This team plays great defense and contests a lot of shots

[UConnSwag11]

but even after that, the other team will throw up a very difficult two point shot or jack up a three and it will go in. Sometimes they're lazy running off screens and do leaves shooters open but majority of the time they're contested and the shots still go in... we miss a lot of easy ones around the rim as well but i do love the fact that they continue to attack and dont back away from shooting

 

[Kitaman]

I would add 'when they want to'.

That defense yesterday was good; missing for some games, not for others. Its show what they are capable of and the quick transitions resulting from it. Very enjoyable to see.

 

[mauconnfan]

Sorry Swag hate to disagree with you but this team does not play "great" defense. They are better than most but not quite understanding of what it takes from what I see. They have some guys who do some real good things, they have people who play hard and they have Boat who is typically solid. But they also have way too much learning to do which you can see by the repeat of errors on that end.

You're right about the screens which points to "lazy" some of time and just not knowing who should be guarding off the pick the other times. Also they do seem to get beat buy some "prayers" too don't they? They have the potential to real good on D but people really need to watch film and know their jobs.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Sorry Swag hate to disagree with you but this team does not play "great" defense. They are better than most but not quite understanding of what it takes from what I see. They have some guys who do some real good things, they have people who play hard and they have Boat who is typically solid. But they also have way too much learning to do which you can see by the repeat of errors on that end.

You're right about the screens which points to "lazy" some of time and just not knowing who should be guarding off the pick the other times. Also they do seem to get beat buy some "prayers" too don't they? They have the potential to real good on D but people really need to watch film and know their jobs.

when i say great i dont mean like virginia or uk great... i mean in your face, chasing their man all over, getting the shot clock down to under 12, etc... they do give up a lot of offense rebounds... all this i believe, will be better at an individual level definitely by next year, like you said by watching film and knowing their jobs

 

[CTBasketball]

We play lazy defense and sometimes when we get a steal it makes us look real good.

 

[ctchamps]

when i say great i dont mean like virginia or uk great... i mean in your face, chasing their man all over, getting the shot clock down to under 12, etc... they do give up a lot of offense rebounds... all this i believe, will be better at an individual level definitely by next year, like you said by watching film and knowing their jobs

I totally agree with your op and this follow up. I would amend it slightly and say DHam and OC lose their player frequently and DHam really gets confused on switching off. Even Kentan is better at switching off.

But RP, TS and RB were tenacious yesterday on the perimeter and I cringed at how many contested shots went in for Tulane almost as much as I cringed on the two blown give me shots by TS in the first half, the Facey wtf shot in the second half and the two missed RP lay ups. It seems to me that this year is one of those years that teams make an inordinate amount of difficult and/or clutch shots. In the last two championship seasons it seemed UConn was on the positive side of this equation.

I'll add one more thing. There are certainly liabilities with this team on offense contributing to UConn's inability to get 70 points. But what people don't point out consistently is that a good part of the low scoring is that UConn forces other teams to take shots late in the clock because of this tenacious defense.

 

[huskiesnyc]

We often play great defense for 30 seconds only to get burned at the end of the shot clock. When Tulane had the inbounds with 1 second left on the shot clock you just knew they were going to score.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I totally agree with your op and this follow up. I would amend it slightly and say DHam and OC lose their player frequently and DHam really gets confused on switching off. Even Kentan is better at switching off.

But RP, TS and RB were tenacious yesterday on the perimeter and I cringed at how many contested shots went in for Tulane almost as much as I cringed on the two blown give me shots by TS in the first half, the Facey wtf shot in the second half and the two missed RP lay ups. It seems to me that this year is one of those years that teams make an inordinate amount of difficult and/or clutch shots. In the last two championship seasons it seemed UConn was on the positive side of this equation.

I'll add one more thing. There are certainly liabilities with this team on offense contributing to UConn's inability to get 70 points. But what people don't point out consistently is that a good part of the low scoring is that UConn forces other teams to take shots late in the clock because of this tenacious defense.

yeah it's not for a lack of skill, it's a lack of experience, it seems other than boat and dham(occasionally omar and purvis) is a lack of confidence, and learning a new system and how to do things

 

[David 76]

Our defense, even with its inconsistencies, is our strength. I wish our offense was as inconsistant as our defense

 

[UConnSwag11]

Our defense, even with its inconsistencies, is our strength. I wish our offense was as inconsistant as our defense

We need to start forcing turnovers to turn into buckets for us and get the flow we want it

 

[husky91]

I agree, Brimah cheats for blocks and is out of position for rebounds and allows teams like Tulane to get 14 OR, Facey's defense is terrible, Omar, RP, DHam so-so

I don't see where T Sam is a good defender but he is labeled as this, maybe because his offense is so bad and he's a TO machine.

Sorry Swag hate to disagree with you but this team does not play "great" defense. They are better than most but not quite understanding of what it takes from what I see. They have some guys who do some real good things, they have people who play hard and they have Boat who is typically solid. But they also have way too much learning to do which you can see by the repeat of errors on that end.

You're right about the screens which points to "lazy" some of time and just not knowing who should be guarding off the pick the other times. Also they do seem to get beat buy some "prayers" too don't they? They have the potential to real good on D but people really need to watch film and know their jobs.

 

[husky91]

That's more because the offense is so bad, they haven't hit 70 in an AAC game, and these are mainly lousy teams

Our defense, even with its inconsistencies, is our strength. I wish our offense was as inconsistant as our defense

 

[3rdbass]

I agree, Brimah cheats for blocks and is out of position for rebounds and allows teams like Tulane to get 14 OR, Facey's defense is terrible, Omar, RP, DHam so-so

I don't see where T Sam is a good defender but he is labeled as this, maybe because his offense is so bad and he's a TO machine.

Tsam is into his defender all the time. RP is also tenacious on ball defender. Dham is improving but Omar and KF are lost. Tsam is also a decent ball handler and offensive player. He is improving but has to learn to shoot better.

Not sure why you have to be so negative on some of the players who are giving us some positives!

 

[SubbaBub]

Yup, when they want to, as in, have an interest in defending their man and communicating on switches. Way too many guys left open for three, allowed to penetrate, or otherwise abandoned to early on the help. Also, Boat can't be expected to play full 40 D like he did last year, he's not a machine. We'll need to expect and live with some lapses from him. Everyone else, not so much.

 

[David 76]

Seems like it has dropped off . Early in the year, most games had minutes when they would lock down pretty good. Not 40 minutes, put a few minutes that would ignite a run.