Completely agree with the need for some intense strength and conditioning. Part of that is because we relied so heavily on freshman this year that it was natural to look weaker than our league opponents. I think Paar will come along and I think he has good footwork, so there’s some definite upside. I am concerned about the back court though. JNJ is super athletic and I think will develop into a very good player. Outside of him, who else can handle the ball? Who can take someone off the dribble? In the face of pressure, like Dayton or VCU, our guards could barely get the offense set up and were completely unable to dribble drive - one of Armel’s strengths against weaker opponents but a huge barrier to GW entering the top half of the A10.

All that being said, I’m excited for next year and think we’ll be .500 in conference play. Not sure what I’m basing that on but that’s what my gut tells me.

When VCU threw their full court press at Us we had NO answer. Against this zone right now we have NO answer. Our offense really sputters against pressure

Woof. That was hard to watch. VCU had a different energy from start to finish. Armed has been so good all year, without a doubt our best player. Today he just didn’t have it against the press and half court trap. 

Announcers said that JC is planning on converting Jameer to point in the off-season. That’s all fine and good, but will we have another ball handler on the team? I guess Shawn Walker?

I really can’t believe how much better this team had gotten through out the season. They are showing they can compete with everybody in the league. I’m really looking forward to watching this team continue to develop and be a contender in the A10 next year.

I get this thread is dedicated to Hurley hating because he coached at a Rhode Island, but if you’ve paid attention to UConn they have had gut punch loss after gut punch loss this season.

Huskies haven’t been able to close games. Lost in double overtime to Xavier, lost by two possessions at Villanova, was beating Houston by 7 with under 3 minutes and lost, lost in double overtime to Wichita State, lost by one possession to Indiana, lost lost in overtime today to a good Tulsa team. They’re 1-7 vs top 100 teams with the only game they didn’t have a chance to win bring Cincinnati. They are ranked 248 on KenPom’s luck statistic to give some perspective. Hurley gives too much leash to Alterique Gilbert, whose career has just been decimated by injuries. Dude turned the ball over 4 times with under 2 minutes and went 1-5 from the free throw line trying to close out Houston.

Huskies are going to bring back three very good freshman and then have RJ Cole from Howard playing next year, not to mention the 4th ranked recruiting class in the Big East.

What am I am happy about is that they’re going to be playing traditional rivals like St Johns, Providence, Seton Hall and others every year instead of Houston and Memphis (who have strong basketball histories but I literally do not care about watching UConn play them).

UConn fans love Hurley and his players love him (he has had ZERO transfers). Things will be alright in Storrs sooner than later.

This is a fun Q so now I’ve gotten into a research rabbit hole. The 1975-76 Rutgers team misses eligibility by one season, joined A10 the next season. They made the Final Four, ended the season ranked 4th, and had 3 NBA players on their team. Too bad they were in the ECAC.

Who doesn’t like Paar? He’s a true freshman big man. He is going to be awesome. The kid is still growing for Christ’s sake. He can’t bang like a healthy Toro, but he’s also 18 and has time to hit the weights. He also doesn’t need to be on the block on offense, either.

Announcers are being very complimentary to JC right now.

I counted at least 7 dribble drives resulting is crazy  no-chance shots or turnovers by Armel and JNJ. I appreciate the effort to penetrate and make something happen, but also need to protect the ball.

That being said, effort is really strong tonight so far. Let’s play a whole 40 minutes now!

The thing with rebounding I haven’t really seen addressed on the board is the pulling the rebounders back to half court on our free throws. I’ve never seen that move anywhere. Why give us a 0 percent chance to get the board?

Has anyone seen an explanation for that?

Free throw shooting is within our control. The refs are not. I also don’t  really remember any stand out bad calls going our way, but do remember a few for bad foul calls on Hughes for Duquesne. Don’t blame the refs when you’re getting calls and shoot 45% from the line.