Hurley can be mad about foul discrepancy but honestly when you shoot so many 3's and rarely go to basket it's hard to draw fouls.
Hawk did get 2 calls when shooting a 3. We took 9 FT's. 6 by Hawk on 3 pt fouls, 1 on a Tech....so took 2 FT's otherwise. Yes 28 - 9 is crazy discrepancy on paper but if you don't go to the basket you usually don't draw many fouls.
This remains my overall point of view, though I've only seen a single mention here that the technical came in close proximity to an offensive foul called on Jordan Hawkins while he was driving directly to the basket.
The chosen television camera displayed blocked action along the base line on the left side of the basket, as seen from mid court on the right side of the court. In other words, the view was distant and obscured. The was no replay, so I do not know what the contact was.
I do know that I was initially delighted that FINALLY a UConn player was attacking the basket, and that, as I'd been expecting and texting and pleading for, there was a foul called. I anticipated Hawkins getting to the line to calmly close the gap to 74-73, and, I'd hoped, establish the soundness of going to the basket, shooting, and drawing contact.
I was shocked that the call went against Hawkins, but never got to see if I'd have agreed with the call. Instead, I saw that Hawkins looked surprised & unhappy, and that Hurley looked the same. It took a moment or two into the subsequent play for the T to be called.
As horribly-timed and fatally-consequential to hopes for victory as the technical was, it clearly registered as a 'last straw.'
I felt desperate for movement to the rim, and infuriated every single time Tristen Newton chose an ineffective pass instead. None of the passes crisply kicked-out to an open shooter, handed-off or dumped-down to a teammate in position for an open layup, or resulted in a hard dunk on an alley oop. All looked like pre-determined, no-matter-what, forced choices to NOT attempt a field goal to score or draw a foul. Hawkins did something intended to be effective, and, at worst, confirmed that such movement would not be effective even if chosen.
I don't suppose that I'll ever know if it was a bad call by the ref. I do know that it was a needed play attempted, and I deeply wish for more hard movement to the basket in order to re-establish the team's strength and flexibility to score in multiple ways.
Shot selection and quality in the final 9 minutes was much more like the past two seasons, which was tremendously disappointing. I hope that film review, practice, game prep & planning all result in improvements.
The Georgetown and Xavier games were played to the opponents' preferences, and could still have been 2 victories, but yesterday was not a satisfying viewing experience.
Sean Miller had a clearer sense of the game he wanted, and Ed Cooley, Greg McDermott, and Shaka Smart are the next 3 coaches who Dan Hurley will be facing. Again, now in season 5, our head coach has reached his growing edge. Who, truly, would expect otherwise?
Time to regroup, refocus, and rededicate to growth as coaches, players, and fans.
It's not "coming;" it's here.
One game at a time.
Go Huskies.
...if you have a problem with the ft disparity and how the refs are calling things you work them early in the game. A well timed T early when the refs know they got one wrong and you will start seeing calls go your way and the fouls even out some usually.
Yes.
This is an acquired skill, and it's now required. Nothing about it can be considered a surprise or "unbelievable" any more, even if it seems 'unfair' or such. No team wins 6 consecutive games between mid-March and early April without developing competence in this realm.
Again, this is true growing edge stuff and what we have been wanting. This is how it works. As fans, we know this because we have seen this.
