Worst half of career for Oriakhi.
- Thread starter gibhunter
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He is better than Chuck was as a junior.
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Hit a long jumper, made a good turnaround, grabbed rebounds, etc.
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Alex had a good game and I'm not sure exactly what you were watching.
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alex had a decent game rebounding and made a couple of shots but it ws far from a good game.....defense and help was non existent.....
UConnSwag11
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Now that we have a true center with the athleticism Drummond has along with the development of the wings. His points will go down but we need him to mainly stay out of foul trouble, rebound and block shots. He played well today
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Well at least this game didn't go by without one hyperbolic Oriakhi thread.
Thanks gib for picking up for babysheep, needed a board hyperventilator in his absence.
Thanks gib for picking up for babysheep, needed a board hyperventilator in his absence.
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No one can deny that AO is playing at a very low level right now. He has no offensive game whatsoever at the moment and his defense has gotten much worse. I keep waiting for him to "wake up" from this funk, but I am losing faith it will happen. Hope I am wrong.
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Well, in the second half, he hit an 18-footer and a turnaround on the low block. Both were good rhythm shots. The lefty jumphook has looked ugly for him, though - and that's usually been his go-to. But moving forward, he could get a lot of 12-18 footers (especially with AD in the game), so if he can knock that one down, he's going to see his minutes increase.
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This. AO is not playing to the level we expect him to. If anyone wants to defend otherwise, whatever. I'm ok with the six rebounds and we kept St. Johns to 25% at the end of the first half, some of which I attribute to AO - so it wasn't that bad. But definitely we expect more leadership and offensive prowess. He really doesn't show the level of leadership that's coming from Napier...or even Boatright for that matter. This team would be really lost without Napier though...really really lost.
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How can he have no offensive game whatsoever when he makes turnarounds in the lane and pops from the top of the key. His offensive game is limited, yes. But why the hyperbole?
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He actually played relatively well today. I was at the game and to be honest, he was worse defensively in the second half than the first so I'm not sure what you were watching. The few open jumpers they had in the first half was because TO didn't switch once and same with Lamb. Both Lamb and TO acknowledged it was "their bad" as they went back down the court.
He actually grabbed down some boards and made some offensive plays..
He actually grabbed down some boards and made some offensive plays..
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If you watch Alex he is still learning to play the 4 or adjusting to AD at least. No need to bash him, he's a junior learning a new role. Tyler on the other hand is turning out to be the most improved player on the team. If you combine the 2 at PF you will see good production at that position, that's what good team's recognize.
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i agree with the last few posts AO did play better today especially in the first half. i was happy to see him rebounding and being agressive but then he disappeared in the second half after he hit the jumper and pretty much ended up on the bench. hopefully he`s starting to turn it around.
joober jones
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RS9999X
There's no Dark Side .....it's all Dark.
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A lot of the consternation with Alex seems to be derived from unmet expectations. He can put up similar numbers as Tyler and we feel Tyler had a great game and Alex sucked. I think I understand the genesis of some of those expectations even as it applies to me. However, maybe it is like my golf handicap which is an average of my BEST rounds. It isn't an average of all my scores and I shouldn't be expected to achieve my handicap all the time. Golfing to my handicap would represent a very good performance. So it is with Alex perhaps. Do we expect the 2011 Texas game or Maui or NCAA tournament Alex all the time? Is this a reasonable expectation?
Over his 2+ years the one thing we can say about him is that he has been fairly inconsistent and maybe this just isn't going to change. I will agree that we are yet to see the best of Alex this year and hopefully he is saving that up for an opportune moment. Are we reaching the point where we need to accept to him for what he is and what he is not? Is it time to recalibrate our expectations of Alex? I think I'm starting to do that with each passing game while hoping for the occasional temporary breakout.
Something that cannot ebb and flow is his leadership though. He is the only upperclassman and one of the captains. While his performance may be uneven his leadership cannot be. Whether he is riding the pine or not he must demonstrate leadership. He cannot pout in the locker room after a bad performance. He cannot spout off on Twitter if he feels he's been wronged. He needs to suck it up and be there for the team despite what he may be battling on a personal level. Some may say that's a lot for a 20 year-old to deal with but that's the nature of being a captain. He has accepted the role and now he must live up to the job requirements.
Here's to hoping Alex golfs to his handicap a few times in the near future.
Over his 2+ years the one thing we can say about him is that he has been fairly inconsistent and maybe this just isn't going to change. I will agree that we are yet to see the best of Alex this year and hopefully he is saving that up for an opportune moment. Are we reaching the point where we need to accept to him for what he is and what he is not? Is it time to recalibrate our expectations of Alex? I think I'm starting to do that with each passing game while hoping for the occasional temporary breakout.
Something that cannot ebb and flow is his leadership though. He is the only upperclassman and one of the captains. While his performance may be uneven his leadership cannot be. Whether he is riding the pine or not he must demonstrate leadership. He cannot pout in the locker room after a bad performance. He cannot spout off on Twitter if he feels he's been wronged. He needs to suck it up and be there for the team despite what he may be battling on a personal level. Some may say that's a lot for a 20 year-old to deal with but that's the nature of being a captain. He has accepted the role and now he must live up to the job requirements.
Here's to hoping Alex golfs to his handicap a few times in the near future.
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Some guys have great hands, some don't. Caron, Jason Kidd - have great hands; Adrien, Thabeet and Alex not so much. Alex needs to keep at it and he will get better. Freshman year he couldn't make a foul shot never mind a jump shot. Now he is ok and form is good enough that he should improve. The jump hook is ok, needs to gather himself before shooting, he isn't good enough or have soft enough shot to make it off balance. On power moves inside he needs to get elbows out more (without getting refs calling fouls) and sometimes fake. He doesn't have as much space playing with Drummond and needs to get used to the spacing of playing the 4 and what is or isn't a good shot/move by him. Thought this was a solid game for him. Alex is playing 19 minutes per game and is averaging 5.1 rebounds; Adrien who was considered a warrior under the boards averaged 9.9 rebounds per game his senior year while playing 35 minutes per game. If Alex kept same rate of rebounding and played 35 minutes per game he would be averaging 9.1 rebounds per game (in 29 minutes last year he averaged an Adrien equivalent 10.4 rebounds per game). Not all guys improve every game and sustain it. Alex is building a solid base as 4/5 college player and expect him to be back at the "Butler" game level some time this year; not saying he will play at that level every game late in the season, or even in the most important games, just that he will solidify his game so "Butler" performances playing mostly the 4 (vs. his more comfortable 5 position last year) will be a solid chance each game in the BE/NCAA tournaments.
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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
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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.
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.
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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).
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).
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