They’re very deep at guard, Arkansas will have to play good defense against the 3. In fact, as of right now, their top 5 players are Guards. Gilbert was a 5 star athlete coming out of High School, and this team suffered a lot of injuries last yr. So don’t let last yr’s record fool you, this is not last yr’s UCONN.
i agree, UCONN is vastly improved from last year. i think we will come out fired up, especially if Macon can play after rolling ankle. however it might tell us more about this team if he doesnt play and CJ Jones, Darious Hall have to bow their necks and play extended minutes. if we win tomorrow i would call this trip successful with 2 neutral court wins over probable NCAA teams. have to find another consistent scorer to go with Barford and Macon, i know that Gafford can do it if he can just stay on floor. Larrier scares me most on UCONN as he is a big, skilled 3 or small 4 which are our thin spots, especially the 3 since we start 3 true guards. id also like to see us play a little more of that zone we played late last year that was so stifling at times. May killed us from perimeter with Thompson on him. Thompson is an above average post defender but struggles mightily against stretch 4-5’s. very pleased so far with what ive seen, up to the UNC game i thought we’d limited team fouls pretty good, but the FT difference in the UNC game ws glaring.
go hogs, beat UCONN
Agreed, but we also have an advantage down low with Gafford. I’m not sure they have a big that can control him. Gafford just has to keep himself under control.
All I know is they need to win tomorrow because if they don’t they could have trouble on the road at Houston at home with Minnesota and Oklahoma State. If they don’t win at least 3 of those 4 non-conference games they could find themselves in a struggle to get to 20 wins.
I say this because of how much better and deeper the SEC is this season and it will be difficult not to drop 5-6 games on the road in conference this year.
So, tomorrow’s game is way more important than many might understand it to be in the big picture.
Minnesota under little Pitino is kinda a dirty little team, they escalated that situation yesterday with Alabama in Brooklyn, we will need to keep our heads and ignore their trash talking, to have a chance at the upset there.
Arkansas just beat a top 10 RPI team by amazing score. BIG WIN!!!
Yes they did, WPS!! Arkansas had more energy tonight… Barford had an awesome game… The defense was fantastic in the first 7:00 mins… We need to get Daniel Gafford to be on the court all night though, every time he fouls out of a game, the NBA scouts see it, and he might as well take $1000.00 out of his own pocket… Gotta be on the court all night, play good defense, but under control defense, you’re not going to get 10 blocks in college every night like in high school… Arkansas and Mike had an excellent game plan to get into the paint tonight, and it worked beautifully…
Obviously got a tough road game against an old SWC rival next Saturday to prepare for, and we need a resume win on the road. Every time I see them I think of Fly Slamma Jamma, with Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwan. What a team that was, we played some unbelievable games against that team also… Kevin Sampson is a fantastic coach, he’s led them to back to back 20 win seasons…
That being said, a lot of those fouls they’re calling on Gafford are extremely sketchy to say the least, I would be frustrated also if I were him.
Good win,
Macon and Barford did what we need from them every game and several of the young guys got some great experience as well as valuable playing time.
Daniel, has to get it in his head what his value is to this team by staying out of foul trouble and sometimes you just have to let a guy score, especially when you’re up by 20 points.
Connecticut, is certainly not at the level of North Carolina because our guys were able to force the style of play today and with the Tar Heels they dictated the style of play.
Hopefully, by season end our young guys will have matured to the point where they can possibly hand with some of the Blue Bloods.
We also shot the ball much better today, but once again that has much to do with whom the opponent is, wether you get good open looks or not.
Now, they need to get prepared to go to Houston and take care of business.
Minnesota will be the next real good opponent they will face and this one is at BWA this year, hope we can get revenge for the beat down they laid on us at their place last year.
I know it’s still early in the season, but that game against UConn and Oklahoma has turned out to be big wins for us. Even the whooping we took from UNC helped some. Our RPI after UConn has jumped to #9!!! That’s huge heading into the rest of the season.
Now we have a week to rest up and learn from this tournament because our men have a stretch against good competition in Houston, Colorado State, and Minnesota.