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.

 

[Jumpman62114]

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.

I think #3 is key. We have the athletes, can’t just become a jumpshooting team. We settle way too much and when the drives do happen its often times premeditated to kick out. The reffing has been inconsistent but the team that attacks the paint more consistently gets the foul calls, and that hasnt been us. Solo and Liam started to do this more at the end of last game but it needs to be ingrained in the offensive principles.

 

[DogMania]

-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.

He's been Batman up until the CO game. He had a bad game, where unfortunately we needed more from him. I'm not worried. He's the least of our problems.

 

[Palatine]

The whole Big East is getting beaten like rented mules.

 

[TroyHall98]

I think experience running the offense and defense is the key to whatever the ceiling is for this group. Each game is a teaching moment for Hurley and his staff. That said, I don’t know that this team has the talent and has too many holes to learn on the fly in a manner sufficient for a deep run in March.

 

[Hunt for 7]

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

We are giving up wide open threes and we also cannot rebound very well. While zones do help stop dribble penetration they are susceptible to giving up threes (we allowed over 52% in both games) and offensive rebounds and since we don’t look like a very good rebounding team that could make it worse.

I would prefer to keep grinding on defense just get better at not being to committed, to helping, so we can close out on the shooter with more effectiveness.

Then on the dribble penetration my instruction to Tarris and Johnson is DO NOT LEAVE YOUR FEET until you are going for the rebound. Just wall up make it a semi contested layup. Granted these two teams may never shoot over 50% from three again but for some context Colorado shot 21% in their first Maui game and Memphis shot 34% in their game against MichST. So our defense seems to have helped them find better shots, I know it is a small sample size, although we kind of looked pedestrian at defending the three point line even against the cupcakes.

Just don’t think a zone is the right play unless you have Ross/Ball, Stewart, Liam. AK and Reed/Johnson. You need long players to play zone not necessarily great athletes but long players that can make the entry passes more difficult and challenge the three because they don’t have as much ground to cover to get to the shooter and close out. We have run into a few three point shooters because we are having to close out at top speed and can’t control our body enough to avoid the shooter.

I really think we need to make Nowell the starting point guard, he will make freshman mistakes but so did Khalid, but I understand he is not KEA but he looks like our best option. I commented after the URI game that Nowell might end up being our best point guard and that is looking like the case.

He reminds me a bit of Taliek Brown, but I do think he will be a better shooter. They have some similarities and clearly uses his bulk coupled with very good quickness and speed to defend. I really think he may be a very important part of where this season goes.

 

[JerseyAlum]

Would like to add our offense has gotten us to the 90s quite a bit so far. We seem to be capable 3pt shooting team, but live and die by that is not good. Need some more 2pt shooters to emerge with pull ups on mismatches.

Defense is the key - we can get offense in the 90s but letting the other team get there means we are weak on D. Hurley will get this right as most times our guys are known for offense, and defense has to be taught. They will get better.

With 4 new starters it's going to be rough sledding for a bit...no way to sugar coat that - they need to learn the offense and each other's tendencies. Let's see how they do vs Dayton and then coming back to Storrs will help a ton.

 

[husky8273]

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

4 - talent. Except for AK, the other 4 starters are a step down from last year.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

At one time, Dan Hurley probably focused too much on defense and we struggled. He began to realize you can't win on defense alone. He focused more on offense and the results spoke for themselves. Our offense was tremendous the last couple of years. However, as great as our offense was, it's easy to forget, we also always had a couple of exceptional defenders on the floor. The last 2 years were an exceptional blend of both offense and defense.

This year, it seems the team has plenty of offense but it is well below average on defense at virtually every position. If they can't find a way to play WAY better team defense than they have so far, this will be a lost season. Playing Nowell and Stewart more over Mahaney and Ross plus limiting Johnson's minutes will help some, but they have a long way to go.

I'm actually concerned with the future too. Did Dan Hurley get caught up in all the hype about our offense and focus too much on it? Our highly ranked recruits seem similar to many of our current players in that they are very skilled offensive players but not tremendously athletic or known for their defense. UConn has historically beaten more talented teams by shutting them down. If history has shown us anything, it's that you need defense to win championships. I'm hoping Dan Hurley hasn't forgotten that.

 

[jake14mw]

Good observations. Mine are:

1. Perimeter defense is brutally bad.
2. Rebounding is weak. Johnson HAS to rebound better.
3. It's crazy to think of the kind of guys we lost. a) Newton could make his own shot and was a great rebounding guard, b) Castle was a lockdown perimeter defender c) Clingan - no need to say any more.
4. The point guard situation is rough. The best answer right now is Diarra. Hopefully, by the end of the year it will be Nowell.
5. Ross or Stewart has to emerge as a big contributer
6. McNeeley, Karaban, and Ball can be counted on every game
7. 10 fouls has to be enough between Reed and Johnson. I think Reed will step up and be a force
8. We will be fine. It will be a fun season

 

[cp176]

I think #3 is key. We have the athletes, can’t just become a jumpshooting team. We settle way too much and when the drives do happen its often times premeditated to kick out. The reffing has been inconsistent but the team that attacks the paint more consistently gets the foul calls, and that hasnt been us. Solo and Liam started to do this more at the end of last game but it needs to be ingrained in the offensive principles.

The dribble drive and just attacking defensive gaps doesn't seem to be much of the equation so far. Have to be able to put pressure on the defense and your offense can't always start at the mid-court line.

 

[freescooter]

The whole Big East is getting beaten like rented mules.

We are lucky to be in the New Big East this year. We have a shot to finish in the top 3 shich should get us into the Tournament.

 

[jibsey]

I think experience running the offense and defense is the key to whatever the ceiling is for this group. Each game is a teaching moment for Hurley and his staff. That said, I don’t know that this team has the talent and has too many holes to learn on the fly in a manner sufficient for a deep run in March.

Let’s worry about November and December. The team has a lot to learn before we make predictions about March.