I'm not going to psychoanalyze Rak since I don't know him. However, I can tell you what I see in his fundamentals on the floor. He lacks consistency in executing basic fundamentals. He looks like a guy who has gotten by on natural athleticism to this point. Now, he faces guys with great athleticism every night, but he lacks the technical and tactical skills to overcome this.
His footwork on the blocks and in the pick and roll are not consistent. This leads to his body being out of position too often to make shots regularly. He doesn't seal the defender well by feeling where the defender wants to play him and then sliding the defender that way to gain an advantage.
Defensively, he can block shots, but he doesn't play position defense effectively at the moment. He is often late to rotate to set traps when players get the ball in the short corner, and he doesn't step up to cut off and pressure dribble penetration, especially when it comes from the top of the key (high ball screen between the two guards is really the worst, I think, though I would need to watch more game film to say for certain). UConn (like L'ville) has quick guards that exposed our lack of lateral quickness at the top of the zone. The center has to quickly step up and pressure the ball to make it difficult for the ball-handler to shoot, make the pass to the cutting player on the baseline, or to kick to an open shooter. Rak did not do this tonight, nor has he generally done it well this year.
That said, please understand that I'm not bashing the kid. In fact, quite the opposite--I think we sometimes forget that these are kids who need to learn how to play, just like college students need to learn how to write effectively. I really think that Rak could improve these fundamentals with hard work (repetitions) to become a good player. I hope he does.
