After a Good Night's Sleep...

[Sphinx]

I awoke this morning realizing that were it not for a ref's whistle or two, this team would be 6-0 and playing for the Maui Championship. And if it were, it would be exactly the same team that is causing so much anguish on this board. It wouldn't take some different team to be 6-0. It would take this team exactly -- needing work on the defensive end, needing time to knit together as a coherent unit. But our outlook would be entirely different. We would see absolute confirmation that we have a 10-deep bench. We would see major positives in the performances of Liam, Solo, Stewart and Nowell. We would not be so dismissive of Reed based on one sub-par game. We would realize that we have many pieces, and we have a coach who has proven before that he can pause, take stock and realign resources so as to maximize their potential. The season is just beginning.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We played poorly both games, we didn’t deserve to win. Stop blaming refs.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

Maybe that's true that we were a whistle away in both of our losses, but firstly, we had no business even being in position to win vs Memphis. We were badly outplayed. Secondly, if we had won the Memphis game, we wouldn't have even played Colorado.

We can try to spin the results to something positive all we want, but reality is, right now we are not a good basketball team. We have some good offensive pieces, but we really lack athleticism and we are horrible defensively. These are not great teams we are losing against.

 

[Glastonhusky]

I awoke this morning realizing that were it not for a ref's whistle or two, this team would be 6-0 and playing for the Maui Championship. And if it were, it would be exactly the same team that is causing so much anguish on this board. It wouldn't take some different team to be 6-0. It would take this team exactly -- needing work on the defensive end, needing time to knit together as a coherent unit. But our outlook would be entirely different. We would see absolute confirmation that we have a 10-deep bench. We would see major positives in the performances of Liam, Solo, Stewart and Nowell. We would not be so dismissive of Reed based on one sub-par game. We would realize that we have many pieces, and we have a coach who has proven before that he can pause, take stock and realign resources so as to maximize their potential. The season is just beginning.

I'm the biggest Hurley supporter there is but a T can't happen in that situation. If we had gotten by Memphis I believe we would have been heading into the MSU game with a different mindset and would have prevailed. Instead, we're playing Dayton for 7th place. There's a fine line between playing for the championship and playing for 7th place. Coaches like to say that every position matters, well it's also true that every action or non-action by a coach also matters.

 

[bendm]

The thought of Broome abusing Samson would’ve haunted my dreams last night if we were playing in the finals against Auburn

 

[Sphinx]

It was not my intention to reignite a discussion that has been thoroughly explored (and exhausted) in other threads. And it certainly wasn't my intention to reawaken the naysaying that has now become the forum's conventional wisdom. I was one who regularly disputed the forum's pollyannish conventional wisdom of the past few weeks. My only purpose today was to briefly state a current non-conventional viewpoint and elicit, perhaps, a few Thanksgiving Amens.

 

[Hunt for 7]

The thought of Broome abusing Samson would’ve haunted my dreams last night if we were playing in the finals against Auburn

Is it possible to get two fouls on one play. That could have happened. It took what 12 seconds for him to pick up a foul to start the second half against Colorado. He might be the best player ever at picking up fouls.

 

[Husker Husky]

Memphis had 3 things going for them 2 of the 3 are symbiotic. The first is insane shooting by Hunter. Good for him. The 2nd and 3rd are Hegerty forcing contact against defensive players, which should be no calls being calls. It constantly put his ass on the line and Uconn players asses on the bench. The way to counteract that is to make the guy pay physically. Like a boxer drops his hands after repeated body shots or a batter can't reach the outside pitch after a few "up and ins". You're getting the foul anyway, so make it count.

Colorado also hit insane shots. To lose on a basket where the shooter flings the ball in the air, while looking at an exit sign in the corner at the top of the lower level is so ridiculous that you just have to laugh. It didn't help that the Huskies decided that the only good shot is a shot from behind the arch. Yes, they get praise for driving, and kicking it out to the open guy for a 3, but you have to complete the drive enough times so that they don't just anticipate the kick out and make the "open 3" "a contested 3".

But, the team has to realize that they're playing 5 on 8 and just go out, run their offense, play mean defense and run them out of the arena before the extra 3 guys on the court can't influence the outcome of the game.

 

[Hunt for 7]

It was not my intention to reignite a discussion that has been thoroughly explored (and exhausted) in other threads. And it certainly wasn't my intention to reawaken the naysaying that has now become the forum's conventional wisdom. I was one who regularly disputed the forum's pollyannish conventional wisdom of the past few weeks. My only purpose today was to briefly state a current non-conventional viewpoint and elicit, perhaps, a few Thanksgiving Amens.

The intentions were admirable. Thank you for trying but as a group this is what we do. Don’t think this will stop until we either win a few games against the teams we are playing through 12/14 and the Xavier game.

Or if it becomes more evident that even winning a BE title is a bridge to far for this group.

But right now there is too much disappointment and shock to really think objectively.

 

[Smp7598]

We played poorly both games, we didn’t deserve to win. Stop blaming refs.

Teams play poorly all the time and win,so don’t pretend poor officiating don’t decide the outcome of games and yes I know this team is not good enough to overcome poor play or bad officiating!

 

[CT2SC]

Teams play poorly all the time and win,so don’t pretend poor officiating don’t decide the outcome of games and yes I know this team is not good enough to overcome poor play or bad officiating!

The officiating definitely played a part in our losses but what these games showed are that we are currently on par with two unranked teams and not the number two team in the country.

 

[UConnJim]

Sure, UConn could have won, but didn't. Yes, the defense is a big concern, but so is winning close games. UConn was up 3 with 1:22 to go in OT against Memphis and up 3 with 1:33 to go against Colorado and lost both games. Honestly, Hurley needs to tone it down at the end of games and focus on the game and execution.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My takeaway? Hope this team becomes fun to watch and competitive. I don't expect another NC. Never did. But I really dislike the sloppy, ugly games we're playing. Much credit to pushing Memphis to OT, that was enjoyable. Then OT took forever, and we boned it up. Refs stunk, sure. But the team has to find out what it is and play better. Hopefully tonight.