Before I get into Uconn, Seton Hall from last night, let me just lament for a second the fact that, here in the East Coast it is 12:41 in the afternoon and we are already in hour 3 of the Super Bowl pre-game on NFL Network and ESPN. This, after two weeks, TWO WEEKS, of breaking down one game. I know it will never change. I know the Super Bowl has become a monster that no longer can be constrained. But, it is stretching it each Sunday when the hour-long pre-game shows break down more than a dozen games. Spending this amount of time on one game? It actually hurts.
Anyway, that's my Super Bowl lament. Prediction: Steeler 27, Packers 21
On to Uconn.
Last night's game is a tough on to digest. The BIG negative is that it was an ugly game from every angle, from poorous defense to mindless offense to terrible free-throw shooting. Throw in the fact that Uconn got out rebounded by Seton Hall and was down by as many as 14 points in the second half, and this game was difficult to watch.
The BIG positive is that Uconn proved, again, an uncanny ability to come back. Last year's team, as I have said in the past, had a glass jaw. Hit them in the mouth and they usually folded. This team? Exact opposite.
They played their worst game of the year, statistically. They did nothing well, really. Yet, they simply willed their way to a win. They just wanted it more.
There are things that worry you if you're a Uconn fan. Kemba Walker's shooting is still sporadic, at best, and the shots that were falling early in the season are, many times, banging off the rim. Alex Oriakhi continues to play wildly inconsistent and an inside offensive game remains all but nonexistent. Shabazz, well, he remains the most entertaining and frustrating player on the team, capable to dagger threes and killer turnovers, all in the span of a few minutes. The maturation of Shabazz has not happened as quickly as one would like. And, finally, for some reason, the team goes away from Jeremy Lamb for long stretches in games, even though, right now, he is obviously the second-best scorer on the team.
However, here is all you need to know about the Big East: it is survive and advance. Beating Seton Hall isn't anything in which to get excited about. They only beat one ranked team all year (Syracuse) and are at the bottom of the league. However, if the Hall, Providence, St. Johns, and others have taught us is that any team can beat any other team on any given night. With perhaps the exception of Depaul, there is no gimme game. There isn't any place to take a breather. And, getting down by 14 points to virtually any team on the road can happen.
I have been expecting Uconn to hit a lull. This is a team of freshman. It is lead by a junior, but it is young and has never been through the battles. Every game on the schedule represents new territory. Every day the calendar turns over is another new beginning for the team. Losing to Louisville and Syracuse is no great shame, even though they were both home games and, at least in the Louisville game, had things in hand. But, yesterday would have been a bad loss. It would have been a "young team" loss, one of those that are facilitated by having a lot of freshman in important spots. Usually, with young teams, they get down and they are out. Winning comes with time. It becomes muscle memory, and muscle memory takes time.
maybe it's having Kemba on the team, a guy who went to the NCAA Tournament as a freshman, played one of the great games in the Elite Eight against Missouri, and went on to a final four. Maybe it is having that kind of leadership from a guy who knows what winning and losing looks like. But, this team plays tough. It plays veteran. It can erase a 14-point deficit without playing their best, in a hostile environment, against a team just itching to spoil someone elses fun. Last night's game was the kind of game the 2009/2010 team loses. It's the type of game young teams usually lose.
The one thing we take out of yesterday, through the turnovers and terrible rebounding, is that Uconn is tough. They aren't going away. They aren't quitting on a game. And, when you have talent, and you have a great coach, and you have a great player, that's the kind of personality that can mean the difference between greatness and disappointment.
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