Monday, March 09, 2009

Would He, Haralson?


Couple of quick notes from practice today:

Jim Calhoun said Scottie Haralson might start instead of slumping Craig Austrie in UConn's opening Big East tourney game Thursday night. Nothing's set in stone yet, and it could very well be a ploy for Calhoun to light a spark under Austrie.

Haralson hadn't been told as much by Calhoun, and didn't even know it was a possibility until being told by reporters after practice.

"It makes me feel good, to know that he's starting to get more confidence in me," Haralson said. "I'm just looking forward to making a good adjustment, and hopefully it'll build my confidence more and I'll be more comfortable being in the starting lineup ... Hopefully, I'll start. If I don't -- oh well ... I'm just going to come off the bench and try to help my team win."

For what it's worth, Haralson practiced with the first team all day today. He was also the last player off the court, working on his 3-point shooting long after everyone else had left (and, by the way, draining most of those treys).

"I always pride myself in always being the first one in and last one off the court, because I love getting better, getting more shots up," Haralson said. "It translates to the game, so I try to get more shots in every day."

***Hasheem Thabeet almost didn't practice today due to a pulled groin, but Calhoun doesn't think it's too serious.

***Kemba Walker wasn't even at practice due to a strep throat. The earliest he'll return to practice is Wednesday.

"If he's ready to go (Thursday), we won't say it's a game-time decision," said Calhoun, shaking his head, in an obvious reference to Levance Fields' situation on Saturday. "We'll let you know what it is."

***Calhoun said that Charles Okwandu has shown vast improvement over the past several weeks, largely due to practing against Thabeet every day.

"Charles is a different player than he was first semester," said the coach. "He'd be playing some significant minutes right now."

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dave,

Do you have any ideas on how to stop Sam Yonug other than pulling a Nancy Keriggan on him before the Big East tourney?

6:13 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

haha crap for some reason my full name appeared, you mind getting rid of that for me?

6:14 PM 
Blogger Todd Parmelee said...

"Shoot First" Scottie Haralson starting? It sounds like a Calhoun ploy. Austrie seems more worried about his relationship with his gf or fiancee. I saw someone post that he is getting married in June 2010.

9:58 PM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And Charles Okwandu would be getting significant minutes . . . that is depressing to think about. UConn has no depth at all.

10:02 PM 
Blogger David Borges said...

I would venture to bet that Austrie will start on Thursday night. Does it really matters who starts, anyway? As the cliche goes, it's who finishes the game that's most important. Or something like that.

As for Okwandu, I've seen him do a couple of nice things in practice lately, though our time at practice is pretty limited. To say he'd be a big help to this team right now would seem to be an exaggeration, but he has shown improvement.

10:16 PM 
Blogger Todd Parmelee said...

If you think about it, Calhoun has never really had to rely on a such a short rotation. Before the year started he expected Miles, Majok and Okwandu to be around. Now what is he left with? Haralson, Beverly, Walker, Edwards and Mandeldove?
And it is obvious why he only relies on Walker and Edwards . . . they are the only two decent ones. Why does he not start Walker?

6:32 AM 

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