The Husky Run typically serves to kick off the practice season for the men's basketball team. And there's a reason why coach Jim Calhoun chooses to start the season with a 5K. His teams like to run - a lot. And the 2009-2010 squad is no different.
What the Huskies lost in size down low from last year, with the departures of Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, has been made up for in speed.
Kemba Walker's blistering speed of play, while at times causing him to lose control, was certainly on display toward the end of last season when he was moved into a starting role after Jerome Dyson went down with an injury.
The full effect of Walker's speed was highlighted in the Elite Eight against Missouri. Walker blazed his way to 23 points in 25 minutes on 7-of-9 shooting in the win that sent the Huskies to the Final Four.
With Walker at point guard, the rest of the team needs to keep pace (according to Calhoun) or they won't be able to play with him.
"When he comes out on the court he's going to come up fast every time, that's just how he plays," Calhoun said. "And if you're not working as a teammate, you're going to stand out. He makes us play fast."
Staying with Walker this year shouldn't be a problem - it isn't just him who has speed. A healthy Jerome Dyson can easily keep up with Walker's brisk style of play, and newcomers Darius Smith and Jamaal Trice are equally quick. Specifically Smith, who Calhoun thinks is as fast as Walker, he just needs to show it.
"I think he's almost as quick as Kemba coming up the court, but he only shows it sparingly," Calhoun said. "Defensively, he stole the ball all pre-season and you didn't see that the other night."
The Huskies' speed was on display during their final exhibition game against UMass-Lowell last Sunday. The River Hawks tried to full-court press UConn, but to no avail. Against the press, the Huskies scored 32 fast break points in a display of the athleticism on this year's team. Breaking the press all starts with one player: Walker.
"I think it's going to be really tough to press us with Kemba Walker," Calhoun said.
The guards aren't the only ones who need to be ready to run. Freshman center Alex Oriakhi knows he's going to be playing a lot of fast-tempo minutes and he needs to be in shape.
"We're down to three big men, so I'm really trying to get myself in shape," Oriakhi said. "I know coach is expecting a lot of me and he's expecting me to play a lot of minutes."
Oriakhi plans to get in better shape by watching senior Gavin Edwards. Oriakhi knows Edwards, who has finished first on the team in the Husky Run the previous two years, is a good player to model oneself after in the running game.
"I've just been watching Gavin, watching how he runs the floor," Oriakhi said. "He's probably in the best shape on the team so I watch him and take after him a little."
Whether or not the excess of speed translates to the success it did last year remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain: this team will be fun to watch.
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