We still have a long road ahead

[alphasigko]

Watching three of the Final Four Teams in action, and also knowing Nova, it is apparent to me that we are a long way from competing successfully at the exceptional level of play we witnessed over the weekend. We are losing 6 players, for 3 different reasons, and have only 2 coming back who have had significant minutes of in-game play (Sanogo and AJax) and 1 with much less playing time (Hawkins). Yes, perhaps Karaban, Floyd, Sampson (and maybe Clingan) can fill in the gaps, but can they immediately contribute the necessary amount to get us to the next or future Final Fours? IMO, hopeful, but doubtful, at the same time.

 

[SubbaBub]

Each of our guys were only good at one thing. If a team took away that one thing, the player had a bad game, the team stumbled and we lost.

To win a NC, you need multiple guys that can score and do something else really well. It also helps if one of those guys can score at will.

 

[jibsey]

At this point we have bigs with Sanogo leading the way so I’m not worried about that. We need an infusion of guard talent not just any guards. Hawkins and Jackson are a start and after that who? Hurley has to make a big recruiting score to get us to the next level, a Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Caron, Lamb, or Ray Allen type. Otherwise we are gonna be wishin’ and hopin’ all year.

 

[BGesus4]

I keep reading these posts that imply that there's some massive delta between UConn and North Carolina. North Carolina lost at home to Pitt in February. They were an 8 seed for a reason. They started playing well at the most opportune time. That's sports. Stuff happens.

Amen.
Also the declaration that Sanogo needs to get tips from McCormick is laughable. McCormick played great in 2 (obviously very important) games, but had trouble getting minutes a good part of the year. Conversely, Sanogo was a monster all year and had trouble finishing in the couple of games following dislocating his finger. Obviously Sanogo is not a finished product (re passing and shooting) but focusing attention on Sanogo as where we need to improve to be at final 4 level is just whining for the sake of whining.

 

[bmayuc]

The biggest problem is that we don't currently have any guards who can dribble and pass, and dribbling and passing are really important parts of the game.

This analysis has been brought to you by PC Richard & Son (whistles)

 

[willie99]

Long way to go? Like from 2010 to 2011? Or worse?

We even landed the wrong Lamb

 

[freescooter]

I said this after the Elite 8. We are not even close in talent to the really top teams. It would be embarrassing to watch what Kansas and UNC would do to our guards. Their Front courts are much better too. Sanogo would have been overmatched as well.

 

[KingAG]

I said this after the Elite 8. We are not even close in talent to the really top teams. It would be embarrassing to watch what Kansas and UNC would do to our guards. Their Front courts are much better too. Sanogo would have been overmatched as well.

This isn’t true. We were clearly better than UNC for 90% of the season. There’s not talent gap there. Kansas was a bunch of 3/4 stars and transfers. Again talent gap not as big as you think there either

 

[Huskybass]

I said this after the Elite 8. We are not even close in talent to the really top teams. It would be embarrassing to watch what Kansas and UNC would do to our guards. Their Front courts are much better too. Sanogo would have been overmatched as well.

Same guy who said Cole would never be very good at UConn and he was named 1st Team All Big East. Don't you ever get tired of negativity?

 

[ConnEd]

At this point we have bigs with Sanogo leading the way so I’m not worried about that. We need an infusion of guard talent not just any guards. Hawkins and Jackson are a start and after that who? Hurley has to make a big recruiting score to get us to the next level, a Richard Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Caron, Lamb, or Ray Allen type. Otherwise we are gonna be wishin’ and hopin’ all year.

The guard we need is Shabazz. Drive, dish, 3's, attitude.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

What many seem to miss is that we have a couple players whose physical gifts/athletic abilities are still ahead of their basketball skills. Additionally, as a whole and (in far too many cases) individually, our basketball IQ (for lack of a better description) was severely lacking.

We aren't "that far away" but the pieces we are lacking are very specific. I personally believe that both Sanogo and Hawkins will take very large steps forward in their games next season and I believe that Jackson may be able to as well. Even if this does happen (and our three freshmen can contribute reasonable minutes) we will have a huge hole at floor general.

 

[freescooter]

Same guy who said Cole would never be very good at UConn and he was named 1st Team All Big East. Don't you ever get tired of negativity?

I think Cole was limited. He was limited when he came. He is limited now. Would have been a nice 6th man on a top team. Maybe his being All-New Big East is as much a comment on the New Big East as it is on the player?

As for we were better than UNC for 90% of the season, that is pretty silly. 8 teams in the original Big East were better than UConn for the regular season in 2011. AntG did you care about that on the first Monday in April that year? There are 2 points here. 1. When you claimevto be a power program, the games that matter are played in March, not November. If you had a choice of going 0-28 in the regular season, then 5-0 in the league tournament and 7-0in the NCAA, or undefeated in the regular season and 0-4, 0-1 which would you take? 2. As I’ve said for years, RPI, NET all of that is crap except in separating teams into groups. Not enough inter conference play and almost all of it happens in the first month of the season when teams are still trying to figure things out. And even then it fails at the margins. If the 3rd to last team in quad 1 plays the 5th in quad 2 it’s pick ‘em. Even though the squints would have one ranked higher than the other. And teams change over the course of the season, sometimes multiple times. Guys who started in November are relegated to the bench in February. Freshmen who aren’t projected to see much action excel. Guys like Bouknight are eased into the lineup and end up dominating. Guys get injured and others return from injury.

 

[mauconnfan]

He's not the problem but his refusal (or inability?) to dunk leaves 4-6 points out there almost every game. Gotta clean that up

But yeah the spacing and having shooters is the key. Bacot was operating in 1v1 situations the entire time. Meanwhile Sanogo is putting up similar scoring numbers while constantly being double or triple teamed. If Sanogo is getting 1v1's, he's almost unstoppable. Hurley will get us the shooters but man it's frustrating to see how poorly our roster was constructed this year. A large part of it was due to loyalty to the older guys. They really just didn't fit on this team, even though they were decent players.

His ability to dunk is less of a required improvement from him than solid passing out of double teams. Passing in general and not forcing crap shots will be a large improvement overall for the team.

 

[Hoopcrazee]

Sanogo also needs to learn how to dunk the ball. The amount of missed bunnies because of his refusal to dunk is so annoying. And then you watch a guy like Bacot, McCormack, or any number of bigs in this tournament all dunk the ball any chance they can.

We need Sanogo to kick the ball out before he is double or triple teamed and not after it is too late to do anything more than turn the ball over or force a contested shot

 

[boog204]

The past couple of championships were won in the weight room, not just on the court. Don't think the staff hasn't noticed this as well.

I get the sentiment, but let’s be real. We won in 11 and 14 because we had the best guard in the country in terms of talent and heart. Add in Boat who was as talented as Bazz and they controlled the game. Watch the first half of the Kentucky game. You knew in the first minute that Bazz and Boat could do whatever they wanted offensively and defensively. Kentucky did, too.

 

[djct1999]

Honest question, how many of our guys would have started for either team in the title game? I say 2, maybe. Sanago and Martin. At some point, you need elite talent, not just good talent. Like Matrim hinted, the future looks bright.

Most people going into last season would have said our biggest issue is our inability to create our own shot offensively. Well, you know what, it was. And still look how well we did. Hurley has recognized the issue and pivoted rather abruptly and surprisingly.