Broad Early Season Observation

[DogMania]

1. Obvious: Team can't seem to defend without fouling. It's impacting how aggressive they can defend, their overall chemistry, putting the other team at the line far too frequently and giving their opponent lots of confidence to keep on attacking them.

2. None of the 5 on the floor seem to be executing the motion offense quickly enough to gain much of an advantage. The off the ball players aren't starting their movements quickly enough. The problem is not always our ball handler's fault when their teammates aren't setting and hitting the screens on time. Granted, Memphis did a great job of pressuring our handlers and sticking with our cutters, but against CO they just weren't sharp. I hope it's a learning curve execution thing and not a BBIQ and physical thing.

3. They don't seem to be successfully attacking the basket as they were against the less competitive teams. They attacked more against CO than in the Memphis game, but IMO needed to attack the basket more often against CO, especially late in the game. McNeeley is one of our best at it. Alex needs to continue to work on his handle and attack the paint like he did in the first few games. And Diarra, Nowell and Ross seem capable. Let's see if they all improve in this area.

 

[AdamaNation]

1. Obvious: Team can't seem to defend without fouling. It's impacting how aggressive they can defend, their overall chemistry, putting the other team at the line far too frequently and giving their opponent lots of confidence to keep on attacking them.

2. None of the 5 on the floor seem to be executing the motion offense quickly enough to gain much of an advantage. The off the ball players aren't starting their movements quickly enough. The problem is not always our ball handler's fault when their teammates aren't setting and hitting the screens on time. Granted, Memphis did a great job of pressuring our handlers and sticking with our cutters, but against CO they just weren't sharp. I hope it's a learning curve execution thing and not a BBIQ and physical thing.

3. They don't seem to be successfully attacking the basket as they were against the less competitive teams. They attacked more against CO than in the Memphis game, but IMO needed to attack the basket more often against CO, especially late in the game. McNeeley is one of our best at it. Alex needs to continue to work on his handle and attack the paint like he did in the first few games. And Diarra, Nowell and Ross seem capable. Let's see if they all improve in this area.

1-effort
2-experience. This offense is like getting your doctorate that’s why last years team looked so historically dominant. Throw in a grad student and defense first burger boy
3-confidence

 

[SwingDog]

1. Obvious: Team can't seem to defend without fouling. It's impacting how aggressive they can defend, their overall chemistry, putting the other team at the line far too frequently and giving their opponent lots of confidence to keep on attacking them.

2. None of the 5 on the floor seem to be executing the motion offense quickly enough to gain much of an advantage. The off the ball players aren't starting their movements quickly enough. The problem is not always our ball handler's fault when their teammates aren't setting and hitting the screens on time. Granted, Memphis did a great job of pressuring our handlers and sticking with our cutters, but against CO they just weren't sharp. I hope it's a learning curve execution thing and not a BBIQ and physical thing.

3. They don't seem to be successfully attacking the basket as they were against the less competitive teams. They attacked more against CO than in the Memphis game, but IMO needed to attack the basket more often against CO, especially late in the game. McNeeley is one of our best at it. Alex needs to continue to work on his handle and attack the paint like he did in the first few games. And Diarra, Nowell and Ross seem capable. Let's see if they all improve in this area.

Just focusing on #1 as it's so critical. We remember last year and I believe even two years ago, getting into foul trouble was an issue for us. Colorado coach Tad Boyle in his post game presser emphasized several times that UConn is a very tough, physical team and said that it's one of the reasons why they foul so much. It's clear they need to work on being better disciplined and moving better with their feet and less with their hands. Apparently practices and games against much lesser opponents wasn't an effective training ground. Today I was disappointed they didn't do more to keep Malone away from the basket. Samson did make a good defensive play on him toward the end but it needs to be consistent. Hopefully the harsh reality of two straight losses will provide the incentive to get it fixed.

 

[SwingDog]

Also, for those who say early strength of schedule isn't that important, I'd like to point out that not only did Memphis play a significantly stronger early schedule than us, they also scrimmaged against Alabama and North Carolina, and I think it shows.

 

[Icehawk]

The screens seem really weak. I think Alex and Tarris were tired and, hopefully, this is their only bad game this season.

I agree, a lot of the motion feels directionless or not purposeful. I want to see hard cuts and solid screens.

I still think we have all the potential even if Maui has made it feel like ’21 again, it is still early.

 

[huskyharry]

Coach Hurley may need to pull out the dreaded z word from time to time.
1-3-1 or 2-3 can save on fouls and help stop dribble penetration.
Also, give Singare some earlier minutes to help spread the fouls out a bit more

 

[That Guy]

-Need to get better by leaps and bounds defensively, part of that is not fouling on almost every possession like it seems we're doing.

-Karaban needs to be Batman and I don't know if he's that type of player. He was probably our 5th best player last season so it's hard to expect him to suddenly carry us in certain situations and bail us out in others. Love him, but there is absolutely no excuse for the game he had yesterday. If he played like an Alpha dog should yesterday, then we would've won this one by maybe double digits.