Baylor Post Game Thread

[AllHusky]

Hass is pressing too hard trying to be, if not “the guy,” at least “a guy.” Way too many difficult shots, some at the end of the clock to be sure but others because he’s just too anxious to score. He needs to let the shots come to him on offense, rather than hunting for them. That’s what he did so effectively last year.

Hass and Alex in similar situations. They are both "let the game come to me" and "take what is there" guys. Clearly their own expectations are that they should be leading the team in every way. As the other players develop and the team emerges, their roles will be clearer, and they will become more effective. Liam going to take the heat off Alex, and Aidan and Ahmad should be able to lighten Hassans load. Samson Johnson/Tarris were very encouraging against Baylor, as was Stewart. That is an 8 man rotation, with room for one more athlete to grab some time. Ross or Abraham?

Edit: Freudian slip, forgot about Ball, totally unintentional. If he goes to Defense Camp and Drivers Camp between now and Feb 1, he's the X factor.

 

[Scrutineer]

Who’s negative? We should acknowledge that Baylor was without Edgecombe, who may be their best player.

He may be their best player and may be a monster by March, but hasn't shown it so far, although he had his best game against Tennessee recently.
For the season he's averaging (in 27.4 minutes per game), 11 points and 5 rebounds per game on 36.8% FG, 26.7% on 3's, and 68.4% on FT's.
Against Tennessee, St. John's, Arkansas and Gonzaga he's averaged (in 31.75 minutes) 11.25 points and 5.25 rebounds on 31.5% FG's, 28.6% on 3's and 62.5% on FT's. Those numbers were skewed some by the great game he had against Tennessee two games ago.
So, is he trending the right way and was Tennessee his breakout game? Or, did he just put it together for one great game? We'll know in the next three months and he has the tools to be a star eventually.

 

[3rdbass]

Playing better D than Ball is simple and yes he did. But he wasn’t great especially first half. He was okay he was throwing bricks and I’m amazed he only had 1’TO I’ll have to see where he was bailed out. Again he’s a good player and a leader but the more he plays the more we see a 6th man.

I'm not saying he isn't better suited for the 6th man role and his offense needs to not to be forced though I would of liked to see a few more drives from him. Right now he is our best option at PG. Mahaney isn't a PG. He is a creator at SG. The offense gets bogged down with him at PG and you can't have him with Ball out there at the same time for long periods for obvious reasons due to defensive liabilities of the 2. That is why you saw Mahaney out there at the 2 with Diarra leading at PG for stretches in the game. I still have hope Nowell can get time as he is the person who can become our PG. It just might not be this year.

 

[80shusky]

They gutted out a win they sorely needed. Still a lot to work on but getting that win without Karaban says a lot about their effort. The defense is still pretty cringe.

 

[ctchamps]

Ross had one foul and it was a horrible call.

But I agree he’s pressing too much. Slow down and things will get better

He started this season with 101 minutes of play as a freshman and those minutes came in garbage time. He's not had enough playing time at this level to be at the speed of the game so he overplays things. Hurley needs him for his defense but his liability on offense in this game forced Hurley to roll the die with Ball.

I have confidence that he will figure it out and prove to be a great player for UConn on both ends of the court. People forget that he won the 3pt contest on first night. I don't know about others but I struggle not to be nervous sitting on my couch watching the game. I can only imagine what the pressure must be like for these kids.

 

[ctchamps]

I’m glad to see the love affair of the next anointed one in Ross coming to an end. Dominating UNH is one thing. He is nothing but a bit player currently.

What Hurley should have been doing in those cupcake games is getting Nowell and Abraham some run. They at least appear to have upside and can play defense.

And Ball?? If he can’t learn to do something other than hit open 3s he is a MAJOR liability for us. Right now he is literally doing nothing else additive.

I see a lot of potential in Ross. He's only played 100 minutes before this season and all of it was in garbage time giving him no experience in real game play so anyone expecting he was going to show his potential in every game, and particularly in the Baylor game against a highly ranked opponent, are making a mistake.

I could be wrong of course but I can't understand how someone dismissing Ross as a bit player and dismissing his accomplishments in the easier games can advocate for freshmen to play who have shown even less than Ross.

 

[navery12]

 

[Candyman]

He started this season with 101 minutes of play as a freshman and those minutes came in garbage time. He's not had enough playing time at this level to be at the speed of the game so he overplays things. Hurley needs him for his defense but his liability on offense in this game forced Hurley to roll the die with Ball.

I have confidence that he will figure it out and prove to be a great player for UConn on both ends of the court. People forget that he won the 3pt contest on first night. I don't know about others but I struggle not to be nervous sitting on my couch watching the game. I can only imagine what the pressure must be like for these kids.

You only have so much time to provide yourself before you are slowly out the rotation.

I like Ross as I think he can help on defense and rebounding. He grabbed a nice defensive board underneath with the bigs, something Ball refuses to do. However, he can't continue to miss wide open threes. He's missing them pretty badly too. Twice he had plenty of time, he even set himself and still missed. He wasn't rushing was just off.

 

[cp176]

No, I didn't notice that. UConn is bigger than Baylor.

Taller maybe - bigger, wider, stronger - not.

 

[ctchamps]

I hate to speculate but you have to wonder if his shooting has gone to his head? Where’s the rest if his game? Built like a RB, but doesn‘t drive. Lazy D. Doesn’t crash the boards. Just wants to shoot 3s. That’s not who he was last year.

I hate it when people say they hate to speculate but then speculate. If someone hates to do something why do it. Or do it without the pronouncement they hate it like I just was unable to do.

Here's an alternative possibility to yours. Perhaps Ball is compounding his bad play by overthinking and being upset about his poor play. Which is typical with many of us. In the AAU games of Ball and Ross I watched he was every bit as good a dog on defense as Ross. Neither quit a defensive play even when the game was over and they were getting beat by a considerable amount. Unless you know Ball has character issues and is a prima donna I don't buy your speculation. Put me in the minority but I believe he will work things out.

Overlooked in this game is that he had two deflected passes and one tipped shot. His reflexes to game play are getting better. The one over the top thing I'm concerned about Ball is he seems to be following the DHam route of bad luck. Remember how many games DHam's opposing player ending up making game winning shots even when he was playing great defense on that player. Solo's tips went right to an opposing player and ended up being assists. Maybe time for Dan to sage Ball.

 

[Mr. French]

Diarra, Liam, AK, Samson, Reed?

That’s interesting, not exactly Napier/Boatright levels at guard.

 

[cp176]

Hass and Alex in similar situations. They are both "let the game come to me" and "take what is there" guys. Clearly their own expectations are that they should be leading the team in every way. As the other players develop and the team emerges, their roles will be clearer, and they will become more effective. Liam going to take the heat off Alex, and Aidan and Ahmad should be able to lighten Hassans load. Samson Johnson/Tarris were very encouraging against Baylor, as was Stewart. That is an 8 man rotation, with room for one more athlete to grab some time. Ross or Abraham?

Edit: Freudian slip, forgot about Ball, totally unintentional. If he goes to Defense Camp and Drivers Camp between now and Feb 1, he's the X factor.

If Ball could handle the ball like Mahaney handles the ball, this particular negative nelly (me) would feel quite differently about this team. In terms of quality minutes right now, I see it as an 8 man rotation with Ross scraping out some minutes here and there. Have to think that if Nowell could help us now Danny would be playing him.

 

[boog204]

No, I didn't notice that. UConn is bigger than Baylor.

Physically bigger, maybe. But in terms of athleticism we have been inferior, imo, to Memphis, Colorado, and Baylor (I didn't see the Dayton game.) I mean there were many times in the Memphis and Baylor game where I thought the opponent had a clear athletic advantage at EVERY position on the court.

This is where I think DH needs to evaluate the defensive strategy we have taken. We don't have a consistent rim protector back there so why have our guys playing so aggressively just to have a layup drill? It took a bit last year for us to adjust to Cam as a defender because he was pretty porous early in the year. Until he/we figured out how to use DC as more than just a rim protector.

I'd be the first to tell you that athleticism isn't a necessity to win. But you also need to be mindful of using principles that were in place with previous teams with guys who may not have that skillset/ability.

 

[superjohn]

Taller maybe - bigger, wider, stronger - not.

UConn is taller than them and weighs slightly more than them. Tarris is a lot bigger than anyone on Baylor, he's a bear of a man.

 

[mauconnfan]

Quick question for anybody. In late game time and score situations, who needs to have the ball? Who won't turn it over and who will likely make their foul shots? I understand that Karaban wasn't out there, but it looked really random and really scary at times. Everything worked out though.

Add to that, who’s taking it in bounds and where are the in bounds plays getting people open. It wasn’t pretty I agree. We had big guards to throw it too and even DC if needed was dependable. Seemed a little confusing last night but it did work out.

 

[superjohn]

Physically bigger, maybe. But in terms of athleticism we have been inferior, imo, to Memphis, Colorado, and Baylor (I didn't see the Dayton game.) I mean there were many times in the Memphis and Baylor game where I thought the opponent had a clear athletic advantage at EVERY position on the court.

This is where I think DH needs to evaluate the defensive strategy we have taken. We don't have a consistent rim protector back there so why have our guys playing so aggressively just to have a layup drill? It took a bit last year for us to adjust to Cam as a defender because he was pretty porous early in the year. Until he/we figured out how to use DC as more than just a rim protector.

I'd be the first to tell you that athleticism isn't a necessity to win. But you also need to be mindful of using principles that were in place with previous teams with guys who may not have that skillset/ability.

Strongly disagree that Colorado is more athletic than us. Colorado is an unathletic bad team, it's ridiculous we lost that game. I also don't see how that Baylor team on the court last night was more athletic than us. I think you're confusing how bad some of our individual defenders are and confusing it with being unathletic. Solo is a bad defensive player and our worst defender, he's also an elite athlete. Ross is lost out there most of the time, he's also a really good athlete. Samson is lost out there too much but he stacks up athletically with any big in the country.

 

[3rdbass]

Physically bigger, maybe. But in terms of athleticism we have been inferior, imo, to Memphis, Colorado, and Baylor (I didn't see the Dayton game.) I mean there were many times in the Memphis and Baylor game where I thought the opponent had a clear athletic advantage at EVERY position on the court.

This is where I think DH needs to evaluate the defensive strategy we have taken. We don't have a consistent rim protector back there so why have our guys playing so aggressively just to have a layup drill? It took a bit last year for us to adjust to Cam as a defender because he was pretty porous early in the year. Until he/we figured out how to use DC as more than just a rim protector.

I'd be the first to tell you that athleticism isn't a necessity to win. But you also need to be mindful of using principles that were in place with previous teams with guys who may not have that skillset/ability.

I don't think Colorado was more athletic than us. They just outplayed us at the end when it mattered. We have some good athletes in Diarra, Ball(I know he sucks on D), Stewart, Ross, Johnson, Nowell. Reed and McNeeley are more athletic than they look. It wasn't like last year's team was so athletic with Clingan, Spencer and Newton. They were more skilled though.

 

[uconnfan68]

Quick question for anybody. In late game time and score situations, who needs to have the ball? Who won't turn it over and who will likely make their foul shots? I understand that Karaban wasn't out there, but it looked really random and really scary at times. Everything worked out though.

Barely. I expected Hass to be that guy, but he didn't seem to want it.

 

[cp176]

UConn is taller than them and weighs slightly more than them. Tarris is a lot bigger than anyone on Baylor, he's a bear of a man.

Tarris and Solo look the part for me. I'm not observing real well i guess. I do agree for sure that we are taller. I do think that if they can figure out how to get that ball to Tarris at the mid and low post more, he will have a huge year for us. It was also nice to see Johnson have a decent game. Good for him.

 

[cp176]

Add to that, who’s taking it in bounds and where are the in bounds plays getting people open. It wasn’t pretty I agree. We had big guards to throw it too and even DC if needed was dependable. Seemed a little confusing last night but it did work out.

Kind of looked like Haas won that job by default last night.

 

[ctchamps]

You only have so much time to provide yourself before you are slowly out the rotation.

I like Ross as I think he can help on defense and rebounding. He grabbed a nice defensive board underneath with the bigs, something Ball refuses to do. However, he can't continue to miss wide open threes. He's missing them pretty badly too. Twice he had plenty of time, he even set himself and still missed. He wasn't rushing was just off.

The first half he played decently. But he lost his composure and became a liability on offense. His two turnovers really hurt. A shame really because he was the player to replace Ball at the end of the game.

His defense and rebounding will likely get him minutes. Hopefully he can develop composure because he actually is a very good three point shooter. I expect his playing time will be limited in the next two games but should pick up when we play the middling BE teams.

 

[ctchamps]

Seems a lot of people on here say this win was at least somewhat ugly. WTF?

Beating a ranked team while short a starting forward and having resilience when things didn't always go the Huskies' way?

Coach staying at least a little less maniacal on the sidelines?

The team overall playing with more poise?

This may not have been perfect or artistically pretty, but I think this was more than fine, especially after the nastiness in the Maui Classic just last week.

I thought the team played with poise in the Memphis game. The coach on the other hand.

 

[ctchamps]

Agree there’s something there and there’s no doubt about that. Problem is for now we were fed a bit more from our HC and the expectations flew off the charts. Take baby steps with him but Stewart needs more minutes than he does right now.

Does he have the foot speed to play any other position than the four?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Does he have the foot speed to play any other position than the four?

I think he has as much or more footspeed than both Castle or McNeeley, so, yes?

Unless the matchup doesn't allow it, I'd like to see more of McNeeley at SG and Stewart at the 3. Stewart's ability to protect the rim is probably second only to Johnson. He's really good sliding over against penetration.

 

[superjohn]

I think he has as much or more footspeed than both Castle or McNeeley, so, yes?

Unless the matchup doesn't allow it, I'd like to see more of McNeeley at SG and Stewart at the 3. Stewart's ability to protect the rim is probably second only to Johnson. He's really good sliding over against penetration.

I want to see more Liam, Jaylin, and Alex on the court together with Liam at the 2, and Jaylin at the 3. I think it makes us better on both sides of the ball.