Can everyone calm down?

[Scoe]

I’m plenty calm just call it like it is not settling for mediocrity. A win is a win but gotta be better you wanna win in March don’t you we all want that right.

 

[Umami Zen]

CBB is a game of runs. As a player you try to get stops and convert them to buckets by not turning over the ball in the process.

As a coach you try to game manage your substitutions, strategically use TOs, and make in game scheme adjustments.

I thought there were improvements over the last few games .

Let's get another W.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Look, that game was far from pretty and there’s a lot we need to get better at if we want to make the tourney, but if you went into the chat at all tonight you’d think we lost by 20.

You don’t need to apologize for road conference wins, let alone when you cover the spread easily. This conference has seen Seton Hall lose to this same Georgetown team 3 nights ago, and Creighton lose to both Georgetown and Providence.

in the end, we’ve won every game we should have with Bouk in there and if not for a lucky miracle for Creighton we would be 8-1 with him.

Breathe people. This isn’t the pros. You’re not getting A+ performances from every player for 40 minutes every game.

This post is why we keep having to have these posts. Being content with not improving and not adapting. If we think we’re better than 90% of these teams then we need to start playing and acting like it

 

[CTMike]

As one of the people freaking out, very happy about the win great second half, but...

They went 7 minutes with no field goals in the first half!!! Hurley did not call a timeout until the end of those 7 minutes at the half for the Bouk alley oop (hey timeouts work!). That cannot happen. Against a mediocre Gtown team with nothing to play for they can get away with it, it ain't gonna work against a half decent opponent as we have seen multiple times already this season. UConn finished the game with two unused timeouts. This isn't the first time this has happened.

This is about when I turned on the game. My bad.

 

[imno1]

A great win by the Huskies.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Polley played 26 minutes last night and had 5 points and 1 rebound. Maybe he gives you spacing, but the tough part is, is there really anyone on the bench that could take those minutes ? Jackson looks lost, and hasn't really done anything with the minutes he's gotten. He almost reminds me of a more athletic Sid Wilson (obviously way more potential) where he just cant figure out his role. Akok probably would take these minutes if he could play.

 

[businesslawyer]

Oh but it probably did. Because good staffs figure out what wasn’t working and adjust. And I give Hurley and Co. credit for that. They kept the ball in Cole’s hands and trusted him to make the right plays, got Polley and Bouk some good matchups, and got away from posting up Sanogo which wasn’t really working besides the first few minutes.

When your explanation of how the coaches changed things uses the word “kept,” you really should consider what your point is.

 

[Uconn10922]

I think the team is doing pretty well considering what they have been thru this year. I think the problem or reason why there is all the criticism is partly COVID related. Everybody is just tired of having to take precautions, tired of a weird basketball season, tired of bad news and are just desperate to have something good happen with the basketball team. If you realistically think about what the program has gone thru culturally and injury wise, we are actually doing really good.

 

[OkaForPrez]

This post is why we keep having to have these posts. Being content with not improving and not adapting. If we think we’re better than 90% of these teams then we need to start playing and acting like it

By what measure are we not improving?

 

[navery12]

Unrelated to everything Hurley did, why did Georgetown stop giving the ball to Wahab the last 10 minutes?

 

[HuskyHawk]

The frustration stems from out issues that have been consistent and show little improvement. Lack of an offensive plan other than the random back door alley oop to Bouk. The hedging by the bigs that certainly shouldn’t be. The pointless idea that Sanogo and Whaley getting the ball at the top of the key doesn’t cause issues. And of course the consistent foul trouble. These are things that are fixable but just haven’t been even close to fixed.

This. This is what I mean when I talk about being inflexible. The hard hedge isn't working. It hasn't worked for three years. Even with Whaley, who executes it very well, it leaves the paint open far too often and leads to mismatches on switches. The handoff up top accomplishes nothing. I recall it working once or twice last year when Akok ran it, because the guard tossed it back to him for an open 3. It is wasted motion and draws an interior offensive threat and O-rebounder away from the basket.

I am sure Hurley is coaching them to execute these things differently than they do. But a great coach will change his approach to maximize the skills of his players and minimize their weaknesses. It feels like we are doing the opposite. It's why we all sense that this team could be better with those adjustments.

 

[jibsey]

My problem is they continue to have such bad stretches. If they want to compete in the Big East tourney and NCAA tourney they have to play complete games.

If you listened to the announcers at the end you would hear how dangerous we will be in the tourney. Should we make it. They forgot to say though that we would also be susceptible to a thrashing by a middle school team if we play like we did in the first half.

 

[upstater]

Very hard to judge the team's evolution at this point in the season when it's been a really difficult year with games/covid etc.

But I have readjusted expectations after seeing some dysfunction the last 2 games. It has more to do with player attitudes, we're just not likeminded out there. There's a disconnect between coaching staff and players, and this sometimes happens. Unfortunately. Happened to the best of them, Coach Calhoun, in '12. And before.

I just hate to see it. Almost more enjoyable to watch a team scrap and fight to a .500 record.

Even if the players lose confidence in the process & the concepts they're employing, they have to know that the outside world is watching and any deviation from the plan is going to get noticed by many others. It's going to hurt them unfortunately in more ways than one.

 

[imno1]

The hard hedge is part of our defensive scheme. We have the best defense in the league. I think the staff is doing a good job coaching defense

 

[CL82]

I think we had bad stretches under Jim Calhoun as well...

True, but Calhoun was a master in game adjustments and a master of taking the talent he had and putting them in a position to succeed. He also was a master of the sat nothing and just glare at your players time out, which was always a favorite of mine.

 

[CL82]

This. This is what I mean when I talk about being inflexible. The hard hedge isn't working. It hasn't worked for three years. Even with Whaley, who executes it very well, it leaves the paint open far too often and leads to mismatches on switches. The handoff up top accomplishes nothing. I recall it working once or twice last year when Akok ran it, because the guard tossed it back to him for an open 3. It is wasted motion and draws an interior offensive threat and O-rebounder away from the basket.

I am sure Hurley is coaching them to execute these things differently than they do. But a great coach will change his approach to maximize the skills of his players and minimize their weaknesses. It feels like we are doing the opposite. It's why we all sense that this team could be better with those adjustments.

It is disruptive, but like all disruptive tactics once you see it enough you adjust. I wouldn’t mind seeing us use it at the start of games and then selectively like a half court trap.

 

[Mike1984]

The timeout thing is infuriating, he still never seems to know when to call them and never uses all of them.

Do you people on here really think calling a timeout is the key to making shots fall, because if you do you’re all delusional. He can use all his timeouts in the first half but if players aren’t making shots, it’s not going to help. The timeout isn’t the key to better shooting.

 

[Greathusky]

I am happy with the win but unhappy with the performance.

I won't restate all the concerns listed in this thread but geez if I continue to see our centers hedging on defense at the top of the key and keep picking up stupid fouls by sticking out their hip into the quicker guards, I am going to have a sit down with our coach and give him a piece of my mind.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It is disruptive, but like all disruptive tactics once you see it enough you adjust. I wouldn’t mind seeing us use it at the start of games and then selectively like a half court trap.

Sure. I don't want to eliminate it. But we run it 100% of the time, without fail. So every single opponent game plans to exploit it. St. Johns killed us with penetration at the rim because they knew we'd chase their 5 out. Creighton did the same but with interior passes.

Running the same D all the time, no matter what it is, makes it easier on the offense. I feel like Dan needs an hour long sitdown with Bill Belichick.

 

[Deepster]

Answer: No, the same insane posters will make the same insane points

Correction: They'll make the same insane points after a loss. They usually crawl back under their rock after a win.

 

[87Xfer]

the in-game chat was particularly brutal/ridiculous last night.

 

[dtrumpet]

The hard hedge is part of our defensive scheme. We have the best defense in the league. I think the staff is doing a good job coaching defense

thats true but its very uneven. Whaley does it well, Sanogo usually reacts too slowly to getting back and Carlton is just too slow. But having said that, we haven't been burned by that as much as I thought we would. Until villanova and last night, teams haven't gotten the ball much to the open big guy under the hoop.

 

[superjohn]

Do you people on here really think calling a timeout is the key to making shots fall, because if you do you’re all delusional. He can use all his timeouts in the first half but if players aren’t making shots, it’s not going to help. The timeout isn’t the key to better shooting.

Who said anything about shooting?

Do you people really think momentum doesn't matter? Do you people think time and score doesn't matter? Do you people think set plays to stem the tide and to get your offense back on track don't matter? Do you people think coaches are given timeouts to bring home with them every game?

 

[ucp990411]

Sure buddy. I guarantee I’ve played and watched more basketball than you. But you go on thinking what you saw tonight was a clinic.

Ever coach?

 

[Jbirdp5]

Excruciating watching that first half last night. Don’t know how much of that is on hurley or how much is on his two best players not getting anything done.
was shocked by how passive bouk looked for 90% of the game. Doesn’t seem like he has confidence to break someone down off the dribble right now.