Since UConn played its last game of the season, a tournament loss to Kansas, we’ve given you breakdowns of what went right and wrong. We assigned the team an offseason to-do list. We even brought in @NoEscalators for a podcast to talk about our feelings.
Today, we’re capping off our 2015-16 coverage with a final staff roundtable.
What surprised you the most?
Peter Bard: Rodney Purvis’ shooting, both from three and, after about the midpoint of the season, from the line. It’s very heartening to see improvement like this, as it reflects a dedication on the player’s part to improve the parts of his game that need work. Hopefully Purvis returns next year and we see a similar improvement in his ball-handling.
Meghan Bard: Team chemistry didn’t feel like a problem this season. Adding two grad transfers to the starting line up was going to be tricky, but Gibbs and Miller both seemed to take to the Husky mentality, and the team gelled fairly quickly. If nothing else, Gibbs’ emotional post-game moment after the loss to Kansas shows how close these guys got this season.
Russ Steinberg: Shonn Miller. We heard he was good, but to be honest, I did not expect the Cornell transfer to compete at such a high level in a much better league. He was probably the most consistent player on the team.
Tyler Wilkinson: There were a few negative surprises, but the most pleasant one for me was Rodney Purvis becoming a legit three-point shooter. He made two or more threes in 61% of UConn’s games.
Alex Cohen: The obvious answer is Purvis becoming a three-point shooter, so I’ll go with something else and say team FT shooting. Obviously, the team being lights out from the line doesn’t help much if they can’t get to the line in the first place, but still. It paid off big time for the conference tournament and against Colorado. I definitely didn’t expect it because I knew Purvis struggled from the line and he’d get there relatively often. Kudos to Purv for raising his free-throw shooting to 50 percent in November and December and going on to a 71 percent January, 73 percent February, and an INSANE 89 percent March.
What disappointed you the most
Tyler: The general lack of cohesion for most of the season. Considering how well the team got along, I’m surprised (still) that it took so long to translate into chemistry on the court.
Meghan: Overall offense. Given the above, it was very disappointing to see such an overall lack of offensive scheme or plans. No one seemed to know what their role was, and it made some games totally unwatchable. I would like to see more thought behind the half court offense.
Alex: The loss at SMU was terrible. It was really the only blowout we suffered and it was the only time this season I looked at the team and thought there was a lack of effort.
Peter: Overall offensive effectiveness. With so many talented scorers, this team should have never had cold shooting nights, and they had several. They lost a number of games they should have won because their offense shut down late in games when they needed to work out of the half-court set.
Russ: The #hottakes and hate about Rodney Purvis. Seriously he’s the greatest human being to ever exist.
MVP
Russ: Me. Also, JCDH. We’ll miss you, Dan!
Tyler: Daniel Hamilton
Alex: Purv. I think he’s the heartbeat of the program right now. I realize the statistical MVP is JCDH and it will annoy Peter for me to go with anyone but him, so…yeah obviously it’s Purv. But for legit reasons. Our mid season troubles were caused by 2 things. Brimah’s injury, and Ollie sitting Purv. Honestly, I might be more disappointed in the benching of Purv than the loss at SMU
Peter: Daniel Hamilton struggled with his shot midseason, but no one was more important to the team’s success this year. He even ranked as the #1 player in the AAC this season, by KenPom.
Meghan: Purv, who took an undeserved benching like a boss, and killed it down the stretch. His game improved so much from last season, that I want to send all of the good mojo his way so he has another productive off-season.
Best Moment
Peter: Jalen Adams’ 62-foot prayer against Cincinnati
Russ: Non-Cash division: When I walked into Gampel for the first time in six years. Thanks Alex! Overall best moment: Cash.
Meghan: Jalen Adams shot, obviously, but the Georgetown game at the XL was dope af. The atmosphere was electric, and it was like going back in time to when the Big East was still a thing and we played rivals in front of packed houses on national television all the time.
Alex: The Shot From Roxbury
Tyler: Obviously.
Worst Moment
Russ: The two seconds that happened before the best moment.
Meghan: Blowing the Cincy game at home hurt me on the inside in ways I have yet to get over.
Tyler: The final Houston loss at home. In the moment, everyone felt that it was a must-win game, and UConn blew it while neglecting to play defense. Houston shot 51.9 percent. In Gampel! Embarrassing.
Peter: Blowing the Temple game, I mean the Tulsa game, I mean the Cincy game, I mean the…
Alex: Ollie getting T-ed up at the worst possible time in the Maryland game. We had a chance to pull off an amazing comeback there, and that really sucked the air out of the building for us.
Team’s Best Quality
Russ: Defense! Tyler hates defense, but I love watching really good defensive teams, and there were times where UConn was elite. On-ball pressure! Blocked shots! Forcing UConn violations!
Tyler: Defense! Suck it Russ! I’m continuously impressed with the level of effort Kevin Ollie’s teams exert on the defensive end. Even with a down year from Amida Brimah (injury), the Huskies played phenomenal team defense.
Alex: Stifling defense. Man, we could frustrate anyone this year.
Meghan: Defense and free throw shooting. The team’s on-ball defense is outstanding, and they play with an incredible amount of energy and effort on defense. And hitting a stupid percentage at the charity stripe ain’t hurtin’ a damn thing.
Peter: Technically, the answer should probably be free throw shooting, but I’m going with team defense. When they were on, they were a terror on defense, which led to easy points on offense. As with the 2014 team, this team was very tough when they were hitting their shots. It set up their defense and hid their flaws on offense.
Team’s Worst Quality
Meghan: Offense, lord above the offense. Lack of a discernible half court offense and an inability to finish around the rim for much of the year was painful. And the fact that the offense disappeared entirely at the end of some games made the above best qualities a lot less effective.
Tyler: Offense! The team ran an inefficient brand of offense that was sluggish, sloppy and unfocused. The impossibly low amount of free throw attempts is a testament to this.
Peter: Offensive consistency, and how it affected the ability of the team to hold onto leads.
Alex: Looking rudderless in clock management plays. I really enjoyed watching Sterling Gibbs play this season, but I will not miss dribbledribbledribbledribble1secondontheshotclockairball.
Russ: Leadership. There was a ton of talent and a ton of guys who had the ability to take over games, we just didn’t see it happen as often as we should. This team got rattled (see the Temple and Tulsa games). It didn’t seem to have a go-to option when the team started to struggle, and mistakes compounded. Note that this ended during the AAC Tournament and I freaking loved the mid-March Huskies. If they had put it together earlier, they wouldn’t have been a 9 seed that had to play Kansas in the second round.
Grade Ollie’s Performance
Tyler: B+
Peter: B. This team had a lot of individual talent, but it took nearly the entire year (plus a lot of late development by Jalen Adams) before that seemed to be apparent on the floor. Ollie made some puzzling lineup decisions, particularly midseason, and while the team was playing very well come the end of the year, they still found themselves in a second-round matchup with an elite Kansas squad that they never really threatened, largely due to those mid-season struggles.
Meghan: B. KO got a lot out of these players (and is apparently killin’ it on the recruiting trail this year) but the fact that no one had any idea how to do offense knocks the GPA down.
Russ: I’ll give him a B, with clear signs of improvement throughout the season. Think back to the beginning of the season and that Maryland game where he gave a truly disappointing press conference and took no responsibility for his clear role in the loss. Now think about the AAC Tournament when UConn (gasp) seemed to have actual plays for what us basketball experts call a “half-court offense.” KO is still a young coach and still has a lot of work to do, but I was encouraged this year.
Alex: If you asked me before the conference tournament started, I probably would have given him a C- or a D+, but then he got something very right in the post season and salvaged a B from me. You can probably guess what that is.
Create the [Your Name Here] Index
Tyler: We love the Elmore Index despite it being horrendously stupid so we’re going to create our own. Here’s mine:
(Jersey Number / 2) + (FGM* 0.3) + ORB – ((TOV * GP) / 7)
Russ: RPI (Russ Performance Index): (TP + 4 x APG + 3 x SPG + 2 x FTM + RPG )^ATO / Height (inches)
Peter: ((PTS /FGA)*FG + 1.6*(TRB + A + BLK + STL – T – PF))/MP
Alex: the ABC Always Be Closing Index. It’s (points+reb+assists+steals+blocks)/turnovers in the last 5 minutes of games.
Meghan: First, you get Jonathan the dog. Then you get a bunch of balls with all the players’ numbers on them. Then you give all the balls to the dog. The number on whichever ball he likes best corresponds to the best player. The end.
Way too early prediction for next year
Meghan: With DHam, Gibbs and Miller needing to be replaced, it’s hard to say for sure. But they’ve got a ridiculous class coming in, so I’ll go out on a limb and say top 25, hopefully finally (finally!) getting that regular season conference trophy, and a good seed in the NCAA tournament are all very real possibilities for this squad next year.
Peter: If Purvis comes back, the team should definitely be better. There’s a huge influx of talent coming in, thanks to the #5-ranked recruiting class in the country. Hamilton, Miller, and Gibbs will need to be replaced, but this squad should have the personnel to do it. If everything works out, they should win the AAC regular season and tournament titles and get a top-4 seed in the NCAA tournament. If players disappoint, if the offense remains stagnant, and if they don’t manage to add another ball-handler, we’re going to be looking at another bubble season.
Alex: Assuming Purv and Brimah are back, it’s certainly a tournament team. If Ollie can somehow replace JCDH with what remains in the recruits, we could be looking at the 2nd weekend of the tournament. Given that I’m an eternal optimist, and that fucking Nic Moore is graduating, I’ll say we’ll win the AAC reg season and tournament and get to the sweet 16.
Tyler: With so much roster uncertainty, this is tricky. I think I’m near my pessimism floor with Hamilton departing, three open roster spots and some uncertainty over the future of Purvis. I’m going to say that they will be a tournament team that makes fans sweat at the end of the season, with a similar overall record to this year.
Russ: Losing Hamilton really hurt, but there’s still hope for a great season next year, buoyed by a top five recruiting class and the likely return of Rodney Purvis and Amida Brimah. Adams and Alterique Gilbert will combine for the most entertaining (and one of the best) backcourt combinations in the country, and for that alone, you’re going to love this team next year. The AAC will not be as strong next season as it was this year, so I’m going to say the Huskies win the league and put themselves in position to make a run in the tournament.
