Last season we had lots of shooters, this season not so much

[DogMania]

There's an alarming trend to this teams half-court offense. Lack of shot-making and play-making. Boat has become a do it all combo-guard, but he can't do it alone. Hamilton is a shot & play maker but he's just a freshman and struggles at times to finish off his plays.

Last season, if it wasn't Bazz making big time plays, it was Boatright, Daniels, Giffey and even Kromah. Wow! Even I forgot how many offensive weapons we had last season. I think many of us thought Purvis would fill RB's shoes as RB filled Bazz's. Now I'm hoping that between Purvis, SCJr and TSam, they could collectively provide some offense, but tonight was dreadful with only 8 points out of Purvis and 0 from the others.

I was surprised we saw so very little of SCJr. As someone pointed out, I too wondered why they didn't park SCJr in the corner to catch and shoot some 3s, which he's shown he can knock down. Maybe they felt he simply couldn't defend Dook's perimeter players, IDK.

Another thing I've noticed is that they are very mechanical with their half-court sets. Now this is not that unusual for a team that pretty much has players in new roles at just about every position. Hopefully they'll run their sets with more precision come Feb and March.

I'm sure this team will get better offensively as the season goes on. They're clearly playing very good D, which has kept them in most of the games this season.

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

Need 1 player who can shoot the three over 40%.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I was surprised we saw so very little of SCJr. As someone pointed out, I too wondered why they didn't park SCJr in the corner to catch and shoot some 3s, which he's shown he can knock down. Maybe they felt he simply couldn't defend Dook's perimeter players, IDK.

After SCJR's horrifically horrific off balance, forced, horrific, terrible, garbage, horse$hit shot outside the flow of the offense there was no chance you were seeing him again tonight. That screamed Junior College, no discipline, not listening to coaches bullhit. Hard to imagine you thought we would be running an offensive set for him again tonight.

 

[zls44]

After SCJR's horrifically horrific off balance, forced, horrific, terrible, garbage, horse$hit shot outside the flow of the offense there was no chance you were seeing him again tonight. That screamed Junior College, no discipline, not listening to coaches bull$ . Hard to imagine you thought we would be running an offensive set for him again tonight.

Ok, CAHUSKY isn't a SC fan. Noted.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Ok, CAHUSKY isn't a SC fan. Noted.

In fairness, that was a pretty horrendous shot.

 

[zls44]

Compounding the problem is that they don't get many open corner looks and they almost never take them. They spent the first ten minutes of the game taking fourteen footers from bad angles, which are bad shots.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

It's just a killer when they run a nice little action get someone a wide-freaking-open look from three and you can almost see the thought process: "Sh_t, I should shoot, but I'll miss, maybe I'll shoot, no I'll pump fake and drive into traffic . . . "

Miss or not, I want to see Hamilton or Purvis step into a three with confidence.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Ok, CAHUSKY isn't a SC fan. Noted.

Not true. Just not a fan of absolutely horrendous shot selection. Based on Cassell being nailed to the bench after that shot, neither is KO.

 

[housekeys]

It's just a killer when they run a nice little action get someone a wide-freaking-open look from three and you can almost see the thought process: "Sh_t, I should shoot, but I'll miss, maybe I'll shoot, no I'll pump fake and drive into traffic . . . "

Miss or not, I want to see Hamilton or Purvis step into a three with confidence.

We may have the shooters but it is the confidence that is just not there. At least I hope we have "some" shooters. If it is an issue of confidence, then we must go out of our way and get some set plays for these guys to take some shots [and live with the results].

 

[WeAreUCONN]

i saw about 10 passes to wide open shooters.
the shooters then pump faked and drove in closer only to pass or turn the ball over or take a terrible shot.
seems no one on this team has any confidence except for boatright.
they'll keep losing until that changes.

 

[CAHUSKY]

i saw about 10 passes to wide open shooters.
the shooters then pump faked and drove in closer only to pass or turn the ball over or take a terrible shot.
seems no one on this team has any confidence except for boatright.
they'll keep losing until that changes.

Pump fakes and driving to the hoop provided the majority of our offense tonight. When we shot 3's we missed. Are you advocating taking more low percentage shots that were ill equipped to make?

 

[Bradleypalmer]

Our defense can keep certainly keep us in games with better teams, but our lack of consistent outside shooters will also keep us in games we should win handily. We also missed numerous finishes in the lane, but that may have also been a product of Duke's defense.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I think that there is a pretty good sized confidence problem that makes some difference. Purvis does seem to be really pressing. Playing some cupcakes may be what the doctor ordered to get all of our guys going. It looked to me that Ollie was having Boat really trying to get the ball to Rodney and get him going (when I would have rather have him do so with dham). This is a little like Rip's freshman year where there was no quick way to overcome the "freshman-ness" of that group. Probably the same this year. Duke is a very good team and a tough situation for one of our new guys to find himself, but I had hopes that Daniel would have been more of a factor.

 

[Milo65]

It's this simple:

• Our interior guys bring no offense, NONE! We were able to get away with it last year because, Daniels, Giffey, Bazz, and Boat can all shoot
• This team only has Boat who can shoot from the outside, teams can sit back in a zone or double down on Boat. We need shooters or a serviceable scorer inside.

Other notes.... I thought we played very good defense last night. The Husky fans dominated the IZOD Center, which is a terrible venue to watch a game. Our bench scored 2 points and our centers scores ZERO. We need more production from others. Would love to get Calhoun going (0-3), but I've been waiting two years for this to happen.

 

[David 76]

Kromah would be a big improvement on this team.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm with Crack on this one. DHam and Rodney need to take those open 3's make them or not. How many pump fakes and drives bring positive plays or shots which are converted?

Shoot the damn ball!

 

[nelsonmuntz]

A team can not have no interior offense and no three point shooting, and expect to beat anyone good. Throw in the fact that we got killed on the boards, and I am surprised it was as close as it was.

 

[CallMeBruce]

It's just a killer when they run a nice little action get someone a wide-freaking-open look from three and you can almost see the thought process: "Sh_t, I should shoot, but I'll miss, maybe I'll shoot, no I'll pump fake and drive into traffic . . . "

Miss or not, I want to see Hamilton or Purvis step into a three with confidence.

The two most irritating plays last night were Hamilton passing up an open three to drive into three guys and lose the ball, and then Purvis passing up an open three to drive, then pull up to shoot a midrange jumper, and then freak out and throw the ball desperately to his left, right to Cook (I think) for a fast break the other way. I am blown away by how terrified everyone but Boatright is to shoot. You have to figure they'll make SOME of their jumpers.