Marquette 79 - UConn 64: Where do we go from here?

by Andrew Porter on Feb 19, 2012 9:19 PM EST in UConn Huskies Basketball

Do you have an answer to the question in the headline? Because I don't. I know my role on the site is that of the optimist, but after a strong-ish showing at Syracuse and the demolition of DePaul I really thought something had finally clicked with this basketball team. Andre Drummond was assertive inside, Alex Oriakhi had snapped out of his season-long slump, Jeremy Lamb rediscovered his jumper, Ryan Boatright had gelled and Shabazz Napier found more of whatever magical elixir he drinks to make me write SHABAZZ! in happiness rather than in anger. And then yesterday happened.

There were still flashes yesterday, the run-up to Ryan Boatright's dumbass technical foul provided the most exciting moments of this unbearable season, Shabazz played well and Lamb played really well. But when it came down to it, something always seemed to get in the way of UConn being what we all want them to be. On more than a few occasions, that something was the officiating, which was so bad that its only equal was George Blaney's refusal to respond to it. But make no mistake, it wasn't the refs that lost the game, it was the Huskies, and now, the season may be lost, especially when your point guard is making comments like this:

"I've got to question a lot of these guys' hearts. Just simple stuff like allowing alley-oops at the end of the game, just quitting ... it doesn't look like UConn basketball. You don't quit. It doesn't look like basketball at all. Where I'm from, you ain't getting that alley-oop at the end of the game. You won the game, you won the game. Don't try to embarass us. That's just a measure of your heart. If you've got to knock somebody out of the air, you knock them out of the air. The other team's not going to beat you up physically. It can't happen. It looked like we gave up at the end. That's tough to say, because we're a great team. For those words to be coming out of my mouth, it's just horrendous."

"When push comes to shove, it's who's out there and who's not giving it back. Some guys don't want to give it back. Some guys get punched and want to throw a pillow at somebody. It's basketball, you're supposed to go out there and give it your all. This is team basketball, it's not tennis, it's not golf, it's not a one-player sport. You get punched, and some guys are throwing pillows back. You're not supposed to throw pillows back, you're supposed to lock up on defense and do the necessary things to get the win."

"I'm blunt. I told guys all the time what I feel, but sometimes I hold a lot back in ... I don't want to say the wrong things. But at the end of the game, I told the guys, 'I've got to question a lot of your hearts.' You're not giving your all. I make mistakes, but at the same time, I learn from my mistakes, I make sure I apologize for my mistakes, and I tell guys, 'I'm not perfect.' The only reason I'm speaking out is because I'm the captain, and at the end of the day, I"m the only one who wants to speak out. Everybody else, when they get in the locker room, they're so quiet, like we just died."

I don't know what's worse, that Shabazz made those comments to a reporter, or that he's right.

I'll end with two quick thoughts:

The first is that this team needs Jim Calhoun. I don't know if he'll be back this year, but if you told me that he'd be coaching against Syracuse next Saturday I'd feel a hell of a lot better about where this season is going because George Blaney, as much as he's done for the program, is not cut out to lead this team.

The second is this: who unbelievably good was Kemba Walker? This season is mirroring last season in so many ways that I can't begin to count them, but the key difference is that Kemba isn't there (big insight, I know). The will to win? Gone. The late-game playmaking ability? Gone. The competitive spirit? Gone. The megawatt smile? Gone.

This team has talent, it can be good, it might even have the potential to be great, but the clock is ticking perilously close to midnight and this season -- and maybe the future of this program -- is starting to look a lot like a pumpkin.

Tweet Comment 7 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Good post

and correct on all accounts. Even as a homer, I find it tough to agree with your (little amount left of) optimism. I hope so, but it’s a tough season to watch…

I also just don’t like Blaney as a game-coach. I think that if the season is going this far downhill, and you are planning on making Ollie a Calhoun-replacement, give him the reigns and see what he can do. No one in the state of CT would blame either Calhoun or Ollie for a loss, and everyone loves the keep-it-in-house move. Blaney is NOT a good in-game coach. He’s just not. He’s part of the Calhoun team, and I respect him for that. Uconn would not have won titles without him. But, I think that his capability is clearly that as a support role – if Basketball had Oscar’s, Blaney would perpetually win for best-supporting role. But he’s never gonna be the star, and I’d like to see someone who could use the experience get it.

Marching to the beat of a different Drummond

Who Doesn't Like Icecreamcake?

by 1c3creamcake on Feb 19, 2012 9:50 PM EST reply actions

A couple things

I probably should have just made this its own post, but I guess I’ll just settle for split comments here:

1) To answer the question posed in your headline: we win at least two of three from the Big East bottom-feeders left on our schedule, win at least one game in the Big East tournament, and comfortably make the NCAAs at (worst-case) 19-13 as a 9 or 10 seed. We lose at some point in the first weekend, then we come back with almost the entire team for 2012-13 to make a run at a fictional championship, what with the NCAA targeting our program for destruction and all.

2) How good was Kemba Walker? Really, really, really freaking good.

Kemba Walker took nearly one out of three field goal attempts last year. He had the 83rd-best turnover rate in the country despite playing more minutes, against more good teams, than any other college player I can possibly imagine. He got to the free throw line 315 times (Napier, Lamb and Boatright have COMBINED for about 250 free throws). I can not even overstate how good Kemba Walker was last year, and how much better he made these players appear.

Last year’s team, lest we forget, started 17-2 before a “swoon” which included seven losses – three on the road, two at home in overtime, one at home by three points, and one at home in a game that could’ve gone either way. That team CRUSHED a Final Four team, and beat eight of the KenPom Top 40 – BEFORE going apeshit at MSG and in the NCAAs, where they beat eight more.

Despite the nine losses, that was a very good college team, with everyone playing their role ever-so-perfectly and a super-competitive, volume-shooting, cold-blooded clutch killer in the center of it all.

TheUConnBlog.com

"I don't get defeated by things." - James A. Calhoun

by Kevin Meacham on Feb 19, 2012 11:59 PM EST reply actions

Part 2

3) Here’s what we have in the backcourt this year, in Kemba’s place:

—A point guard who turns it over TWICE AS MUCH as Kemba while playing the same number of minutes (and shooting at the same efficiency as Kemba)
—A point guard who can shoot and create, but who’s still a freshman (and turns it over just as much)
—A shooting guard with a lot of talent – except for he has a terrible handle and has basically been a perimeter guy (when we need him to be a superstar).

Add that with a frontcourt that really only does one thing well (offensive rebound), and is it any wonder we’re 16-10? Is it any wonder that against the four Big East teams that have separated from the pack (South Florida is not a thing, I don’t care what the standings say), we’re 1-4, having lost three of those games by 15, 18 and 14.

We’re AVERAGE. Enough with the “but we have so much TALENT~!” nonsense. Jared Sullinger has talent. Kidd-Gilchrist from Kentucky has talent.

We have some good pieces who were well-suited as role players last year, who as a group do some things well (two-point defense, offensive rebound) and a lot of things mediocre-ly (three-point defense, defensive rebound, run offense).

I’m not saying we’re bad because of that, or that all these kids should be killed on message boards and lose their scholarships. Look at Kemba’s numbers from 2009-10 – unless you’ve got World Wide Wes backing you, it takes time for guys to fit into their proper roles and becoming a functioning team. (Not having the coach with the 25-year track record of doing so doesn’t help the situation, either.)

As I said above, this is an NCAA Tournament team. But it’s time to stop deluding ourselves, after losing to teams like Tennessee and UCF and Rutgers and so on, that this is a “great” team. It’s a team with potential, who could be good if only we could bring everyone back next year and also not have the NCAA makin’ shit up to get us. But it’s not happening this year.

As always, I anticipate being proved wrong, but I’m just not seeing it this year (unlike last year, when I got caught up in the whole forest-for-the-trees Instant Internet Sports Analysis and forgot about all the Kemba stuff I mentioned above).

TheUConnBlog.com

"I don't get defeated by things." - James A. Calhoun

by Kevin Meacham on Feb 19, 2012 11:59 PM EST up reply actions

Agree on all counts

I’d add four things:

1. I’m sick of hearing about this team’s lack of “leadership” and other intangible qualities. Yes there have been some significant issues in that department (Shabazz’ comments Saturday are chief among them, though Boatright self-appointing himself leader after the Louisville game was also spectacularly unhelpful, though no one gives him any shit for it). But do you know who was a great leader on last year’s team? Donnell Beverly. Do you think we’d have won any more games this season with Donnell Beverly on this squad? Nope.

Kemba was a great leader, but people are conflating “Kemba the leader” with Kemba the basketball player. As you pointed out, the areas this years team differs most from last years team are: not getting to the line and not turning the ball over. These are two areas where Kemba excelled the most. Kemba wasn’t a great leader because he took the most shots.

2. The most amazing thing about last years team was the ability of a rotation consisting of a junior, two sophomores, 4 freshman and an Okwandu could find and thrive in individual niches and create such a strong team identity. This year the following guys have switched roles:
-Shabazz moved from high-energy, 6th-man “push” guard, to starting point guard. (And has yo-yo’d between playing 40 minutes a game as the teams only ball handler, and a split-time PG/SG role when Boatright’s on the floor).
-Oriakhi moved from thriving primarily as a small ball center who defended the post well and cleaned the offensive glass, to a power forward who’s a step slow and struggles with perimeter matchups. (Neither version could/can catch)
-Roscoe moved from small-ball power forward big enough to guard inside but quick enough to guard the post to someone who doesn’t quite have a role in this year’s rotation. He’s behind Oriakhi and Olander at the 4, he sometimes gets minutes at the 3 (though per the coaches, and stats he and the team have played better with him at the 4).

3. Andre Drummond is our best offensive option inside, he’s a beast when it comes to blocking shots, he’s jaw-droppingly athletic and usually once or twice a game he makes something patently absurd looked incredibly easy. That said, he also has some clear deficiencies in his game at this point. He’s inconsistent, gets down on himself (mediocre games snowball into bad games quickly), his misadventures guarding the pick and roll are cringe-worthy. Sometimes I think people forget that “number 1 rated recruit” doesn’t mean “guy who will have no problem adjusting to college basketball.”

4. This is probably worth a post on its own but, as much as I love him, Jeremy Lamb was woefully overrated at the beginning of this year. He’s a great player, but he had no business being a pre-season All American. It pisses me off when people say he’s struggled to live up to the preseason hype because, to me, that’s a bigger fault of the preseason hype.

UConn By the Numbers

by CJ17098 on Feb 20, 2012 12:14 PM EST up reply actions

Where do we go from here?

Phase 1: We should elect Newt Gingrich
Phase 2: He colonizes the moon in the name of America!
Phase 3: UConn wins the first ever Lunar Championship!

by JJSHusky25 on Feb 20, 2012 1:01 AM EST reply actions

today

We basically learn the fate of the program today, right?

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well not just the Cube's, but Chris Daughtry, Jeff Probst, super chef Bobby Flay. I mean, it was insane, it was almost too much.

by DouglasQuaid on Feb 20, 2012 9:58 AM EST via iPhone app reply actions