Huskies blown out of Tourney by Cyclones, 77-64: Season Summary

In a utter 77-64 thrashing from the Iowa State Cyclones, the UConn Huskies became the first defending National Champions in 16 years to lose in the first round. It took just one play for everyone to see so much of what was wrong with this years team. The Cyclones sensational 6'7" point guard, Royce White, took the opening tap and drove right down the lane for an uncontested dunk. This underscored a season long weakness right in the heart of the Husky defense. The game was a route from start to finish as UConn was outplayed, out hustled and out coached. Shabazz Napier, who played his heart out led the scoring with 22 followed by Jeremy Lamb who had 19 but shot poorly. (6-15 from the floor.) In a season long pattern there was virtually no scoring from the big men, Connecticut was dreadful in their half-court offensive sets, and the defense was mediocre. Alex Oriakhi ended his horrendous season in ignominy as he spent the last 17 minutes of the game on the bench and Andre Drummond continued to look like a "diaper dandy" as he had only 2 points in the loss.
UConn ended the season 20-14, 8-10 in the Big East and with virtually no wins against good teams. This season can be summed up in tw0 words, OVER RATED. All the tv commentators and media have been talking all season long about how much talent this team has which I completely disagree with. A favorite line is that the Huskies have 4 future NBA players.
Jeremy Lamb was a pre-season first team All American in Street and Smith ( College BB's Bible) and I think he does not even merit Honorable Mention. I consider Jeremy Lamb the most over rated player in the nation and I am not even sure he will stick with an NBA team. He is not a good pure shooter and much too passive. In his post-game comments Coach Calhoun agreed that they were over rated and said that we thought this group would play better than they did without Walker, we thought Drummond would have more of an immediate impact and we did not foresee the negative impact Drummond's presence would have on Oriakhi's game. I feel that Oriakhi's very poor touch around the hoop will end him up in Europe. Napier, whose heart and swagger I love, is just not an NBA point guard. Drummond is the only certain NBA player but he would be very wise to stay in college for another year. I think the glow left by Kemba Walker left people in disbelief about how bad this years team was. Even with one minute left in thursday night's disaster, blow hard, uninformed Bill Raftery was still talking about how UConn played so far below their talent.
This type of team revealed Calhoun's most glaring weakness as a coach; he just cannot teach a half court offense. UConn will be severely hampered next year because they are ineligible to play in the NCAA tournament because of poor academic performance over the last three years. In addition, I think they still may be down a scholarship from past recruiting violations. While Drummond and Lamb may have chosen to stay another year, I think the tournament prohibition may push them to go next year or transfer to another program, which Oriakhi is sure to do. So where does this leave Calhoun. I feel that his time has passed and UConn needs an exciting, great young coach a la Iowa State's Fred Hoiberg. The best case scenario would be for Calhoun to take his good-bye tour next year and then gracefully step down.
This will likely be my last post of the year, unless there are some interesting developments in the off season. I appreciate my following and particularly those who actively participated in discussions. Well, I will cope with my disappointment about this year by thinking about my boat going in the water in 6 weeks bringing beautiful fishing days on LI Sound. I think we may be in for a couple of rough years and I hope the program can rebound.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

9th seeded Huskies open against Iowa State tonight

The 9th seed (in the South) UConn huskies open their NCAA tourney tonight at 9:15 against Iowa State, the 4th place finisher in the Big 12. the Cyclones were 12-6 in the conference with some big wins late in the year when they knocked off Kansas and Baylor. This appears to be a pretty even match up as the Huskies have an RPI index rating of #32 in the country while the Cyclones are #33.
The winners of tonights game plays the #1 team in country, the Kentucky Wildcats- ouch!
If you are looking for teams that may pull upsets my theory is go with the teams that were playing well at the end of the year. I give Michigan State and their great coach, Tom Izzo a real chance to win it all. Although they are a #1 seed if they play Kentucky a win would be considered a pretty big upset. Other teams that have been hot down the stretch include Indiana, Ohio State, Kansas, Vanderbilt, Baylor and I particularly like Louisville as a dark horse to make it to the final four. Teams that I think that will go home early are Syracuse (loss of Fab Melo, also think Boeheim is a poor bench coach) and Marquette (over rated)
Let the games begin- "You heard it here First"
Steve

Shabazzooks; I will take that Dance Card

A spirited, late game burst by Shabazz Napier sparked a 9 point UConn comeback in the last three minutes of yesterday's tilt against West Virginia to tie the score at 63 and send the game into overtime. Napier scored all of the last 9 points on a combination of steals, coast to coast drives and clutch three pointers during the closing 9-0 Husky run. In not atypical Napier fashion he then committed a very careless foul and fouled out with 2 minutes left in overtime but the Huskies held on for a 71-67 win.
Napier led the Huskies with 26 points, Lamb added 22 and looked more active, Boatright had 10, meaning the entire front court added just 13 points- that is awful!
Once again, I think that announcers and writers are still spell bound by the ghost of Kemba Walker and keep comparing this to last year. West Virginia was 9-9 in conference and is a very flawed team; while they play a very physical game, they are disorganized in the half-court and have no depth- this win is nothing to write home about. ESPN's Doris Burke was particularly off base yesterday and waxed endlessly about the talent of the Huskies. Many of her comments were just so far wrong I don't even know where they came from. For example, UConn was down 7, she said they would not be fazed by the deficit because they are a dangerous team that is explosive and can score points in bunches. The trademark UConn ability to make big runs has been sorely lacking all season long. Runs are generated by a swarming, trapping defense which this team does not have in their repertoire. Hey everyone in the media, guess what- Kemba Doesn't Live Here Anymore!
Get out your tuxedo's Huskies because no doubt yesterday's win insured an invitation to the "Big Dance" Tonight the Huskies will come down to earth as they take on the Syracuse Orange, the #2 team in the nation.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

Garbage Disposal; UConn 81-67

Before anyone gets too excited about UConn's first round 81-67 win over DePaul in the first round of the Big East Tournament lets remember a few facts. DePaul finished 16th and last in the Big East this year for the fourth year in a row. DePaul has the worst record in the country against fast breaks and they did come from 24 back to within 11 and 9.
The Huskies were led by Jeremy Lamb with 25 and Ryan Boatright with 19. Nothing I saw today changed my appraisal of this year's Huskies. Beating DePaul is a bit like getting a sultry adolescent to finally take the garbage out once.
Tomorrow the Huskies take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in a game that should provide a stiffer test.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

"Give my Regards to Broadway"; Huskies finish 8-10 in League Play

Broadway and Madison Square Garden is where the Huskies will be this week as they try to make their case for an NCAA Tournament bid and where they might end up if they lose early this week to Depaul or West Virginia. In addition, if they end up in the NIT, the final four of that tourney also takes place at MSG.
The Huskies, once again, did not do what they had to do to insure an NCAA bid. Instead, against two of the worst teams in the league, Providence (4-14 ) and Pitt (5-13) the best they could do was a split to end up 8-10 and 10th place in the Big East and 18-12 overall. I think that every announcer who does a UConn game still does not seem to realize that Kemba Walker plays on the Charlotte Bobcats this year and there are no hopes for a repeat run in the Big East Tourney. In addition, the mantra seems to be that this team has a lot of talent and they have played really well at times- really? In fact, I do not think they have played really well at any point this year. There is no leadership, the half-court offense is non-existent, Jeremy Lamb is not a go-to guy, and the vaunted Husky defense is somewhere up in Alaska running in the Itiderod. Teams drive the lane at will, a disgraceful fact against a team that has traditionally made players trying to drive the paint pay with blocked shots and physical play.
In both their horrendous 72-70 loss to Providence and their ragged 74-65 win over Pitt, UConn blew 14 point leads in the second half. Against Pitt Napier led the scoring with 23 and Roscoe Smith had 14 pts and 7 rebounds.
This year has been a very weak year for mid-majors and indepents so the nations's leading brackotologist, Joe Lunardi has opined that 10 Big East teams, including UConn with a 10 seed will be invited to the Big Dance. The Huskies open today against Depaul and then if they advance will probably play West Virginia; their run will end there as they play Syracuse in the third round.
There will be no Big East Miracle Run this year. I think that wins over Depaul and West Virginia will probably get them a bid but a first or second round loss will put them on the bubble.
I am saying that because Joe Lunardi is rarely wrong and thinks they are in, but frankly I think it is a travesty to invite teams in that are below .500 in conference play.
On the plus side, Calhoun is back and Roscoe Smith finally seems to have gotten some confidence back and is scoring some points. Unfortuneately, I think that this years disorganized and leaderless Huskies may go down in the second round of the Big East Tourney against West Virginia and then the NCAA tournament committee will have a tough case to make if they invite them in.
"You Heard it Here First"

You are Your Record; Syracuse 71-UConn 69

I am not nor have I ever been a believer in "good losses". As Jim Boeheim said in a post-game interview " This team always finds a way to win." That is why the Orange are 29-1 and the Huskies are 7-9 in the Big East and precariously atop the bubble. I also do not subscribe to the oft repeated line (Dicky V. was very guilty of this yesterday) this UConn team is much better than their record; No! they have not beaten any of the top 6 teams in the Big East because the truth is this is a mediocre Husky team. I cannot remember a UConn team in recent years that allowed so many opposing players drive right down the lane to the hoop- that is just not UConn basketball. Yesterday was disgraceful as several Orange players drove to the hoop virtually unchallenged. In addition, they do not play consistently with hustle and their half court offense has regressed to virtually no movement off the ball. The loss of scholarships resulting from recruiting violations as left them with no depth on the bench.
Despite this, give them credit for an effort and hustle level yesterday that they have not shown in weeks. They overcame a 17 point deficit to tie the game and had the ball out of bounds down two with 13 seconds left to play. Grandma Moses could have figured out that the Huskies were going to try to put the ball in Jeremy Lamb's hands and when he got the ball Boeheim had him triple teamed so he had to make a desperation pass to Roscoe Smith whose off balance shot was blocked. I think they should have either had Lamb coming off double or triple screens to shoot a jumper or use him as a decoy and go inside. Giving him the ball up top and letting him try to make his own shot was a disastrous strategy.
Jeremy Lamb had a nice game and led the scoring with 19, followed by Drummond with 15boatright with 14 and Roscoe Smith in his best outing of the year with 13.
I do think that it is hard to evaluate how much Calhoun's absense has delayed this team's development- certainly it is a huge factor. Calhoun is scheduled to have back surgery on Monday and we wish him well.
UConn now has two games left - Providence and Pitt; if they win both they are 9-9 in the BigEast and are in the Big Dance. If they split and are 8-10 it would be awfully hard for the committee to justify an invitation to the Big Dance.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve

hOYa Vay! Georgetown 58- UConn 44

There are no words to describe how horrific the UConn Huskies looked as they registered their second lowest point total (42 in 1998 was their lowest) in their 58-44 loss to the Georgetown Hoyas last night. The Huskies shot 30% from the floor and after scoring 13 points in the first 31/2 minutes of the games they scored just 31 points in the last 261/2 minutes of the contest.

Prior to the game Calhoun announced that Oriakhi and Napier were being removed from the starting line up in favor of Boatright and Roscoe Smith in an attempt to speed up the tempo on offense. In the first 31/2 minutes Calhoun's strategy seemed prescient as the Huskies jumped out to the lead, looked good in transition, and Boatright made three beautiful feeds to Andre Drummond including an alley oop. Unfortuneately, Boatright picked up his second foul about 7 minutes in and as is Calhoun policy sat out the remainder of the half so as not to pick up his third personal. When Napier took over at point the transition game disappeared and the Huskies reverted to their stand around half court offense with the guards firing up bricks. Napier was 0-9 from the floor and finished with 1 point and Lamb was 4-18 and finished with 14. Once again, aside from Drummond, who had another impressive game, with 18 points on 9-12 shooting the remainder of the front court contributed only 9 points and stood around on offense.
When boatright went in to start the second half the Huskies had lost their spark and even the talented Freshman point guard could reignite them. I must say that in my 25 years as a UConnmen's basketball fan I have never felt sicker than I did after this display. Even the ever positive Dick Vitale expressed disgust at the Huskies lack of motion on offense.
So, what gives? In my mind there is a worst case scenario and a best case scenario. In either case, there are two conclusions that to me are incontrovertible. Roscoe Smith cannot and will never be able to shoot. Alex Oriakhi, although playing without any confidence right now, has no touch around the hoop. He has always missed too many chippies and it is accentuated this year because the rest of his game has fallen apart.
Worst Case Scenario - Simply put this teams potential was highly over rated and we were all fooled by their cupcake non-conference schedule. Smith and Oriakhi have little upside, Lamb cannot make the jump to go to guy and the Huskies will finish below .500 in the Big East and are bound for the NIT not the Big Dance.
Best Case Scenario- This young team is taking longer than expected to gel because of two disruptive influences. First, the 6 and 3 game suspensions of Ryan Boatright have delayed integrating him effectively into the line up and the other key players have been slow to adjust to his presence. Second, the addition of the highly talented Andre Drummond and Boatright have changed Oriakhi's role and reduced his minutes. He was expected to improve on last years 11ppg and 11rpg but instead has lost all his confidence and regressed. If he can regain some confidence he can at least become the effective rebounder that he was last year. Smith's role has also been reduced and he is lost but will also improve to provide the effective defense and defensive rebounding that he did last year.
Although Jeremy Lamb has been slow to become the "go to" guy he is only a Sophomore and remember Walker did not become dominant until his Junior year. Perhaps Lamb will grow into this role as the season progresses. Napier, confidence shook will regain his shooting touch and continue to add 12-13ppg. Now that Boatright is back, he will take over at the point and get the transition game going again. He is a great penetrator and passer and when he shakes the rust will score 10-12 ppg. Giffey will shoot more and score 8-10ppg.
Calhoun will realize that his best starting line up will be Lamb and Boatright at guard and Drummond, Giffey and ty Olander up front. To me, using Olander more is pivotal. He is a great interior passer and always looks inside when he gets the ball encouraging the other big men to get more active..When Olander is out the Huskies tend to stand around and watch the Guards dribble and shoot. If all these things happen the Huskies will finish a game or two above .500 and go the Big Dance. I don't see them advancing past the second round but who knows.
Which scenario will we see? that's why they play the games.
"You heard it here First"
Steve