What we desperately need

[mauconnfan]

Count me in the distinct minority here, but I don't think that today's loss falls on Samuel's shoulders. He had some minor screw-ups, but the entire team played sloppy with the basketball. Passes dropped, inability to clamp onto rebounds, etc. Plus shot selection was atrocious. I don't think Samuel is at fault for those issues.

He's not THE reason but a huge part of it. He was downright atrocious taking care of the ball, had no plan on 2-3 drives to the basket. He needs to understand his role and he doesn't get it. He needs to take care of the ball, get it to people in places they can score or open looks, and play defense - simple - don't force anything. And so far he's playing to a D on his report card.

 

[jazyj]

what we need is more guys who can get their own shot, apart from Boatright there's not another reliable (for those who are going to say Hamilton and Purvis) shot maker on this team, we're good defensively but we need shot makers

 

[jazyj]

Also Cassell doesn't belong on this team - he's here just because his dad needed a favor from Ollie. I said this after the pre-season and everyone laughed at me - but the kid can't play and if he didn't have his last name he wouldn't be here. He's a volume scorer who can't score with good defenders and shoots a horrible percentage.

There's all sorts of wrong in this post

 

[Gurleyman]

what we need is more guys who can get their own shot, apart from Boatright there's not another reliable (for those who are going to say Hamilton and Purvis) shot maker on this team, we're good defensively but we need shot makers

I think Hamilton is close to being that. He can get into his mid range looks from a lot of different places on the court without help. The two things he struggles with are reading the help defense sagging to try to rake the ball away and not putting the last play behind him. If he turns it over, he's hesitant to make a play. If he misses a 3, he's hesitant to shoot another. He has to have a shorter memory. There are people turning themselves in knots about his turnover total, but I don't mind aggressive turnovers out of him. It's how you learn and get better. He's learned a couple things already - he doesn't leave his feet on passes like he did against WV and he doesn't try a spin move in traffic any more.

KEA once shot 2-18 as a freshman against Florida State when he probably had eight shots blocked by taking it too deep against bigger trees than he was used to. He didn't stop being aggressive, he just learned where his window was to squeeze shots off over bigs. Part of the growth process. Hamilton can do a lot of things and as he grows and makes the right reads more often and stays confident no matter what happened on the last play, he's capable of being that second reliable playmaker.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

junior needs to go to some, any d league; please; bye and have a good day

he tried to high 5 a mate and to do so he slowly, deliberately lined it up and then almost missed his handy target; this guy takes slow to unheard of levels on div I; His dribble is standup where he looks as unathletic as possible and ready for social security

if anything, with this collection of non Jim Calhoun recruits; it shows ollie cant scout or is just giving schollies to any warm bodies because he has zero takers coast to coast

 

[businesslawyer]

Also Cassell doesn't belong on this team - he's here just because his dad needed a favor from Ollie. I said this after the pre-season and everyone laughed at me - but the kid can't play and if he didn't have his last name he wouldn't be here.

Everyone laughed at you because it was stupid. Not the part about Cassell being not a Division I player -- that's quite possible. We have 3 open scholarship spots. Three. And you think we took Cassell Jr. as a favor? Did we not fill our open slots as favors also? Or - maybe -- Cassell Jr. was the best we could do at the time.

 

[huskymagic]

He's not THE reason but a huge part of it. He was downright atrocious taking care of the ball, had no plan on 2-3 drives to the basket. He needs to understand his role and he doesn't get it. He needs to take care of the ball, get it to people in places they can score or open looks, and play defense - simple - don't force anything. And so far he's playing to a D on his report card.

Mauconn seriously your constant bashing of T-Sam who no one expects much from is crazy in this game. The majority of the blame for this loss goes to Hamilton, Purvis, and Kevin Ollie for not playing more to our strength which is our talented big men in Amida and Kentan. Yes T-Sam was bad but he was just as bad as every other guard on the team not named Omar today. Omar was playing well gets a cut to his eye and he's out for the last 12 minutes of the game. He should have been out there because he was having a good game and has a higher game IQ than every guard besides Boatright. Hamilton and Purvis weak handle and fumbling of the ball multiple time in addition to missed free throws is the reason we lost the game. Blame goes to your most talented or supposed talented players in losses not to bench players and rotation players. When you have guys like T-Sam and Cassel Jr playing lots of minutes at a high level program like UCONN, there is something wrong. I am not sure if they are good enough to be on Temple's team. We need to be recruiting better guards and Jalen Adams is a great start. We need two more good guards for next year. Tyler Dorsey should be a must get as well as that kid from Baylor Kobe Eubanks. Kevin Ollie needs to make it happen.

 

[gtcam]

Cassell was offered by Maryland, Louisville and FSU as well. Ollie would never waste a scholarship as a favor to someone, it just turns out Cassell isn't good enough for this level.

I am most disappointed in his talent level. A few games back it was Purvis that concerned me but has shown glimpses that tells me if he gets his head out of his and gives 100% at least 85% of the time he can help big time. Cassell has neither the speed or the physical tools to play at this level. At least I thought he might be an outside threat but he bricks almost everything he throws up.

 

[Danzz]

I am most disappointed in his talent level. A few games back it was Purvis that concerned me but has shown glimpses that tells me if he gets his head out of his and gives 100% at least 85% of the time he can help big time. Cassell has neither the speed or the physical tools to play at this level. At least I thought he might be an outside threat but he bricks almost everything he throws up.

Mauconn seriously your constant bashing of T-Sam who no one expects much from is crazy in this game. The majority of the blame for this loss goes to Hamilton, Purvis, and Kevin Ollie for not playing more to our strength which is our talented big men in Amida and Kentan. Yes T-Sam was bad but he was just as bad as every other guard on the team not named Omar today. Omar was playing well gets a cut to his eye and he's out for the last 12 minutes of the game. He should have been out there because he was having a good game and has a higher game IQ than every guard besides Boatright. Hamilton and Purvis weak handle and fumbling of the ball multiple time in addition to missed free throws is the reason we lost the game. Blame goes to your most talented or supposed talented players in losses not to bench players and rotation players. When you have guys like T-Sam and Cassel Jr playing lots of minutes at a high level program like UCONN, there is something wrong. I am not sure if they are good enough to be on Temple's team. We need to be recruiting better guards and Jalen Adams is a great start. We need two more good guards for next year. Tyler Dorsey should be a must get as well as that kid from Baylor Kobe Eubanks. Kevin Ollie needs to make it happen.

Disagree. Mau has praised TSam in the past for his defense and toughness.

 

[mauconnfan]

I like the kid, he's a tough NYC kid. I just want him, actually we all should want him to play within himself and not to try to go outside of that. He also made a great reactionary play on the tying hoop - knew that Rodney ran out on the shooter to get his hand in his face then released to the other end - caught ball and never thought just threw it up to Rodney - nice play.

Just the drives to the baseline, middle with nowhere to go and the two passes he threw away also - they're painful. Point is he's good enough to have helped lead us to a win today despite the Boat injury, but he wasn't up to it trying to do a little too much. Not at all on him only, not close, plenty of other guys who fell short in making it possible. But it all starts with the guy who has the ball and he did quite often.

 

[maineuconnfan]

the only reason why Tsam was a spark in the tourney last year, was he had 3 40%+ shooters that could spread the floor giving him some lanes to drive....really some good shooting would open it up for anyone, not just TSam, just some people need that kind of help more and Tsam is in that category....I just wish he would realize this so he would stop making these foolish looking drives and just move the ball around.

 

[Waquoit]

A few games back it was Purvis that concerned me but has shown glimpses that tells me if he gets his head out of his and gives 100% at least 85% of the time he can help big time.

I'm surprised Purvis hasn't been nominated for the goat horns. He's the one that bothered me most yesterday. The other guys were working hard, Purvis wasn't. That sequence where we finally took the lead and got the crowd going only to have Purvis give it up again seconds later with a lazy gamble was a killer. He reminds me of Marcus Cox, a guy with more attitude than game. When Boat went down he should have been the one to step up. That he didn't can't be blamed on "rust".

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm surprised Purvis hasn't been nominated for the goat horns. He's the one that bothered me most yesterday. The other guys were working hard, Purvis wasn't. That sequence where we finally took the lead and got the crowd going only to have Purvis give it up again seconds later with a lazy gamble was a killer. He reminds me of Marcus Cox, a guy with more attitude than game. When Boat went down he should have been the one to step up. That he didn't can't be blamed on "rust".

The gamble turned out to be the wrong move although he was a millisecond from a dunk. Morgan rattled in a 3 so it certainly turned for the worst. But we had plenty of other errors from people after that on both ends too so he didn't stand out at all. His 1 rebound is awful and he needs to stick his nose in down there for sure. Not sure he's the guy you need to step up, not sure who is actually, when Boat goes down. They're all very limited so they need to step up together, make plays without turning it over and play defense. The defense part was real good for the most part, the NOT turning it over was not. They got 2 points in 5 minutes I am not sure you need to look much further than that.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

On Samuel: he's as destructive an offensive player at this point in the season as I've seen in my time watching UConn basketball. He can't shoot at all, his decision making has been poor all year to say the least, and he's too small to finish at the rim. There is virtually nothing he can do offensively that is of any value to the team. Now, I happen to think he's very good on the other end, so he'll always have a place here, and if he improves as a passer and ball-handler he could be a really good player. But as others have said, if you're relying on him as your lead guard, you're in trouble.

Cassell was a disaster on defense today, and he seems to love hoisting up long mid-range jump shots. If he doesn't improve over the remainder of the season we're going to need an upgrade at that spot.

Funny thing is Cassell's game was described as having an "old man's game"

Guess people were correct -he is playing like an old man-lousy D, lack of foot speed, and shooting rainbows that aren't even close-right now he looks like he would fit in well at a local YMCA pick up game.

 

[Calhoun's Court]

I like the kid, he's a tough NYC kid. I just want him, actually we all should want him to play within himself and not to try to go outside of that. He also made a great reactionary play on the tying hoop - knew that Rodney ran out on the shooter to get his hand in his face then released to the other end - caught ball and never thought just threw it up to Rodney - nice play.

Just the drives to the baseline, middle with nowhere to go and the two passes he threw away also - they're painful. Point is he's good enough to have helped lead us to a win today despite the Boat injury, but he wasn't up to it trying to do a little too much. Not at all on him only, not close, plenty of other guys who fell short in making it possible. But it all starts with the guy who has the ball and he did quite often.

You know TSam could be a "Danny Heep"- limited playing time he looks good and you think if he was to play more minutes he would be great-then he plays more than a few minutes and we see the warts-and you realize that he is best suited to be a role player not a starter.

 

[8893]

You know TSam could be a "Danny Heep"- limited playing time he looks good and you think if he was to play more minutes he would be great-then he plays more than a few minutes and we see the warts-and you realize that he is best suited to be a role player not a starter.

See also "Peter Principle."

 

[PAHusky]

Imagine the horror if Boat had left for the draft after last season.

If Jalen Adams can't step in and run this team next year from day 1 we're in trouble.

 

[imno1]

Funny thing is Cassell's game was described as having an "old man's game"

Guess people were correct -he is playing like an old man-lousy D, lack of foot speed, and shooting rainbows that aren't even close-right now he looks like he would fit in well at a local YMCA pick up game.

His game reminds me of:

 

[Jaker]

What we desperately need is more wisky before the games and a good sense of humor, because this season is going to be painful.