Pure Passion

After watching the #1 ranked UConn Huskies fall to the #4 Pitt Panthers on Monday I was left with a couple relatively simple revelations.

1. The Big East is a BEAST. A monster, a behemoth, a snarling, raging, savage of a basketball conference. Georgetown, Notre Dame and West Virginia are all good teams. All are .500 or below in this conference and hanging on to very slim chance at the Tournament. For my money I say it's the best in the nation. (This coming from a Big Ten man, mind you.)

2. Now and forever heart, passion, and determination will always trump size, strength and agility. Always. The dismantling of Hasheem Thabeet by Pittsburghs frontcourt, Dejuan Blair in particular, should serve as an example to every child athlete, male or female. Pitt took it to UConn in a physical manner and then they took the game from them. It should show those young people that wanting it, I mean really wanting it, means more that wingspan, vertical leap, or height.

Don't get me wrong this isn't a Thabeet bashing session. The kid is a phenomenal talent. His shot blocking and rebounding skills are NBA caliber right now. At this moment his skill set could impove the front court of at least 5 NBA teams in either conference.

That being said he's been exposed. Every other potential tournament team with a legit post man saw Blair's performance and is salivating. Please believe Tyler Hansborough, Blake Griffin, Patrick Patterson and Wayne Chism want thier opportunity to do the exact same thing that Blair did.

What then does this mean for UConn? For Thabeet? For the Huskies title hopes?

For UConn it means that the team has to rally around thier star and encourage him. Respect is not given it's earned. Where were they during the in game pounding? They were there but they did not make thier presence known. I'm not insinuating retaliation. I'm suggesting fighting fire with fire. Desire with even more desire. I'm asking them to defend thier home court. I'm asking them to throw proverbial counterpunches instead of absorbing shot after shot. Because of what happened Monday night teams want a shot at UConn, not just Thabeet.

For Thabeet this serves as the biggest reason why I think he should stay another year. When I watch him play I don't see the aggression, the drive to really dominate night in and night out. I'm not talking about bad shooting nights or poor match ups. I'm talking about consistently imposing his will on the opposition. If this doesn't push the young man then I'm really not sure anything will.

UConn's title hope rest squarely on the lithe shoulders of thier 7'3" center. I think the backcourt, even without Jerome Dyson, and thier bench are talented enough to compete with any opposing guards/wings in the nation. I think Coach Calhoun can still coach 'em up. The question in most need of an answer is about the man in the middle.


For a 6 game stretch in March can Hasheem Thabeet be dominant. I mean Patrick Ewing, Danny Manning, Glen Rice dominant. I mean this team won't lose because I won't let them. Does he have it in him? Does he really want it like that? I can't wait to see.