Alex Karaban doesnt care what you think | Page 5 | The Boneyard

Alex Karaban doesnt care what you think

MrJoe said:
Alex is in a shooting slump ; it should end because he is a good shooter . In the last two minutes of a tied road game he made a go a head basket grabbed two important rebounds and after missing a shot that should have gone in on a good move hustled and forced a play to keep the ball in UConn’s hands . Four winning plays in last two minutes… Mike drop
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I'm a big fan...but did you forget the missed 1/1 that would have sealed the game?
 
I think it's a very few set of individuals that are bashing him. He's our Captain America this year; supposed to be the leader and represent everything right about this program.

Hopefully whatever slump he's going through gets resolved.

Regarding his game, last night was a strong performance from him in all facets minus his shot. He found multiple ways to contribute positively.

The worst kind of nights for him are the one's like SJU where he was a net negative and let's his inability to shoot the 3 impact his focus and effort. That is rare for him and last night was a good bounce back and if his shot fell it would have been a fantastic evening for him specifically.

If he can continue to grab bounds, be a connector, and play solid defense that keeps the team moving in the positive direction while he fixes his shot.

Even when his shot isn't falling he pulls the defense out, they have to respect it, and that creates driving lanes for Liam, Hass, and Solo so he can help shooting 3s even when he doesn't make them.
 
I understand how frustrated the fan base is with Alex's performance this year. Many were expecting much more with regards to scoring and overall play. Like Coach Hurley stated recently nobody is crowned in February and aside from overall team play the same applies to Alex. He is too good of a player / shooter to continue to perform on a subpar basis and I believe when the time comes i.e. March, Alex will show up and be the player everyone was expecting him to be. Keep the faith he will prevail when it will count the most.
 
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HooperScooper said:
...

“It’s been tough,” he told The Courant. “It’s been tough just because you obviously want to see your 3s go in and you’re known as a shooter. When it’s not falling, it weighs on you mentally. But there’s a reason why I’m playing 40 minutes a game, there’s a reason why I played 38 minutes today. My shot’s not falling, so I’ve got to find other ways to impact the game and continue to lead for this team on the court. Eventually the shots will fall. I’m working my ass off in the gym every single day, so the storm’s eventually gonna end and I’ll be lighting it up soon. Everything happens for a reason.”

www.courant.com

As Liam McNeeley carries UConn men, Dan Hurley calls for ‘reinvention’ as rest of his team struggles

Liam McNeeley accounted for more than half of UConn’s points with 38 in its 70-66 win at Creighton, providing a valuable piece as the Huskies workshop lineups.
www.courant.com www.courant.com

Alternate access:
McNeeley carries UConn men in career night, Karaban’s woes continue as team looks to ‘reinvent’ itself
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This is exactly what I would expect him to say based on what little I know about him. Sounds like he is trying to keep a positive approach, and I hope it's not weighing on him too much mentally.
 
No hate that I see.
My dumb advice
Have a play set for Alex first shot of next game
We all love him
 
I’m sure I’ll get killed here but here goes.

A sincere question.. I love AK and he’s givin the program so much. He’s a total team player and winner.

But… when does it get to the point where AL shoots us out of games that the green light gets turned off and he’s asked to do just the many intangibles he does and stop shooting.

In both St John’s and Creighton games he bricked several shots at pivotal points. At some point we have to have Solo and Liam taking those shots AK takes.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
In the chat and threads there has been a lot of calls for him to stop shooting. People feeling bad for him. People saying his head is not right or that he lost his nba shot.

He is still shooting when he gets a good look and he wants to go the line at a big moment even if he hadn't been that guy this year from a conversion standpoint. He doesn't care about any of that noise.

We are quick to do this to our favorite guys and it's corny. We did it to AJax, and Hawk, and Hass, and Sanogo, and Joey C etc.

But he keeps shooting. And he should. Because he knows what he can do.

(BTW, he has been doing some great things outside of shooting 3s)

I'm still on that Karavan
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Most fans fairly criticize AK but most "real" fans still support him and hope he turns it around because if this team has any shot at a 3peat AK has to play to the level he is fully capable of. My personal opionion is hes simply trying to hard almost like hes aiming his shots instead of just shooting. I dont think and never thought he was "the guy" material but at worst he was a solid #2 guy who could be an absolute killer when you need big shot. He needs to relax and let it fly and if hes open i fully believe he needs to shoot it.
 
Storrs South said:
I think it's a very few set of individuals that are bashing him. He's our Captain America this year; supposed to be the leader and represent everything right about this program.

Hopefully whatever slump he's going through gets resolved.

Regarding his game, last night was a strong performance from him in all facets minus his shot. He found multiple ways to contribute positively.

The worst kind of nights for him are the one's like SJU where he was a net negative and let's his inability to shoot the 3 impact his focus and effort. That is rare for him and last night was a good bounce back and if his shot fell it would have been a fantastic evening for him specifically.

If he can continue to grab bounds, be a connector, and play solid defense that keeps the team moving in the positive direction while he fixes his shot.

Even when his shot isn't falling he pulls the defense out, they have to respect it, and that creates driving lanes for Liam, Hass, and Solo so he can help shooting 3s even when he doesn't make them.
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Really good post. His reputation is still as an elite shooter -- no team is going to chance the fact that he could break out of the slump against them, and thus his gravitational pull will still open up the court for others.
 
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Captbluefin said:
In both St John’s and Creighton games he bricked several shots at pivotal points. At some point we have to have Solo and Liam taking those shots AK takes.
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At St John's he passed up a wide open look to Diarra in the corner who was well defended and turned the ball over immediately. In theory, I agree with you, but if he's out on the floor and he's wide open, he's gotta keep shooting. Because of his flat shot, most of his misses are ending up as long rebounds, which we've done a pretty good job of corralling.
 
Alex’s ceiling seems to be a third offensive option on a top team. With Liam and Ball emerging as the 1 and 2, he’s right where he needs to be again. So im not sweating the struggles.

My whole thing is that his threes always seem to be several steps behind the arc. Perhaps he’d benefit from making 80% of his attempts the toes-to-the-arc variety.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I don’t hate Karaban and I think he does a lot of good things for UConn, but his shooting is brutal. Maybe he should have a yellow light from deep until he warms up. The two choices are not fire away from deep or cut him.
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Have him start at the basket and work his way out. Not only taking threes. Kind of like the tv timeout competitions - layup, midrange, thee point, logo
 
He’s shooting horrendously from three. Terrible. But if he didn’t play the 5 against Creighton we probably wouldn’t have won. Looked like Liam brought out some of his intensity. He can help the team in a lot more ways than just shooting threes. Hopefully they use him in some mismatches near the basket to get his confidence up.
 
jibsey said:
I’m no shot guru but his arc has been flat, or it seems that way. Don’t know how that is fixed mid season.
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I am a shot guru and you are correct. It been very flat. But it can be fixed during the season. What we don't know and another poster brought this up is if he is also struggling to make outside shots in practice. If he is than it's a mechanical fix that Alex and the staff will correct soon. If he isn't then its a mental issue which is a tougher fix
 
martyn said:
Is he missing in practice like this, too? If not, the problem seems psychological. If he is, it seems more.
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The announcer yesterday said he was shooting poorly in warmups too
 
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Was it an an ankle injury for Alex? That alone could still be a factor on jump shots? I know I’m reaching here.
 
jibsey said:
Was it an an ankle injury for Alex? That alone could still be a factor on jump shots? I know I’m reaching here.
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what ankle injury did he have vs Gonzaga and Colorado?
 
nelsonmuntz said:
I don’t hate Karaban and I think he does a lot of good things for UConn, but his shooting is brutal. Maybe he should have a yellow light from deep until he warms up. The two choices are not fire away from deep or cut him.
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He is deadly when being a third option and then he looks like an underrated first option. That’s all. Also the more I watch there is a reason why big east teams falter in the tournament it’s because the defense doesn’t translate and guys get the freedom of movement thrown at them. St. John’s won’t go far. Sorry. The grabbing and pushing is called nonstop at the dance. That is why we still have a good shot if we get healthy. I’ve thought if we can stay top 10 in offense and break the top 75 in defense we can be a real threat. Just need to hit shots, keep guys in front of us, and not foul ourselves out of games.
 
The problem with saying he should stop shooting altogether, or that his shots should go to someone else is that there’s a defense out there. Nobody is just going to give open shots to everyone. They make choices on matchups and how to defend our actions. If Alex is not a threat, his man will help and take away the cuts and screen and rolls, or if there’s a situation where we have good ball movement and one defender has to decide whether to rush out on Alex open on the wing or deal with the next pass to Solo in the corner, he’s going to play the pass.

We already have some players who are limited on offense, which Liam’s absence made more glaring. We need 3-4 scorers out there to make the type of offense we run effective. An AK who the defense can ignore just makes everything harder. If we run good stuff and AK pops open and just holds on to the ball and gives it up to someone else to face a set defense, it’s just wasted effort.

Hoping AK gets a couple looks this weekend late in the shot clock when he has no choice. Sometimes you get out of your own head when you don't have to question whether you should shoot.
 
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The thread title is “Alex doesn’t care what you think” isn’t true for one thing because that’s not who he is, that said the bigger problem is he should care what the NBA scouts think especially if he has a reputation as a lights out 3 point shooter as his primary skill and for whatever reason that’s no longer true. He’s definitely not helping himself after his UConn playing days are over. So it’s a lose/ lose situation for everyone especially AK. Really unfortunate to see how this seemed to come out of nowhere with no explanation for why ( injury) and no reason to be optimistic about it ending any time soon going forward. Does anyone know what his shooting statistics were before the Nova game. Was it up/ down / about the same as his previous seasons because he used to be around 40% and now he’s around 12-15 % at best.
 
I'm picking up some of this tomorrow at Trillium to drink on Saturday during the game. Maybe it'll help Karaban's mojo.
Trillium-Grand-Caravan-label-1024x1024.jpg
 
Just read Azzi Fudd saying she is using a sports psychologist, and it helped her a lot. She fought the idea for a while.
Last game: 34 points.
Azzi, can you whisper in Alex's ear?
 
First, I'm a huge Alex fan and want the best for him. Obviously, his shooting is a major issue. But why isn't anyone talking about the fact that in this slump in the last 7 games he still averaging 5 rebounds a game (1 OFRB) most of them as a PF. Which 5-6 is about his normal average in a perfect world but if you can't hit the broad side of a barn, then make it up in other ways. That's what bothers me the most. Evolve, get dirty and bang man. Be the garbage man they need until things turn around.
 
OGAggiesCT said:
First, I'm a huge Alex fan and want the best for him. Obviously, his shooting is a major issue. But why isn't anyone talking about the fact that in this slump in the last 7 games he still averaging 5 rebounds a game (1 OFRB) most of them as a PF. Which 5-6 is about his normal average in a perfect world but if you can't hit the broad side of a barn, then make it up in other ways. That's what bothers me the most. Evolve, get dirty and bang man. Be the garbage man they need until things turn around.
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“It’s been tough,” he told The Courant. “It’s been tough just because you obviously want to see your 3s go in and you’re known as a shooter. When it’s not falling, it weighs on you mentally. But there’s a reason why I’m playing 40 minutes a game, there’s a reason why I played 38 minutes today. My shot’s not falling, so I’ve got to find other ways to impact the game and continue to lead for this team on the court. Eventually the shots will fall. I’m working my ass off in the gym every single day, so the storm’s eventually gonna end and I’ll be lighting it up soon. Everything happens for a reason.”

You don't think he's been impacting other areas in the games?
 
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