Positives

[mauconnfan]

Let’s try this. I mean the reality is besides losing a close one again, they performed much better than most of us expected after the Covid issues.

Anyway the one thing that jumps out was Adama holy crap. He’s been that underachieving rebounder mostly this year but he was a man among boys going after the ball. Excellent job there and add a few decent passes, just the thought of not having to shoot it more than earlier games, he was exciting to watch.

Minus Richmonds whacky 17 our defense was actually pretty good overall. I mean Rhoden made shots in the first half with people draped all over him, and Aiken is very close to unguardable with his quickness. They made shots period congrats to them they’re tough.

RJ was solid, AJ and Rese solid although not their best. Both made 3s though that were needed. Polley seemed to find a piece of his touch back that’s important.

So while they played well, they can play even better. Whaley can be better although he wasn’t bad.

Need guys like Gaff, Hawkins to bring something to the table to prove the worth of our depth.

Johnnies is very important game!!!!

 

[Conquistador]

I def appreciate your comments, but come on… Martin really hurt us! I love the kid, but he was very very bad.

 

[mauconnfan]

I def appreciate your comments, but come on… Martin really hurt us! I love the kid, but he was very very bad.

13 points on 5-11 shooting but only 3 boards is unusual. His 5 TOs weren’t good but if he was very very bad so was Andre with 4 bad TOs. Their defense both were ok so neither had an good game but let’s not single anyone out. I mean stats mean very little at times as Gaff only had 1 TO but was worst than either. Not being able to rest Cole and keep sanity is becoming a our biggest issue.

 

[TerryBoyz]

Will take 11-12 free throw shooting any day. Nice job there.

 

[Umami Zen]

Always appreciate an attempt at a positive spin.. How about holding a 7'2" C to O rebounds in 33 minutes of play?Or outrebounding the opponent by a substantial margin?

IW was clearly not 100% and was on a minutes restriction. Can only improve going forward.

 

[husky429]

Call me crazy, perhaps... but I think that our problems are on defense more than we care to admit. Hurley talks a big game on defense, but he's inflexible. "Play hard and high hedge" is about all we've got other than throwing different matchups at someone and a soft press.

The positive for me actually WAS the offense until those last few minutes. We hit our shots and are recruiting a bunch of shooters. We hit our FTs. The movement looks better. Our substitution patterns seemed just fine.

I think our offense has actually looked better than our defense this year. Our pace is sub-200, so our coach is either all talk/no action, or the players just can't execute quickly. But honestly, if we want to be a slow grind it out team, that can work too. Seems like Kenpom/Torvik and co. would generally back that up.

Torvik: 36 offense, 46 defense
Kenpom: 27 offense; 30 defense

 

[JustbrewitMan]

How about: Almost the whole team got COVID and they all seemed to show very little obvious signs that it took a major toll on their baseline physical abilities?

I have a daughter who plays D2 softball. A bunch of her teammates have gotten COVID over the course of the pandemic. In talking with her, many of them took well over a month to get back to their baseline levels of strength and conditioning.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

How about: Akok continues to be able to find 2-3 times each game where he gets a clean look at a 3pt shot in one of his favorite high % areas. The fact that he's shooting almost 55% on 20+ shots and needs to be accounted for when he's outside the arc is huge for our overall offense.

 

[ucp990411]

I am concerned that we went 14 - 23 on threes, out rebounded then 40 - 25 and still lost. Our defense was awful.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Akok, Jackson, Martin, & Whaley are shooting a collective 39/88 (44.3%) and we're 14 games into the season.

 

[husky429]

I am concerned that we went 14 - 23 on threes, out rebounded then 40 - 25 and still lost. Our defense was awful.

Conditioning. They just went through a covid spell. It's a lot easier to feel energized on offense.

 

[gwhuskyfan]

7 different guys hit 3s for us in the game. Don't think we've seen that all over the past few years

 

[Get a Job]

Akok, Jackson, Martin, & Whaley are shooting a collective 39/88 (44.3%) and we're 14 games into the season.

I know this is supposed to be a thread about positivity, but of our players with at least 18 attempts from 3, Polley has the lowest percentage, and Cole has the second worst. Yikes! In other words, our good three-point shooters are bad.

On the bright side, our bad three-point shooters are really good!

 

[fatlucy]

I like this thread so much more than the others!

I have another positive. I was in a bar at Sugarbush in VT watching the game and everyone around me was pro-UCONN. When I told them I was an alum they all congratulated us on rebuilding our program and they are happy we’re playing well again.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Good thread.

We're a very good team already, not great, but good. And we will get better. For instance, I think it's much less likely you'll see a one man wrecking crew completely own all of our best defenders like Richmond did. To some extent, it happened because it was so off the wall... I don't even think Seton Hall's players were quite believing what they were seeing.

 

[ucp990411]

Conditioning. They just went through a covid spell. It's a lot easier to feel energized on offense.

Not what DH said before the game.

 

[Hankster]

Let’s try this. I mean the reality is besides losing a close one again, they performed much better than most of us expected after the Covid issues.

Anyway the one thing that jumps out was Adama holy crap. He’s been that underachieving rebounder mostly this year but he was a man among boys going after the ball. Excellent job there and add a few decent passes, just the thought of not having to shoot it more than earlier games, he was exciting to watch.

Minus Richmonds whacky 17 our defense was actually pretty good overall. I mean Rhoden made shots in the first half with people draped all over him, and Aiken is very close to unguardable with his quickness. They made shots period congrats to them they’re tough.

RJ was solid, AJ and Rese solid although not their best. Both made 3s though that were needed. Polley seemed to find a piece of his touch back that’s important.

So while they played well, they can play even better. Whaley can be better although he wasn’t bad.

Need guys like Gaff, Hawkins to bring something to the table to prove the worth of our depth.

Johnnies is very important game!!!!

I agree Mau. What scares me is we played well imo. AND lost. Now moving on, how well will we play. Better than that game? That was hard fought. Richmond owned the paint. He drove with ease. No challenging. Of course I thought the ref's sent him and others to the foul line. Not blaming refs it is what it seemed to me. I am surprised with Gaff. I am a big fan of him when he came in with Bouk. I miss Sonogo owning the paint. I could go on and on. I am not going to relax on this team. Almost buried in the Big East standings.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Call me crazy, perhaps... but I think that our problems are on defense more than we care to admit. Hurley talks a big game on defense, but he's inflexible. "Play hard and high hedge" is about all we've got other than throwing different matchups at someone and a soft press.

The positive for me actually WAS the offense until those last few minutes. We hit our shots and are recruiting a bunch of shooters. We hit our FTs. The movement looks better. Our substitution patterns seemed just fine.

I think our offense has actually looked better than our defense this year. Our pace is sub-200, so our coach is either all talk/no action, or the players just can't execute quickly. But honestly, if we want to be a slow grind it out team, that can work too. Seems like Kenpom/Torvik and co. would generally back that up.

Torvik: 36 offense, 46 defense
Kenpom: 27 offense; 30 defense

You aren't crazy. I'm bullish on the offense. The ball movement has been so much better, and except for a few stretches (like late vs Seton Hall) player movement off the ball is better as well. We struggle when we park guys on the 3 point line expecting the paint will open up. It doesn't, because most teams soft-zone the rim with bigs. Then they get stagnant and have to drive into traffic for tough shots or have shot clock issues.

Defensive struggle is the mirror of our offensive struggles. Other teams park guys outside and we do open up the paint. Hurley hates giving up 3s, and his defense sacrifices too much dribble penetration into the paint as a result. Calhoun had guards play tight as well, but he didn't move his 5 far out of the paint. It's the one adjustment I think we need, and he just won't do it. Navery will dislike this post as usual.

 

[Umami Zen]

You aren't crazy. I'm bullish on the offense. The ball movement has been so much better, and except for a few stretches (like late vs Seton Hall) player movement off the ball is better as well. We struggle when we park guys on the 3 point line expecting the paint will open up. It doesn't, because most teams soft-zone the rim with bigs. Then they get stagnant and have to drive into traffic for tough shots or have shot clock issues.

Defensive struggle is the mirror of our offensive struggles. Other teams park guys outside and we do open up the paint. Hurley hates giving up 3s, and his defense sacrifices too much dribble penetration into the paint as a result. Calhoun had guards play tight as well, but he didn't move his 5 far out of the paint. It's the one adjustment I think we need, and he just won't do it. Navery will dislike this post as usual.

#2 offense in pts/game in BE.. St John's being #1.. DH commented on the Richmond scenario by saying SH had their three best 3 pt shooters on the perimeter while Richmond was doing his thing.. Had to choose between the two. Kind of like Gillespie did to us last year.

What frustrates me about our D is that there seems to be lapses in our defensive BB IQ ..Limited help D.. Casual about 50/50 balls.. Using the sidelines as a defender.. Forcing offensive players to play/dribble more with their weak hand.. With the exception of Adama and maybe IW..Seems like our lack of team strength (primarily lower body strength) is allowing the offense to get to their spots.. (ie. Richmond)

Let the BE wars begin.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Will take 11-12 free throw shooting any day. Nice job there.

Unfortunately Hall's 20 for 24 was much better!!

 

[Hi-Low]

I am concerned that we went 14 - 23 on threes, out rebounded then 40 - 25 and still lost. Our defense was awful.

19 turnovers....I think Hall scored 26 pts off turnovers. Can live with 10-11 turnovers a game but once you get over 14 it's tough to win.

A normal turnover game and I think UConn probably had a 5 or 6 point lead at the end of regulation and Hall would have had to foul.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I know this is supposed to be a thread about positivity, but of our players with at least 18 attempts from 3, Polley has the lowest percentage, and Cole has the second worst. Yikes! In other words, our good three-point shooters are bad.

On the bright side, our bad three-point shooters are really good!

There's a lot that goes into this.

The guys shooting high percentages are generally only doing it when wide open in the flow of the offense.

Polley shoots a lot of forced/contested 3's because that's what the offense sets up. Cole has a good number of late-shot-clock 3's.

 

[Get a Job]

There's a lot that goes into this.

The guys shooting high percentages are generally only doing it when wide open in the flow of the offense.

Polley shoots a lot of forced/contested 3's because that's what the offense sets up. Cole has a good number of late-shot-clock 3's.

I agree that the truth is all about the nuance, especially for Cole. I just found the numbers to be interesting.

Polley's numbers, however, are troubling even considering all the nuance.

 

[AntG168]

I love the reasonable boneyard. This thread is a thumbs up from me. Good not great yet. With so much room for obtainable improvement

 

[SoCalCanine]

I love the reasonable boneyard.

Is this an oxymoron? Like jumbo shrimp?