what they need to do this offseason

[UConnSwag11]

We need depth and more talent on the inside more than anything... someone who can score offensively and can control the paint defensively... we have guards, but the front court is what's missing...

hamilton is going to be a stud, needs to tighten up his handle and decision making... purvis also needs to tighten up his handle and make better decisions... Tsam needs to get a jumpshot and not pound the ball into the floor...

i'll find what i posted in the other threads, but the biggest things are

1. we need to get bigs... and if we don't ours need to develop, they need to rebound and help the guards on the offensive end.

2. Defense- we seem lost out... getting lost in screens, not finding the man, leaving wide open jumpers or not getting back in transition...

those two, to me seem to be the biggest areas of need/improvement

my other post...

We lost a lot more than we realized in graduation and leaving early. That group was together for 3-4 years and had time to grow together. Boat needed a runningmate and purvis had shown flashes but wasn't able to put it together. Same with hamilton, although hamilton was a monster on the boards. Brimah is unable to stay on the floor due to his inexperience, lack of bulk/weight, and his lack of lateral quickness. Even with his inability to get rebounds our team played better with him on the floor bc he stopped anyone driving to the lane. Nolan played 10000 times better towards the end of the season. He played good defense and rebounded better. Also was confident to take and make his shots. Rock has shown flashes of what he can do. I love his no bs attitude. He needs to learn where to be on the floor, lose weight, and get quicker laterally. Facey showed a great touch, great bounce, and could rebound. He was just to skinny/inexperienced to play the four. Omar showed flashes of what he can be and at times was the most aggressive one at attacking the rim. Sam needs to not dribble the ball so hard and not look so scared with it. He ls quick enough to get to the rim when he wants to. On defense he can be really go but at times he seems to get lost/lazy.

For this team to get better for next year, they're going to have to put work in during the offseason, in the weightroom and on the court. Also they're going to need to spend time together and get even closer. Most of all they can't play scared. They need to be bullies and not to be intimidated. They need confidence.

Ollie did the best he could without an inside game. Daniels playing the four last year was huge. He knew how to play the position on the defensive end and was able to be a mismatch on the offensive end. This is why imo we ran so much on the perimeter this year. You could see so much frustration with the squad from him. I think because they run it everyday that they know what to do and should help out boat. The pick and pop game and the setting a screen to get a mismatch is what we did last year. If purvis/adams can do this with hamilton and facey I think we will be scoring points. He has three consecutive 20 win seasons and a national championship in his first full year. He has a pass for several more years. The recruiting will come. He's improved every year and needs his "Chris smith" guy like calhoun got.

Also you can't say the fans do not supportthis team. The turnout has been great all year and you saw and heard it during the AAC tourney. Let's keep it going from here on out

 

[UConnSwag11]

tonight i saw more movement, not much driving to the hoop and getting fouled but they seemed to just play

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Recruit for talented big men who can score. Recruit for guards who can play D and score. Recruit for '15-'16 (late for that, but maybe some 5 year grads). Recruit big time for '16-'17 (window will be closing for cashing in on last year's national championship).

Bottom line RECRUIT better.

 

[Matrim55]

tonight i saw more movement, not much driving to the hoop and getting fouled but they seemed to just play

They played much more in attack mode on the offensive end, which was encouraging. Having 3 different guys who can put the ball on the floor and get to the hoop will be essential with the shorter clock.

The defense, on the other hand, was a cluster***k. I'm a big believer in Ollie, but the fact that our transition & 3-point defense never improved is worrying.

I believe that if he can fix that, and guys like Amida, Kentan, DHam, Rodney & TSam have a natural improvement curve, we will be in good shape. But the "if he can fix that" part is looming much larger than I thought it would, and the AAC will be stacked with veteran teams who know how to push the ball next year.

 

[nyhusky89]

They played much more in attack mode on the offensive end, which was encouraging. Having 3 different guys who can put the ball on the floor and get to the hoop will be essential with the shorter clock.

The defense, on the other hand, was a cluster***k. I'm a big believer in Ollie, but the fact that our transition & 3-point defense never improved is worrying.

I believe that if he can fix that, and guys like Amida, Kentan, DHam, Rodney & TSam have a natural improvement curve, we will be in good shape. But the "if he can fix that" part is looming much larger than I thought it would, and the AAC will be stacked with veteran teams who know how to push the ball next year.

The offense we ran against ASU looked almost like Cal's at memphis. A bunch of big attacking guards screening for each other. Next year they need to bring in another 1-2 combo who can shoot 3's and a kromah/giffey transfer type who can glide between 3-4 as a role player. I think that team is going to look best playing our 90's style ball, with Adams/Purvis/Samuel and ideally Brown (if he reclassifies or another PG/SG) playing full court pressure D and in the half court, keep their guys off the 3 point line and funnel them to Amida. Offensively, we should be pushing the ball at every opportunity, running Rip plays for DHam and letting Adams/Purvis drive. Amidah should be able to score 14 a game just from lobs/fouls/a few hooks/short J's. If Facey/Enoch can knock down a 14-17 footer with any consistency the offense should be very good.

The biggest thing in my eyes though is confidence. I like the commitment to toughness, defense and grit, but Ollie has got to get these guys to believe they can impose their will on opponents. Adams/Purvis/Hamilton have the length and athleticism as a trio to overwhelm opponents on both ends of the floor and they still have Brimah behind them. It should be an attacking squad who can beat you with D if we need to, but would rather ram the ball down your throat.

Adams-14 pts, 4 ast, 3 rbs, 1 st
Purvis-16 pts, 2 ast, 2 rbs
Hamilton-17 pts, 9 rbs, 5 ast
Brimah-12 pts, 5 rbs, 4.5 blocks

That group has a lot of talent in it and will probably play heavy minutes, so if Calhoun or Cassell can knock down a 3 3's a game between themselves, Samuel can chip in 5 and Facey/Enoch/Nolan do the dirty work the team can be good. Bottom line, the talent is there, not kentucky/duke talent, but certainly as much as Wichita St or NC State or UCLA has this year and they're all in the S16.

 

[Fishy]

Hit 'n weight room.

Tired of seeing other teams come on the court like they just got out of a prison flick while our entire team can be passed through a piece of PVC.

Certain players need to lose weight. All of our players from Ghana need to gain leg strength. Some of our players from Wisconsin need to work on lay ups and generally avoiding catastrophe.

 

[UCweCONN]

Sign D'Marcus Simonds. His game is very reminiscent of Kelly Oubre. He's explosive with a great inside, outside game. I really wanted Oubre to be a Husky.

 

[Stainmaster]

Sign D'Marcus Simonds. His game is very reminiscent of Kelly Oubre. He's explosive with a great inside, outside game. I really wanted Oubre to be a Husky.

Simonds is class of '16, so unless he somehow has the ability to reclassify he wouldn't be joining the team until the year after next.

 

[nyhusky89]

Hit 'n weight room.

Tired of seeing other teams come on the court like they just got out of a prison flick while our entire team can be passed through a piece of PVC.

Certain players need to lose weight. All of our players from Ghana need to gain leg strength. Some of our players from Wisconsin need to work on lay ups and generally avoiding catastrophe.

Agreed, then again, Calhoun's teams were all on the smaller side until the '00-'09 period when he could recruit skilled giants. Even the '11 team had Oriaki with chuck behind him and Roscoe fully capable of playing the 4. We have a lot of top end talent coming back next year, the problem is the supporting playing. Having 3 guys in Adams/Purvis/Hamilton who can all get their own shot will make defending this team very difficult so long as they remember how much talent they have and stay aggressive. Your going to need one of facey.enoch.nolan.brimah to be able to hit some sort of jumper with consistency, but Hamilton alone will provide us with a mismatch virtually every game. Even if Brimah doesn't drastically improve his rebounding, assuming he jumps from 26-32 minutes and improves even a bit, he'll be over 4 blocks a game. We can play very aggressive and keep teams off the 3 point line, but also protect the rim very naturally-which is the ideal way to play defense-forcing teams to take long 2's. Those long 2's which produce long rebounds, combined with aggressive D and full court pressure could make us a real pain. If those 4 players do what they are capable of, this can be a team no one wants to play and people actually fear with just Samuel/Calhoun/the 4's adding the glue. I am skeptical. These guys need to believe and they need to be smarter and in past years our depth guys may have been higher rated recruits, but we will have as much top end talent as most teams out there.

 

[mauconnfan]

Sign D'Marcus Simonds. His game is very reminiscent of Kelly Oubre. He's explosive with a great inside, outside game. I really wanted Oubre to be a Husky.

Oubre would have made us so much better, I thought of that every time I watched Rock Chalk. He and DHam sharing the 3/4 would have been exciting. I too wanted him to come here really bad, love the way the kid just plays.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

A lot of guys were in new roles this season. I think we should see a much better team next year with almost everyone back and spending the summer working on getting better at their role. Then hopefully Jalen comes in and is as good as expected.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Hit 'n weight room.

Tired of seeing other teams come on the court like they just got out of a prison flick while our entire team can be passed through a piece of PVC.

Can't like Fishy's post enough. It's dead on accurate and hysterical at the same time.
High level they need 2 things to happen.
1. They need to run a better offense with more open looks. Every possession this year seemed disjointed and came down to 1 on 1 play with the clock expiring.
2. REBOUND. This goes back to Fishy's first point, hit the weight room. Our bigs were physically weaker than all our opponents. I thought Nolan was this year's Tyler Olander, the most blocked player in America. The sad part is I heard about the muscle he added in the off season, but it didn't translate. He might have even regressed.

 

[Matrim55]

Oubre would have made us so much better, I thought of that every time I watched Rock Chalk. He and DHam sharing the 3/4 would have been exciting. I too wanted him to come here really bad, love the way the kid just plays.

He's a sieve defensively, though. In retrospect the only thing that would really have helped this team with their biggest weakness (lack of communication & in-game know-how) was a backline communicator with experience - i.e., getting DeAndre back for his 4th year or picking up a grad transfer.

 

[2Husky]

I think a bunch of guys need to work on dribbling. Start dribbling before moving your feet, and dribble off the floor not your foot. And everyone needs to work on passing. Everything about passing. A lot of bad passes let defenders close on shooters before they could gather the ball and shoot. Also passes to the post should sometimes lead to passes from the post.