Tough Loss, Good Win; ???????

In a very tough week, UCONN dropped a road contest to #14 ranked Notre Dame, and then eked out an overtime 81-80 victory, again on the road against #12 ranked Texas. I came away from a puzzling week with the same conclusion that I did after the loss to PITT; it is still too early in the season to predict how far this version of the Huskies will go.
One thing that the 73-70 loss to Notre Dame showed in spades; the Big East is one tough conference. Notre Dame, to me, is typical of the
eightBig East teams ranked in the top 25. They have a great coach (Mike Brey), do not necessarily have a superstar, play terrific defense and team ball. The Irish put a very dogged John Hansbrough on Walker and Kemba had a very difficult time getting good shots. Although he ended up with 22 points he had to go 8-23 from the field to get there. Once again Shabazz Napier was the only other Husky to step up and scored 18 points as well as another strong defensive performance. the UCONN front line produced virtually nothing and Alex Oriakhi did not score a point! Only UCONN's tenacious defense kept the final score this close as the Huskies record dropped to 1-2 in the Big East.
Against Texas, the Huskies came out looking more determined from the start and Oriakhi looked like someone lit a fire under his bed. He was a force off the boards and ended up with 11 points and 21 rebounds. In a better distribution of scoring four Huskies hit double figures led by Walker's 19, Napier's 15, Smith's 13 and Oriakhi's 11. In 18 minutes of solid play Senior Guard Donnell Beverley had 8 points and filled in nicely at the point. Calhoun was obvously upset with freshman Jeremy Lamb who saw eight minutes of playing time.

Again, Walker was hounded on defense, pressed for shots and was an abysmal 8-27 from the floor, although he came alive in the OT and scored 7 points in the extra period including the game winner. Again, the Husky defense was the constant that enabled UCONN to push this game into overtime. The split of two very tough road games only cost the Huskies one spot in both Major polls and they were ranked #10 in this mornings AP Poll and #9 in the coaches poll. In the RPI index they are #6 in the country.
So, where are we? Given the Huskies strength of schedule and wins against highly ranked teams a .500 record in the tough Big East will easily get them a Dance Card. It is obvious to everyone that other players have to contribute more offensively for Walker to step back, take fewer and better shots and have better point distribution. This is not as simple as just telling Walker to distribute the ball more; as Pete Eliot pointed out it is hard to just turn it up and down at will and Walker maybe giving something up in his attempts to look for teammates more. Good point, but in my opinion one piece of the puzzle. Walker has to have more confidence in his teammates to take fewer shots and so far he doesn't nor does he have reason to. UCONN's half courts sets are completely Guard oriented; You rarely see the Huskies make their first pass inside so there are no kick out passes to Walker for open treys. IN addition, the ball movement is almost completely around the perimeter and most of the screens that are set are designed to free up Walker for jump shots. Compare this to the motion offenses of teams like Pitt, Notre Dame, Cincinatti, etc where any number of good shooters are freed up by screens.
Of course, the final factor is the disappointing play of the Freshman and particularly Sophomore Alex Oriakhi who has been a mystery since Hawaii. He has become a non-factor on offense and has been consistently beaten off the boards. I think that this is due, in part, to a lack of confidence but also I have concluded that Oriakhi did not work hard enough on his 10-15 ft. jump shot this summer; his hands are soft enough to become a pretty good short range shooter and until he does he will continue to be inconsistent. I have also concluded that Jeremy Lamb can't shoot. He is talented but his jump shooting mechanics are terrible and have to be reconfigured for him to be a better jump shooter- this will not happen during the season so I also think his contributions will be inconsistent. Roscoe Smith is starting to show flashes of exciting play and he scored 11 and 13 points respectively last week. He is also a poor jump shooter, but I think over time will develop a good short range jump shot, but not this year. I think the Huskies will have to settle for about 11 ppg from him on put-backs and fast breaks, until next year. The Frosh who is already a PTPer is Shabazz Napier. He scored 18 and 15 points last week and his defense is sensational- a huge plus. Niels Giffey has all but moved back to Berlin and Olander and Oakwando remain spotty.
One of the most puzzling aspects of Calhoun's coaching this year is why he has not used the full court press at all. This is a terrific defensive team and definitely have the personnel to use the press in short spurts to create runs. I don't get it! In the grueling Big East the Huskies will be at least 3 games over .500 and go to the tourney; how far, again still too early to tell.

"You Heard it here First"
Steve