As I settled into my front row seat right behind the scorers table with blog follower Mike Davis, we both felt the excitement in the air generated by a full house at the Civic Centre and the news that Ryan Boatright had been cleared to play in today's game by the NCAA. Now we'll see the real Huskies take the Irish apart. It was clear from the opening possession that Notre Dame's fine coach Mike Brey was planning to dictate a slow pace through long offensive possessions and neutralize the Huskies transitional, running game. The Irish, who have won three straight Big East games to improve to 6-3 in conference play, have a very disciplined, experienced team, with four starters who played 37 minutes or more and a balanced attack in which the five starters all scored between 8-13 pts. Compare this to the Huskies whom I can only describe as a team that is currently in disarray. Once again two players scored in double figures led by Lamb with 16 and Drummond with 15; Napier had the worst game of his UConn career, was 0-7 from the floor and scored four points. The frontcourt got even worse for the third straight game; Between Daniels, Giffey, Smith, Olander and Oriakhi the frontcourt (other than Drummond) contributed 7 pts. Boatright had 6 and was steady, although he looked a little rusty after his most recent layoff.
Despite all this UConn managed to leave the floor at the break with a 24-21 lead on the strength of Drummond's strong play inside and their smothering man to man defense. Lamb, who was blanketed for most of the first half came alive for 5 quick points near the half time buzzer. When boatright went into the game after 9 minutes the Husky offense looked better and optimism was restored: then came the disastrous start of the second half. UConn was scoreless for seven minutes while the Irish scored 13 unanswered points to take a 10 point lead. The Huskies finally started trapping and managed to close the gap to the final two point deficit.
Ironically, UConn shot better from the field but the difference was that Notre Dame had 7 treys to UConn's 3 and managed to dictate a slow pace for the entire second half.
So what is the conumdrum? Are the Huskies as bad as they looked today in this desultory loss? Is their frontcourt as hapless as it seemed today? The worst aspect of today's loss was the complete regression to their weak half court sets where the guards dribble aimlessly and there is absolutely no movement off the ball. The Huskies are now 4-4 in the Big East and will surely drop out of the top 25 in both polls for the first time in 28 weeks. I am trying to take heart from how bleak things looked last year at this time but there are some major differences. While this year's team just suffered their third straight loss last year's squad never lost more than 2 games in a row. Perhaps of greater significance is that it is becoming obvious that Jeremy Lamb is no Kemba Walker and is having trouble taking over games when need be.
On Wednesday, the Huskies travel to the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. to take on a good Georgetown Hoya five. Don't lose heart but we may have all been fooled by the Huskies ridiculously easy non-conference schedule.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Uconn loses to mediocre Tennessee team/NCAA/Boatright investigation turns Draconian
Yesterday's 60-57 loss to an 8-10 Tennessee five looked like a duplicate of Wednesday's 70-67 loss to Cincinatti. Once again, 65% of the points (Lamb 23, Napier 17) and shots came from Napier and Lamb, Lamb played 39 minutes, Napier, played 38 and Giffey 35, the game ended with Napier desperately firing up long three's, and there was very little contribution from the front court. The loss of Ryan Boatright, due the NCAA's now bizarre on-going investigation, is completely disrupting the Husky offense. Without a third guard, Lamb and Napier have played virtually whole games, reducing their effectiveness as they become exhausted in the second half. Boatright was not only was providing a much needed 10ppg., but he opened up the offense allowing for more passes inside and his penetrations with the ball more often than not resulted in dish offs to the bigmen for shots. In addition, Boatright is an excellent defender who forced turnovers in the back court- when he sits the Husky defense fueled runs disappear.
The front court continues to be desultory on offense. If it seemed like 14 pts from the back court on Wednesday was bad they outdid themwelves yesterday with a total of 8, points from their five forwards and Centers. Drummond had 6, Oriakhi 2, and Daniels, Olander and Smith were scoreless. Each game the Huskies seem to start by looking inside more but quickly give up; Napier who seemed to be providing Drummond with a couple of alley oops each game does not seem to looking inside at all in the last two contests and is taking far too many shots for a point guard. Daniels, who looked so promising early in the year seems to have lost his confidence and his getting the quick Calhoun hook every time he goes out on the floor and Olander, although coming of an injury seems to have stopped looking for shots. The front court is in absolute disarray.
Sidenotes Joe Nocera had a very good op ed piece in yesterday's NY Times about the NCAA's investigation of Ryan Boatright who has now sat for 9 games. Originally, the press believed that Boatright had accepted payment for a flight while playing for an A.A.U. team; note at that time he had no invovlement with the NCAA and did nothing remotely illegal. It now turns out that an old friend of boatright's Mother gave her the money to fly to one of Ryan's games that she otherwise could not afforded. The NCAA only found this out when her shady ex-boyfriend in an act of revenge reported it to the NCAA. How does the NCAA have authority over someone before they have any official status with them; as Nocera points out, he thought that in the US people were innocent until proven guilty- not, as in boatright's case, the other way around. Nocera will provide more information about the facts of the case in Tuesday's NYT times op ed section.
The CBS Broadcast team of (Jerry?) Randall and Greg Anthony are, to me typical of the inferior coverage provided by CBS and other major networks when compared to The Big East Channel and ESPN. They are both personable with silken voices but have not done their home work on the teams. For example, at one point when Napier took a poor shot off a fast break, Anthony said "I'm sure Coach Calhoun would have preferred that Napier stop and run UConn's motion offense." What motion offense? Even worse when Roscoe Smith entered the game Randall waxed that "Smith was sometimes too passive but at times was an explosive player on offense. " If I were going to feature Smith's "explosiveness" on July 4th the firewords would be pretty dull.
We can only hope that the NCAA shows some consideration of the fact that they are destroying the Freshman season of a 19 yr. old kid and conclude their investigation.
Does anybody but me suspect that Neils Giffey is actually an alias that Pete Doolittle has taken to attain 4 years of college eligibility. The German thing also is a clever part of the ruse.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve Eliot
The front court continues to be desultory on offense. If it seemed like 14 pts from the back court on Wednesday was bad they outdid themwelves yesterday with a total of 8, points from their five forwards and Centers. Drummond had 6, Oriakhi 2, and Daniels, Olander and Smith were scoreless. Each game the Huskies seem to start by looking inside more but quickly give up; Napier who seemed to be providing Drummond with a couple of alley oops each game does not seem to looking inside at all in the last two contests and is taking far too many shots for a point guard. Daniels, who looked so promising early in the year seems to have lost his confidence and his getting the quick Calhoun hook every time he goes out on the floor and Olander, although coming of an injury seems to have stopped looking for shots. The front court is in absolute disarray.
Sidenotes Joe Nocera had a very good op ed piece in yesterday's NY Times about the NCAA's investigation of Ryan Boatright who has now sat for 9 games. Originally, the press believed that Boatright had accepted payment for a flight while playing for an A.A.U. team; note at that time he had no invovlement with the NCAA and did nothing remotely illegal. It now turns out that an old friend of boatright's Mother gave her the money to fly to one of Ryan's games that she otherwise could not afforded. The NCAA only found this out when her shady ex-boyfriend in an act of revenge reported it to the NCAA. How does the NCAA have authority over someone before they have any official status with them; as Nocera points out, he thought that in the US people were innocent until proven guilty- not, as in boatright's case, the other way around. Nocera will provide more information about the facts of the case in Tuesday's NYT times op ed section.
The CBS Broadcast team of (Jerry?) Randall and Greg Anthony are, to me typical of the inferior coverage provided by CBS and other major networks when compared to The Big East Channel and ESPN. They are both personable with silken voices but have not done their home work on the teams. For example, at one point when Napier took a poor shot off a fast break, Anthony said "I'm sure Coach Calhoun would have preferred that Napier stop and run UConn's motion offense." What motion offense? Even worse when Roscoe Smith entered the game Randall waxed that "Smith was sometimes too passive but at times was an explosive player on offense. " If I were going to feature Smith's "explosiveness" on July 4th the firewords would be pretty dull.
We can only hope that the NCAA shows some consideration of the fact that they are destroying the Freshman season of a 19 yr. old kid and conclude their investigation.
Does anybody but me suspect that Neils Giffey is actually an alias that Pete Doolittle has taken to attain 4 years of college eligibility. The German thing also is a clever part of the ruse.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve Eliot
Thursday, January 19, 2012
UConn misses the Boat(right) in 70-67 home court loss to Cincinnatti
The red hot Cincinnatti Bearcats held off two furious UConn comeback bids in the second half and eked out a 70-67 win for their 7th straight Big East road win. After Shabazz Napier tied the game with the second of two consecutive three point field goals with 10 seconds left, the Bearcats Sean Kilpatrick hit a trey with 2.9 seconds for the three point winning margin. The Huskies sorely missed Freshman Ryan Boatright when Cincy went with their four guard offense and bombed away from three point land; their front court players just could not defend adequately against the ubiquitous Bearcat Guards. For the second time this season Boatright had to sit out pending the NCAA's investigation of undisclosed new information which has emerged about
Boatright's violation of recruiting rules before his involvement with UConn.
The bearcat's were red hot in the first half, opened a 12 point margin and led at halftime by nine. When the Bearcat long range shooters cooled off in the second half after leading 48-37 the Huskies started exploiting the long rebounds after missed shots and went on a 15-2 run punctuated by an enormous Drummond dunk off a fast break, to take a 52-50 lead. However, with Lamb and Napier playing virtually the whole game and Giffey going 34 minutes with Boatright out and Olander injured the Huskies tired and fell behind by six coming down the stretch. For the last three minutes they fouled on every Bearcat possession and Napier hit the second of two dramatic threes to tie the game at 67 before Kilpatrick sealed their fate.
Once again, UConn fell into most of their scoring coming from the backcourt: Napier had a career high 27, Lamb added 14 and Giffey in another fine all around game had 10 on 4-6 from the floor. I would love to see him start shooting more. The huskies glaring weakness of little scoring from the front court was evident as Daniels was scorelss Oriakhi had 2, Smith 4, Olander 4-, and Drummond looking like a Freshman last night had 4- That is a total of 14 pts from the Huskies 5 big men- not a winning formula. This just has to improve for the Huskies to be a consistent threat against top flight opponents.
Interestingly, statistics show that Lamb scores at a much higher rate when Boatright is on the court than he is just paired with Napier. Jeremy has not been looking the part of a "go to guy" in tight games as he still can become too passive.
Sidenote: I have never been a fan of the Bearcat coach Nick Cronin. I see him as part of a new breed of coaches who feel that they can scream and yell at their players with humiliating impunity. After the well publicized brawl between Cincinnatti and Xavier on Dec. 10 Cronin was very critical of his players; I was outraged at his self righteous piousness when I felt that his rages have created an atmosphere in his team that allowed for this ugly fight. Apparently, so did someone upstairs at Cincinatti because he was clearly under orders last night to knock off the screaming and yelling. If you have ever been at any Bearcat games you know what I mean.
"You Heard it here First"
Steve
Boatright's violation of recruiting rules before his involvement with UConn.
The bearcat's were red hot in the first half, opened a 12 point margin and led at halftime by nine. When the Bearcat long range shooters cooled off in the second half after leading 48-37 the Huskies started exploiting the long rebounds after missed shots and went on a 15-2 run punctuated by an enormous Drummond dunk off a fast break, to take a 52-50 lead. However, with Lamb and Napier playing virtually the whole game and Giffey going 34 minutes with Boatright out and Olander injured the Huskies tired and fell behind by six coming down the stretch. For the last three minutes they fouled on every Bearcat possession and Napier hit the second of two dramatic threes to tie the game at 67 before Kilpatrick sealed their fate.
Once again, UConn fell into most of their scoring coming from the backcourt: Napier had a career high 27, Lamb added 14 and Giffey in another fine all around game had 10 on 4-6 from the floor. I would love to see him start shooting more. The huskies glaring weakness of little scoring from the front court was evident as Daniels was scorelss Oriakhi had 2, Smith 4, Olander 4-, and Drummond looking like a Freshman last night had 4- That is a total of 14 pts from the Huskies 5 big men- not a winning formula. This just has to improve for the Huskies to be a consistent threat against top flight opponents.
Interestingly, statistics show that Lamb scores at a much higher rate when Boatright is on the court than he is just paired with Napier. Jeremy has not been looking the part of a "go to guy" in tight games as he still can become too passive.
Sidenote: I have never been a fan of the Bearcat coach Nick Cronin. I see him as part of a new breed of coaches who feel that they can scream and yell at their players with humiliating impunity. After the well publicized brawl between Cincinnatti and Xavier on Dec. 10 Cronin was very critical of his players; I was outraged at his self righteous piousness when I felt that his rages have created an atmosphere in his team that allowed for this ugly fight. Apparently, so did someone upstairs at Cincinatti because he was clearly under orders last night to knock off the screaming and yelling. If you have ever been at any Bearcat games you know what I mean.
"You Heard it here First"
Steve
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Alex is (Oria) key to Solid UConn Road Win
Despite Ryan Boatright's sitting out today's game because of a renewed NCAA investigation and Troy Olander's injury limiting his playing time, the UConn Huskies put together their best half of the season to overcome a one point half time deficit and end Notre Dame's 29 game home winning streak, 67-53. The absense of Boatright and Olander's reduced minutes required that Oriakhi ( 24min), Giffey(27 min) and Roscoe Smith (15 min) play more than they have been and all three put in their best performances of the season. Oriakhi, who has been a huge disappointment this season, was aggressive on both ends of the court, scored 12 points and had 7 rebounds. Giffey showed why he remains a potentially versatile contributor with 7 points, including 2 treys and five rebounds; Smith looking like the list last year's version had 10 points and 6 rebounds. Napier had 16 to lead the Huskies and Drummond continued his fine play with 10 points and 13 boards.
The Irish took a one point lead at the break on the stength of 19 points from their backcourt. After the game Calhoun was quoted as saying we "discussed" coming out and taking away the treys at the half time; I'll bet that was a very quiet "discussion". In the second half the Huskies tightened up their defense and had far and away their best ball movement of the season, resulting in many open looks. In addition, the Huskies cut the turnovers to 10 today and had a huge advantage on the boards. A third of the way through the second half the Huskies began to pull away and won 67-53 going away, improving their Big East record to 4-2.
The win raises some complexities for Calhoun and his staff. While Boatright has been outstanding, averaging 10ppg, the combination of using the three guard offense and Drummond's excellence has adversely affected the minutes and play of Oriakhi and Smith and perhaps slowed Giffey's development. I have said, of late, the Oriakhi has to approach last year's effort and numbers if the Huskies expect to make a deep run in the "Big Dance". Calhoun will have some tough decisions to make when Boatright (assuming he does) returns.
I was very impressed with color commentator Doris Burke on today's ESPN broadcast. She was the most knowledgeable and natural female commentator I have heard thus far.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
The Irish took a one point lead at the break on the stength of 19 points from their backcourt. After the game Calhoun was quoted as saying we "discussed" coming out and taking away the treys at the half time; I'll bet that was a very quiet "discussion". In the second half the Huskies tightened up their defense and had far and away their best ball movement of the season, resulting in many open looks. In addition, the Huskies cut the turnovers to 10 today and had a huge advantage on the boards. A third of the way through the second half the Huskies began to pull away and won 67-53 going away, improving their Big East record to 4-2.
The win raises some complexities for Calhoun and his staff. While Boatright has been outstanding, averaging 10ppg, the combination of using the three guard offense and Drummond's excellence has adversely affected the minutes and play of Oriakhi and Smith and perhaps slowed Giffey's development. I have said, of late, the Oriakhi has to approach last year's effort and numbers if the Huskies expect to make a deep run in the "Big Dance". Calhoun will have some tough decisions to make when Boatright (assuming he does) returns.
I was very impressed with color commentator Doris Burke on today's ESPN broadcast. She was the most knowledgeable and natural female commentator I have heard thus far.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Drummond, Lamb lead Husky Comeback over West Virginia, 74-67
If it is possible to play a "critical" game in January UConn's 74-67 comeback win over West Virginia was it. The Huskies were coming off two very bad road losses to Seton Hall and Rutgers, were 2-2 in the Big East and (as I predicted) dropped to 17th in the AP Poll; even during UConn's mediocre 9-9 Big East season last year before the improbable run to the NCAA championship the Huskies never lost three games in a row. Add to that 36 straight home wins and a loss last night would have been a very bad omen. Instead, stellar play by Jeremy Lamb (who finished with 25 pts.) and Alex Drummond (who finished with 20) helped the Huskies wipe out a 10 point second half deficit and win by 7.
The first half looked like a continuation of the Huskies lackluster play in the prior two games. The Huskies turned the ball over too often (8), the defense was porous and they gave the Mountaineers too many second shots( UWV ended up with 20 offensive rebounds)particularly to the impressive Kevin Jones. Drummond continued to be a bright spot on 4-4 shooting in the first half including a mid-court steal, solo dribbling to the hoop and a thunderous dunk. The Huskies went into the locker room down 33-28.
UConn continued to get outplayed for the first nine minutes of the Second Half when UWV extended their lead to 10 before Calhoun was called for a (I believe calculated) technical. It had the desired effect and triggered a 17-3 Husky run. Lamb took over on offense and scored 17 points after the break, while Drummond added 20 as the huskies won going away 74-67.
I think that Calhoun is beginning to redefine the distribution of minutes in the frontcourt. Oriakhi, who I believe will be a key to how far UConn can go, played more aggressively, was 4-5 from the field and was on the court for 28 minutes. Drummond is improving every game and will evolve into the Huskies second leading score as he sees more and more floor time. Olander will play 15-20 pts a game and when he is in provides the half court offense with a unique look. The first pass often goes to him, he faces the basket looking for (and often making) point producing interior passes. The playing time of Giffey, Smith and Daniels will be minimized. While Giffey has skills, he just doesn't look for his shot enough to be a major contributor on offense.
As the season progress, the Huskies have to cut down on the turnovers and solve their puzzling tendency to give up offensive rebounds if they intend to make a run in the Big Dance.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
The first half looked like a continuation of the Huskies lackluster play in the prior two games. The Huskies turned the ball over too often (8), the defense was porous and they gave the Mountaineers too many second shots( UWV ended up with 20 offensive rebounds)particularly to the impressive Kevin Jones. Drummond continued to be a bright spot on 4-4 shooting in the first half including a mid-court steal, solo dribbling to the hoop and a thunderous dunk. The Huskies went into the locker room down 33-28.
UConn continued to get outplayed for the first nine minutes of the Second Half when UWV extended their lead to 10 before Calhoun was called for a (I believe calculated) technical. It had the desired effect and triggered a 17-3 Husky run. Lamb took over on offense and scored 17 points after the break, while Drummond added 20 as the huskies won going away 74-67.
I think that Calhoun is beginning to redefine the distribution of minutes in the frontcourt. Oriakhi, who I believe will be a key to how far UConn can go, played more aggressively, was 4-5 from the field and was on the court for 28 minutes. Drummond is improving every game and will evolve into the Huskies second leading score as he sees more and more floor time. Olander will play 15-20 pts a game and when he is in provides the half court offense with a unique look. The first pass often goes to him, he faces the basket looking for (and often making) point producing interior passes. The playing time of Giffey, Smith and Daniels will be minimized. While Giffey has skills, he just doesn't look for his shot enough to be a major contributor on offense.
As the season progress, the Huskies have to cut down on the turnovers and solve their puzzling tendency to give up offensive rebounds if they intend to make a run in the Big Dance.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Nightmare in New Jersey; Don't bla-ney. Rutgers 67- UConn 60
Along with many other pundits I attributed much of the responsibility of UConn's devastating loss to Seton Hall on Tuesday to Calhoun's absence and the lesser intensity of his Associate head Coach George Blaney (thus the play on words in the title of this blog) who was in charge that night. Calhoun returned to the bench last night and the Huskies looked as bad as they did on Tuesday and they completed the "New Jersey Nightmare" with a 67-60 loss to a young Rutgers team and their fiery coach Mike Rice.
The story was the same; far too many turnovers (20), poor guard play, and very little scoring from the frontcourt with the exception of the steadily improving Andre Drummond. Although Shabazz Napier was high scorer with 23 pts his shot selection was awful (5-14 from the field), he had 4 turnovers and only 3 assists. Ryan Boatright had another poor game, was 1-7 from the field and turned the ball over 3 times. Leading scorer Jeremy Lamb was in foul trouble from early in the game, ultimately fouled out and had only 8 points. In a half time interview, Rutgers coach Mike Rice was asked why they were forcing so many turnovers. He said they were pressuring the ball and that the UConn guards were dribbling with their heads down- that my friends is a huge no-no.
The second problem is that aside from Drummond the frontcourt is in disarray. After the non-conference schedule it looked like Calhoun had worked out roles and minutes for his Forwards ,but the stronger Big East schedule has exposed a lot of weakness among Smith, Daniels, Oriakhi, and Giffey. It looks like Calhoun was starting over last night trying to find the right combination. Daniels has stalled in his development, Smith has been a non-factor, Oriakhi has lost confidence and Giffey has yet to show he can contribute points when he plays more minutes. It is a tough time to be re-tooling but that is where this young Husky team is right now.
Expect them to take a major hit in the polls this week and drop down somewhere between 15-20 in the country. The Huskies will try to pull it back together tomorrow night at home against a very tough West Virginia squad.
"You heard it here First"
Steve
The story was the same; far too many turnovers (20), poor guard play, and very little scoring from the frontcourt with the exception of the steadily improving Andre Drummond. Although Shabazz Napier was high scorer with 23 pts his shot selection was awful (5-14 from the field), he had 4 turnovers and only 3 assists. Ryan Boatright had another poor game, was 1-7 from the field and turned the ball over 3 times. Leading scorer Jeremy Lamb was in foul trouble from early in the game, ultimately fouled out and had only 8 points. In a half time interview, Rutgers coach Mike Rice was asked why they were forcing so many turnovers. He said they were pressuring the ball and that the UConn guards were dribbling with their heads down- that my friends is a huge no-no.
The second problem is that aside from Drummond the frontcourt is in disarray. After the non-conference schedule it looked like Calhoun had worked out roles and minutes for his Forwards ,but the stronger Big East schedule has exposed a lot of weakness among Smith, Daniels, Oriakhi, and Giffey. It looks like Calhoun was starting over last night trying to find the right combination. Daniels has stalled in his development, Smith has been a non-factor, Oriakhi has lost confidence and Giffey has yet to show he can contribute points when he plays more minutes. It is a tough time to be re-tooling but that is where this young Husky team is right now.
Expect them to take a major hit in the polls this week and drop down somewhere between 15-20 in the country. The Huskies will try to pull it back together tomorrow night at home against a very tough West Virginia squad.
"You heard it here First"
Steve
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Pirates Make Huskies "Walk the Plank" in Newark, 75-63
If anyone thinks the young Uconn Huskies have not missed Jim Calhoun during his three game suspension for recruiting violations, think again: In a stunning defeat ( the game was not nearly as close as the 12 point final differential would indicate) the Huskies sorely missed Calhoun's bench coaching and influence. They were flat, confused by the Seton Hall's 2-3 match up zone and reverted to a lack of movement in the half court offense. Napier and Boatright( in his worst game to date) continually tried to dribble through the zone and lost the ball, creating easy Seton Hall break away's resulting in 13 first half turn overs. The lack of hustle and intensity was shocking as they lost virtually every 50-50 ball and were unable to make the necessary adjustments to get back into the game.
After taking a 12-4 lead, the wheels came off the UConn bus. Seton Hall created many breakaways off steals, particularly by Fuquan Edwin and point guard Jordan Theodore, Herb Pope was effective inside and the Pirates were deadly from three point range. By half-time the Pirates had a 12 point lead and only Jeremy Lamb's 13 points kept it that close.
UConn tried to adjust in the second half by starting with their three guard offense but Napier continued to look completely out of sync (2-12 from the field) and Boatright was tentative and finished with only 4 points. When the three guard attack proved ineffective, Blaney using Giffey, Oriakhi and Smith together on the floor and the Huskies continued to look hapless in the half-court. All in all, a stunning defeat and UConn's worst showing of the season. Lamb led the scoring with 19 and Giffey, in a career high, had 11 in 15 minutes of play.
What significance can we attach to this loss? First and foremost, taking nothing away from Seton Hall and their fine young coach Kevin Willard, I think Calhoun's absense was a huge factor. I just don't think we would have seen the lack of hustle with Calhoun on the bench. In addition, I think that Blaney could just not figure out how to adjust to the Pirates defensive looks and his subbing was baffling. I do not understand why Tyler Olander seems to be getting less and less playing time when he has been one of the most consistent and effective Husky big men this season.
Secondly, in the Big East road upsets are routine and part of the long season; it is just not possible to go through regular season play in a league with five teams in the top 25 (probably 6 after this week) undefeated. It is a long season and last year has to stand as the best possible example of this - March is a lot of games off. In addition, Napier has been struggling with an ankle sprain and he looked like he lacked his usual first step last night.
On the down side, the UConn front court continues to struggle; Drummond is coming on big time but is still a Freshman and can have bad games. Oriakhi has regressed significantly this year, partially because he is losing minutes to Drummond and the 3 guard offense. However, his lack of touch and timing becomes more and more evident to me and I am beginning to believe he has a more limited upside than previously thought. He misses far too many chippies and in the first half an attempt at an interior bounce pass ended up two feet behind a cutting Drummond. To me this was an example of a lack of natural timing and touch.
The significance remains to be seen but you can bet when Calhoun runs practice today the Huskies will have their tongues hanging out before it is over.
Sidenotes: Again, I want to comment on the terrific quality of the Big East Channel broadcasting teams. They are just so much better than the silken voiced, generic announcers on the major networks. They are consistently knowledgeable about the teams and what is happening on the floor. Last night, Mike Gleason did the play by play and Bob Wenzel, former UWV head coach was the color man. His pre-game synopsis was outstanding.
In the past, some of my UConn grad followers have felt I was too critical of Calhoun and did not appreciate him enough. Even a highly decorated, veteran reporter like myself has to be open to learn and change opinions and I have; I really have begun to appreciate Calhoun's ability to motivate and begun to see that he is a terrific game coach.
" You Heard it here First"
Steve
After taking a 12-4 lead, the wheels came off the UConn bus. Seton Hall created many breakaways off steals, particularly by Fuquan Edwin and point guard Jordan Theodore, Herb Pope was effective inside and the Pirates were deadly from three point range. By half-time the Pirates had a 12 point lead and only Jeremy Lamb's 13 points kept it that close.
UConn tried to adjust in the second half by starting with their three guard offense but Napier continued to look completely out of sync (2-12 from the field) and Boatright was tentative and finished with only 4 points. When the three guard attack proved ineffective, Blaney using Giffey, Oriakhi and Smith together on the floor and the Huskies continued to look hapless in the half-court. All in all, a stunning defeat and UConn's worst showing of the season. Lamb led the scoring with 19 and Giffey, in a career high, had 11 in 15 minutes of play.
What significance can we attach to this loss? First and foremost, taking nothing away from Seton Hall and their fine young coach Kevin Willard, I think Calhoun's absense was a huge factor. I just don't think we would have seen the lack of hustle with Calhoun on the bench. In addition, I think that Blaney could just not figure out how to adjust to the Pirates defensive looks and his subbing was baffling. I do not understand why Tyler Olander seems to be getting less and less playing time when he has been one of the most consistent and effective Husky big men this season.
Secondly, in the Big East road upsets are routine and part of the long season; it is just not possible to go through regular season play in a league with five teams in the top 25 (probably 6 after this week) undefeated. It is a long season and last year has to stand as the best possible example of this - March is a lot of games off. In addition, Napier has been struggling with an ankle sprain and he looked like he lacked his usual first step last night.
On the down side, the UConn front court continues to struggle; Drummond is coming on big time but is still a Freshman and can have bad games. Oriakhi has regressed significantly this year, partially because he is losing minutes to Drummond and the 3 guard offense. However, his lack of touch and timing becomes more and more evident to me and I am beginning to believe he has a more limited upside than previously thought. He misses far too many chippies and in the first half an attempt at an interior bounce pass ended up two feet behind a cutting Drummond. To me this was an example of a lack of natural timing and touch.
The significance remains to be seen but you can bet when Calhoun runs practice today the Huskies will have their tongues hanging out before it is over.
Sidenotes: Again, I want to comment on the terrific quality of the Big East Channel broadcasting teams. They are just so much better than the silken voiced, generic announcers on the major networks. They are consistently knowledgeable about the teams and what is happening on the floor. Last night, Mike Gleason did the play by play and Bob Wenzel, former UWV head coach was the color man. His pre-game synopsis was outstanding.
In the past, some of my UConn grad followers have felt I was too critical of Calhoun and did not appreciate him enough. Even a highly decorated, veteran reporter like myself has to be open to learn and change opinions and I have; I really have begun to appreciate Calhoun's ability to motivate and begun to see that he is a terrific game coach.
" You Heard it here First"
Steve
Monday, January 2, 2012
Huskies face stiff Big East Road Game tomorrow night against Seton Hall.
The now 8th ranked UConn Huskies face the Seton Hall Pirates tomorrow night at the Prudential Center in Newark NJ. Game time is 7:00 P.M. and will be broadcast on SNY.
Although Seton Hall is unranked they are 4th in the RPI, compared to UConn's 3rd.
The Pirates are led by two Seniors; 6'8" Forward Herb Pope who is 4th in the Big East in scoring at 18.6 ppg and Senior point guard, Jordan Theodore who is averaging 15.8 ppg and leads the Big East in assists with 7.0 pg.
The Huskies now have four players averaging in double figures; Lamb 18.9, ( 2nd in the Big East) Napier 14.9ppg, Boatright 12.1ppg and Drummond at 10.0 ppg. This will be the third and final game of Jim Calhoun's suspension for recruiting violations.
While the Pirates could be tough at home history is on the side of UConn. since the 92-93 season Seton Hall is 2-25 against UConn and has lost the last 11 games in the series.
I want to welcome Brian Shu back as a follower to the site; a great Husky fan and important contributor to the "comments" last year.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
Although Seton Hall is unranked they are 4th in the RPI, compared to UConn's 3rd.
The Pirates are led by two Seniors; 6'8" Forward Herb Pope who is 4th in the Big East in scoring at 18.6 ppg and Senior point guard, Jordan Theodore who is averaging 15.8 ppg and leads the Big East in assists with 7.0 pg.
The Huskies now have four players averaging in double figures; Lamb 18.9, ( 2nd in the Big East) Napier 14.9ppg, Boatright 12.1ppg and Drummond at 10.0 ppg. This will be the third and final game of Jim Calhoun's suspension for recruiting violations.
While the Pirates could be tough at home history is on the side of UConn. since the 92-93 season Seton Hall is 2-25 against UConn and has lost the last 11 games in the series.
I want to welcome Brian Shu back as a follower to the site; a great Husky fan and important contributor to the "comments" last year.
"You Heard it Here First"
Steve
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