Monday, February 11, 2008

Hoops - Jackets Lose at UConn

A little late but better than never. The Jackets did lose to UConn on Saturday. If games were 34 minutes long, we would be celebrating. But alas, they are not, and we are not celebrating. The Huskies trailed much of the game, but took over late without any sort of real last charge by the Jackets. UConn's 8 foot tall giant was a monster everywhere (Hasheem Thabeet). No doubt he's progressed in his time with Calhoun. He altered countless shots and block about 7 others.

Bottom-line with this game for me was reinforcement of how much we miss a guy like Luke Schenscher. Having a long-armed 7-footer underneath who knows how to help defend, takes up lots of space in the paint and alters shots counts for a lot more than statistics will ever show. We all kind of hope that Brad Sheehan can eventually provide that type of role, but he has become a non-factor as a redshirt freshman this season. Just not strong enough........ yet. Maybe in a year or two he'll be that guy. Of course we all shouldn't forget that Luke went through a very similar process. It just takes time for big guys.