.
Marquette is a very good team, but I feel we should be able to beat them on our home court. If they play good defense and continue to execute on the offensive end, I feel UConn is the better team.
Should be a good game...I see it coming down to the final minutes.
If UConn wishes to win on Saturday, they'll have to do a better job closing out on three point shooters. They did a decent job of this tonight, but they still get lazy or lose focus at times. I know DJO would love the opportunity to go off on this team if they give him the chance.
Furthermore, Marquette isn't as small as they have been in past years, but I still feel this is an opponent for Drummond to take advantage of. My guess is Oriakhi will draw the assignment on Crowder, and the glass will be open for Drummond. I've heard Otulo (sp?) might not play, so if that is the case, Drummond should have a field day.
Marquette is a very good team, but I feel we should be able to beat them on our home court. If they play good defense and continue to execute on the offensive end, I feel UConn is the better team.
Should be a good game...I see it coming down to the final minutes.
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I think he meant he wishes Boatright and Napier would drive to pass more. With the quickness of those two, Drummond and Oriakhi should combine for at least five dunks a game. The inside/outside element is a crucial element of this team. The quickness of the guards coupled with the strength of the bigs was what made me so excited coming into this season. There is still plenty of time to figure it out.
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I wish I could believe that so easily, but the last time we thought this team turned the corner, they went out and laid an egg at Louisville. I need to see it multiple games in a row against good competition.
That said, we did finish the game strong and play much better than they have been for long stretches.
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Depaul.
No one who actually watched the Seton Hall game could have considered that as turning any corner. We were putrid offensively, they were just much worse.
Likewise, no one who actually watched the Syracuse game could have failed to see a fundamental improvement on the offensive end.
That improvement continued tonight. Marquette is always tough and will be a battle on Saturday. But Boat is here, Bazz is back, and the big guys are dunking the ball. We're ready to assert ourselves. Should be a great game.
P.S. Jeremy Lamb is on the cusp of going berserk. In a good way.
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Otule is out for the year and he was the only big who had experience.
His replacement has been Davante Gardner, a sophmore who is 6'8" 290! Kick any boneyarders ass just by the pureness of his size.
Seriously, this guy is a load and outweighs AD by 20! Who the heck outweighs AD by 20?? This guy.
They also have Crowder who is 6'6" and another forward who is 6'7".
I think uconn could have trouble with the guards- DJO is 6'2", Vander Blue is 6'4", and Todd Mayo is 6'3". That's where there could be a mismatch. I really think uconn has to pound it down low on offense. Tough assignments for SN and RB.
I'm thinking Marquette will score, so uconn just has to keep pace (like the Cuse game) and get their 'bigs' in trouble.
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Lets stay tempered here, the Depaul blowout was much needed win and confidence booster. I would be happy with this being a foundation to build a winning streak. It was Depaul and the timing was perfect.
I just think we need a signature win to turn the corner, like Villanova (road game) or cuse.
I just think we need a signature win to turn the corner, like Villanova (road game) or cuse.
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Depaul was our springboard last year in to a historic run......let's do it again!!!!!
WINNING
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Agreed Marquette is the game of interest to see where our guys stand. They are big, not height, but physical in most every position and Gardner creates a problem for Andre and Alex. They need to stay on their feet and box him out, he's a load. The guards need to keep their guys in front of them and make them shoot it from deep and take their chances....dribble and penetration with their superior physical strength will not be good!! Real test...............
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Marquette feels a lot like the Cinci lineup that this team threw out there - lots of guard/swing types. Either the Uconn front court takes advantage of their size or they get eaten up on the defensive end. I look at Marquette as an absolute must win, quality win at home down the stretch. It's the most winnable high quality win they have left.
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Agreed.
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hate to say it because I love him, but Boat was terrible in spots last night in a game that was very up and down and transition heavy.... he seemed very tentative and out of control at times and got caught up in the air very often.... (5 TO's) granted, he's a freshman, but I agree with you that we expect boat to have a great game in a game like last night where we look to push and get out in transition as much as possible.... he had some assists, but his shot selection (1-9) and decisiveness was not good... here's hoping it was just a freshman bump and he'll be back to full offensive form this weekend... all that being said, he had a big 3 early to set the tone and did also add some boards
I will also say that it looked like they made a concerted effort to get out and push it on almost every rebound.... why can't we do that all the time? It's not like depaul did a terrible job getting back every time..... we just decided to push it and look for opportunities while the defense was on its heels and setting up.... we should be doing this all the time...
also, if we can get 8 points out of daniels in 3 minutes and get him out of there before he misses and makes some turnovers, we gotta be thrilled!
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h
hate to say it, but nova is essentially the same as depaul this year... we need the marquette or cuse game to make a statement...
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I agree, but teams don't make every jumper like Cuse did the other day... every so often, teams miss open shots and contested shots.... if anything, it evened things out from the cuse game... even boeheim said his team shot out of their mind
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Those numbers he listed were simply taken from the DePaul Box Score. I don't think he was saying he expected those exact numbers back when the season started or even when he posted this. His point was, that he expected that type of production and those types of numbers and that it is a sign that they've righted the ship.
I hope he's right, but I felt Depaul was so bad that it is hard to take much away from that game. But if you combine that game with some stretches of the UL game and most of the SU game, it might point to them playing better.
One thing concerned me last night was how frequently they weren't running any half-court offense. Granted they scored off of that improvisation quite a bit last night, but against a good teams that play sound D...hum...I'm still concerned. I wish they had shown more discipline and ran more stuff, converting off of it. I hope my concerns are unfounded and they build on what they did the past 3 games with a nice W against Marquette to get back to .500 in the conference.
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I just read that Gardner is questionable for the game (maybe this is who you were referring to?), so if he can't go, we're looking at a very small Marquette team.
Marat
The Champ Is Here.
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I heard last night on the SNY post game show, that he is probable at 70% for Saturday. Still I think UConn should be able to play with them and get a big W .
Nice win. Hopefully Ray's talk with guys had something to do with it. We will see more with Marquette. The Cuse game showed they can attack the zone, this game a little more and so on and so on. We have the right pieces and perhaps we are putting them together.
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It was Depaul, so I'm not so sure this game was anything more than what it should have been. But what bothered me was that we should have been up 20 at the half, but once again we got sloppy with the basketball, took bad/dumb shots and let them back in. We do the same thing against Marquette and we'll lose by 15. At times, especially in the last half of the first period, this looke dlike two Jr High teams running back and forth, thowing up bricks, mishandling the basketball...Didn't we shoot something like 4 for our last 14 of the half after going 9/12 in the first 10 minutes? Came out and played well in the 2nd half, which is a change from Louisville and Syracuse I guess. And in a game like this, the final 7-8 minutes was pretty meaningless...playground basketball
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