- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- 29,375
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I'm not sure we can say the coaching, even with Miller and Hobbs, was a whole lot different.
The offense looked largely the same as today's. Same ideas at work. The team also shot poorly, especially from 3. Giffey had a nightmare game.
The differences:
1. Better players (Napier/Boatright/Daniels > Adams/Larrier/Vital)
2. Better dribbling (5 turnovers in 1st half for UConn even fewer in 2nd) means the team can get to any spot in the lane.
3. Better dribbling also meant the guards got to the line a lot (21 free throws hit).
4. Shabazz took very difficult shots and hit them when needed, especially from 3.
5. Poise: they fell down by 10 in the 2nd half and didn't panic. They calmly did their thing.
6. MOST IMPORTANT: defense from the guards stopped the other team from getting into their offense.
The same:
1. Offense
2. Lack of rebounding (the bigs, Nolan, Brimah, Olander, were no better than our bigs lately)
3. Outside shooting woes
4. Gave up a slew of 3s
5. Transition defense was awful, almost always lost their man.
It really is eye-opening to go back and watch them from 2014. It explains a lot about why this team is suffering. Ball handling and poise are two huge factors.
The offense looked largely the same as today's. Same ideas at work. The team also shot poorly, especially from 3. Giffey had a nightmare game.
The differences:
1. Better players (Napier/Boatright/Daniels > Adams/Larrier/Vital)
2. Better dribbling (5 turnovers in 1st half for UConn even fewer in 2nd) means the team can get to any spot in the lane.
3. Better dribbling also meant the guards got to the line a lot (21 free throws hit).
4. Shabazz took very difficult shots and hit them when needed, especially from 3.
5. Poise: they fell down by 10 in the 2nd half and didn't panic. They calmly did their thing.
6. MOST IMPORTANT: defense from the guards stopped the other team from getting into their offense.
The same:
1. Offense
2. Lack of rebounding (the bigs, Nolan, Brimah, Olander, were no better than our bigs lately)
3. Outside shooting woes
4. Gave up a slew of 3s
5. Transition defense was awful, almost always lost their man.
It really is eye-opening to go back and watch them from 2014. It explains a lot about why this team is suffering. Ball handling and poise are two huge factors.