Yesterday’s Game was Instructional for MBB

[Chief00]

Chief thought yesterday’s WBB game and Geno’s comments afterwards are instructional for the men’s program.

While good teams need defense and rebounding, you get to a point where you aren’t likely to advance without a great take charge player on the offensive end. One who can score very efficiently and isn’t the volume type but inefficient scorer, who may get you through some regular season games.

Obviously, Paige was that player as she hit nothing but the bottom of the net on made hoops during the 4th quarter. Azzi Fudd also gave us that second guard that make good good teams even better. It’s very difficult for a defensive scheme to defend two guards who can create their own offense but also make their teammates better.

Furthermore, it gives you two players that you can give the ball to when you know you were going to get fouled. Jim Calhoun thought a game’s foul shooting stats when the game is on the line were mostly about who gets fouled. Good coaching often makes that happen.

I still think the weakness of the WBB team is physicality against a team like South Carolina. It will be fascinating to see how Geno will counter that, if they meet in the Finals.

 

[Kitaman]

Short version: Need a Batman and a Robin, preferably with Batman being an All American.

 

[Kemba Time]

So the instructions are: Get the No. 1 player in the country two recruiting years in a row. Got it. Hope Hurley was watching/taking notes.

 

[bendm]

what would geno have done about diggins?

 

[HuskyHawk]

what would geno have done about diggins?

He’d start because he’s still better than anybody on Geno’s team.

 

[gtcam]

what would geno have done about diggins?

Who knows (Geno has also lost some recruits to xfer but not rated as highly as Sool) but I'm betting that he would have probably give the kid a fair chance

 

[Fishy]

Given how absolutely snake-bitten the women’s team has been with injuries - it’s bordering on freakish - Diggins would have played 2,000,000 minutes.

 

[Palatine]

The men's team would have absolutely crushed that NC State women's team. They wouldn't have needed two overtimes. Even our back up guards would have had a field day.

 

[gtcam]

Chief thought yesterday’s WBB game and Geno’s comments afterwards are instructional for the men’s program.

While good teams need defense and rebounding, you get to a point where you aren’t likely to advance without a great take charge player on the offensive end. One who can score very efficiently and isn’t the volume type but inefficient scorer, who may get you through some regular season games.

Obviously, Paige was that player as she hit nothing but the bottom of the net on made hoops during the 4th quarter. Azzi Fudd also gave us that second guard that make good good teams even better. It’s very difficult for a defensive scheme to defend two guards who can create their own offense but also make their teammates better.

Furthermore, it gives you two players that you can give the ball to when you know you were going to get fouled. Jim Calhoun thought a game’s foul shooting stats when the game is on the line were mostly about who gets fouled. Good coaching often makes that happen.

I still think the weakness of the WBB team is physicality against a team like South Carolina. It will be fascinating to see how Geno will counter that, if they meet in the Finals.

I agree with you in concept Chief00, however Paige is basically the MJ/Larry Bird of womens college basketball and these players are one of a kind and extremely rare.
I'm from the school that every team needs a quality PG, meaning someone who can set pace and get the ball to the right players at the right time. Yes they need to be capable of scoring but that is secondary in their role. With that, you need at least three capable scorers who are all going to hit double figures and one junkyard dog type player who is your enforcer. The mens team this past has score first PG, an athletic 2 guard who didn't score, one pure scorer (kind of) in a center who should not be playing the 5, a 3 in Martin who didn't see the ball enough and you had the junkyard dog in your 4.
You are correct, the UConn WBB team this season has a deficiency in physical presence but Geno will come out with a game plan that will try to offset it, however, there are just some things that are impossible to overcome.

 

[gtcam]

Given how absolutely snake-bitten the women’s team has been with injuries - it’s bordering on freakish - Diggins would have played 2,000,000 minutes.

that is a real possibility

 

[freescooter]

So the instructions are: Get the No. 1 player in the country two recruiting years in a row. Got it. Hope Hurley was watching/taking notes.

yeah, teams win without the #1 player all the time. Indeed last year’s womens final did not include Buekers. What chief is talking about, and he is right on this, is that you need player who can make shots at crunch time and another who can also shoot, not one the other team doesn’t even bother to cover. And in college basketball it helps tremendously if they are guards.

 

[Chief00]

So the instructions are: Get the No. 1 player in the country two recruiting years in a row. Got it. Hope Hurley was watching/taking notes.

You don’t need the #1 ranked HS player but you do need a couple of players who can score during crunch time. Guys who can both create and shoot.
Our starting lineup this past season had too many one dimensional players, which in aggregate made our team easy to defend against for our better opponents.

 

[DCHuskyFan]

Who knows (Geno has also lost some recruits to xfer but not rated as highly as Sool) but I'm betting that he would have probably give the kid a fair chance

I don’t think Geno recruits that many 4-stars, although I guess there might be 1-2 on the roster. Did you mean to say “not rated as lowly as Sool?”

 

[imno1]

Who knows (Geno has also lost some recruits to xfer but not rated as highly as Sool) but I'm betting that he would have probably give the kid a fair chance

Geno lost 2 players to the portal this year that were ranked higher than Diggins

 

[Chief00]

It looks like Danny is finally recognizing that you need offense. Danny has tried to win by playing hard, very hard and now he realizes that you need offensive talent.
This 4 and out stuff is nonsense though. What you need is multidimensional players. What we don’t need is Danny to go from one inflexible scheme to another. What we need is a multi dimensional construct with mid course adjustments during games.

 

[Chief00]

I agree with you in concept Chief00, however Paige is basically the MJ/Larry Bird of womens college basketball and these players are one of a kind and extremely rare.
I'm from the school that every team needs a quality PG, meaning someone who can set pace and get the ball to the right players at the right time. Yes they need to be capable of scoring but that is secondary in their role. With that, you need at least three capable scorers who are all going to hit double figures and one junkyard dog type player who is your enforcer. The mens team this past has score first PG, an athletic 2 guard who didn't score, one pure scorer (kind of) in a center who should not be playing the 5, a 3 in Martin who didn't see the ball enough and you had the junkyard dog in your 4.
You are correct, the UConn WBB team this season has a deficiency in physical presence but Geno will come out with a game plan that will try to offset it, however, there are just some things that are impossible to overcome.

A really good description of last year’s team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

You don’t need the #1 ranked HS player but you do need a couple of players who can score during crunch time. Guys who can both create and shoot.
Our starting lineup this past season had too many one dimensional players, which in aggregate made our team easy to defend against for our better opponents.

I’m kind of with you. But I’d modify it to: you need either:
1. a reliable go to scorer or two, that can break down D
2. great ball movement and a team where anybody can take that shot.

Sometimes I see the takes here about guys “creating their own shot”. Yes, that’s old ISO basketball. That is Ollie’s offense and Calhoun’s at times. If your really share the ball and have scorers all over the offense creates the shot, not the player.

 

[ucp990411]

You don’t need the #1 ranked HS player but you do need a couple of players who can score during crunch time. Guys who can both create and shoot.
Our starting lineup this past season had too many one dimensional players, which in aggregate made our team easy to defend against for our better opponents.

Nothing like beating a dead horse

 

[freescooter]

I’m kind of with you. But I’d modify it to: you need either:
1. a reliable go to scorer or two, that can break down D
2. great ball movement and a team where anybody can take that shot.

Sometimes I see the takes here about guys “creating their own shot”. Yes, that’s old ISO basketball. That is Ollie’s offense and Calhoun’s at times. If your really share the ball and have scorers all over the offense creates the shot, not the player.

You really need both. Villanova has an offense that creates shot, but they also have a couple of guys who can, when necessary, make their own shots. UNC has guys like that too. Plus you need players who can hit shots when the offense creates them. Too many times we had guys miss open shots, or worse, pass them up. Jackson was the worst offender but not by any means the sole one. Top teams have both. We had lots of guys who missed open shots.

 

[AdamaNation]

Who knows (Geno has also lost some recruits to xfer but not rated as highly as Sool) but I'm betting that he would have probably give the kid a fair chance

Della donne. But no one too big.

 

[awfuldan]

So the instructions are: Get the No. 1 player in the country two recruiting years in a row. Got it. Hope Hurley was watching/taking notes.

Yep. Not only that, you have to recruit the No. 1 player in the country, have him play a Wooden Award caliber Freshman season, and then convince him to come back to school to join the next No. 1 player in the country. No sweat, happens all the time.

The point that we need a clear go-to scorer on the men's team is a good one. But you can't compare anyone in men's college basketball to Paige Bueckers. Those players don't exist in the NCAA because they go to the NBA. A player like Johnny Juzang is somewhat comparable (good size, experienced, great offensive skillset, coming off a super successful season) but players like that are few and far between. That's also a dude that went to Kentucky and then transferred to UCLA. Those schools are getting a different caliber of recruits than we are right now.

 

[PAHusky]

Who knows (Geno has also lost some recruits to xfer but not rated as highly as Sool) but I'm betting that he would have probably give the kid a fair chance

What “fair chance” did diggins not get? The kid looked pretty awful at the end of cupcake games. Unless you were at practice and saw something DH and his staff missed, what fair chance did he miss out on?

 

[willie99]

Not sure if it's been said already, but if the men's coaches can land the very best recruits every year, say like number 1 in the country, and then keep them for 4 years, that would help a lot.

I love Geno and I love our women's program, but comparing the two is really kinda silly in my world

I bet the WNBA is more fundamentally solid than the NBA too.

 

[pj]

It looks like Danny is finally recognizing that you need offense. Danny has tried to win by playing hard, very hard and now he realizes that you need offensive talent.
This 4 and out stuff is nonsense though. What you need is multidimensional players. What we don’t need is Danny to go from one inflexible scheme to another. What we need is a multi dimensional construct with mid course adjustments during games.

Yes, we need versatility. The ability to present different looks within a game, and different matchups to different opponents.

 

[Chief00]

Yes, we need versatility. The ability to present different looks within a game, and different matchups to different opponents.

Exactly, we have taken a too rigid approach. But, we need the right talent to come at a defense with from different angles and dimensions. As Calhoun wisely stated you need penetrators and shooters to do that. Then as Geno said - you need a great player and a #2 in the backcourt to get the ring.
I am not saying you need a #1 HS player in the nation. Ray Allen, Chris Smith, Khalid El Amin, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Caron Butler, Rudy Guy, Kemba Walker, Shabaz were never that ranking. But, they gave us that go to great player.