UConn’s Vulnerabilities Heading To Postseason

[navery12]

Not with a healthy Karaban. He goes to the foul line and picks them apart. My main concern is when nobody can hit a three. But that only seems to happen for stretches, not entire games.

Yeah good luck to whoever tries to play zone on us with Karaban and Castle flashing to the free throw line

 

[RichCTBB]

Our guys just seem so well drilled and well conditioned that i don’t think anyone can hang with us and maintain 40 minutes of focus like Danny has our guys accustomed to. Patience and discipline in continuing to run sets deep into the clock at the speed we go out just gets the defense all out of sorts. Sometimes our motions speed up but are still so on point that it’s a thing of beauty.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Clingan fouling out, but I think we can go small and still win. I wish we had a third big man that could at least eat some minutes, play D and rebound.

No big man recruit coming next year so if Clingan goes pro the portal should be fun this postseason.

 

[storrsroars]

No big man recruit coming next year so if Clingan goes pro the portal should be fun this postseason.

As I don't think we'll be competing for an NC next year, the one thing that would keep fans interested is to go and get Connor Williams

 

[Gurleyman]

I was thinking about this recently but I kind of think our 2014 team would give us some trouble, with the way that Bazz and Boat made life difficult for larger guards. I think Newton would get taken off his game a little and Spencer would have a hard time shaking free. Daniels wouldn’t be a bad choice to guard Karaban too. So that type of team that could come out with small quick water bug guards that get in our shirts and speed us up.

Who out there is like them? PC has been the top BE team defensively in the metrics and they are kinda similar the way they guard you - Carter is on a level with Bazz as a two-way player, although Boat was way better than Pierre (our 2014 team didn’t have a post player in the same realm as Oduro so that part of the parallel doesn’t work). We survived them at home but they definitely made it their style of game, so we’ll see what happens at their place.

Houston seems to fit the profile - veteran guards who really defend and then they get just enough offense to survive. Kansas scored pretty freely on them at home, but maybe that was an anomaly.

On the flip side, I’d also be nervous of a team with firepower that could bomb you out of the tourney with threes. Kentucky doesn’t defend - but catch them on a day when they’re all hitting and feeding off each other and they could be scary since I’m not sure we have foot speed 1-5 to lock down the perimeter. And once you’re behind and start feeling the pressure, it gets harder. You can’t necessarily depend on Cal to screw it up.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I was thinking about this recently but I kind of think our 2014 team would give us some trouble, with the way that Bazz and Boat made life difficult for larger guards. I think Newton would get taken off his game a little and Spencer would have a hard time shaking free. Daniels wouldn’t be a bad choice to guard Karaban too. So that type of team that could come out with small quick water bug guards that get in our shirts and speed us up.

Who out there is like them? PC has been the top BE team defensively in the metrics and they are kinda similar the way they guard you - Carter is on a level with Bazz as a two-way player, although Boat was way better than Pierre (our 2014 team didn’t have a post player in the same realm as Oduro so that part of the parallel doesn’t work). We survived them at home but they definitely made it their style of game, so we’ll see what happens at their place.

Houston seems to fit the profile - veteran guards who really defend and then they get just enough offense to survive. Kansas scored pretty freely on them at home, but maybe that was an anomaly.

On the flip side, I’d also be nervous of a team with firepower that could bomb you out of the tourney with threes. Kentucky doesn’t defend - but catch them on a day when they’re all hitting and feeding off each other and they could be scary since I’m not sure we have foot speed 1-5 to lock down the perimeter. And once you’re behind and start feeling the pressure, it gets harder. You can’t necessarily depend on Cal to screw it up.

2014 would give us a ton of trouble on offense because Bazz and Boat were so quick, but I think this team would eat them up offensively with our movement + Clingan being so much better than their bigs.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

2014 would give us a ton of trouble on offense because Bazz and Boat were so quick, but I think this team would eat them up offensively with our movement + Clingan being so much better than their bigs.

I love the 2014 team but they caught lightning in a bottle. This current squad would maul them.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I love the 2014 team but they caught lightning in a bottle. This current squad would maul them.

I agree. But the quick guards have given us some fits so that was my only point. Our ball movement/player movement would certainly limit that to some degree.

 

[JungleLobo]

Skidmarks

 

[huskiemaniac]

teams with lots of athleticism... Both of our losses are against teams that were quicker, stronger, and more athletic than us. Our guards/Karaban can get beat off the dribble quite a bit.

We also had guys out both of those losses…plus an injured cam playing vs Kansas.

 

[my2cents]

This is an illogical thread. We all know we are not perfect because no team in the history of basketball is perfect. Every team that plays IN a game can be beat. Trying to state reasons why we can be beat in the future is just pointless and dumb.

 

[OkaForPrez]

It’s 3am early Friday morning of the opening round. Randy Bennet is coming down off the high of beating Tom Izzo in the 8/9 game. He’s 4 hours into a film session studying how to attack UConns defense and he’s frustrated he’s going to have to prepare them for drop and hedge schemes. “How can I simulate 7‘ 2”? Maybe I’ll get a broom out” he thinks. He decides to turn his attention to his own defensive prep. “We have to take away their primary scoring, make them uncomfortable.” One by one he moves through the player film prepared by his staff. “Cam Spencer is their heart, I’ll put my best perimeter defender on him”. “Oh, but I can’t let Newton get downhill and get to the line, we could get in foul trouble in a hurry.” “Oh no, Karaban has added some dribble drive attack this year, we’ll have to watch our close outs.” “But if I leave my weakest defender on castle he’ll ISO exploit me until I switch”. “And I have to send at least one extra man at Clingan once he starts his dribble”

exasperated, Bennet decides to look at the Bench film. 5 min into the Diarra highlights, he turns off the TV and heads to bed.

 

[gtcam]

Can we fix thread title asap or delete the thread....not a good look.

Can't be thin skinned about this - every team has vulnerabilities.
UConn's biggest is the defensive flaws in our two starting guards - Newton and Cam are just plain bad on ball defenders. Great offensively but if you watch their foot speed on defense it is bad.

 

[HooperScooper]

Can't be thin skinned about this - every team has vulnerabilities.
UConn's biggest is the defensive flaws in our two starting guards - Newton and Cam are just plain bad on ball defenders. Great offensively but if you watch their foot speed on defense it is bad.

Despite that a healthy and foul trouble free Clingan makes a huge difference. Nothing we didn't know but saw this in today's ESPN Power Ranking.

Since Donovan Clingan returned from a foot injury that cost him five games in December and January, UConn is No. 2 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency at BartTorvik.com. That includes limiting six of seven opponents to fewer than one point per possession -- highlighted by the Huskies holding Creighton to 48 points back on Jan. 17 and Xavier to 22 first-half points on Jan. 28. With Clingan anchoring the paint defense, Xavier shot 3-for-23 on 2-pointers with him on the floor in that game. This past week, it happened again, with Georgetown going 7-for-22 on layups on Saturday.

Men's Power Rankings: We have questions for Kentucky and Wisconsin

Besides UConn, Purdue and Baylor, everyone has a new ranking or has fallen out. Plus, Clemson brings down a red-hot team, and mid-majors grab weekly awards.

www.espn.com

 

[gsmooth]

I was thinking about this recently but I kind of think our 2014 team would give us some trouble, with the way that Bazz and Boat made life difficult for larger guards. I think Newton would get taken off his game a little and Spencer would have a hard time shaking free. Daniels wouldn’t be a bad choice to guard Karaban too. So that type of team that could come out with small quick water bug guards that get in our shirts and speed us up.

Who out there is like them? PC has been the top BE team defensively in the metrics and they are kinda similar the way they guard you - Carter is on a level with Bazz as a two-way player, although Boat was way better than Pierre (our 2014 team didn’t have a post player in the same realm as Oduro so that part of the parallel doesn’t work). We survived them at home but they definitely made it their style of game, so we’ll see what happens at their place.

Houston seems to fit the profile - veteran guards who really defend and then they get just enough offense to survive. Kansas scored pretty freely on them at home, but maybe that was an anomaly.

On the flip side, I’d also be nervous of a team with firepower that could bomb you out of the tourney with threes. Kentucky doesn’t defend - but catch them on a day when they’re all hitting and feeding off each other and they could be scary since I’m not sure we have foot speed 1-5 to lock down the perimeter. And once you’re behind and start feeling the pressure, it gets harder. You can’t necessarily depend on Cal to screw it up.

The 2011 team could give this 2024 team trouble, but I am don't think 2014 would. Hurley would chase Bazz, Boatright, Daniels, and Giffey off the 3 point line and Clingan would be of great help on the defense as would Castle. Phil Nolan on offense wouldn't occupy Clingan at all. Also, I think Newton can still drive and shoot over either Boatright or Bazz-Newton typically does well over guards who are shorter than him. One thing to remember is that the constant motion of UConn's 2024 offense wears teams out so they don't have as much energy for their own offense.

I would take this 2024 team over the 2014, at least as of now. Same goes for this 2024 team over the Louisville 2014 team that beat the UConn 2014 three times, again at least as of now.

Let's see how this UConn 2024 team performs in the Big Dance before myself or any of us start making comparisons to other UConn teams of the past or break out the anointing oil as Bill Parcells would say.

 

[Rico444]

On the flip side, I’d also be nervous of a team with firepower that could bomb you out of the tourney with threes. Kentucky doesn’t defend - but catch them on a day when they’re all hitting and feeding off each other and they could be scary since I’m not sure we have foot speed 1-5 to lock down the perimeter. And once you’re behind and start feeling the pressure, it gets harder. You can’t necessarily depend on Cal to screw it up.

Anything is possible, but I don't see how Kentucky keeps us from putting up 100. Their defense is truly awful; we would get whatever we want offensively.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Eh... The last time SJ gave us 8 or more was when he was starting. The last time Ball gave us 8 or more was against Xavier which is in the middle of an 8 game streak where he has been scoreless 6 times. Diarra has had some moments but I don't look him as a guy who can give us a scoring boost off the bench. The main point is that we do not have a guy like Naheim or Joey C that you know can come off the bench and make shots. Nor do we have DC of last year who would consistently get you 6-8 in dunks and garbage points a game.

Bench scoring last 7 games:
Butler - 12
SJU - 6
Prov - 4
Xavier - 36
Nova - 9 (DC = 6)
Creighton - 11
GTown - 9

Bench scoring is an issue.

Is bench scoring an issue when you are always going to have at least 3 starters in the game that average double figures? The balanced scoring from the starting unit is so rare that I think you’re miscalculating the importance of bench scoring. In most years your right those numbers would be troubling over a 7 game stretch. With this team it isn’t.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Physical "muck it up" type teams that rely on the refs not calling every foul.