Chief’s Brief - Creighton Edition

[boog204]

The top 2 ranked teams in February 2026 front court starters:
#1. Michigan: Mara 7-3 255 pds, Johnson 6-9 255pds
#2. Duke: Ngongba 6-11 250 pds, Boozer 6-9 250 pds
What have you been watching? LOL and you throw around the word “dumb” and phrase “two Bigs doesn’t work anymore”.

Can Reibe guard Boozer on the perimeter? You know the answer to this.

 

[Improviser]

Solo Ball was the biggest problem on D. Mullins had a few issues too but normally keeps up with his guy but can get bullied near the basket due to his lack size. We need to have Ross starting in place of Ball and Mullins to play the 2. That will help the most. I do agree we need Reed inside more when on D as the high hedge isn't giving us anything but opening up our offense for easy drives. I don't think Creighton is more athletic than us but they were smart to go after our bad defenders. I know Karaban is hurt so he was an issue too. Too bad Stewart is giving us next to nothing on both sides of the ball.

At least with Ross, you get consistent defense, some rebounding, and predictable, but not always reliable, outside shooting within the volume of shots he takes. Ball off the bench might work, but did not last night. If Ball is not making his shots, he doesn't help the team that much.

 

[jibsey]

At least with Ross, you get consistent defense, some rebounding, and predictable, but not always reliable, outside shooting within the volume of shots he takes. Ball off the bench might work, but did not last night. If Ball is not making his shots, he doesn't help the team that much.

I think Hurley’s approach has been go with Solo until he shows he’s getting torched then put Ross in. Could Ross attack the rim on offense with his athleticism?

 

[Donyell 360]

I think Hurley’s approach has been go with Solo until he shows he’s getting torched then put Ross in. Could Ross attack the rim on offense with his athleticism?

He would need a major boost in confidence. He is still tentative. Part of the problem is his handle still needs some work. He can jump, but doing it while dribbling through traffic is another matter.

 

[Fatroony5]

A Kevin Freeman type?

Yeah just someone with some good size, strength, & athleticism at the spot. You’ll give up some shooting but you have to be thinking about sliding this guy next to Reibe & what a Reibe defense would need. If you can get Reibe even just respectful from 3 and then the rest of your team is shooting it well, a little slippage there from the forward spot is fine. Not easy to find that level of talent but you can sell huge minutes at that spot. You’re seeing teams go big there like Michigan, Duke, Zona, Florida, Iowa state etc.

 

[NewBlood]

The 2 bigs idea is dumb and Hurley will never do it..and for good reason. Some of you guys are still hanging on to the the 90s early 2000’s style of ball.

2 bigs just doesn’t work anymore. Too many shooters and PF’s are too versatile and too quick.
There are other fixes we can make without resorting to that

Doesn’t it work for Michigan, Arizona and Florida?

 

[Donyell 360]

Yeah just someone with some good size, strength, & athleticism at the spot. You’ll give up some shooting but you have to be thinking about sliding this guy next to Reibe & what a Reibe defense would need. If you can get Reibe even just respectful from 3 and then the rest of your team is shooting it well, a little slippage there from the forward spot is fine. Not easy to find that level of talent but you can sell huge minutes at that spot. You’re seeing teams go big there like Michigan, Duke, Zona, Florida, Iowa state etc.

Big minutes means sitting Stewart in his senior year. You think Hurley will do that? He is doing it now but I think it will be Stewarts minutes to lose next year and I'm afraid Hurley won't want to recruit over him leaving less chance his minutes are stolen by a new addition.

 

[SeattleHoop]

Doesn’t it work for Michigan, Arizona and Florida?

I would encourage you to read my other posts. Those teams are not playing 2 slow footed centers simultaneously.

They have Center type size but those 4’s are A LOT more mobile.

 

[Fatroony5]

Big minutes means sitting Stewart in his senior year. You think Hurley will do that? He is doing it now but I think it will be Stewarts minutes to lose next year and I'm afraid Hurley won't want to recruit over him leaving less chance his minutes are stolen by a new addition.

Well when Stewart has started this year, it’s been on the wing, not in the frontcourt. He’s been playing reserve minutes there but not a ton. UConn shouldn’t be banking on Stewart as Alex’s replacement, that’d be a disaster. They need a bigger body there & quite frankly a better player in that spot.

 

[huskyharry]

To me, we can analyze the offense all we want, but we lost that game on defense, and our defense has been getting worse and worse over the last month. I know some of you know how to look this up, but to my eye one of the HUGE problems is that we play much better when Ball and Mullins aren’t in together. J Ross played well last night, Reibe was fine on offense and Malachi had his best game in forever, but J Stew’s total loss of confidence makes the inability to play Ball and Mullins together even worse.

Having said that, Creighton played a fabulous offensive game last night. hat’s off to them. But you don’t score that many points without the lack of defense also contributing.

Time to take our eyes off seeding and make sure we win the Big East. I’ll worry about the NCAA’s when we get there.

make sure we win the Big East????
How pray tell can we do that?

 

[boog204]

Doesn’t it work for Michigan, Arizona and Florida?

Those "4"s are all mobile bigs. C'mon people. This isn't difficult. The double big thing here would be two plodding guys chasing people on the perimeter. No bueno.

 

[3rdbass]

I think Hurley’s approach has been go with Solo until he shows he’s getting torched then put Ross in. Could Ross attack the rim on offense with his athleticism?

I think we have seen enough of Ross to know he isn't going to a consistent offensive weapon especially off the dribble . He doesn't have to be with Demary, Mullins, Reed and Karaban out there. He just needs to play great D, get some rebounds, hit the open 3 point shots and give the energy he brings.

 

[jibsey]

I think we have seen enough of Ross to know he isn't going to a consistent offensive weapon especially off the dribble . He doesn't have to be with Demary, Mullins, Reed and Karaban out there. He just needs to play great D, get some rebounds, hit the open 3 point shots and give the energy he brings.

The only player dribble driving to the rim is Silas. That’s why he goes to the line with few others besides Reed. We have a bit of a hole on offense with Alex injured. He has to heal and be a factor or we are toast.

 

[Stinger92860]

I posted this in another thread. A few years back I was complaining about the High Hedge all the time and then we won B2B, so it’s hard for me to complain again. I will say it depends on personnel and I don’t think we have guys to do it.

 

[3rdbass]

The only player dribble driving to the rim is Silas. That’s why he goes to the line with few others besides Reed. We have a bit of a hole on offense with Alex injured. He has to heal and be a factor or we are toast.

Mullins has shown some glimpses driving. I know not effective yet but he has the skills to be a good driver too.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mullins has shown some glimpses driving. I know not effective yet but he has the skills to be a good driver too.

We have a few games to figure it out, within the flow of the offense. Two of those are really hard games.

 

[gsmooth]

We have a few games to figure it out, within the flow of the offense. Two of those are really hard games.

Correction, they all are going to be hard games or at least I think we have to assume they will be until proven after the fact when the game(s) is over and there is a comfortable win. Don't look now, but Marquette is playing a lot better than they were in Nov-early January. I know they have a crappy record, but that game in Milwaukee will not be easy.

 

[gtcam]

A Kevin Freeman type?

This team needs Jeff Adrien tough

 

[Chief00]

We are 24-3 Chief. We have won 2 national championships with Karaban at the 4. You’re solution is too extreme.

I agree with most of your takes, and you are a smart guy and I appreciate your posts.

I just think on this one particular take, (which you also pedaled this idea during our national championship runs if my memory serves me right), is outdated.

Doesn’t it work for Michigan, Arizona and Florida?

Indeed, yes it does work for those schools. We also must recognize Hurley is not fully transparent about injuries, so hard knowing if Karaban is the answer to anything at the moment - with his leg issue?

 

[Chief00]

I posted this in another thread. A few years back I was complaining about the High Hedge all the time and then we won B2B, so it’s hard for me to complain again. I will say it depends on personnel and I don’t think we have guys to do it.

Our guards then included Andre Jackson, Stephon Castle, Cam Stewart and Tristen Newton. They all could capably guard multiple positions with their NBA level size and elite athleticism. Additionally we had an NBA raising star level rim protector.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I think Hurley’s approach has been go with Solo until he shows he’s getting torched then put Ross in. Could Ross attack the rim on offense with his athleticism?

No he seems to pull him after he gets torched on D and isn’t hitting his shots

 

[Scottobot]

While others including our coaches worried about some fan or empty seat before the game, I worried about our team and ref James Breeding. We loss by 7 and they were 27-32 FT compared to us at 11-18 or 14 more FT attempts (78% greater) and 16 more conversions. True a couple intentional fouls at the end but the damage was done.

When they drove and receive even minor contact, they went to the line. Nothing short of an NFL tackle contact sent us to the line with Breeding’s crew. Mullins took 22 shots including many drives /mid range and went to the line once (1) after he was grabbed and pushed throughout nearly every possession.

On Creighton, Green was 0-7 FG but 8-10 FT, Zuric 4-7 FG & 6-8 FT, Harper 3-3 FG & 4-4,FT. Not one UConn player had more FT attempts than FGA.

In fact, we had had 18 FTA to 71 FGA or 25% compared to Creighton 32 FTA to 55 FGA or 58%. That was the hill too big to climb. I do think our fans instead of doing stupid stuff with banana customs need to react to bad calls much more. And our players need to slap their opponent’s hands or arms when being grabbed continuously with no calls.

What do we need to do to be better:

1) Only 5 turnovers tonight and we need that improvement to continue. We made 13 points off TO’s compared to 4. Demary had 9 assists to 1 turnover.

2) We can’t stop drivers. We don’t seem to have enough athleticism to do that. Solution, we need more rim protection by playing Reibe and Reed together and trash the high hedge that makes our players look loss being caught in between. Creighton beat our shooting % anyways (49% to 44% FG) and (48% to 37% 3PT). It is clear coaching staffs like Creighton’s now have scouting reports that destroy our high hedge.

3) We no longer dominate in rebounding and the solution to #2, playing Reed/Reibe together 10-15 minutes a games should help. We got out rebounded by Creighton 41-35, a team with no real center. This would also give us weakside rebounding. And we need to flip the page big time on the high hedge disaster.

4) Yes!!!!! Practice foul shooting more. At lunch, at midnight or whenever. We don’t get a lot of attempts but shooting 61% FT doesn’t work when Creighton shot 84%.

5) Alex was 1-2 from 2pt and 0-4 from 3pt. We are a paradox, an assist driven offense with patience yet Alex, Ball and Mullins all take some very quick, very deep threes. If you have the hot hand and are feeling it ok - but let’s not start the game that way.

I like the double big idea as Reibe is definitely one of 6 best players in the team, and getting him more minutes would be good. Unlike Stewart he can score on offense. People are always like … but what about spacing on offense, and my answer to that is the big men are the best screen setter, getting the other 3 shooters open.

 

[Chief00]

I like the double big idea as Reibe is definitely one of 6 best players in the team, and getting him more minutes would be good. Unlike Stewart he can score on offense. People are always like … but what about spacing on offense, and my answer to that is the big men are the best screen setter, getting the other 3 shooters open.

Excellent point about Big screen setters. Rip use to run off of double Big screens and imagine the wear and tear that took on the defender plus Rip’s elite gifted talent. A lot to be said for getting your best players minutes. And maybe our opponent guards won’t look so forward to taking us off the dribble if they know the Bigs will meet them at the rim. So often with the high hedge no one is home there.

 

[Chief00]

Those "4"s are all mobile bigs. C'mon people. This isn't difficult. The double big thing here would be two plodding guys chasing people on the perimeter. No bueno.

Reed and Reibe move just fine in a true big role. You are pretending these guys on the other teams aren’t 250pds +.

 

[boog204]

Reed and Reibe move just fine in a true big role. You are pretending these guys on the other teams aren’t 250pds +.

I’m legit baffled you think that Reibe could guard any of the 4s on those teams especially outside the paint. All of whom are first round picks in part bc of their mobility. Reibe struggled with Creightons backup center. Just bc they all weigh the same does not equate to athleticism and mobility.