Butler Post Game Thread

[ctchamps]

This is an absolutely crazy post.

He's been getting more and more confident and doing more and more positive things just about every game. He's already shown this season in previous games that he can:

• Dribble-drive into the lane for a foul line jumper
• Drive to the lane after a pump-fake behind 3pt line, drawing contact and getting to the line
• Drive through the lane on the baseline and dish an assist
• Grab a steal, run out with a controlled dribble and offer up a highlight dunk
• Serve as a pseudo point-guard, bringing the ball up the court to set up a halfcourt offensive set

Last night vs. Butler, he

• Dribble-drove and dished a great assist to Tarris. Shooting it instead of passing would have been a horrible decision
• Had a season highlight rebound dunk-putback
• Had 2 highlight fastbreak alley-oops
• Had 3 quality looks from 3, sinking one
• Rebounded with aggression
• Had 1 steal, and at least 5 plays where he tipped a pass, disrupted the offensive player enough that they dribbled the ball out of bounds
• Locked down pretty much everyone he defended
• Only got 2 fouls

Sheesh

The kid is progressing just fine, looks confident as hell. I don't expect nor do I want him to start, but he's getting more and more consistent about being a net positive for 15-25min/game against all levels of competition.

Ross hardly played his first two seasons. He needed minutes to become comfortable with game speed. We can safely say he's achieved that. His hesitation on offense is primarily because of the role he plays. Same with Stewart. They are the fifth scoring option when they are on the floor. Their primary role is to facilitate for the other players. Be it through setting screens or to space the floor.

So our guards are not looking for them nearly as much as the other players. Furthermore when they get the ball they hesitate trying to decide if the other players have opportunities. That hesitation, even if it's for a millisecond, impacts their ability to score. We see the same thing with Demary's scoring because he's thinking about his role as facilitator. Same with Reibe taking the 3.

The injuries to Mullins and Reed were a blessing in that Ross, Stewart and Reibe got more playing time and now are solid contributors. But it impacted the starting rotation. Now Demary has to get comfortable with Reed and Mullins in the starting lineup just when he was getting comfortable with Stewart and Reibe.

Stewart and Ross were just getting comfortable to start scoring more but now they need to hold back until Reed and especially Mullins get up to speed. So I don't expect to see the type of scoring consistency from either of them that people in this forum want for a while. But that doesn't mean either are incapable of consistently getting 8-12 pts a game. It means they are the consummate team players willing to sacrifice their own numbers for the good of the team.

When everyone is comfortable then this team will be incredible on offense. Meanwhile it is well on the way with our defense.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

It's intentional, Dan Hurley does not want to give up 3's so the players are taught to play aggressive on the perimeter which leads to more penetration into the paint

13 blocks will help with that!

 

[RuffRuff]

Greg!

 

[AllHusky]

All of the critiques of this game and most recent games lead to two conclusions
1. We are

Ross was huge last night but all eyes on AK and JStew injuries.

Between Demary and Smith we get a great game of assists or points and with Solo going off and Mullins quietly getting his scoring was not needed from the 1.

DePaul will be pesky but lack firepower so by then we should have AK and J Stew injury updates and if either misses the game we will see more Ross and either Reibe in with Reed or some more Koroma

Still interested to see what Reibe and Reed together would look like

 

[Waquoit]

Wondering about Reibe's three pointers and what to expect for the rest of the season. If he maintains this percentage it's a nice wrinkle.

It was kind of funny, it seemed like he finally took and made that 3 because the crowd goaded him into it.

 

[AllHusky]

Maybe I'm looking for something that isn't there. But I thought that Solo's release a quicker last night. Going faster means less thinking. Just letting your natural talent lead. The release seemed quicker and pure.

I have no evidence of this. There are a million tiny actions in the jump shot. I know you are not suppose to rush the shot. But sometimes quicker is better. Mullins release is lightning.

Don't think you were imagining it.

 

[Inyatkin]

Hurley on Ball almost sounds like he's referencing his "Better get us now" from a few years back

“Watch out,” Hurley said. “He's going to get to the mean. The guy is elite. I think this was — just, watch out. I think he's going to have a lot of nights like this.”

 

[Lafayette]

I could hear his noggin hit the floor all the way up in Row N of Section 215. The replay looked horrible. I can't believe he stayed in the game.

reminiscent of samson johnson fall at msg vs gonzaga - dude was out cold for 10s then got up.

 

[HW611]

This is an absolutely crazy post.

He's been getting more and more confident and doing more and more positive things just about every game. He's already shown this season in previous games that he can:

• Dribble-drive into the lane for a foul line jumper
• Drive to the lane after a pump-fake behind 3pt line, drawing contact and getting to the line
• Drive through the lane on the baseline and dish an assist
• Grab a steal, run out with a controlled dribble and offer up a highlight dunk
• Serve as a pseudo point-guard, bringing the ball up the court to set up a halfcourt offensive set

Last night vs. Butler, he

• Dribble-drove and dished a great assist to Tarris. Shooting it instead of passing would have been a horrible decision
• Had a season highlight rebound dunk-putback
• Had 2 highlight fastbreak alley-oops
• Had 3 quality looks from 3, sinking one
• Rebounded with aggression
• Had 1 steal, and at least 5 plays where he tipped a pass, disrupted the offensive player enough that they dribbled the ball out of bounds
• Locked down pretty much everyone he defended
• Only got 2 fouls

Sheesh

The kid is progressing just fine, looks confident as hell. I don't expect nor do I want him to start, but he's getting more and more consistent about being a net positive for 15-25min/game against all levels of competition.

Brew, we’re on the same page as far as believing in Ross abilities. He’s for sure made progress this year undoubtably and shows flashes of the kind of player he can be with everything you noted. His confidence has came a long way from last year.

If he was 10% confident offensively last year I’ll say it’s risen to a 50-60% this year. His defense continues to be lights out so I have no comments there.

My only point about Ross is getting that next 20-30% to match most others on the team. Solo, Mullins, and the other starters and Stew fly at 80-90.

And we can see it in how he moves in the offense is what I’m pointing out. It changes when he hits a few shots which then lead to the drive and dump off to Reed because it’s at that point he starts believing he should be the one making a play because he’s hot.

I would like him to feel that way all the time whether he’s missing or making shots. And in the first half he for sure did not feel that way and I put the video out to show that.

Mullins, for example, had a couple of turnovers and missed shots but it didn’t shake him for a second. That would not have been the case with Ross.

Again, just want to see him be more active in wanting the ball as it’ll not only help him have more consistency on offense, but as the film shows, it’ll help space the floor in general for his teammates and not muck up offensive possessions.

 

[HW611]

11:10 is the right basketball play, dropping back when the guard penetrates from the top of the key. If he doesn't do that there is nobody back on a missed shot. Though I wasn't sure whether you were talking about his movement on the initial penetration or when Silas takes it back out. If it's the latter, I think the whole set was off once Silas backed out of the paint.
16:37 I think he just misread the screen and defender and faded when he should have curled towards the ball
35:40 you have a point.

The whole set was off when Ross didn’t take the DHO available with all the space in the world from Silas. When he cut to no where Silas had to reset the play. That’s my whole point. I put the screenshot up of the space Ross ran away from in a later post.

We agree on the second play.

 

[thekollieman]

“hope is not a strategy.” Ross will compete with Landrew for the starting SF, May the best man win. Stew can compete with Pierce or some other transfer. My point was Hurley should be recruiting a starting caliber PF and selling him on that opportunity. I don’t think he’s penciling stew in as the starter and targeting backup caliber PFs like he did with Malachi as a backup PG.

I don’t purport to be responsible for our program’s strategy. That being said, player retention has been a stated strategy that has paid championship dividends. So, I HOPE we retain Ross and Stewart, which would likely happen in part by prioritizing their fit in next year’s lineup.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

last step to fully unlocking this team will be getting Silas in some kind of scoring rhythm. He's gotta be more aggressive in scoring and can't wait to shoot when the shot clock is running down and out of sorts.

No sir, that statement is incorrect. The last steps in unlocking this team is ensuring that we can make our free throws and eliminating the 5-10 minutes of sheer lunacy fouling on every darn possession. Those things, along with Silas, are the things needed to unlock this team.

 

[KembaRunner]

I would like to mention 1 negative that I keep seeing. Some others have brought this up. I hope they get better at it. In general they miss fast break finishing opportunities. In the first half Ball and I think it was Ross had a 2 on 1 fast break. Ball had Ross wide open for an easy layup but he kept dribbling to the hoop and got fouled and hit both free throws so 2 points anyway. Ball seems to be really bad handling the ball on fast breaks since I've noticed him doing this in other games.

In the 2nd half someone had Karaban for an easy layup but didn't pass to him. Karaban threw up his hands in frustration after not getting the ball.

I’ve noticed this a few times with Solo. He holds onto the ball to try to do a euro or something fancy. He should pass ahead and maybe get it back for an alleyoop.

Last night they caught him from behind as he began his move and fouled him so it worked out.

 

[NHUConnfan]

Haven't thought about this in a very long time, but does anyone remember how JC would call a time out less than a minute into the game when his team would come out low energy flat? Hurley, as great a coach he is in his own right, should watch a little JC tape and take a page out of his book. Just sayin'!

Yeah we are super lucky we have an incredibly deep team that can take a punch and dish it back...but I really hope to never see such a bad stretch to open a game again. We really could have used one of those patented JC early time outs lol

 

[NHUConnfan]

Defense is actually what we did really, really well last night - we are 4th in Ken Pom, moved up from 7. It's our strength to date. Not sure what this cat was watching.

Without a doubt I think this team's bread and butter is defense. They foul a lot, but they are so active on both sides of the floor that we tire out teams and then they start to get lazy.

We held Butler to a season low last night. They are a good offensive team.

While we've seen some flashes of really pretty offense, I think this team's identity is defense first. And last night, our defense was at its worse when we nonstop were turning over the ball in those first 5 minutes.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Mullins just needs to slow down a hair and let the offense come to him. He seems to be hunting his shot a bit and forces it up early in the shot clock, leading to some ugly misses. When he has hit feet set and plays within the offense, he looks like a star. The talent is there, he just needs some patience.

You don’t like his hair? 😉

 

[RuffRuff]

Without a doubt I think this team's bread and butter is defense. They foul a lot, but they are so active on both sides of the floor that we tire out teams and then they start to get lazy.

We held Butler to a season low last night. They are a good offensive team.

While we've seen some flashes of really pretty offense, I think this team's identity is defense first. And last night, our defense was at its worse when we nonstop were turning over the ball in those first 5 minutes.

Defense travels, it's consistent.

This system takes a while to get down offensively, especially when you have two players working back in from injury. It can only get better. Where it will really take off, is if we can start pushing in transition.

 

[navery12]

I don’t purport to be responsible for our program’s strategy. That being said, player retention has been a stated strategy that has paid championship dividends. So, I HOPE we retain Ross and Stewart, which would likely happen in part by prioritizing their fit in next year’s lineup.

And a large part of that retention has been being honest with guys about their roles, that's not going to change just because they're going into year 4. We need to bring in the best talent that fits the system and compete for national championships. Bringing in elite transfers was just as important to those championships

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[superjohn]

 

[RuffRuff]

View attachment 114722

Lol.

When CBS guys are bringing up the question, it's not like they're doing it for S&G's. There is some legitimacy to it. I would opt for the field for sure, as it's Uconn/Duke/Purdue/ISU plus the other 300+ teams vs two. AZ is very good, but I don't think they are UM good. I'd lump them closer to the former four than UM. I also think there are ways to beat UM - a team like ISU would be one that would give them trouble. Anyone that can keep up with them on the boards, yet also put pressure on the ball could be a problem. An MSU is going to be a harder matchup than Purdue.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Lol.

When CBS guys are bringing up the question, it's not like they're doing it for S&G's. There is some legitimacy to it. I would opt for the field for sure, as it's Uconn/Duke/Purdue/ISU plus the other 300+ teams vs two. AZ is very good, but I don't think they are UM good. I'd lump them closer to the former four than UM. I also think there are ways to beat UM - a team like ISU would be one that would give them trouble. Anyone that can keep up with them on the boards, yet also put pressure on the ball could be a problem. An MSU is going to be a harder matchup than Purdue.

Maryland would have likely beat Michigan if they didn’t lose one of their players to injury and another to a somewhat sus ejection early in the 2nd half. Michigan is a very good team but also very beatable.

 

[thekollieman]

And a large part of that retention has been being honest with guys about their roles, that's not going to change just because they're going into year 4. We need to bring in the best talent that fits the system and compete for national championships. Bringing in elite transfers was just as important to those championships

No doubt. I just think those two guys are capable of earning the roles and I hope they do.

 

[RuffRuff]

Maryland would have likely beat Michigan if they didn’t lose one of their players to injury and another to a somewhat sus ejection early in the 2nd half. Michigan is a very good team but also very beatable.

Unlikely

Brew, we’re on the same page as far as believing in Ross abilities. He’s for sure made progress this year undoubtably and shows flashes of the kind of player he can be with everything you noted. His confidence has came a long way from last year.

If he was 10% confident offensively last year I’ll say it’s risen to a 50-60% this year. His defense continues to be lights out so I have no comments there.

My only point about Ross is getting that next 20-30% to match most others on the team. Solo, Mullins, and the other starters and Stew fly at 80-90.

And we can see it in how he moves in the offense is what I’m pointing out. It changes when he hits a few shots which then lead to the drive and dump off to Reed because it’s at that point he starts believing he should be the one making a play because he’s hot.

I would like him to feel that way all the time whether he’s missing or making shots. And in the first half he for sure did not feel that way and I put the video out to show that.

Mullins, for example, had a couple of turnovers and missed shots but it didn’t shake him for a second. That would not have been the case with Ross.

Again, just want to see him be more active in wanting the ball as it’ll not only help him have more consistency on offense, but as the film shows, it’ll help space the floor in general for his teammates and not muck up offensive possessions.

Love that you know what % everyone's confidence is at. Utterly hysterical. Need to market your confidenceomometer.

 

[DRBackup]

Took care of business. Didn’t watch Sportscenter this morning but Jayden’s dunk was I assume #1 of the Top 10?

Donny’s comments on playing in Hartford vs playing in Gampel gave me a chuckle.

Sadly, not in the top 10 at all. Sportscenter is a joke. In the top 10, though, was just a run of the mill down the lane dunk from the first 5 minutes of the game by Butler. How on earth that's better than any of Ross' dunks, let alone the one handed put back dunk, I have no idea.