#1 reason uconn isnt a legit contender

[CorduroyG]

Shabazz Napier

I think 1 of the most overrated players, even on this board, dont get the love for this guy at all. Reminds me of scoop, hes either really good or really bad. THe biggest difference is we dont need scoop to be good every nite to win, but uconn definitely needs napier to be that 2nd guy after lamb, and that eventually will be their downfall cuz theres no way i see him consistently being that guy. Check out some of these beauties hes put up so far this year:

8 points on 3-9 shooting
4 points on 2-7 shooting
9 points on 3-7 shooting
9 points on 3-10 shooting
3 points on 1-3 shooting
4 points on 1-9 shooting
6 points on 2-12 shooting

plus hes good for 3 or 4 What turnovers a game. they were able to hide napier during last year's run, wont be able to this year.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

LOL his first name is Shabazz? I hope that's a nickname lick Scoop.

 

[zeekay]

Hmm so who would win in a game of 5 Scoop Jardines vs 5 Shabazz Napiers?

 

[bevosu]

Napier...always seemed to me that the love for him was a little overboard. Lamb on the other hand is the real deal.

 

[Cuseman78]

LOL his first name is Shabazz? I hope that's a nickname lick Scoop.

You're starting to scare me now -- you've seriously never heard of Shabazz Napier?

 

[DNABB5]

Hmm so who would win in a game of 5 Scoop Jardines vs 5 Shabazz Napiers?

a scoop oop to scoop would be intersting to watch

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Boatright is better than Nappier. It wouldn't surprise me to see him get more time at Nappier's expense as the season goes along and JC comes back.

 

[realorange]

You're starting to scare me now -- you've seriously never heard of Shabazz Napier?

After all his commentary about other teams, he admitted in a separate thread he doesn't watch anything but SU games.

 

[Marsh01]

After all his commentary about other teams, he admitted in a separate thread he doesn't watch anything but SU games.

Jesus I knew who Shabazz Napier was back in 1987.

 

[OrangeCrush22]

You're starting to scare me now -- you've seriously never heard of Shabazz Napier?

I've never heard his first name. I've heard of Napier.

 

[Marsh01]

I hope that's a nickname lick Scoop.

As much as I love Scoop I have to draw the line at just cheering for him...

 

[orangehomer]

napier is a good college player, i just think he is being asked to do too much. he should be a 25 mpg player not 35+ minutes.

so far i think they have 2 problems. first is that drummond and oriakhi are basically the same player and can't really be on the court at the same time, so olander has to play alot at the 4. second is that they have basically zero wing play, daniels is not physically ready for the big east and smith is pretty limited overall. basically they just aren't getting much from the 3 and 4 positions.

having said that i think they will look alot better with calhoun back.

 

[cusetown1]

#2 reason why Uconn isn't a legit contender, a perceived strength their front court isn't that good right now. Between Drummond and Oriakhi 16 ppg isn't good enough.

 

[RF2044]

I wonder if Drummond knows who Herb Pope is after last night's game?

 

[MikeSU02]

Shabazz Napier

I think 1 of the most overrated players, even on this board, dont get the love for this guy at all. Reminds me of scoop, hes either really good or really bad. THe biggest difference is we dont need scoop to be good every nite to win, but uconn definitely needs napier to be that 2nd guy after lamb, and that eventually will be their downfall cuz theres no way i see him consistently being that guy. Check out some of these beauties hes put up so far this year:

8 points on 3-9 shooting
4 points on 2-7 shooting
9 points on 3-7 shooting
9 points on 3-10 shooting
3 points on 1-3 shooting
4 points on 1-9 shooting
6 points on 2-12 shooting

plus hes good for 3 or 4 What turnovers a game. they were able to hide napier during last year's run, wont be able to this year.

After last year's run, I'm not counting out any team that has a superstar or two.

 

[SaintTristan]

They dont have Dion.

 

[cuseclappy]

he started the 2nd half last night with turnovers on 3 straight possessions, i was thinking about how after the 2nd, jimmy would have already had scoop out and this board would have wanted his head

 

[Oakland]

UConn wasn't a legit contender last season. They got hot when it counted. Them winning the NC was almost a miracle, bested only by Bulter getting to the title game (for a second straight time!), and followed closely by VCU being in the FF. If they played the same brackets over, I doubt any of those 3 would have made the FF again.

 

[jordoo]

To me the best thing to take away from last night is that Uconn is a team does not know who they are yet. They have players that don't know their role or how to fit in. Meanwhile SU has an identity with defined roles for 10 guys and is improving game to game. Since I see uconn being our number one competition in the BE this is great for us moving forward. Calhoun has a lot of work to do with this team.
Don't write them off yet though, they have some really good players. Lamb is special no doubt about it, great player and he has proven himself as a guy who comes up big in big moments. Napier isn't horrible but has not adjusted to being the PG well at all. Drummand and Oriaki are redundant at this point but both are pretty good front line guys. Giffi and Olander know their roles and play them well IMO. Daniels and Smith really seem to be an issue because neither has given them much at the 3 but Smith is a servicable player with some skills and Daniels has potential he's just lost as a frosh and not physically ready.

 

[DoctorBombay]

UConn wasn't a legit contender last season. They got hot when it counted. Them winning the NC was almost a miracle, bested only by Bulter getting to the title game (for a second straight time!), and followed closely by VCU being in the FF. If they played the same brackets over, I doubt any of those 3 would have made the FF again.

All due respect, I just don't understand this kind of revisionist logic.
So...they weren't a contender, until they won the whole thing? Really??
Isn't that a little like the politician who was "for it, before they were against it"?
And in '03, we weren't a contender until...what, Melo got hot??? :bat:

 

[Oakland]

All due respect, I just don't understand this kind of revisionist logic.
So...they weren't a contender, until they won the whole thing? Really??
Isn't that a little like the politician who was "for it, before they were against it"?
And in '03, we weren't a contender until...what, Melo got hot??? :bat:

Pay attention to the words. Every team is a contender. 'Legit' implies that they have a good chance of doing it. I doubt many thought of UConn as a legit contender until they won the BET. Nothing revisionist about it.

 

[Eric15]

Every team is a contender.

Not true - Rutgers isn't.

 

[longislandcuse]

UCONN was alot like the recent Jets teams. Not really that good, but got hott and had some really, really favorable things happen.

 

[Knicks411]

Pay attention to the words. Every team is a contender. 'Legit' implies that they have a good chance of doing it. I doubt many thought of UConn as a legit contender until they won the BET. Nothing revisionist about it.

It is interesting to look at their kenpom ranking trajectory last year. They finished the season 10th in the country, which I think is right on the fringe of what you would generally call a legit contender. They started 49th, and moved up to 24th after Maui. They moved up and down, but got back to 24th by MLK day. Moved into the mid teens, then back to 20, they finished the regular season at 26.

Winning the BE tourny got them to 16, and then winning it all got them to 10.

Worth nothing they are 33rd right now. We're now 5.8% to have an undefeated regular season. We're now 69% to win AT Uconn, which is the second lowest chance we have all year. (60% to win at Lville)

 

[UConn76]

Good conversation thread.

Agree completely that UConn is struggling to find an identity / roles for it's players. Increased playing time for Napier has been a double edged sword; our wings are stuggling within a guard oriented offense; we're shooting the 3 better than any other year I can remember, yet we struggle when teams throw the zone at us ; Oriakhi hasn't approached his NCAA tourney level of playing; and Drummond is obviously a work in process.

JB has done a masterful job I think of managing SU's depth and has a myriad of interchangeable parts that have dominated most opponents.