Butler 2.0 ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Very little to complain about in the first half -- As far as I'm concerned, it was our best half of team basketball this season.
2. Really nice to hear Raf's voice. Felt like the glory days.
3. Everybody playing well. 14 dimes, 10 steals & 9 blocks.
4. My Sanogo dribble axiom held true. If he bounces it more than twice, he either misses the shot or turns it over.
5. Whaley's 2nd consecutive game with an inexplicable unforced turnover. This one, he passed to empty space. I guess he thought Polley was coming toward him, but Tyler headed for the corner instead. Whaley realized it too late -- reacted, but there was no pulling it back, and he ended up just sort of shuffling it to nobody. I'll forgive him that foobah and his 33% shooting in light of his 7 blocks, 6 points, 5 boards, a dime and a steal.
6. After the thing of beauty that was our play in the first half, we really came out mistake prone in 2nd half. But when Butler got the lead down to 10 and DH called a time out, we came back out with the the same intensity that we had showed in the first half. Good TO. Good in-game coaching.
7. 1st offensive foul call on Cole was legit, but the 2nd one was total bull.
8. Golden went 5 of 7 for 3. Apparently, leaving him alone outside, based on his 1 of 18 coming in, was part of our game plan.
9. We were uncustomarily outrebounded on the offensive board, 8 to 4. Still won the overall rebounding margin 34 to 30.
10. 7 of 8 players who saw the floor had at least one assist, and our two PGs had 8 between them.
11. Tyrese is an obvious choice for POG, but I'd give it to Whaley.
12. I know that Whaley was officially credited with 7 blocks. But if you get a finger on the ball and alter its trajectory and it doesn't go in the hole, that's a block, dammit! Check out the vid. What's really amazing is how many of them gave us possession.

 

[JakeTheDog]

Thanks Rich. As an addendum to point 6, when Butler went on a mini-run towards the end of the first half, DH called a timeout to stop their momentum and get our guys refocused. As a result we go into the half with a 14 point lead. Much improved timeout usage by DH last night.

 

[August_West]

#6 WAS a good timeout. But I dont think it was intensity difference. He used that timeout to insert Martin and Cole back into the game THAT was the difference. It shows how thin our margin for error is where Martin and Cole both have to be on the floor or you can take your chances on giving up a bunch of points and running no offense really quick. Thank god for 18 point cushions that afford us that ability to absorb the run, it spells trouble for tighter games and foul trouble though.

 

[Husky25]

We were uncustomarily outrebounded on the offensive board, 8 to 4. Still won the overall rebounding margin 34 to 30.

Carlton in the first half notwithstanding, it's amazing how UConn's offensive rebound number decrease when they finish near the rim.

 

[Edward Sargent]

What you think of Raf's voice? Sounded raspy and tired to me

 

[M.S.G.]

Raf was definitely sundowning.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Raf was definitely sundowning.

No not sundowning. That is a very specific old person issue - not me quite yet. I think he was raspy and tired

 

[Essexdave]

1. Very little to complain about in the first half -- As far as I'm concerned, it was our best half of team basketball this season.
2. Really nice to hear Raf's voice. Felt like the glory days.
3. Everybody playing well. 14 dimes, 10 steals & 9 blocks.
4. My Sanogo dribble axiom held true. If he bounces it more than twice, he either misses the shot or turns it over.
5. Whaley's 2nd consecutive game with an inexplicable unforced turnover. This one, he passed to empty space. I guess he thought Polley was coming toward him, but Tyler headed for the corner instead. Whaley realized it too late -- reacted, but there was no pulling it back, and he ended up just sort of shuffling it to nobody. I'll forgive him that foobah and his 33% shooting in light of his 7 blocks, 6 points, 5 boards, a dime and a steal.
6. After the thing of beauty that was our play in the first half, we really came out mistake prone in 2nd half. But when Butler got the lead down to 10 and DH called a time out, we came back out with the the same intensity that we had showed in the first half. Good TO. Good in-game coaching.
7. 1st offensive foul call on Cole was legit, but the 2nd one was total bull.
8. Golden went 5 of 7 for 3. Apparently, leaving him alone outside, based on his 1 of 18 coming in, was part of our game plan.
9. We were uncustomarily outrebounded on the offensive board, 8 to 4. Still won the overall rebounding margin 34 to 30.
10. 7 of 8 players who saw the floor had at least one assist, and our two PGs had 8 between them.
11. Tyrese is an obvious choice for POG, but I'd give it to Whaley.
12. I know that Whaley was officially credited with 7 blocks. But if you get a finger on the ball and alter its trajectory and it doesn't go in the hole, that's a block, dammit! Check out the vid. What's really amazing is how many of them gave us possession.

Offensive rebounds can often be a misleading stat. I think we shot about 50 %. They shot about 35 %. Guving them many more opportunities to get O boards. By % o boards wouldn’t be surprised if we beat them

 

[jibsey]

Whalley can’t shoot a basketball very well,he has pretty bad touch though he’s valuable on defense. I love the way Sanogo is progressing. Lots of minutes for him hopefully. Disappointed in Carlton but he is what he is.

 

[RichZ]

Offensive rebounds can often be a misleading stat. I think we shot about 50 %. They shot about 35 %. Guving them many more opportunities to get O boards. By % o boards wouldn’t be surprised if we beat them

They got 21.3% of the misses at their end.
We got 16.6% of the misses at our end.

 

[Essexdave]

They got 21.3% of the misses at their end.
We got 16.6% of the misses at our end.

Nice work! The point still holds doesn’t it? What looks like a 50% diff is actually a 5% diff.