what will help this years team more
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UChusky916
Making the board a little less insufferable
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Defense will be the deciding factor, but that was solid last year. This year i think the low-post will be huge. We go from a weak frontcourt to a talented and deep frontcourt once AD comitted.
I agree.....when we go against top flight competition the inside talent should be a force and there is at least 10 fouls on the bench to help out in BE slugfests. Inside scoring won't be as impacted in big games............Against lesser competition we will dominate........Gates will be interesting for us
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Perimeter defense is always the most important. Cut off the guards and you cut off the head of the attack. Unless you have a 7'3" center that can run and jump, bad things happen all around when your guards get beat off the dribble (besides easy hoops, there's fouls on the front court and the accompanying foul shots for the opponent). Not fighting through screens or rotating on them gives the bad guys good looks (resulting in not only more hoops allowed, but less rebounding and running for the Huskies). Cutting off passing lanes from the perimeter means greater difficulty for opponents to establish good post position relative to the ball.
Without good perimeter defense, it's almost impossible to play good interior d. It'll help them play uptempo too.
Hopefully any improvements Shabazz and Jeremy made in their defense makes up for the difference lost going from an experienced and skilled defender in Kemba to the frosh Boatright. I liked what Beverly brought in other facets of the game, but I won't miss his D.
Without good perimeter defense, it's almost impossible to play good interior d. It'll help them play uptempo too.
Hopefully any improvements Shabazz and Jeremy made in their defense makes up for the difference lost going from an experienced and skilled defender in Kemba to the frosh Boatright. I liked what Beverly brought in other facets of the game, but I won't miss his D.
I was torn between post scoring and post defense. However, I think our post defense was decent last year while we didn't have a whole lot of post scoring outside of putbacks. Also, an improved post offense could cause defenses to sag thus helping out the 3-point shooting as well.
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^ agree. Play well together as a team chemistry wise and everything else falls in place. One of the best things about last year was how great the chemistry was vs other schools. You just knew our team was a tighter group and were having more fun- I had been dying to see a team like that at UCONN for about 5 years. I think the chemistry's most direct result was how well we played D. If other teams can not score a lot of points we will put ourselves into a position win.
I also do not see us as being nearly as polished on the O side of the ball with Kemba gone. I am just hoping we make good choices on O and play great D.
I also do not see us as being nearly as polished on the O side of the ball with Kemba gone. I am just hoping we make good choices on O and play great D.
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with RS at sf, JL at sg and BAZZ at pg our perimeter D is going to be tough thats a given. now if those guys get beat off the dribble which will be difficult for the opposition your going to have AO and AD waiting in the post. good luck with that. inside D will block shots leading to outlet passes and a ton of fast break points for RS,JL and BAZZ who are long and fast.
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Looks like I'm the only one who went with bench. Guess I'm looking at it more in terms of what improves most, but I think if these guys coming in are as good as advertised, we kill teams merely by fielding so many guys who are capable of being starters at many DI schools that the reserves can dominate the opposing reserves.
ctchamps
We are UConn!! 6 >>>1!
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I think winning brings chemistry. And losing rips it apart.
One category that was missing in the above choices was team balance. This years team will be more balanced than last years team. It may not translate into more wins, but I expect UConn to have different players stepping up on different days. Last year it was more predictable.
I was very concerned about losing Chuck. He was an excellent goal tender last season. Not much contribution on offense but he solidified the interior defense against opposing teams with athletic and tall bigs. He was a big part of Butler's problems for instance.
Therefore getting AD was important imo. He should be a significant upgrade on the offensive end although I'm not thinking from day one he will be Sullinger like significant.
It is hard to replace a guy like Kemba. But I'm optimistic the three of RB, SN and JL will get it done. And hopefully DD will be a significant upgrade over JC.
One category that was missing in the above choices was team balance. This years team will be more balanced than last years team. It may not translate into more wins, but I expect UConn to have different players stepping up on different days. Last year it was more predictable.
I was very concerned about losing Chuck. He was an excellent goal tender last season. Not much contribution on offense but he solidified the interior defense against opposing teams with athletic and tall bigs. He was a big part of Butler's problems for instance.
Therefore getting AD was important imo. He should be a significant upgrade on the offensive end although I'm not thinking from day one he will be Sullinger like significant.
It is hard to replace a guy like Kemba. But I'm optimistic the three of RB, SN and JL will get it done. And hopefully DD will be a significant upgrade over JC.
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I am going to homer out here for a minute- and as you know I am a "DOOMD" fan first and not prone to pumping up expectations.
AD might have a Sullinger type year. I watched the film on him and compared it to some of the other 5 star bigs coming to college this year and there is simply no contest. IF his head matches his skills and IF he plays every play at 100% effort he could be a monster. Someone like Sullinger (there are not many if any other players like him) will have a good opportunity to get him in foul trouble- but the AO/AD combo could be the best in the country-that right- the best front court in the country. It's possible but certainly not a given- heck nothing is a given with this team outside AO being very steady, RS's D and J Lamb improving.
AD might have a Sullinger type year. I watched the film on him and compared it to some of the other 5 star bigs coming to college this year and there is simply no contest. IF his head matches his skills and IF he plays every play at 100% effort he could be a monster. Someone like Sullinger (there are not many if any other players like him) will have a good opportunity to get him in foul trouble- but the AO/AD combo could be the best in the country-that right- the best front court in the country. It's possible but certainly not a given- heck nothing is a given with this team outside AO being very steady, RS's D and J Lamb improving.
ctchamps
We are UConn!! 6 >>>1!
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I hope you're right. He has the skills and athleticism to be Sullinger like. But you hit the nail on the head. What will be his intensity level. This cannot be overlooked. Outside of Waylon, every fan felt SR was an uber athlete. But he held back at times. It was a confidence thing and not an attitude thing imo. JC has had his share of players with this weakness. He had to continuously push Caron and Ben.
I would say AO sometimes suffers from this problem. Although the postseason last year gave me the impression he has mostly over come this problem. And AD has the reputation coming in with this problem as well.
Of course JC had the opposite type of player as well with Khalid, Rashad and John Gwynn.
The one thing I believe you have correctly assessed is that when AD and AO play up to their skills, they will be one of the best tandems of 4/5 in the country.
Well, when you're talking about stuff like this you first have to consider what areas we were weak in last year and possibly this year, and consider whether you're talking about gross issues (rebounding, low A/TO ratio, solid defense) or issues that carry more or less weight depending on who we're playing on a given night in response to the other team's play style (3 point shooting against a Cuse zone). I guess I'll just go through the poll options since there are plenty of factors that go into winning a basketball game.
3 point ability: I believe we may be lacking here for this year. We only made 32% of our threes last year, and our highest percentage shooter (amongst players with significant minutes) was JL who shot 37%. Keep in mind as well that you could bet that a decent amount of these shots were open looks Kemba gave the other guards after driving and kicking the ball out. We won't have Kemba to distract the defense as well as he did, so we probably won't have as many open looks as we had last year. couple that with the still low percentages, and we may still have trouble from three. Luckily, we have such a strong front court with a center who is so adept at passing that this may not end up being a huge deal.
Post scoring: This will probably be the strongest aspect of our offense, as we have AO coming off another summer of practice as a junior, ready to make even more significant improvement than he made last year, as well as a once-in-a-decade beast of a scorer in AD. Add in Roscoe's rebounding, DD's size and athleticism, and Enosch's apparent (from what I saw) improvement, we have a very, very strong core of post players. We'll see what Olander and Bradley have done with their summers. This could very well be our primary method of scoring, and will thus be one of, if not the most important part of our success.
Inside defense: we know we can rebound, and, after the last 3 games of the tournament last year, we know we can play defense already. JC teams (as long as I've watched) have always played strong defense in a league where inside presence and defensive skill is imperative. Add in AD's and DD's size and athleticism and we will be just as strong inside as ever. Defense is always important and is arguably what won us a championship, so this will definitely help alot.
Tempo: UConn has always played, as Dookie V loves to say, "run baby run" and I see no reason why this should change this season. Boatright is lightning quick. AD can run like few 6'11" guys can. I have a hunch that we're not going to press very much, even when JC plays 3 guards. 2 sophomores and a freshman may not have the rotation of assignments that occurs during a press down well enough to execute it effectively enough in real-game speed. I definitely don't think we're going to go the ND way and burn the clock every possession, but I don't think the offense will revolve around when Kemba Walker sees an opening anymore, aside from the fact that he's gone. I don't think our tempo will play a large factor in our success
Bench: the bench is always important to a degree, and it will be a factor this year since we don't have an unquestioned star leader who can play a full 40 minute game. This, of course, is always a good thing, and our bench has gotten significantly stronger than it was last year. When you think of a bench, you think of role players (Chuck's defense and rebounding, Beverly's leadership, Craig Austrie's free-throw shooting hahahahaha), but since most of our players are such well-rounded players and could start for just about any team in the country, they aren't even really bench players in the traditional sense. As opposed to filling certain roles at certain times, the "bench" can be rotated to give teams entirely different looks at different times in a game. This can be a fairly significant part to the game plan and to our success.
Perimeter defense: I honestly feel that this, along with perimeter shooting and turnovers, was the reason the '09-'10 team was so disappointing. Kemba was our best perimeter defender last year and will be missed, but we all surely caught glimpses of Shabazz's Kemba-like scrappiness on the perimeter. Shabazz is definitely a quality defender (stripped the final shot of..... was it the Louisville game in the BET?) and JL has such crazy length that you do not want to shoot with his hand coming towards your face. We shall see how good a defender Boatright is. Giffey, from what we've seen, is surely at least a sound defender.
Coming off a championship is a double-edged sword. The majority of our roster has been through one of the biggest grinds in college basketball postseason history and knows what it takes to win the big games (14 of them to be exact). They will surely be alot more confident this year. However, being the defending championship puts a huge target on your back, which means that we will be getting the absolute best of every team we play as they try to knock us off.
3 point ability: I believe we may be lacking here for this year. We only made 32% of our threes last year, and our highest percentage shooter (amongst players with significant minutes) was JL who shot 37%. Keep in mind as well that you could bet that a decent amount of these shots were open looks Kemba gave the other guards after driving and kicking the ball out. We won't have Kemba to distract the defense as well as he did, so we probably won't have as many open looks as we had last year. couple that with the still low percentages, and we may still have trouble from three. Luckily, we have such a strong front court with a center who is so adept at passing that this may not end up being a huge deal.
Post scoring: This will probably be the strongest aspect of our offense, as we have AO coming off another summer of practice as a junior, ready to make even more significant improvement than he made last year, as well as a once-in-a-decade beast of a scorer in AD. Add in Roscoe's rebounding, DD's size and athleticism, and Enosch's apparent (from what I saw) improvement, we have a very, very strong core of post players. We'll see what Olander and Bradley have done with their summers. This could very well be our primary method of scoring, and will thus be one of, if not the most important part of our success.
Inside defense: we know we can rebound, and, after the last 3 games of the tournament last year, we know we can play defense already. JC teams (as long as I've watched) have always played strong defense in a league where inside presence and defensive skill is imperative. Add in AD's and DD's size and athleticism and we will be just as strong inside as ever. Defense is always important and is arguably what won us a championship, so this will definitely help alot.
Tempo: UConn has always played, as Dookie V loves to say, "run baby run" and I see no reason why this should change this season. Boatright is lightning quick. AD can run like few 6'11" guys can. I have a hunch that we're not going to press very much, even when JC plays 3 guards. 2 sophomores and a freshman may not have the rotation of assignments that occurs during a press down well enough to execute it effectively enough in real-game speed. I definitely don't think we're going to go the ND way and burn the clock every possession, but I don't think the offense will revolve around when Kemba Walker sees an opening anymore, aside from the fact that he's gone. I don't think our tempo will play a large factor in our success
Bench: the bench is always important to a degree, and it will be a factor this year since we don't have an unquestioned star leader who can play a full 40 minute game. This, of course, is always a good thing, and our bench has gotten significantly stronger than it was last year. When you think of a bench, you think of role players (Chuck's defense and rebounding, Beverly's leadership, Craig Austrie's free-throw shooting hahahahaha), but since most of our players are such well-rounded players and could start for just about any team in the country, they aren't even really bench players in the traditional sense. As opposed to filling certain roles at certain times, the "bench" can be rotated to give teams entirely different looks at different times in a game. This can be a fairly significant part to the game plan and to our success.
Perimeter defense: I honestly feel that this, along with perimeter shooting and turnovers, was the reason the '09-'10 team was so disappointing. Kemba was our best perimeter defender last year and will be missed, but we all surely caught glimpses of Shabazz's Kemba-like scrappiness on the perimeter. Shabazz is definitely a quality defender (stripped the final shot of..... was it the Louisville game in the BET?) and JL has such crazy length that you do not want to shoot with his hand coming towards your face. We shall see how good a defender Boatright is. Giffey, from what we've seen, is surely at least a sound defender.
Coming off a championship is a double-edged sword. The majority of our roster has been through one of the biggest grinds in college basketball postseason history and knows what it takes to win the big games (14 of them to be exact). They will surely be alot more confident this year. However, being the defending championship puts a huge target on your back, which means that we will be getting the absolute best of every team we play as they try to knock us off.
S
storrsbred1
Just keep the mojo in mind.
The Philly Eagles had everything going for them this year. Their fans practically had them already in the super bowl. Look what happened with injuries. You can't PO the mojo.
The Philly Eagles had everything going for them this year. Their fans practically had them already in the super bowl. Look what happened with injuries. You can't PO the mojo.
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