@#19 Connecticut, Fri., Feb. 7, 8p, FOX

dk423 said:
Don't be worried about Johnson. He can block some shots, but Zuby has 15-20lbs on him. Johnson hasn't had more than five rebounds the entire season and only averages 3. He's mobile but doesn't have a nose for the ball at all.

Reed vs. Zuby will be a fun battle. His issue is that he gets in foul trouble very quickly. He's averaging 2.7 in less than 20 minutes per game. He's also a liability on defense.

I think this is our advantage again on Friday. McNeeley is the dude that gets them open three's and can create shots. I do think Ball is pretty dynamic, and emerging as someone who's more than just a shooter.
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Johnson is a big slasher, so we will need to put the body on him. He won't rebound a lot but will stalk for a few put back slams if we don't keep him in check.
 
rehobie said:
When Deivon and Kadary are in the game together Kadary seems to defer to Deivon and let him bring the ball up. I think the team runs better with Kadary as the lead guard. Deivon prospers better in a 94 foot game.

Zuby is such a key asset I worry when he sits. Can his sub contain UCONN centers?

No one works harder to get free than Solo Ball. He must run 5 miles around screens. Will be a challenge to contain him.

Feel good about the other matchups.
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I think Kadary in general likes to have stretches of the game where he defers to his teammates. He could spend the whole game slashing and running the offense but I think recently he has done an incredible job of picking his spots. I think it is how he prefers to play and also allows him to save energy for the moments we really need him to takeover.

I think the team in general understands that Kadary can't be Kadary if he is the only one on the court the defense is worried about. I've been more and more pleased with our offense and the looks we are getting. Last night was a better offensive showing than I think shows up in the box score, specifically because we didn't make them pay at the FT line, and Smith was shaking rust off which caused a few missed layups from him. But we kept getting to the line because we kept getting great looks around the basket
 
even with the lights out shooting from uconn against marquette, it was only a 6 point game with 2:30min to go.

uconn also had 25 turnovers that game!

now obvs friday will be different given the environment and we are coming in as the top dog. but i would not be surprised if we get the dub... we have to hit our FTs...
 
riverside8a said:
I don’t put too much emphasis on our short rest. These are young adults in phenomenal shape. Three days is plenty of time to recover. If this were back to back I’d be more concerned
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Rest? Nah, they don't want to rest, they're having so much fun that they wish tonight was game night.
As much as we're loving the way they're playing. They're loving it even more.

Seeing that they're on the back page of news papers, all the positive talk on here, all around NYC the talk is about them. They're loving the crap out of this.

Only gotta wait 2 more nights fellas, then kick the snot out of Danny boy and UConn.

Conquer, kill, destroy all comers.
 
rehobie said:
When Deivon and Kadary are in the game together Kadary seems to defer to Deivon and let him bring the ball up. I think the team runs better with Kadary as the lead guard. Deivon prospers better in a 94 foot game.

Zuby is such a key asset I worry when he sits. Can his sub contain UCONN centers?

No one works harder to get free than Solo Ball. He must run 5 miles around screens. Will be a challenge to contain him.

Feel good about the other matchups.
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For at least a portion of the time they played together, Smith brought the ball up but immediately passed to Richmond on the wing to initiate the half court offense. Conversely, several times Richmond threw the ball to Smith on the outlet to push, most notably leading to the lefty layup Smith scored to break the tie at 55, I don’t think the Johnnies relinquished the lead after that but could be wrong.
 
paultzman said:
UConn had 25 turnovers v Marquette Saturday, but won thx to Solo Ball hitting 8 threes. I believe they can’t come close to defending like us, but have better scorers. This is a tough one on the road, but never count our guys out.
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Deny Solo Ball the Ball and we win.
 
Our defense this year reminds me of Tonny Bennett's elite defensive teams over the years and have to admit, Coach K's best defensive teams at Duke.

[Coach K apparently taught his teams defense by relating a story about his 77 year old grandmother in Chicago, who was mugged but refused to hand over her pocketbook. He said to his team, defend like you're my grandmother refusing to give up her pocketbook.]

Fair to Uconn under Calhoun he had some really good defenses too.

But, the thing that separates us from what I just mentioned is we seem to bring it for 40 minutes and no substitional let downs.

Lots of teams can defend fiercely for 25-30 minutes a game, not many can do it for 40.

IF, big if, we defend at our elite level for 40, we beat Uconn, though I am worried they will be way more rested than us. McNeeley hopefully is rusty and re-integrating him will give them hiccups.
 
Only 3 days rest on the road against a very good team with us having a target on our back right after our most emotionally and physically charged win of the year. What does this mean? For most teams, it would be bad news. For our team, we have them where we want them.

All those tough wins we needed to gut out, especially Providence 1 and 2, took the pressure off the team last night. It was the most relaxed I felt watching them all season. I knew they, from the moment the schedule came out, had to be thinking about last night, more so after they started piling up Big East wins. With the win last night, the pressure is off. They just have to play their game. No worries or wondering if they could finally beat a top tier team.
 
I think the team will be ready to go regardless of only having a few days rest. They’re in incredible physical shape and don’t see them being fatigued.

I’m sure the team will be pumped to play UCONN where UCONN is probably not looking forward to playing against the Johnnies relentless D and rebounding!
 
logen said:
For at least a portion of the time they played together, Smith brought the ball up but immediately passed to Richmond on the wing to initiate the half court offense. Conversely, several times Richmond threw the ball to Smith on the outlet to push, most notably leading to the lefty layup Smith scored to break the tie at 55, I don’t think the Johnnies relinquished the lead after that but could be wrong.
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And what a rebound by Kadary it was

 
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