Thoughts...

[UConNick]

Wow. That was shocking. First, I want to look at the negatives and there are a lot of them. First, the offense against the zone. When Md and Yale threw 2-3 zones at us, we completely picked them apart, probably why we haven't seen an extended zone had against us since. Just stick anyone, Danield would have been perfect, at the fee throw line and go to work. The defense was lackluster when Stanford put the ball on the floor and drove. Too many matadors out there. Offense overall in the second half was a disaster. As much as it hurts, this loss is on KO. His energy lacked, and the team reflected that. I kept waiting for him to adjust the offense to the zone killer I thought we had, and he just kept in the screen heavy system that spelled out doom against the zone. Shabazz also deserves a little blame. Terrible play in the last 3 minutes. We hold him to a ridiculously high standard, and rightfully so, but that was brutal to watch him jack up three after three when he could've driven. He also did not look to pass at all in the 2nd half; 7 first half assists, only 1 in the second. The ball movement in general blew, big reason we only got 13 points in the 2nd. Everyone wanted to take a jump shot; no one looked to drive or pass, and this lead to a slow inefficient offense. This wasn't only Bazz, though. The entire team, and KO, can be blamed for that as well. This last point may not be very important, but I think it is. The crowd had no energy, and the team reflected that. If this game is in Gampel, the close quarters and loud student section energize KO and the team, and I think that is all we needed tonight; energy.

With all that being said, this was one game against an underrated team in December. It IS better that we lose some of these close games now, so that we learn that tenacity, not just luck and skill, are needed to pull out some of these close games. Also, this exposes our offensive flaws; namely, the zone and adversity to when the jumpers are off. I don't want to make excuses for why we lost, just trying to find a silver lining. There is no excuse; we played terrible, completely unUConn-like, and the score reflected that. If we want to win a national title, teams like Stanford should be a cakewalk. In conclusion, We now know how much it hurts to lose; now we know never to feel this way again.

 

[John]

Nice recap. "The second half felt like the Einstein quote "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." You are right about the crowd, it was subdued even when we were ripping it up in the first half. Might be the 9pm start time. I'll go no matter what time the game is, but it makes it tough to get jacked up when I have to be at work early the next morning (I'm a zombie today).