Donny Marshall's halftime comments

[dogpause]

If this has been discussed already, I apologize. Donny surprised me with his comments contending that UConn was (I'm paraphrasing) cocky and disrespectful to Creighton and claiming we were too casual (or the French equivalent).

I didn't see what he saw, I just thought we should have been playing at a faster tempo, which seems to give us more energy, confidence and creativity. That, and of course JB's return, was what I thought helped us play better late in the season. Was wondering what others think?

 

[formerlurker]

Donny Marshall

on us at half?

www.the-boneyard.com

 

[Jbirdp5]

Bouk surely didn’t have that kill or be killed mentality. Donny knows what it takes and he was right.

 

[Tampahusky]

I don’t mind constructive criticism. UConn had number of chances to pull the game out.

 

[uconngb]

I had no problem with what he said. I thought he was right frankly. As to Bouk, it’s hard to say whether he deserves criticism or not because he always seems to look that way body language wise. Maybe he wasn’t 100% physically. But he certainly didn’t have his best game and didn’t show the killer instinct we needed from him in such a big game.

 

[Offhegoes]

Love Bouk. He’s helped take the program out of the dumpster. His body language has also been awful when things aren’t going his way. You can’t deny that. He’s still a super young player with a undeniable ceiling, however this has to change. He’s our best player, but I’m not sure he’s our leader on the court yet.

 

[upstater]

Our kids got frustrated by the refs.

This isn't about the calls.

But you could see UConn players just livid especially with the constant out of bounds calls going Creighton's way. The Sanogo stuff was just extra. Too much complaining and frustration and the next thing you know, Creighton came all the way back, our defense lapsed, lose its aggression.

 

[jimva]

He was right

 

[Ts5034]

He was right

And if he was in the locker room at half, he probably would have said the exact same thing to the team in person. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Tampahusky]

Donny’s criticism was more like you have to go out and win the BE championship, nothing is given to you. This is big time BE basketball here, plus he has the credentials. I’m not one to get bent out of shape if anyone says anything negative about UConn basketball, especially if it’s true.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Defending Bouk was made so much easier by our second , third , and fourth outside options all being off
Asides from the Bigs and Bouk they shut us down.
We got 16 points from the rest of the team that’s pathetic.
Also two of those 16 came from Carlton in 4 minutes.
Strangely the Hurley didn’t put JC in when Sonogo picked up his 4th . Especially since their offensive rebounding killed us down the stretch. I think he forgets he has him.

 

[MexicoHusky]

If this has been discussed already, I apologize. Donny surprised me with his comments contending that UConn was (I'm paraphrasing) cocky and disrespectful to Creighton and claiming we were too casual (or the French equivalent).

I didn't see what he saw, I just thought we should have been playing at a faster tempo, which seems to give us more energy, confidence and creativity. That, and of course JB's return, was what I thought helped us play better late in the season. Was wondering what others think?

I suspect Donny wasn't talking about the whole team. I suspect he was mostly talking about Bouk. I also think his comments weren't exclusively about last night. They were a culmination of thoughts that have been brewing for a few days or weeks.

Bouk's behavior has been odd as of late. That's probably the nice way to put it. Personally I think he's not handling stress well. The stress and pressure of being the man. His stress is manifesting in odd ways. Maybe he simply isn't properly eating and sleeping. But I think there's something going on mentally. I don't think his head is in the right place. Too many thoughts. He may need a bit more humbling. A bit more failure. Something that allows him to let go of the fear of failure.

Again, playing amateur shrink. What do I know.

Edir: i do believe Bouk's head is in the wrong place, but he needs to develop some basketball skills as well. He needs to seek the defender's body more. He needs to get to the line more.. All great guards do this. Bouk is not the best at it. He tried to do so more last night in the 2nd half. Had some success. Some failures as well. He simply needs more practice at it.

 

[dogpause]

You may be right about that, but I'll say this for Bouk, he hustles all over the floor, and he's not afraid mix it up inside. A lot of players who were being touted as lottery picks would not do that. And on that takeaway, he looked like a Rome pickpocket. He appears to be playing for his team; not draft position.