No one has lost more experience in college basketball than Uconn and if you look at the start of the season, where they destroyed lesser talent everyone turned giddy. Here is an athletic team, two high flyers in Johnson and Robinson. They had a legitimate big man anchoring the defense in Thabeet, a fundamentally sound power forward in Adrien, two young talented slashers in Dyson and Price, a pair of pure shooters in Austrie and Wiggins and role players in Kelly and Mandeldove.
Fast forward to the last seven games. These kids look confused, the shots stop falling for everyone at once. Guards miss jump shots, the big men can’t get second chance points and become one and done. Then the frustration feeds off the stagnate offense onto the defense. The guards don’t get back and become overly aggressive, getting into foul trouble.
Calhoun needs to employ the zone during these droughts. Let Thabeet help out down low, instead of manning him up on a single defender. Teams are pulling him away from the basket by giving the ball to their big man on the top of the post. Uconn has always been a man to man defense but desperate times call for desperate measures. Zone. And pray someone can make a jump shot or offensive rebound.
These games are tough to watch but Uconn has critical pieces to compete in the Big East. They just need to adjust and claw through the tough stretches. That means going to the line and scoring until jump shots are made and playing consistent defense.
The Iron Man Award
Mandeldove deserves the iron man award. He doesn’t have the athletic ability of the starters and reminds me of an early Hilton Armstrong but he works hard. It was obvious that he was in pain, due to a sprained ankle, but he played through it. He even drained a bucket on the top of the key, showing some range.
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