Too Many Deficiencies- NIT

[Waquoit]

what?...Im just trying to reconcile the reference here.

Sorry, I shouldn't have said whacked. I should have said the time Tony got shot and how Silvio handled being THE man.

 

[businesslawyer]

So you think the 9th place team in the MAC should finish within 10 points of this team?

You're acting (presumably for some unstated reason) as if the final score lives in a vacuum from the game itself. The game was over at halftime, at no point did St Peters ever give themselves a chance to win in the second half and the fact that a 14 point lead went down to 10 instead of up to 18 in the last few minutes of garbage time is just not important.

Would you just make your point please instead of making us all read through these wasted posts before you spring it on us?

 

[pj]

Yeah losing Adams is big loss from last year's team as we have no go to guy. I was hoping Carlton would be that guy inside but a little lack of emotion from him and horrible passes from the guards has limited his effectiveness in games. Bouknight to me is the missing piece. I know I hate to put that much pressure on a freshman but by the middle to the end of the season if he can become our go to scorer we have a real chance to be great. Vital and Gilbert are definitely not go to guys as we have seen. They just need to play within themselves or sit on the bench.

I agree, the best thing that could happen to this team is for Bouknight to advance the way Jeremy Lamb advanced as a freshman, from a gangly talent who didn't know how to play at the college level early in the season, to a guy who could be shut down by physical defense mid-season, to an unstoppable scoring marksman late in the season. Not saying the Alterique-Bouknight pair can match Kemba-Lamb, but give a talented point guard that perimeter shooter to make outside shots and open up passing lanes, and he can make things happen.

Check out some of Jeremy Lamb's games early his freshman season (Jeremy Lamb 2010-11 Game Log | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com). Early in the season he struggled: game 4, 2 points; game 5, 2 points; game 6, 2 points. As late as game 14, he scored 0 points against Texas, and game 15, 2 points against Rutgers.

In late January and early February, he seemed to hit his stride and showed his scoring talent. But then teams learned how to disrupt him with physical play. He had 0 points against Louisville in mid February.

Finally, in March, he turned it on for good. In the final 11 games he had double-digit points every game.

 

[tennmike]

I agree, the best thing that could happen to this team is for Bouknight to advance the way Jeremy Lamb advanced as a freshman, from a gangly talent who didn't know how to play at the college level early in the season, to a guy who could be shut down by physical defense mid-season, to an unstoppable scoring marksman late in the season. Not saying the Alterique-Bouknight pair can match Kemba-Lamb, but give a talented point guard that perimeter shooter to make outside shots and open up passing lanes, and he can make things happen.

Check out some of Jeremy Lamb's games early his freshman season (Jeremy Lamb 2010-11 Game Log | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com). Early in the season he struggled: game 4, 2 points; game 5, 2 points; game 6, 2 points. As late as game 14, he scored 0 points against Texas, and game 15, 2 points against Rutgers.

In late January and early February, he seemed to hit his stride and showed his scoring talent. But then teams learned how to disrupt him with physical play. He had 0 points against Louisville in mid February.

Finally, in March, he turned it on for good. In the final 11 games he had double-digit points every game.

Thanks for doing the legwork. Appreciate being reminded that Lamb had some growing pains. The perspective is useful. We just want to win now!

 

[jleves]

I can't say how things will go into next year - I don't have 2020 vision!

 

[HuskylnSC]

I think, in a game like this, points are a variance that's hard to account for. Once we seized control of the game, which I will grant took longer than anyone would like, they never had a chance to win. That's what matters.

I get you. What bugs me about this game is that once we seized control, there was no killer instinct. It seemed as if the team was content to play just hard enough to win. I saw no drive to execute with precision on both ends of the court. I saw no killer instinct and I find it disturbing. My desire is to execute every play as well as you can. Always cut hard, always make crisp passes, always take smart shots, always give forceful block outs, always secure the ball.

Maybe I miss JC too much. I cannot celebrate a win with, IMO, minimal effort.

 

[sledog]

Pretty much, unless ...

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[Martin]

Our offense was sloppy but was anyone worried at any time we would lose that game? And you don't think our guys work hard? This is the best defense UConn has played in years. I think we have a decent chance of improving and making the NCAAs. I'm bullish on our Huskies

Uconn defense certainly keep them in a game but can the offense close out those games when it counts?

 

[soxfan23]

I agree, this is not an NCAA tournament team! Their guard play has been abysmal so far, and I just don't see it getting much better by the end of the season. There is hope for the future though with Bouk, Gaffney, and Cole.

 

[Huskybass]

I get you. What bugs me about this game is that once we seized control, there was no killer instinct. It seemed as if the team was content to play just hard enough to win. I saw no drive to execute with precision on both ends of the court. I saw no killer instinct and I find it disturbing. My desire is to execute every play as well as you can. Always cut hard, always make crisp passes, always take smart shots, always give forceful block outs, always secure the ball.

Maybe I miss JC too much. I cannot celebrate a win with, IMO, minimal effort.

Every UConn player played at least 13 minutes and the freshmen played 27, 20 and 18 minutes respectively. It was the perfect game for Coach Hurley to get everybody some run, tinker with different combinations on the floor, and still win the game by a comfortable margin. Our Freshmen and Sophomores played 96 of the available 200 minutes. I view that as a very good thing, and consider the final margin of victory to be nearly irrelevant.

 

[Waquoit]

Uconn defense certainly keep them in a game but can the offense close out those games when it counts?

I think they can if the coach finds the right combo.

 

[ctchamps]

I can't say how things will go into next year - I don't have 2020 vision!

Awesome!

 

[coachn]

Sick of the years after 2014. Have that 2014 picture on my frig. . Time to put up a new team picture. Good thing I haven't put up this teams team photo yet. They still have a lot of proving to do. See some of the similarities of past good teams. It all starts with defense getting to that level where you can expect to win because it dominates. Let's make the big dance and have some fun for a change.

 

[ctchamps]

I agree, the best thing that could happen to this team is for Bouknight to advance the way Jeremy Lamb advanced as a freshman, from a gangly talent who didn't know how to play at the college level early in the season, to a guy who could be shut down by physical defense mid-season, to an unstoppable scoring marksman late in the season. Not saying the Alterique-Bouknight pair can match Kemba-Lamb, but give a talented point guard that perimeter shooter to make outside shots and open up passing lanes, and he can make things happen.

Check out some of Jeremy Lamb's games early his freshman season (Jeremy Lamb 2010-11 Game Log | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com). Early in the season he struggled: game 4, 2 points; game 5, 2 points; game 6, 2 points. As late as game 14, he scored 0 points against Texas, and game 15, 2 points against Rutgers.

In late January and early February, he seemed to hit his stride and showed his scoring talent. But then teams learned how to disrupt him with physical play. He had 0 points against Louisville in mid February.

Finally, in March, he turned it on for good. In the final 11 games he had double-digit points every game.

Great job.

People can go back to almost every one of our good to incredible players and observe that development is variable. And the reaction is almost always the same. We make proclamations that may or may not bear out, both on the positive and negative side when they show promise or have a cluster of bad games.

You would think that an exercise you just made would be unnecessary because people would remember the pattern is so variable. I love making proclamations but I understand projecting human outcome is an art as much as science and take those projections with a grain of salt. But it’s obvious many posters don’t do that.

 

[Jaker]

Finish in the top 3 of the American, make to the final in the conference tourney, see what happens.

 

[cohenzone]

Can’t (don’t want to) read this whole thread. It’s not even January.

 

[coachn]

Win Conf T. and WIN in the big dance. Go Defense.

 

[ctchamps]

I get you. What bugs me about this game is that once we seized control, there was no killer instinct. It seemed as if the team was content to play just hard enough to win. I saw no drive to execute with precision on both ends of the court. I saw no killer instinct and I find it disturbing. My desire is to execute every play as well as you can. Always cut hard, always make crisp passes, always take smart shots, always give forceful block outs, always secure the ball.

Maybe I miss JC too much. I cannot celebrate a win with, IMO, minimal effort.

You miss the fantasy version of JC you’ve created.

Or maybe I’m misremembering. The way I remember things there were years we had great proven teams and this forum had a lot of people complaining JC’s teams rarely blew out opponents like Duke, NC, or Kansas.

We went through several years post Dream Season where people complained JC could not recruit a competent big and people labeled JC a donut team coach.

And when he couldn’t get to the final four people were grumbling we might need a different coach to get us there.

People criticized the down years following NCs feeling that they felt shouldn’t happen. People were critical of his handling KFree in his senior season. The Dyson senior season and the Taliek freshman years were perceived quite differently than the glamorous description you wrote.

And his final season was disappointing relative to talent and expectations. We know KO’s player exodus and rightly criticized him for it. There was a lot of criticism when we lost Alex and R. Smith.

Even HOF coaches have years where they struggle with player and team development, struggle to recruit well, and struggle to win it all.

 

[HuskylnSC]

You miss the fantasy version of JC you’ve created.

Or maybe I’m misremembering. The way I remember things there were years we had great proven teams and this forum had a lot of people complaining JC’s teams rarely blew out opponents like Duke, NC, or Kansas.

We went through several years post Dream Season where people complained JC could not recruit a competent big and people labeled JC a donut team coach.

And when he couldn’t get to the final four people were grumbling we might need a different coach to get us there.

People criticized the down years following NCs feeling that they felt shouldn’t happen. People were critical of his handling KFree in his senior season. The Dyson senior season and the Taliek freshman years were perceived quite differently than the glamorous description you wrote.

And his final season was disappointing relative to talent and expectations. We know KO’s player exodus and rightly criticized him for it. There was a lot of criticism when we lost Alex and R. Smith.

Even HOF coaches have years where they struggle with player and team development, struggle to recruit well, and struggle to win it all.

Excellent post! I am a veritable new comer to the forum and my JC experience was not affected by the BY. Perhaps that is our weakness as a forum. I think being here as made me more critical than necessary. I believe I, for one, need to temper game to game criticisms. It's Cv this game and Al the next. Then Josh can't catch and ... In reflection of your post, it's time for me to dial down and focus on the improvements and enjoy the game.

 

[BlueDogs]

We are bubble zone NCAAs and definitely a top 35 team. The challenge is maintaining competitive intensity and consistency night over night.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Uconn defense certainly keep them in a game but can the offense close out those games when it counts?

Not yet proven, and 3 times the answer has been No but could have been Yes. A missing puzzle piece thus far. It's a hump to get over.

 

[Get a Job]

We are bubble zone NCAAs and definitely a top 35 team. The challenge is maintaining competitive intensity and consistency night over night.

There are far more than 35 teams better than us right now. We certainly look to have the potential to improve that, but to call us a definite top 35 at this point is silly.