Shabazz is a competitor

[Deleted member 3149]

He will learn from what happened tonight. My guess is that we'll be good to go before the Washington game and that the intensity will be high from us here on out. The Memphis and Louisville games next month will be the real determining factor of whether or not we deserve a top seed in March. If we're good enough to be up at half against Stanford , we're good enough to beat them. 9/10 times we win tonight. This doesn't make us a "non top 10" team... It means we had a bad half of basketball. Gotta move on... Realistically it's impossible to go undefeated anyways... Just don't ask Geno that

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

He will learn from what happened tonight. My guess is that we'll be good to go before the Washington game and that the intensity will be high from us here on out. The Memphis and Louisville games next month will be the real determining factor of whether or not we deserve a top seed in March. If we're good enough to be up at half against Stanford , we're good enough to beat them. 9/10 times we win tonight. This doesn't make us a "non top 10" team... It means we had a bad half of basketball. Gotta move on... Realistically it's impossible to go undefeated anyways... Just don't ask Geno that

If we're good enough to be up at half against Stanford, were good enough to beat Louisville??? How are those two teams even comparable. Stanford isn't good. We've barely beaten a number of bad or average teams this year.
We're not close to a top 10 right now forget going undefeated. Again it wasn't just a bad half. We've had a ton of bad halves this year.

Pointing this out doesn't mean I don't love uconn. People on this board are too afraid to speak the truth. Right now we are an inconsistent team who frankly isn't very good outside of one player

 

[Minicoop69]

Last night, Bazz thought that he had to force up everything. I mean, at his shots from 3 in the last 2 minutes just coming down the floor and chucking the ball because no one else was going to do it. Then when he passed to OC for the last shot when he definitely should have taken it. He had a clean look after he shot faked. I was great in the first half and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the second. Except for 1 albeit easy jumper from the left wing.

After watching this team this year, if we can not shoot lights outs from 3 then we will lose a ton of games. The new foul rules should help this team, but too much are they trying to jack up 3's without looking to dribble drive. This game was a wake up call. Glad to have it come now.

 

[kansashusky]

Name me a top ten team that has scored 13 points in a half. Ill wait.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Hey, it was just one of those halves. The issue to me is that we have a trend forming where we get big leads and then stop working the shot clock looking for good shots and instead start jacking up long range 3's early in the possession without a clean look. We get lazy and stop running the offense. I wonder if its a mentality that lets go for the throat while we have them down but are just going about it the wrong way by trying to make the dramatic long range 3. the good thing is that it is certainly correctable. I just wish that Bazz as our leader played a little more under control and didn't launch so many 3's especially from so far out and not clean looks.

 

[Husky25]

He will learn from what happened tonight. My guess is that we'll be good to go before the Washington game and that the intensity will be high from us here on out. The Memphis and Louisville games next month will be the real determining factor of whether or not we deserve a top seed in March. If we're good enough to be up at half against Stanford , we're good enough to beat them. 9/10 times we win tonight. This doesn't make us a "non top 10" team... It means we had a bad half of basketball. Gotta move on... Realistically it's impossible to go undefeated anyways... Just don't ask Geno that

Got a text from my buddy last night from across the Arena. It said simply: " Practice tomorrow at 6am. No need for a ball."

 

[Deleted member 3149]

If we're good enough to be up at half against Stanford, were good enough to beat Louisville??? How are those two teams even comparable. Stanford isn't good. We've barely beaten a number of bad or average teams this year.
We're not close to a top 10 right now forget going undefeated. Again it wasn't just a bad half. We've had a ton of bad halves this year.

Pointing this out doesn't mean I don't love uconn. People on this board are too afraid to speak the truth. Right now we are an inconsistent team who frankly isn't very good outside of one player

We beat Florida, who everyone thinks is a VERY legitimate title contender.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We beat Florida, who everyone things is a VERY legitimate title contender.

Playing Florida to a draw is impressive.
Playing Indiana to a draw is nothing to write home about.
Playing Stanford to a draw is underwhelming.
Playing Maryland to a draw is disconcerting.
Playing BC to a draw is alarming.

That's the balance of our games against high-major opponents.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

Playing Florida to a draw is impressive.
Playing Indiana to a draw is nothing to write home about.
Playing Stanford to a draw is underwhelming.
Playing Maryland to a draw is disconcerting.
Playing BC to a draw is alarming.

That's the balance of our games against high-major opponents.

That's college basketball for ya. Duke almost lost to Vermont, Wisconsin beat Wisc-Green Bay by 3, Kansas almost lost to UTEP. I can go on and on if you'd like... We have a very talented team, and for some reason we just can't play a full 40 minutes. I'm sure that'll be fixed. When we're playing to our potential (first half of yesterday's game), we can compete with anyone. Yes, that means Louisville.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Playing Florida to a draw is impressive.
Playing Indiana to a draw is nothing to write home about.
Playing Stanford to a draw is underwhelming.
Playing Maryland to a draw is disconcerting.
Playing BC to a draw is alarming.

That's the balance of our games against high-major opponents.

I know you lean toward the chicken little crowd, but still. . . First of all, I don't know why you say those games were draws, they weren't. They won 4 out of 5 of them. There's a difference between winning and losing. While it's also true that you want a team that purports to be a threat to go deep into March to put teams away, the only one of those games (besides Stanford) that I ever really thought they were going to lose was Florida. Maryland, BC, Indiana - they controlled the game for long stretches and let an inferior team creep back in at the end. There's a difference between that and getting controlled by those teams for 38 minutes and then stealing a win.

 

[Deleted member 3149]

I know you lean toward the chicken little crowd, but still. . . First of all, I don't know why you say those games were draws, they weren't. They won 4 out of 5 of them. There's a difference between winning and losing. While it's also true that you want a team that purports to be a threat to go deep into March to put teams away, the only one of those games (besides Stanford) that I ever really thought they were going to lose was Florida. Maryland, BC, Indiana - they controlled the game for long stretches and let an inferior team creep back in at the end. There's a difference between that and getting controlled by those teams for 38 minutes and then stealing a win.

couldn't agree more. We outplayed all of these opponents, with the exception of MAYBE Flordia, which i think was pretty even. We are good, that's why we have 1 loss and that's it.

 

[gtcam]

Last night, Bazz thought that he had to force up everything. I mean, at his shots from 3 in the last 2 minutes just coming down the floor and chucking the ball because no one else was going to do it. Then when he passed to OC for the last shot when he definitely should have taken it. He had a clean look after he shot faked. I was great in the first half and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the second. Except for 1 albeit easy jumper from the left wing.

After watching this team this year, if we can not shoot lights outs from 3 then we will lose a ton of games. The new foul rules should help this team, but too much are they trying to jack up 3's without looking to dribble drive. This game was a wake up call. Glad to have it come now.

the new foul rules don't mean squat if giff and dd cant dribble drive

 

[Tenspro2002]

I know you lean toward the chicken little crowd, but still. . . First of all, I don't know why you say those games were draws, they weren't. They won 4 out of 5 of them. There's a difference between winning and losing. While it's also true that you want a team that purports to be a threat to go deep into March to put teams away, the only one of those games (besides Stanford) that I ever really thought they were going to lose was Florida. Maryland, BC, Indiana - they controlled the game for long stretches and let an inferior team creep back in at the end. There's a difference between that and getting controlled by those teams for 38 minutes and then stealing a win.

I understand your point, that we did, in fact, have the lead for the majority of those games, and therefore appeared to be the better team. But you could also argue that since the scores in each of those games ended up just about even, the other team played better than we did for just about an equal amount of the game.

Maybe it is more a question of lack of killer instinct rather than lack of talent/execution, but if so, that's the sort of issue that's going to plague us throughout the year. You can learn how to run better plays or rotate on defense. The inclination to step on a team's throat and end a game going away is innate, it's not something you can coach. I think a lot of it stems from Shabazz's personality. He hits a lot of big shots when we're down and we desperately have to have one. But when we're winning he seems to ease up and take his foot off the gas, get lackadaisical. He doesn't really get locked in until it's absolutely necessary.

It's a dangerous way to go through a season, coasting to wins (if that is actually what they're doing). It leaves the door open for a lot of bad luck -- or in the case of Florida, sometimes leaves us relying on good luck.

 

[Hugo]

couldn't agree more. We outplayed all of these opponents, with the exception of MAYBE Flordia, which i think was pretty even. We are good, that's why we have 1 loss and that's it.

The question in my mind is are we satisfied being a "good" team or do we aspire to better than "good" ? If being only "good" is your objective, then I guess edging Indiana, BCU and Maryland works for you.

But, I have loftier objectives and the way the team is currently playing, I'm disappointed in what I've seen. Despite what some think, IMO Stanford is not that good of a team and to call BCU good is a real stretch. Not being able to put teams away becomes more of a problem as the season progresses and is a must come tournament time. Right now we have a very fine line between beating or losing to these "good" teams and that doesn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

The question in my mind is are we satisfied being a "good" team or do we aspire to better than "good" ? If being only "good" is your objective, then I guess edging Indiana, BCU and Maryland works for you.

But, I have loftier objectives and the way the team is currently playing, I'm disappointed in what I've seen. Despite what some think, IMO Stanford is not that good of a team and to call BCU good is a real stretch. Not being able to put teams away becomes more of a problem as the season progresses and is a must come tournament time. Right now we have a very fine line between beating or losing to these "good" teams and that doesn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Thank you. We should be better than beating bc and Maryland and Indiana at the end because we have shabazz. We are a top 10 team and title contender and really have all this talent, then we would be able to at least win two of those games somewhat comfortably.

I get it. A win is a win , but it's concerning that every win was like that and now we have a loss too

 

[Deleted member 3149]

Thank you. We should be better than beating bc and Maryland and Indiana at the end because we have shabazz. We are a top 10 team and title contender and really have all this talent, then we would be able to at least win two of those games somewhat comfortably.

I get it. A win is a win , but it's concerning that every win was like that and now we have a loss too

All we can do is wait and see how we come out on Sunday. My biggest concern is Omar right now, he's a huge scoring threat when he's hot and we need his perimeter game to be back.