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I despise losing. I hate when I lose a pickup basketball game, I hate losing to my brother in Madden, and I hate when one of the teams I gambled on loses. No matter how seemingly trivial, I simply can never embrace losing. And nothing - at least in terms of sports - makes me more upset than when my Huskies lose. I've always viewed this program as an extention of myself. When they lose, it feels like I lose. When they fail, it feels like I fail. And when they drop a winnable game to a program I can't stand, that by the way is leaving for the ACC very soon, I feel like my dog just took a dump on the rug in front of my boss. It's not rational, and it's certainly not something your everyday psychologist (where are you fleud?) would consider "healthy". But it's realtiy, and in all liklihood, my day is ruined because of it barring something unusually exciting occuring. The Louisville game put me in a bad mood all week, and I can't even imagine getting through these next eight days knowing my beloved Huskies have dropped two straight.
Yet for some reason, I'm not losing my today. These last two games have sucked, but they've given us reason to look forward to the future. We played two teams with legitimate frontcourts, solid backcourts, and good coaches, and we hung in there. Not only our we drastically overmatched in the frontcourt, but we've also seen our leader and All-Big East guard Shabazz Napier playing at 50% at most. We've been ruined on the boards, bullied inside, and suffocated on offense. And these guys are still scrapping, clawing, and competing against teams that were supposed to be much better than us. Yeah, there were some rotation miscues in the final couple minutes - we saw the same thing against New Mexico, and a little bit here and there against N.C. State and Marquette. But so what? I'll be worried if those issues are still cropping up next season. For now, Ollie has the guys executing at a high level offensively given their offensive limitations, playing above their capabilities defensively, and managing the boards as well as they can with a low-major frontcourt.
The 12-5 record is deceiving. This team has played at a boarderline top 25 level this season. The only game we didn't have a chance to win was the Louisville game, and that was the #1 team in the country playing the best half of basketball I've seen this year with our best player unable to move his shoulder. My point: this team is close to being very good. As much as we agonize over the wins and losses, we're building towards next year. As far as I'm concerned, let Louisville and Notre Dame and Pittsburgh and Syracuse fret over the final score - these are veteran-laden teams who are built to win now. I'm much more concerned with progress, and this team is undeniably progressing every game. Omar Calhoun, a kid that was struggling mightily in Big East play, has averaged 17 PPG over the last two against extremely strong defenses. Yeah, his handle is not up to par, and he needs to improve defensively, but he's shooting the ball with much more confidence and emerging into a viable third scoring option. Deandre Daniels is still a bit of an enigma, but he's playing with much more confidence, getting to the line, and displaying a lot of potential. Enosch Wolf needs to rebound a little better, and stay out of foul trouble, but he has provided an occasional scoring prescense in the post, something we could only dream of before the season. Tyler Olander? He's playing out of position - he'll be a viable second or third big man next season if he continues to improve.
This team has played seven very good teams this season - Michigan State, New Mexico, N.C. State, Marquette, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Pittsburgh - and been in every game but one until the final minutes. Taking matters further, only ONE of those seven games have been at home. To go 2-5 in those seven games, and cover the spread in all but one, shows me Kevin Ollie's got this team well ahead of schedule. Aditionally, they've yet to lose a WTF game, taking care of buisness against all the teams they should beat, possibly the most difficult task for a young team.
Next five games? Rutgers, @ Providence, South Florida, @ St. Johns, and @ Seton Hall. Rutgers, believe it or not, isn't horrific - they're 12-4 and 3-2 in the Big East. Providence has talent, and we all know about UConn's history of struggles in that place. St. Johns is coming together - they've already won @ Cincy, and vs. ND in conference play. Seton Hall and South Florida are both pretty bad, but they've both given us trouble in recent years with far better teams than this.
While this stretch won't be as easy as people think, UConn is likely to be favored in at least four of the five games. Given UConn won't be playing in the postseason this year, I would hope we would have a strong prescense at the Providence, St. Johns, and Seton Hall games. With some help, we can turn these into neutral court games. My goal for these five games is 4-1, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had a WTF loss mixed in there.
Player notes:
Shabazz - We weren't beating Louisville with as well as they played in the second half with or without Shabazz, but you wonder if a healthy Shabazz wouldn't have made the difference today. There is a stark difference in the way Napier played before the injury, and the way he's played since. I was here singing his praises last week, calling him one of the best guards in the country. Well, he's laid a couple eggs in the last two, and I can't help but think that has to be attributed at least in part to his shoulder injury. He hasn't attacked the basket with nearly as much aggression the last couple games, and his shot has been a little off. Hopefully he is 100%, or at least close to it, by the time they play Rutgers next Sunday.
Boatright - Ryan was phenominal today, IMO. He nearly single-handedly brought UConn back in the second half by attacking the basket, applying a lot of pressure on Pittsburgh's guards, and finding Omar for a couple nice looks. Can't ask for anything more from him.
Evans - Haven't loved the way R.J.'s played the last couple games. He hasn't played within himself offensively like he did earlier in year when he was more effective. He drove to the basket a couple times today and nothing was there.
Calhoun - Omar has a lot of holes in his game right now, but you're blind if you can't see the potential seeping through him. Not only is his shot begginning to fall, but he's also hitting the glass and getting to the foul line. I continue to believe he's the best pro prospect on this team. Conversely, he seemed to have a lot of difficulty defending the pick and roll today, and possesions where he takes more than one dribble generally result in disaster.
Giffey - Niels was a mixed bag today. I thought he struggled in the first half, but played a big role in helping us get back in the game. He turned it over three times but grabbed six rebounds and went 2-2 from the field.
Deandre - Unsurprisngly, Daniels has been up and down this season. He takes some bad shots, gets out-muscled frequently, and turns it over at a higher rate than he should. Today was not one of his better games, as he went 1-5 from the field and did not record a single assist, rebound, steal, or block. His job isn't to rack up the assists, but his lack of activity on the defensive end of the floor is probably why he only played 20 minutes today and took a backseat to Giffey for much of the second half run.
Yet I can't watch Deandre without thinking he has a chance to be a very good player. He makes some truly tremendous moves offensively. He's really got the full aresnal of offensive moves - he can hit from the outside, score in the post, or even throw down a dunk. This kid has shown flashes of brilliance, now it's just a matter of putting it all together. With another year, he could be an All-Big East wing IMO.
Olander - The kid is a competant third big man in the Big East, IMO. Unfortunately, he's the #1 big man on this team right now in terms of minutes. His post defense has actually been much better than expected this season - it's his pick and roll defense that has been exposed the last couple games. This UConn team does not have the shot blocker they've had throughout the Calhoun era which means this team does not have the luxury of making the occasional mistake defensively. Whenever a guard gets a step on us, it usually results in a basket or foul.
Nolan - Not ready to contribute, probably should have red-shirted.
Wolf - He needs to stay out of foul trouble, it's really that simple. If he doesn't lead the country in over-the-back fouls, he's damn close. Putting up a goose egg on the glass isn't going to get it done either. Otherwise, I was excited by his play today. He hit two jump shots today, one of which was a three footer in traffic, and the other was a jumper from about a foot inside the three point line. His touch around the basket has to excite you if you're a UConn fan. Sure, he has some deficiencies, but it's been a while since UConn's had a big man with his kind of touch around the basket.
This team is genuninely fun to watch, even when they're struggling. They've got a lot of talented pieces getting better with every game. I don't want to jump the gun, but I think they could be top ten next season if everybody returns. If Boatright, Wolf, Daniels, and Calhoun hit the weights and refine their offensive game over the off-season, they'll be awfully difficult to guard. And if Kentan Facey or Amidah Brimah can simply rebound, block shots, and defend the pick and roll, I'm willing to take my chances with this group against anybody next season. The future is bright, fellas.
Yet for some reason, I'm not losing my today. These last two games have sucked, but they've given us reason to look forward to the future. We played two teams with legitimate frontcourts, solid backcourts, and good coaches, and we hung in there. Not only our we drastically overmatched in the frontcourt, but we've also seen our leader and All-Big East guard Shabazz Napier playing at 50% at most. We've been ruined on the boards, bullied inside, and suffocated on offense. And these guys are still scrapping, clawing, and competing against teams that were supposed to be much better than us. Yeah, there were some rotation miscues in the final couple minutes - we saw the same thing against New Mexico, and a little bit here and there against N.C. State and Marquette. But so what? I'll be worried if those issues are still cropping up next season. For now, Ollie has the guys executing at a high level offensively given their offensive limitations, playing above their capabilities defensively, and managing the boards as well as they can with a low-major frontcourt.
The 12-5 record is deceiving. This team has played at a boarderline top 25 level this season. The only game we didn't have a chance to win was the Louisville game, and that was the #1 team in the country playing the best half of basketball I've seen this year with our best player unable to move his shoulder. My point: this team is close to being very good. As much as we agonize over the wins and losses, we're building towards next year. As far as I'm concerned, let Louisville and Notre Dame and Pittsburgh and Syracuse fret over the final score - these are veteran-laden teams who are built to win now. I'm much more concerned with progress, and this team is undeniably progressing every game. Omar Calhoun, a kid that was struggling mightily in Big East play, has averaged 17 PPG over the last two against extremely strong defenses. Yeah, his handle is not up to par, and he needs to improve defensively, but he's shooting the ball with much more confidence and emerging into a viable third scoring option. Deandre Daniels is still a bit of an enigma, but he's playing with much more confidence, getting to the line, and displaying a lot of potential. Enosch Wolf needs to rebound a little better, and stay out of foul trouble, but he has provided an occasional scoring prescense in the post, something we could only dream of before the season. Tyler Olander? He's playing out of position - he'll be a viable second or third big man next season if he continues to improve.
This team has played seven very good teams this season - Michigan State, New Mexico, N.C. State, Marquette, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Pittsburgh - and been in every game but one until the final minutes. Taking matters further, only ONE of those seven games have been at home. To go 2-5 in those seven games, and cover the spread in all but one, shows me Kevin Ollie's got this team well ahead of schedule. Aditionally, they've yet to lose a WTF game, taking care of buisness against all the teams they should beat, possibly the most difficult task for a young team.
Next five games? Rutgers, @ Providence, South Florida, @ St. Johns, and @ Seton Hall. Rutgers, believe it or not, isn't horrific - they're 12-4 and 3-2 in the Big East. Providence has talent, and we all know about UConn's history of struggles in that place. St. Johns is coming together - they've already won @ Cincy, and vs. ND in conference play. Seton Hall and South Florida are both pretty bad, but they've both given us trouble in recent years with far better teams than this.
While this stretch won't be as easy as people think, UConn is likely to be favored in at least four of the five games. Given UConn won't be playing in the postseason this year, I would hope we would have a strong prescense at the Providence, St. Johns, and Seton Hall games. With some help, we can turn these into neutral court games. My goal for these five games is 4-1, but I wouldn't be surprised if we had a WTF loss mixed in there.
Player notes:
Shabazz - We weren't beating Louisville with as well as they played in the second half with or without Shabazz, but you wonder if a healthy Shabazz wouldn't have made the difference today. There is a stark difference in the way Napier played before the injury, and the way he's played since. I was here singing his praises last week, calling him one of the best guards in the country. Well, he's laid a couple eggs in the last two, and I can't help but think that has to be attributed at least in part to his shoulder injury. He hasn't attacked the basket with nearly as much aggression the last couple games, and his shot has been a little off. Hopefully he is 100%, or at least close to it, by the time they play Rutgers next Sunday.
Boatright - Ryan was phenominal today, IMO. He nearly single-handedly brought UConn back in the second half by attacking the basket, applying a lot of pressure on Pittsburgh's guards, and finding Omar for a couple nice looks. Can't ask for anything more from him.
Evans - Haven't loved the way R.J.'s played the last couple games. He hasn't played within himself offensively like he did earlier in year when he was more effective. He drove to the basket a couple times today and nothing was there.
Calhoun - Omar has a lot of holes in his game right now, but you're blind if you can't see the potential seeping through him. Not only is his shot begginning to fall, but he's also hitting the glass and getting to the foul line. I continue to believe he's the best pro prospect on this team. Conversely, he seemed to have a lot of difficulty defending the pick and roll today, and possesions where he takes more than one dribble generally result in disaster.
Giffey - Niels was a mixed bag today. I thought he struggled in the first half, but played a big role in helping us get back in the game. He turned it over three times but grabbed six rebounds and went 2-2 from the field.
Deandre - Unsurprisngly, Daniels has been up and down this season. He takes some bad shots, gets out-muscled frequently, and turns it over at a higher rate than he should. Today was not one of his better games, as he went 1-5 from the field and did not record a single assist, rebound, steal, or block. His job isn't to rack up the assists, but his lack of activity on the defensive end of the floor is probably why he only played 20 minutes today and took a backseat to Giffey for much of the second half run.
Yet I can't watch Deandre without thinking he has a chance to be a very good player. He makes some truly tremendous moves offensively. He's really got the full aresnal of offensive moves - he can hit from the outside, score in the post, or even throw down a dunk. This kid has shown flashes of brilliance, now it's just a matter of putting it all together. With another year, he could be an All-Big East wing IMO.
Olander - The kid is a competant third big man in the Big East, IMO. Unfortunately, he's the #1 big man on this team right now in terms of minutes. His post defense has actually been much better than expected this season - it's his pick and roll defense that has been exposed the last couple games. This UConn team does not have the shot blocker they've had throughout the Calhoun era which means this team does not have the luxury of making the occasional mistake defensively. Whenever a guard gets a step on us, it usually results in a basket or foul.
Nolan - Not ready to contribute, probably should have red-shirted.
Wolf - He needs to stay out of foul trouble, it's really that simple. If he doesn't lead the country in over-the-back fouls, he's damn close. Putting up a goose egg on the glass isn't going to get it done either. Otherwise, I was excited by his play today. He hit two jump shots today, one of which was a three footer in traffic, and the other was a jumper from about a foot inside the three point line. His touch around the basket has to excite you if you're a UConn fan. Sure, he has some deficiencies, but it's been a while since UConn's had a big man with his kind of touch around the basket.
This team is genuninely fun to watch, even when they're struggling. They've got a lot of talented pieces getting better with every game. I don't want to jump the gun, but I think they could be top ten next season if everybody returns. If Boatright, Wolf, Daniels, and Calhoun hit the weights and refine their offensive game over the off-season, they'll be awfully difficult to guard. And if Kentan Facey or Amidah Brimah can simply rebound, block shots, and defend the pick and roll, I'm willing to take my chances with this group against anybody next season. The future is bright, fellas.
