Zones - Glen Miller's Fools Gold

[Chief00]

I don't care how undermanned we are - stop playing zone. You can't play zone and play UConn basketball. Screw it!

 

[Chief00]

Sitting here at XL and can't believe not one comment. UConn basketball was built on in your face man to man - win or lose that's our culture. That's a winning culture that makes everyone accountable.

 

[BFieldHusky]

I don't care how undermanned we are - stop playing zone. You can't play zone and play UConn basketball. Screw it!

You can't play man with 6-7 scholarships players. It sucks I know. Houston is the wrong team to zone but you have no choice when you are this undermanned. Hard to believe you can't see that.

 

[sdhusky]

I have to wait to hear from Chief that Adams is out.

Can you confirm that chief?

 

[UConnfan8]

We have 6 players man

 

[Chief00]

You guys are all wrong - stick with an aggressive culture - it carries over to offense as well.

 

[Tenspro2002]

At the risk of lending credence to the Chief, I don't know if it's the zone defense, comfort with losing, or something else, but it feels like Boat was the last guy we had who played with classic UConn toughness and pride.

 

[3rdbass]

We surely didn't hustle playing zone for the whole first half. Calhoun at least would have played a walk on with how bad the starters looked.

 

[CTBballfan243]

You can't play man to man defense when the players you have are incapable of playing man to man defense. The major problem is that we have guys on the floor that are not D1 players.

 

[CougarRed]

The major problem is that we have guys on the floor that are not D1 players.

UConn had a lot more HS All-Americans on its roster than Houston did. Four of the seven guys who played today for UConn were National Top 100 recruits. Plus a legit defensive center.

Houston dreams of recruiting that well.

 

[Mr. French]

At the risk of lending credence to the Chief, I don't know if it's the zone defense, comfort with losing, or something else, but it feels like Boat was the last guy we had who played with classic UConn toughness and pride.

That maybe true, but I think we have a few UConn tough guys, just haven't fully seen it yet... But nevertheless, that doesn't lend credence to Chief's comment about today...


You can't play pressure man with 6-7 healthy bodies, many of whom aren't up to speed on intricate details of the college game YET (hopefully).

 

[Mr. French]

UConn had a lot more HS All-Americans on its roster than Houston did. Four of the seven guys who played today for UConn were National Top 100 recruits. Plus a legit defensive center.

Houston dreams of recruiting that well.

That's what worries me...that they were THAT bad...because our players, talent-wise, shouldn't be THAT outmatched.

But a big part of that is their team composition: The right 6-7 guys can be enough, though it's tough. This 6-7 guys, right now, ain't it.

 

[Chief00]

We need to see who can play the UConn way and who can't. We are undermanned as I said in the first line of the original post - but let's at least expose who will man up and who won't.
I am tired of this overrealiance on the APR gospel - we can't run guys out who refuse to play hard nose - that's not how we became UConn.
What the casual fan and others don't realize is defensive energy carries over to rebounding and offense. Glen Miller's Ivy League and Conn College zones are not what we are about. I agree with the poster who said Calhoun would have played the walkons today to send the guys a message. Just cuz we have 6-7 ship dudes doesn't mean you can play half way.
From a coach's perspective you develop a lot of bad habits that way. We could have had lots of teachable moments today instead we played in no man's land. Great to give a guy responsibility and hold him accountable no matter what your staffing levels are.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

These comments are ridiculous. I'm not making excuses but if I was going to imagine RP playing the point, I would have thought we were in another six OT game. The only shot we had at winning was to keep it close in the first half and turn up the defensive pressure in the 2nd half hoping there was no foul problem. Guess what... we scored 11 and the best rim protector in the conference was yet again sitting on the sidelines when they made a run to put the game out of reach. It doesn't matter if your name is Calhoun, Popovich or Wooden... the Huskies were not winning that game with those players today.

 

[Chief00]

These comments are ridiculous. I'm not making excuses but if I was going to imagine RP playing the point, I would have thought we were in another six OT game. The only shot we had at winning was to keep it close in the first half and turn up the defensive pressure in the 2nd half hoping there was no foul problem. Guess what... we scored 11 and the best rim protector in the conference was yet again sitting on the sidelines when they made a run to put the game out of reach. It doesn't matter if your name is Calhoun, Popovich or Wooden... the Huskies were not winning that game with those players today.

Quite frankly, it's bigger than winning this one game and in fact we lost it by 20 points. It's about setting the culture and expectations. You need to think more strategically.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

At the risk of lending credence to the Chief, I don't know if it's the zone defense, comfort with losing, or something else, but it feels like Boat was the last guy we had who played with classic UConn toughness and pride.

You dont think Adams plays with toughness?

 

[Tenspro2002]

You dont think Adams plays with toughness?

He may be the only one. That sort of attitude and toughness seems to be the exception, rather than the rule though lately.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

He may be the only one. That sort of attitude and toughness seems to be the exception, rather than the rule though lately.

yeah but i dont think the 06' team would be defined by toughness or playing with pride. Calhoun had some wtf teams too, the 06', 08', 2010', teams

 

[Sonova]

yeah but i dont think the 06' team would be defined by toughness or playing with pride. Calhoun had some wtf teams too, the 06', 08', 2010', teams

Yeah that 30-4 (14-2 in the Big East with 6 ranked teams) sure was a WTF squad (sarcasm)...and the 24-9 (13-5 in the Big East) 2008 team is one I'm glad we don't have now. Who wants that kind of failure especially the year before a final four run..I'm not sure I'd call 2010 a wtf year either. Coming off a Final Four and a year before a national championship I'll live with an 18-16 reload. So please spare me the comparisons to Calhoun. This program has quickly become a fraction of what it was under JC. In culture and reputation and in results.

 

[Stainmaster]

Yeah that 30-4 (14-2 in the Big East with 6 ranked teams) sure was a WTF squad (sarcasm)...and the 24-9 (13-5 in the Big East) 2008 team is one I'm glad we don't have now. Who wants that kind of failure especially the year before a final four run..I'm not sure I'd call 2010 a wtf year either. Coming off a Final Four and a year before a national championship I'll live with an 18-16 reload. So please spare me the comparisons to Calhoun. This program has quickly become a fraction of what it was under JC. In culture and reputation and in results.

Do you think that coaches who should be considered the single greatest of all time just grow on trees?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

UConn had a lot more HS All-Americans on its roster than Houston did. Four of the seven guys who played today for UConn were National Top 100 recruits. Plus a legit defensive center.

Houston dreams of recruiting that well.

I'll trade you Amida Brimah and Rodney Purvis for Rob Gray and Chicken Knowles any day of the week. Maybe even a 2 for 1 of waiter guy.

 

[mauconnfan]

UConn had a lot more HS All-Americans on its roster than Houston did. Four of the seven guys who played today for UConn were National Top 100 recruits. Plus a legit defensive center.

Houston dreams of recruiting that well.

You're a dope! please don't return

 

[mauconnfan]

With CougarRed and others of our own, this is a really ridiculous thread. I mean to think that team could play 40 minutes of man and stay out of foul trouble is really lame. The best chance we had was to play zone and then hope the 2 guards who can't play the point could run the offense. We were severely undermanned, will be all season - quit bitching.

 

[Candyman]

Play man when we are usually in foul trouble in a zone? Also someone said we don't have D1 players? Cmon, most of these guys are role players but high major role players that weren't suppose to play this much yet. If we go man and Purvis gets in foul trouble then we're down to 1 guard, a freshman. Think about it Vital and Purvis played 40 minutes and Ollie couldnt take them out if he wanted to. This thread needs to die.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I trust the coaches. Also, Calhoun used to play some zone. It's only in the last 5-10 years we went almost 100% man.