Despite being at home in cozy Gampel Pavillion, where the Huskies have been near unbeatable, they had a hard time putting the Big East Cellar dwelling DePaul blue Demons away 64-57 this past Saturday night. UCONN trailed most of the first half but then their defense stiffened as they came back to take a one point lead at the half. DePaul got off to an early lead by draining threes and shutting down Dyson's drives to the hoop. The Huskies looked awful in the half court offense and Kemba Walker continually allowed himself to get trapped creating turnovers.
In the second half the Husky defense created steals and Dyson was able to make his patented slashing drives to the hoop. Dyson went to the charity stripe 12 times and made 11, the difference in the game.
I saw nothing in this game to brighten my view of the Huskies chances of making the Big Dance. Walker's regression and slow development at this point has to be one of this season's biggest disappointments. In the plus column Gavin Edwards continues his solid and consistent play down low. In what is now a typical game for him in 23 minutes he scored 10 points and had five rebounds. What is clear now is that as Dyson goes, so go the Huskies. Their big wins have come when Dyson is able to drive the lane and put points on the board. The problem is that with all his heart, Dyson is a streaky shooter who has some very poor nights from the floor.
I received two very interesting "comment" posts from followers John Scott and Dave Allen. John, thank you for becoming a follower and for your interesting comment. Dave Allen, always has interesting things to say but I just wonder if they might be slightly influenced by the fact that he is a UCONN grad, die hard Husky Fan, and a Jim Calhoun believer.
Let's start with John's interesting comment. At this point the Huskies have to go 5-3 in their remaining 8 Big East tilts to reach .500 and have a reasonable shot at at a NCAA bid. John is confident this will happen and that one of the wins will come against Syracuse or Villanova. I agree that there could be one upset in the making, if Dyson gets hot, however I do not share John's confidence that they will reach .500 for reasons I have already expained ad infinitum. By the way a .500 record would probably put them in a tie for 8th place in the Big East. There are two precedents for 8 teams from one conference in the tournament; interestingly both times, 2006 and 2008 it was the Big East conference that sent 8 teams to the dance.
John makes a case for UCONN comfortably getting a 5 or 6 seed because he believes that their strength of schedule is #1 in the country and the selection committee does put a lot of value on schedule strength. In fact, in the two most credible strength of schedule rankers, Jeff Sagarin has them 18th and the Pomeroy poll has them 19th. That being said I do think 9-9 is the magic record for the Huskies.
Dave Allen believes that Calhoun's return will turn things around. First, as I pointed out, Calhoun is clearly suffering from Depression and it is not clear when he will return. Secondly, Calhoun is a great motivator but I do not think that he is a particularly good game coach and that his hyper-active, impulsive, anger driven substitution pattern hurts the team. Dave, I also think that motivation is not the issue- as you know I think we are 3 players short and nothing can change that.
Keep the comments rolling in and thanks to Dave and John for posting this week.
"You Heard it here First"
Steve
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2 comments:
Steve: Please note my SOS comment was "end-of-the-year" based. As of now, we have played among the toughest schedules in the country. After tacking on 'Cuse, 'Nova and the 'Neers over the next two weeks - we waltz to #1 as to SOS. Also, should we hit the 6-3 mark over our last 9 (with one of the wins coming against the aforementioned three), our RPI at season end would likely be in the mid-to-high-twenties (which would immediately end any bubble debate). We are blessed to have three top-five RPI teams over our next six games. All is well. We control our own destiny. We simply need to end the season strong. And as for Calhoun, it is hard not to believe in a guy who is making it a habit to attend Final Fours.
thanks John, I stand corrected on your comment on strength of schedule. I just don't see it as a motivational or coaching issue but the fan in me hopes more than anything that you are right. By the way if the Huskies go 5-3 and beat either Nova or Cuse you are right that will be in mid twenties on R.I.P. index. For those of you unfamiliar with this index it is a ranking which takes into account the teams strength of schedule. John is correct that particularly in recent years the selection committee places a great empasis on the R.I.P.. this is shy most of the teams come from the large BCS conferences.
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