10-1 through this gauntlet without 2 starters or with them not at 100% healthy/in the flow. | The Boneyard

10-1 through this gauntlet without 2 starters or with them not at 100% healthy/in the flow.

superjohn

superjohn

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10-1 through this gauntlet without 2 starters or with them not at 100% healthy/in the flow. Silas struggling mightily adjusting. Solo shooting terribly.

If you told anyone that before the season started they wouldn't have believed we would be 10-1.

This is the worst version of this team we will see.

Bullish
 
We're just starting to work Mullins in. He's going to be featured soon in this offense.

I want to see stuff set up to work both Silas and Mullins into more shots. Set up screens for Silas to either drive or shoot from the outside, run sets designed for Mullins.

My only concern as we head into the BE is that we're going to be trying to maximize this offense playing by clutching and grabbing BE rules that allow defenses to basically muck up your sets. It may actually get uglier here at the beginning of conference play.
 
Was at game. Win is a win. Like the way Stewart is handling his business-attitude and contributions-despite the obvious ascension of Mullins at the 3. Being a great teammate- Doing the little things well- and creating a strong change of pace dynamic with Mullins in the rotation. Gives Danny options based on match ups/game flow. Helps tremendously in the locker room when everyone is pulling for each other.
 
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I think we eventually need to trim the rotation down to 8. Lots of moving pieces that haven’t yet come together yet.

I think we’ll be okay.
 
Ditto Unami Zen. Looking for signs of anyone unhappy with their PT or role, and just don't see it. Silas Demary riding the pine during an awful game(5 assists is awful?) was bonkers over his teammates play to clinch the win.

We have had glimpses of that "great game", most recently during the first half last night. I don't think we know what that great game is going to look like yet, as the roles are still being defined.

Was particularly interested when Braylon was used to bring the ball up and initiate the offense for a couple of plays last night. Also have not seen the eagerly anticipated(by some) DOUBLE BIGS!

Reibe struggled with defending the bigger, stronger Lithuanian kid. Feel that the Lithuanian got away with alot of fouls. Other than last night Reibe has been remarkably effective for a skinny frosh.
 
Khal Drogo said:
At one point in the first half I turned to my wife and thought the A game was finnally herr
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Hope you were right and were able to catch the rest of the game later.
 
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AllHusky said:
Reibe struggled with defending the bigger, stronger Lithuanian kid. Feel that the Lithuanian got away with alot of fouls. Other than last night Reibe has been remarkably effective for a skinny frosh.
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There were a few plays where it looked like Tarris was mugged and they didn’t call it. The most egregious call though was when 2 Tex guys bumped into each other and a UConn foul was called
 
upstater said:
We're just starting to work Mullins in. He's going to be featured soon in this offense.

I want to see stuff set up to work both Silas and Mullins into more shots. Set up screens for Silas to either drive or shoot from the outside, run sets designed for Mullins.

My only concern as we head into the BE is that we're going to be trying to maximize this offense playing by clutching and grabbing BE rules that allow defenses to basically muck up your sets. It may actually get uglier here at the beginning of conference play.
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Yes, we won't be able to truly tell how well this team runs the offense until March. On the plus side, neither will our opponents.

With the injuries, they haven't had a lot of time with everyone healthy so I am hopeful. And if Silas doesn't figure it out, Malachi will.
 
superjohn said:
10-1 through this gauntlet without 2 starters or with them not at 100% healthy/in the flow. Silas struggling mightily adjusting. Solo shooting terribly.

If you told anyone that before the season started they wouldn't have believed we would be 10-1.

This is the worst version of this team we will see.

Bullish
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Post​

@JonRothstein

BUY STOCK NOW!
 
The general concern with teams like this are that they peak too early and then fall off as the year goes on. I don’t think that’s the case here

Like you said, Silas hasn’t played to the level he historically has. Solo was the best shooter in the conference last year and now he’s <30% so pretty safe bet that will turn around. Tarris hasn’t had the chance to get fully settled in. The freshmen Reibe and Braylon have performed well so far, but they should continue to get better every day

This team is dominant right now and still has a LOT of room to improve. I’m on the hype train. We’ll learn a lot about more about them through BE play, but all early signs are really good!
 
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upstater said:
We're just starting to work Mullins in. He's going to be featured soon in this offense.

I want to see stuff set up to work both Silas and Mullins into more shots. Set up screens for Silas to either drive or shoot from the outside, run sets designed for Mullins.

My only concern as we head into the BE is that we're going to be trying to maximize this offense playing by clutching and grabbing BE rules that allow defenses to basically muck up your sets. It may actually get uglier here at the beginning of conference play.
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Maybe it's time for AD to bring some highlight film to League office and get some clarity. Grabbing isn't incidental contact. Hand shouldn't be on the guy to begin with. Grabbing is "hope I can get away with this" which is deliberate. Two shot foul?
 
I would say a few factors beget our teams peaking in March:

1. Deep bench of seasoned and ready players for PG, SG, SF, C. This keeps the team relatively fresh throughout the season.
2. Motion offense means the other teams are working on D, having the move, guess, and in general get tired. We shall start seeing better 2nd halves than 1st halves with this style as the season progresses.
3. Combo Guards like Newton and Demary take some time to acclimate to an offense like ours because because point guards generally have quicker pattern recognition and reaction skills. Hence Malachi is an assists machine - true PG and can spot and dish at slightly faster pace than the average pg. Demary will get there.
4. Other teams without deep benches get worn down by the end of their season and conference tourney. Then we work them even more than other teams on offense and still have a deep bench so it's always going to give us 1/2 to a step faster than a worn out defender.

I'm sure luck, conditioning, and 30+ other factors also weigh in, but I believe these are 4 general themes to help us gel and stay fresh as the season keeps on.
 
dennismenace said:
Maybe it's time for AD to bring some highlight film to League office and get some clarity. Grabbing isn't incidental contact. Hand shouldn't be on the guy to begin with. Grabbing is "hope I can get away with this" which is deliberate. Two shot foul?
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Val is inept and wouldn’t know what to do.
 
Dibbie said:
Just read KenPom projects a 16-4 BE record (not sure if that was before the season started). TBH I’d be pretty disappointed with 4 conference losses.
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In a totally arrogant and spoiled way I kinda expect us to go undefeated in the Big East. So I am 100% with you 4 would be a big disappointment.
 
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AllHusky said:
Silas Demary ... was bonkers over his teammates' play to clinch the win.
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Thx for that.
AllHusky said:
... as the roles are still being defined.
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This is the story.

Dan Hurley said as much in his very thorough Texas post-game interview, which also summed up the OOC schedule & results ... and set out the next areas for improvements - highly recommended.
AllHusky said:
Feel that the Lithuanian got away with alot of fouls.
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He was allotted a (publicly unannounced) limit of 8 fouls for the night. Obviously, they had to start the counter later into the game in order to make the math work for the full 40 minutes.
 
superjohn said:
10-1 through this gauntlet without 2 starters or with them not at 100% healthy/in the flow. Silas struggling mightily adjusting. Solo shooting terribly.

If you told anyone that before the season started they wouldn't have believed we would be 10-1.

This is the worst version of this team we will see.

Bullish
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We know what Michigan, Duke, and Arizona’s A games look like. We haven’t seen anything close to our A game yet.
 
uconngb said:
We need to learn to stop fouling incessantly
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Somebody on here pointed out that our fouling issues tend to improve come tournament time. Is this just how Dan Hurley makes the sausage? Start off with aggressive defense and accept excessive fouling. As the season progresses, you ratchet it back a bit emphasizing control while keeping the aggressive play on D as a core value?

I'm not saying that's the case, necessarily, but I'm just thinking it through.
 
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XLCenterFan said:
We aren’t even there yet. We don’t have a quarterback though.
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Yeah. our guards need some more time. For them to come in to an offense with 4 players running all over the place and making right decisions is not easy. Oh and a defender is preventing you from executing. Its confusing watching it as a fan.

Just saying it ain't easy to master Hurley's complex system, let alone adjust/convert from another school's schemes.

Me thinks January our team will be complete.
 
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I was just looking at the Torvik for 2024 vs this team, and it's actually pretty similar so far. That 2024 team had inconsistent offense pre-January as well, with some unexpectedly close wins vs top 20 but not quite top 10 teams, out of 14 games pre January, they had 6 games with adjusted offensive efficiency below 120. This team also has 6 games below 120, but actually a bit better peak performance with 4 games around 130 or above, vs only 2 for the 2024 team.

Basically the big difference between the two teams are the efficiency of volume shooters (Solo doing very poorly with efg% below 50% while taking a lot of shots) and overall lack of dunks in the offense. Dunks are the most efficient shots and they have taken about 20% less per game compared to 2024.

Assuming Solo recovers his shooting form the data looks pretty good actually.

 
CL82 said:
WAB - wins above the bubble? Why aren't the undefeated teams higher than us?
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Because a bubble team would have also won most similar games.
 
CTBasketball said:
I think we eventually need to trim the rotation down to 8. Lots of moving pieces that haven’t yet come together yet.

I think we’ll be okay.
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Barring an injury, none of Reibe, Smith, Stewart or Ross is falling completely out of the rotation. At least until we get to the post season.
 
CTBasketball said:
I think we eventually need to trim the rotation down to 8. Lots of moving pieces that haven’t yet come together yet.

I think we’ll be okay.
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I agree in theory, I'm just not sure which one of Stewart or Ross gets pushed out. Might just end up as them both getting 5-10 minutes depending on matchups instead of one getting 15 minutes
 
navery12 said:
I agree in theory, I'm just not sure which one of Stewart or Ross gets pushed out. Might just end up as them both getting 5-10 minutes depending on matchups instead of one getting 15 minutes
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That’s an easy answer. Ross.
 
CTBasketball said:
That’s an easy answer. Ross.
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idk that's not who i wouldve guessed you were referring to. Ross plays D better than any single thing stew does.
 
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navery12 said:
I agree in theory, I'm just not sure which one of Stewart or Ross gets pushed out. Might just end up as them both getting 5-10 minutes depending on matchups instead of one getting 15 minutes
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It's going to be a 9 man rotation all season. They've all already shown they bring important things and make us versatile. It's what separates us from just about anyone else.
 
ross isnt getting pushed out he's impacting winning a ton. he's also got the athleticism and defense needed against tougher matchups
 
I thought they would do well but even with Reed and Mullins I did not expect 10-1. I figured they would drop at least two.
I'm hoping some lopsided games during the BE season will give everyone time to get healthier, play together more and give our bench depth some time to get some game experience in case they are needed.
 
80shusky said:
I thought they would do well but even with Reed and Mullins I did not expect 10-1. I figured they would drop at least two.
I'm hoping some lopsided games during the BE season will give everyone time to get healthier, play together more and give our bench depth some time to get some game experience in case they are needed.
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Agree but Mullins and Reed both need time playing
 
NJHusky said:
Agree but Mullins and Reed both need time playing
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Agree. That was what I was saying about getting healthier and playing together more. Those guys will need time to ease back in hopefully during some games where the team has healthy leads and can work on some things.
 
superjohn said:
It's going to be a 9 man rotation all season. They've all already shown they bring important things and make us versatile. It's what separates us from just about anyone else.
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Wonder if Furphy gets any non junk time run in BE play. I think Ross & Stew will be mainstays all year based on matchups. Dan Hurley is going to build this team around depth wearing out the opponent, as it's a strength. Interesting theory on allowing the fouling to play out in the early season - could be part of the thousand cuts approach, nothing easy, slow game down, wear team out.

Couldn't have had a better outcome given the circumstances in the non con. Only loss being to the number one team in the country, close. 5-1 is what I was hoping for healthy.

The BE is going to be fun this year because it should be fairly relaxed and an opportunity to really pull the rotation together, let back end guys get more run and allow injuries to heal up. It stinks it's down, but in some ways given the non-con success, could be a good thing this year. We just have to run through the league and then position well as the 4th one seed. I'd also be ok with the 2 seed in the East this year if it's with Duke. The ones likely land as:

Big12 best team (AZ front runner)
Big10 best team (UM front runner)
Duke (slam dunk)
Uconn or 2nd best Big12 team (ISU, Houston, BYU)

Don't see an SEC team landing a one this year. A Purdue or MSU longshots I would think to overtake UM and can't see the B10 getting 2 one's. They both feel like 2's.

SEC is going to be interesting to watch as not sure if they have a real front runner. Arkansas or UF feels like those teams, but really up in the air.
 
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If you have read my posts, you know I have been high on this team since the Summer. This team is elite. And it has been impressive to win these games with less than a full squad. That said, after 11 games, there are two dangerous patterns developing that could impact our ability to win it all: first is the incessant fouling and second, our putrid free throw shooting. While the refs suck against us, we do commit a bunch of stupid fouls, and they seem to come in bunches at particular segments during the game. Almost as if we lose concentration momentarily as a team on the defensive end. The free throw thing is bewildering because our guys, for the most part, are great shooters. Anyway, I do not worry about Solo's shooting, and I do not worry about Silas. We have plenty of firepower. I love our D. But against Michigan, Zona, or Duke, these two things can come back to bite us in the butt.
 
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