SMU's Larry Brown Impressed With UConn's Progression
"We're proud of ourselves," Brown said Friday on a conference call. "But in order for us to really be good, we have to prove that on the road against a quality team. The attention we're getting, there's a lot of responsibility now because of that. I don't know if we understand that. All of this is a growing process."
"We've played well at home," Brown said. "It's a huge challenge for us going on the road. We're a young team, we haven't had a lot of experience playing in big games. It's going to be a big challenge for us playing at Gampel Pavilion. I want our kids to be in an environment like that, you walk in and look at banners, the body of work at that program."
"[UConn's] point guard is playing as well as anybody in the country," Brown said. "I can't imagine anybody on any team that has such a positive effect on his team as Napier has on Connecticut."
UConn's frontcourt was no factor at SMU, but Amida Brimah and Phil Nolan have improved, and guards Napier and Ryan Boatright are getting the ball inside to them and to DeAndre Daniels. Brimah scored 10 points Thursday, and Ollie pointedly said he hoped that SMU would take note of it.
Brown said there is little he could take from the first game that would help.
"Their big guys have gotten so much better," Brown said. "The job they've done developing depth in the frontcourt is incredible to me. They're a much deeper team than when we played them. But when you have great guards you have a chance to be a great team, and they have great guards. When you have the best player in the country, you have a chance to do great things, and they have a kid I think is as good as anybody in the country."
http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/hc-uconn-men-0222-20140221,0,1020797.story
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:41 pm