Hurley after Cincinnati: “Leash is going to be a lot shorter”

[UConnDad]

We need some plays with Bouk where he comes off a screen and cuts to the hoop. AG is not able to then make the pass but Gaff or Christian could. Another opportunity could develop if a defender slides to Bouk. We need to at least attack the rim.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The implication of this quote is that Hurley has been coaching the team incorrectly the whole time. Why does he have to change the leash?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

We need some plays with Bouk where he comes off a screen and cuts to the hoop. AG is not able to then make the pass but Gaff or Christian could. Another opportunity could develop if a defender slides to Bouk. We need to at least attack the rim.

ftfy.

 

[joober jones]

Regardless, he has like a 2 inch vertical

He's kind of like Josh Boone after taking 50 sleeping pills.

 

[bendm]

The implication of this quote is that Hurley has been coaching the team incorrectly the whole time. Why does he have to change the leash?

i dont think that's the implication. he's implying that he's been too patient with some guys (gilbert, vital, polley, carlton) and it's become an exercise in futility. heretofore he either wont start them, or allow them as much room for error, because there's no upside in doing so anymore. cant teach old dogs new tricks, time to let the young dogs play

 

[UConnDad]

ftfy.

Easy now. Don’t strain.

 

[tentoes4rings]

From a play calling standpoint two things would help tremendously. One, someone has to step up and become that consistent second outside threat to get Polley better looks. As of now, he’s so one dimensional that teams like Cincinnati can just pick him up behind the 3 point line and he’s easy to defend.

Second, we need some baseline screens to free up Bouknight. This would provide open jumpers and allow him to drive baseline and either dunk or kick the ball off to a cutter for a dunk. The baseline plays were big for wings in JC’s playbook, I’d love to see them return.

 

[August_West]

Polley needs to move more to get his shot. Standing still is okay at times, but other times he needs to make himself more available

thats by design in the Hurley offense.

Polley is doing exactly what he is supposed to do in the scheme of Hurleys offense. Are you saying he should run in random circles against what the sets Hurley is calling at the time are? We run bad offense. But the guys are doing what they are told.

 

[HuskyHawk]

i agreed with everything else in your post except the underlined part. with athletic bigs like akok, springs, and brown why wont Hurley be able to play man pressure with all 5 guys?

Because it's still vulnerable to a well coached half-court offense focused on scoring inside. It's a fantastic defense against a five out offense. It's not a great defense against a team with a strong inside game. If Javonte Brown Ferguson is the athletic 5 we need, you still don't want him chasing a center than can't shoot. Nor should Akok chase a PF that can't shoot.

At the youth level, hybrid zones are becoming more popular. The guards and wings play man, but the center plays zone. Just keep switching on the cutters and you can account for everyone. It isn't rocket science.

It's what the NBA does as well much of the time. A rim protector goes as far as they can quickly recover back to block a shot. For Kevin Garnett, that was pretty far. Ebiid? He gets way out there at times. For Josh? It's not even past the free throw line.

 

[bendm]

Because it's still vulnerable to a well coached half-court offense focused on scoring inside. It's a fantastic defense against a five out offense. It's not a great defense against a team with a strong inside game. If Javonte Brown Ferguson is the athletic 5 we need, you still don't want him chasing a center than can't shoot. Nor should Akok chase a PF that can't shoot.

gotcha. I thought it was a statement regarding future personnel limitations

 

[joober jones]

Like Carlton better. At least he can score around the rim; sometimes.

Whaley is being set up to fail by constantly being played out of position. He doesn't have the size to be a competitive 5. Obviously we have nobody else to play behind Carlton so he's stuck, but in an ideal world he'd exclusively be playing the 4.

 

[Husky68]

How much movement does he make to get open to be a catch and shoot sharp shooter? See Rip and Rashad. I ain't completely dogging the kid and didn't say he was the main reason for the loss, but not helping do things to win tonight is not argument for not losing. There's only 5 guys out there at once.

When RIP played he was always cutting off side screens back to the ball to get looks. Who does Carlton set screens for, it is the guy dribbling the ball which is never Polley.

 

[BlueMAB]

When RIP played he was always cutting off side screens back to the ball to get looks. Who does Carlton set screens for, it is the guy dribbling the ball which is never Polley.

By design. If Carlton is constantly setting screens for the ball handler, it's because that's what he is supposed to do. Blame Hurley not Carlton.

People need to stop comparing Rip to Polley. They are totally different players, and more importantly, Polley is being coached totally differently than Rip was.

 

[HuskyHawk]

gotcha. I thought it was a statement regarding future personnel limitations

On the offensive side it probably is more than defensive. Very hard to find a mobile big who can block shots, rebound and shoot from outside. But let's say we got Cliff last year, do you think he can really defend out beyond the line and still recover to defend the rim? I don't.

I think opponents are seeing the we are willing to leave the lane empty and are exploiting it. Maybe if we had Joel Embiid we could really use our 5 that way.

 

[GoDAWGS]

I guess he means Sid won't suit up at all??

Yea what is going on there?

 

[Jay-Bone]

When RIP played he was always cutting off side screens back to the ball to get looks. Who does Carlton set screens for, it is the guy dribbling the ball which is never Polley.

There is a talent there, not doubt about that, the guy can make shots. Some guys are even awesome against chairs. I'm not smart enough a basketball mind to know how to get him open and utilize his catch and shoot ability. He is an enigma to me. Obviously Rip and that team was a whole other caliber. I honestly don't know, was just surprised to see so many people rush to defend him after that game with 0 pts and 1 rebound. Something needs to be changed, or maybe it was just Cincy. I guess we shall see, but the blueprint is out on stopping him, unless Danny cracks the code.

 

[Nebraskan18]

'like this?'
oh, and after 13 games for the aac, josh is tied at 28th ppg with cumberland, is 9th at rpg, 4th in blocks, and is 1st at o/rpg.
all at 24 mpg, which puts him at 5th for the team.

Yes "like this", meaning the last few games, where he's averaging 4ppg, 6.5rpg, and is 7-22 from the field. Any other questions?

 

[Chin Diesel]

thats by design in the Hurley offense.

Polley is doing exactly what he is supposed to do in the scheme of Hurleys offense. Are you saying he should run in random circles against what the sets Hurley is calling at the time are? We run bad offense. But the guys are doing what they are told.

Unfortunately based on the lack of coaching and direction from Hurley towards the players when these head scratchers occur, I tend to agree players are doing what they're told.

 

[Walker11]

By design. If Carlton is constantly setting screens for the ball handler, it's because that's what he is supposed to do. Blame Hurley not Carlton.

People need to stop comparing Rip to Polley. They are totally different players, and more importantly, Polley is being coached totally differently than Rip was.

People want Polley to be a Redick or Rip offensively. We should hope he is a Covington. They are different skill sets. The former is much more challenging.

 

[bendm]

We should hope he is a Covington

as in a 3 n D guy? sure. bruce bowen, raja bell, danny green etc. would all work too. the only problem is that requires being an elite defender and polley is slower than molasses for a wing. who's the last UConn player that was as one dimensional as polley on offense but that wasnt an above average defender either?

 

[uconngb]

That’s what I was thinking...

How? He has taken 0 three pointers this year. Then that’s bad scouting or a communication breakdown.

It’s on both.

By definition, it can't be on both. Josh is either screwing up by not doing what he is being coached to do, for which he should be yanked. Or he is doing exactly what Hurley wants him to do, for which we should be very concerned, because it doesn't work. Over and over and over again, it doesn't work.

 

[uconngb]

Unfortunately based on the lack of coaching and direction from Hurley towards the players when these head scratchers occur, I tend to agree players are doing what they're told.

This is exactly what scares me. One thing to be a players' coach, as some have suggested, but my God......when the same errors keep occurring at an alarming rate, if the coach doesn't do something to change it, is he expecting that it will change on its own?? Yikes.

 

[uconnfan68]

I see that we lost this game in 3 ways mostly: we were beat up in the paint terribly, minus 6 rebounds, but Cincinnati did most of their scoring here, secondly, Cincinnati played tougher and stronger (to our credit we did not give up, but what is that really worth on the scoreboard), and thirdly, our offense was mostly ragged, Cinci's defense was good, but our team play and execution on offense was lousy and really inefficient.

And for the comment of the day, Sid Wilson would have helped us in this game, he plays strong and physical inside with rebounding on both ends, good interior toughness and defense with 6'7 size and athleticism. His midrange slashing to the hoop from the foul line in would have been suited for this game, and he would have helped in transition. I do hope he gets out of Hurley's doghouse because in a game like this he plays stronger than some of the other 9, and that has an impact in and of itself.

This team is not strong inside. Akok has helped very much, the emergence of Whaley is a plus, and then you have Josh playing his game, Tyler who is more of a perimeter player, and we have rebounding guards. I see Sid as more of an interior player, we need his hops in there. These bigger and tougher teams we are going to play, having a player like Sid on the floor will make a difference.

And there you go, that is his role on this team, or something like that anyway.

Sid seemed like the only guy to guard Cumberland. Not sure why Vital was made to try.

 

[Jay-Bone]

People need to stop comparing Rip to Polley.

Nobody is comparing Rip to Polley, its stupid to even think as much. Stop the nonsense. Yarders just take everything so literal. Its like you have to be a lawyer to write anything on here. Freaking annoying that about 8 people said Polley is no Rip. Yeah, no snow. What was insinuated is that Rip was the epitome of off ball movement, and maybe he can get some tips from. Like Hasheem Thabeet teaching a high school kid to block shots. Thats approximately the same relativity.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Unfortunately based on the lack of coaching and direction from Hurley towards the players when these head scratchers occur, I tend to agree players are doing what they're told.

Maybe he should just run random circles instead of Hurley's plays, haha. That way I bet he'd get open for at least one 3 and get more than just one rebound.