Big East Preview: #12 Connecticut Huskies

Previewing all 15 teams in the Big East from #15 to #1

By:  Shane McCarthy

After going through a season in turmoil, the Huskies are prepping to start the 2012-13 season without their Hall of Fame head coach and four starters from a year ago.  The sense of déjà vu mid-season seems likely.

Who’s Back:

Shabazz Napier –G– Junior – 35 Min, 13.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.8 apg

Ryan Boatright –G– Soph – 30.1 Min, 10.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 4.0 apg

Tyler Olander –F– Junior – 17.6 Min, 4.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.2 apg

DeAndre Daniels –F– Soph – 12.1 Min, 3.0 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 0.5 apg

Niels Giffey –F– Junior – 11.7 Min, 2.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.4 apg

Enosch Wolf –C– Junior – 1.3 Min, 0.3 ppg, 0.8 rpg, 0.0 apg

Incoming Recruits:

Omar Calhoun – [Shooting Guard] – 6 foot 5, 195

ESPN’s 32^nd ranked player and 7^th ranked Shooting Guard

Rivals.com’s 39^th ranked player and 10^th ranked Shooting Guard

Phillip Nolan – [Power Forward] – 6 foot 9, 210

ESPN’s 23^rd ranked Power Forward

Rivals.com’s 118^th ranked player and 21^st ranked Center

Leon Tolksdorf – [Small Forward] – 6 foot 8, 220 

Incoming Transfers:

R.J. Evans – [Shooting Guard] – 6 foot 3, 210

R.J., a transfer from Holy Cross, will have one year of eligibility as he will be a graduate student at UConn.  He was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year for the 2008-09 season and averaged 12.5 ppg and 5.0 rpg during his career at Holy Cross.

Who’s Out:  Jeremy Lamb, Andre Drummond, Alex Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith

Overview:

When it comes to sports, I had always been of the view that talent will prevail no matter the circumstances.  I stuck with UConn last year given the fact that their front and back court was better than almost every team they played on a game to game basis. 

I’m also an avid NFL fan, and didn’t think much of the Saints going to a second interim coach being a huge detriment.  I mean they were still going to roll out Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham and a plethora of other stars to run up the scoreboard on Sundays. 

But UConn ended up being very average last year as they suffered through a roller coaster season, barely snuck into the NCAA Tournament, and quickly exited after being handled with ease by Iowa St. 

The Saints are also enduring a disastrous season compared to the juggernaut they have been in recent years. 

With those two most recent examples, I am finding it difficult to be bullish on the Huskies for the 2012-13 season.

They lost their legendary coach to retirement, two starters to the lottery and two starters who transferred.  I acknowledge that they still have a talented back court with Napier, Boatright and Calhoun, but they have little to no talent in the front court. 

This is without mentioning the fact that they are not even eligible for postseason play of any sort.  A team in turmoil with nothing to play for?  I hope this team shows up on a nightly basis to play for pride, their school and their teammates, but the motivation factor worries me. 

At this point there is no way of knowing how good of a coach Kevin Ollie will be.  I hope he picks up right where Calhoun left off, and that the Huskies remain a powerhouse of the Big East.  But last year they were 3-5 with Calhoun away from the team and will be depending mightily on their guards to win games. 

It’s difficult to be overly optimistic about UConn when they are essentially starting from scratch with so many changes from last year.  I want to believe that talent and tradition will prevail, but that thinking has burned me recently.  

Twitter:  @shane_t_mac

Notre Dame, A Bunch of Over-Achievers?

Led by Jack Cooley, the Fighting Irish are 9-1 in their last 10 games

The Irish went from disaster to dominanting

By Shane McCarthy on February 26, 2012

Entering the 2011-2012 season, the Irish were a team without a lot of experience, very little depth, and when Tim Abromaitis was lost for the year six games in due to injury, a team that lacked a star quality player to lean on. 

When Notre Dame finished their non-conference portion of their season, they were 8-5, and they didn’t have one notable win in the eight they possessed.  They got blown out by Missouri and Gonzaga and also lost to Georgia, Maryland and Indiana.  Unfortunately, wins against Sam Houston State and Maine did not prove that this team was any good. 

The Irish started Big East Conference play with more of the same.  At 3-3, they managed to beat Pittsburgh and Louisville, but it was still widely expected that the Fighting Irish were bound to finish as a bottom dweller in the Big East and receive a NIT bid. 

Now in late February, it’s amazing to see how this team turned it around.  At 12-4 in conference and 20-9 overall, could they be the biggest surprise of the year or have they just been over-achieving?

After a difficult loss at Rutgers on January 16, Notre Dame went on to win nine straight conference games, the most in school history.  The streak started when they caught a then #1 Syracuse team flat and directionless as they were playing their first of three games without Fab Melo.  There is no telling if Notre Dame can pull off that win with Melo in the lineup, but that was not their problem as they took advantage of the situation. 

That victory over the Orange may have been the spark that ignited the run, but it was also the fact that the Irish became the anti-Connecticut team.  While UConn possesses boatloads of talent with no team chemistry, Notre Dame makes up for their lack of talent with great chemistry and smart play. 

Jack Cooley, a role player last year, kept his big body, but fine-tuned it from goofy to talented, and is now winning Big East Player of the Week awards.  Combine his skills with great guard play from Jerian Grant and Eric Atkins, two white guys that can shoot and play tough defense in Pat Connaughton and Alex Dragicevich, and you have a solid team that is well-rounded. 

Now the Big East has not played as tough this year as in years past, but it is still a deep conference with no sure-things.  The argument can be made however, that Notre Dame was able to take advantage of a soft patch in their schedule.  With or without Fab Melo, Syracuse is a high quality win given their depth and talent, but they were also able to catch imploding UConn and West Virginia teams.   Their decisive win against Marquette was impressive, but they were also able to get Seton Hall, Rutgers, DePaul and Villanova in that stretch.   Nothing spectacular, but in the end - wins are wins.  

So what changed?  In short, nothing that shows up in the box score changed much.  They increased their assists per game from 14.3 in their first 19 games to 15.4 in the last 10, but their turnovers went up from 9.9 to 10.2.  Their FG%, 3PT% and rebounds per game all have also remained fairly constant.  They did however stiffen up their defense and reduced their opponents FG% from 42% to 38%. 

Notre Dame does rely on the three point shot often and if they don’t shoot well, they don’t have enough inside presence to win games.   This was on display yesterday at St. Johns as the Red Storm did an admirable job of reducing Cooley’s touches and forced the Irish to take a lot of long shots.  The Irish didn’t shoot well, 4 of 31 from three, and ended up losing the game by three points.

Some may say that they were fortunate to even be in the game with St. Johns at the end, but I see that as a positive.  They shot the ball terribly, Cooley never got going, and they still had an open look at the buzzer to send it to overtime.  Most teams would have lost by 15+.

So, what did change then?  The Irish have turned their early season struggles into success by changing their attitude.  Lead by the reigning National Coach of the Year, Mike Brey, this team believes they should be having this type of success.   They are definitely not the most athletic or talented team, but as long as they keep working hard and do not become relaxed, there is no reason why this team can’t continue to enjoy success. 

So, have they over-achieved?  Maybe, but this team earned it through hard work and buying into each other.  The Fighting Irish went from a NIT bid at best six weeks ago to possibly a five or six seed in the NCAA Tournament.  My guess is they get one win before going out in the round of 32, but it is hard to bet against a team that believes they should be winning.    

@shane_t_mac

Quick Recap of Connecticut at Villanova

Shabazz's 3 gave UConn the victory

Shabazz Napier backs up his talk  

By Shane McCarthy on February 20, 2012

After calling out his team for lacking heart and giving up after UConn’s loss to Marquette over the weekend, it was only right for Shabazz Napier to back-up that talk the next time the Huskies took the floor.  And back-up that talk is exactly what Napier did by hitting the game winning shot, an on-the-run deep three pointer, with one second left in overtime.

Before the game started at Villanova on Monday night, Alex Oriakhi used holy water to bless his teammates to hopefully bring better fortune to their on-court performance.  It didn’t look like it had any effect as Villanova ran out to an 18 point lead halfway through the first half.  But then UConn started to play much better defensively, led by the on-ball pressure from Ryan Boatright, which translated into more confidence on offense.    The Huskies were able to storm all the way back to make it a tie game at halftime.

UConn was never able to go on a run in the second half to gain separation from Villanova, but Jeremy Lamb single handedly hit shot after shot to keep the momentum rolling.  His ability to move without the ball, use screens and make his own shots led to a career high 32 points and the only Huskie in double figures.  

There is no doubt that UConn has many talented players, but they have showed consistently over the course of the conference season that talent alone is not enough to win games.  When this group plays hard together as a team and displays the emotion and determination that they showed tonight, they will be tough for anyone to beat. 

Over the past few weeks it looked as if UConn was playing their way out of the NCAA Tournament, instead of in it.  Maybe this win, and the huge shot from Napier, was just the spark they needed to gain momentum and start rolling in the right direction.  Syracuse better be ready on Saturday.

Follow on Twitter @shane_t_mac

UConn Huskies - What's the Deal?

Their struggles in conference play leave questions


By Shane McCarthy on February 12, 2012

The 2010-2011 regular season conference play of the Connecticut Huskies was not exactly the start of a dream season for the team that eventually went on to win the national championship.  They were flawless in non-conference play, but went 9-9 in the Big East, forcing them to play on day one of the conference tournament.  We all know what happened next, they won five games in five days en route to a three seed in the NCAA Tournament, which they ran through on their way to a national title.

Entering the 2011-2012 season the UConn Huskies were returning four starters from the team that played in the title game (Jeremy Lamb, Alex Oriakhi, Roscoe Smith and Tyler Olander with Shabazz Napier getting significant playing time as well), and they brought in the number #2 overall recruit in the 2011 class and #1 rated center in Andre Drummond, and the #74 overall recruit in point guard Ryan Boatright.  Given the talent level, experience, and their legendary coach, Coach Calhoun, they earned a #4 preseason ranking and tagged with a legitimate chance to repeat as national champions.  They were just missing one piece from last year - their engine, their fight, and their leader - Kemba Walker.

It may not seem like this year's team has had someone step into the Kemba role, but when you watch this team you'll notice that Alex Oriakhi has stepped up.  It was a bit easier for Kemba to do it last year because the offense ran through him.  He was the facilitator, play-maker and scorer of the team, especially in each of tournaments.  And he became oh so clutch in crunch-time.  Oriakhi is a big-man who willingly does the dirty work down low and depends on his teammates to distribute him the ball.  Not quite as easy for him to take the ball up the court and drain a pull up three.

As this year's team has struggled it has become very easy to see the frustration in the body language of all the players but Oriakhi.  During timeouts the players tend to disperse into different directions, but you always see Oriakhi calling the team together.  And he's open to adjusting his role for the better of the team as he was willing to come off the bench for a few games.  During the Louisville game this past Tuesday when UConn was down more than 20 most of the second half, Oriakhi was the only player on the team that showed energy and fight.

This team is currently 5-7 in conference and 15-9 overall with six games remaining, four home and two away.  Their only bad loss on the season was to the University of Central Florida.  Some of their other losses including at Seton Hall, Rutgers and Tennessee don't really look that bad as all of those teams are respectable, especially on the road.  And most of their losses are low scoring affairs in which they lost by single digits (with the exception of the Louisville massacre) due to poor shooting (which has plagued them throughout the season).  Even the Syracuse loss wasn't a bad loss as it was a two point game with five minutes to go before Scoop Jardine made an announcement to the UConn bus driver to warm it up.

The way I see it, they should win their two remaining road games (Villanova and Providence) and split their remaining home games (DePaul, Marquette, Syracuse and Pittsburgh) to get to 9-9 in conference play, same as last year.  And if they beat Syracuse, which is very possible - they'll get into the dance with little debate.

This team hasn't even come close to playing to its potential as they haven't been able to get into a rhythm all season.  This team is bound to start shooting better, Jeremy Lamb is bound to start showing up as he is too talented to continue to get lost on the court, and Alex Oriakhi and Andre Drummond are bound to play like the dual big-men dominant force they are capable of being.  Even though they lost at Syracuse it was encouraging that they showed a lot of resolve after practically quitting at Louisville, and Drummond was finally finishing inside, dunking on people and getting position like he is capable of doing.  He rolled his ankle in the second half and wasn't the same explosive player when he came back in.  But the fact that he came back in leads me to believe that it isn't a long-term injury.

We can't forget that this is the same loaded team that we all had high expectations for entering this season.  They have taken some tough close losses, they've battled some off the court issues and they've lacked confidence far too often.  But that leads me to believe that they are due to get hot shooting the ball and get their confidence back.  And what better time than right now, late February turning to March, the same thing these guys went through last year.  Oriakhi is all about winning, and if he can get this team to start clicking - watch out.  I don't think there is a team in the country that would want to face the Huskies when they are hitting their stride.

Four weeks till Selection Sunday!

@shane_t_mac