Bubble Watch

[intlzncster]

Replacing what 3 point shooting? We’re terrible this year. We can only get better

Vital's? I mean, he's not crushing it percentage wise this season, but a lot of that is taking bad shots because we have no one else who can hit. jmo tho

3pt shooting is one of the main reasons we rarely get over the hump. Vital's have been a big part of keeping us in games this year.

Yeah, his dumb shit takes us out too, but still

 

[SubbaBub]

Your obsession with defending his play is getting pathetic. He’s a great kid, who hustles his assorted, and is a great ambassador for the program but Bouk will be able to fill the void. We’ll miss his defense and rebounding more than his offense

Lol, Bouk is already scoring 22 in "good" games for the team. You expect him to up that to 36? We have to be happy with Bouk averaging 22 ppg. So the 14 have to come from one of the other positions on the court.

That means a combo of Akok, Gaffney, Polley and Carlton or whomever shares their minutes. I don't think you getting more than 2 from Carlton or 5 from Akok. That leaves 7 for Gaffney and whomever is at the 3.

Then there is the matter of not actually being a good team, so we need to replace/add more than the 14/game as well as the defense and rebounding.

Which is a long way of saying two wins against bubble teams isn't a sign we should he expecting a return to Sweet 16 results next season. There is still work to be done.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Lol, Bouk is already scoring 22 in "good" games for the team. You expect him to up that to 36? We have to be happy with Bouk averaging 22 ppg. So the 14 have to come from one of the other positions on the court.

That means a combo of Akok, Gaffney, Polley and Carlton or whomever shares their minutes. I don't think you getting more than 2 from Carlton or 5 from Akok. That leaves 7 for Gaffney and whomever is at the 3.

Then there is the matter of not actually being a good team, so we need to replace/add more than the 14/game as well as the defense and rebounding.

Which is a long way of saying two wins against bubble teams isn't a sign we should he expecting a return to Sweet 16 results next season. There is still work to be done.

5 from Akok? Next year I expect 10-12. If Carlton is back, I think he's good for 8-10. There is also Andre Jackson who will score some. Adams will up his average and the we add Cole who is a scorer.
I don't think it's difficult to predict that this team will be better on offense and score more points per game next year. Where we take a hit is on defense at guard, with Cole being a downgrade on Gilbert.

 

[CTBasketball]

We shouldn’t even focus about the bubble. Primary focus should be taking one game at a time, and getting a Top 4 seed in the AAC Tournament.

 

[UConnSwag11]

We shouldn’t even focus about the bubble. Primary focus should be taking one game at a time, and getting a Top 4 seed in the AAC Tournament.

 

[auror]

We shouldn’t even focus about the bubble. Primary focus should be taking one game at a time, and getting a Top 4 seed in the AAC Tournament.

We're not the team. Our focus doesn't matter to anything.

 

[tzznandrew]

As I said above, I am worried about replacing that 3pt shooting tho. Polley won't be ready out of the shoot. It's not just raw points, it's how you get them.

Also, that kind of rebounding from the guard spot is impossible to replicate. That said, we will probably mitigate that with rebounding from other positions (Jackson and Springs).

His 31%? I think we'll be fine there too.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It took us OT to beat a mediocre Cincinnati team. Let's focus on SMU and stop worrying about 8 game winning streaks.

 

[SoFla Steve]

We're still 4.5 pt underdogs. It would be great to get a Q2 road win.

 

[Husky68]

We shouldn’t even focus about the bubble. Primary focus should be taking one game at a time, and getting a Top 4 seed in the AAC Tournament.

Don't think my lack of focus will be too detrimental to the team.

 

[intlzncster]

His 31%? I think we'll be fine there too.

If you take out the dumb jacks (largely because of not having a competent PG imo), it would look much better than that.

If there's an open 3pt shot to be had, as it stands right now, he's the guy I want taking it.

It's really hard to be a good 3pt shooter when you are 1 of 2 guys able to do it. And up until a few games ago w Bouk, Vital's has been the only guy you have to respect out there. (obv not incl Polley)

 

[auror]

If you take out the dumb jacks (largely because of not having a competent PG imo), it would look much better than that.

If there's an open 3pt shot to be had, as it stands right now, he's the guy I want taking it.

It's really hard to be a good 3pt shooter when you are 1 of 2 guys able to do it. And up until a few games ago w Bouk, Vital's has been the only guy you have to respect out there. (obv not incl Polley)

Yeah but that's kinda the point. If he's not doing that well in the role he's given, if we put someone else in that role next year, they don't need to be great either for it to be filled successfully.

 

[bmayuc]

I see bouk picking up about half of CV' scoring output (~7pts), but not seeing where the other half are coming from or the 5 or so more that would turn the close L's into W's.

I don't see our defense being 12 pts/gm better. You want to pencil in 4-5 to Akok, Ok but that's a bit of a leap of faith at the moment.

This is an insane person's view of basketball. The points could come from anywhere. How about if RJ comes in and is a 18-20 point scorer? How about if Bouk averages 18. How about Richie Springs gives us 6 & 6 per game. How about Akok gets more consistent and puts up 13-8 next year. Maybe Andre starts from day one and puts up 12-5. Maybe Pork Chop has another step forward and goes 10-8 all year. Maybe 6 additional points are just from RJ throwing oops to Bouk & Dre? Maybe Polley gets more open 3's next year cuz we have more dynamic playmakers and puts up 15/game. Who know?

Basketball is a complicated dynamic mess of factors, not just a bunch of scoring averages thrown together.

And count me in the group that thinks its possible next year our defense takes another massive step forward into the true elite, possibly top 10ish defense with another slew of recruits who are more athletic and more aligned with Hurley's style as well as another year of development for current roster.

Go huskies beat SMU