Worst half of career for Oriakhi.

[mauconnfan]

People would like to over analyze Alex right now, base it on a new position, stats etc etc.. He's a basketball player, a 4/5 or whatever and a junior with a ring. He needs to finish better and there is no reason not to expect him to have made more strides than we have seen thus far. They would be much better if he understood help D better and he should by this point in his career. Right now things need to get better and its on him. Until then I would like to see more DD and Niels as they match up better against the smaller,quicker lineups the Huskies will continue to see in the Big East. If JC stays man to man as we know he willt hen there will be many minutes where AO and Andre cannot exist on the court together from what I can see due to matchups.

 

[ctchamps]

I think there is a bit of accuracy with every post in this thread. How can that be when some of us say he had a better first half and others feel he had a better second half? I guess part of the problem is that we, as observers, have built in inaccuracies.

My perspective. The first four or so minutes at the start of the game in which AD and AO played together were the best four minutes this season. I thought they positioned themselves both on offense and defense really well. If they develop this relationship, UConn certainly has a chance for another NC.

The rest of the game AO was up and down. I'm not just looking at completions in scoring. There were times he positioned himself well on offense and defense, and other times he didn't know what to do. Part of the problem is that AO is being asked to play a new position, although even this isn't totally accurate because last season he did play some minutes at the four with Chuck at the five. Part of the problem is that Alex has to think the game. He has to consciously remember what he has to do at times. And then he does it. But by that time its too late. Other times he does things automatically and when he does he is an incredible player.

This is inherent in Alex. It is frustrating to observe someone with the physical gifts that Alex has to not be able to utilize them with greater consistency. But that doesn't mean he isn't trying.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think the "expectations" issue is our main problem with AO. He came in as a highly-touted prospect, a McD AA, signed basically as a high school sophomore (and forcing us to take Jamal Coombs-McDaniel along with him), with the expectation that he would be our next stalwart in the middle along the lines of Okafor, Boone, Adrien, Thabeet.

And, frankly, he's just not as good as we were expecting. Okafor had an amazing feel for the game, and Thabeet developed rapidly into a serviceable and then a star center. AO's ceiling is looking more like Hilton Armstrong (who I'm hoping will also blow up his senior year after being shoved down the depth chart his junior year).