1st Game 1st Thoughts

[Icehawk]

They threw a stat up - it was something like 2800+ minutes played by Sanogo, Jackson, and Hawkins and ~180 for everyone else on this team prior to tonight. Two of those guys did not play major minutes tonight. So a bunch of new guys who have only played together over the summer and in some scrimmages showed up well enough for me to think the season will go well as they get experience. I was very happy to see Hurley playing a wide mix of lineups and giving out minutes - last year it felt like the cupcake games were wasted by not playing more of the young guys.

Clingan is tall guys, like REAL tall.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The players and their play reminded me a lot of what I saw at Gampel in the scrimmage. There's much to like, but sometimes the offense looks tentative & unfocused, and this bleeds over into 3-point and free throw shooting.

In their first D1 game, Karaban and Clingan looked comfortable, confident, active, and skilled playing alongside any combination of the 4 transfers.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Things I liked.

Clingan and Karaban playing assertively on offense.

Clingan tracking jump shots and anticipating rebound angles and getting position.

Things I didn't like.

Outside shooting

Transition offense.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

We need to be aware that the first game in Hartford often has the feel of a road game and is usually a dud from 3-point territory. I don't know if it is the site lines or the entire process of playing away from Storrs but I'm not concerned that the majority of newcomers struggled.

 

[Verne]

We gained depth, ball movement and shooting I think (even though shots didn't fall tonight) but we lost physicality and athleticism with the departures

Maybe a hot take...

But we gained the things that you need to win big games consistently at the highest level in the modern game. Gone are the days of bullying teams to wins and quite frankly that became pretty clear last year with Cole and Martin. We were a good team but we were not consistently going to beat top 15 teams with that formula. Toughness is great but ball movement, spacing, depth and hitting open looks more consistently is a much easier path to becoming a great team. Its hard to rely on a couple guys to consistently make tough plays all the time and be a great team all the time. This isn't aimed to be a slight at Cole and Martin at all. They had a style that worked to get us back into the conversation.

Think about Villanova and what's made them so great over the last 15+ years and why they're so frustrating to play. They have guys who can make shots all the over the floor, guys who can break down their defenders and attack teams with great spacing and ball movement. We have what looks a team that should be better at that going forward than we've had since the Calhoun Era.

Maybe I'm wrong or people can disagree but a slight change in style is absolutely necessary for this program to take the next step.

 

[mauconnfan]

Too early to actually get worried about things that weren’t good. Stonehill was not very good at all yet our only go to was Sanogo. Bigger better teams will take that away if our guys can’t shoot it.

The good is Karaban is a basketball player, smart one. Under control, sees the floor and is solid on the perimeter as well as interior. Will be the starter eventually. Samson is lost on D still, all the tools but needs to understand the game better.

Newton can get to the line, can make some plays but his D is so so at best. He didn’t shoot it well but who did? Diarra more aggressive, excellent defender but even with 7 assists needs to tighten up the handling and passing. But what a nice addition. Alleyne is a nice overall player on both ends great bench piece. Joey C can shoot it, will need that on occasion. Donovan played well, even early his missed left handed spin then getting his own rebound was good to see. Blocked shots were nice especially when he moved his feet to guard a guy baseline when he stopped to shoot it DC was able to extend for the finger block, good stuff.

Overall lots more to see. Not thrilled with how little they actually ran any offense to set anyone up but Sanogo. Chemistry takes time let’s see how Friday looks.

 

[imno1]

Our team will look and play a lot different with Jackson and Hawkins playing big minutes. It’s really hard to get a feel for the team without AJ on the court. DC moves much better than I realized and seems to be a pretty smart player. He’ll have some growing pains but I can see him being dominant in a few years. I expect Alex to be one of the best freshmen in the league. He had nerves last night but he’s just oozing with skill. I’m really excited to see his progression.

 

[Vancat]

Diarra is a bulldog and a huge upgrade over Gaffney though.

this!

 

[Get a Job]

You've now posted the exact same thing in 3 different threads.

And it's been inaccurate every time. (ESPN says they shot 71% from the line.)

 

[Excalibur]

I'm far less concerned about the shooting than I am about the inability of our guards (other than Diarra) to break down defenders and get into the lane. Newton was not good.

Ultimately we looked like a group of guys who just started playing together. No chemistry at all.

 

[GetTheFacts]

Newton will be fine long-term. He was very good at getting to the line last year at ECU, and shot 88% from the stripe. We haven't had a guy that forces fouls like him in years.

The amount of depth we have is pretty incredible. The amount of turnover from last year didn't fully sink in until half-way through the first half when Sanogo was the only guy on the floor that's proven himself in a UConn uniform. Hurley is going to have his hands full in terms of configuring the lineup, but that's a good problem to have. I could see us getting off to a slow-ish start to the season because we have so many new players and Hurley wants to give everyone a fair chance to prove themselves.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

this!

 

[HooperScooper]

Samson is lost on D still, all the tools but needs to understand the game better.

One thing that infuriated me was how Johnson jumps around so much when playing defense. He looks like he has no clue how to play positional defense and that got him in early foul trouble. All he has to do is watch what Sanogo did yesterday. Stood tall, with his arms up, moved his feet well without leaving the ground. Johnson is tall and really long. He should be able to play defense like Sanogo did. He doesn't have to jump all the over the place like a Mexican jumping bean and get himself into fouling situations so often.

 

[MDeL04]

Samson Johnson shouldn't see the floor again. He's not skilled (which echos what Dauster has been hearing).

I'm glad you aren't the coach. Trying to say he isn't skilled is just stupid. You wanna say he lacks confidence, fine, but the talent is through the roof with that kid. Not everyone on the team needs to hit threes or be a jump shooter. Playing HIS role will be very valuable to us. What he brings you can't teach and he will impact games in multiple areas. He will be a beast on the offensive glass/in transition and will thrive on defense. How many players can guard at least three positions?? Leave the coaching to the professionals and sit down.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I'm glad you aren't the coach. Trying to say he isn't skilled is just stupid. You wanna say he lacks confidence, fine, but the talent is through the roof with that kid. Not everyone on the team needs to hit threes or be a jump shooter. Playing HIS role will be very valuable to us. What he brings you can't teach and he will impact games in multiple areas. He will be a beast on the offensive glass/in transition and will thrive on defense. How many players can guard at least three positions?? Leave the coaching to the professionals and sit down.

Once he learns to play defense with his feet, he’s gonna be good. I’m hoping for a better rebounding freshman Akok

 

[Hurleyman216]

I know Alleyne is supposed to be a good shooter, but I don't like that he doesn't properly square up when taking 3's. He rotates his body so that his shooting arm is turned toward the basket and his non-shooting arm is behind him. He needs to square up his feet and his shoulders and those shots will fall.

 

[husky429]

I'm glad you aren't the coach. Trying to say he isn't skilled is just stupid. You wanna say he lacks confidence, fine, but the talent is through the roof with that kid. Not everyone on the team needs to hit threes or be a jump shooter. Playing HIS role will be very valuable to us. What he brings you can't teach and he will impact games in multiple areas. He will be a beast on the offensive glass/in transition and will thrive on defense. How many players can guard at least three positions?? Leave the coaching to the professionals and sit down.

If his talent is what he showed yesterday, he won't be playing. He's obviously shown the staff something for him to start. I expect much more from him on Friday.

 

[husky429]

I know Alleyne is supposed to be a good shooter, but I don't like that he doesn't properly square up when taking 3's. He rotates his body so that his shooting arm is turned toward the basket and his non-shooting arm is behind him. He needs to square up his feet and his shoulders and those shots will fall.

0% chance he changes his form now. That's a multi-year off-season project.

The big limitation is that he's going to have issues shooting moving to his right and it's slower off the dribble.

 

[navery12]

 

[Scrutineer]

Ya never really learn much from games like these, but I think we certainly learned that Adama will be a monster, DC can play at this level and will get good minutes, and Diarra is going to be huge for us, specifically on the defensive end.

Initial observations:

The Good:

1. Adama, Diarra, DC, Karaban.
2. Karaban specifically is going to be important with his shooting. We will improve overall but the amount of open misses wasn’t ideal.
3. Thought Samson and Alleyne brought great energy, they are both gonna play their part.
4. Interior defense was great
5. Free throw shooting looks to be strong

The Not-As-Good

1. Joey C doesn’t fully look up to it, but could’ve just been an off game. He is tiny and very slight, and not sure he’ll be able to handle the physicality of the BE. Also, his defending was pretty poor. He can shoot though.
2. I’ve been saying for a few years I want to see more drives to compliment our post game, our half court offense may be pretty one dimensional.
3. Newton was pretty meh. This is a game you’d expect him to show out in, especially with how much he has the ball. Getting to the line a lot is great, but not making a field goal against a team like this is…ooph.
4. Obviously Hawkins. Really, really feel for the kid. Seeing him tearing up after that fall is gutting. He’s had multiple concussions, he needs to and will be sidelined for an extended amount of time. Just awful to see.

Overall it was fine, saw some really good things, and definitely some things that need work. I thought the coaching was fine as well, but as some others mentioned in the chat, I want to see some more designed plays and things that get the guards going, rather than just post ups.

Work in progress!

I didn't like Newton forgetting there were other guys on his team. Several were wide open or, in one case, standing by the basket waiting for the pass while Newton tried to make a play, missed the shot and got fouled. Hoping it's just first game stuff that will be corrected.

 

[PAHusky]

Honestly the first game just reinforced what I thought going into the season - this is a good team, but not really a great team. It should make the tournament, and should probably win a game, but anything beyond that is way up in the air.

It's a guard driven game and we don't have championship level guards right now. There's a lot riding on Castle's shoulders next year.

 

[superjohn]

Honestly the first game just reinforced what I thought going into the season - this is a good team, but not really a great team. It should make the tournament, and should probably win a game, but anything beyond that is way up in the air.

It's a guard driven game and we don't have championship level guards right now. There's a lot riding on Castle's shoulders next year.

Way too early to say that especially considering our 2nd and 3rd best players (guards) didn't play.

 

[gtcam]

No Midrange game - going to miss Whaley - I heard that AS worked on that all summer and this game would have been ideal to show that new skill set
Guard play was meh except for Diarra - love the ticker and his court vision - just needs to settle down a bit.
Clingan was very good for his 1st game as a frosh - it will get tougher for him but you can't discount 7'2" and that blocking ability. His ability to quickly pass out to the guards is great and something that AS should be watching.
Caraban is going to be a good one - he wants it bad and that shot is smooth
AS is AS - he can dominate and his athleticism looks even better than last year - looking forward to a huge year again - but please show us that midrange game
DH knew what he was getting from Joey C - someone to get 1 or 2 shots from per game
I agree with Clif - Springs should see much more time on the floor - why keep him on a scholly if you are going to tack him to the bench and keep DH's son company - another one of a number of head scratchers from DH but at least he still is sniffing the sage incense.
I am hoping Alleyne just had the jitters because I saw very little upside to his game - I want to see more out of him or see his minutes diminish.
Newton will drive without fear but his decision making is erratic. Playing for a doormat in the AAC is not the same as playing in the NBE - again, as with Alleyne, his 1st game - time will tell
Johnson is a huge ?

It's the 1st game and this team should and will get better with age, barring injuries. Lots of interesting pieces but still a challenging puzzle. They need to be ready for that important Oregon trip.

I think BU will offer a bit better comp and let's see what adjustments are made.

Praying for my man Hawk.................................

 

[Shamon30]

richy played one minute, grabbed 2 boards. cf 'alleyne'
i just don't understand anything aboot this whole springs thing with danny.
none of it. every time he gets on the floor, he shows real desire.
can he be useful? i don't know becuz he never plays. 3 years in.
i don't get it, and its getting weird.

It reminds me of how he refused to play Whaley until he couldn't.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Honestly the first game just reinforced what I thought going into the season - this is a good team, but not really a great team. It should make the tournament, and should probably win a game, but anything beyond that is way up in the air.

It's a guard driven game and we don't have championship level guards right now. There's a lot riding on Castle's shoulders next year.

You have to realize how ridiculous this sounds. Half the lineup - more than that, probably - is brand new. They were playing without 2 of their best players. And they played sloppy as hell and beat a bad team by 30 points. Imagine what Florida State fans are saying.