UConn is going with an eighth different starting lineup today -- and let me be the first to say, I like it.
The Huskies are going with a three-guard look: Ryan Boatright, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb. Andre Drummond's the center and Tyler Olander the power forward.
I think this is the best lineup to get an offensive flow going, especially against a zone defense. Boatright makes things happen, as we saw before he got into foul trouble at Georgetown. He can make Drummond very happy getting him the rock.
Ditto for Olander, the team's best big-man passer who sees the floor well when he gets the ball at the high post and can also pop in a 15-footer.
Not to say Roscoe Smith, Alex Oriakhi, Niels Giffey and DeAndre Daniels don't still have roles on this team, but this starting lineup may be UConn's best right now.
*** The Huskies catch a break as Seton Hall top scorer, rebounder Herb Pope won't play after bruising his rib Tuesday night against Marquette. If UConn doesn't win today ...
*** Karl Hobbs has been bumped up to assistant coach while Jim Calhoun is out. He'll be able to coach the team during practices and, obviously, during games during this span.
*** I wouldn't expect Calhoun to make the trip to Syracuse. Getting on airplanes is one of the worst things for his back right now. (Oh, and so is the stress from losing. Yeah, Syracuse might not be a good remedy).
Showing posts with label Niels Giffey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Niels Giffey. Show all posts
What do you do when you make wholesale lineup changes and end up with the same results?
“Back to the drawing board,” according to Ryan Boatright.
For about 3 1/2 minutes, Boatright's presence in the starting lineup in place of Shabazz Napier really seemed to light the spark UConn has desperately been missing. He hit Andre Drummond for three early hoops, and the Huskies had a 13-7 lead.
Then, Georgetown went into a 2-3 zone, slowing UConn's offense back down to a standstill. Not long after, Boatright picked up two quick fouls and was on the bench for the final 10 minutes of the half.
The rest of the way, it was pretty much more of the same for the Huskies. UConn did manage to get more good looks but couldn't shoot at all. The Huskies were 18-for-60 from the floor, 2-for-20 on 3-pointers (heck, even 6-for-13 from the foul line).
The 44 points mark the second-lowest total ever for a UConn team in Big East play. The previous low was 42, set in 1982 and 1999.
Jeremy Lamb was 4-for-18, 2-for-11 -- many of them open looks. The three new starters -- Boatright, Niels Giffey and Roscoe Smith -- were 1-for-9 for two points.
Of course, the players they replaced weren't much better -- particularly Alex Oriakhi and Shabazz Napier.
Oriakhi went scoreless with one rebound and attempted exactly one shot all night. That shot? A dunk attempt that somehow wedged between the rim and the basket.
And Napier. Oh, Napier. He went 0-for-9 with one point and has now missed 17 straight shots from the floor. His body language wasn't much better tonight, either.
“I expect a lot more out of him, an awful lot more – including body language,” said Jim Calhoun.
Said Boatright of Napier: “He’s not showing hatred towards me or anything like that. He’s handling it like he’s handling it. We like each other, we still get along and stuff like that. It’s the coach’s decision.”
UConn's point total matched its second-lowest ever in Big East play.
“The one thing that did shake my head, we missed a ton of shots that Division 1 basketball players ,and UConn, should make,” said Calhoun, seemingly separating, at least for a moment, the fact that his team is, indeed, a D-1 team.
There have been times over the past few games where it’s been tough to tell.
But the Huskies -- at least some of them -- vow to keep fighting.
“I’m going to keep working, I’m going to keep pushing. We’re going to keep pushing,” said Calhoun. “Tomorrow’s (practice is) going to be longer, and we’re going to go at them and find people who can do what they can do. We’re not the most talented team, I guess we’re the sixth-youngest (team in America). I have no idea what that means. It means (bleep), in plain English.”
Added Andre Drummond: “I have faith in everybody, I’m sure everybody has faith in everybody else, the coaching staff has faith in us. Nobody’s given up yet. We’ve just got to keep fighting.”
And Boatright: "I remember last year’s team, I remember watching them, they lost the last four out of five heading into the Big East and they put it together and made a run and they just came back. We still have a chance.”
In all, Calhoun was -- once again -- surprisingly serene after another bad loss.
“I’m happier with our defense than I was on Saturday against Notre Dame," he said. "Our defense, generally, was good, except we had some people who felt, down nine with 12 to go, game’s over so they’re going to gamble. Bang. You’re not down nine anymore, you’re down 11.”
“Back to the drawing board,” according to Ryan Boatright.
For about 3 1/2 minutes, Boatright's presence in the starting lineup in place of Shabazz Napier really seemed to light the spark UConn has desperately been missing. He hit Andre Drummond for three early hoops, and the Huskies had a 13-7 lead.
Then, Georgetown went into a 2-3 zone, slowing UConn's offense back down to a standstill. Not long after, Boatright picked up two quick fouls and was on the bench for the final 10 minutes of the half.
The rest of the way, it was pretty much more of the same for the Huskies. UConn did manage to get more good looks but couldn't shoot at all. The Huskies were 18-for-60 from the floor, 2-for-20 on 3-pointers (heck, even 6-for-13 from the foul line).
The 44 points mark the second-lowest total ever for a UConn team in Big East play. The previous low was 42, set in 1982 and 1999.
Jeremy Lamb was 4-for-18, 2-for-11 -- many of them open looks. The three new starters -- Boatright, Niels Giffey and Roscoe Smith -- were 1-for-9 for two points.
Of course, the players they replaced weren't much better -- particularly Alex Oriakhi and Shabazz Napier.
Oriakhi went scoreless with one rebound and attempted exactly one shot all night. That shot? A dunk attempt that somehow wedged between the rim and the basket.
And Napier. Oh, Napier. He went 0-for-9 with one point and has now missed 17 straight shots from the floor. His body language wasn't much better tonight, either.
“I expect a lot more out of him, an awful lot more – including body language,” said Jim Calhoun.
Said Boatright of Napier: “He’s not showing hatred towards me or anything like that. He’s handling it like he’s handling it. We like each other, we still get along and stuff like that. It’s the coach’s decision.”
UConn's point total matched its second-lowest ever in Big East play.
“The one thing that did shake my head, we missed a ton of shots that Division 1 basketball players ,and UConn, should make,” said Calhoun, seemingly separating, at least for a moment, the fact that his team is, indeed, a D-1 team.
There have been times over the past few games where it’s been tough to tell.
But the Huskies -- at least some of them -- vow to keep fighting.
“I’m going to keep working, I’m going to keep pushing. We’re going to keep pushing,” said Calhoun. “Tomorrow’s (practice is) going to be longer, and we’re going to go at them and find people who can do what they can do. We’re not the most talented team, I guess we’re the sixth-youngest (team in America). I have no idea what that means. It means (bleep), in plain English.”
Added Andre Drummond: “I have faith in everybody, I’m sure everybody has faith in everybody else, the coaching staff has faith in us. Nobody’s given up yet. We’ve just got to keep fighting.”
And Boatright: "I remember last year’s team, I remember watching them, they lost the last four out of five heading into the Big East and they put it together and made a run and they just came back. We still have a chance.”
In all, Calhoun was -- once again -- surprisingly serene after another bad loss.
“I’m happier with our defense than I was on Saturday against Notre Dame," he said. "Our defense, generally, was good, except we had some people who felt, down nine with 12 to go, game’s over so they’re going to gamble. Bang. You’re not down nine anymore, you’re down 11.”
JIm Calhoun is shaking things up: Ryan Boatright will start at point guard tomorrow night vs. Georgetown and Roscoe Smith will start at power forward. Shabazz Napier and Alex Oriakhi, the team's two captains, will come off the bench.
Also, Niels Giffey returns to the starting 5, in place of DeAndre Daniels.
It's simply a matter of quickening the pace offensively for the Huskies, who have scored 57 and 48 points in their last two games and look stagnant on offense.
"It doesn’t mean ‘Bazz can’t do the job … We just need to get into a better pace," Calhoun said. "From Bazz’s standpoint, he’ll get a better viewpoint coming off the bench.”
“We’ve got to get some cheap, easy points, be it against Georgetown or Seton Hall," Calhoun added. "We just can’t keep getting 50 points a game. We’re just not going to win that way.”
Calhoun said he started pondering such changes a couple of games ago. However, the team had some good practices over the past week, and he felt good about things going into Sunday's Notre Dame game (and, of course, had Boatright practicing on the blue team all week, not knowing if he'd be able to play).
But Sunday's stinker was the final straw.
"It’s not against anybody, it’s for the team," Calhoun said. "It’s what we think is best. (Boatright) is young, and he’s been told to push the ball up. And it’ll be against some three-quarter court pressure, because they will trap us.”
Telling Napier and Oriakhi, the team's captains and key cogs in last year's title run, wasn't easy.
“It’s very difficult, in a lot of different ways," the coach said. "But what I’ve got to do is not what’s best for each individual player, it’s what’s best (for the team) ... The one thing I’ve always felt we need to do as a team is to create easy baskets. It’s pretty hard to win a league as crazy and as close as ours (without doing that)."
Giffey is the quickest player up the floor, according to Calhoun, and Daniels is a close second. But Giffey's got more experience and is back in the starting lineup.
And as for Roscoe, his ability to run the floor should also help UConn's pace.
“He will get up the court," Calhoun siad. "I don’t know what he’s gonna do when he gets there, but he’ll try to make something happen, that’s for sure.”
Pretty intriguing stuff. Of course, Boatright could throw the ball away 37 seconds into the game, and Napier could pop right off the bench to replace him.
Calhoun also defended criticism of Andre Drummond's recent play.
“I’m not saying Andre’s perfect, he made a couple of not-so-good plays, but if he can keep giving us double-doubles, block four shots, it gives us a much better chance to win basketball games," the coach said.
It's also incumbent upon the Huskies to get Jeremy Lamb more than just the nine shots he got against Notre Dame.
Wish we could give you more info on Ryan Boatright's situation, but as of right now, there's really nothing new to report.
UConn's compliance staff has been working late hours (until 9 p.m. the other night) trying to get some sort of resolution from Indianapolis, but nothing ... yet.
Here's what Jim Calhoun had to say this afternoon:
"Everybody’s working like crazy, trying to get some resolution right now ... There’s no indication of (whether he'll come back at all), the only indication is we’re trying like crazy to get him back."
"One of the worst parts about it, it hangs there. Ryan has a great day of practice today, it hangs there. It hangs with the kids (saying), ‘If we had him.’ We don’t, right now."
“All of us want to have the best team possible. I think we all would admit – good, bad or indifferent – to not play, to play, to not play can wear on you. I know it wears on me. No one cares about that, nor should they.”
Boatright's teammates obviously want him back, as well.
“He’s the same person. He’s not letting it get him down," said Andre Drummond. "He’s still playing twice as hard in practice. He wants to come back really bad, and I just can’t wait for the day that he gets cleared.”
Elsewhere ...
*** DeAndre Daniels, after "probably the best week of practice of his career," will be back in the starting lineup Sunday, ahead of Niels Giffey.
*** Calhoun said Tyler Olander recently has been "logy. He’s looked logy in games, I don’t know why.”
*** Ex-Huskies Donny Marshall, Kevin Freeman, Kevin Ollie and Tony Robertson have been going against UConn in practice over the past week.
***UConn's Super Bowl predictions:
DRUMMOND: "Patriots. They’ve got Tom Brady, what more could you ask for? I’m from New York, I like the New York Giants, but I think the Patriots might get the best of them.”
JEREMY LAMB: “I kind of want the Giants to win. I don’t really watch too much football … I just want to see a good game. But I think the Giants might be able to pull it off.
CALHOUN: “The Patriots will win, I just can’t give you the (details) … Everybody talks about getting injuries from the Patriots, that’s not gonna happen. When Randy Edsall was here, you were much more likely to get a week in advance injury report from him than you would two hours before the Patriots kick off Super Bowl Sunday.”
UConn's compliance staff has been working late hours (until 9 p.m. the other night) trying to get some sort of resolution from Indianapolis, but nothing ... yet.
Here's what Jim Calhoun had to say this afternoon:
"Everybody’s working like crazy, trying to get some resolution right now ... There’s no indication of (whether he'll come back at all), the only indication is we’re trying like crazy to get him back."
"One of the worst parts about it, it hangs there. Ryan has a great day of practice today, it hangs there. It hangs with the kids (saying), ‘If we had him.’ We don’t, right now."
“All of us want to have the best team possible. I think we all would admit – good, bad or indifferent – to not play, to play, to not play can wear on you. I know it wears on me. No one cares about that, nor should they.”
Boatright's teammates obviously want him back, as well.
“He’s the same person. He’s not letting it get him down," said Andre Drummond. "He’s still playing twice as hard in practice. He wants to come back really bad, and I just can’t wait for the day that he gets cleared.”
Elsewhere ...
*** DeAndre Daniels, after "probably the best week of practice of his career," will be back in the starting lineup Sunday, ahead of Niels Giffey.
*** Calhoun said Tyler Olander recently has been "logy. He’s looked logy in games, I don’t know why.”
*** Ex-Huskies Donny Marshall, Kevin Freeman, Kevin Ollie and Tony Robertson have been going against UConn in practice over the past week.
***UConn's Super Bowl predictions:
DRUMMOND: "Patriots. They’ve got Tom Brady, what more could you ask for? I’m from New York, I like the New York Giants, but I think the Patriots might get the best of them.”
JEREMY LAMB: “I kind of want the Giants to win. I don’t really watch too much football … I just want to see a good game. But I think the Giants might be able to pull it off.
CALHOUN: “The Patriots will win, I just can’t give you the (details) … Everybody talks about getting injuries from the Patriots, that’s not gonna happen. When Randy Edsall was here, you were much more likely to get a week in advance injury report from him than you would two hours before the Patriots kick off Super Bowl Sunday.”
Greeetings from Knoxville, where tomorrow's UConn-Tennessee game will unfold. Hotel's right next door to the Women's College Basketball Hall of Fame.
In that vein, UConn will be supporting Tennessee's Hall of Fame women's coach Pat Summitt tomorrow by sporting "Back Pat" t-shirts during pregame warm-ups. The t-shirts will read: "I Bleed Blue and White, But Wear Purple to Back Pat."
Summitt, of course, went public with her diagnosis of dementia in late August and has formed a foundation in support of Alzheimer's programs.
“We’re more than happy to support Pat Summitt, whom I’ve been friendly with for a long period of time," Jim Calhoun said.
In other news:
*** Nothing new on Ryan Boatright, who didn't make the trip.
“Obviously we’ll miss him," Calhoun said. "We certainly could use Ryan, but we’ve really pushed Brendan (Allen).”
With that in mind, Calhoun got a kick the other day out of one of the rare e-mails he reads.
“I don’t see many e-mails because I don’t necessarily have a place you can get to me, but I did see one (which said) we should have taken Shabazz out when we got the lead for a little bit of rest," the coach said. "I felt like writing back, ‘You mean, so he could make three 3-pointers in a row from, like, 25 feet with 1:28 to go in the game, because he was so fatigued?’”
Enosch Wolf isn't here, either. He had to take two exams that he missed earlier while suffering from a concussion, but the second exam has yet to be posted, so he was left behind in Storrs.
*** Niels Giffey is back in the starting lineup, replacing DeAndre Daniels.
*** Jeremy Lamb is 3-for-19 on 3-pointers the last four games, and his patented floater so prevalent in last year's title run has been MIA.
Said Calhoun: “Jeremy’s just got to shake out of this, move quicker, come off screens better … They’re gapping him so he can’t drive, they’re muscling him low and on top of screens so he can’t quite get free. He’s got to find a way to get free.”
*** Michael Bradley won't play tomorrow (and maybe the rest of the season), but he'll have about a good amount of fans cheering him and UConn on.
Bradley spent much of his childhood at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home, about 90 miles down the road in Chattanooga. Lynn Jordan, one of the home's organizers who has developed a close bond with Bradley over the years, will bring about 40 kids currently living at the home to see the game. The tickets were donated to the children's home by a couple from the Knoxville area.
"A lot of our churches around the area do things for us at Christmas," Jordan explained. "Several churches have met Michael and knew him when he was living here. They've kept track of him."
Most of the kids have never met Bradley, but are aware of his story. There is a plaque in Bradley's honor inside the home's gym, and the cottage he lived in still has his picture in it.
Jordan said she was happy that Bradley wound up not having to surrendering his scholarship so that Andre Drummond could play at UConn, but didn't offer any details.
"I think just it worked out that he didn't have to," she said.
Calhoun said Bradley (who fractured his ankle back in the fall) is still noticeably limping in practice.
“There’s a chance that ankle won’t be better for a year," Calhoun said. "He really had extensive surgery, he was out an incredibly long time, so there’s a chance he may not get into a game this year.”
*** UConn is 1-1 all-time against Tennessee, beating the Vols last season at Gampel, 72-61, in a game where Bruce Pearl emerged from his 8-game SEC suspension to coach the non-conference tilt. Pearl, of course, was fired after the season. His opinion is still highly valued by a local sports talk radio show, though (he's a regular guest, apparently).
The Vols are now coached by former Cuonzo Martin, who was heavily recruited by Calhoun in the early-1990's. Martin's final two choices, in fact, came down to Purdue and UConn.
*** This is the second time Tennessee has faced UConn with the Huskies as defending national champs. In a second-round NCAA tournament game on March 19, 2000, the Vols posted a 65-51 win in Birmingham, Ala. Khalid El-Amin was bothered by an ankle injury and held to just one basket.
*** Lucky 13? Tennessee's big home upset over Florida two weeks ago came when the Gators were ranked 13th nationally, as the Huskies are (for now).
*** One more note on Tennessee: I tuned into the Classic Rock radio station on the drive from Nashville to Knoxville (don't ask). Most of the standard fare: Zeppelin, Springsteen, etc., etc. Then came Black Oak Arkansas, a heavy-handed Southern rock band that (I think) was pretty big in the early 70's. You certainly don't hear them on the radio anymore, at last north of the Mason Dixon line.
Their front man was a wild guy named Jim Dandy, whom David Lee Roth has admitted to nicking parts of his act. Roth took it to a much higher, more entertaining level, of course. Unfortunately, Roth's voice now sounds like what Dandy's used to sound like.
And if you don't believe DLR took part of his act from Jim Dandy, watch Black Oak Arkansas's "Jim Dandy to the Rescue.", then watch Van Halen's "So This is Love."
In that vein, UConn will be supporting Tennessee's Hall of Fame women's coach Pat Summitt tomorrow by sporting "Back Pat" t-shirts during pregame warm-ups. The t-shirts will read: "I Bleed Blue and White, But Wear Purple to Back Pat."
Summitt, of course, went public with her diagnosis of dementia in late August and has formed a foundation in support of Alzheimer's programs.
“We’re more than happy to support Pat Summitt, whom I’ve been friendly with for a long period of time," Jim Calhoun said.
In other news:
*** Nothing new on Ryan Boatright, who didn't make the trip.
“Obviously we’ll miss him," Calhoun said. "We certainly could use Ryan, but we’ve really pushed Brendan (Allen).”
With that in mind, Calhoun got a kick the other day out of one of the rare e-mails he reads.
“I don’t see many e-mails because I don’t necessarily have a place you can get to me, but I did see one (which said) we should have taken Shabazz out when we got the lead for a little bit of rest," the coach said. "I felt like writing back, ‘You mean, so he could make three 3-pointers in a row from, like, 25 feet with 1:28 to go in the game, because he was so fatigued?’”
Enosch Wolf isn't here, either. He had to take two exams that he missed earlier while suffering from a concussion, but the second exam has yet to be posted, so he was left behind in Storrs.
*** Niels Giffey is back in the starting lineup, replacing DeAndre Daniels.
*** Jeremy Lamb is 3-for-19 on 3-pointers the last four games, and his patented floater so prevalent in last year's title run has been MIA.
Said Calhoun: “Jeremy’s just got to shake out of this, move quicker, come off screens better … They’re gapping him so he can’t drive, they’re muscling him low and on top of screens so he can’t quite get free. He’s got to find a way to get free.”
*** Michael Bradley won't play tomorrow (and maybe the rest of the season), but he'll have about a good amount of fans cheering him and UConn on.
Bradley spent much of his childhood at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home, about 90 miles down the road in Chattanooga. Lynn Jordan, one of the home's organizers who has developed a close bond with Bradley over the years, will bring about 40 kids currently living at the home to see the game. The tickets were donated to the children's home by a couple from the Knoxville area.
"A lot of our churches around the area do things for us at Christmas," Jordan explained. "Several churches have met Michael and knew him when he was living here. They've kept track of him."
Most of the kids have never met Bradley, but are aware of his story. There is a plaque in Bradley's honor inside the home's gym, and the cottage he lived in still has his picture in it.
Jordan said she was happy that Bradley wound up not having to surrendering his scholarship so that Andre Drummond could play at UConn, but didn't offer any details.
"I think just it worked out that he didn't have to," she said.
Calhoun said Bradley (who fractured his ankle back in the fall) is still noticeably limping in practice.
“There’s a chance that ankle won’t be better for a year," Calhoun said. "He really had extensive surgery, he was out an incredibly long time, so there’s a chance he may not get into a game this year.”
*** UConn is 1-1 all-time against Tennessee, beating the Vols last season at Gampel, 72-61, in a game where Bruce Pearl emerged from his 8-game SEC suspension to coach the non-conference tilt. Pearl, of course, was fired after the season. His opinion is still highly valued by a local sports talk radio show, though (he's a regular guest, apparently).
The Vols are now coached by former Cuonzo Martin, who was heavily recruited by Calhoun in the early-1990's. Martin's final two choices, in fact, came down to Purdue and UConn.
*** This is the second time Tennessee has faced UConn with the Huskies as defending national champs. In a second-round NCAA tournament game on March 19, 2000, the Vols posted a 65-51 win in Birmingham, Ala. Khalid El-Amin was bothered by an ankle injury and held to just one basket.
*** Lucky 13? Tennessee's big home upset over Florida two weeks ago came when the Gators were ranked 13th nationally, as the Huskies are (for now).
*** One more note on Tennessee: I tuned into the Classic Rock radio station on the drive from Nashville to Knoxville (don't ask). Most of the standard fare: Zeppelin, Springsteen, etc., etc. Then came Black Oak Arkansas, a heavy-handed Southern rock band that (I think) was pretty big in the early 70's. You certainly don't hear them on the radio anymore, at last north of the Mason Dixon line.
Their front man was a wild guy named Jim Dandy, whom David Lee Roth has admitted to nicking parts of his act. Roth took it to a much higher, more entertaining level, of course. Unfortunately, Roth's voice now sounds like what Dandy's used to sound like.
And if you don't believe DLR took part of his act from Jim Dandy, watch Black Oak Arkansas's "Jim Dandy to the Rescue.", then watch Van Halen's "So This is Love."
Jim Calhoun didn't name names. He didn't have to.
“I just had a little talk with Kemba about a couple of players he played with, and he said, ‘It doesn’t look like them,'" Calhoun said following UConn's 70-67 loss to Cincinnati. "And that’s exactly how I feel, too ... I like what Kemba said ... 'Those aren’t the same guys I played with. Or at least they didn’t play that way tonight.'”
Specifically, he was referring to Alex Oriakhi and Jeremy Lamb, Walker's former teammates. And though he was never officially a teammate of Andre Drummond's, he may as well have mentioned him, as well.
Oriakhi had just two points, Drummond just four, along with three turnovers as he looked completely out of sort and made too many short interior passes, rather than taking the ball strong to the hole.
"I thought we had a great advantage inside, it didn’t look like that worked out very well," Calhoun said. "We were jumping and throwing one-foot passes inside. That’s very disappointing.
"When you start game the with a 6-10, 280-pound guy, and another guy who’s 6-9, 245 pounds, and they can’t rebound or you can’t throw them the ball … that was our game plan, and it didn’t work out very well for us.”
Lamb finished with 14 points, second only to Shabazz Napier's career-high 27. But Lamb hardly escaped Calhoun's wrath -- including once during a timeout, when the sophomore guard seemed to turn his head and ignore Calhoun's castigation.
What wasn't working for Lamb tonight?
“Total game package might be a good word," Calhoun said. "He’s a guy we want to go to, and he got 12 shots up, which is remarkable he even got that many up. He wasn’t very good.”
Calhoun said Napier "wasn’t great, but I thought he was gutty and competitive ... Roscoe played better the other night, but he worked hard. Niels gave us a pretty good effort."
Otherwise, he didn't have much good to say about anybody. Check that, there was one other player who got a compliment -- Brendan Allen, a walk-on. Allen came into the game a little over seven minutes into the action when Napier left with what appeared to be an injured knee. Allen made the most of his two minutes, scoring on a nice driving layup to give UConn a 15-14 lead before Napier returned.
“Maybe I should play Brandon Allen more minutes," Calhoun said, only half-kiddingly. "At least he had enough guts to take it to the rim, and didn’t look like he was gonna fumble it.”
*** Not to make excuses, but Drummond said yesterday he was battling a bad cold and after the game reported on Twitter that he was "sick as a dog." And certainly, the Huskies miss Ryan Boatright.
“Would Ryan have helped? Clearly," said Calhoun. "We didn’t have Ryan … stuff happens. The guys we had were good enough to win tonight’s game.”
*** Niels Giffey said his last-second, three-quarter court heave "felt good. It felt really good. But, that happens. You can’t win a game with a last shot like that … we had so many chances.”
*** I had a bit of trepidition voting for Cincy for the AP Top 25 on Sunday, but the Bearcats seem to have proven me right. Good, tough team. Seven straight Big East road wins. Very impressive. They've obviously got some size and strength in Yancy Gates, but they're 3-point shooting and ability to force turnovers gives them a whole new dimension.
*** DeAndre Daniels started but went scoreless in six minutes. He was in the gym, shooting and working out, long after the game had ended.
That's all we've got for now ...
“I just had a little talk with Kemba about a couple of players he played with, and he said, ‘It doesn’t look like them,'" Calhoun said following UConn's 70-67 loss to Cincinnati. "And that’s exactly how I feel, too ... I like what Kemba said ... 'Those aren’t the same guys I played with. Or at least they didn’t play that way tonight.'”
Specifically, he was referring to Alex Oriakhi and Jeremy Lamb, Walker's former teammates. And though he was never officially a teammate of Andre Drummond's, he may as well have mentioned him, as well.
Oriakhi had just two points, Drummond just four, along with three turnovers as he looked completely out of sort and made too many short interior passes, rather than taking the ball strong to the hole.
"I thought we had a great advantage inside, it didn’t look like that worked out very well," Calhoun said. "We were jumping and throwing one-foot passes inside. That’s very disappointing.
"When you start game the with a 6-10, 280-pound guy, and another guy who’s 6-9, 245 pounds, and they can’t rebound or you can’t throw them the ball … that was our game plan, and it didn’t work out very well for us.”
Lamb finished with 14 points, second only to Shabazz Napier's career-high 27. But Lamb hardly escaped Calhoun's wrath -- including once during a timeout, when the sophomore guard seemed to turn his head and ignore Calhoun's castigation.
What wasn't working for Lamb tonight?
“Total game package might be a good word," Calhoun said. "He’s a guy we want to go to, and he got 12 shots up, which is remarkable he even got that many up. He wasn’t very good.”
Calhoun said Napier "wasn’t great, but I thought he was gutty and competitive ... Roscoe played better the other night, but he worked hard. Niels gave us a pretty good effort."
Otherwise, he didn't have much good to say about anybody. Check that, there was one other player who got a compliment -- Brendan Allen, a walk-on. Allen came into the game a little over seven minutes into the action when Napier left with what appeared to be an injured knee. Allen made the most of his two minutes, scoring on a nice driving layup to give UConn a 15-14 lead before Napier returned.
“Maybe I should play Brandon Allen more minutes," Calhoun said, only half-kiddingly. "At least he had enough guts to take it to the rim, and didn’t look like he was gonna fumble it.”
*** Not to make excuses, but Drummond said yesterday he was battling a bad cold and after the game reported on Twitter that he was "sick as a dog." And certainly, the Huskies miss Ryan Boatright.
“Would Ryan have helped? Clearly," said Calhoun. "We didn’t have Ryan … stuff happens. The guys we had were good enough to win tonight’s game.”
*** Niels Giffey said his last-second, three-quarter court heave "felt good. It felt really good. But, that happens. You can’t win a game with a last shot like that … we had so many chances.”
*** I had a bit of trepidition voting for Cincy for the AP Top 25 on Sunday, but the Bearcats seem to have proven me right. Good, tough team. Seven straight Big East road wins. Very impressive. They've obviously got some size and strength in Yancy Gates, but they're 3-point shooting and ability to force turnovers gives them a whole new dimension.
*** DeAndre Daniels started but went scoreless in six minutes. He was in the gym, shooting and working out, long after the game had ended.
That's all we've got for now ...
The nation's first real snowstorm of the new year appears to be brewing as we speak, and UConn (and the writers that cover it) will be heading straight into the teeth of it.
Some 10-16 inches of snow are expected to fall in South Bend over the next couple of days. It's supposed to be particularly brutal tonight through tomorrow.
UConn is slated to practice at Gampel tomorrow, then take a 2 p.m. flight out of Bradley straight to South Bend. We'll see.
Saturday's game, of course, is an 11 a.m. start, in an attempt by ESPN to avoid going up against NFL playoff games. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey doesn't see the early start as a big deal.
“I don’t really think it’s a factor," he said. "When you’re practicing preseason, you’re weekend practices are usually 10, 11 a.m."
Alex Oriakhi doesn't think much of it, either.
“You’re not used to playing so early, but we practice pretty early, too, so it’s really not an excuse," he said. "You’ve got to get used to it. We practice at 8 a.m., so it shouldn’t make a difference. It’s basketball.”
But guess who does have a big problem with the 11 a.m. start?
“I’m not crazy about it," said Jim Calhoun. "I continue to say it’s a bad idea for everybody involved. Nine o’clock (p.m.) games are bad for people, and I don’t think 11 a.m. games are good … It’s the way things are, I guess you’ve got to live with it.”
*** UConn may be without Tyler Olander on Saturday. He's sat out the last two practices with a bruised right heel that's hurting him pretty badly. It happened in the West Virginia game.
DeAndre Daniels is expected to reclaim his starting spot over Niels Giffey, and Roscoe Smith will be the first power forward off the bench if Olander can't go.
Said Oriakhi, of the possibility of Olander being out: “I’m just looking at it as an opportulnity to hopefully play more minutes. I’ve got to step in there if he’s not able to go.”
*** Ryan Boatright, who hails from Aurora, Ill., just outside Chicago (about 120 miles from South Bend), says he could have some 400 friends and family at Saturday's game. Yup, 400.
Boatright is most looking forward to seeing his brother, Deahjay McAllister, who's now starting at point guard for Aurora High.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen my little brother. I haven’t seen him since I left in the summertime ... The fans back at home aren’t really used to seeing me lose.”
*** As always, Shabazz Napier had some interesting things to say:
(on going scoreless in the win over West Virginia)
“I don’t look at how much I score, I look at how much we score. I’m not worried about that ... All my shots, except for the last one, were wide-open. I shot too strong, sometimes too short … Lamb and Andre finished around the basket, so I’m not worried about my shots not going in.”
(on his team's biggest problem)
“We’d be undefeated if we didn’t turn the ball over a lot. That has to do with myself, with Ryan, some of my other teammates.”
(on his comments after the Rutgers game that he didn't feel his teammates viewed him as a leader)
“I’m not even worried about that anymore. If it happens, it happens. We’ll find (a leader) sooner or later. We’re going to win games and lose games without a leader. I feel as though if we play team basketball, we should be fine. Within that, we’ll find a leader.”
Some 10-16 inches of snow are expected to fall in South Bend over the next couple of days. It's supposed to be particularly brutal tonight through tomorrow.
UConn is slated to practice at Gampel tomorrow, then take a 2 p.m. flight out of Bradley straight to South Bend. We'll see.
Saturday's game, of course, is an 11 a.m. start, in an attempt by ESPN to avoid going up against NFL playoff games. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey doesn't see the early start as a big deal.
“I don’t really think it’s a factor," he said. "When you’re practicing preseason, you’re weekend practices are usually 10, 11 a.m."
Alex Oriakhi doesn't think much of it, either.
“You’re not used to playing so early, but we practice pretty early, too, so it’s really not an excuse," he said. "You’ve got to get used to it. We practice at 8 a.m., so it shouldn’t make a difference. It’s basketball.”
But guess who does have a big problem with the 11 a.m. start?
“I’m not crazy about it," said Jim Calhoun. "I continue to say it’s a bad idea for everybody involved. Nine o’clock (p.m.) games are bad for people, and I don’t think 11 a.m. games are good … It’s the way things are, I guess you’ve got to live with it.”
*** UConn may be without Tyler Olander on Saturday. He's sat out the last two practices with a bruised right heel that's hurting him pretty badly. It happened in the West Virginia game.
DeAndre Daniels is expected to reclaim his starting spot over Niels Giffey, and Roscoe Smith will be the first power forward off the bench if Olander can't go.
Said Oriakhi, of the possibility of Olander being out: “I’m just looking at it as an opportulnity to hopefully play more minutes. I’ve got to step in there if he’s not able to go.”
*** Ryan Boatright, who hails from Aurora, Ill., just outside Chicago (about 120 miles from South Bend), says he could have some 400 friends and family at Saturday's game. Yup, 400.
Boatright is most looking forward to seeing his brother, Deahjay McAllister, who's now starting at point guard for Aurora High.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen my little brother. I haven’t seen him since I left in the summertime ... The fans back at home aren’t really used to seeing me lose.”
*** As always, Shabazz Napier had some interesting things to say:
(on going scoreless in the win over West Virginia)
“I don’t look at how much I score, I look at how much we score. I’m not worried about that ... All my shots, except for the last one, were wide-open. I shot too strong, sometimes too short … Lamb and Andre finished around the basket, so I’m not worried about my shots not going in.”
(on his team's biggest problem)
“We’d be undefeated if we didn’t turn the ball over a lot. That has to do with myself, with Ryan, some of my other teammates.”
(on his comments after the Rutgers game that he didn't feel his teammates viewed him as a leader)
“I’m not even worried about that anymore. If it happens, it happens. We’ll find (a leader) sooner or later. We’re going to win games and lose games without a leader. I feel as though if we play team basketball, we should be fine. Within that, we’ll find a leader.”
I'm not fully prepared to credit Jim Calhoun's technical foul for UConn's renewed vigor and intensity over the final 11 minutes or so Monday night.
Several players, after all, said they didn't even know Calhoun had been slapped with a 'T' by Pat Driscoll after arguing an Andre Drummond over-the-back foul during a timeout.
"We didn't even pay attention," claimed Ryan Boatright.
But some inspired talk by Calhoun at some point after that 'T' certainly did seem to light a fire under the Huskies, who suddenly started to rebound and defend with urgency. Drummond and Jeremy Lamb stepped up big-time, an effective zone press certainly helped as well, and UConn rallied to victory.
“I told them, ‘If we’re not going to fight, they might throw me out of here, but I’m going to fight,’” Calhoun said. “(The technical) wasn’t planned, but we just couldn’t keep them going the way we were going.”
Added Boatright: "Coach has got our back, he’s on the refs. If he sees something going on, he tells us not to say anything to the refs and he’ll take care of it.”
Ah, Boatright. A real trick-or-treat player, someone who is going to draw Calhoun's ire quite a bit over the next few years. He certainly did on Monday. With about 14 1/2 minutes left and UConn trailing by five, Boatright threw an inbounds pass over Tyler Olander's head that went out-of-bounds. The freshman seemed to be upset at Olander, and Calhoun yelled from the sidelines, "Don't blame your teammate!"
Boatright appeared to say something back, and Calhoun soon called a timeout, raced out to near midcourt and started screaming right in Boatright's grill.
“I don’t even really remember what he said," Boatright recalled. "It was just the heat of the moment. Coach is going to be Coach. That’s what he does all the time. He does it to everybody. I made a mistake, and you’ve just got to be culpable and be able to play through it.”
Indeed, Boatright later had one of the plays of the night when he stole the ball at midcourt and flew in for a dunk that tied the score at 48 and put a huge charge in the near-sellout crowd of 15,805.
“I just played ‘D’, like I always try to do – stay in front and not gamble," Boatright said. "Coach has been preaching to us not to gamble. He lost it by himself, he gave it to me, and once I got the steal, I was preparing for the contact. I thought he was going to jump and I just went up strong and tried to dunk it, and I got up high enough. That definitely fired the crowd up and fired the crowd up.”
Oh, and about that crowd -- Calhoun has rarely heaped so much praise on an XL Center gathering (even if it was a snooch short of a sellout).
“The crowd was more than special," the coach said. "We were down eight, we cut it to six and I thought we went ahead by four … just by the way the crowd reacted. In the past, we’ve had crowds waiting for us to do things … "
*** Andre Drummond was immense, particularly in the latter half. He followed Lamb in the scoring column with 20 points while also hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds and three blocks – including a Darryl Bryant 3-point attempt in the waning seconds that sealed the deal.
“Andre Drummond was special tonight,” said Calhoun. “He hasn’t been special all season – he’s been good – as you would expect from a freshman. But tonight, he was special.”
Drummond’s biggest play of the night came with 1:27 left and the Huskies clinging to a one-point (58-57) lead. Lamb misfired on a 3-pointer, but Drummond grabbed the rebound and hit a short baseline jumper – one of several such shots he made throughout the night in between rafter-shaking dunks.
I also thought Drummond did a decent job on Jones, the Big East scoring and rebounding leader who finished with 22 points but just five rebounds -- by far his lowest total of the season.
Jones, a 6-8 forward, is a tough guard for Drummond when he steps out to shoot the 3. He buried a trio of treys in the first half but none the rest of the way.
“I think I did a pretty good job of keeping him off the boards," Drummond said. "That’s what he really feeds off of, rebounds to get his points. I slipped up a little bit near the end of the half, letting him get three quick rebounds. Coach said you’ve got to stop letting him to that.”
WVU missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts in the latter half.
*** UConn didn't grab its first offensive rebound until late in the game, though it finished with six.
“I thought we might set the all-time record without getting an offensive rebound," Calhoun quipped afterwards.
He can quip about this after a win. Had UConn lost ... not so much.
*** Neither Drummond's 20 points or 11 boards were career-bests, but he matched his career-high with four fouls. He's starting to learn what Big East refs are going to call.
“Yeah, I mean, they were killing me," he said. "But they were great refs, man. I’m not going to complain or say anything bad, because they’re good refs. I did something wrong and they called it. I’m not going to argue with them. They’re the higher power, so, it was a good call by them.”
*** Bob Huggins didn't seem quite as enamored by the officiating crew.
"There's some things I'd like to say about that, but I can't, y'know what I mean?" he said, in reference to a fourth foul call on Deniz Kilicli.
*** Hate to nitpick, but UConn is really getting very little out of its small forwards -- DeAndre Daniels, Roscoe Smith and now Niels Giffey, who has yet to score a field goal in his two starts the last two games.
I think that's all I've got for now.
Several players, after all, said they didn't even know Calhoun had been slapped with a 'T' by Pat Driscoll after arguing an Andre Drummond over-the-back foul during a timeout.
"We didn't even pay attention," claimed Ryan Boatright.
But some inspired talk by Calhoun at some point after that 'T' certainly did seem to light a fire under the Huskies, who suddenly started to rebound and defend with urgency. Drummond and Jeremy Lamb stepped up big-time, an effective zone press certainly helped as well, and UConn rallied to victory.
“I told them, ‘If we’re not going to fight, they might throw me out of here, but I’m going to fight,’” Calhoun said. “(The technical) wasn’t planned, but we just couldn’t keep them going the way we were going.”
Added Boatright: "Coach has got our back, he’s on the refs. If he sees something going on, he tells us not to say anything to the refs and he’ll take care of it.”
Ah, Boatright. A real trick-or-treat player, someone who is going to draw Calhoun's ire quite a bit over the next few years. He certainly did on Monday. With about 14 1/2 minutes left and UConn trailing by five, Boatright threw an inbounds pass over Tyler Olander's head that went out-of-bounds. The freshman seemed to be upset at Olander, and Calhoun yelled from the sidelines, "Don't blame your teammate!"
Boatright appeared to say something back, and Calhoun soon called a timeout, raced out to near midcourt and started screaming right in Boatright's grill.
“I don’t even really remember what he said," Boatright recalled. "It was just the heat of the moment. Coach is going to be Coach. That’s what he does all the time. He does it to everybody. I made a mistake, and you’ve just got to be culpable and be able to play through it.”
Indeed, Boatright later had one of the plays of the night when he stole the ball at midcourt and flew in for a dunk that tied the score at 48 and put a huge charge in the near-sellout crowd of 15,805.
“I just played ‘D’, like I always try to do – stay in front and not gamble," Boatright said. "Coach has been preaching to us not to gamble. He lost it by himself, he gave it to me, and once I got the steal, I was preparing for the contact. I thought he was going to jump and I just went up strong and tried to dunk it, and I got up high enough. That definitely fired the crowd up and fired the crowd up.”
Oh, and about that crowd -- Calhoun has rarely heaped so much praise on an XL Center gathering (even if it was a snooch short of a sellout).
“The crowd was more than special," the coach said. "We were down eight, we cut it to six and I thought we went ahead by four … just by the way the crowd reacted. In the past, we’ve had crowds waiting for us to do things … "
*** Andre Drummond was immense, particularly in the latter half. He followed Lamb in the scoring column with 20 points while also hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds and three blocks – including a Darryl Bryant 3-point attempt in the waning seconds that sealed the deal.
“Andre Drummond was special tonight,” said Calhoun. “He hasn’t been special all season – he’s been good – as you would expect from a freshman. But tonight, he was special.”
Drummond’s biggest play of the night came with 1:27 left and the Huskies clinging to a one-point (58-57) lead. Lamb misfired on a 3-pointer, but Drummond grabbed the rebound and hit a short baseline jumper – one of several such shots he made throughout the night in between rafter-shaking dunks.
I also thought Drummond did a decent job on Jones, the Big East scoring and rebounding leader who finished with 22 points but just five rebounds -- by far his lowest total of the season.
Jones, a 6-8 forward, is a tough guard for Drummond when he steps out to shoot the 3. He buried a trio of treys in the first half but none the rest of the way.
“I think I did a pretty good job of keeping him off the boards," Drummond said. "That’s what he really feeds off of, rebounds to get his points. I slipped up a little bit near the end of the half, letting him get three quick rebounds. Coach said you’ve got to stop letting him to that.”
WVU missed all 10 of its 3-point attempts in the latter half.
*** UConn didn't grab its first offensive rebound until late in the game, though it finished with six.
“I thought we might set the all-time record without getting an offensive rebound," Calhoun quipped afterwards.
He can quip about this after a win. Had UConn lost ... not so much.
*** Neither Drummond's 20 points or 11 boards were career-bests, but he matched his career-high with four fouls. He's starting to learn what Big East refs are going to call.
“Yeah, I mean, they were killing me," he said. "But they were great refs, man. I’m not going to complain or say anything bad, because they’re good refs. I did something wrong and they called it. I’m not going to argue with them. They’re the higher power, so, it was a good call by them.”
*** Bob Huggins didn't seem quite as enamored by the officiating crew.
"There's some things I'd like to say about that, but I can't, y'know what I mean?" he said, in reference to a fourth foul call on Deniz Kilicli.
*** Hate to nitpick, but UConn is really getting very little out of its small forwards -- DeAndre Daniels, Roscoe Smith and now Niels Giffey, who has yet to score a field goal in his two starts the last two games.
I think that's all I've got for now.
As Jim Calhoun had announced yesterday, Niels Giffey is starting tonight for UConn. Calhoun also mentioned on Friday that he wasn't sure if he would start Alex Oriakhi or Tyler Olander at power forward.
The answer: Oriakhi. And here's why: the Huskies need Oriakhi, who has struggled badly this season, and don't want to lose him, so to speak. Moving him to the bench would hurt his confidence even more. Meanwhile, Olander really doesn't care if he starts or comes off the bench. For now, it makes sense to continue to start Oriakhi.
*** With Giffey in the starting five, UConn has now used six different starting lineups in 15 games this season. It also marked the eighth time the Huskies have used a different starting lineup from the previous game.
*** UConn likely won’t get back to campus until about 2 a.m. It will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, in preparation for Monday night’s home bout with West Virginia, which beat Georgetown at home earlier today.
*** Seems Chris Obekpa, a 6-9 power forward out of Centereach, N.Y., has emerged as the Huskies' prime recruiting target from the Class of 2012.
The answer: Oriakhi. And here's why: the Huskies need Oriakhi, who has struggled badly this season, and don't want to lose him, so to speak. Moving him to the bench would hurt his confidence even more. Meanwhile, Olander really doesn't care if he starts or comes off the bench. For now, it makes sense to continue to start Oriakhi.
*** With Giffey in the starting five, UConn has now used six different starting lineups in 15 games this season. It also marked the eighth time the Huskies have used a different starting lineup from the previous game.
*** UConn likely won’t get back to campus until about 2 a.m. It will practice at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, in preparation for Monday night’s home bout with West Virginia, which beat Georgetown at home earlier today.
*** Seems Chris Obekpa, a 6-9 power forward out of Centereach, N.Y., has emerged as the Huskies' prime recruiting target from the Class of 2012.
Some interesting stuff from today's conference call with Jim Calhoun:
*** First off, Niels Giffey will start at small forward tomorrow night (for the first time this season) against Rutgers. Calhoun said Giffey has "great, great focus," and hopes he'll give the Huskies more production than what they've been getting from the 3-spot.
By my count, this will be the sixth different starting lineup UConn has used over its first 15 games. Not a stunning amount, but certainly a bit more unsettled than usual. It speaks to two things: the Huskies' depth, and the fact that they still haven't quite found the right rotation to this point.
Giffey will be the eighth different UConn player to start a game.
Also, Tyler Olander may start over Alex Oriakhi at power forward. Calhoun started Oriakhi in practice yesterday, but Olander had a "great practice," so a decision will likely be made after tonight's 6-8 p.m. practice at The RAC.
Shabazz Napier didn't practice yesterday and may not practice tonight. He should be able to play on Saturday night, however, according to Calhoun.
*** Now, this was really interesting: Calhoun said that a big part of his decision not to retire and to return as UConn's head coach for a 26th season stemmed from making sure he took the bullet, so to speak, for the NCAA violations and served his 3-game suspension.
“When I contemplated over the spring and summer about what I was going to do, I had (visions) of being Al Maguire … I always felt this was hanging out there, and we needed to get finality on it," he said. "My own personal opinions about the NCAA (decision) are my own personal feelings. The university, myself included, we were penalized, and I wanted to make sure that I was the guy that sat out, I was the guy that finalized it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s something in the past. What was done was done, it is what it is.”
“Trust me – part of my contemplation during the summer had to do with making sure that there was closure," he added. "As far as I’m concerned, it’s in the rear-view mirror … I love my university, I love my life there, I love my players. I always feel I need to be there when they need me to finish something that, like it or not – and I didn’t like it, necessarily – that I was part of, and let’s move on.”
*** And so, we move on to Rutgers Saturday night. Calhoun has a propensity to insist how difficult it is to play at The RAC -- and certainly, Florida's Billy Donovan would agree.
Still, Calhoun has won nine of the 10 games he's coached there at UConn. UConn has won its last five games at The RAC, its last four by totals of 18, 18, 10 and 22 points, respectively. That’s an average 17-point victory margin. The last time the Huskies were challenged in Piscataway was on Jan. 6, 2004, when they eked out a 75-74 win.
The last time UConn lost at The RAC was on Jan. 30, 2002, a 61-53 setback.
In fact, that’s the only time UConn has lost to the Scarlet Knights, home or away, in the 19 times they’ve met since Rutgers joined the Big East in 2005. The Huskies have won the last 10 meetings overall.
Of course, UConn had also won 11 straight and (eerily) 18 of its last 19 against Seton Hall before being tripped up Tuesday night in Newark.
Bottom line: there is no such thing as an easy road game in the Big East.
*** Forget all the chatter about Napier or Ryan Boatright needing to play better. UConn's biggest problem right now, offensively, is a lack of production from its bigs. Oriakhi's troubles have been well-chronicled -- the ungainly low post moves, the countless missed putbacks and bunnies -- but Andre Drummond hasn't exactly been Tim Duncan on the low post, either.
Drummond has very little offensive skill in the paint. He doesn't make spin moves, doesn't really have a hook shot (like Hasheem Thabeet was able to develop ... sorta) or any other signature low-post shot. Sure, he's made a couple of short baseline jumpers here and there, but his form is still very raw and I'm not convinced he's a real threat from more than a few feet out. Drummond's entire offensive arsenal has largely been slamming home alley-oops, to this point.
"If we have no inside game, we have no outside game," Calhoun surmised. "They're going to go out and play Jeremy's jump shot, they're going to try to take away the drive of Ryan and Shabazz. We can't play like that ... We have a terrific outside game. We’re probably the best 3-point shooting team in the league.”
(When's the last time you could have said that about a UConn team. It may be true, though).
Calhoun said about 75-percent of yesterday's practice focused on the inside game -- making the guards conscious of getting the ball inside, and getting the bigs to execute when they do get the rock.
*** Calhoun said, "If today was the NCAA tournament, we'd be a No. 2 seed."
I'm not so sure about that, but maybe.
*** As for watching the last three games at home on TV (with the volume off), Calhoun said: “I felt attached. I felt the same feelings in my stomach, the television did not … react. I didn’t get a ‘T’ from it … I can’t think of a positive, but it is what it is, and we’re moving on.”
“The price of being a little more refreshed doesn’t offset the anxiety you feel when you’re watching your team on TV … To me, personally, I don’t think you can be removed the way a ‘normal’ person can be removed.”
*** Oh, and apparently UConn is back in the mix for Darrick Wood, who just de-committed from St. John's.
Here are some of the grisly numbers from UConn's 75-63 loss to Seton Hall that wasn't nearly that close:
*** UConn committed 13 first-half turnovers. Just one in the second, but the damage had been done.
*** Seton Hall hit 10 of 20 3-pointers, 6 of 10 in the latter half -- including five during one four-minute stretch that pretty much salted the game away.
*** The Huskies shot just 35.1 percent from the floor, by far their worst of the season. Last time they shot worse? Last year's national championship game (34.5) -- which, you may recall, UConn won.
*** Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi combined for just six points. Oriakhi had just two points and two rebounds. Not sure what's going on there. Or with Roscoe Smith, for that matter.
*** Jeremy Lamb had a team-high 19 points, but none over the game's final 15 minutes.
*** Niels Giffey had 11 points -- six of them from the foul line.
*** Shabazz Napier had nearly as many turnovers (five) as points (six). Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said stopping Napier was the key going into the game.
"He really is a catalyst," Willard said of Napier. "He is a heck of a player and we knew it was tough to stop Lamb. He comes off so many screens, he's got such great range, and you kind of almost have to pick your poison. He was a much more important person to stop, because Lamb is going to get his. You have to try to stop one of them and we really tried to put two people on Napier at all times."
*** UConn's 35-22 halftime deficit was its first of the season.
*** UConn had won 11 straight over the Hall, 18 of its last 19 and 25 of its last 27.
*** George Blaney now has as many technical fouls this season as Jim Calhoun: one apiece. Funny, it takes a lot less for the refs to "T" up George than it does to get Calhoun.
Nothing against Blaney, but this is a game where the Huskies truly missed Calhoun. They still might not have won, but things would have been a lot different with his intensity on the sidelines.
*** Seton Hall's Jordan Theodore scored all 19 of his points in the second half and also finished with 11 assists and three steals. Herb Pope had 15 points and eight rebounds, Fuquan Edwin added 12 and 11 and Aaron Cosby netted 12 points.
And a few other things:
UConn fans may not care about this right now, but Willard is quite a character. He was awed by the fact that the Pirates got a postgame locker-room visit from Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz. And he didn't think his players understood the historical impact of finally beating UConn for the first time in 11 years.
“I’ve got three Europeans. They don’t know where New Jersey is," he said. "I didn’t know (about the 11-game losing streak), until I talked to (a writer) yesterday.”
Willard also called the Drummond-Pope controversy "one of the stupidest things" he's ever heard.
"Why would he know?" Willard asked. "He probably just knew who No. 15 was. That’s the way we do it. If I had told Freddie Wilson to go stop (Providence’s) Vincent Council, he’d be like, ‘Who’s that?’ We play so many games against so many great players, it’s just one of those things.”
Oh, and Seton Hall is good. I'll almost certainly be voting for them in my AP Top 25 poll on Sunday -- unless they blow it and lose at Providence (which is hardly out of the question in this wild and whacky Big East).
*** Curiously, Lamb seemed to place some of the blame of the loss on the game's officials.
“We couldn’t get (any) calls," he said afterwards.
When asked about UConn's 13 first-half turnovers, Lamb said: "Some of them we got fouled, didn’t get the call, and some of them we made bad passes. You’ve got to take care of the ball.”
Tyler Olander may have summed things up the best:
"They came back and kind of punched us in the mouth a little bit. We failed to punch back for the rest of the game, really.”
*** Jim Calhoun can return to coaching the team starting tomorrow. His first return to the sidelines will be Saturday at Rutgers.
"It’s always nice to have Coach back, because he tells us exactly what we need to do," Olander said. "He’s our leader, he’s our coach. When your leader goes down, it hurts a little bit, so it’s always good to get him back.”
It seems there's always a player that gets a little more run than normal when George Blaney takes over for Jim Calhoun, and it appears that player this season is Niels Giffey.
Although Giffey played nary a second in UConn's Big East-opening win over South Florida on Wednesday, he got 14 minutes of run today and made the most of it with seven points and some effective overall play.
“He probably thought he was going to play (vs. USF) with me coaching, because I’ve always liked Niels, I like his game," Blaney said. "I just didn’t get a chance to get him in the last game. He had a good opportunity tonight. He gave us two 3’s, he gave us two steals, he even gave us a steal that he kicked the ball on that they didn’t call. He had a great box-out on another play and just played very, very well.”
"I was just happy that I had the chance to get involved, without playing down in Florida," the German sophomore said. "I used my minutes (well).”
Giffey had played exactly one total minute in UConn's prior two games and 12 total in the prior four contests. But you're not going to hear him complaining about PT.
"I don’t want to talk about minutes and stuff like that, that’s just not me," he said. "I would not complain about minutes or talk to coach about minutes. If the coaches think I deserve it, then I’ll be happy.”
Still, Giffey admitted he's been a bit disappointed with his playing time recently.
“Sure, because I was working hard over the whole summer. I had a great summer. That injury in the beginning of the season, that really threw me back. Now, I’ve got to just keep on sticking to it and keep working hard. Everybody’s supporting me.”
“I’m always working hard, working on my shots. It’s not always what’s on the court, but it’s what you do after the games, what you do in practice. That gave me a lot of confidence, and I could translate it to the court.”
Giffey figured to get some run today, not only because Blaney likes him but because Roscoe Smith was limited to just four minutes with a sprained wrist. DeAndre Daniels got the start and did some nice things with six points, three assists and decent defense on Red Storm leading scorer Moe Harkless.
Giffey also helped tag-team on Harkless.
“I think he’s a good matchup for me," he said. "I think he’s a harder matchup for some of the bigger guys.”
Giffey has another supporter in Shabazz Napier.
“Niels played well, which is a great deal for us, because we’ve got to fill that 3-spot," Napier said. "DeAndre, Roscoe and Niels, we’re tyring to figure out which one’s better to fit our offense. They’re all great players, but we’ve got to find out that one player. I think Niels got in there and played well.”
*** Napier's favorite baseball player must be Roy Halladay.
"A complete game is the best game for me," he said.
That's why he wasn't overly happy with UConn's 83-69 win over St. John's.
"I’m picky about how good we can play," Napier said. "If we had played 40 minutes straight and won by 25, I’d have been happy. But we played about 32 minutes good and eight minutes terrible."
One thing not lacking in UConn's game was the alley-oop. Napier connected with Andre Drummond for three dunks on lobs that no one else in the building (or the country) could have caught.
“The alley-oop is very important," Napier said. "It not only gets your team going, but it gets your crowd going. That sixth man, the crowd – that’s no joke. That gets you hyped. It gets you that second wind you’ve been dying for. It makes you want to work and work harder.”
Said Drummond: “We noticed in their zone, they put their shortest guy in the back, that’s going to be good for us. Me and Alex, they just throw the ball up, we’re going to get it, because that’s a 6-3 dude guarding a 6-10 and 6-9 power forward. There’s not much they can really do about that.”
Blaney was disappointed Drummond only had three alley-oop dunks.
“I would like to see them do it about 15 more times. I would like to see Andre get in position to do it about 15 more times. He’s still learning how to get in position. We’re trying to teach him how to offensive box out. That’s what he needs to do a little bit more, because he is so effortless about how he can rise up and catch it. He catches everything, he doesn’t miss anything when his hands are around it.”
*** Drummond's New Year's Eve plans? "Sleep."
That's all I've got for now.
Happy New Year, everyone!!!
Did you see where Moe Harkless dumped 32 points on Providence last night, the most by a freshman in his first Big East game in league history?
Why can't UConn get players like that? Well, it did: Harkless, of course, committed to UConn back in December, 2009. However, in June, 2010, he de-committed. Why?
I asked Jim Calhoun about it last week, and here's what he had to say:
"It ran back and forth. He felt the moment Roscoe (Smith) committed, he said, ‘How can I play with him?’ Well, Roscoe’s going to be playing with different people himself, because we’re bringing in a kid from Germany. But he didn’t want to hear about it. But he’s doing well at St. John’s. I hope he does exceptionally well, he seems like a nice kid. And Roscoe’s got a national championship ring, so he’s done pretty well. Things have a way of working out."
While the arrival of Smith (who committed in January, 2010 ... Niels Giffey didn't commit until a few weeks after Harkless had de-committed) may have played a role in Harkless's departure, it's safe to say there was more to it than that. No doubt, the controversy swirling around the UConn program at the time played a role. Calhoun had missed seven games that season for undisclosed medical reasons, and there were questions about his future with the program (even though he had signed a new contract extension a few weeks before Harkless de-committed).
Plus, the program was found to have committed eight major violations, and the punishments weren't known yet. There was talk that the Huskies could receive some sort of postseason ban.
All of this played into Harkless' decision to de-commit, according to those close to the situation.
But Calhoun is right: these things have a way of working out. Same with Cleveland Melvin, who has found the perfect spot at DePaul. Both Harkless and Melvin are the focal points of their respective teams and are putting up big numbers. There is no way either would be putting up the same numbers if they were at UConn right now. Or do you think Melvin would have averaged 18 a game last year with Kemba Walker here? Or Harkless doing the same this year on a team with Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Andre Drummond?
No chance.
We'll have more on this in a story for the Register in another day or two ...
Why can't UConn get players like that? Well, it did: Harkless, of course, committed to UConn back in December, 2009. However, in June, 2010, he de-committed. Why?
I asked Jim Calhoun about it last week, and here's what he had to say:
"It ran back and forth. He felt the moment Roscoe (Smith) committed, he said, ‘How can I play with him?’ Well, Roscoe’s going to be playing with different people himself, because we’re bringing in a kid from Germany. But he didn’t want to hear about it. But he’s doing well at St. John’s. I hope he does exceptionally well, he seems like a nice kid. And Roscoe’s got a national championship ring, so he’s done pretty well. Things have a way of working out."
While the arrival of Smith (who committed in January, 2010 ... Niels Giffey didn't commit until a few weeks after Harkless had de-committed) may have played a role in Harkless's departure, it's safe to say there was more to it than that. No doubt, the controversy swirling around the UConn program at the time played a role. Calhoun had missed seven games that season for undisclosed medical reasons, and there were questions about his future with the program (even though he had signed a new contract extension a few weeks before Harkless de-committed).
Plus, the program was found to have committed eight major violations, and the punishments weren't known yet. There was talk that the Huskies could receive some sort of postseason ban.
All of this played into Harkless' decision to de-commit, according to those close to the situation.
But Calhoun is right: these things have a way of working out. Same with Cleveland Melvin, who has found the perfect spot at DePaul. Both Harkless and Melvin are the focal points of their respective teams and are putting up big numbers. There is no way either would be putting up the same numbers if they were at UConn right now. Or do you think Melvin would have averaged 18 a game last year with Kemba Walker here? Or Harkless doing the same this year on a team with Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier and Andre Drummond?
No chance.
We'll have more on this in a story for the Register in another day or two ...
The Big East season officially kicks off tonight, with Pitt playing at Notre Dame and Providence at St. John’s. UConn’s conference season gets underway tomorrow night at South Florida.
As always, it’s going to be a fun couple of months keeping tabs on what I still think is the best conference in America. Some believe the Big East is a bit down this year, but I remember people saying that before last season, as well. The result: a record 11 teams invited to the Big Dance, with UConn, of course, emerging as national champion.
Not saying there will be 11 Big East invites this year, but the conference certainly has Final Four contenders in Syracuse, UConn, Louisville and possibly Marquette and Georgetown. Perennial contenders like Pitt and Villanova appear a little down, but we could see vast improvement from teams like Seton Hall, Providence and even DePaul.
And when it’s all said and done ... I like the Huskies to come out on top. Call me a homer, but I really like what I see here. They’re nine-deep (which is more than what you really need in college hoops), and that’s with Niels Giffey seeing sparse minutes lately and Michael Bradley yet to return from injury. They’ve got great size and athleticism up front (Alex Oriakhi really needs to step it up, however), they play suffocating defense and, more so than in years past, they can actually shoot the ball – fifth in the Big East at 49 percent, up from last year’s 43 percent. Heck, the Huskies lead the conference in 3-point shooting, as well, at 41 percent.
They’ve got a superstar (Jeremy Lamb) and a standout point guard (Shabazz Napier) to help make up for the loss of Kemba Walker. And they’ve got Andre Drummond, whose potential is limitless and who should only get better as the year progresses.
Anyway, here are my fearless predictions for the upcoming Big East season:
1. UConn (14-4) The potential to repeat is there, people. It really is.
2. Syracuse (14-4) I could tell you Syracuse isn’t a national title contender, but then Jim Boeheim might call me a liar who’s only out for money.
3. Louisville (13-5) Remember when Rick Pitino-Karen Sypher was the Big East’s most seedy scandal?
4. Marquette (13-5) Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder may be Big East’s best 1-2 punch.
5. Georgetown (12-6) Hoyas have won at Alabama, beaten Memphis twice already.
6. West Virginia (12-6) Think there’ll be some trash-talking when Jabari Hinds goes up against Ryan Boatright?
7. Seton Hall (10-8) New Haven’s Freddie Wilson (1.1 ppg) hasn’t had much of an impact thus far.
8. Pittsburgh (10-8) Remember when Pitt never lost at The Pete? It’s already lost there to Long Beach State and (gulp!) Wagner.
9. Cincinnati (9-9) If only Yancy Gates always played as hard as he punches.
10. Villanova (8-10) Wildcats still don’t have much up front. Now, even guard play is iffy.
11. Providence (7-11) People close to the program were bracing for the worst season in years this season. Looks like that won't happen.
12. South Florida (5-13) There’s some talent here, but it doesn’t seem to be coached very well.
13. DePaul (5-13) Who’s the better ex-UConn commit, Cleveland Melvin (18.5 ppg) …
14. St. John’s (5-13) … or Moe Harkless (14.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg)?
15. Notre Dame (4-14) Looks like loss of Tim Abromaitis for season is similar to Colts losing Peyton Manning.
16. Rutgers (3-15) Most non-descript team in Big East -- by far. But it does have the best team website in the conference, so there's that.
ALL-BIG EAST
FIRST TEAM
Jeremy Lamb, UConn
Darius Johson-Odom, Marquette
Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh
Kris Joseph, Syracuse
Herb Pope, Seton Hall
Kevin Jones, West Virginia
SECOND TEAM
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Kyle Kuric, Louisville
Jae Crowder, Marquette
Shabazz Napier, UConn
Andre Drummond, UConn
THIRD TEAM
Jason Clark, Georgetown
Scoop Jardine, Syracuse
Dion Waiters, Syracuse
Cleveland Melvin, DePaul
Malik Wayns, Villanova
HONORABLE MENTION
Hollis Thompson, Georgetown
Vincent Council, Providence
Gorgui Dieng, Louisville
ALL-ROOKIE
Andre Drummond, UConn
Moe Harkless, St. John’s
LaDontae Henton, Providence
Chane Behanan, Louisville
Ryan Boatright, UConn
Jabari Hinds, West Virginia
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jeremy Lamb, UConn: I don’t see a candidate from either Syracuse or Louisville. West Virginia’s Kevin Jones and Seton Hall’s Herb Pope are 1-2 in the Big East in both scoring and rebounding, respectively, but let’s see if that lasts during conference play. Ashton Gibbs was the pre-season pick, but Pitt appears down this year. This could come down to Lamb and Johnson-Odom, and in the end, Lamb’s got the better team.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall: We’ll find out fast if the Hall’s 11-1 start is legit (it opens at Syracuse, then home vs. West Virginia and UConn), but Willard certainly seems to have the Pirates on the right track. Cooley will win this award someday ... soon.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Andre Drummond, UConn: Yes, he’s still very raw in spots, but if he’s not the most gifted athletic specimen in the league, I don’t know who is. And here’s another thing: he just turned 18 in August, making him one of the youngest players in the entire conference!
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall: I wouldn’t completely rule out Drummond in this category, either, but we’ll go with this 6-foot-6 swingman who leads the Big East in steals.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Herb Pope, Seton Hall: After a near-fatal collapse in the summer of 2010, Pope never got back on track last season. But he’s been dominant so far this year and could be a shoo-in for this award. Nice story, really.
SIXTH MAN AWARD
Dion Waiters, Syracuse: There are some (Jim Calhoun included) who believe Waiters is the Orange’s best player. Only thing keeping him from this award is if Boeheim decides to put him in the starting lineup.
A few more things I think I think:
*** Syracuse and Louisville are both deep and talented, but I don't see that superstar player on either roster that's going to lead them to the promised land. Wouldn't be surprised to see either team get popped earlier than expected from the NCAA tournament.
*** With Steve Lavin back healthy and on the sidelines, and with Amir Garrett now eligible, St. John's will progressively get better, despite having just eight scholarship players. I could be very wrong about this, though.
*** Cincinnati is 4-0 since the brawl with Xavier and seems to be playing better without Gates. I wasn't too high on the Bearcats to begin with, however, and don't see them doing much this season after he returns on Jan. 4.
*** It's really too bad Farmington's Tim Abromaitis has to miss his final season after tearing his ACL. Can he still win the postseason Scholar-Athlete Award? (I'd say not, because I don't believe he's taking courses this year).
*** Another (sort of) local kid is also out for the season: Louisville's Mike Marra -- like myself, a native Rhode Islander. Can see why his family wanted him to play for Pitino.
*** As if there wasn't enough disinterest in South Florida already down in Tampa, the Bulls won't even play in their home gym this season as it's under repairs. USF is playing all its home games this season in the St. Pete Times Forum -- site of UConn's stunning first-round loss to No. 13 seed San Diego in 2008. I'm guessing there'll be as many if not more snow-bird UConn fans in the building Wednesday night than USF fans.
*** Why 14-4 for UConn? I see the Huskies losing at Syracuse and Louisville, and there'll probably be at least one home loss along the way -- maybe vs. Marquette on Feb. 19, or Syracuse on Feb. 25. Wouldn't be shocked to see them get upset at Seton Hall on Jan. 3 in their final game without Jim Calhoun, either.
As always, it’s going to be a fun couple of months keeping tabs on what I still think is the best conference in America. Some believe the Big East is a bit down this year, but I remember people saying that before last season, as well. The result: a record 11 teams invited to the Big Dance, with UConn, of course, emerging as national champion.
Not saying there will be 11 Big East invites this year, but the conference certainly has Final Four contenders in Syracuse, UConn, Louisville and possibly Marquette and Georgetown. Perennial contenders like Pitt and Villanova appear a little down, but we could see vast improvement from teams like Seton Hall, Providence and even DePaul.
And when it’s all said and done ... I like the Huskies to come out on top. Call me a homer, but I really like what I see here. They’re nine-deep (which is more than what you really need in college hoops), and that’s with Niels Giffey seeing sparse minutes lately and Michael Bradley yet to return from injury. They’ve got great size and athleticism up front (Alex Oriakhi really needs to step it up, however), they play suffocating defense and, more so than in years past, they can actually shoot the ball – fifth in the Big East at 49 percent, up from last year’s 43 percent. Heck, the Huskies lead the conference in 3-point shooting, as well, at 41 percent.
They’ve got a superstar (Jeremy Lamb) and a standout point guard (Shabazz Napier) to help make up for the loss of Kemba Walker. And they’ve got Andre Drummond, whose potential is limitless and who should only get better as the year progresses.
Anyway, here are my fearless predictions for the upcoming Big East season:
1. UConn (14-4) The potential to repeat is there, people. It really is.
2. Syracuse (14-4) I could tell you Syracuse isn’t a national title contender, but then Jim Boeheim might call me a liar who’s only out for money.
3. Louisville (13-5) Remember when Rick Pitino-Karen Sypher was the Big East’s most seedy scandal?
4. Marquette (13-5) Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder may be Big East’s best 1-2 punch.
5. Georgetown (12-6) Hoyas have won at Alabama, beaten Memphis twice already.
6. West Virginia (12-6) Think there’ll be some trash-talking when Jabari Hinds goes up against Ryan Boatright?
7. Seton Hall (10-8) New Haven’s Freddie Wilson (1.1 ppg) hasn’t had much of an impact thus far.
8. Pittsburgh (10-8) Remember when Pitt never lost at The Pete? It’s already lost there to Long Beach State and (gulp!) Wagner.
9. Cincinnati (9-9) If only Yancy Gates always played as hard as he punches.
10. Villanova (8-10) Wildcats still don’t have much up front. Now, even guard play is iffy.
11. Providence (7-11) People close to the program were bracing for the worst season in years this season. Looks like that won't happen.
12. South Florida (5-13) There’s some talent here, but it doesn’t seem to be coached very well.
13. DePaul (5-13) Who’s the better ex-UConn commit, Cleveland Melvin (18.5 ppg) …
14. St. John’s (5-13) … or Moe Harkless (14.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg)?
15. Notre Dame (4-14) Looks like loss of Tim Abromaitis for season is similar to Colts losing Peyton Manning.
16. Rutgers (3-15) Most non-descript team in Big East -- by far. But it does have the best team website in the conference, so there's that.
ALL-BIG EAST
FIRST TEAM
Jeremy Lamb, UConn
Darius Johson-Odom, Marquette
Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh
Kris Joseph, Syracuse
Herb Pope, Seton Hall
Kevin Jones, West Virginia
SECOND TEAM
Peyton Siva, Louisville
Kyle Kuric, Louisville
Jae Crowder, Marquette
Shabazz Napier, UConn
Andre Drummond, UConn
THIRD TEAM
Jason Clark, Georgetown
Scoop Jardine, Syracuse
Dion Waiters, Syracuse
Cleveland Melvin, DePaul
Malik Wayns, Villanova
HONORABLE MENTION
Hollis Thompson, Georgetown
Vincent Council, Providence
Gorgui Dieng, Louisville
ALL-ROOKIE
Andre Drummond, UConn
Moe Harkless, St. John’s
LaDontae Henton, Providence
Chane Behanan, Louisville
Ryan Boatright, UConn
Jabari Hinds, West Virginia
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jeremy Lamb, UConn: I don’t see a candidate from either Syracuse or Louisville. West Virginia’s Kevin Jones and Seton Hall’s Herb Pope are 1-2 in the Big East in both scoring and rebounding, respectively, but let’s see if that lasts during conference play. Ashton Gibbs was the pre-season pick, but Pitt appears down this year. This could come down to Lamb and Johnson-Odom, and in the end, Lamb’s got the better team.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall: We’ll find out fast if the Hall’s 11-1 start is legit (it opens at Syracuse, then home vs. West Virginia and UConn), but Willard certainly seems to have the Pirates on the right track. Cooley will win this award someday ... soon.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Andre Drummond, UConn: Yes, he’s still very raw in spots, but if he’s not the most gifted athletic specimen in the league, I don’t know who is. And here’s another thing: he just turned 18 in August, making him one of the youngest players in the entire conference!
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Fuquan Edwin, Seton Hall: I wouldn’t completely rule out Drummond in this category, either, but we’ll go with this 6-foot-6 swingman who leads the Big East in steals.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
Herb Pope, Seton Hall: After a near-fatal collapse in the summer of 2010, Pope never got back on track last season. But he’s been dominant so far this year and could be a shoo-in for this award. Nice story, really.
SIXTH MAN AWARD
Dion Waiters, Syracuse: There are some (Jim Calhoun included) who believe Waiters is the Orange’s best player. Only thing keeping him from this award is if Boeheim decides to put him in the starting lineup.
A few more things I think I think:
*** Syracuse and Louisville are both deep and talented, but I don't see that superstar player on either roster that's going to lead them to the promised land. Wouldn't be surprised to see either team get popped earlier than expected from the NCAA tournament.
*** With Steve Lavin back healthy and on the sidelines, and with Amir Garrett now eligible, St. John's will progressively get better, despite having just eight scholarship players. I could be very wrong about this, though.
*** Cincinnati is 4-0 since the brawl with Xavier and seems to be playing better without Gates. I wasn't too high on the Bearcats to begin with, however, and don't see them doing much this season after he returns on Jan. 4.
*** It's really too bad Farmington's Tim Abromaitis has to miss his final season after tearing his ACL. Can he still win the postseason Scholar-Athlete Award? (I'd say not, because I don't believe he's taking courses this year).
*** Another (sort of) local kid is also out for the season: Louisville's Mike Marra -- like myself, a native Rhode Islander. Can see why his family wanted him to play for Pitino.
*** As if there wasn't enough disinterest in South Florida already down in Tampa, the Bulls won't even play in their home gym this season as it's under repairs. USF is playing all its home games this season in the St. Pete Times Forum -- site of UConn's stunning first-round loss to No. 13 seed San Diego in 2008. I'm guessing there'll be as many if not more snow-bird UConn fans in the building Wednesday night than USF fans.
*** Why 14-4 for UConn? I see the Huskies losing at Syracuse and Louisville, and there'll probably be at least one home loss along the way -- maybe vs. Marquette on Feb. 19, or Syracuse on Feb. 25. Wouldn't be shocked to see them get upset at Seton Hall on Jan. 3 in their final game without Jim Calhoun, either.
Andre Drummond didn't have a particularly good practice on Friday, according to Jim Calhoun.
"He said to me, ‘Coach, I’m saving it for Sunday,'" Calhoun recalled. "That’s nice to hear from your freshman center. There’s no saving around here, you get better on Friday to be better on Sunday.
"But, quite frankly, he was a lot better on Sunday than he was on Friday.”
He certainly was. Drummond had 24 points on 11-for-12 shooting (including four monster dunks), eight rebounds and five blocked shots.
His most impressive dunk came on an alley-oop from Shabazz Napier after Napier's steal with 6:47 left to play.
"It was just God’s gift," said Drummond, perhaps confusing his teammate with the St. John's player for a moment. "I was in the right place at the right time.”
As impressive as the dunks were, however, it was Drummond's all-around arsenal of offensive moves that stood out the most. He scored on low-post spin moves and some short-range jumpers that hadn't been a big part of his repertoire to this point.
"He made a couple of jump shots and post moves today that we definitely weren't expecting," said Holy Cross coach Milan Brown. "He's a good player. If he keeps working, he's going to have Jerry West on his jersey, for sure."
In other words, Drummond has an NBA future. We all know that. But even though it did come against an outmatched, outsized Holy Cross squad, this was by far the most NBA-ready Drummond has looked to date.
“I’m working on slowing my game down a little bit, so I can get myself more comfortable to get the right shot up,” Drummond said. “There’s always room for improvement. I think I had a good game today. It was a great team win, collectively.”
Added Alex Oriakhi: “His confidence has definitely grown. The guards are finding him. When you know your guards are looking for you as a big man, it definitely gives you confidence because it tells you they want to give you the ball.”
*** In truth, just about everybody contributed today. Oriakhi had his best game in a while, with 15 points and only a couple of scoldings by Calhoun. He got off to a good start with the team's first four points on a pair of dunks, but was still yanked quickly by the coach.
“I guess I do have to adjust to it," Oriakhi said. "I kind of expect it now. You kind of know when you’re going to come out. I’ve just got to make things happen early.”
Later in the game, Calhoun seemed to have some words for Oriakhi, then put his hands on the big man's cheeks as if to tell him everything was OK.
“I’ve been here for three years. If you get mad when he yells at you now, I don’t know what to tell you, because he’s going to yell at everybody. He’s going to yell at you, even if you weren’t in the play. I just don’t think about it, I just tell myself, ‘Next play.’”
A few numbers:
*** Napier doled out 13 assists.
*** All nine uniformed, scholarship players scored at least three points.
*** UConn had 10 dunks -- four by Drummond, three by Oriakhi and one apiece from Jeremy Lamb, Ryan Boatright and even Niels Giffey.
*** The Huskies outscored Cross 58-16 in the paint and 26-4 on fast breaks (16-0 in the latter half).
*** UConn had committed just one team foul well into the second half before a flurry of whistles in the waning minutes. Holy Cross took just two free throws.
“Good officiating, probably,” Calhoun explained.
*** Holy Cross guard R.J. Evans, a Salem native and Norwich Free Academy grad, led the Crusaders with 15 points and did a good job holding Lamb to 10 points on 4-for-16 shooting.
But Evans' day was not without some adversity. Just before taking the floor in the latter half, Evans had what Brown called the “dry heaves” and wound up throwing up into a trash can near the Holy Cross bench. He went straight into the game, anyway.
“That’s a Connecticut guy trying to play in Connecticut,” said Brown, who also noted that after watching his team lose by 37 points, “I wanted to throw up, too.”
*** Sickest move of the game, easily, was Boatright's ankle-breaking, baseline crossover move for a reverse layup, in the midst of UConn's 18-0 run late in the first half.
*** Calhoun said he and Napier had a "meeting of the minds" early in the game.
"That's an interesting place, his mind and my mind," the coach said. "I mean, you talk about confusion ..."
*** For some reason, Calhoun loves to use the word "logy" to describe lackadaisical play, and he broke the word out for the first time this season on Sunday in describing UConn's first 10 minutes of play.
Today was 'The Boat Show,' no question about it. We'll get to Ryan Boatright (who confirmed that is his nickname) later. For now, let's get to the even bigger surprise of the day.
The UConn beat writer contingent was convinced that Jim Calhoun would come in breathing fire after the game, despite the Huskies' 13-point win over Arkansas. UConn, after all, had been beaten 47-35 on the boards. Worse, they were outrebounded on the offensive glass by a whoppiing 27-4 margin.
Instead, here's how Calhoun started his postgame presser:
"In sum total, I would say that might be our best game."
Huh?
He continued: "The 15 turnovers, which are heading down to where I want them, at least four or five of them were beautiful passes that just went off guys' hands inside the post."
As for the rebounding: “We’ve got to catch the ball inside, and we’ve got to rebound. Otherwise, in a game where we got beat by 12 on the glass, I’m not as disappointed, because I can see the rebounds, I can see our heads under the net. You can’t rebound under the net, and we’ve got to do a much better job of that.”
And, as Arkansas coach Mike Anderson pointed out: “We missed a lot of shots (53), so there were a lot of rebounds to be gotten, I guess.”
True enough. And I can see Calhoun's point. There were a lot of good signs for the Huskies today, starting, of course, with Boatright and moving on to UConn's three-guard attack of Boatright, Napier and Lamb, who were never really rattled by the Razorbacks' aggressive, pressure style.
It's a real good sign, in fact, that Napier seemed perfectly willing to relinquish the scoring burden to Boatright and even Tyler Olander (career-best 12 points) while picking his spots carefully (taking just six shots, making three). Lamb was also saddled with foul trouble, DeAndre Daniels and Roscoe Smith were just about invisible, so it was good for UConn to get scoring from other sources.
And they have a lot of sources. Seems this could be the type of team that will be led by its superstar (Lamb) and get contributions from various other players on any given night.
Niels Giffey was a positive, as well. Shackled to the bench for the entire Florida State game, as well as the first 16 minutes of the first half Saturday, he wound up contributing with four points, two boards and some generally solid overall play -- particularly on defense.
In fact, Calhoun strongly considered starting Giffey over Daniels until backing of at the last minute.
“Niels hasn’t seen the light of day much. He’s had four good practices in a row. We were talking to him about starting him over DeAndre – who we think is going to be a very good player, he just needs to understand the level we’re playing at is highly different.”
“My assistants kept saying to me, and they were 100-percent right – for once – to leave Niels in on defense, because he’s doing a great job."
As for Boatright, what more can you say -- 23 points, six assists, five rebounds, two steals, boundless energy. He's fearless taking the ball to the hole yet looks for his big men inside more than any of UConn's guards. He is the real deal.
“Ryan was pretty special,” said Calhoun. “He has those Allen Iverson kind of things where his athletic ability just allows him to do some pretty special things that you don’t normally see.”
Said Boatright: “I play with heart, so I never surprise myself. I came from high school scoring 40, 50, so I know I can score. But it’s not really about me scoring 23, as long as we got the ‘W’, I don’t care if I had three points, as long as we won, I’d be fine.”
Added Anderson: “He really gave them a big-time lift … I saw the game he played against Florida State and I thought he was the difference in that game, as well. He’s a good, crafty little guard. With Shabazz and him on the same team, and then you’ve got a guy like Lamb that can knock it down at any point in time, that’s a good tandem there.”
No doubt about that.
Calhoun mentioned how Boatright was going up against Ray Allen at Gampel the other day.
“He was saying ‘Ray, I got ya.’ (He was) going into Ray Allen. Not many guys can do that with Ray. They were kidding back and forth, but the point being: all he’s been doing through this whole process is, ‘Coach, get me on the floor.’ He never said a word about starting – obviously, I wouldn’t have listened to him anyway – but still, a lot of kids come back and say things.”
They now call it "The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball." I remember when they used to call it "40 Minutes of Hell."
Whatever you want to call it, it's what Mike Anderson employs at Arkansas, where he was once a longtime assistant to Nolan Richardson (including the Razorbacks' 1994 national championship squad). It means pressure, pressure and more pressure, lots of run-and-gun and, often, high-scoring affairs.
Of course, Anderson was employing this style with Missouri the past five seasons, including in 2009 when the Tigers went up against UConn in the Elite Eight in Glendale, Ariz. The result: an 82-75 Husky victory in what was Kemba Walker's coming-out party (23 points in 25 minutes).
Jim Calhoun says he's watched tape of that game to help prepare for Saturday's SEC-Big East Challenge battle with Anderson's Razorbacks. Ryan Boatright is certainly up for the challenge.
“That’s how I’ve played my whole life, because I’m so small, I’ve got to use my speed to my advantage,” the diminutive frosh guard said. “I love when a team wants to come out and press us like that.”
The Huskies expect to throw a lot of three-guard looks at Arkansas, meaning Boatright, Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb could be sharing the court a lot on Saturday.
That's fine with Boatright, too.
“We can hit you from every angle, it’s hard to stay in front of all three of us," he said. "And the chemistry we’ve all got, we play so well with each other. I think that comes from the preseason and us understanding what we all want to do, and that’s win. It’s fun playing with those guys.”
Boatright's season debut was certainly impressive Saturday in the Bahamas. Now comes his debut on the "mainland." He said sitting out six games (plus two exhibitions) for receiving improper benefits was frustrating.
“I wasn’t expecting eight games,” he admitted. “The little thing I was in trouble for, I was expecting maybe three or four, five at the most. It came out to be eight. But I’m just happy I got to come back quick enough to help my team in the Bahamas.”
Calhoun said that Boatright, Niels Giffey and Roscoe Smith have been the team's best players in practice the past few days.
A few other tidbits:
*** Calhoun looks for his team to get three defensive stops in a row at least five times a game. He says that when the Huskies did so last season, they went 18-0.
*** Frosh Michael Bradley could being practicing with the team by next week.
*** Arkansas is led by guards Julysses Nobles (12.2 ppg) and Mardracus Wade (10.8) but suffered a tough loss when one of their top returning players, junior forward Marshawn Powell, suffered a season-ending knee injury a few weeks ago.
*** Calhoun says his team isn't "fully connected yet," but concedes few, if any, teams in the nation are right now. He believes No. 1 Kentucky is easily the best team he's seen thus far.
*** The obligatory what's-up-with-Alex-Oriakhi update: “He’s always a hard worker, he was in late last night shooting. I don’t worry about his attitude, I worry about his confidence. He’s not a particularly over-confident kid," Calhoun said.
*** SEC, easy as 1-2-3: The Huskies are 15-5 against the SEC under Jim Calhoun, including 3-0 last season. They’ll also play at Tennessee on Jan. 21.
*** Tell Larry Lucchino & Co. that Calhoun, a huge Red Sox fan, is very much on board with the Bobby Valentine hire.
What do you want to know about Wagner, UConn's opponent tomorrow night? Here's all you probably need to know: the Seahawks are coached by the Brothers Hurley: Dan, the former Seton Hall guard, and Bobby -- yes, that Bobby, of Duke fame. Not to be confused with Duke Fame from a little thing I like to call the greatest movie ever made, 'This Is Spinal Tap' ("Duke Fame has this much talent!")
(By the way, I'm still not 100-percent sure why UConn fans hate Duke so much. Please feel free to explain, if you'd like).
Anyway, Wagner returns all five starters from last year's 13-17, 9-9 (Northeast Conference) team. The Seahawks had a nice win in their opener on Saturday, popping Princeton on the road behind 15 points from Tyler Murray, a 6-5 senior guard, and 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench from Josh Thompson, a 6-5 junior forward.
UConn should get a boost from the return of Niels Giffey, who fully participated in both practices this weekend and has been cleared to play tomorrow night. Tyler Olander aside, the Huskies will need to improve their frontcourt play, however.
And the Huskies also have this on their side: they haven't lost a regular season, November or December game in Storrs since Dec. 5, 1973 – a streak that spans 100 games. UConn has never lost at Gampel Pavilion in November or December. That’s 55-0, people.
Who says there's no such thing as a little home cookin'?
It's going to sound like Andre Drummond was making excuses about his UConn debut Friday night, in which he went scoreless in 12 minutes of action.
“That never happened to me before," he said. "Ever."
Drummond said playing with a facemask on bothered him a bit, as did the tendonitis that had him icing his left knee after the game. Not starting also affected him, he said.
“I’m not used to coming off the bench," he said. "That’s one of things I have to get over and get used to doing. I think that’s what’s really throwing me off, too. But it doesn’t really matter … it matters how I perform in the game.”
Indeed, Drummond was probably just a little frustrated that his much-ballyhooed debut didn't go very well, individually. But he seemed ready to put it behind him and get better for Monday against Wagner.
“Everybody has their off days," he added. "I’ve just got to come back tomorrow, have a great practice, have another great practice on Sunday and come out on Monday and play again.”
Tyler Olander said he saw from Drummond "a first college game against a D-I team. I know Andre’s going to respond very well. He knows what to expect now.”
Shabazz Napier offered him some consoling advice afterwards.
“I told him, ‘Don’t allow coach to drill your mistakes in your head. You made a mistake, make up for it.’”
*** Calhoun was peeved at all his bigs (except Olander) after UConn barely outrebounded Columbia 43-41 and allowed 20 offensive boards.
"They outworked us. We don’t have anyone in the frontcourt ready to play right now, except for Tyler, who understands the game of basketball.
“I told Enosch (Wolf), ‘You haven’t done much, but it’s a good time for you to do something right now.’”
Said Olander: “We were getting pushed under the rim a little bit, which shouldn’t happen. The other team worked hard, and we (the frontcourt) kind of failed to respond.”
*** Alex Oriakhi was a virtual no-show, with two points and five boards. He was also a no-show for the postgame press availability, a rarity for him.
*** Fortunately for UConn, Jeremy Lamb and Napier showed up, combining for 51 of the team's 70 points (Lamb's 30 was a career-high).
Columbia coach Kyle Smith said of Lamb: "Here's how good he is: I had no idea he had 30. The game is very easy for him."
Smith also said Napier can do everything. "He's got a little Chris Paul, (with the) floperoos."
*** Calhoun's most telling quote: “I’m looking to the next game – the game where Shabazz has four fouls, the game when Jeremy’s shot doesn’t go. Then what happens?”
*** The coach seems to be getting a bit annoyed by the Ryan Boatright and Niels Giffey situations.
On Boatright: “I’ve not been informed of anything. That’s not unexpected.”
And on Giffey's return: “You’ll have to ask Niels. He says his ankle’s sore.”
he’s capable of, by any means. He’s not going to let that happen again.”
“That never happened to me before," he said. "Ever."
Drummond said playing with a facemask on bothered him a bit, as did the tendonitis that had him icing his left knee after the game. Not starting also affected him, he said.
“I’m not used to coming off the bench," he said. "That’s one of things I have to get over and get used to doing. I think that’s what’s really throwing me off, too. But it doesn’t really matter … it matters how I perform in the game.”
Indeed, Drummond was probably just a little frustrated that his much-ballyhooed debut didn't go very well, individually. But he seemed ready to put it behind him and get better for Monday against Wagner.
“Everybody has their off days," he added. "I’ve just got to come back tomorrow, have a great practice, have another great practice on Sunday and come out on Monday and play again.”
Tyler Olander said he saw from Drummond "a first college game against a D-I team. I know Andre’s going to respond very well. He knows what to expect now.”
Shabazz Napier offered him some consoling advice afterwards.
“I told him, ‘Don’t allow coach to drill your mistakes in your head. You made a mistake, make up for it.’”
*** Calhoun was peeved at all his bigs (except Olander) after UConn barely outrebounded Columbia 43-41 and allowed 20 offensive boards.
"They outworked us. We don’t have anyone in the frontcourt ready to play right now, except for Tyler, who understands the game of basketball.
“I told Enosch (Wolf), ‘You haven’t done much, but it’s a good time for you to do something right now.’”
Said Olander: “We were getting pushed under the rim a little bit, which shouldn’t happen. The other team worked hard, and we (the frontcourt) kind of failed to respond.”
*** Alex Oriakhi was a virtual no-show, with two points and five boards. He was also a no-show for the postgame press availability, a rarity for him.
*** Fortunately for UConn, Jeremy Lamb and Napier showed up, combining for 51 of the team's 70 points (Lamb's 30 was a career-high).
Columbia coach Kyle Smith said of Lamb: "Here's how good he is: I had no idea he had 30. The game is very easy for him."
Smith also said Napier can do everything. "He's got a little Chris Paul, (with the) floperoos."
*** Calhoun's most telling quote: “I’m looking to the next game – the game where Shabazz has four fouls, the game when Jeremy’s shot doesn’t go. Then what happens?”
*** The coach seems to be getting a bit annoyed by the Ryan Boatright and Niels Giffey situations.
On Boatright: “I’ve not been informed of anything. That’s not unexpected.”
And on Giffey's return: “You’ll have to ask Niels. He says his ankle’s sore.”
he’s capable of, by any means. He’s not going to let that happen again.”
For those who see Jim Calhoun screaming maniacally on the sidelines during games, it may come as a surprise that he’s normally pretty serene during practice.
That changed briefly on Wednesday. Calhoun appeared peeved at something Ryan Boatright had done, and Boatright appeared to talk back to the coach.
“Shut the (bleep) up!” Calhoun loudly exclaimed.
Boatright got quiet in a hurry.
“There are a couple of words you can say to them to let them know you don’t want them speaking, and the conversation has come to an end and (they) just don’t know it,” Calhoun said after practice. “There are certain words you can use to say that are right to the point.”
Calhoun said Boatright is just a little frustrated right now – not so much on the court, but off it. The NCAA has yet to clear him to play due to an eligibility question, and it appears he won’t be able to go in UConn’s season-opener Friday night.
After practice, Boatright said something to the coach about his own play.
“I’m not worried about your play,” Calhoun said. “I’m worried about you getting down.”
“He’s missed two exhibition games,” Calhoun added. “It’s difficult for him.”
It seems Calhoun is a bit frustrated by the situation. He seemed to try to measure his words when talking about the situation on Wednesday.
“The situation’s somewhat simplistic,” he said. “We’re looking at case precedents … We’d love to have him back on Friday, but I have no idea (when) … He will return. When, I don’t know.”
He added that the NCAA has never “formally talked to” the UConn basketball program. “They didn’t include us in any discussions.”
Elsewhere:
*** Niels Giffey spent most of Wednesday’s practice on a stationary bike and appears doubtful for Friday. His ankle is more sore than his knee is, Calhoun said.
*** Calhoun is happy with UConn’s non-conference schedule: “It’s a deceptively tougher schedule than people think.”
*** Alex Oriakhi on his two disappointing exhibition performances: “I could have been more aggressive, as far as rebounding. Hopefully, I’m going to get more minutes than I did in the last game.”
“I feel when I’m on the court, I can get a rhythm. I wasn’t able to get a lot of playing time last time, which was unfortunate. But the rest of our big men stepped up.”
*** Calhoun said likely the same starting five for Friday as Sunday’s exhibition finale: Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander and Jeremy Lamb. Yup, that means Andre Drummond makes his collegiate debut off the bench.
Said Drummond: “I’ve come off the bench before. I’m not used to really coming off, but that’s some of the things you’ve got to get adjusted to. I’m not expecting to start or anything like that. I know I need to come in and play my role. Hopefully, one of these games I do end up starting.”
Drummond has been struggling from the foul line in practice and missed his lone attempt in an exhibition game. There’s a reason, he says: “I wasn’t always a bad free throw shooter, but my arms got longer out of nowhere, for some reason. That kind of threw me off a little bit, so I was trying to figure out my muscle memory to get it all back again … It’ll be back shortly.”
That changed briefly on Wednesday. Calhoun appeared peeved at something Ryan Boatright had done, and Boatright appeared to talk back to the coach.
“Shut the (bleep) up!” Calhoun loudly exclaimed.
Boatright got quiet in a hurry.
“There are a couple of words you can say to them to let them know you don’t want them speaking, and the conversation has come to an end and (they) just don’t know it,” Calhoun said after practice. “There are certain words you can use to say that are right to the point.”
Calhoun said Boatright is just a little frustrated right now – not so much on the court, but off it. The NCAA has yet to clear him to play due to an eligibility question, and it appears he won’t be able to go in UConn’s season-opener Friday night.
After practice, Boatright said something to the coach about his own play.
“I’m not worried about your play,” Calhoun said. “I’m worried about you getting down.”
“He’s missed two exhibition games,” Calhoun added. “It’s difficult for him.”
It seems Calhoun is a bit frustrated by the situation. He seemed to try to measure his words when talking about the situation on Wednesday.
“The situation’s somewhat simplistic,” he said. “We’re looking at case precedents … We’d love to have him back on Friday, but I have no idea (when) … He will return. When, I don’t know.”
He added that the NCAA has never “formally talked to” the UConn basketball program. “They didn’t include us in any discussions.”
Elsewhere:
*** Niels Giffey spent most of Wednesday’s practice on a stationary bike and appears doubtful for Friday. His ankle is more sore than his knee is, Calhoun said.
*** Calhoun is happy with UConn’s non-conference schedule: “It’s a deceptively tougher schedule than people think.”
*** Alex Oriakhi on his two disappointing exhibition performances: “I could have been more aggressive, as far as rebounding. Hopefully, I’m going to get more minutes than I did in the last game.”
“I feel when I’m on the court, I can get a rhythm. I wasn’t able to get a lot of playing time last time, which was unfortunate. But the rest of our big men stepped up.”
*** Calhoun said likely the same starting five for Friday as Sunday’s exhibition finale: Oriakhi, Shabazz Napier, Roscoe Smith, Tyler Olander and Jeremy Lamb. Yup, that means Andre Drummond makes his collegiate debut off the bench.
Said Drummond: “I’ve come off the bench before. I’m not used to really coming off, but that’s some of the things you’ve got to get adjusted to. I’m not expecting to start or anything like that. I know I need to come in and play my role. Hopefully, one of these games I do end up starting.”
Drummond has been struggling from the foul line in practice and missed his lone attempt in an exhibition game. There’s a reason, he says: “I wasn’t always a bad free throw shooter, but my arms got longer out of nowhere, for some reason. That kind of threw me off a little bit, so I was trying to figure out my muscle memory to get it all back again … It’ll be back shortly.”
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