Time to Rumble. Random Thoughts . . .

[Cheeky]

. . . substantially influenced by ethanol.

It's time. I think we're very close to a put up or shut up moment. Beat Cinci in Cinci with Vegas having us at down, what? 5?

Not saying that this is a do or die moment, BUT, it kinda is. By which I mean that, if we can't string together a series of convincing wins, then the hope that we win the AAC tourni and get the auto bid is a bit far fetched. Fact is, in 11 and 14 we had all the signs that we were the real deal. We had the talent. Both years. In 11 we had the "didn't ever lose a non-conference game" thing going. Not bad at all. And the early Tourni win. In 14 we had the "Outside of LVille, we are damn hard to beat."

In 15 we are beggars. We come hat in hand.

But this can be reversed. It really needs to start tonight. I want to see it. I want to see our team come together, reduce foolish, frosh-esh turnovers, come out at the opening bell like Mike Tyson, don't back down, step on their throats if we get up.

It's time. A loss tonight wouldn't be the end of the season - but it would be a portent that suggests we are not NCAA tourni bound.

This team has the talent. We need to see the chemistry.

Let's fire this up. It's now young Huskies. Get it done. Come out swinging, and don't stop swinging until the job is done or until you enter the sweet bliss of unconsciousness. They have more to give.

Let's get this.

 

[aceboon]

The time has come for a bigtime road performance from Boat. I'm not saying he has to go for 25, but at least something bearing resemblance to the game against Cincy in Hartford a couple of weeks ago. At this point in Boat's career you can probably count the number of bigtime road performances against a good opponent on one hand, and might have a finger to spare. Its overdue, I'm gonna lose my mind if there's another 2-11, 3-13 performance and then come here and see the board blaming Purvis, Brimah, etc for the loss.

 

[8893]

This is why I have resisted the urge to leave the practice and open my own bar.

 

[CTGoonie]

I liked what I saw from Boatright last game. His thigh bruise seems to have completely healed and he was getting good lift on his jumpers. If we stay healthy and if Brimah can get to the under 16 timeout with no fouls I like our chances.

 

[CTBasketball]

I liked what I saw from Boatright last game. His thigh bruise seems to have completely healed and he was getting good lift on his jumpers. If we stay healthy and if Brimah can get to the under 16 timeout with no fouls I like our chances.

That's what people said after the first Cincinnati game. Then he had two bad games and people said he's still injured. I don't know who to believe anymore.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The time has come for a bigtime road performance from Boat. I'm not saying he has to go for 25, but at least something bearing resemblance to the game against Cincy in Hartford a couple of weeks ago. At this point in Boat's career you can probably count the number of bigtime road performances against a good opponent on one hand, and might have a finger to spare. Its overdue, I'm gonna lose my mind if there's another 2-11, 3-13 performance and then come here and see the board blaming Purvis, Brimah, etc for the loss.

I really agree with your point. It is not the time for Boat to try to get others' going and wait to get his own offense on track. If he could come out and score from the start, it could take some of the pressure off the younger guys and let them feed off the positive momentum. I know that the other teams have been trying to limit Boat's ability to take over a game, but I would sure like to see him go out and try to impose his will on the game from the start rather than trying to do so from far behind with time running down.

 

[RipCity]

We better win, because I just made a slap bet with Andre that we would.

 

[8893]

Prediction: Boat does exactly what people here are suggesting and then gets savaged on the board--win or lose--for stuffing the stat sheet, not getting his teammates involved enough and not making others better. This kid can't win this season. He's either too selfish or too passive.

People seem to forget about Bazz's first halves for most of last season. Same. Exact. Thing. Except--yes I'll say it again--Boat doesn't have another player of his caliber beside him.

 

[James]

If uconn scores over 60 they are 10-1. (Read that in a KO quote), so I'm hoping we get easy baskets. Would like atleast 20 pts on the board by the 10:00 min mark in the first half. If the offense is in trainwreck mode we are done no shot

 

[imno1]

I have to agree with Cheeky. If not tonight when? This team has shown little improvement 18 games in and it's pretty much the same issues game in game out. Keep the turnovers to 10 or less and make at least 70% of our free throws and we have a great shot of pulling this game out. I have to disagree with Aceboon. It took a career performance by Boat just to beat USF. I'm sure RB will be double and triple teamed. It's time for the supporting cast to show we are a tournament team.

 

[aceboon]

Prediction: Boat does exactly what people here are suggesting and then gets savaged on the board--win or lose--for stuffing the stat sheet, not getting his teammates involved enough and not making others better. This kid can't win this season. He's either too selfish or too passive.

People seem to forget about Bazz's first halves for most of last season. Same. Exact. Thing. Except--yes I'll say it again--Boat doesn't have another player of his caliber beside him.

I have no problem with Boat looking to get others involved and set guys up, there's nothing wrong with playing a balanced game, he is a PG after all. But at the end of the day he has to make shots, they got away with it against Florida(and he gets a pass for that game and should be saluted simply for suiting up) but against most good teams the performances last week against Tulsa and Stanford just aren't going to cut it on the road. Those shooting performances last week looked remarkably similar to the performances we saw last year against the majority of good teams they faced, so I'm not so sure if an injury is the root of it, especially since he looked so good against Cincy and was blowing by defenders for baseline and in the paint layups.

As for the Boat "can't win" on here comment, I have no idea where that sentiment is coming from, Boat has been given passes on here for missed free throws and the no show road performances while Purvis, Brimah, DHam, and everyone else takes the brunt of the criticism.

 

[aceboon]

I have to agree with Cheeky. If not tonight when? This team has shown little improvement 18 games in and it's pretty much the same issues game in game out. Keep the turnovers to 10 or less and make at least 70% of our free throws and we have a great shot of pulling this game out. I have to disagree with Aceboon. It took a career performance by Boat just to beat USF. I'm sure RB will be double and triple teamed. It's time for the supporting cast to show we are a tournament team.

Boat should toy with the UCFs & USFs of the world. Look, I'm not saying Boat needs to have 25, but its not unreasonable to expect better than the the sub 30% shooting games that we have seen far too often against good comp. I guess I and a few others are in the minority here so I should expect a pass to be given if another subpar game happens tonight.

 

[mauconnfan]

Huge game for UConn and Boat. He needs to throw some guys on his back and gut one out. But others need to help him, play smart, stay out of foul trouble and take care of the ball. TSam will be seeing more minutes and they will be key on both ends. They need to this win I believe or else sit back and wait for the tourney at the XL.

 

[James]

I gotta give Tsam credit he is knocking down his free throws. Just pray to god he isn't dribbling off his shin and creating live ball TO's, he will be running the offense a lot tonight

 

[Calhoun's Court]

We need these three things tonight (we need Boat to have a Boat Game) plus:

1. Brimah to stay on the court
2. Hamilton to have a solid game-big time players need big time performances in these games
3. And this is the kind of game that Purvis came here to play-need him step up-keep the turnovers to the minimum, knock down shots when open and play solid D.

 

[Gurleyman]

I have no problem with Boat looking to get others involved and set guys up, there's nothing wrong with playing a balanced game, he is a PG after all. But at the end of the day he has to make shots, they got away with it against Florida(and he gets a pass for that game and should be saluted simply for suiting up) but against most good teams the performances last week against Tulsa and Stanford just aren't going to cut it on the road. Those shooting performances last week looked remarkably similar to the performances we saw last year against the majority of good teams they faced, so I'm not so sure if an injury is the root of it, especially since he looked so good against Cincy and was blowing by defenders for baseline and in the paint layups. As for the Boat "can't win" on here comment, I have no idea where that sentiment is coming from, Boat has been given passes on here for missed free throws and the no show road performances while Purvis, Brimah, DHam, and everyone else takes the brunt of the criticism.

Having watched how long it took Rip to get his legs back under his shot in 1999, I was prepared for Boat's jumper to be off in the wake of his injury. He's a guy who gets high lift on his J and a deep thigh bruise takes that away and throws off your mechanics. The fact he looked good driving against Cincy isn't incongruous with the idea that he's dealing with lingering issues. Adrenaline from the loud home crowd helped too.

I suppose you could consider the Duke game or the Final Four games not road games and therefore not count them, but Tulsa shouldn't mean more to you than Kentucky or Duke when evaluating how he performs away from home. In fairness, I think if Boat came out this year and looked like he lost his edge and wasn't giving us all he has, we'd be all over him. He played his tuckus off in that Texas game and was 3-4 at the line in the last minute, but the last one proved fatal and it was sort of a cruel twist of fate (he totally bottled Texas up and forced them into that timeout). Then he had the ankle sprain, the bad day against Yale, played his tuckus off again against Duke, then the thigh bruise.

He's had a rough senior year getting healthy and feeling like himself out there, but I don't think any of us would question his heart or desire. He frankly has not played well when gutting it out and if he was worried about stats and efficiency and things for the next level, the more selfish thing would be to sit out two weeks and let his ankle and thigh heal all the way. He gets some leeway that maybe others don't, but he's probably earned it.

If he struggles down the stretch and we go to the NIT, he'll probably get some degree of the Dyson/Albie senior year backlash, but he'll certainly have some support here too - and he'll always have his ring. He could have spiked that ball in Texas and rode off into the sunset to go play pro ball in Greece, but he stuck it out.

 

[David 76]

They simply need to stop dribbling/passing the ball to the opposition and play their normal good defense to win. Edit to add:Maybe I should have added rebound. That was ugly

 

[CardiacAndre7]

This is already pathetic

 

[specialisthusky]

Stop turning ball over ughhhhhh

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Literally so bad right now

 

[David 76]

Hard to understand why it is so hard for the to bring the ball up the court

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Its hard to understand why its so easy for everyone else to drive on us but we literally never get into the lane ourselves

 

[specialisthusky]

Much better possessions lately. That was a foul on boats last drive but overall better.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

amazing only down 17-14...hanging tough

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Its just so annoying that every possession is such a hastle