Simple Fix

[Chief00]

I get it that you like Gaffney. We have played 28 games. Please tell us what Gaffney has done in 27 of them that he should be starting?

I hear you but he did very well the last 7 games last season abd Hurley hadn’t generally played him with the right guys. I can tell you we won’t beat good teams as we are in the tournament. I like Hawkins too, but he may be out for awhile and Gaffney gives us another ball handler who can pressure the defense with his drives.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I thought Gaffney would have had a big night.

 

[bendm]

Gaffney and Hawkins are keys to our ceiling

well w/ hawk potentially out through the BET you'll get your wish for gaff to play more. let's hope he produces enough to stay in the rotation once hawk (hopefully) gets back in time for the big dance.

 

[Chief00]

well w/ hawk potentially out through the BET you'll get your wish for gaff to play more. let's hope he produces enough to stay in the rotation once hawk (hopefully) gets back in time for the big dance.

Yes, I recognize Hawkins is a better shooter but will he be in protocol?
Put Polley out there too but whatever shooting threat we do have has to be utilized. If only they get covered so Adama’s not tripled team. And that’s not an exaggeration.

 

[connVA]

Yes, I recognize Hawkins is a better shooter but will he be in protocol?
Put Polley out there too but whatever shooting threat we do have has to be utilized. If only they get covered so Adama’s not tripled team. And that’s not an exaggeration.

And if it’s got to be AJ and Whaley, then for goodness sake they need to take wide open shots instead of their gut reaction of frantically looking around for someone to hand off to. And when they take a shot, AT LEAST draw some iron (more of an AJ problem than a Whaley issue). Their shooting phobia just validates the strategy of ignoring them on defense, at least until the first shot goes up and they become a presence on the boards.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I tell you may friend, you need at least a reasonable threat of a shooter or ekes Adama is doubled and sometimes tripled.

Yes, but somehow we managed to play Jeff Adrien next to Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Thabeet. And none of those three guys ever went outside the line except to screen. Jeff took 6 3's his whole career and played next to 6'11 and taller guys his whole career.

I get the that "the game has changed", but when your roster is such that your best players mean you should be playing UConn 2006-08 style offense, then you play UConn 2006-08 style offense. It's still viable to play two post players. I'd argue most teams would struggle mightily to defend it. Play Whaley like he's Adrien. He's not nearly as good around the rim, but his midrange J is his best shot. And if Hurley won't play this way, well, he should stop recruiting some of the guys he has been recruiting.

 

[imno1]

Somehow some way Polley needs to get more shots up when they are packing it in on Adama. If Tyler is playing 25 minutes he need to get more than 3 shots up. Creighton did a great job of sticking to him but the staff needs to figure out how to free him up more. Tyler is not the most important piece on the team but when he's scoring we look like one of the best teams in the country.

 

[gsmooth]

Yes, but somehow we managed to play Jeff Adrien next to Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Thabeet. And none of those three guys ever went outside the line except to screen. Jeff took 6 3's his whole career and played next to 6'11 and taller guys his whole career.

I get the that "the game has changed", but when your roster is such that your best players mean you should be playing UConn 2006-08 style offense, then you play UConn 2006-08 style offense. It's still viable to play two post players. I'd argue most teams would struggle mightily to defend it. Play Whaley like he's Adrien. He's not nearly as good around the rim, but his midrange J is his best shot. And if Hurley won't play this way, well, he should stop recruiting some of the guys he has been recruiting.

I think this is a really good post. Teams can play with two players in the post, but there just needs to be more cross picks and flex cuts. The UConn teams in the 90s and 2000s (2000-2011) did a lot of this. Providence Ed Cooley right now runs a lot of this.

Having Whaley and Jackson stand by the 3 point line without the ball is not effective in most cases. connVA stated in his post above yours, they are frantically looking to get rid of the ball once they get it on the perimeter-they are not even looking at the basket to shoot or to drive. If on a rare occasion they do look at the basket, any up fake isn't going to work because the defender is already 10 ft off of them and daring them to shoot.

 

[Jimdish255]

AJ will never be an effective 3pt shooter with his current technique. He just doesn't get his arms and elbows elevated to roll the ball off his fingers at an arc. It's the closest thing to a knuckleball I've seen from distance. Not sure if there's a physical limitation or just repetition and poor mechanics that got him here, but it would take a very slow and disciplined retraining to change his stroke. He should have been working with coaches and Tyler Polley over the summer to emulate and make the change but it may be too late for this season. I hope he gets it figured out but he was never supposed to be an answer on the perimeter. For his own development and the team it's still important to be able to hit a few wide open shots near the 3pt line and hopefully he gets that going over this summer.

 

[Vancat]

It would be interesting to know if they are planning on adjusting his shot. Seems like it's kind of late in his career for an overhaul. But maybe I'm totally wrong there.

 

[gsmooth]

It would be interesting to know if they are planning on adjusting his shot. Seems like it's kind of late in his career for an overhaul. But maybe I'm totally wrong there.

I am assuming you are talking about Jackson. The staff can tell him "if you shoot the proper way, you will be on your way to making millions in the NBA". Jackson is already a motivated hard worker, so I think he will put in the effort on overhauling or at least making major changes in his shooting mechanics.

 

[Vancat]

I am assuming you are talking about Jackson. The staff can tell him "if you shoot the proper way, you will be on your way to making millions in the NBA". Jackson is already a motivated hard worker, so I think he will put in the effort on overhauling or at least making major changes in his shooting mechanics.

Yes, I was - sorry. I am always annoyed when people talk about someone and don't specifically say who they are talking about.

 

[Vancat]

@Chief00 - haven't you spoken to the coaches or AJ about his shot? What was the response?

 

[gsmooth]

I hope Chief has spoken to them about AJax's shot. Everyone focuses on his inability to shoot from the perimeter and how his man sags off of him and stands in the paint, and with good reason. However, his inability to shoot occurs throughout anywhere on the court including near the basket. I was pleasantly surprised when he made that close bank shot against Creighton, but I certainly didn't expect it.

AJax brings very good rebouding, court vison and passing as long as he doesn't overdo the fanciness, speed dribbling to increase the tempo, and solid defense. But his inability to shoot will hamstring his own professional aspirations as well as the Huskies offense although it's not the only thing that hinders the Huskies offense.

 

[Chief00]

Yes, but somehow we managed to play Jeff Adrien next to Josh Boone, Hilton Armstrong and Thabeet. And none of those three guys ever went outside the line except to screen. Jeff took 6 3's his whole career and played next to 6'11 and taller guys his whole career.

I get the that "the game has changed", but when your roster is such that your best players mean you should be playing UConn 2006-08 style offense, then you play UConn 2006-08 style offense. It's still viable to play two post players. I'd argue most teams would struggle mightily to defend it. Play Whaley like he's Adrien. He's not nearly as good around the rim, but his midrange J is his best shot. And if Hurley won't play this way, well, he should stop recruiting some of the guys he has been recruiting.

What I am advocating is at least one more shooter in the starting line-up. I have no problem with playing two bigs, but in fairness during those years you almost always had at least two very good shooters on the court to start the game vs. one high shot volume type scorer we have now. Charlie V could shoot, Rash Anderson, D. Brown and of course Ben Gordon was a shooting lottery pick. So we almost always had two shooters on the floor.
I love Hawkins game, but he’s a year away body wise from being a great one. I will say this about Gaffney, I remember he shot over 50% from 3 on Team Rio in the AAU circuit and shot around 80% from the FT. He can shoot and gives us another ball handler. At UConn, when he is comfortable, he has several games in double figures against the better teams we play. Chief also likes having another ball handler. And despite some putting him down that way, over his career Gaffney’s assist to turnover ratio is pretty good. Having said all that, I think Polley also is an option to give us more shooting in our starting line-up.
All I can say, is we won’t get very far with our current starting 5 in post season. Too many very slow starts that make the game too difficult and the odds of winning diminished. We need at least a shooting threat. They wouldn’t leave Hawkins, Gaffney or Polley consistently wide open on the 3 line, which will give Adama space.

 

[Chief00]

Somehow some way Polley needs to get more shots up when they are packing it in on Adama. If Tyler is playing 25 minutes he need to get more than 3 shots up. Creighton did a great job of sticking to him but the staff needs to figure out how to free him up more. Tyler is not the most important piece on the team but when he's scoring we look like one of the best teams in the country.

Agree, and an important distinction is not only how many minutes a “shooting threat” plays but who he plays with.

One of Chief’s biggest complaints with Danny’s rotations is the shooters don’t play often enough when Adama is on the court. That mutually beneficial for Adama and the shooter.

Danny has a defensive starting 5, at the sacrifice of offense. Chief loves defense but that’s not going to get it done in the tournament.

 

[ctchamps]

I get it that you like Gaffney. We have played 28 games. Please tell us what Gaffney has done in 27 of them that he should be starting?

I’d like to see Gaffney utilized in a line up like he was in this 28th game as opposed to the line ups he primarily was utilized for the majority of time in the first 27 games to determine if Gaffney is the problem or if DH is utilizing him incorrectly.

At start of games I would keep starting line up with the exception of Tyler in for Andre.

 

[Cagey_Tee]

In this game Hurley should have been able to find 3 points for the win.

The dunks kept coming and we never adjusted. Try keeping Sanogo home, go to zone, etc. because what we were doing was not working on the defensive end. How many dunks did K have, 5-6?

the substitutions, or the lack of, on offense in the 2nd half was a head scratcher also. Polley needed more minutes, and you adjust to protect him. Again, no adjustments for what was going on last night. AJ went 0 for 6 from three and committed a huge turn, followed by an out of control drive, and like that we are back to down 5. Yet he is on the floor taking a 3 Towards the end. Even my wife is asking about his shot. I thought Gaff played better than AJ last night.

In my opinion we could have won this game, on a night where Sanogo was having trouble scoring, by making a few minor adjustments.

I think your key point is that "...we never adjusted." Hurley is clearly a great recruiter, but he really needs to improve his in-game managing skills. He stubbornly sticks to his playbook even when it clearly is not working. In comparison, look how 3 three teams ahead of us change their in-game strategies based on what is/is not working. Despite out Nova win I think Jay outcoached Dan that game, and should have won if not for 3 consecutive "homer" calls - no charge on Cole, no foul on scrum, and then finally a charge on Nova w 1.7 secs left.

 

[jibsey]

What I am advocating is at least one more shooter in the starting line-up. I have no problem with playing two bigs, but in fairness during those years you almost always had at least two very good shooters on the court to start the game vs. one high shot volume type scorer we have now. Charlie V could shoot, Rash Anderson, D. Brown and of course Ben Gordon was a shooting lottery pick. So we almost always had two shooters on the floor.
I love Hawkins game, but he’s a year away body wise from being a great one. I will say this about Gaffney, I remember he shot over 50% from 3 on Team Rio in the AAU circuit and shot around 80% from the FT. He can shoot and gives us another ball handler. At UConn, when he is comfortable, he has several games in double figures against the better teams we play. Chief also likes having another ball handler. And despite some putting him down that way, over his career Gaffney’s assist to turnover ratio is pretty good. Having said all that, I think Polley also is an option to give us more shooting in our starting line-up.
All I can say, is we won’t get very far with our current starting 5 in post season. Too many very slow starts that make the game too difficult and the odds of winning diminished. We need at least a shooting threat. They wouldn’t leave Hawkins, Gaffney or Polley consistently wide open on the 3 line, which will give Adama space.

Hurley likes his starting defensive lineup but we often have slow offensive starts to fight back from. So yeah I agree we need another shooter. Could be Gaffney or Hawkins who is injured now. Hurley is pretty inflexible with that starting lineup. No reason to think he changes now unfortunately. Getting knocked out of the BE or NCAA early could be the result but Hawkins was supposed to be the answer to this preseason, remember? Just didn't happen.

 

[coachn]

I get it that you like Gaffney. We have played 28 games. Please tell us what Gaffney has done in 27 of them that he should be starting?

Starting isn't a big thing. Make changes quicker. Gafney like Chief says is great.