Help me out! I am profoundly biased men’s basketball fan!

[bikerburt]

What are teams’ weaknesses ?

 

[UofCT]

What are teams’ weaknesses ?

If I had to pick one it's free throw shooting

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Perimeter defense can be a crutch for us, and foul trouble. Really not much else sticks out.

 

[JesusAllen11]

What are teams’ weaknesses ?

Perimeter defense after castle is very average

 

[Excalibur]

Stopping dribble penetration, streaky 3 point shooting, frontcourt depth.

A very short list in comparison to most teams even in the top 10.

 

[yungdowork]

FT shooting (mostly Clingan tbf) and defending athletic 4s are the big ones to me. Harrison Ingram from UNC, Malik Reneau from IU, and KJ Adams from Kansas all gave Karaban 18+ on over 60% shooting. We get burned on dribble penetration sometimes but I think some of that is by design since we have a bonafide rim protector

 

[KemBuckets21]

Alex Karaban seems to have become a target by opposing bully ball bigs. He held his own on a few possessions, but he was a target by KJ Adams, Reneau off the top of my head.

 

[Waquoit]

The refs

 

[UofCT]

I would add Karaban getting in foul trouble. He seems to flirt with 3-4 fouls every game. He also gets a terrible whistle for being one of the best players in the country.

 

[mauconnfan]

Definitely dribble penetration as mentioned. Not good to not have a real back up 4 in the physical sense as to negate the one issue we have with Alex. Need Stephon to catch up but believe he will. Having a solid mid range game moving forward will be huge for him as well as getting near the 30% mark for 3s. And as said many times over, DC need to start making free throws at a much better rate or he won’t be able to play in key minutes where his defense will be required.

Good news is you really have to think hard to answer!

 

[superjohn]

I think the ft shooting worry shouldn't be there, I actually think ft shooting will be a major strength. The only bad ft shooter in our rotation is Clingan and I expect his ft shooting to continue improving. Samson may be a weak ft shooter but he has so few attempts.

Cam, Karaban, and Newton are as good as it gets from the line and Newton and Cam will be the ones with the ball in their hands along with Castle who looks like a good ft shooter.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

FT shooting and three point defense. 2004 was also a notoriously bad at the line too

 

[HuskyHawk]

Mostly that our fanbase always needs to look for something to complain about.

 

[Storrs South]

Free Throw % could improve, but I think the issue is a bit overstated. It's 145th in the country at moment (72%), which is not really good or bad just fine; it has been a little inconsistent game to game. But considering Clingan has been significantly better than the first couple games of season and I suspect the game at the Phog probably is weighing it down right now (8-15) I think this will be fine in long run. Oddly enough teams shoot really poorly against UConn from foul line (65%, 29th best defensively in CBB).

I also think the 3-point shooting will improve naturally as Karaban normalizes his hit rate, Newton and Ball will get better and Spencer we know already is excellent. The looks are just too good they've been getting as the offense has looked as good or even better than last year at times.

My #1 concern is 3-point defense. UConn has been excellent at minimizing attempts as is the MO of a Hurley defense (33rd in country in 3s attempted per game), but teams are shooting a blistering 36% from 3, which is 323rd in the country defensively. They aren't giving up many attempts but when they do it's to the better shooters and relatively uncontested. Anecdotally there have been times I've seen some ball watching or a missed rotation. Given it's on a low volume it's not overwhelmingly concerning, it's just an area of opportunity to improve.

 

[HailUConn]

Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I’m worried about Clingan and Johnson getting into foul trouble in BE play

 

[Waquoit]

Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.

That's true but benches like that are rare in times of portal I think.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.

I posted yesterday the weak link is our second unit.
I would double Diarra , everyone on the unit depends on him to create even Johnson . We need a secondary creator.to take the pressure off him .
Plus someone to make shots ,
With Castle at full strength Ball can hopefully step into that role but he is not creator. yet.
We certainly could have used Allyne . He could create his own shot plus take some me pressure off Diarra as he had a decent handle . Right know he can only use 8 in tight games . That’s more starter minutes than a coach typically likes.
We can attack on perimeter D because Clingan will only get better as a rim protector. So your 6’5” and you beat Cam big deal . Karaban might not have lift but he is much stronger than last year.
The only thing about the first 5 that concerns me is minutes .
If Clingan shoot‘s FT in the 60% Im not very concerned . He will score a lot of points plus with 4 options at crunch time there is no reason for him to be on the line .

 

[Kenny11]

With Clingan and Spencer hobbled and Castle out (like at Kansas) we didn't look very athletic (in an explosive sense), but that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

 

[superjohn]

With Clingan and Spencer hobbled and Castle out (like at Kansas) we didn't look very athletic (in an explosive sense), but that shouldn't be a problem anymore.

Clingan moved so much better last game than he did all season, looked quicker and was jumping much better. I know he probably wouldn't shed more than a few lbs in such a short time frame but he did look thinner which is strange.

 

[Icehawk]

I'm not sure. I'll go "injuries" since that is what has seemed to matter so far.

Depth at the 4? It didn't matter last year.

Bigs getting in foul trouble? Last year we had two playable guys and it was fine.

FT%? Clingan looks to be improving and the rest of the guys are solid even if we've had some rough patches.

 

[Travelman6]

Free-throw shooting.

If there is an egregiously bad call, especially in a close game, can Hurely be trusted to keep his cool? I think he's grown so leaning towards yes.

Injuries, like any team, there is only so much depth any team can have. But as long as they don't get hit by the injury bug they should be able to weather any storm. The wrong injury could pit an emphasis on depth.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

My #1 concern is 3-point defense. UConn has been excellent at minimizing attempts as is the MO of a Hurley defense (33rd in country in 3s attempted per game), but teams are shooting a blistering 36% from 3, which is 323rd in the country defensively. They aren't giving up many attempts but when they do it's to the better shooters and relatively uncontested. Anecdotally there have been times I've seen some ball watching or a missed rotation. Given it's on a low volume it's not overwhelmingly concerning, it's just an area of opportunity to improve.

This^

 

[StllH8L8ner]

That they don’t make more team issued gear available for purchase.

Just went on the Nike site and saw Air Pegasus sneakers with the logo for some pretty terrible college athletic teams…but not UConn.

 

[caw]

Perimeter defense after castle is very average

I’d add in Diarra. After those two, but the height on the perimeter will still give other teams fits.