Positives: Aggressive D, lots of deflections, steals. Guards penetrated well, took it to the hoop strong or dished. Ball moved quickly on offense, not windshield wiper. Brandon Adams and Tarin Smith both showed more game than I expected. AG was steady on O and a pest on D.
Negatives: Thought Carlton regressed from last year, played soft, didn't finish well, didn't rebound. Points scored by UConn were mostly by the guards taking it to the hoop with SCSU having no big bodies inside to stop them. Where will the points come from when they play D1 teams that have some interior height and D? Rebounding will need to be by committee again as none of the big men owned the paint... they should have.
Takeaway: They are who we thought they are. A guard heavy team with very little inside presence. Diarra is needed so hopefully he can return soon. For this team to win as constructed now, they'll have to do it by forcing TO's and playing tough D, and that'll rest on the shoulders of a deep, talented, roster of guards. But somewhere along the way, to win the big games, they need to find (1) a shooter who can hit mid-range jumpers and (2) and an inside game.