Time to give Nolan some credit

[ctchamps]

Apparently Phil can do no wrong on this board...best game of the season for him last night

Cmon guys, let's try and be honest here. Again not trying to rip the kid at all. But if last night's effort deserves a congrats thread then UConn is in serious trouble

PS Phil should go back to wearing #o cuz #1 has done him no favors

You're missing the point of the thread.

No one who is praising Nolan is making a point of putting him on a pedestal. The praise is two fold. One is that he has been ripped by several people in this forum as contributing zero to any games and people have made a point of expressing this. If it is fair to rip a kid it's equally fair to support him. And two, Nolan played within himself this game. He had several meaningful minutes and critical rebounds that were valuable to the W.

The praise is based on fans coming to the support of a guy wearing the uniform. In addition, this game demonstrated the things Nolan does well on defense that Brimah needs to understand. There were at least eight points that Brimah handed to ECU because he still is confused about what to do on the perimeter.

 

[Pudge]

I see ... only Matrim55 sees any notion that a Inside guy does anything more than puts up stats on the page. Rebounds? Blocks? Points? The fact that positioning and blocking out ... and then hedging are crucial to our play seems to slide right by the posters here. Phil is fine. The major story isn't that he regressed; it's that he is about where he has always been: a decent positional player, with OK Basketball IQ, limited physicality and athleticism, and good for plugging 10-15 minutes a game. We can get very excited when Amida Brimah gets to the level that he takes 35 minutes a game. We will be far better then. But, that guy still has more development that can happen.

 

[mauconnfan]

fleudy, joober and Pudge get it.

Nolan's 11 minutes and zero points were better than either Facey or Brimah's 40 minutes combined. These 2, unwillingly, gave up so many easy buckets on the defensive end because they are so lost defensively it's crazy. 2 times neither of them guarded a guy off of picks they were in together and easy lay ups. They had 5 rebounds in 40 minutes combined and didnt throw a decent pass to anyone. Nolan had 4 and threw some passes out to the perimeter which led to good looks out there. And he hedges and boxes out or "hits" someone somewhere.

It's okay to be a fan and not think someone is too good or has too many weaknesses. But when he does something good, please either STFU and ignore the thread or admit it. Pretty simple.

 

[Kitaman]

I think what I and other posters were doing was acknowledging a well improved played game (Nolan standards). Its the context of the acknowledgement and the fact that we have been waiting to say something positive and give him some credit/love, hence we had the chance and took it.

No one was praising him.

 

[Silk31]

It's okay to be a fan and not think someone is too good or has too many weaknesses. But when he does something good, please either STFU and ignore the thread or admit it. Pretty simple.

No need for STFU there @mauconnfan ...you may categorize one performance as good while I disagree. I'm not telling you to STFU because you don't see it my way either. If you are using this year's Phil scale on performances than I guess this was one of his "better" games - just saying I'm still not pleased with us having to try to grasp at straws and consider that type of performance a pat on the back type game for Phil. He should be way more serviceable with all the experience he has, not getting contentious just my opinion.

 

[mauconnfan]

No need for STFU there @mauconnfan ...you may categorize one performance as good while I disagree. I'm not telling you to STFU because you don't see it my way either. If you are using this year's Phil scale on performances than I guess this was one of his "better" games - just saying I'm still not pleased with us having to try to grasp at straws and consider that type of performance a pat on the back type game for Phil. He should be way more serviceable with all the experience he has, not getting contentious just my opinion.

Ok harsh so apology on that. I will not take back what I feel to be weak in the fandom of the team. I mean he's not a great player, we now know this. So when he does help how can you not acknowledge his contribution? To me as a long time fan it's pretty tough. I mean sit here and praise a couple block shots by Brimah but he didnt guard anyone all game and neither did Facey. This was not directed ALL at you, it's the Purvis is a VW and crap like that. People read too much into expectations instead of watching the games and realizing the hype may have been exaggerated. With Phil, he is what he is so when he works that hard and plays what was a positive 11 minutes and we win, that's a good game. At least in my books

 

[3rdbass]

It is good to see PN finally contributing to team especially on a night were AB was horrible defensively. I know he had 3 blocks but he was out of position all game on the defensive side.

 

[KingOPancakes]

As someone who bashes PN at every opportunity, it was nice to see him contribute. I still don't trust him with the ball though.

 

[mauconnfan]

As someone who bashes PN at every opportunity, it was nice to see him contribute. I still don't trust him with the ball though.

That's more like it. LOL

 

[husky91]

The whole front court is a bust. Brimah and Lubin have potential. Facey is awful right now. No one talks about how bad his defense is, go watch that play at the end of the 1st half against Temple, that's just one example.

That's more like it. LOL

 

[Silk31]

The whole front court is a bust. Brimah and Lubin have potential. Facey is awful right now. No one talks about how bad his defense is, go watch that play at the end of the 1st half against Temple, that's just one example.

Facey was showing promise there for awhile early in the year but I have since put out an APB on him.

He is making little to no contribution with his heavy minutes. At the very least he should be playing good defense and pulling down as many boards as he can. This is yet another example of lack of focus, effort and coaching (development).

He played so well against Duke and I thought he would continue to develop and get better as the season went on, yet his production fell off a cliff and we really don't have any1 else to turn to. I think it's time to start using DHam at the 4 a lot more, what else do we have to lose???

 

[mauconnfan]

The whole front court is a bust. Brimah and Lubin have potential. Facey is awful right now. No one talks about how bad his defense is, go watch that play at the end of the 1st half against Temple, that's just one example.

I have talked many times how his defense is not up to par nor is Brimah's. You say awful I say not up to par or that good, that's the difference. We know this about each of our frontcourters. One played okay and impacted in his 11 minutes, that's what this is about. Not about you repeating the obvious 99.

 

[husky91]

I say awful because it is awful. If you remove that meaningless Coppin St game from the stats our starting 4/5 is averaging 13 and 11 rebs, for 2 players. That is terrible.

I have talked many times how his defense is not up to par nor is Brimah's. You say awful I say not up to par or that good, that's the difference. We know this about each of our frontcourters. One played okay and impacted in his 11 minutes, that's what this is about. Not about you repeating the obvious 99.

 

[sledog]

rollin w nolan

 

[ctchamps]

I say awful because it is awful. If you remove that meaningless Coppin St game from the stats our starting 4/5 is averaging 13 and 11 rebs, for 2 players. That is terrible.

The choice of words isn't the issue imo. I can't imagine any fan that prefers a subpar, poor, bad, awful, (insert a preferable word) performance vs. a flawless, terrific, incredible game.

It's more about a persons intent that comes with the description.

It seems to me that a certain number of posters feel the need to punish players, coaches, teams and other posters when something doesn't meet their preference. Certainly it can be just a misguided way of expressing things. But it comes across as being judgmental and/or vengeful couched by the belief that someone is being truthful in critiquing a set of circumstances.

It certainly is exasperating to watch a player make the same mistake repeatedly. IMO it is equally exasperating to observe people who repeatedly behave in a manner detrimental to social discourse. IMO there is no difference between a basketball turnover and someone who continually is mean spirited and judgmental. They are both flawed behaviors.

I don't believe in censorship in most cases. So the last thing I want is people to change because I find their behavior detrimental to others as well as themselves. I prefer that any individual who might have the tendencies I'm pointing out decide if there is truth to what I'm writing and attempt to make an effort to change.