Butler Post Game Thread

[UCTitleTown]

With his freakish athleticism, how is is possible for AJ to play 25 minutes and score only 2 pts? I know people say he does other things (4 rebounds and 4 assists), but he should back into 10 pts. per game just from his athleticism alone.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Good summary minus Karaban he was solid on D. He helped well, made some plays and had a couple loose balls as well. He’s improving there every game.

You’re right. His defense was fine today, didn’t have the brutal assignment he usually has. He has often drawn the toughest defensive assignment.

 

[husky429]

He has often drawn the toughest defensive assignment.

Pre-season, I'm not quite sure we all realized just how stacked the Big East was at the 4. There's at least 5 or 6 guys that can go off for 30 on any given night. This experience is going to be really important for AKs development.

 

[freescooter]

I am hopeful that this was a turnaround game but I’m not confident. Butler is bad and was down several players. So maybe this was just the equivalent of beating some directional Maryland or something. But they were a bad team that we beat like we should beat bad teams. That is a good sign.

 

[USNavyDog]

Watching the game I thought to myself I'd rather hit a lull in the middle of the season and lose some games and learn what losing feels like before we head to the big East tournament and the big dance.

As hard as it has been to watch these last few weeks, all will be forgotten if we show up and learn from mistakes in March.

Good win today!

Well thats what happened during the Kemba Walker season that made them champs in 2011. The started out awesome going undefeating against a tough nonconference schedule....had a mediocre Big East record at 9-9 and slumpint to 21-9 to end the season. That included some nasty blowout losses to Pittsburgh and St. John's. After that...Uconn later won 5 games in 5 days in the big apple and won the ncaa tourney and a 32-9 record to end the season.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pre-season, I'm not quite sure we all realized just how stacked the Big East was at the 4. There's at least 5 or 6 guys that can go off for 30 on any given night. This experience is going to be really important for AKs development.

Yeah, it didn’t register for me pre-season. He needs to get a little stronger, but playing the guys he’s had to play for 30+ is not fair for anybody, let alone a freshman. Johnson spelling him will help when he’s ready, just to show a different look and for fatigue.

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Nice little rebound win against a sub par, depleted team. Let's wait until Wednesday to see what's what.

 

[JonnyRI]

Dan remembered how to coach today thankfully.

Keys to the game

• Better defensive effort, communication and playing team defense. Much better on ball screens.
• Sanogo played with confidence and dominated the boards, got big buckets and defended quite well. Our best player and we need him to be. Much improved passing.
• Hawk was active, kept rebounding attacking and shooting. He has a tendency to fade of late
• Newton played like the PG he is, attacking, passing, taking good shots. Key to that is less on ball time for Andre . AJax played off the ball and we looked better as a result.

Karaban made big buckets but continues to struggle on the defensive end. Joey with too many turnovers and soft D, but hopefully his shot can fall. Diarra holds the ball and dribbles in place too much on offense, but brings the D spark. Alleyne didn’t look bad but didn’t do much.

Saying Sanogo’s passing was better today is true. However, it’s a pretty low bar to step over. Basically all’s he needs to do is pass out of the low post once and he’s made a step up.

Still, it seemed like he had a much better motor on the boards today. Even though against a bad front court, still great to see.

Still wish he had an ounce of hops though. It’s hard with Clingan on the bench and every game two or three times saying “man, clingan would have just dunked” that after a bunny miss.

 

[MTBingNinja]

Dan remembered how to coach today thankfully.

It’s crazy. When we win he knows how to coach. When we lose he doesn’t know how to coach. I’m toxicated with the mindset as well. I can exhale a bit before Wednesday

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Well thats what happened during the Kemba Walker season that made them champs in 2011. The started out awesome going undefeating against a tough nonconference schedule....had a mediocre Big East record at 9-9 and slumpint to 21-9 to end the season. That included some nasty blowout losses to Pittsburgh and St. John's. After that...Uconn later won 5 games in 5 days in the big apple and won the ncaa tourney and a 32-9 record to end the season.

Does Kemba have any availability ?
Frankly if he told Newton this is your team and everyone got the message it would be a start . He is an outsider and that makes it doubly difficult for him unless you got the stones and swagger of a Khalid. That’s Hurley’s job.. You can’t manage a game from the sidelines , You need a leader on the floor.,
We don’t really need him to be a Kemba, Bazz , Adams , Sheffer, Williams , Khalid, or even Price
I’ll take a Tate, KO, RB , Talik , Ricky
The skill level of those lead guards was different but they all could lead a team . This team has no leader which automatically reduces its basketball IQ.
I made that same observation after I attended the Buffalo game. It gets elexposed in competitive games especially late.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Saying Sanogo’s passing was better today is true. However, it’s a pretty low bar to step over. Basically all’s he needs to do is pass out of the low post once and he’s made a step up.

Still, it seemed like he had a much better motor on the boards today. Even though against a bad front court, still great to see.

Still wish he had an ounce of hops though. It’s hard with Clingan on the bench and every game two or three times saying “man, clingan would have just dunked” that after a bunny miss.

I mean, he had 3 assists. He passed out of the double quickly on at least 4-5 occasions. His missed bunnies are mostly uncalled fouls.

 

[JonnyRI]

I mean, he had 3 assists. He passed out of the double quickly on at least 4-5 occasions. His missed bunnies are mostly uncalled fouls.

Don’t get me wrong. We will miss him sorely when he is gone.

IMO though, I put a lot of the black hole on Hurley. It just seems incomprehensible that we don’t get one or two shooters in the right place for a wide open 3 when a kick out makes sense when the double or triple team comes.

There is rarely two players in that spot, and often times none (on the wing at the 3 point line on the side Sanogo is posting on. almost seems like Hurley wants to clear out that whole side for him, rather than have a guy or two in the right spot for either a catch and shoot kick out, or to quickly dump back into a the post again. My frustration really is more in Hurley.

And If Sanogo not listening to Hurley, it’s on DH to correct. Not sure which is the breakdown, but either way on Dan.

 

[Hankster]

Clingan went 0-4 from the free throw line. Wonder if Samson is going to cut into his minutes.

Um.....no. Clingan struggled alright from the charity stripe. Clingan is instant points under the boards. I will take guaranteed points. My opinion is Clingan can score easier and smoother than Songo.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Well thats what happened during the Kemba Walker season that made them champs in 2011. The started out awesome going undefeating against a tough nonconference schedule....had a mediocre Big East record at 9-9 and slumpint to 21-9 to end the season. That included some nasty blowout losses to Pittsburgh and St. John's. After that...Uconn later won 5 games in 5 days in the big apple and won the ncaa tourney and a 32-9 record to end the season.

Anyone that favorably compares that years Big East , with this years Big East should have their official basketball fan license revoked.
They had 4 teams who were capable of winning it all .
When we won 5 in 5 we play 4 top 20 teams

No. 4 Pittsburgh	15	–	3		.833			28	–	6		.824
No. 5 Notre Dame	14	–	4		.778			27	–	7		.794
*#12 Syracuse	12	–	6		.667			27	–	8		.771
No. 14 Louisville	12	–	6		.667			25	–	10		.714
No. 18 St. John's	12	–	6		.667			21	–	12		.636
Cincinnati	11	–	7		.611			26	–	9		.743
No. 22 West Virginia	11	–	7		.611			21	–	12		.636
Georgetown	10	–	8		.556			21	–	11		.656
No. 10 Connecticut†	9	–	9		.500			32	–	9		.780
Villanova	9	–	9		.500			21	–	12		.636
Marquette	9	–	9		.500			22	–	15		.595

 

[Hankster]

We all know Sanogo can destroy Butler. Now it's up to him not get outplayed again by Nunge, Freemantle, Croswell, Soriano, Ighodaro, Ndefo...

I forget if Clingan face Nunge much last game. Clingan has the height to deal with him full time.

 

[oshkosh]

I’m glad they won by a lot and didn’t “squeak by” Butler by any means, but butler was rolling out a Delaware St caliber team today.

 

[Waquoit]

I still say Adama needs to use the glass more. The square rectangle is your friend.

 

[polycom]

Hard to take much from this game Butler was missing one of their best players. However we made an effort to get to the rim and we were rewarded for it so nothing negative to really say about this game at all.

 

[YoungFree]

Dan remembered how to coach today thankfully.

With Dan being as superstitious as he is, you think he keeps the mask on going forward?

 

[Malamute]

I wouldn’t say Sanogo passed MUCH better today. He did make a couple of very nice passes from the high post but no passes out of the double team is still a concern.

Liked posting up Jackson a couple of times. If he can make a couple of baskets posting up he would be awesome passing out from there.

Seemed like a strategy shift to get AS out of the lane and post up AJ and I think even Newton. Like it for the right match ups. Nice tweak.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Seemed like a strategy shift to get AS out of the lane and post up AJ and I think even Newton. Like it for the right match ups. Nice tweak.

Posted up Karaban early in the game too. I hope they try these again. It can be a good way to exploit mismatches.

 

[SubbaBub]

Butler stinks. A loss here would have been apocalyptic to the fanbase. We should destroy every middling team like this (StJ, SH). Start beating the teams you expect to be playing in March.

There is still time to figure out how to do that, so all is not lost but the thought of confidently rolling through March are long gone.

 

[SouleMan]

Four things stood out to me which was the difference between the last few games and this one:
1) We played MUCH better help defense and there were very few straight line layups (a few late when it didn't matter as much). Defense in general let us get out in transition more and opened up the offensive flow.
2) We dominated the boards. Someone in another thread mentioned gang rebounding. It works!!! Everyone in the starting lineup had at least four rebounds. This also let us get out in transition more and opened up the offensive flow.
3) Perhaps most importantly, Butler did not pressure our guards with the ball in the half court as other teams have lately. Did they see a scounting report? Pressuring our guards works. Perhaps because they were undermanned and don't have the same athletes. This allowed us to play our half court offense much more efficiently.
4) Sanogo was quicker to make a move with the ball in his hands. Didn't wait five seconds for the double team to come. And the few times he did he passed out for open looks. And he rebounded much better too.
I know Butler is not very good which can be reasons for all of the above but today was a step back in a positive direction and that's all we can ask for. Go UConn!!!

Nice post.

Points 2 & 3 are the keys to season for me. Butler doesn't offer any resistance in either respect. X obviously will - should be fun.

 

[SwampYankee]

I mean, he had 3 assists. He passed out of the double quickly on at least 4-5 occasions. His missed bunnies are mostly uncalled fouls

"His missed bunnies are mostly uncalled fouls." Lol, come on, guy. We're all glad he a had a good game, but there's no need to come up with excuses for those.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I wouldn’t say Sanogo passed MUCH better today. He did make a couple of very nice passes from the high post but no passes out of the double team is still a concern.

Liked posting up Jackson a couple of times. If he can make a couple of baskets posting up he would be awesome passing out from there.

Posting Jackson was definitely a new wrinkle- loved it. Hopefully they are practicing it more. Newton should be backing down some smaller guards too