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It wasn't pretty tonight. In the first half, they turned it over eleven times. In the second half, they shot less than 30% from the field. They were up eight points with 45 seconds to go in the game, and yet Harvard had the ball, down three, with a chance to send the game to overtime, 35 seconds later.
It was a win, though, and a much needed one at that. Harvard entered the game 13-1 for a reason, and despite playing without arguably their best player, there is enough talent on that roster for this to qualify as a solid victory. Maybe it was a "win and get the hell out of there" game more so than a conclusive 40 minute a** kicking that we've been clamoring for, but this team desperately needed to hang one in the win column, if for no other reason but to feel good about themselves heading into a difficult part of our schedule.
As always, there were some positives and negatives. On the positive side, was the defensive clinic we submitted, particularly in the second half. This was due in large part to UConn playing possibly the best interior defense they played all season, headlined by seven combined blocked shots from Brimah and Daniels. There were some occasional breakdowns in rotations, over-helping, and inattentive off-ball defense, but you can't throw a perfect game in basketball, and any miscues were overcome by the noticeably elevated intensity in comparison to the Houston and SMU games. One thing I noticed was the collective activity in regards to the way they played the passing lanes. Between Napier, Kromah, and Boatright, the foot speed UConn's guards possess are second to nobody in the country - I'd like to continue to see us utilize our quickness advantage on the perimeter. All three of our guards - especially Napier - have the ability to single-handedly throw an opposing offense out of rhythm when they're engaged. Given our offensive woes as of late, it has become especially crucial to generate as many fast break opportunities as possible, and with a safety blanket often roaming the paint in Brimah, our guards can afford to take chances. For this team to win, the defensive desperation we saw in the second half tonight is going to have to be a mainstay. As a whole, it was an A+ defensive performance.
Offensively, things were ugly from the opening tip. As much as it boggles the mind, this team just does not run offense anymore. With all of the angst on this board surrounding the lack of movement on the offensive side of the ball, I made a pointed effort to pay close attention to the offensive execution and and plan of attack. What I saw, was a whole lot of standing around, listlessness, and rudimentary high ball screening. This is especially confounding, because when I reviewed the tape from last season over the summer, I was surprised by the complexity of the sets Ollie was dialing up to free Napier and Boatright. For whatever reason, things have regressed this season both in terms of coaching offense and executing that offense, and we rely far too much on Napier to bail out the offense late in the shot clock with high degree of difficulty plays that require him to expend a lot of energy. As I've stated before, I don't have a huge problem with pick and rolls occupying the vast majority of our possessions - it's the hardest play in basketball to defend for a reason, and when you have a pair of guards with the combination of speed and play making ability that Boatright and Napier have, you'd be a fool not to utilize it a hell of a lot. But there needs to be some level of diversity, because if all you run is one play every time down the floor, good defenses are going to learn how to defend it. With the speed and shiftiness of our guards, I have no idea why one of those two are not continually running off screens - we saw it a ton with Kemba and Lamb in 2011, and the mere pressure it puts on the defense often opens up holes in other parts of the floor. The offense just isn't good enough right now, and a lot of that has to fall on Ollie. I've seen too many flashes of brilliance from him as a play designer to believe that he's suddenly become inept as an X's and O's coach. I have to wonder if he's hiding some wrinkles up his sleeve for later in the season - after all, it wasn't unusual for Calhoun's half-court offenses to look painfully stagnant in the first couple months of the season before growing continually intricate as the season moved on. At least this is what I tell myself.
Player notes:
Bazz - Believe it or not, I thought the bulk of Napier's impact tonight came on defense. He seemed to go into "we're not f'in losing three in a row" (he virtually said as much after the game) mode after halftime, attacking the basket, hounding opposing ball-handlers, playing the passing lanes, pushing it in transition, crashing the glass, etc. I, like everybody else, wish he would stop waiting until the second half to shoot the damn basketball. But at some point we have to acknowledge that no team in the country asks one player to do as much as we ask Bazz to do. I almost think the fact that he doesn't look for his own offense early on is a matter of energy conservation more than anything else - he tries to involve his teammates early in hopes that one of them will mercifully take some of the load off of his shoulders. And one last thing: I know the guy is in great shape, but jeez...39 minutes is asking a lot. It doesn't speak well to Samuel's current spot on the development curve that Ollie doesn't trust him to play five minutes a game.
Boat - Ryan played 30 minutes tonight, took six shots, and scored 14 points. I know it won't, but this should quiet the "Ryan is selfish" crowd for good. He had a couple of lapses that directly led to open three pointers on the defensive end tonight, and his propensity to lose containment away from the ball and take unnecessary risks is really something that shouldn't be a problem at this point in his career. But all and all, the kid is playing great basketball right now.
Kromah - Speaking of kids who are playing great basketball, I shudder at thinking where this team would be right now without Lasan. He seems to be the only one on the team who A) Drives to the rim with a purpose, B) Embraces contact at the rim rather than avoiding it, and C) Can dribble the ball at the small forward position. As Calhoun and Giffey continue to struggle giving us consistent production at the wing, I'd like to see Kromah's responsibilities within the offense continue to increase. With Calhoun, Daniels, and Giffey struggling to create any sort of offense, it was paramount that somebody else step up at the small forward position and be able to dribble, pass, and score. Defensively, Lasan is arguably the best on the team. I don't think he's an elite defender in the category of Ricky Moore, but he rarely gets beat off the dribble or blows his assignment away from the ball. Unless this next guy miraculously rises from the dead, Lasan should continue to play 30+ minutes per game.
Omar - There's really not much we can do at this point besides continue to support him and not be the in the crowd that yells at him to transfer. He's struggling, badly. Tonight, he was a rebound and a turnover away from a five trillion, he got beat off the dribble, and hasn't shown the willingness to mix it up on the glass. I don't know what it is at this point. It's impossible for me to believe that he has regressed this much from where he was last season (on the BE all-rookie team, if I'm not mistaken). I'm starting to think this season is simply a lost cause for him, and that with a full off-season of work and preparation he'll be a different player next year.
Giffey - Nobody on this team over-helps more than Niels. He helps when there's really no reason to, he leaves his man when he's one pass away far too frequently, and he's sometimes susceptible to being taken out of the play by a screen away from the ball. But by and large, he's a very good defender who plays above his head on the interior and chips in on the glass. Offensively, he clearly has his limitations, and nobody on the team makes more mindless passes to big men who aren't going to do anything productive. Early in the game tonight, he dribbled into a nice pull-up jumper, and really, that should be the extent of his contributions offensively (aside from spot-up shooting) - get him the ball on the wing, one dribble, mid-range jumper. When he starts dribbling and passing, bad things happen.
DeAndre - As a five star recruit in his junior year, Daniels is inevitably going to be a victim of high expectations as he continues on in his career, and whether he departs after this season or next season, there is probably going to be a stench of disappointment in the mouths of some UConn fans. But at this point, I'm inclined to believe that he is what he is, and that's somebody who can impact a game defensively, explode for the occasional 20+ point outing, and generally be counted on for a double digit output on a nightly basis. Watching him live, what jumps out at me the most is just how stiff he is. There isn't any sort of fluidity or grace to his movement - it almost looks like he doesn't stretch before games. Offensively and defensively, he's always hunched over and not in a natural, comfortable stance. The other things holding him back from breaking out is ball-handling and passing. In short, he's pretty bad at both.
Don't let any pre-conceived visions of what you expected him to be distract you from the enormous impact he made tonight, though. He was a menace out there tonight defensively, roaming over from the weak side to reject or alter shots at the rim, grabbing the tough rebounds in traffic, and helping and recovering better than anybody else on the team tonight. Against Houston and SMU, Daniels might have been the worst player on the floor - he just couldn't roll a tire down a hill in those games. He was great tonight, though, and you get the feeling that this team is going to go as DeAndre goes. When he performs at the level he's capable of, this front court goes from horrific to serviceable, and with what we have in the back court, that's going to be enough on most nights.
Amida - AB just needs reps, it's really that simple. In terms of basketball instincts and awareness, he is what we expected him to be, a project. You can't let him touch the ball at any point within a possession without something bad happening, so he's going to continue to be a major liability on that end until at least the end of the season barring a damn near unprecedented jump. His rebounding rate continues to progress, though - in his past six games, he's averaging 10.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. In the nine games before that, he had averaged only 4.3 rebounds per game. Granted, it's a limited sample size, and could be due to statistical randomness more than anything else, but that's still an extremely encouraging jump. The fact that he's still blocking an absurd 22% of two-point field goal shots attempted doesn't hurt, either. If we're going to morph into the elite defensive unit we're going to need to be to have a shot at contending in March, it's probably going to have to happen with Amida at center. Just let the kid work through is mistakes.
All in all, there were some good, bad, and ugly tonight. But the fact of the matter is that for the first time in the last three games, the product on the floor tonight actually resembled UConn basketball. That, alone, is refreshing. With Memphis and Louisville looming, now, more than ever, is the time to get behind this team. Go Huskies.
It was a win, though, and a much needed one at that. Harvard entered the game 13-1 for a reason, and despite playing without arguably their best player, there is enough talent on that roster for this to qualify as a solid victory. Maybe it was a "win and get the hell out of there" game more so than a conclusive 40 minute a** kicking that we've been clamoring for, but this team desperately needed to hang one in the win column, if for no other reason but to feel good about themselves heading into a difficult part of our schedule.
As always, there were some positives and negatives. On the positive side, was the defensive clinic we submitted, particularly in the second half. This was due in large part to UConn playing possibly the best interior defense they played all season, headlined by seven combined blocked shots from Brimah and Daniels. There were some occasional breakdowns in rotations, over-helping, and inattentive off-ball defense, but you can't throw a perfect game in basketball, and any miscues were overcome by the noticeably elevated intensity in comparison to the Houston and SMU games. One thing I noticed was the collective activity in regards to the way they played the passing lanes. Between Napier, Kromah, and Boatright, the foot speed UConn's guards possess are second to nobody in the country - I'd like to continue to see us utilize our quickness advantage on the perimeter. All three of our guards - especially Napier - have the ability to single-handedly throw an opposing offense out of rhythm when they're engaged. Given our offensive woes as of late, it has become especially crucial to generate as many fast break opportunities as possible, and with a safety blanket often roaming the paint in Brimah, our guards can afford to take chances. For this team to win, the defensive desperation we saw in the second half tonight is going to have to be a mainstay. As a whole, it was an A+ defensive performance.
Offensively, things were ugly from the opening tip. As much as it boggles the mind, this team just does not run offense anymore. With all of the angst on this board surrounding the lack of movement on the offensive side of the ball, I made a pointed effort to pay close attention to the offensive execution and and plan of attack. What I saw, was a whole lot of standing around, listlessness, and rudimentary high ball screening. This is especially confounding, because when I reviewed the tape from last season over the summer, I was surprised by the complexity of the sets Ollie was dialing up to free Napier and Boatright. For whatever reason, things have regressed this season both in terms of coaching offense and executing that offense, and we rely far too much on Napier to bail out the offense late in the shot clock with high degree of difficulty plays that require him to expend a lot of energy. As I've stated before, I don't have a huge problem with pick and rolls occupying the vast majority of our possessions - it's the hardest play in basketball to defend for a reason, and when you have a pair of guards with the combination of speed and play making ability that Boatright and Napier have, you'd be a fool not to utilize it a hell of a lot. But there needs to be some level of diversity, because if all you run is one play every time down the floor, good defenses are going to learn how to defend it. With the speed and shiftiness of our guards, I have no idea why one of those two are not continually running off screens - we saw it a ton with Kemba and Lamb in 2011, and the mere pressure it puts on the defense often opens up holes in other parts of the floor. The offense just isn't good enough right now, and a lot of that has to fall on Ollie. I've seen too many flashes of brilliance from him as a play designer to believe that he's suddenly become inept as an X's and O's coach. I have to wonder if he's hiding some wrinkles up his sleeve for later in the season - after all, it wasn't unusual for Calhoun's half-court offenses to look painfully stagnant in the first couple months of the season before growing continually intricate as the season moved on. At least this is what I tell myself.
Player notes:
Bazz - Believe it or not, I thought the bulk of Napier's impact tonight came on defense. He seemed to go into "we're not f'in losing three in a row" (he virtually said as much after the game) mode after halftime, attacking the basket, hounding opposing ball-handlers, playing the passing lanes, pushing it in transition, crashing the glass, etc. I, like everybody else, wish he would stop waiting until the second half to shoot the damn basketball. But at some point we have to acknowledge that no team in the country asks one player to do as much as we ask Bazz to do. I almost think the fact that he doesn't look for his own offense early on is a matter of energy conservation more than anything else - he tries to involve his teammates early in hopes that one of them will mercifully take some of the load off of his shoulders. And one last thing: I know the guy is in great shape, but jeez...39 minutes is asking a lot. It doesn't speak well to Samuel's current spot on the development curve that Ollie doesn't trust him to play five minutes a game.
Boat - Ryan played 30 minutes tonight, took six shots, and scored 14 points. I know it won't, but this should quiet the "Ryan is selfish" crowd for good. He had a couple of lapses that directly led to open three pointers on the defensive end tonight, and his propensity to lose containment away from the ball and take unnecessary risks is really something that shouldn't be a problem at this point in his career. But all and all, the kid is playing great basketball right now.
Kromah - Speaking of kids who are playing great basketball, I shudder at thinking where this team would be right now without Lasan. He seems to be the only one on the team who A) Drives to the rim with a purpose, B) Embraces contact at the rim rather than avoiding it, and C) Can dribble the ball at the small forward position. As Calhoun and Giffey continue to struggle giving us consistent production at the wing, I'd like to see Kromah's responsibilities within the offense continue to increase. With Calhoun, Daniels, and Giffey struggling to create any sort of offense, it was paramount that somebody else step up at the small forward position and be able to dribble, pass, and score. Defensively, Lasan is arguably the best on the team. I don't think he's an elite defender in the category of Ricky Moore, but he rarely gets beat off the dribble or blows his assignment away from the ball. Unless this next guy miraculously rises from the dead, Lasan should continue to play 30+ minutes per game.
Omar - There's really not much we can do at this point besides continue to support him and not be the in the crowd that yells at him to transfer. He's struggling, badly. Tonight, he was a rebound and a turnover away from a five trillion, he got beat off the dribble, and hasn't shown the willingness to mix it up on the glass. I don't know what it is at this point. It's impossible for me to believe that he has regressed this much from where he was last season (on the BE all-rookie team, if I'm not mistaken). I'm starting to think this season is simply a lost cause for him, and that with a full off-season of work and preparation he'll be a different player next year.
Giffey - Nobody on this team over-helps more than Niels. He helps when there's really no reason to, he leaves his man when he's one pass away far too frequently, and he's sometimes susceptible to being taken out of the play by a screen away from the ball. But by and large, he's a very good defender who plays above his head on the interior and chips in on the glass. Offensively, he clearly has his limitations, and nobody on the team makes more mindless passes to big men who aren't going to do anything productive. Early in the game tonight, he dribbled into a nice pull-up jumper, and really, that should be the extent of his contributions offensively (aside from spot-up shooting) - get him the ball on the wing, one dribble, mid-range jumper. When he starts dribbling and passing, bad things happen.
DeAndre - As a five star recruit in his junior year, Daniels is inevitably going to be a victim of high expectations as he continues on in his career, and whether he departs after this season or next season, there is probably going to be a stench of disappointment in the mouths of some UConn fans. But at this point, I'm inclined to believe that he is what he is, and that's somebody who can impact a game defensively, explode for the occasional 20+ point outing, and generally be counted on for a double digit output on a nightly basis. Watching him live, what jumps out at me the most is just how stiff he is. There isn't any sort of fluidity or grace to his movement - it almost looks like he doesn't stretch before games. Offensively and defensively, he's always hunched over and not in a natural, comfortable stance. The other things holding him back from breaking out is ball-handling and passing. In short, he's pretty bad at both.
Don't let any pre-conceived visions of what you expected him to be distract you from the enormous impact he made tonight, though. He was a menace out there tonight defensively, roaming over from the weak side to reject or alter shots at the rim, grabbing the tough rebounds in traffic, and helping and recovering better than anybody else on the team tonight. Against Houston and SMU, Daniels might have been the worst player on the floor - he just couldn't roll a tire down a hill in those games. He was great tonight, though, and you get the feeling that this team is going to go as DeAndre goes. When he performs at the level he's capable of, this front court goes from horrific to serviceable, and with what we have in the back court, that's going to be enough on most nights.
Amida - AB just needs reps, it's really that simple. In terms of basketball instincts and awareness, he is what we expected him to be, a project. You can't let him touch the ball at any point within a possession without something bad happening, so he's going to continue to be a major liability on that end until at least the end of the season barring a damn near unprecedented jump. His rebounding rate continues to progress, though - in his past six games, he's averaging 10.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. In the nine games before that, he had averaged only 4.3 rebounds per game. Granted, it's a limited sample size, and could be due to statistical randomness more than anything else, but that's still an extremely encouraging jump. The fact that he's still blocking an absurd 22% of two-point field goal shots attempted doesn't hurt, either. If we're going to morph into the elite defensive unit we're going to need to be to have a shot at contending in March, it's probably going to have to happen with Amida at center. Just let the kid work through is mistakes.
All in all, there were some good, bad, and ugly tonight. But the fact of the matter is that for the first time in the last three games, the product on the floor tonight actually resembled UConn basketball. That, alone, is refreshing. With Memphis and Louisville looming, now, more than ever, is the time to get behind this team. Go Huskies.
