Blew Jay ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. In a weird way, having to play Creighton feels oddly AAC-ish. A school in Nebraska doesn't belong in the Big East. I mean, I remember when the farthest West we went was Syracuse. I can't make myself imagine a natural rivalry with Creighton (1370 miles from Storrs) any more than I could with Houston, Memphis or SMU when we were in the AAC.
2. Inauspicious start. 0 for 3, down 7 zip.
3. Creighton shooting lights out early, while we're shooting as if the lights were out.
4. 2 horrendous plays by Adama in a row! What's with a 20 foot brick-like jumper early in the clock at 13:35? Then Alexander drives on RJ, who expects Sanogo to pick him up, and Sanogo never even looked in the direction the ball was going.
5. Sanogo hurts his hand. Off to the locker room. Stitches? Just tape? No idea.
6. Sanogo back in, but now Martin hurts his hand (5:22)
7. And Hawkins runs into a screen and hurt his head. After last game's mild concussion, I doubt we'll see him for the rest of the night.
8. Wow is Ajax indecisive with the ball and looks totally afraid to shoot a three.
9. I've never seen this team play such crappy defense.
10. And Polley takes a shoulder to the groin.
11. At the half, we are down by 10 points, and by 24 to 15 on the boards, and are shooting embarrassing percentages across the board -- 33/10/50
12. After a bad start to the 2nd half, we came alive and cut it to 4 at 16:45
13. Somehow, it's a 1 point game at 15:15
14. And back to a 5 point deficit a minute and a half later.
15. Gaffney steals an inbound pass and lays it in for a tie at 9:16:
16. And Kalkbrenner immediately beats Sanogo down court for a stuff.
17. Sanogo looking away from the ball and his man a lot tonight.
18. At about 6:30, Sanogo has the ball just inside the FT line, and is double covered. Cole comes down the right side of the lane, totally uncovered, and Adama sort of fakes a pass to him then misses a turnaround. That pass to Cole absolutely needed to be made.
19. Adama got beat to the rim by his man repeatedly tonight. The hard hedge was a very soft hedge tonight, as Sanogo was slow to react and slower yet to recover.
20. Not sure how a guy could have 13 points, 16 boards and six blocks, and still stink the joint up. I guess going 6 for 16 while gift wrapping 22 points for the opposing center has something to do with it.
21. Meanwhile, Whaley had his worst game of the season. 3 points on one of six shooting an 2 boards. Pitiful.
22. After being down by 16 points with 4:04 left in the first half, we tied the game several times in the 2nd half, but never took a lead.

 

[Omaha-Jays]

1. In a weird way, having to play Creighton feels oddly AAC-ish. A school in Nebraska doesn't belong in the Big East. I mean, I remember when the farthest West we went was Syracuse. I can't make myself imagine a natural rivalry with Creighton (1370 miles from Storrs) any more than I could with Houston, Memphis or SMU when we were in the AAC.

I understand this take for old Big East fans but also get bent. Creighton has been at the top end of the new Big East. I don't really care if you don't think of us as a rival, but we have done more to legitimize this conference than most of the rest of the conference including programs like Georgetown and St Johns that I didn't expect to become walkovers

 

[Ratso]

who ckuf cares

 

[uconnfan68]

I understand this take for old Big East fans but also get bent. Creighton has been at the top end of the new Big East. I don't really care if you don't think of us as a rival, but we have done more to legitimize this conference than most of the rest of the conference including programs like Georgetown and St Johns that I didn't expect to become walkovers

Good answer. Until we beat you, you’re right.

 

[djct1999]

The Pro of last night: We can have a no show by almost all our players and still have a chance to beat a quality opponent.

The Con of last night: Hold off on that Final Four talk.

Outside of a really flat performance, nothing else really changed. Its March and the truth about this team remains. It can win well into the second weekend of the tournament. It can also lose in the first. Neither would be all the surprising and last night highlighted all of this, the good and bad.

 

[jibsey]

The Pro of last night: We can have a no show by almost all our players and still have a chance to beat a quality opponent.

The Con of last night: Hold off on that Final Four talk.

Outside of a really flat performance, nothing else really changed. Its March and the truth about this team remains. It can win well into the second weekend of the tournament. It can also lose in the first. Neither would be all the surprising and last night highlighted all of this, the good and bad.

We’ve known this all season. We can beat the best but then go 1-9 from 3 out of the gate and have that too, but Creighton’s record is pretty similar to ours so yesterday was no shock.

 

[Huskybass]

The other team had no point guard. I am shocked that Hurley did not press them and make it an issue.. One trend that I don't like seeing is that we are often reactionary instead of proactive. There's no way a team without a point guard could have withstood a serious press if we were relentless with it.

 

[CheshireCat]

Love the subject line! Before I clicked in, I assumed it was Dan Hurley posting about his time with Jay Wright...oh well. I got 22 bullets to the head instead.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

21. Meanwhile, Whaley had his worst game of the season. 3 points on one of six shooting an 2 boards. Pitiful.

I’d have to look at all the box scores and do some math, but it seeems to me Whaley’s offense is a huge key. When he’s a productive contributor winning is so much more likely. The people calling for Polley to start are hoping for that offense from Polley while weakening the defense.

 

[weo777]

Wish we could press a lot more when playing teams who are short handed at the point guard position,particularly Jackson who s length could definitely be a factor.

 

[husky429]

Wish we could press a lot more when playing teams who are short handed at the point guard position,particularly Jackson who s length could definitely be a factor.

Eh, it's not the best option for us. Pressure is fine, but not a press. I wouldn't have minded trying it out of a timeout or for a few possessions.

Cole already has way too much put on his plate as a player. We were down Hawkins already. We're basically at a 7 man rotation at this point. The depth we thought we had is nonexistent. We have our 5 starters, Polley, and sometimes Gaffney/Hawkins depending on the game.

 

[jibsey]

No one here should be surprised that other teams have quality players and coaches that can cause us trouble. People here think the results should always be like the Globetrotters and the Washington Generals.

 

[Ts5034]

I think the most frustrating part about the game was we had so many chances to take the lead, but never could capitalize on the opportunities.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I’d have to look at all the box scores and do some math, but it seeems to me Whaley’s offense is a huge key. When he’s a productive contributor winning is so much more likely. The people calling for Polley to start are hoping for that offense from Polley while weakening the defense.

They need to post him weak side opposite Adama instead of having him stand in the corner or wing. I know "two big" offense is dead and it ruins "spacing" but having guys the opponent won't guard standing outside the 3 point line also does nothing for spacing. Move Whaley in and they'd guard him. Meanwhile, they do post Martin there sometimes, yet teams actually would defend him out to the line.

I feel like Hurley has some wishful thinking that teams are going to aggressively play man out beyond a player's range just because he does it. His offense would work great against his defense. But smart coaches aren't going to defend us that way. His starting lineup has three of five guys that don't need to be defended to the line. The answer isn't just to play a shooter over Whaley or Jackson, but to instead move those guys to a range where they will be guarded, or in Jackson's case for him to drive and kick.

 

[weo777]

Eh, it's not the best option for us. Pressure is fine, but not a press. I wouldn't have minded trying it out of a timeout or for a few possessions.

Cole already has way too much put on his plate as a player. We were down Hawkins already. We're basically at a 7 man rotation at this point. The depth we thought we had is nonexistent. We have our 5 starters, Polley, and sometimes Gaffney/Hawkins depending on the game.

Understood , but last night Creighton was even more short handed and with a newer point might have been a turning point. I guess I miss those days of Bazz and Boat picking the pockets of any sloppy passes or ball handling

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I’d have to look at all the box scores and do some math, but it seeems to me Whaley’s offense is a huge key. When he’s a productive contributor winning is so much more likely. The people calling for Polley to start are hoping for that offense from Polley while weakening the defense.

It seemed that way, and indeed he was relatively unproductive in losses to Creighton last night, Xavier, Villanova, Seton Hall, but the 1st Creighton loss was Whaley's 4-for-8-from-3 20 pt. game. And still in this game they ceded him the outside shot.

 

[tentoes4rings]

1. In a weird way, having to play Creighton feels oddly AAC-ish. A school in Nebraska doesn't belong in the Big East. I mean, I remember when the farthest West we went was Syracuse. I can't make myself imagine a natural rivalry with Creighton (1370 miles from Storrs) any more than I could with Houston, Memphis or SMU when we were in the AAC.
2. Inauspicious start. 0 for 3, down 7 zip.
3. Creighton shooting lights out early, while we're shooting as if the lights were out.
4. 2 horrendous plays by Adama in a row! What's with a 20 foot brick-like jumper early in the clock at 13:35? Then Alexander drives on RJ, who expects Sanogo to pick him up, and Sanogo never even looked in the direction the ball was going.
5. Sanogo hurts his hand. Off to the locker room. Stitches? Just tape? No idea.
6. Sanogo back in, but now Martin hurts his hand (5:22)
7. And Hawkins runs into a screen and hurt his head. After last game's mild concussion, I doubt we'll see him for the rest of the night.
8. Wow is Ajax indecisive with the ball and looks totally afraid to shoot a three.
9. I've never seen this team play such crappy defense.
10. And Polley takes a shoulder to the groin.
11. At the half, we are down by 10 points, and by 24 to 15 on the boards, and are shooting embarrassing percentages across the board -- 33/10/50
12. After a bad start to the 2nd half, we came alive and cut it to 4 at 16:45
13. Somehow, it's a 1 point game at 15:15
14. And back to a 5 point deficit a minute and a half later.
15. Gaffney steals an inbound pass and lays it in for a tie at 9:16:
16. And Kalkbrenner immediately beats Sanogo down court for a stuff.
17. Sanogo looking away from the ball and his man a lot tonight.
18. At about 6:30, Sanogo has the ball just inside the FT line, and is double covered. Cole comes down the right side of the lane, totally uncovered, and Adama sort of fakes a pass to him then misses a turnaround. That pass to Cole absolutely needed to be made.
19. Adama got beat to the rim by his man repeatedly tonight. The hard hedge was a very soft hedge tonight, as Sanogo was slow to react and slower yet to recover.
20. Not sure how a guy could have 13 points, 16 boards and six blocks, and still stink the joint up. I guess going 6 for 16 while gift wrapping 22 points for the opposing center has something to do with it.
21. Meanwhile, Whaley had his worst game of the season. 3 points on one of six shooting an 2 boards. Pitiful.
22. After being down by 16 points with 4:04 left in the first half, we tied the game several times in the 2nd half, but never took a lead.

21) Unfortunately he’s had a few other games to rival this.