Are we worried about our backcourt? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Are we worried about our backcourt?

auror said:
Our PGs combined for 14 assists tonight. For some reason they couldn't dribble, but it worked out.
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We could add Reed's assist production, a great first half of assists by him. Miller adjusted to this offense at half time so our offense stagnated.
 
housekeys said:
One of the great minds of college basketball, Geno Auriemma, gives this advice to players trying to figure it out. He asks them, "what is it you are really good at?". Then suggests the player focus and "do whatever it is you are good at".

As long as it is within the system of play, I think it is pretty good advice. This advice could help Silas. Couldn't hurt.
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That's Geno's advice to freshman. Basically, why do you think you were given a spot on this team? What do you do well? OK, just do that. Don't worry about the rest of it. It will come.

It's similar to what he says to veteran players, which is "find a way to impact the game." "If your shots not falling, shut down the opposing team player, get a steal, box out, get rebounds, set a screen, find a way to help the team." There's a reason he's the winningest college coach in basketball.

Getting back to the men's team, I have to think it is incredibly hard to be a first year point guard with Dan Hurley system. It's incredibly complicated and there are a ton of things you need to remember. This year's guards got thrown into the gauntlet with our out of conference schedule. They're in the early part of their learning curve against some of the best teams in college basketball. People complain about the level of competition in this year's version of the Big East, but in many ways, I think it's just what the doctor ordered, especially for Demary and Smith. They're going to have the opportunity to get more comfortable in their roles against less demanding competition. That's going to put them in a position to be ready come March.

(We are still doomed, however.)
 
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They just have to execute the fundamentals stop turning it over and hit their fts that’s it. All I wanna see from Demery is to not turn it over and avoid foul trouble and the rest will take care of itself.
 
CTBasketball said:
I think we need to push the ball on fast breaks more to truly see how good Silas can be.
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Our offense tends to run on a long clock. We even ran out the clock several times in the second half. Ball made an incredible three as the clock ran out. If Texas had pressed us more the above might have happened even more. Hoping the team can be more creative at times like when Stu broke for a dunk. This is very disruptive to a press.
 
Orc said:
Very concerned about our guard play. Ball still cannot guard a chair and is useless when not hitting his threes. Our PG doesn’t contribute much offensively and they both can’t shoot. Not sure if this is a title team. Guard play is very suspect .
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Didn’t mean to laugh Orc. I tried to take it back. I think we need to relax. We are 10-1, beat some of the best teams in the country, including blowing out all four tires on an explosive Texas team and the best we can do is conclude we are not good enough? It is still early December for crying out loud.
 
The turnovers are a bit concerning there was a stretch at the end of the game where we struggled to score on multiple possessions that would have allowed us to extend the lead
The more concerning thing is the foul shot disparity, we can’t keep giving the opposition a twenty point gift without it coming back and biting us in the ass, we need to make our shots as well
 
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Not concerned long-term, I think things will be ironed out with Demary since he’s mostly overthinking his job. Easier games should give him time to fully assess his role.

But the guard play right now is one of the very few things that hold me from saying we’re true championship contenders. I think we belong in that E8-F4 range until we can create separation from our better opponents—though we’ve beat most of ours anyways
 
Is Hurley worried? Probably not and if he's not neither should anyone else.

In Hurley we trust. Trust me, if he felt we needed something, he would have added it. He didn't.

We're locked in for a title run.
 
cp176 said:
I’m not worried about our guards but Demary’s turnovers last night might result in his butt seeing more bench time if he doesn’t clean it up. You have to cut Ball some slack. His defense has improved and he is still a factor on offense whether he makes every shot he takes or not. Mullins is going to be a reliable option at the two guard if he has to be used there. I am still waiting for Ball to throw him the ball in the haklfcourt though. Could be just me I guess. Last night I would have liked to see Millender get some time when Demary was in his turnover phase.
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I was going to throw Millender out there as a joke. Certainly capable, but that was not the game to give him minutes. Once Mullins hit those two threes Texas called a time out and after that they denied him any open space. When Mullins did get the ball he forced up some quick shots, which he is capable of hitting, but that was the best looks he was going to get out there on the perimeter. Hurley will fix that going forward.
 
Sonova said:
What was supposed to be a strength has been wildly inconsistent thus far (yes I know we’re 10-1). A better team (than Texas) maybe gets us tonight because Solo seem like a fraction of himself and the two point guards don’t look like they’re in control of our offense. Time to start piling up consistent outings.
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10-1

All you doubters can go SUCK IT.
 
auror said:
Silas had 5 assists in 19 minutes tonight. That's very good.

Running the offense wasn't the problem tonight. He lost his dribble like three times, picked the ball up in the corner once, and made a sloppy pass another time. Just basic basketball stuff.
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The losing his dribble so many times was just strange. It made me think he was sick or has some kind of minor injury. I'm still confident he'll get to where we need him at some point this season.
 
XLCenterFan said:
We don’t have a QB. Unless we settle that, it’s going to be hard to beat elite teams in March. Silas has to show me more or start Mali. Multiple people in my section last night stated the same thing without being prompted.
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We’ve beaten some pretty good teams in November and December so it might not be that dire.

Also benching Demery would be about the dumbest thing you could do.
 
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XLCenterFan said:
We don’t have a QB. Unless we settle that, it’s going to be hard to beat elite teams in March. Silas has to show me more or start Mali. Multiple people in my section last night stated the same thing without being prompted.
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That's way overstating it since Malachi had 9 assists each of the past two games - IF we have to make a bad analogy to football that's 3-4 touchdown passes. At most we are a hockey team whose first line center isn't putting the puck in the net, getting lots of assists but also creating too many breakaways for opponents.

I like the post comparing Silas' start to Newton's and conclude:
A. It takes awhile to learn & run UConn's offense
B. UConn fans have a storied history of critiquing championship PG's esp when they aren't the #1 on the team, see Brown, Taliek.
 
3rdbass said:
They did have 8 TOs which was not good. Demary had 5 of them.
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Smith had two turnovers that hit Reed in the hands. The first pass could have been a little better - a little too much zip in traffic when a bounce pass or lob would have been more effective. But if Reed squeezed both of them, he’d have 9 and 1 (Or maybe 10 or 11 and 1 if Reed was able to finish). That said he overdribbles sometimes and his handle feels loose, but he consistently ends up being pretty productive.

Demary had some issues with ball security/poor hands and miscommunication (throwing to a guy who was cutting) that he needs to clean up. But he also had some nice assists in those 5 for dunks or layups.

Both came in with good numbers as spot up three point shooters and as Mullins and Reed get more integrated, they can hopefully have that part of their game come out more often.
 
B1GEast said:
Is Hurley worried? Probably not and if he's not neither should anyone else.
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Hurley recently said that the guards weren't seeing everything like they should. Is he worried? Probably not. But he's aware there is room for growth.
 
To answer the OP question-No at 10-1.. If we were 1-10.Yes. Can we improve? Of course and we will. The season is a marathon not a sprint
 
As time goes on, would Braylon be the better 2 and Solo the better 3 option?

Not an opinion. A question.
 
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Not worried at all.

We run a complex offense but one component is the amount of screening we do to get one of our shooters a step or two advantage or mismatch on the defender for AK, etc. Just that aspect has been taking up too much time and winding up with whomever has the ball with 4 seconds left try and drive and make something happen.

That said, there is a lot more to this offense than just screens. When Braylon gets more into the flow he'll be like Cam in a sense: run ghost routes (hand up as if calling for the ball, but you are not the real target). With Cam he and AK would both do that, but now we need Mullins to do that with AK and maybe Solo too.

Ultimately wether we use stagger screens, back-doors, ghosts, pin downs, it's all supposed to get an advantage to a shooter while keeping the defense guessing and working. That takes time. We are always better in March than December with Hurley - both defensively and offensively. Making those reads takes a lot of reps, and for a combo guard who can call their own number, Silas is just about where Tristen was in year one with us and this offense. Malachi is a true PG, and can see things a little differently, but was also a 3 year starting PG at Dayton.

We're 10-1 and I'm sure 0% of people think if Reed and Mullins were 100% for AZ we would still have lost. But we also have Reibe well-experienced at this point, have Mullins healthy with 2.5 games under him so far, and Solo is starting to get incrementally back to form. Even AK is looking like a more consistent version of himself who is taking over short stretches effectively.

Not worried...
 
Ewekon said:
As time goes on, would Braylon be the better 2 and Solo the better 3 option?

Not an opinion. A question.
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Probably if you're asking who is the better shooting guard. But given Braylon is a guard anyway, we are just running 3 guards, AK and Reed to start.

Mullins is 2.5 games in while Solo is a Junior. Give it a little time, and Mullins will show he can drive better, guard better, and shoot better. But that likely won't change the starting lineup.
 
Nope!! Only concern is Solo from 3. Not overall, no. Pretty good situation to be 10-1 while having some guys still trying to figure the system out I’d say.
 
Silas' statline so far is not far off from Newton's first year here
  • Silas: 9.3 PPG, 5.1 APG, 4.4 RPG, 2.0 TO shooting 48.7% FG, 21.4% 3P, 75.8% FT (50.7% eFG)
  • Newton: 10.1 PPG, 4.7 APG, 4.5 RPG, 2.4 TO shooting 36.6% FG, 36.6% 3P, 81.6% FT (45.3% eFG)
Malachi Smith is our bench PG with a 3.75 AST/TO ratio and has hit clutch shots in 2 of our 5 high major wins

Solo Ball is in the coldest shooting stretch of his life and is still leading our team in scoring on 41% FG

We're 10-1 with the loss being by 4 against the #1 team in America while missing 2/5 starters. If we were losing games, I'd have different thoughts. But my point of view is that Silas will get better with time and Solo is bound to make shots eventually, so we are 10-1 and a top 5 team in the country with a lot of potential to get even better

Not worried
 
Not worried as Malachi all in all has been really good and Silas had 21-7 in arguably our toughest game and a triple double. However, he is clearly slumping and taking a bit longer than expected to find consistency. I wasn’t surprised that Newton struggled at first bc he came from a much smaller school and was a scorer being asked to facilitate.
 
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KingAG said:
Saying the “weakest spot on our team” is like saying “the ugliest part of Beyoncé”. It’s still prettier than just about everyone else.

Name 5 better duos in the country.
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LOL!!! What a terrible analogy!!
 
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