What is the opposite of poised? (Merged)

[Mr. French]

Unfortunately we run an offense where someone has to be "SUPERMAN", cuz KO does not run a motion offense that creates offense on its own like Wisconsin. If everybody with warts on our team stopped trying to be superman, we would literally rely on Jalen for 100% of everything which is unreasonable and unsustainable for both him and us. Someone has to make a move and take a shot at some point other than Jalen. If we were not mad at Rodney it would be someone else who is struggling. We just do not have enough playmakers and scorers this year to hang with most teams. I hate it but it is just a fact. Im trying to find joy in player development, beating Cuse, and other small victories this year.

The offense needs creation, so I get your point...but this is something that's been hammered re: KO's offense, and it's a bit fabricated.

The offense can definitely work with guys limiting their "creating" to times it makes sense and for ways they are capable.

The offense doesn't require every guard to be Shabazz, it just really makes it easy if they are. If the other guys have a basketball sense as to when and how to get the right shots, it would work.

Even Jalen, at this stage, often doesn't GET it the way he should, he's just skilled and athletic enough to make it work.

 

[mauconnfan]

God, so much of this is crazy.

1. We have 3.5 perimeter players, with Jackson paying some of his minuses at the 4. This worry about who is starting is a total waste of time. Purvis is going to play over 30 minutes this year every game in which he doesn't take himself out with injury or foul trouble.

2. Someone on this team has to be willing to take shots that aren't great shots. Purvis waiting to be wide open to take a shot means that often we're not going to get a shot off any better than what he is taking. He, KO and the team all know this. If Vitale and Jackson start being able to create and make their own tough shots, great. But what do you think will happen to their shooting percentages if they end up having to take some of the shots that Rodney does?

3. He is not a great player. His shooting will remain inconsistent. it's not that we don't have better options -- we don't even have other options.

4. But we loved Kromah, who wasn't a fraction of the player that RP is. The difference was that Kromah was asked to play hard, and give us a number when available. Rp is being asked to play to play hard and produce numbers, whether they are there or not. It's easier to look good when your task is easier.

5. Finally, RP is so far from being our biggest problem that this is like blaming Shirreffs for our offensive issues in football (and that complaint did not work out well from the idiots making it.) With Durham out, we needed Enoch to give us anything, and Facey and AB to just be able to stay on the floor. How did that work out for us.

Agree with most, right on all the way through. But the fact anyone else didn't see some really nice things from Enoch (not game changing but improvement) means they aren't watching the little things. He had 4 rebounds but he had another on the offensive end in traffic, which was ripped out by a swipe to his arms, KO was all over the refs on that one, big play too would have been a short put back. Also he had numerous box outs which resulted in us getting rebounds, he always looks to to hit someone which is way ahead of others. He also pick on top like a man, and rolls looking for the ball. Saw a few real nice ideas on his part, things that shows he's starting to get it, I like it. Plus he's tough. Yeah he was slow on a couple helps that needs improvement, but so was our 4 year starter. He's not going to block shots but we will be able to throw it into him. What he has to improve upon obviously is slowing down, finishing near the basket, no rush and defensive footwork. Not at all in agreement on him doing nothing, he did some nice things.

 

[Waquoit]

Almost like what you would hear in a chick flick, I don't like the way he makes me feel. Most of the time I want him out him out of the game but I feel guilty because he's good dude and a loyal Husky. The season isn't over. Remember, Caron really didn't become CARON until the 2nd half of his last year. Not saying Rodney will be Caron, but maybe something will click and his stroke will get more consistent in a similar fashion. And once the shots start falling the rest of the game will fall into place.

 

[Hankster]

I love Jalen, but he completely disappeared in the second half. Absolutely invisible. He didn't run the offense, he didn't drive to the hoop and he didn't score in the second half until there was about a minute left. I understand he can't do everything, and he isn't always going to play great, but he got shut down a couple times very early in the second half driving to the hoop and then just seemed to give up on trying after that. Completely silent. This team simply can't win if he disappears for an entire half. That's just reality with this roster.

Jalen drove to the hoop with ease in the first half. In fact it was so easy for him at times I was laughing. So, he didn't do it in the second half? Well I would say good adjustment from the Ohio State coaching staff. It wasn't so easy anymore. It wasn't Adams. that made us shoot from the outside. So, we have Jackson and Vital throwing up air balls. Our outside shooting hasn't been the best. Some good streaks at times, but missing the bucket and backboard on a number of occasions does not bode well. Give Jalen a break, it was 5 against 1 last night.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

More strange than RPs out of bounds thing was the travel they called on him when he only moved one foot. It was an awkward little jab thing but his second foot wasn't even close to moving. At this point he has a reputation for this type of stuff and refs are hunting for it. The ref who made the out of bounds thing call was so giddy I think he was smiling. Maybe refs play Purvis turnover BINGO and he just got O-54.

 

[Thirty Three]

Jalen drove to the hoop with ease in the first half. In fact it was so easy for him at times I was laughing. So, he didn't do it in the second half? Well I would say good adjustment from the Ohio State coaching staff. It wasn't so easy anymore. It wasn't Adams. that made us shoot from the outside. So, we have Jackson and Vital throwing up air balls. Our outside shooting hasn't been the best. Some good streaks at times, but missing the bucket and backboard on a number of occasions does not bode well. Give Jalen a break, it was 5 against 1 last night.

I agree with you for the most part. I'm not trying to blame Jalen. My point is simply that as Jalen goes so does the team. It's unfortunate but he's the only player on the team who can run the offense, the only player who can create for himself, and the only player who can create for others. When he disappears for a half we have very little chance of winning. There's just no one else who can step up and do those things.

 

[David 76]

I was not on the anti-Purvis bandwagon but I don't understand how he went backward this year. I think ppg, shooting percentage , three pointers and free throw percentage are all down

 

[Waquoit]

I was not on the anti-Purvis bandwagon but I don't understand how he went backward this year. I think ppg, shooting percentage , three pointers and free throw percentage are all down

I think they call it "reversion to the mean".

 

[Dogbreath2U]

The offense needs creation, so I get your point...but this is something that's been hammered re: KO's offense, and it's a bit fabricated.

The offense can definitely work with guys limiting their "creating" to times it makes sense and for ways they are capable.

The offense doesn't require every guard to be Shabazz, it just really makes it easy if they are. If the other guys have a basketball sense as to when and how to get the right shots, it would work.

Even Jalen, at this stage, often doesn't GET it the way he should, he's just skilled and athletic enough to make it work.

I would just qualify this statement to say he's SOMETIMES "just skilled and ..." etc.

 

[jibsey]

Rodney is a mystery wrapped in a quandary covered by perplexion.

 

[Waquoit]

Rodney is a mystery wrapped in a quandary covered by perplexion.

Not sure what the mystery is. He's a player with a shooter's mentality but not a shooter's accuracy.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

I sort of agree with the addition by substraction thing, with an exception though. I thought the same last year with getting rid of gibbs, although I expected Purvis to go too and Dham to stay...

I'll just say I've NEVER been a fan of Purvis as a player. I just dont think he is that good at any one thing. He's fast and athletic but those things alone are basketball skills. HOWEVER, the thing that i think we could be missing without purvis is just a guy thats not afraid to take that shot. I alot of times, even when I dont like Purvis jacking up a three or turning the ball over again and again, he's at lesat not afraid to make a move! If someone else doesnt step up and start to take that lead on offense, we may have more of the same next season (Adams and TL should both have that confidence). So should be addition by subtraction.. We'll see what happens. lets get through this season first though!

 

[MexicoHusky]

I know all of us like Purvis on some level, but he's not a great offensive basketball player. So I agree, if his minutes are taken by Gilbert and Vital next year we have a chance to be better. We almost certainly will reduce our turnovers.

 

[businesslawyer]

I like Rodney as young man who represents the university and basketball program as a great ambassador, but it's hard to argue against the fact that his turnovers and inability to dribble really hurt the offense.

On top of the actual turnovers he usually has during a game his poor shot selection have the same effect as turnovers. He shot 4 of 14 today many of which were poor shots.

i was really hoping Rodney would be our go to guy and leader (basketball productions wise) this year but He continues to have the same deficiencies as past years and unfortunately his shooting has gone south this year as well.

His shooting hasn't gone south. His shooting percentage has gone south because without Dham, Gibbs and Miller, instead of having his man focusing on whom to help on D, his man on D is getting help from others, and thus Purvis gets largely much tougher shots.

 

[pnow15]

His shooting hasn't gone south. His shooting percentage has gone south because without Dham, Gibbs and Miller, instead of having his man focusing on whom to help on D, his man on D is getting help from others, and thus Purvis gets largely much tougher shots.

Purvis passes on an open three at least 5 times a game and then dibbles into a double team before tossing the ball at the rim.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Purvis passes on an open three at least 5 times a game and then dibbles into a double team before tossing the ball at the rim.

Nah.

 

[tcf15]

lol feel bad for rodney that we had to merge a couple of threads that were bashing him.

 

[James]

His shooting hasn't gone south. His shooting percentage has gone south because without Dham, Gibbs and Miller, instead of having his man focusing on whom to help on D, his man on D is getting help from others, and thus Purvis gets largely much tougher shots.

So purvis has been dissapointing because he is playing with worst players? not sure that's how it works, Adams is playing with the same players and has upped his production. RP spends a lot of time sitting on the perimeter jacking NBA threes (3par drastically up), and while some went in vs cuse, you can't really be an efficient scorer if that's all you do. His game off the bounce has shrunk to nothing even though he has even more freedom to create as a number 1/2 option.

There's really no point in breaking this down, I agree with your original stance that we have such limited bodies so it is what it is at this point. He's going to continue to get a ton of minutes .

 

[businesslawyer]

So purvis has been dissapointing because he is playing with worst players? not sure that's how it works, Adams is playing with the same players and has upped his production. RP spends a lot of time sitting on the perimeter jacking NBA threes (3par drastically up), and while some went in vs cuse, you can't really be an efficient scorer if that's all you do. His game off the bounce has shrunk to nothing even though he has even more freedom to create as a number 1/2 option.

There's really no point in breaking this down, I agree with your original stance that we have such limited bodies so it is what it is at this point. He's going to continue to get a ton of minutes .

Adams has gotten much better. No one claimed Purvis has. But the opposite of getting much better is not getting much better. It's not getting much worse.

 

[Palatine]

The opposite of poised is panicked.

 

[champs99and04]

His shooting hasn't gone south. His shooting percentage has gone south because without Dham, Gibbs and Miller, instead of having his man focusing on whom to help on D, his man on D is getting help from others, and thus Purvis gets largely much tougher shots.

His shot quality is the same now as it was last year. He's just not making them. If the Yard is going to run with the narrative that Purvis has somehow become the focal point of the scouting report, and that's why he is struggling, well...it's not true. Purvis is actually the beneficiary of a lot of open shots because of the attention defenses pay to Adams. @pnow15 is actually right, and it's been his problem for his entire career - he'll dribble and shot fake his way out of wide open shots because, for whatever reason, he still doesn't trust his jump shot. I swear he's more comfortable taking tough shots. He's just a weird player.

I'm not sure where you've drawn the conclusion that Kromah wasn't a fraction of the player Purvis is. Given the choice, I might choose Kromah. One is a winning player and the other is not. One averaged an efficient 12 points per game as a freshman in the Atlantic-10 (back when the A-10 was probably better than the AAC is now) and the other is shooting 35% as a senior on a team bleeding out offensively. One played considerable minutes on a team that won a championship, the other has been a ticking time bomb in every high leverage situation he's ever been in.

I like Purvis...as a player. He does a lot of things well. He wins games for us that we certainly would not win with somebody like Kromah in his place. Defensively, he's been very good this season. His execution is flawed but his intentions are good. He's long been underrated in his ability to use screens off the ball. He's cash when he's dodging defenders in a maze of screens and firing before he even has time to process the situation. Sometimes he'll shoot and I'll know it's in before the ball leaves his hand, just by the way it looks visually.

I find the stuff about how good of a person he is to be a little bit much considering that there is nothing to suggest he's any better or worse than the countless other players who have been bashed here. I don't doubt that he's a great dude, but I also would't have doubted that with Dyson and he's cast as the dude behind the dark visor on here.

Purvis is a human being first and a player second. I don't mean that in a cheesy, cliched way, what I mean is that I don't think he has the switch that guys like Napier and Boat and even Adams have where suddenly all of his self-awareness is soaked up by the intoxication of competition. He thinks too much, and he's never been able to get out of his own way. He's far from alone in that regard, but it's true, which is why I'll always consider him a good but tragically flawed player who you don't want in the room when it's delivery time.

 

[uconngb]

The opposite of poised is panicked.

It took 3 pages, but someone finally answered the question. To me, he looks panicked a lot of the time. Champs just hit on it in the post above....when he thinks, he's dead, and yet he's not all that instinctive of a player either. The stepping out of bounds constantly, traveling as he's trying to make a move and complete panic whenever he goes coast to coast I think just point out his mental weaknesses. As others have pointed out, it's a shame because he's built like a superior athlete and he can be a scorer at times. It's just never all come together at the same time for anything more than far too infrequent spurts. Is it unfair that he's under such a microscope this year? Maybe. But he was a McD AA, the "Ferrari", and he is a 5th year senior. We need him to come through, whether it's his fault or not, and so far other than the Cuse game, he's come up short.

 

[Bagel&Cheese]

For me, the leash is still long with Enoch, it's his 2nd yr, and quite frankly, I didn't have high hopes of him dominating the game early on in his career anyways. His boneheaded plays are more a product of not having the requisite amount of depth on the team due to injuries, therefore his minutes will be a lot higher than his skill level calls for. Let's just hope his heightened court time will accelerate his development.

I hope you are right abut the additional minutes will accelerate his development. Let's say it like it is though. Next year he will be an upperclassman and he needs to be a presence on the court and in the paint, otherwise, he will just be another Kentan Facey.

 

[Kenny11]

Purvis has a terribly low basketball IQ and seems to play panicky and nervous way too much for someone with so much experience. He is the classic case of a kid who peaked at age 17. It happens, especially to kids who have a grown man body at a young age.

I think his playing time would have been cut by this time if Gilbert and Larrier were healthy, but we have no other option than to give him big minutes. At this point, he just needs to try to be solid and minimize dumb mistakes.

 

[pnow15]

Purvis has a terribly low basketball IQ and seems to play panicky and nervous way too much for someone with so much experience. He is the classic case of a kid who peaked at age 17. It happens, especially to kids who have a grown man body at a young age.

I think his playing time would have been cut by this time if Gilbert and Larrier were healthy, but we have no other option than to give him big minutes. At this point, he just needs to try to be solid and minimize dumb mistakes.

He needs to concentrate on the smart mistakes.

 

[Mr. French]

Rushed and indecisive.

 

[ctchamps]

I cant remember any other players taking this much heat on the boneyard since I joined this place back in 2009 than Purvis and Brimah. As far as Purvis goes...Yes, a lot of the criticism has been deserved, but he is not the reason we lost to Ohio St, and he is not the reason that we are 4-5. If we didnt have Rodney, things would be a lot worse than they are right now.

This criticism is actually tepid compared to how the board reacted to Jerome and Taliek back in the day.

The posts from @businesslawyer or @champs99and04 are critiques of Rodney that aren't personal. Actually quite astute imo. On the other hand there are a few posters in this thread where Rodney's play is personal for them. They are far from fair. They don't praise his positives nor examine the loss from a team standpoint. Why? Because doing so would reduce their expression of hatred. They don't want to be fair because they need to hate someone or something. I can't stress the emphasis on the word need enough.

Most of us don't feel good when the team loses or plays poorly. That's normal. But most of us can get past that feeling. Some sooner than others.

We would have more success in getting Rodney to have court awareness than getting some of the people in this thread to gain control over their emotional need to make Rodney a scapegoat. The corollary imo is that people who are currently struggling in dealing with out of control behavior or success in their personal lives (themselves, others around them, or both) typically struggle to deal with out of control play or success in a player. They're transposing something in their own lives to Rodney.

It becomes worse when a group of people express this hatred because they begin to feed off of one another. Furthermore individuals can blend in with the herd. It's a lot harder to marginalize a group than a single troll. During Dyson's senior year chief00 led a group of negative toadies in deriding Dyson. That group had very little resistance in this forum. Over time the group moved on leaving chief00 on his own. As soon as Dyson was mentioned chief would come to the forum with the need to put him down. Then @BigErnMcCracken would make an appearance to deride chief. The relationship between the three was like gears in a clock. Still is.

Rodney has been an ambassador for UConn. He bleeds blue and white both on and off the court. His struggles are not for a lack of effort and desire. He gives 110% when he plays even if he's not effective. He doesn't deride other players or coaches or fans. We may want him to shoot and dribble better but I wish some of the people in this forum could develop the character the kid has. He certainly isn't one of the best players to put on a UConn uniform, but he's definitely up their when it comes to being a class act.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I counted them on my fingers.

But, to answer your question, the feet thing only applies when a player last touched the ball. It doesn't apply in this situation. I considered that maybe the ref got confused. But, the fact is, Purvis was the second player to touch the ball after he went out of bounce. I actually read the explanation of the rule on a NCAA refs forum.

Yes, from a practical perspective I think it really only occurs on inbounds plays or on a rebound or missed shot. The ball can't be in anyone's hands (on the court) once you are back inbounds for a violation to occur, right? So if the pass came before he was inbounds, that would be a violation, like Brimah stepping out then catching a lob that was thrown before he came back in.

 

[HuskyHawk]

This criticism is actually tepid compared to how the board reacted to Jerome and Taliek back in the day.

The posts from @businesslawyer or @champs99and04 are critiques of Rodney that aren't personal. Actually quite astute imo. On the other hand there are a few posters in this thread where Rodney's play is personal for them. They are far from fair. They don't praise his positives nor examine the loss from a team standpoint. Why? Because doing so would reduce their expression of hatred. They don't want to be fair because they need to hate someone or something. I can't stress the emphasis on the word need enough.

Most of us don't feel good when the team loses or plays poorly. That's normal. But most of us can get past that feeling. Some sooner than others.

We would have more success in getting Rodney to have court awareness than getting some of the people in this thread to gain control over their emotional need to make Rodney a scapegoat. The corollary imo is that people who are currently struggling in dealing with out of control behavior or success in their personal lives (themselves, others around them, or both) typically struggle to deal with out of control play or success in a player. They're transposing something in their own lives to Rodney.

It becomes worse when a group of people express this hatred because they begin to feed off of one another. Furthermore individuals can blend in with the herd. It's a lot harder to marginalize a group than a single troll. During Dyson's senior year chief00 led a group of negative toadies in deriding Dyson. That group had very little resistance in this forum. Over time the group moved on leaving chief00 on his own. As soon as Dyson was mentioned chief would come to the forum with the need to put him down. Then @BigErnMcCracken would make an appearance to deride chief. The relationship between the three was like gears in a clock. Still is.

Rodney has been an ambassador for UConn. He bleeds blue and white both on and off the court. His struggles are not for a lack of effort and desire. He gives 110% when he plays even if he's not effective. He doesn't deride other players or coaches or fans. We may want him to shoot and dribble better but I wish some of the people in this forum could develop the character the kid has. He certainly isn't one of the best players to put on a UConn uniform, but he's definitely up their when it comes to being a class act.

Well said. I think both Jerome and Rodney get more unfair criticism because they have such tantalizing physical talent that seems to be limited mostly by mental errors.

Rodney is a great guy, and I am proud that he plays for The University of Connecticut. He represents us well.

 

[upstater]

Yes, from a practical perspective I think it really only occurs on inbounds plays or on a rebound or missed shot. The ball can't be in anyone's hands (on the court) once you are back inbounds for a violation to occur, right? So if the pass came before he was inbounds, that would be a violation, like Brimah stepping out then catching a lob that was thrown before he came back in.

Agreed. I could be wrong. But I actually stole the rule and the interpretation from a ref forum. Apparently, also, this rule is the source of controversy even among refs. A few of them disagreed as to who is the first toucher.