The 2009/10 team, the one with Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson, the one that finished the year 18-16, ousted in the NIT (I don't even remember which round), had left a very bad taste in all Uconn fans' mouths. It was a completely unenjoyable team to watch play basketball. Half the time, they looked like they didn't even want to be on the court. They weren't bad kids, and they certainly weren't bad players, but whatever it is that makes great athletes into great competitors was missing from that team, as a whole. Whenever there was a big moment in a game, a gut check, Uconn failed, usually miserably.
This year looked different. They had guts. They had a killer instinct. And, they had perhaps the best closer in the college game in Kemba Walker. It was all coming up roses.
That was January.
By the time the buzzer sounded on Uconn's 70-67 loss at Gampel to Notre Dame, their second three-point loss to that team of the season, all of those good feelings were gone, replaced by the same malaise that represented last year's lost season. It was the last in what had become a series of crushing defeats. It was a microcosim of an entire season, a rolllercoaster ride that raised spirits and expectations, then dashed them against the shores of reality.
We could break down different aspects of the game here. One could make the case that, on Kemba's final three with seconds left, that would have given Uconn the lead, he would have been better off driving to the hole. There are a lot more positives that can happen by going to the hole (short pull-up jumper, driving right to the hole for a layup, getting fouled, or getting a bucket and a foul) whereas, with the three, there are only two possible outcomes (considering how poorly the team rebounded, there was no chance of an offensive putback). We can also ponder why, at the end of the game, Donnel Beverly remained in the game while Jeremy Lamb sat on the sidelines. Lamb hadn't been brilliant, but evidently Jim Calhoun is the only person in America under the impression that Beverly can actually play basketball.
But, those are but small pieces to a larger pie. This game was more about a season than a few possessions of coaching decisions.
With 4:16 left in the second half against Louisville at Gampel on January 29, Uconn led 55-48. They had won six consecutive games to that point, including road victories against Texas and Marquette and home victories against Tennessee and Villanova. It was an impressive run that was seemingly on its way to continuing against the explosive Cardinals. Then, it all changed.
Through the rest of regulation, Uconn would score only four more points and lose a two point lead with only seconds remaining. It was the first time Uconn looked deep into the soul of a zone defense and was turned away. It was a comedy of inept offense and horrid defense and, two overtimes later, Uconn had lost.
At the time, it was simply a disappointing defeat at the hands of a really good team. Uconn, still young and prone to mistakes, wasn't going to run through the rugged Big East like a hot knife through butter. It was bound to happen.
Looking back, it was the beginning of the end.
Uconn would go on the lose to Syracuse, again at home, post a comeback win against an overmatched Seton Hall that somehow was able to compile a 14-point lead before falling apart, then got their doors blown off by St. Johns. There was a brief reprieve to the season when Uconn beat perrenial pain-in-the-asses Providence, then handled a surging Georgetown (before Chris Wright went down) to seemingly right the ship. It was the last real bright spot in the season.
Uconn finished up with crushing home defeats to Marquette and Notre Dame (both games they should have won) and away at West Virginia, with only a road victory against Cincinnati saving a four-game losing streak to end the year.
But, it wasn't just the losses. It was the way they lost.
Gone was the hustle, the hard work. Gone was the savvy. Gone was the killer instinct. Even the team's leader and best player, Kemba, was in a shooting funk, missing shots that had consistently gone in earlier in the year and playing frenetic, out-of-control basketball that had been his staple his first two seasons, but had seemingly been corrected this year.
No one, however, represented the collapse of Uconn more than Alex Oriakhi. In his last 11 games, the powerful forward, Uconn's only real inside presence, grabbed double-digit rebounds only once. In the last three games, Oriakhi posted games of three points, three rebounds, four points, nine rebounds, and five points, two rebounds.
It was worse than that.
Oriakhi was, at times, a detriment to the team. It wasn't just that he wasn't rebounding. He also wasn't defending. In his last seven games, Oriakhi posted one or fewer blocks in all of them, after having averaged more than three blocks for most of the season. His offensive game was as unreliable, as horrifically bumbling as it was at the beginning of the year, and sending him to the free throw line was the equivalent of a turnover.
Not only that, but Oriakhi's inability to be a factor on the court meant Charles Okwandu had to become more of a factor in games, rather than what he had been intended to be, which was a warm, big body to eat up fouls and rest Oriakhi when he needed a blow. Think back to that little gimme put back that Okwandu missed, a shot that would have tied the game against Notre Dame Saturday afternoon with 25 seconds remaining, and you can truly appreciate all the different ways Oriakhi hurt this team.
On January 29, every Uconn fan was in a state of euphoria. Now, on March 6, there is a sense of dread going into what should be the most exciting time in college basketball.
So, what did we learn?
First, I don't care about November expectations. It's all nice and fine that coaches picked Uconn to finished 10th in the conference, and they actually ended up ninth. Those predictions were made before anyone saw this team play. Anyone who offered an opinion on Uconn at that time was doing so blind.
Had you offered up a 21-9 record, 9-9 in a deep Big East, and a guaranteed trip to the Dance in November, most diehard fans would have signed up. But, it's not about the record. It's about the road taken to get to the record.
Uconn played its best basketball in December and January, then regressed. It has become a disturbing trend under Calhoun over the last several years. The magical 2008/09 run to the Final Four obscures the fact that, aside from that year, Uconn hasn't been a factor in March. They haven't won a Big East Tournament game since 2005. They failed to make the NCAA Tourney in two of those five years, and failed to make the post-season at all in 2006/07. It used to be that you didn't want to play a Calhoun team at the end of the year. Get them early, or don't get them at all. For six years, that hasn't been the case.
This year was no different. Not one played on the team improved as the season progressed. Most, actually, fell deep into whatever rabbit hole they got stuck in after January. Shabazz Napier never shook the boneheaded play that ended up costing Uconn more than his flashes of brilliance ever helped. Roscoe Smith, an energy guy, rebounding phenom, terrific defender, and decent outside shooter in the beginning of the year, became a non-factor in the end of the year. Jeremy Lamb continued to ride the rollercoaster, going up and coming down, from game to game, from half to half, and, at the end of the season, had somehow played himself out of crunch time minutes. Jamal Coombs-McDaniels had a brief spurt of competency, then was returned to irrelevancy by both his play and an inexplicable lack of confidence displayed in him by his coaching staff (instead of riding the lightning in the bottle, Calhoun and Blaney seemed to be doing everything they could to squash that lightning before it could naturally extinguish itself).
Niels Giffey and Tyler Olander, two players with what seem to be very good skill sets, got no playing time down the stretch.
This team to me will forever be the Benjamin Button group. Somehow, with little experience, they came out playing together, showing a familiarity one would only expect from a seasoned group. Then, as the season went on, the time you would expect growth, they, instead, looked more and more like a team with no sense of eachother. Had you reversed the year, with Uconn struggling in the first half and then coming together in the second half, it would have all made sense, and the 21-9 record would seem like a step in the right direction. The fact that it ended up being the opposite leaves a sour, confused taste in my mouth.
What's even more disappointing is that this 7-11 end to the season clouds any glimmers of hope for the future. This recruiting class wasn't as highly regarded as many in the country and, coming into the season, the focus was more on what Jim Calhoun had missed rather than what he had snagged. He lost out on players like Brandon Knight, CJ Leslie, Doron Lamb, and others, all top-rated players who were considering Uconn, then decided to call some other program home. Before that late-game breakdown against Louisville, it seemed like Calhoun had once again proven his Hall of Fame chops with his recruiting. Wasn't Shabazz Napier as good a prospect as Brandon Knight? Wasn't Jeremy Lamb a star in the making? Wasn't Roscoe Smith as exciting and athlete as their was in the country?
Maybe, though, Uconn's recruiting class is, as Dennis Green would say, exactly who everyone thought they were. Maybe there is a reason why Napier wasn't as widely recruited as others. The same for Lamb and Smith. Maybe this is simply an average recruiting class.
Or, maybe, it is an example of a growing concern for me.
The NBA is littered with former Uconn players, many of whom are significant contributors to their teams. Ray Allen is a Hall of Famer in waiting. Caron Butler, Emeka Okafor, and Rudy Gay are all top performers on good teams. Rip Hamilton, despite his recent problems, remains one of the more respected veterans in the game and Ben Gordon is instant NBA offense.
Jim Calhoun recruited and then coached up all of those players.
But, recent years have seen more talent wasted than realized. The team that went to the Final Four only produced AJ Price as a viable NBA player (something he will have to continue to prove as he returns from yet another injury). Hasheem Thabeet is dangerously close to joining Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic as Jeopardy answers to "Biggest NBA Busts" questions, and Jeff Adrien has only gotten a token look from the Golden State Warriors this year.
Last year's team, however, was far more of an indictment on Calhoun's ability to coach his players up. Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson both arrived as super-athletic but raw talents. Both showed NBA skills. And neither improved at all over the course of their four years with Uconn. Perhaps Dyson was always undersized to be a shooting guard in the NBA, but he was bigger and stronger than Ben Gordon, yet never refined his game beyond slashing to the basket and hurling his body at other players. Robinson is the bigger failure. He has al the tools. He has a decent jump shot. He is long and quick, yet strong for his size. And, he can literally jump out of the building. How Robinson never progressed to the point of NBA lottery pick, how he was allowed to remain at his mediocre level when greatness was attainable, is still a mystery.
It's impossible to know how this new group of players will ultimately turn out. Kemba will certainly play in the NBA, yet his size and still-inconsistent shot makes him a dicey pro prospect. The early returns on highly-touted Oriakhi and Coombs-McDaniels are not promising.
Maybe Calhoun still has his magic. Maybe he has one more run with a tough group of kids. Yet, after the last six years, there is certainly not guarantee that the "glory days" are still attainable,
Uconn still has time to redeem its season. March is known for its madness. The fan in me will somehow find a way to rekindle hope. I can already begin to make the case now. Depaul on Tuesday should be no problem. Uconn has already beaten Georgetown once this year and, without Chris Wright, the Hoyas are struggling just as much as the Huskies. Then, a matchup with Pittsburgh. Again, anything can happen.
When Selection Sunday comes around, I'm sure I'll find a way to convince myself that Uconn's bracket opens up for a trip to the Sweet Sixteen, with an outside chance at the Elite Eight. But, that will simply be the fan in me.
The reality is this team will probably have a short run in March, followed by a long spring and summer of questions. And, instead of excitement come October, I'll be filled with something more resembling dread. Will Oriakhi improve at all (heck, will he even return)? Can Napier truly lead the team as its point guard? Can Lamb become a top player? Can Roscoe make the leap from great athlete to great basketball player, the way Stanley Robinson was never able to do? Will guys like Olander and Giffey become contributodors, or will they remain in Calhoun's doghouse? And, of course, has the game begun to pass the old Hall of Fame coach by, or does Calhoun have another run at a championship in him?
Of course, maybe March gets a little crazy for the next two weeks? We can always believe, right?
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