" Defense has been the focus of practice so far. Hurley pointed out that postseason teams generally rank in the top 50 in the country in defensive efficiency. The Huskies were in the 100-110 range last season, he said."
This years roster
- Thread starter the Blades
- Start date
Blades I still had season tickets with a buddy when Sami Ameziane was on on the team, and vividly remember a game in Storrs after Ameziane had suddenly been pressed into playing major minutes of big games at the point guard position. There was a tight game and he was at the point down the stretch and we were holding our breath with every possession down the stretch. But guess what? Ameziane came through! He didn’t have an avalanche of TOs and sort of played steady and didn’t try to do too much. At the end of the game we all stood up and gave him a standing ovation and during the game fans near me were chanting “Sami, Sami!” It was one of the most amazing performance ever by a walk on because he couldn’t have expected playing major minutes in games like that and more importantly, he didn’t do anything to mess up the game. For that reason Sami has to make any All-Time Walk On team at UConn. He provided us with a thrill because literally we all were holding our breath the last 8 minutes of that game.
I remember a game like that @ Gampel where he played in other than mop-up time. He didn't play to many minutes( he only played 15 mins his entire career) but he played hard on D and dribbled it up and I think he passed for a dunk... IIRC...but like you said it was during real action. The other thing I remember about that season ( year after the NC...2004-05) was Calhoun was so short on guards he had to play a 6-6/215lb scholly forward , Ryan Thompson from Australia, at PG at times.
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Yeah, that was it, a game in Gampel, and Ameziane might have played like 8 of his 15 career minutes in that game. But he made those minutes count, at the expense of the stress level of almost every fan in the house that night that was holding their breath and having their hearts racing as Ameziane tried to hold things together. I can't remember if someone got in foul trouble or what, but I do remember seeing him report to the scorer's table and although some in the student section roared, I sort of sat in a stunned silence. I was in shock that a 5'10" French walk on recruited out of a barber shop was playing meaningful, non-mop up minutes at point guard in a real game. It was actually kind of thrilling theater and that is what I remember most about it, being on the edge of my seat the whole time he was in, and then seeing the kid not fall apart and come through for the team. That night Ameziane proved every guy on the team counts.
Sami in action:
http://sami.ameziane.free.fr/essai/sites Web/Basket-Uconn3.jpg
Sami in action:
http://sami.ameziane.free.fr/essai/sites Web/Basket-Uconn3.jpg
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GREAT to Hear this from the HC.....(around the 26:45 mark):
Crispino in this first Coaches show podcast talked about Gilbert's bad shooting %'s .... "Dan Hurley then went over all I mentioned in this post this summer about Alterique's over penetration. "And that AG has to know what he's gonna do with the ball at the FT line and to stop with the drives under the basket. And that a great PG knows what he's got to do with the ball at by at least 10/12 ft away whether it's a floater or spraying it to the weapons he has around him "
To me as I posted, AG is the key to Uconn's season...he's gotta use his skill and speed to make others better or Uconn won't win anything. He needs to play with high BB IQ and be a great PG like DH said above.
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