Well coached, well played for 40 minutes

[8893]

Whaddya know, it works!

 

[SaeHusky]

The coaching was very good except for the decision to start Olander again to begin the 2nd half

 

[Gurleyman]

The coaching was very good except for the decision to start Olander again to begin the 2nd half

Brimah had 2 fouls. We're up 11. In theory, saving him for the first four minutes makes perfect sense. In practice, that 11 point lead melted real quick.

 

[SaeHusky]

I know he had 2 fouls. If you want to hold off starting him thats fine. Nolan should have gotten the nod then . Nolan had a solid 1st half. Olander looked like he was in a daze in there. Awful defense by him led to 4 of CFs 6 points coming out of the half

 

[8893]

I know he had 2 fouls. If you want to hold off starting him thats fine. Nolan should have gotten the nod then . Nolan had a solid 1st half. Olander looked like he was in a daze in there. Awful defense by him led to 4 of CFs 6 points coming out of the half

Like it or not, the sad state of our front court to date has been that TO was often the best option, all things considered. It was not ludicrous to give him those minutes in a game when everything else was working so well. I like that KO was trying something different in almost all respects; not everything worked, but most things did tonight.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Like it or not, the sad state of our front court to date has been that TO was often the best option, all things considered. It was not ludicrous to give him those minutes in a game when everything else was working so well. I like that KO was trying something different in almost all respects; not everything worked, but most things did tonight.

Outside of a game or two, Olander has been really bad recently. He's capable of giving decent minutes, but right now he is such a liability on defense.

 

[ctchamps]

Brimah had 2 fouls. We're up 11. In theory, saving him for the first four minutes makes perfect sense. In practice, that 11 point lead melted real quick.

Plus PN and AB don't seem to mind coming off the bench. TO may still have a something to show before this season is over.

 

[Chin Diesel]

One of the key moments was about the 13 minute mark in the second half. UCF had made a couple of shots and a couple of stops to get within six. KO called TO and the team responded.

That was a great use of the TO and it was something Ollie failed to do on several occasions earlier in the year when teams were shredding leads UConn had built up.

 

[huskyharry]

The team trusted one another tonight and all players were involved in quick passing and decisive plays. That was the differences between sluggish, dribble in one place for 15 second offense and the much more beautiful version that we saw tonight. Unfortunately, the competition gets much tougher the next two games...keep it going Huskies!

 

[DogMania]

One of the key moments was about the 13 minute mark in the second half. UCF had made a couple of shots and a couple of stops to get within six. KO called TO and the team responded.

That was a great use of the TO and it was something Ollie failed to do on several occasions earlier in the year when teams were shredding leads UConn had built up.

I remember that moment and agree a 100%. KO is still a young coach. He's going to make mistakes but is going to learn from them as well. I'm happy he's our coach and I have full confidene he's going to build on what JC has established here at UConn.

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly, it was good to see KO give the big fella some minutes and not over react to his fouls. Someone said to me that KO must be reading my posts. While I don't think that's the case and given the really disasterous plus/minus Tyler minutes - its clear Brimah is the best 5 option.

 

[mauconnfan]

The first time in a while the passion was there, they had fun. Shabazz smiled a few times, people were all over the floor. They actually didn't really shoot it well but displayed the intensity they need to play with for the first time in a while, it was great to see. Mostly everyone was a big part of this one including KO and the staff who exuded them on from the side quite often. That was fun for all…..keep that attitude guys you play much better having some fun out there!

 

[Scot-e]

Anytime Olander gets the start I say "Oh " what happened in practice this week- could be a long game". TO does give effort but he is a very very average D 1 center and should not see the floor unless we have no other options. KO must have felt that our other bigs watching the first two minutes would motivate them- guess that's why he is the coach.
Who starts is about chemistry (which sucked the previous two games)- so if TO comes out of the gate to lull the other team into thinking they can do what they want in the paint then we throw AB at them I can understand the reasons. Would not mind that 2 minutes being reduced to one if we can get someone in without calling a timeout. : )

 

[mauconnfan]

This from the paper says it all……and they scout these guys! :

UCF coach Donnie Jones was taken by surprise, in a sense, by UConn's performance. "I thought they played much harder tonight as a team," he said. "This is the best I've seen them play in the last four games."

 

[Chin Diesel]

This from the paper says it all……and they scout these guys! :

UCF coach Donnie Jones was taken by surprise, in a sense, by UConn's performance. "I thought they played much harder tonight as a team," he said. "This is the best I've seen them play in the last four games."

It's a compliment, but one you don't necessarily want to get.

As a coach and a player you'd rather hear that they play hard every game. There's a backhanded "UConn doesn't bring it every game" connotation in that quote.

 

[mauconnfan]

It's a compliment, but one you don't necessarily want to get.

As a coach and a player you'd rather hear that they play hard every game. There's a backhanded "UConn doesn't bring it every game" connotation in that quote.

Yes but it's honest and real…….I kind of disagree to a point and thought they played hard but didn't have fun while playing with less passion for whatever reason. I hope they realize it is more fun playing off each other's intensity now…….

Donnie's remark can be good chalkboard stuff……..

 

[Chief00]

Anytime Olander gets the start I say "Oh " what happened in practice this week- could be a long game". TO does give effort but he is a very very average D 1 center and should not see the floor unless we have no other options. KO must have felt that our other bigs watching the first two minutes would motivate them- guess that's why he is the coach.
Who starts is about chemistry (which sucked the previous two games)- so if TO comes out of the gate to lull the other team into thinking they can do what they want in the paint then we throw AB at them I can understand the reasons. Would not mind that 2 minutes being reduced to one if we can get someone in without calling a timeout. : )

I wish Tyler was a very, very average D1 center

 

[#1 PA Husky Fan]

The big difference from my perspective was that Bazz and Boat got the bigs involved in the offense. If you don't involve them, they just stand around and watch. Need to keep a better balance for the rest of the year, and this team will be a tough out.

Also, KO should stop wasting his time with Olander. He has really regressed to the point of being a huge liability. It's too bad. Started as freshmen.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Someone said to me that KO must be reading my posts.

Hahaha. You're the best chief.

 

[ctchamps]

The big difference from my perspective was that Bazz and Boat got the bigs involved in the offense. If you don't involve them, they just stand around and watch. Need to keep a better balance for the rest of the year, and this team will be a tough out.

Also, KO should stop wasting his time with Olander. He has really regressed to the point of being a huge liability. It's too bad. Started as freshmen.

It's a chicken or egg thing. Are the pg's not getting the bigs involved or are the bigs not getting themselves in the position to be involved? It works really well when the bigs get open, catch the pass thrown to them and go up strong. This game was the opposite of the SMU game in which Bazz got the ball to the bigs at least six times with nothing to show for it. If the bigs played that game like this one UConn wins. It's not always on the distributors when things go wrong.

 

[#1 PA Husky Fan]

It's a chicken or egg thing. Are the pg's not getting the bigs involved or are the bigs not getting themselves in the position to be involved? It works really well when the bigs get open, catch the pass thrown to them and go up strong. This game was the opposite of the SMU game in which Bazz got the ball to the bigs at least six times with nothing to show for it. If the bigs played that game like this one UConn wins. It's not always on the distributors when things go wrong.

Agreed that the responsibility lies on both sides, but the experience lies with the guards. And they control who gets the ball. So, I think that the onus is on them for this team this year.

 

[ctchamps]

Agreed that the responsibility lies on both sides, but the experience lies with the guards. And they control who gets the ball. So, I think that the onus is on them for this team this year.

The guards are way ahead of the development of our bigs. TO actually positions himself to receive the ball (back into his defender, legs in a spread stance and hands ready for a pass), but the guards are not any less observant than us couch potatoes. Like us they have observed that most of the time when they pass him the ball there is no production. So after a while they hesitate passing him the ball.

PN also positions himself to receive the ball. He's un upgrade when he get's it over TO but there is a reason that a thread was dedicated to his 760 and very few comments have been made about any offense from him.

I have yet to see AB get into a stance to receive the ball, let alone get it and back his player into the post. I don't think he has that part of the game at this point. So the only options to get him the pull is on put backs or when his player leaves him and he's wide open. Yesterday was the first time he actually held onto several passes and rebounds to make plays. Prior to yesterday it was a crapshoot.

A great quarterback can't do much passing if he doesn't have receivers.

I like playing the game of what if's and I have wondered how many assists SN would get if he was the point guard for the 2004 - 2005 team or if he played with Marcus.

A backup four, a sophomore five who only played significant minutes in the last four games of his freshman year, and a freshman who just learned that balls can be passed with hands and not just feet, are the primary reason for the failure at production at the five imo. Particularly when you have a pass first guard like Shabazz on the team.

 

[Palatine]

Starting Olander wasn't a coaching mistake. Olander didn't single-handedly erase 7 points off the board. We're going to need Olander this year and he needs minutes. I didn't hear any complaints when he sunk the 3-pointer against Maryland.

We beat an awful team exactly as we should have. Let's not make too much of it. The key is for the team to continue to grow and get better.

 

[8893]

Starting Olander wasn't a coaching mistake. Olander didn't single-handedly erase 7 points off the board. We're going to need Olander this year and he needs minutes. I didn't hear any complaints when he sunk the 3-pointer against Maryland.

We beat an awful team exactly as we should have. Let's not make too much of it. The key is for the team to continue to grow and get better.

If you are going to call Ollie out in a thread complaining about the final five minutes of coaching as you did after the Harvard game, you can at least acknowledge that he did a good job both preparing the team and coaching them during the game. To a man, they described what they worked on in practice and it showed in the game. They had a game plan for UCF's two best players, and areas of emphasis for our own play. It worked. If coaching was your concern--and you have made clear that it is--you should make something of that, awful team or not.

 

[ctchamps]

Starting Olander wasn't a coaching mistake. Olander didn't single-handedly erase 7 points off the board. We're going to need Olander this year and he needs minutes. I didn't hear any complaints when he sunk the 3-pointer against Maryland.

We beat an awful team exactly as we should have. Let's not make too much of it. The key is for the team to continue to grow and get better.

This was not an awful team. It just wasn't a great team. And we beat them at their strength. That is significant. Any win is important. But if we beat them on stagnant ball movement while torching them with a lot of threes I would have been glad for the w but not as impressed with how the win came about. I was impressed with this win and cautiously optimistic about this team making a huge stride. Now we'll have to see if the team can repeat this and hopefully do it with consistency. Also we'll have to see how they play on the road.