Wagner

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

This appears to be the best team in the NEC. They were 23-11 and advanced to the second round of the NIT after beating #1 seed St. Bonaventure in the first round. It looks like they return 4 starters and 8 players overall from last year's team. They will be better than the two exhibition opponents UConn faced. Of note their coach, Bashir Mason, was NEC Coach of the Year last year and was also a finalist for Minority Coach of the Year. Here is the Wagner Basketball twitter feed which also has a link to their prospectus that contains a lot of info on their team:

https://twitter.com/Wagner_MBB

 

[the Blades]

Not much height...they lose 4 of the top 8 scorers:

Top returning players:.................... MPG.....3FG.....3pt%...REB.......Pts.
6-3/175.... HENSON, Corey........... 30.2......74...... .402.......3.0 .... 13.3
6-5/210.....CAREY, Michael.............29.1.....15.... .273.......9.1 .......12.6
6-3/200....SAUNDERS, Romone ...24.2 .....45.... .395...... 4.3 ........ 9.8
6-8/260.....AAMAN, Mike............... 19.2..... 0...... .000 .....5.5......... 8.1
6-0/190.... COOPER, JoJo..............20.9..... 7....... .159 ...... 2.4 ...... 3.5
6-3/190.....LIGGEONS, Devin........ 4.8....... 2....... .250........1.4........ 1.9
6-8/245.....SENAT, Greg .................8.5...... 0....... .000 ........2.1....... 1.5

added a couple of 6-8 transfers one from Quinnipiac and one from JUCO- Roster

The CBS Pre-Season Rankings that TCF linked puts them ahead of 2 of the AAC teams ( USF #211, Tulane 254) Uconn will have 3 games against :
186. Wagner
Probably the best squad in the Northeast Conference. Bashir Mason is one of the best young coaches in mid-major basketball, and if the Seahawks make the NCAAs this year, he's got to get a bigger job. Name to know: junior shooting specialist, Corey Henson.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Blades, I could not find a line on this game on any of the Vegas websites, did you see one?

 

[the Blades]

Looks like Vegas has them off the board: VegasInsider.com

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Yes they are also off the board on two other Vegas websites. I wonder why????????????? Did Wagner tell Vegas no lines on our teams?

 

[the Blades]

Yes they are also off the board on two other Vegas websites. I wonder why????????????? Did Wagner tell Vegas no lines on our teams?

Sports books aren't dumb, they would rather pass on action that they have no gauge on this early in the season.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

So they have a better gauge on all the other games tonight on which lines have been given?????? Look at the link you posted to Vegas Insider...... they posted lines on almost every other game being played tonight? What enables a better gauge on Old Dominion - James Madison where ODU is a 3.5 point favorite????

 

[the Blades]

So they have a better gauge on all the other games tonight on which lines have been given?????? Look at the link you posted to Vegas Insider...... they posted lines on almost every other game being played tonight? What enables a better gauge on Old Dominion - James Madison where ODU is a 3.5 point favorite????

Yes when something is off the board.... that is exactly what it means....that the oddsmakers don't trust putting a line out......to big a difference they are unsure of so they don't want to take the action......sometimes it's for things like injuries, star players missing a game etc., but I doubt that would be the case here.
Here's a prediction site but I don't see a points line there either Wagner Seahawks vs Connecticut Huskies

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Odds Shark's prediction has UConn winning by 10 whereas I thought a bigger margin would have been predicted.

 

[dbaum_]

UConn basketball is finally back! LETS GO HUSKIES!

 

[Ozzie3178]

Leeeegooooooooooooooo!!!

I expect a fun beat down of these Seahawks!

 

[Ozzie3178]

Wow without Rique we are prolly not even in this game at this point... smh

 

[12rtackerman12]

What a joke!!! Losing to the Wagner Seahawks! Pitiful, first ever opening season loss in Gamble! Program is continuously falling to lower levels, bring back Calhoun, Ollie sucks!

 

[Dominicfrank]

Wow. Ollie deserves this loss by himself.

 

[Dominicfrank]

I'm sure we will have great games and sparks but this game makes me think we have a coaching problem......how can you let this happen?

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Well you are not going to win many games being outrebounded and shooting as poorly as UConn did. It was a total stinker.

 

[Ozzie3178]

I understand that this was only game 1.... with a lot of new guys and a bit of patience will be needed but keep saying since preseason to really have a good team later in the year NEED to have Purvis come off the bench!

Our best player is Rique then Larrier and Adams. Everyone else for now and this year are others!

Also Amida, Enoch and Facey all bigs who played need to check themselves and do some searching! Cannot let a guy who couldn't jump over a phone book outplay and dominate you!!

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Aaman was the only man in the paint tonight- certainly not anyone from UConn. Rebounding and inside scoring could be severe problems when this team gets caught in the halfcourt as they did tonight.

Ozzie I agree with you on Purvis as 6th man, although Adams has not played so great either. I actually thought the team had a bit of a spark when Vital came in at the end of the half. He was scrapping out there and made a 3.

 

[dbaum_]

Very very very disappointing performance from this team. One of the most embarrassing losses I can remember in some time. This was very similar to the Yale game where they just did not defend the perimeter and the effort was simply not there. All the bigs got out hustled by nonames and could not even capitalize on that. The worst thing about it is for the fact it's the home opener and to start the season like that is just sad. That type of play is completely unacceptable and everyone has to take accountability for it. I really hope they can learn from this and wake up because they cannot come out like that ever again.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Our best player is Rique then Larrier and Adams. Everyone else for now and this year are others!

I felt Alterique and Larrier were far and away the two best players on the Court for UConn, but nobody else really came to play, except Vital off the bench at the end of the first half lifted the team up a bit.

 

[naes41]

I felt Alterique and Larrier were far and away the two best players on the Court for UConn, but nobody else really came to play, except Vital off the bench at the end of the first half lifted the team up a bit.

 

[naes41]

What happened out there tonite? Didn't look like a uconn team. What happened to grit, hustle and defense. Better get back to the drawing board immediately.

 

[12rtackerman12]

I understand it's just one game but when you play in a terrible conference these games are magnified. How do you not bring it on opening night on your home court. To me, that's on the coach. I am still in disbelief that this actually happened and worst of all it felt like Wagner was the ranked team not us.

 

[the Blades]

KO got his ass handed to him by Bashir Mason, he brought in a tougher smarter team....and KO still can't get these kids to stay on their man
away from the ball, this is 2 out of 3 games now that they get mesmerized by the ball on the off side and and continue to sluff off leaving their men wide open time after time for 3pter's... I'd have these guys running suicides all night until they got their heads out of their asses regarding off the ball defense.

tie for the "Let's kill my team" Offensive dud of the game award:
Jalen Adams 4-15 FG's
Rodney Purvis 2-7 FG's 1-5 3pter' 4 TO's/ 0 assts

dishonorable mention: Steven Enoch 0-5 FG's with a bunch of weak ass forced shots

 

[12rtackerman12]

Is there any chance Calhoun will come back?

 

[USNA90]

I have been stunned the last few years by how many games it takes for UConn to start getting their act together. Wagner certainly looked like they were clicking on all cylinders, and they were playing an allegedly better team. The clock is already ticking on UConn due to their poor conference schedule, and they certainly can't afford losses to teams like Wagner. It's only game one, but when you lose to Wagner and look awful doing it, I don't have a lot of confidence that they can improve quickly enough to make a difference in the early out of conference games.

 

[Ozzie3178]

We practiced while they actually played... I get it was a lot new guys but they were reacting and were reading. I understand why KO didn't call any sets in the first half to avoid that type of overthinking play but even with that they were hesitant!

Not good ... they will need to go on a deep run in Maui for sure or this could be worse than last year in terms of season.
Talent and skill is there but this team needs to realize and fast that Rique Larrier and Adams have to be guys the floor leaders. While brimah can stay the vocal leader and Purvis leadership will be needed on the second unit!!

 

[dbaum_]

Alterique should be starting. Point blank period. I am not going off one game but Purvis is more of a bench player than a starter. He is so erratic when it comes to shooting the ball and his perimeter defense has hurt us down the stretch in games. Even though Alterique is a freshman, we need to have the offense run through him and bring a spark to the starting unit.

 

[the Blades]

Wagner defeated No. 18 UConn, 67-58, the first time the Huskies have ever lost a season opener at Gampel, which was completed in 1990. ( Thank you Jim Calhoun for always having teams ready to play when the bell sounded)

"We've got to get tougher, that starts with me as a coach. I take full responsibility of it. I've got to get these guys ready to play better." coach Kevin Ollie said. "We have to do a better job of sharing the basketball. I thought the ball stuck too much. Guys were worrying about the wrong things; the wrong things are it's 'my shot.' No. You have to play defense, and get 'UConn' shots. ( Yeah it looked like way to many times guys were trying to force shots on their own, alot of me ball, not we ball)
"We've got to get tougher, that starts with me as a coach. I take full responsibility of it. I've got to get these guys ready to play better."

It was a familiar scene for UConn's big men: They got their hands on a number of rebounds, but fumbled them away. Wagner's 260-pound center, had 15 points and nine rebounds, hurting UConn . Aaman, 6-foot-8, was the Seahawks tallest player, yet they outrebounded UConn 37-to-33.
(Well then either hire a damn big man coach or stop recruiting these projects that Glen Miller or whoever is supposed to be developing them has no idea how to do it.)

"We can do all the technical stuff," Ollie said, "but we have to have the will to get the basketball and play tough." ( well coach, then stop siting on the bench like a statue letting these kids sleep walk through large portions of the game thinking that they will. You need to go watch some tape of how your mentor would have been all over their asses...or maybe its not in your personality so as a coach your just as soft as them)

Full read: Wagner Stuns UConn 67-58 In Season-Opener

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I don't remember a team like this coming into Gampel and outrebounding UConn 37-33 and what is more of a concern is the invisibility of inside scoring except the lob pass from Gilbert to Brimah at the very beginning of the game. Last year Shonn Miller was the only inside scoring threat and it looks like UConn went from one to none. This all may mean more playing time for Durham who only got 2 minutes last night and probably isn't ready to play big minutes but the Facey/Enoch/Brimah triumvirate were terrible last night in all facets of the game that actually matter, and Adams and Purvis, the only two experienced guards, were also terrible. Insert Gilbert for Purvis and Durham for Facey and see how it looks against Northeastern because last night's starting lineup did not work.

 

[the Blades]

I hear ya, KSTW on Miller and Durham looks just as weak and soft so far ( the ACL's and him being another lightweight with toothpick legs are certainly a factor), it's scary that this coaching staff can't recruit or develop someone better than Wagner's center. Like you said in another thread Jake Voskuhl were are you ?

also speaking of former Uconn players, I guess it was a good night for teams in the NEC:
Central Handles Hartford 75-60 In Donyell Marshall's Debut

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Enoch is the only one of the bigs that is different and has a body that should be able to board well on this level but against a team with no player bigger than the 6'8" Aaman, he was 0-5 with weak forced shots and 2 boards. The collective UConn big man effort in this game was really, really bad.

But it is only 1 game and UConn did win a national championship playing Brimah and Nolan at the 5 and the 2014 team did not get pounded on the boards by anyone in the NCAA tourney. I would also note that Wagner is a good team and we should not deny that they played well and with proper aggression and deserved to win and may very well be the tourney team from the NEC if Donyell and Central does not stop them.

So it's back to the drawing board and we will see how they play against Northeastern Monday and LMU THursday night and then off to Hawaii with a chance for some good wins.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

Did anyone see the photo on the Wagner twitter where they juxtaposed a photo of the 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014 national championships banners at Gampel with the final score from last night's game? Clever camera work.

https://twitter.com/Wagner_MBB

 

[the Blades]

Did anyone see the photo on the Wagner twitter where they juxtaposed a photo of the 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014 national championships banners at Gampel with the final score from last night's game? Clever camera work.
https://twitter.com/Wagner_MBB

I hope KO and the Uconn players did.....keep living off someone else's accomplishments( ie. players that Calhoun developed) and reading pre-season polls you bunch of soft front runners:

 

[the Blades]

I would also note that Wagner is a good team and we should not deny that they played well .

Jacobs: It's Not That Wagner Was That Good, It's That UConn Was That Bad

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

16 offensive rebounds allowed to Southern CT State followed by 11 offensive rebounds allowed to Wagner. UConn has allowed 27 offensive boards the last two games. The rebounding softness is problem A1 right now. This team can be very, very good if they can get out on the break but they need to rebound better and they really have to teach the bigs to stay at home and focus on the boards and boxing out and looking upcourt to outlet the ball. Where is Jake Voskuhl, he did all these things and he can and should be brought in to teach them. He was not a great athlete (he was solid athletically) but used good footwork, good fundamentals and played smart. This is what they need to do, being athletic means nothing if the athleticism is not used properly.