Trying to be optimistic

[ctchamps]

My sole quibble here would be that CV has too often (not "always") been "... given enough rope..."

Again, it's the optimism thread, so I hope that the surrounding cast improves to provide more options; that the coaching staff makes lineup adjustments to leverage this: that CV either improves on these identified weaknesses or yields to better options...and that BY posters correspondingly improve.

I thoroughly agree with your words about sefishness, hero ball, and conscious choice to perform poorly. I think that we who write here are more liable to be charged that way, because we are older, and not under pressure of a game clock or opposing defenses.

Small quibble but accurate. It was an exaggeration.

If CV does not figure out a way to play composed his contributions to the game will always be devalued. Given this is an optimism thread I will add we finally have the players that, if they develop as we hope they will, could take a lot of pressure off of CV and allow him to play in a manner this forum can appreciate.

 

[David 76]

b

Vital is always given enough rope to hang himself and he almost always hangs himself in big games.

Enough rope to hang the team on 3 occassions.

 

[JB75]

This is an overstatement. No one showed up against St. Joes. Hurley did not have them ready to play, and he conceded that. And it's not like everyone but Vitale and Gilbert were lights out against Indiana. The kid that people were worried about keeping in Storrs more than one year a week ago didn't put a single point on the board. I get the frustration with Gilbert and (primarily, in my opinion) Vitale, but we're going a bit overboard.

I kindly disagree. We shud be 9-0 (not counting the second fla game) St joes shot thier brains out. They will never ever shoot that way again. We didn’t play well but shudda won that one. Xavier was the killer game that we had until Our guards imploded. We completely shot ourselves in foot and blew game. And Indiana is not even that good. We lost by 3 with our senior guard having his worst game ever and jb had 2 points and our guards off bench were atrocious. Shud be 9-0. We are making a point to shoot our selves in the foot over And over. Yes we are deff improving and better than last two years obviously but those were 2 so winnable games. It’s actually comical how we definitely shud have won vs Indiana and especially Xavier - Shud easily be 9-0 Easily. Making me upset writing this actually the more I think about it. Lol

 

[patrick]

We were in trouble when we were up 15-6 and had a chance to really put the foot down. We came up empty on 4 or 5 straight possessions. Unfortunately we are way further away than I initially thought. It will be 4 straight years of no NCAA which is almost hard to believe.

Your right we could have kept the foot down but we changed line ups for some reason. It was very upsetting that we just didn't ride with the starting lineup for a bit more.

 

[Sphinx]

We will succeed if our players of limited talent (which is all but two of them) play within themselves, and our players of out-sized talent -- Akok and Bouknight -- are developed gradually and intelligently. This will be mainly a function of coaching. We don't have the NBA-ready talent of our great teams, and we don't have the Kemba or Shabazz, of our Cinderella teams, but we have a deep ensemble of role players who can give us a strong winning season if their strengths can be channeled. We are a better team than anticipated, and based on recent results, our toughest tests ahead are not as tough as they once looked (Cincy, Villanova, Houston). Our ceiling has risen noticeably since the season began -- and is rising.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I hate the "team didn't come ready to play" takes because they lost by 3 to a blue blood program. Indiana was trying to win too, in case anyone is curious.

Small problems are highlighted in close games, and UConn's shot selection is more like a medium size problem than a small one. I think this problem is further highlighted by the fact that UConn has so few opportunities for quality wins this season, so losing two close games against Top 40 teams hurts a little more.

 

[Brochacho]

Starting to believe that the officials just don’t like Hurley. Defensive intensity in the Indiana game was even yet we get called for twice as many fouls. Including a few touch fouls.

Hurley mentioned that he doesn’t like AG splitting defenders. Kemba Walker made a living splitting defenders, getting body fouled in the paint, AG never seems to get the type of calls Kemba did.

AG doesn't get the calls Kemba did because Kemba was stronger, better and more coordinated. One of the many differences between a lottery talent and a guy staring at being a 5th year senior or playing overseas.

 

[imno1]

AG doesn't get the calls Kemba did because Kemba was stronger, better and more coordinated. One of the many differences between a lottery talent and a guy staring at being a 5th year senior or playing overseas.

And sometimes Al is just plain getting stuffed when he takes it in deep