UConn Swallows Another Cupcake
By Zach Smart
Prior to UConn’s 79-49 dismantling of Delaware State, a team that didn’t boast a player taller than 6-foot-7 on the roster, a few thoughts crossed my mind.
-What does UConn, the no.2 ranked team in the country, get out of a game like this? How does a guarantee game of this (lack of magnitude) help them in the RPI ratings, if it does at all?
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-For those who are unfamiliar with UConn and the pre-conference schedule, allow me to explain. Jim Calhoun employs a tactic quite similar to his buddy and fellow Hall of Famer, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. Actually, based on Syracuse’s enhanced strength of schedule and sizzling start this season, Boeheim no longer buys into this methodology. The jury is still out on how an early-season schedule that includes Bryant, Albany, Buffalo, Stony Brook, and Fairfield (before the Huskies cross the threshold into the ultra-competitive Big East, one of the nation’s premier conferences time and time again) will benefit the Huskies. Can someone please explain it to a sloth learner like myself? Remember, I was one of those dudes that got the “No Time Limit” card for my tests in high school .
-The Huskies certainly had a free pass during the 2006-7 campaign, when a callow crew (8-9 freshmen and then first-year sophomore A.J. Price, who was setback two years due to health and legal issues) needed to develop chemistry and get a taste of the tempo of Division-I ball as well as the high-horsepower, track meet basketball that Calhoun tends to implement. That year the Huskies ate up a schedule that included Fairfield, Sacred Heart, Texas Southern, Northeastern, and Coppin St. in shark-size bites.
- UConn got their wind tested against and showed poise in a tight battle they gutted out against La Salle before dumping off a rock-solid Wisconsin team in an extremely hostile environment. Thus, the No.2 AP/No.2 ESPN-USA Huskies have been about as predictable as the chances of Plaxico Burress, Dick Chaney riding in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s car on the way to the shooting range for target practice. With UConn, the oasis, the NBA machine (see Hamilton, Richard or Gay, Rudy for more information) that pumps life into the barren Connecticut countryside, playing a MEAC goldfish that couldn’t swim with sharks like Ohio State, West Virginia, and Kentucky, the stage seems set for another 30-point guarantee game. Delaware State, with their patented slowdown tempo, lost five straight games in which they put up exactly 42 points, so I wasn’t expecting a very considerable upset bid.
-The Hornets’ Donald Johnson, who scored a game-high 25 points and six threes, torched the nets early. The senior guard had four threes in the first half, but his teammates couldn’t supplement his dragon-slaying effort. It made for some pretty interesting algebra at halftime. Johnson was 6-for-10, his teammates a combined 1-for-21 (7-for-31, 22.6 percent). Nothing short of abysmal. The Hornets had open looks at the basket, even a couple of second chance opportunities, but they simply couldn’t capitalize. Guard Fred Bouie (a carbon copy of “Spanish” from old school, which the rowdy UConn fans quickly picked up on) got free on a fast break and coughed up a wide open layup. God I feel bad for this guy.
- UConn’s harassing full-court press was a bit of a rude awakening for the Hornets. The Huskies instigated a torrent of turnovers but once again failed to identify Hasheem Thabeet, who had 10 points and 17 rebounds, early on.
“I thought Hash was terrific,” said Calhoun. “We just didn’t get him the ball enough….And it’s good for us, because it will develop us for later games.”
-While Thabeet was quiet early, Gavin Edwards had an epiphany. He realized it’s a lot easier to shoot over 6-foot-7 players than it is to shoot over the 7-foot-3 National Defensive Player of the Year Thabeet (as he does in practice). So Edwards took advantage of every minute he had on the hardwood. An alley-oop jam by the freakish Jerome Dyson, followed by an Edwards bucket gave UConn an early 10-3 advantage they wouldn’t squander. -Edwards continued to establish himself, scoring at will and even punching one DSU player’s shot attempt down his throat in the first half.
-One game after Calhoun criticized his club’s perimeter defense, Johnson put on a show in the first half, injecting some momentum in his club by canning three after three. This is after the Huskies allowed Bryant College to shoot 11-for-25 from beyond the arc against them.
“It was a tough game to play in for our kids. I still would like to see to see them develop a little more suffocating and prideful defensive philosophy, and better ball movement. When we moved the ball well, we shot the ball exceptionally well. And when we moved it poorly and did some individual stuff, we obviously didn’t score anywhere near the way we’re capable of scoring against a team that we’re superior to. We just had let-down periods in the second half that we really shouldn’t have had,” explained Calhoun.
“We don’t govern the circumstances of how the other team plays, but we have to react to that. We certainly could have reacted better. They must have had six or seven rebounds where we were at half-court trying to start our fast break, which we didn’t need to do. It wasn’t a negative game by any stretch of the imagination.”
-UConn looked a little sluggish at times during the first half. They were up by just five with 9:25 in the first half, when Calhoun dropped his head into his hands. Craig Austrie got stuffed on his way to the hole, and was immediately yanked. The slowmotion offense wouldn’t get them in a funk for long. UConn ripped off a wowing 21-3 spurt. The Huskies broke the game open when Dyson (15 points) froze a defender in mid-air and busted out a nifty, acrobatic up-and-under layup that put UConn ahead. A Thabeet alley-oop soon followed, and the second half was over before it started.
-UConn showcased its defensive prowess in the second half, eventually fending off the one man band of Johnson. The gang that couldn’t shoot straight in the first half finally woke up, but Thabeet kept the laugher intact. Teetering around the 13-minute mark, Thabeet swatted a Kris Douse shot attempt like he was spiking a volleyball. Thabeet then repeated the act on the ensuing possession, punching Johnson’s shot attempt to the second row and pointing to the fan that caught the ball. Talk about a mean swagger.
“They have five NBA players on the floor. It’s hard to play against a team that’s so talented,” said DSU coach Greg Jackson.
“I’ve told everyone all year long that Donald Johnson can shoot the ball as well as anyone in the country. He’s just on a team that’s not as talented as these teams. Could you imagine Donald Johnson being on this (UConn) team. We have to get him the basketball more. We told him the night before at practice to look for his shot and he came out looking for his shot.”
Johnson, a first team all-MEAC selection, could be a conference Player of the Year hopeful. He’s cushioned the loss of Roy Bright, last year’s 6-foot-6 NBA prospect, for the Hornets. I hate to sound like a broken record (too late), but these are just appetizers for 7-0 UConn. The first entrée will be served Dec. 20, when they meet Gonzaga in a nationally televised game.
Prior to UConn’s 79-49 dismantling of Delaware State, a team that didn’t boast a player taller than 6-foot-7 on the roster, a few thoughts crossed my mind.
-What does UConn, the no.2 ranked team in the country, get out of a game like this? How does a guarantee game of this (lack of magnitude) help them in the RPI ratings, if it does at all?
Read More...Click Below!
-For those who are unfamiliar with UConn and the pre-conference schedule, allow me to explain. Jim Calhoun employs a tactic quite similar to his buddy and fellow Hall of Famer, Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. Actually, based on Syracuse’s enhanced strength of schedule and sizzling start this season, Boeheim no longer buys into this methodology. The jury is still out on how an early-season schedule that includes Bryant, Albany, Buffalo, Stony Brook, and Fairfield (before the Huskies cross the threshold into the ultra-competitive Big East, one of the nation’s premier conferences time and time again) will benefit the Huskies. Can someone please explain it to a sloth learner like myself? Remember, I was one of those dudes that got the “No Time Limit” card for my tests in high school .
-The Huskies certainly had a free pass during the 2006-7 campaign, when a callow crew (8-9 freshmen and then first-year sophomore A.J. Price, who was setback two years due to health and legal issues) needed to develop chemistry and get a taste of the tempo of Division-I ball as well as the high-horsepower, track meet basketball that Calhoun tends to implement. That year the Huskies ate up a schedule that included Fairfield, Sacred Heart, Texas Southern, Northeastern, and Coppin St. in shark-size bites.
- UConn got their wind tested against and showed poise in a tight battle they gutted out against La Salle before dumping off a rock-solid Wisconsin team in an extremely hostile environment. Thus, the No.2 AP/No.2 ESPN-USA Huskies have been about as predictable as the chances of Plaxico Burress, Dick Chaney riding in New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s car on the way to the shooting range for target practice. With UConn, the oasis, the NBA machine (see Hamilton, Richard or Gay, Rudy for more information) that pumps life into the barren Connecticut countryside, playing a MEAC goldfish that couldn’t swim with sharks like Ohio State, West Virginia, and Kentucky, the stage seems set for another 30-point guarantee game. Delaware State, with their patented slowdown tempo, lost five straight games in which they put up exactly 42 points, so I wasn’t expecting a very considerable upset bid.
-The Hornets’ Donald Johnson, who scored a game-high 25 points and six threes, torched the nets early. The senior guard had four threes in the first half, but his teammates couldn’t supplement his dragon-slaying effort. It made for some pretty interesting algebra at halftime. Johnson was 6-for-10, his teammates a combined 1-for-21 (7-for-31, 22.6 percent). Nothing short of abysmal. The Hornets had open looks at the basket, even a couple of second chance opportunities, but they simply couldn’t capitalize. Guard Fred Bouie (a carbon copy of “Spanish” from old school, which the rowdy UConn fans quickly picked up on) got free on a fast break and coughed up a wide open layup. God I feel bad for this guy.
- UConn’s harassing full-court press was a bit of a rude awakening for the Hornets. The Huskies instigated a torrent of turnovers but once again failed to identify Hasheem Thabeet, who had 10 points and 17 rebounds, early on.
“I thought Hash was terrific,” said Calhoun. “We just didn’t get him the ball enough….And it’s good for us, because it will develop us for later games.”
-While Thabeet was quiet early, Gavin Edwards had an epiphany. He realized it’s a lot easier to shoot over 6-foot-7 players than it is to shoot over the 7-foot-3 National Defensive Player of the Year Thabeet (as he does in practice). So Edwards took advantage of every minute he had on the hardwood. An alley-oop jam by the freakish Jerome Dyson, followed by an Edwards bucket gave UConn an early 10-3 advantage they wouldn’t squander. -Edwards continued to establish himself, scoring at will and even punching one DSU player’s shot attempt down his throat in the first half.
-One game after Calhoun criticized his club’s perimeter defense, Johnson put on a show in the first half, injecting some momentum in his club by canning three after three. This is after the Huskies allowed Bryant College to shoot 11-for-25 from beyond the arc against them.
“It was a tough game to play in for our kids. I still would like to see to see them develop a little more suffocating and prideful defensive philosophy, and better ball movement. When we moved the ball well, we shot the ball exceptionally well. And when we moved it poorly and did some individual stuff, we obviously didn’t score anywhere near the way we’re capable of scoring against a team that we’re superior to. We just had let-down periods in the second half that we really shouldn’t have had,” explained Calhoun.
“We don’t govern the circumstances of how the other team plays, but we have to react to that. We certainly could have reacted better. They must have had six or seven rebounds where we were at half-court trying to start our fast break, which we didn’t need to do. It wasn’t a negative game by any stretch of the imagination.”
-UConn looked a little sluggish at times during the first half. They were up by just five with 9:25 in the first half, when Calhoun dropped his head into his hands. Craig Austrie got stuffed on his way to the hole, and was immediately yanked. The slowmotion offense wouldn’t get them in a funk for long. UConn ripped off a wowing 21-3 spurt. The Huskies broke the game open when Dyson (15 points) froze a defender in mid-air and busted out a nifty, acrobatic up-and-under layup that put UConn ahead. A Thabeet alley-oop soon followed, and the second half was over before it started.
-UConn showcased its defensive prowess in the second half, eventually fending off the one man band of Johnson. The gang that couldn’t shoot straight in the first half finally woke up, but Thabeet kept the laugher intact. Teetering around the 13-minute mark, Thabeet swatted a Kris Douse shot attempt like he was spiking a volleyball. Thabeet then repeated the act on the ensuing possession, punching Johnson’s shot attempt to the second row and pointing to the fan that caught the ball. Talk about a mean swagger.
“They have five NBA players on the floor. It’s hard to play against a team that’s so talented,” said DSU coach Greg Jackson.
“I’ve told everyone all year long that Donald Johnson can shoot the ball as well as anyone in the country. He’s just on a team that’s not as talented as these teams. Could you imagine Donald Johnson being on this (UConn) team. We have to get him the basketball more. We told him the night before at practice to look for his shot and he came out looking for his shot.”
Johnson, a first team all-MEAC selection, could be a conference Player of the Year hopeful. He’s cushioned the loss of Roy Bright, last year’s 6-foot-6 NBA prospect, for the Hornets. I hate to sound like a broken record (too late), but these are just appetizers for 7-0 UConn. The first entrée will be served Dec. 20, when they meet Gonzaga in a nationally televised game.
Labels: Connecticut news
posted by NBE Blogger @ 10:18 AM
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