THABEET DOMINATES AIC
by Zach Smart
Jim Calhoun’s affinity for the “true” big man has been well-noted over the years.
The founding father of a Big East NBA factory--one that has launched super-bigs such as Emeka Okafor to fat NBA contracts--is geared towards mastering his most recent giant project, 7-foot-3 behemoth Hasheem Thabaeet.
Thabeet, a typical Calhoun big man (major defensive prowess who swats, changes, and alters the trajectory of shots and cleans the glass), passed up the NBA lure at his coach's urging. Time and time again last season, Calhoun told Thabeet that declaring for the NBA draft would be a mistake. Calhoun told his monster center that he’s not ready. He told Thabeet he's still not polished on the offensive end and certain aspects of his game were in need of refinement.
The longtime Husky coach’s words proved prophetic.
Read More...Click Below!
Defensively, Thabeet was as much as an inside presence as anyone in college basketball last season. His supervillian-like 7-foot-3, 263-pound frame (Thabeet certainly ate his potatoes from the time he arrived at UConn) patrolled the paint last season, distancing players from the key and around the basket. He racked up blocked shot after blocked shot and was a major intimidating factor down low, supplemented by fellow 6-foot-7 245-pound forward Jeff Adrien.
Still, there were times his freshman and sophomore seasons where Thabeet looked offensively inept. His failure to execute manipulative post moves allowed the skeptics to surface and kept Calhoun in his mammoth mug, relentlessly riding him.
While last night was no omen of what's to unfold this season (The Huskies clubbed lower-tier American International, Jim Calhoun’s alma mater, 83-58 at Gampel Pavilion), Thabeet gave an efficient account of himself. The kid from Tanzania hit on all nine of his shot attempts, dominating the much-smaller AIC frontline, en route to a wowing 21-point, 10-board performance. It was like watching Godzilla ease for position against a nucleus of smurfs.
“Maybe Hasheem wouldn’t have gone 9-for-9 last year,” said Calhoun. “He’s a better offensive player...He’s going to be a mismatch for a lot of 6-foot-8 guys, too.”
He is. All the more reason why last night wasn’t much of a barometer game for the big neophyte. The road that follows doesn’t look to feature many litmus tests for Thabeet, either. The hungry Huskies, the no.2-ranked team in the country, will look to eat up the cupcakes of their early-season schedule in shark-size bites.
They open up Nov.14 against Western Carolina before going eyeball-to-eyeball with Hartford, La Salle, Bryant, Delaware State, Buffalo and Stony Brook. This is all before getting their chance to avenge last year’s dizzying 85-82 loss at Gonzaga, Dec. 20 on CBS.
Thabeet hit 3-of-5 shots from the charity stripe, where he struggled mightily his freshman year. He grabbed four offensive boards. The Huskies made quick work of AIC on that front, outboarding them by a 44-25 margin.
Jeff Adrien added to the dismantling with 11 points and six boards, while junior Gavin Edwards, whose added on bulk since his freshman season, popped off the bench to score 15 boards and snare seven rebounds in 15 minutes of burn.
The massive search warrant out for Jerome Dyson’s game continues. Dyson, who hasn’t been the same player since his late-January arrest last season, scored just one point in 27 minutes. Despite morphing into Houdini mode scoring-wise, Dyson handed out five dimes. Still, the kid who was so promising his freshman season and entertained NBA thoughts at the start of his sophomore year needs to re-discover his groove and mesh with teammates. An ultra-athletic off guard who can score in bunches, hit threes and attack the rim, the Husky faithful hope Dyson finds where exactly his game went and does not become another Marcus Johnson.
A.J. Price, the clear leader of the Huskies offense, also wasn’t himself. He scored just eight points and handed out one assist in 24 minutes. Price, who’s had a road to recovery following a crushing injury in the NCAA tournament, was impressed with the pre-season debut of the highly-touted Kemba Walker.
The 6-foot-1 Walker, a hotly pursued New York guard, was a pyrotechnic off the bench, injecting energy into the UConn backcourt. His patented quickness was notable, as the freshman had 10 points, eight boards and dished out four dimes. A few of those assists came on alley-oops to Thabeet, as the chemistry the two developed in practice was thrust to the forefront. Thabeet scored a majority of his points on flushes, facebooking any AIC player audacious enough to interrupt his date with the basket.
Miles From Here: Nate Miles, the controversial NBA prospect who was booted from UConn after violating terms of a restraining order, has enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho. Due to junior college rules, the well-traveled 6-foot-7 guard/forward will not be able to play in games with the Golden Eagles until Feb.6. The absence of Miles leaves a gap in the small forward position. Stanley “Sticks” Robinson will not be available the first semester, and without him the Huskies do not have a true 3-man.
Jim Calhoun’s affinity for the “true” big man has been well-noted over the years.
The founding father of a Big East NBA factory--one that has launched super-bigs such as Emeka Okafor to fat NBA contracts--is geared towards mastering his most recent giant project, 7-foot-3 behemoth Hasheem Thabaeet.
Thabeet, a typical Calhoun big man (major defensive prowess who swats, changes, and alters the trajectory of shots and cleans the glass), passed up the NBA lure at his coach's urging. Time and time again last season, Calhoun told Thabeet that declaring for the NBA draft would be a mistake. Calhoun told his monster center that he’s not ready. He told Thabeet he's still not polished on the offensive end and certain aspects of his game were in need of refinement.
The longtime Husky coach’s words proved prophetic.
Read More...Click Below!
Defensively, Thabeet was as much as an inside presence as anyone in college basketball last season. His supervillian-like 7-foot-3, 263-pound frame (Thabeet certainly ate his potatoes from the time he arrived at UConn) patrolled the paint last season, distancing players from the key and around the basket. He racked up blocked shot after blocked shot and was a major intimidating factor down low, supplemented by fellow 6-foot-7 245-pound forward Jeff Adrien.
Still, there were times his freshman and sophomore seasons where Thabeet looked offensively inept. His failure to execute manipulative post moves allowed the skeptics to surface and kept Calhoun in his mammoth mug, relentlessly riding him.
While last night was no omen of what's to unfold this season (The Huskies clubbed lower-tier American International, Jim Calhoun’s alma mater, 83-58 at Gampel Pavilion), Thabeet gave an efficient account of himself. The kid from Tanzania hit on all nine of his shot attempts, dominating the much-smaller AIC frontline, en route to a wowing 21-point, 10-board performance. It was like watching Godzilla ease for position against a nucleus of smurfs.
“Maybe Hasheem wouldn’t have gone 9-for-9 last year,” said Calhoun. “He’s a better offensive player...He’s going to be a mismatch for a lot of 6-foot-8 guys, too.”
He is. All the more reason why last night wasn’t much of a barometer game for the big neophyte. The road that follows doesn’t look to feature many litmus tests for Thabeet, either. The hungry Huskies, the no.2-ranked team in the country, will look to eat up the cupcakes of their early-season schedule in shark-size bites.
They open up Nov.14 against Western Carolina before going eyeball-to-eyeball with Hartford, La Salle, Bryant, Delaware State, Buffalo and Stony Brook. This is all before getting their chance to avenge last year’s dizzying 85-82 loss at Gonzaga, Dec. 20 on CBS.
Thabeet hit 3-of-5 shots from the charity stripe, where he struggled mightily his freshman year. He grabbed four offensive boards. The Huskies made quick work of AIC on that front, outboarding them by a 44-25 margin.
Jeff Adrien added to the dismantling with 11 points and six boards, while junior Gavin Edwards, whose added on bulk since his freshman season, popped off the bench to score 15 boards and snare seven rebounds in 15 minutes of burn.
The massive search warrant out for Jerome Dyson’s game continues. Dyson, who hasn’t been the same player since his late-January arrest last season, scored just one point in 27 minutes. Despite morphing into Houdini mode scoring-wise, Dyson handed out five dimes. Still, the kid who was so promising his freshman season and entertained NBA thoughts at the start of his sophomore year needs to re-discover his groove and mesh with teammates. An ultra-athletic off guard who can score in bunches, hit threes and attack the rim, the Husky faithful hope Dyson finds where exactly his game went and does not become another Marcus Johnson.
A.J. Price, the clear leader of the Huskies offense, also wasn’t himself. He scored just eight points and handed out one assist in 24 minutes. Price, who’s had a road to recovery following a crushing injury in the NCAA tournament, was impressed with the pre-season debut of the highly-touted Kemba Walker.
The 6-foot-1 Walker, a hotly pursued New York guard, was a pyrotechnic off the bench, injecting energy into the UConn backcourt. His patented quickness was notable, as the freshman had 10 points, eight boards and dished out four dimes. A few of those assists came on alley-oops to Thabeet, as the chemistry the two developed in practice was thrust to the forefront. Thabeet scored a majority of his points on flushes, facebooking any AIC player audacious enough to interrupt his date with the basket.
Miles From Here: Nate Miles, the controversial NBA prospect who was booted from UConn after violating terms of a restraining order, has enrolled at the College of Southern Idaho. Due to junior college rules, the well-traveled 6-foot-7 guard/forward will not be able to play in games with the Golden Eagles until Feb.6. The absence of Miles leaves a gap in the small forward position. Stanley “Sticks” Robinson will not be available the first semester, and without him the Huskies do not have a true 3-man.
Labels: Connecticut news
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