{"id":23832,"date":"2010-10-29T15:52:46","date_gmt":"2010-10-29T19:52:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=23832"},"modified":"2010-11-03T08:32:10","modified_gmt":"2010-11-03T12:32:10","slug":"mens-basketball-looks-to-improve-on-last-seasons-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/10\/mens-basketball-looks-to-improve-on-last-seasons-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Men’s Basketball Looks to Improve on Last Season’s Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>All-Big<\/a>
All-Big East pre-season guard, junior Kemba Walker, will lead the team as co-captain. Photo provided by the Division of Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In talking about the 2010-2011 Huskies, Jim Calhoun describes his young team, which looks to improve on last season\u2019s 18-16 record and National Invitation Tournament post-season appearance, as \u201cinteresting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ll be a tough out,\u201d the Hall of Fame coach says. \u201cWe\u2019re an interesting team, with 10 question marks about everything we do. The major concern, surprisingly enough, is rebounding. We looked like an NBA team for a lot of years walking in the gym. We don\u2019t look like that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team is a work in progress, as Calhoun and his coaching staff work to blend six returning players, led by All-Big East pre-season guard junior Kemba Walker, and five freshmen, led by shooting guards Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to try and take advantage of what we have and are good at,\u201d Calhoun says. \u201cI think we could be a very good three-point shooting team. If we\u2019re not going to rebound as well, we\u2019re going to have to run better. We\u2019ve got to extend more full-court pressure on you, and I think we have the people to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Senior<\/a>
Senior guard Donnell Beverly, also a co-captain, aims to help the younger players. Photo provided by the Division of Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walker and senior guard Donnell Beverly say they are ready to take over the leadership of the relatively young team. Calhoun notes that last spring Walker called the incoming freshmen, urging them to arrive in Storrs early to begin their training and get acclimated to college academics. \u201cWhen he started calling kids in May on his own that made a difference,\u201d the coach says. \u201cWe hope it will make a difference in the win-loss column.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker says he\u2019s excited about the upcoming season. \u201cIt\u2019s fun being a leader, especially having my co-captain Donnell with me. I can\u2019t wait. We\u2019ve been through a Final Four [two years ago]. We kind of know what it\u2019s going to take to win. We want to get UConn back on the map, get back to our style of play; pressing, a lot of fast breaks, and having a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Beverly: \u201cLast year we didn\u2019t have a lot of depth. I\u2019m trying to emerge as a leader and help the younger guys. As long as we stay focused on the goal at hand, we\u2019ll be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calhoun says Beverly had been thinking about leaving Connecticut to play professionally, but he urged his player to stay. \u201cI think he\u2019s great for our program,\u201d the coach says. \u201cHe\u2019s been one of our better players. He\u2019<\/strong>s had big moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>Sophomore<\/a>
Sophomore center Alex Oriakhi was selected to the 2009 All-Big East Rookie Team. Photo provided by the Division of Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, sophomore center Alex Oriakhi, selected to the 2009 All-Big East Rookie Team, looks to improve his 6.6 rebounds and 5.0 points per game averages, and get some help on the boards from senior center Charles Okwandu.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to average a double-double,\u201d says Oriakhi. \u201cI feel I\u2019ve had a great pre-season and a great summer, and I want to accomplish that. In the Big East you can\u2019t take a night off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Charles [Okwandu] is ready to emerge,\u201d Oriakhi adds.\u201d He\u2019s going to be a big presence down there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calhoun hopes Okwandu can cut down on his propensity for committing fouls, allowing him to stay on the court longer, adding that the seven-foot center is among the most improved veterans on the roster.<\/p>\n

While freshmen guards Napier, Lamb, and Roscoe Smith are expected to add scoring punch for the Huskies, forwards Michael Bradley and Tyler Olander will add more size to the Huskies\u2019 front court.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeremy Lamb is in the mold of Ray [Allen] and Rip [Hamilton]. He could lead us in scoring,\u201d Calhoun says. \u201cIt depends what happens with Shabazz Napier. Roscoe Smith can get to the rim in one step. Michael Bradley may take a little bit of time. Tyler Olander has been the biggest surprise. He was coming in at 6 [in the morning], working on his shooting and rebounding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, Calhoun is looking forward to the challenge of leading his team to have a season better than the 10th-place finish projected by Big East coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as excited as a coach as I\u2019ve been in a long time,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are two reasons \u2013 I love the young kids we have. I love the leadership we have. I hate the inexperience we have, because I\u2019m not very patient. But I think my perspective on life is I\u2019m just as competitive and just as excited as I\u2019ve always been.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the 2010-2011 men’s basketball schedule, visit the Athletics website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co-captains Walker and Beverly hope to lead young team to success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-23832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 15:02:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23832"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24025,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23832\/revisions\/24025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23832"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=23832"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}