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
I couldn't agree with you more Steve. Except for one thing. Why are you waiting 6 more weeks to put your boat in the water. The time is now, Spring is here. Or you could stay tuned to the tourneys & watch those 2 Patriot League teams compete, at least through tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I think UCONN was not only terribly overareted they were terrible all season long, even when they won. The offense was totally non existent, not just the half court, but even the all court. While I did thank you & enjoyed accompanying you to Hartford for the ND game it was another poor game & not really enjoyable except being in your company. I also think JC, & not the original one, should retire NOW not after next year. Maybe the players will hang around & at least the Huskies may get better recruits if he didn't recruit & coach them next year.Of course I said that 2 years ago & he won it all last year, or did he. Maybe it was Walker who did it all alone.
Mike, all good observations. The reason I want Calhoun to stay one more year is that even if John Wooden was coaching he would not be able to recruit good players because of UConn's ban from the tournament. Might as well let Calhoun finish it out and have a new coach start fresh.
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