Adjusted D Down to #41

[JohnnyJr]

I think we have to consider he is really playing for the first time. He has all the tools but he certainly needs to get stronger. He has incredible hops and length. Next year or hopefully by late this year we are going to start to see the experience pay off. He has a good touch in the lane that has surprised me. Also if he would at least look at the basket when no one is guarding him it would help open up some driving lanes. We were told last year he could shoot the ball. Maybe Hurley is telling him to not look for his shot and in the post season he takes a few hits one or two and then it changes the whole defensive game plan of the opponent kind of like Adama started to do.

He was rebounding better earlier this year though granted against some crappy teams. Seems like he hasn’t had any offensive boards in a couple games

 

[3rdbass]

1. We are not as good a defensive team as last year. Jackson was a unicorn defender, and Hawkins was much better on D than Spencer is.

2. Having said that, missing DC obviously matters a lot. The difference in how we play D with him guarding the rim versus Samson Johnson is huge.

If DC were not to come back, given how great our offense is our D is enough to possibly eke out a Big East regular season title, but it would be very difficult to win 6 straight tourney games relying solely on offense. having said that, there is no reason to assume we’ll be playing the rest of the season without DC.

While Jackson improved by his Sr. Year he still had issues keeping his man in front of him. I think Castle is already a better defender than Jackson was at least on the ball. Maybe help defense is were Jaskson really shined on some blocks and steals. Now Jackson was more comfortable helping run the offense then Castle is presently but I think that will change as we get further along in the year. With Castle and Diarra out there we have great guard defense. Spencer and Karaban can be weak links. Johnson like another poster says needs to learn to stay on the floor. That is hurting our defense a lot.

Also, unlike last year were we had Sanogo and Clingan inside this lineup can get punked with Samson and Karaban guarding the hoop. We do need Clingan back healthy to reach our peak as a team. Still not sure why we didn't pick up a beefy PF in the Portal this past offseason.

 

[NIT88]

The defensive rating on KenPom is essentially points per 100 possessions.

Allowing teams to rack up a bunch of points at the FT line in Big East play probably has something to do with that metric slipping.

In the non-con the most FT points we allowed in a game was 20 (vs Indiana).

We have allowed 20+ points from the FT line in 3 of our last 4 Big East games (all wins, ironically).

Good point. It’s also ironic since Dan Hurley teams tend to foul alot.

 

[uconnfan68]

I don't care if we're 200 in KP Def, as long as we win. Another lucky NC is all I want.

 

[tzznandrew]

I don't care if we're 200 in KP Def, as long as we win. Another lucky NC is all I want.

Why do you keep coming into threads to make meaningless contrarian statements like this? You can add this exact comment to every thread: "I don't care if X gets draft, as long we we win a title," "I don't care if we're #1 now, April is all that matters," "I don't care if we get this recruit, as long as we get another title," "I don't care if our 3pt% is low, as long as..."

What does it add?

Every single poster wants another NC. But having a discussion about specifics of how we get there is the purpose of a message board.

 

[husky429]

Why do you keep coming into threads to make meaningless contrarian statements like this? You can add this exact comment to every thread: "I don't care if X gets draft, as long we we win a title," "I don't care if we're #1 now, April is all that matters," "I don't care if we get this recruit, as long as we get another title," "I don't care if our 3pt% is low, as long as..."

What does it add?

Every single poster wants another NC. But having a discussion about specifics of how we get there is the purpose of a message board.

Also, I prefer winning during the season too, putting guys in the league, watching players develop, recruiting well. Natties are obviously the #1 goal, but there's a lot more fun to be had as a fan than March. It's why we start watching games 5 months earlier.

 

[tzznandrew]

Also, I prefer winning during the season too, putting guys in the league, watching players develop, recruiting well. Natties are obviously the #1 goal, but there's a lot more fun to be had as a fan than March. It's why we start watching games 5 months earlier.

It's a sickness, I think, if you can only enjoy things for the end result. There is joy to process and struggle, and joy in watching teams grow but not win a title. Not winning a title isn't a failure except for rare teams (1991 UNLV, 1999 Duke, 2015 Kentucky), and I think this simplistic way of looking at the world... well, that's a conversation that extends well beyond basketball and not worth having here. The more meaningful joys tend to be in process rather than end result, that's enough.

 

[Dove]

To paraphrase @Dove "Clingan is the answer." With him in the paint as an eraser we can be more aggressive on the perimeter. Plus, the number of shots that he alters, just by virtue of being a very large human will dramatically help our defensive numbers. That's before you take into account his blocks, and the fact that Johnson should be better defensively playing fewer minutes.

Thanks for the hat tip.

Maybe I would have used "Clingan is the Cure." Not sure, tho.

 

[Umami Zen]

I think some guys are just natural rebounders. They understand how different types of shots come off the rim and get in position accordingly. Samson doesn't have that natural instinct. Also, he needs to get stronger in his base so he can box out more easily and not get pushed around so much.

Dennis Rodman-Decent rebounder himself-Said he used to position himself for rebounds based on who the shooter was and the rotation of the ball on their particular shot.

Samson is learning about BE bangin'.. Can't over-commit on the up-fakes . Great on weakside blocks but gotta show more discipline in the blocks.

 

[businesslawyer]

We know the perimeter defense isn't great at stopping dribble penetration and with Clingan out and Johnson in foul trouble there is no rim protection and defensive rebounding has been sus.

While Jackson improved by his Sr. Year he still had issues keeping his man in front of him. I think Castle is already a better defender than Jackson was at least on the ball. Maybe help defense is were Jaskson really shined on some blocks and steals. Now Jackson was more comfortable helping run the offense then Castle is presently but I think that will change as we get further along in the year. With Castle and Diarra out there we have great guard defense. Spencer and Karaban can be weak links. Johnson like another poster says needs to learn to stay on the floor. That is hurting our defense a lot.

Also, unlike last year were we had Sanogo and Clingan inside this lineup can get punked with Samson and Karaban guarding the hoop. We do need Clingan back healthy to reach our peak as a team. Still not sure why we didn't pick up a beefy PF in the Portal this past offseason.

Agree strongly with all of that but the conclusion. Castle is a really good on the ball defender, but what made AJ special was his off the ball defense. Castle doesn’t do that (and I wouldn’t expect him to as a freshman).

 

[3rdbass]

Agree strongly with all of that but the conclusion. Castle is a really good on the ball defender, but what made AJ special was his off the ball defense. Castle doesn’t do that (and I wouldn’t expect him to as a freshman).

This is true but I have been seeing improvements in this. I do hope his offensive instincts get stronger the longer he plays especially his passing. Maybe gain some of AJ moxy when passing. He has that skills it is just a matter of him feeling comfortable with the team and speed of the game which his injury pushed him back.

 

[navery12]

Everyone is talking about Clingan, but last year's elite D only had him in there 1/3 of the time.

Our individual perimeter defense is not as good. Last year, everyone could lock down their guy and opponents could go an entire chunk between TV timeouts without a field goal (see SDSU). This year's team can't do that, but the question is "do we have to?"

The other question is, can our D improve throughout the year, and we have evidence from prior years to suggest that it can. Last year was unique in that our D was elite from November through April.

That's kind of missing the point though. It's not simply that Clingan is such big defensive presence, which he is. It's that the entire philosophy has changed with his injury.

Our defense last year and this year funneled guys into the paint for Sanogo/Clingan and then Clingan/Johnson. That's far less effective when you're playing Karaban and Stewart at the 5 for stretches

 

[REB1094]

Our defense sucks because we're missing our defensive anchor

Clingan's defense isn't just limited to blocking shots in the post. Every single player movement within 10 feet, even up to 12-15 gets affected when he's in there

Our biggest defensive issue right now is that guys just walk into the paint and get to the rim. If a guard is driving to the hoop and they see 7'2 Clingan down there, they won't keep going. If someone is posting up Karaban and Clingan is behind him, they won't keep backing into the paint

The ratings will quickly improve when he's back and in the swing of things again

 

[3rdbass]

That's kind of missing the point though. It's not simply that Clingan is such big defensive presence, which he is. It's that the entire philosophy has changed with his injury.

Our defense last year and this year funneled guys into the paint for Sanogo/Clingan and then Clingan/Johnson. That's far less effective when you're playing Karaban and Stewart at the 5 for stretches

Yeah Johnson' foul trouble has killed us recently as we have no cover for the rim and guards faces light up when they see that. Though even with Johnson in there he is a string bean and gets pushed around for easy rebounds. We didn't have this issues with Sanogo or Clingan last year manning the Center position. I'm still baffled why we didn't get more robust strong forward in the Portal. I know the game is changing to more finesse type player but would of been nice to have a bruiser on the bench to back up the 4-5.

 

[navery12]

Yeah Johnson' foul trouble has killed us recently as we have no cover for the rim and guards faces light up when they see that. Though even with Johnson in there he is a string bean and gets pushed around for easy rebounds. We didn't have this issues with Sanogo or Clingan last year manning the Center position. I'm still baffled why we didn't get more robust strong forward in the Portal. I know the game is changing to more finesse type player but would of been nice to have a bruiser on the bench to back up the 4-5.

Definitely would have been nice to have, I just think it's hard to convince anyone of significance to come and only get minutes if there's an injury. The 4 and 5 spots were already basically full between Karaban/Stewart/Johnson/Clingan

 

[3rdbass]

Definitely would have been nice to have, I just think it's hard to convince anyone of significance to come and only get minutes if there's an injury. The 4 and 5 spots were already basically full between Karaban/Stewart/Johnson/Clingan

I think we could of had someone ahead of Stewart easily from the Portal but I understand. It just hurts us big time with Clingan is out as nobody can really control the inside. Even though Sanogo was not the most athletic he held his own inside with his long arms and strong body.

 

[Gutter King]

1. We are not as good a defensive team as last year. Jackson was a unicorn defender, and Hawkins was much better on D than Spencer is.

2. Having said that, missing DC obviously matters a lot. The difference in how we play D with him guarding the rim versus Samson Johnson is huge.

If DC were not to come back, given how great our offense is our D is enough to possibly eke out a Big East regular season title, but it would be very difficult to win 6 straight tourney games relying solely on offense. having said that, there is no reason to assume we’ll be playing the rest of the season without DC.

No debate on your #1. Even California made some pretty important defensive plays in the tourney. They all got better by the end of the year, and I feel like its reasonable to expect this team will as well. (We are at the exact time of the season of our meltdown last year after all).

In case people don't believe the impact of DC. The sport-reference (random I know) has him rated the 18th best defender in the past 15 years. I dont think this is as sophisticated as other sites, but it's the only thing I found after a quick search. The current 41 Torvik seems acceptable with this knowledge. (We still give up wayyy too many points at the free throw line, and one could argue will make our defensive metric better again in the Non-Con/Tourney time/Non-BE.)

Point being: Hurley will coach them up to play better defense as a unit, but will likely only be possible when we have the whole unit.

 

[Skiblets]

Our guards are getting beaten off the dribble more regularly. Couple that with Clingans absence and there you have it

 

[AtlHusky]

Thanks for the hat tip.

With the opposing coach in Sunday's upcoming game in mind, I was wondering if you had any other hat tips?

 

[sdb1989]

I know the paint defense looks bad but by the numbers it’s our 3pt defense that’s about 5% point worse than last year. This is from Torvik I don’t have Kenpom access.

View attachment 95064

Kenpom also shows a big drop off in our perimeter D

 

[uconnfan68]

It's a sickness, I think, if you can only enjoy things for the end result. There is joy to process and struggle, and joy in watching teams grow but not win a title. Not winning a title isn't a failure except for rare teams (1991 UNLV, 1999 Duke, 2015 Kentucky), and I think this simplistic way of looking at the world... well, that's a conversation that extends well beyond basketball and not worth having here. The more meaningful joys tend to be in process rather than end result, that's enough.

It was just sarcasm about us only winning by luck.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Every single poster wants another NC.

I'll concede it's a percentage well above 90% and not in dispute within this thread.

But having a discussion about specifics of how we get there is the purpose of a message board.

It is not "the purpose of a message board," although it regularly confirms itself as an appealing possible function among many here.

My expectation and observation is that defense has needed rethinking and retooling in response to the unexpected loss of Clingan. How could it be otherwise?

Leaving aside DePaul, we've defeated 3 of the league's most experienced and successful long-career coaches who have done their best to exploit the current reduced capabilities, and come up short. Concurrently, we're witnessing a shift to small ball, and an expansion of the roster possibilities.

I'm here to share the season's journey from many angles. In spite of my better instincts, I even find myself interested in whether @Dove will use his demonstrated capacity for daring & poor taste to offer a hat tip.

 

[Devland]

 

[Hunt for 7]

It's a sickness, I think, if you can only enjoy things for the end result. There is joy to process and struggle, and joy in watching teams grow but not win a title. Not winning a title isn't a failure except for rare teams (1991 UNLV, 1999 Duke, 2015 Kentucky), and I think this simplistic way of looking at the world... well, that's a conversation that extends well beyond basketball and not worth having here. The more meaningful joys tend to be in process rather than end result, that's enough.

I thought we all learned that after our first girlfriend. The thrill of the chase was way more fun than the usual end result with a first girlfriend.

 

[bmayuc]

Sometimes things aren't that complex

2022 ---> 2023 Roster is almost across the board worse based on individual personnel. And last year we have lots of superlatives (Sanogo, Strongest/toughest/beastiest) (Clingan - Tallest/Most Dominant) (Jackson - Most athletic/competitive) This year we just have some regular guys and it shows.

The biggest roster miss remains using 2 scholarships on Jayden Ross AND Jaylin Stewart. It feels like they are a bit duplicative in the same recruiting year when you already are loaded at big guard/wing It just feels like we have too many wings and we're missing a backup quality 6'9, 230 lbs bruiser who rebounds and can bang down low.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Sometimes things aren't that complex

2022 ---> 2023 Roster is almost across the board worse based on individual personnel. And last year we have lots of superlatives (Sanogo, Strongest/toughest/beastiest) (Clingan - Tallest/Most Dominant) (Jackson - Most athletic/competitive) This year we just have some regular guys and it shows.

The biggest roster miss remains using 2 scholarships on Jayden Ross AND Jaylin Stewart. It feels like they are a bit duplicative in the same recruiting year when you already are loaded at big guard/wing It just feels like we have too many wings and we're missing a backup quality 6'9, 230 lbs bruiser who rebounds and can bang down low.

View attachment 95094

Not sure which quality 6’9 230 lb bruisers Hurley was going to convince to split backup minutes with Samson behind Clingan. Or in this scenario does Hurley run Samson out of town for said bruiser?

 

[bballerct50]

Sometimes things aren't that complex

2022 ---> 2023 Roster is almost across the board worse based on individual personnel. And last year we have lots of superlatives (Sanogo, Strongest/toughest/beastiest) (Clingan - Tallest/Most Dominant) (Jackson - Most athletic/competitive) This year we just have some regular guys and it shows.

The biggest roster miss remains using 2 scholarships on Jayden Ross AND Jaylin Stewart. It feels like they are a bit duplicative in the same recruiting year when you already are loaded at big guard/wing It just feels like we have too many wings and we're missing a backup quality 6'9, 230 lbs bruiser who rebounds and can bang down low.

View attachment 95094

Have to nitpick here. ‘23 Karaban, Diarra, Newton, and Johnson are better this year vs last year. And Joey C much better than Ross.

We have the same number of bigs as last year. Sanogo + DC + Johnson vs DC+ Johnson + Singare. If sanogo ever went down w an injury, we’d be having similar conversations.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Not sure which quality 6’9 230 lb bruisers Hurley was going to convince to split backup minutes with Samson behind Clingan. Or in this scenario does Hurley run Samson out of town for said bruiser?

Put that aside for a second, on what planet is the comp between 22-23 Karaban and 23-24 Karaban "neutral"?

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Sometimes things aren't that complex

2022 ---> 2023 Roster is almost across the board worse based on individual personnel. And last year we have lots of superlatives (Sanogo, Strongest/toughest/beastiest) (Clingan - Tallest/Most Dominant) (Jackson - Most athletic/competitive) This year we just have some regular guys and it shows.

The biggest roster miss remains using 2 scholarships on Jayden Ross AND Jaylin Stewart. It feels like they are a bit duplicative in the same recruiting year when you already are loaded at big guard/wing It just feels like we have too many wings and we're missing a backup quality 6'9, 230 lbs bruiser who rebounds and can bang down low.

View attachment 95094

2 things:
#1. That chart is insane. Diarra, Karaban, Newton, Samson are all improvements over their '23 version. Some by a huge amount. Definitely not neutral. Clingan has to be an incomplete right now.

#2. Who (specifically) is the transfer that is both 6'9" 230, and willing to take backup minutes behind DC (and possibly a split with SJ unless there's an injury).
Here's the 2023 portal

https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/basketball/2023/

 

[Spaceman213J]

Yes, UConn played some really tough non-conference teams, but there were 5 to 6 teams in there that some would label cupcakes. There was bound to be some drop.
Plus, playing in the Big East is another animal and some of the freshman need to make the adjustment. Castle is rounding into form and Ball is learning that Big East refs reward guys for driving into your chest and straight up defense doesn't really matter to them.
The effect of Clingan's absence is bigger than most people think. Clingan as a freshman was an excellent defender who wasn't really foul proned. I remember in different games, Walton, Bilas and others were amazed at how well he used his body and size without fouling. A guy like that can negate guards being beaten on the perimeter. It may even be part of the game plan... funnel the other team's offense toward the big guy.
Finally, it is a long season and teams hit lulls. Remember where this team was roughly 11 months ago. I'm sure Hurley just wants to see improvement with the team and hope they peak and fire on all cylinders in March. I look at Joey C. last year. He looked like a matador out there the 1st half season and while he wasn't ever going to make an all defense team, he was considerably better before the end of the season. Spencer seems to be improving. The frosh will, too. Hurley just needs to Clingan healthy and Clingan needs to be smart enough to be honest with staff and only worry about where the team is ranked at the end of March.