The good, the bad, and the ugly

[Afghusky15]

The Ugly:

- Purvis and Jalen continue to be incredibly soft players. Its as though they are afraid of contact. Both players went to the line for a combined ZERO times! I am tired of this soft stuff. Every successful UConn team had the best players feast from the line b/c they attacked the rim and looked for contact. Jalen tries to use every Euro step, and tries to contort his body as much as possible to avoid body contact. They both need to learn to use their shoulders and drive to the hoop strong.

- Anytime Purvis tries to do anything with his left hand its a lost cause. Its on him for not developing a left hand going into his 5th year, or at least recognize that he has a weak left hand. He should stop trying to play cute. He really should have a simple game, he should predominantly attack the rim with his right hand, cut out his mid range shot because he gets stripped half the time when he takes a midrange shot, and shoot an occasional three.

- Brimah has no desire to rebound. I love his passion but I am amazed it doesn't translate to showing any energy on the boards. I wish he would use half the energy he exerts on his celebrations after he dunks an alley oop pass when it comes to rebounding. He is also incredibly soft, an opponent can breath on him and it will be enough to get him off balance.

The Bad:

- Kentan just disappeared. granted he only played 14 min and his teammates never looked to feed him inside, putting up zero points and only 2 boards is simply a poor performance.

- Enoch plays like a freshman. Didn't look too comfortable on the court. I know that the coaches want him to assert himself on offense but not to take a shot every time he got the ball regardless of where he was and who was guarding him. He should look to assert himself on the glass first.

- Jalen's off the ball D was terrible, his man was open on many occasions bc Jalen simply gave up playing D when his man didn't have the ball. Allowed Wagner to attack the rim and find the open man fairly easily.

The Good:

- Oooooh weeee Alterique is the real deal! Finally a guard who can make plays for himself, and others, by attacking off the dribble and being able to penetrate and not shy away from contact. Boy was built to be a UConn player! Very impressive against a quick and tough defensive team like Wagner. He will have his up an downs in his freshman year but will have many more ups! He is the guy I trust the most on the team, and it looks like KO trusts him the most as well. He played 35 min off the bench!

- Terry Larrier: The guy is just a baller. Him and Alterique are our two best players. He was our leading rebounder and scorer, and I bet you that will be a very common stat throughout the year. I do want to see Terry drive more to the rim. He will be a superstar this year and if he attacks the rim he will get to the line very often, because as a superstar he will get favorable calls just like Kemba and Bazz did.

- I owe CV an apology. Never really said anything about him but I just thought he would be a bench player this year. But he played great D, with great heart and made a 3. I am not a big fan when he drives it to the rim because he seems a little out of control on most of his drives, but at least he is not afraid of body contact! He belongs.


Overall notes:

-Keyword: Soft. The team overall was soft, and I agree with KO that AG and CV were the only guys that showed much heart and toughness. Our two best players, AG and Terry got to the line for a combined 11 times. Kentan, Brimah, Purvis, and Adams got to the line for a combined ONE (YES ONE) time! That shows you how soft many of our "key" players were. Its sickening to put soft and UConn in the same sentence, not what this program is... smh.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

100% on the money with your review AfgHusky15

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Jalen tries to use every Euro step, and tries to contort his body as much as possible to avoid body contact. They both need to learn to use their shoulders and drive

Just want to add one thing here as this point really is important. Not only does all those Euro-step moves and contortions that Jalen does to avoid contact not end up drawing any foul and putting him at the line, but Jalen also finishes by throwing up an off balance, contorted bad shot that misses and then doesn't get boarded because nobody is in position to get an O-board. This cannot be UConn's offense going forward, he has to drive and accept contact will happen.

This was the one strong point of Jerome Dyson's game along with his defense. That kid had absolutely no fear going to the hole. Kemba Walker had absolutely no fear driving to the hole and he was a lot smaller than Jalen. Those two guys are the model players in putting their heads down and driving aggressively and getting contact. Dyson took heavier contact driving to the hole than any player ever at UConn, and he resultantly had constant nickel and dime injuries that he mostly played with. A lot of people forget that UConn was ranked #1 in the nation before Dyson went down with that knee injury to Syracuse. He was a good player in this system and was never the same after that knee injury. If he did not get hurt UConn would have won it all in 2009.

 

[the Blades]

Don't agree with any of the above regarding Dyson. To me he was a lose canon, that you never knew what you would get. The good Dyson was the one playing tough D and drawing fouls. The bad Dyson was the guy that none of his team-mates knew what he was doing with the ball, but every opposing coach did. An out of control drive from his right hand dribble to a crossover to the left side of the lane that would lead the team in TO's, charges and a typical 4-15 shooting night. If you think back to the game winning shots that KEA, Kemba and Shabazz made over the years I don't think I can count on 2 fingers plays that Dyson made in the clutch to win a game. AJ was even quoted as to how much easier it was to play without him because you never knew what he would do with the ball in his hands( JD would basically freeze out his team mates). Tough kid, good defender but a lose canon and as the title above says, he could get real ugly. Stanley Robinson played like a super star without Dyson in the NCAA run because his team mates knew how to use him. The fact that JD was a senior who was benched by JC, when he was supposed to be the team leader, says it all about him and his career at Uconn...

And regarding not being the same or regressing it had to do with a lot more than his knee. I don't care about saying it now because the kid has even mentioned in an interview that he talked to JC about "doing things different" if he could at Uconn. As someone who is well connected in the Downtown Hartford nightclub scene since I owned my own 600 person music venue for about 9 years... it was well known that JD had a serious drinking /partying problem especially his Sr year. He was seen way to many times stumbling out of venues 2-3 o'clock in the morning with his hanger on "posse" (not other Uconn players).......not a good look or a benefit to your senior year when you have a shot at the NBA in the balance.( Thank you Doug Wiggins who was booted from Uconn and a bad influence as we all know) ......But as JC told him " Jerome it doesn't matter what you did in the past, just in the future". So in that sense I'm happy he finally figured things out (even if he didn't do it at Uconn) and seems to be making a nice living for himself as an effective player overseas.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Dyson did have some baggage as a player and perhaps off court. He did not make good or smart decisions, that is for sure, but he was tough as hell and played good defense and Jalen Adams could use a transfusion of toughness and D from Dyson, because Jalen plays like a pretty boy who doesn't want his hair touched or messed up while playing basketball.

And there is no denying the historical fact that UConn was #1 in the nation and blew Louisville out by 20 at Louisville before Dyson hurt his knee, so they were a #1 ranked college basketball team with him starting at guard. Therefore, he must have been doing something right.

And BTW I remember that game at Louisville and although Dyson did not hit a shot to win the game (UConn won by 20) he played great!!!!!!

 

[the Blades]

And there is no denying the historical fact that UConn was #1 in the nation and blew Louisville out by 20 at Louisville before Dyson hurt his knee, so they were a #1 ranked college basketball team with him starting at guard. Therefore, he must have been doing something right. And BTW I remember that game at Louisville and although Dyson did not hit a shot to win the game (UConn won by 20) he played great!!!!!!

True that was the good Dyson, he was much better when he was part of the sum of a team victory. But Uconn did average a 25 point + margin of victory without him, on the way to the Final Four ...unfortunately they got Mich St in probably the toughest home court advantage you'll ever face before 70,000 fans in Detroit...so maybe as an extra body and tough defender that was the game they probably needed him the most....though it may not have mattered in that building with that HCA.

 

[CaNOLEE]

Good post 15.

Gilbert has some Kemba in him.

Larrier is skilled, but his defense(awareness) was poor.

Purvis had almost as many turnovers(4) as points(5) including one in crunch time when he caught the ball out of bounds, speaking of poor awareness. His defense late was also suspect when he'd leave his man(didn't really have to) to help stop penetration and ended up giving an open 3. Although, a lot of our perimeter defenders were guilty of this. In order for us to become a good team, Purvis needs to take on a Rash jones supporting cast like role.

And my Norwalk buddy has to give us something. Enoch just has to relax, because he's huge and really talented. But you can't score 10 points on one trip.

But it all starts with defense and rebounding, it always has and it always will.