UConn's December 2008

UConn’s December had its ebbs and flows. They took care of sub-par teams in Delaware State, Stony Brook, and Fairfield, beat a Gonzaga team that nobody is sure where they stand and struggled at Buffalo and at home against Georgetown. The offense has stuttered at times but they have shown the ability to beat you in a number of ways. The man-to-man defense is a work in progress. They haven’t put together a solid performance yet. Be it letting players have career days or letting players drive past them for easy buckets, they haven’t found the ability to slow teams down.

Thabeet hasn’t been able to show up against comparable talent. While he has shown the post moves against smaller teams, he has yet to display the left hook or one handed put-backs that he has shown to possess. Adrien has produced in every game and brings an intensity and emotion to this team. He works well from the elbow and can dribble drive to the rim for shots but he has missed a lot of easy buckets.

Dyson has proven to be the sparkplug to this team. If he struggles then the whole team does. He is a force on the defensive end and is the teams best penetrater on offense, but he hasn’t shown the outside shooting yet. Price has begun to flash a semblance of his old self. His speed is improving and he has shown a silky touch from behind the arch. He is still having problems finding assists and turning the ball over to much. Austrie hasn’t emerged as a sharpshooter but his streaky shooting looks to be behind him. He has shown to be more than a mere three point threat and can get into the lane and sink floaters.

This month introduced Sticks back to the team and he produced right out of the gates. He has slowly worked into the rotation and has helped UConn in the defensive end and in rebounding. He has shown some rust in the Georgetown game and hasn’t shown the shooting ability that he had last year.

With Stanley the bench is three deep. Edwards is the first big man off the bench and has shown the ability to score and be a reliable rebounder. Walker has struggled in December. He isn’t finding his way to the hoop like in November and his shots aren’t dropping. But his minutes are. Calhoun is sticking with him at point and he is feeling some growing pains.

With conference play underway, they need to defend their home court and beat the teams on the road that they should. With all the teams in the division so comparable, there will be little room for error to win the championship.