And then there were 7 !
- Thread starter the Blades
- Start date
“When you’re trying to go from where the program was to where you’re trying to go,” Hurley said, “... you can’t have any weak links in the chain.”- Danny Hurley
The above pretty much says it all.
The above pretty much says it all.
Wow. It's funny how great coaches find and attract great players. If the coach is weak, and runs lax practices, that information gets communicated to recruits by the current players. "Aw yeah, coach is cool. He don't run us too hard." Like that. Then, players who don't have that killer attitude and who aren't willing to put in the effort, gravitate to those coaches. You end up with guys like Jalen Adams and Sid Wilson who have great natural talent, but don't have an internal drive sufficient to make the best use of their talents. You see in some other programs that always have talent but never seem to go deep in the tourni. Those programs, in effect, self select.
Guys like Kemba and Calhoun find each other.
Guys like Kemba and Calhoun find each other.
The Journal Inquirer is reporting that talented walk on Matt Garry, a possible bench replacement to soak up Wilson's minutes in the event of foul trouble, is now out with an unspecified foot injury, so the "Magnificent 7" will likely need to soldier on without any reinforcements of any kind. Ordinarily you would say UConn is very dangerous right now for the AAC Tournament, but it will be very hard to win 4 games in 4 days with this kind of depth. You really need to play 8-9 guys.
4 games in 4 days with only 7 schollies and one walk on would be . . . ALMOST as great as 5 in 5. Almost, but that 11 team went through what? 3 or 4 ranked teams in 5 days. Still gives me goosebumps.
Something tells me we are going to win this tournament fellas........To quote the great Ben Crenshaw......"I have a feeling"
Ironically I just watched the "Magnificent 7" reboot film from 2016 Saturday night, which was nowhere near as good as the 1960 original film with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. Hopefully UConn's "Magnificent 7" will play in the AAC tournament like the gunslingers in the 1960 movie- to the last man standing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magnificent_Seven
I sure hope you are right. Thursday will be very telling IMO.
Thursday night’s game is winnable but asking 7 guys to win 4 games in 4 days is asking them to be a truly Magnificent 7. The 2011 team was a lot deeper. They had guys like Chuck Okwandu and Shabazz Napier and Donnell Beverly, Tyler Olander and Jamal Coombs McDaniel coming off the bench and were more than 7 guys. 7 guys averaged 15 or more minutes and another 3 played 8-10 minutes. I thought Giffey was starting at the end of the season- he started 10 games and Olander 21:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/connecticut/2011.html
You can win 5 games in 5 days with that army of bodies. Asking these 7 kids to do it- with just 2 bigs- is asking a LOT
Will Wilson be allowed back on the team if they make the semifinals or is he done for the year? It’s my opinion that the team shouldn’t be punished for his selfishness, and they do have the power to unsuspend him if they make the semifinals.
Just win baby!
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/connecticut/2011.html
You can win 5 games in 5 days with that army of bodies. Asking these 7 kids to do it- with just 2 bigs- is asking a LOT
Will Wilson be allowed back on the team if they make the semifinals or is he done for the year? It’s my opinion that the team shouldn’t be punished for his selfishness, and they do have the power to unsuspend him if they make the semifinals.
Just win baby!
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The numbers aren't helped by the way Josh has been slugging along this year. Slow and sloppy is no way to go through life...
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......IDK. I'm not convinced that 15 or 20 .pounds of fat on or off is going to make a huge difference. Difference? Yes. Huge? I'm not buying it. What ails Carlton is what's between his ears. Guy has a game where he goes for 25 and 15 or whatever, and then has a game where he plays 5 minutes and gets 1 bucket. Meh. That's not a weight issue.
I think there is something to what Blades posted. Carlton looks slow and indecisive and inefficient with his footwork and moves all year. Whaley, who has far less natural offensive talent, has outscored Carlton by a boatload of points in the last 5 games and it’s easy to see why. Whaley’s moves are simple and efficient. He doesn’t try and do excessive spins and excessive preparation. It’s quick decisive moves and scores. Carlton somehow looks less athletic than last year.
I think Carlton also has a bit of a front runner mind set. When things start going badly and he misses shots and gets his shots blocked and commits offensive and rebounding fouls, he goes south mentally. You can see it in his body language. That is something the coaches can fix. The excess weight isn’t fixable until the off season. He needs to be execute his moves better and more efficiently, bottom line. He is just a body and the weakest link on the Magnificent 7 right now.
I think Carlton also has a bit of a front runner mind set. When things start going badly and he misses shots and gets his shots blocked and commits offensive and rebounding fouls, he goes south mentally. You can see it in his body language. That is something the coaches can fix. The excess weight isn’t fixable until the off season. He needs to be execute his moves better and more efficiently, bottom line. He is just a body and the weakest link on the Magnificent 7 right now.
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I tend to agree, more than disagree with you on this issue, but the another factor I'd like to add to this is that JC never jams the ball. He tries to finesse the ball instead of an outright assault on the rim! He misses a bunch of bunnies. My thoughts are that the coaching staff probably should encourage him for a more aggressive attack at the hoop. Maybe then he might impress a bit more?
No doubt.
I've watched this kid for 3 years. He has never stuck me as athletic. He's simply big. My opinion - subject to be wrong of course - is that adding muscle is almost NEVER a negative. The concept of "too bulky" when we're talking about muscle is, to me, misplaced. You look at guys like Bo Jackson, LeBron, some NFL linebackers, Gronk, Zion, and these guys are the best of the best. If you put 20 pounds of pure muscle on the Greek Freak, I think he'd be even more bad ***.
Carlton will never be a great center. Just isn't going to happen. Why? Because the last great center with a 12" vertical was probably Bill Walton, and he was the original Mr. Fundamental.
Love Josh, and I loved that he stayed with the program. I hope he's here tomorrow. But adding 20, taking off 20, and so on, is not going to change who he is as a basketball player. He's methodical, slow, and not particularly athletic.
I would love to see Josh come in next year with a 100% nuts to the sheetrock approach to the game. Give me that, and I'll be super happy.
Anybody expecting this kid to lose 20 pounds and come in and be a world beater is probably in for some disappointment.