Chief’s Briefs - Butler Edition

[AdamaNation]

I would love to see Newton get a little more arc in his free throws. It looks like it flattened out a bit this year, and stats show

I think his hand is banged up. His offense has been brutal and he’s shooting himself out of AA talk.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I think his hand is banged up. His offense has been brutal and he’s shooting himself out of AA talk.

Yeah, something is going on there. He had a lot of tape on his hand yesterday. It may not be a huge injury, but we all saw what a taped hand could do to AK's shot.

 

[gars44]

Yeah, something is going on there. He had a lot of tape on his hand yesterday. It may not be a huge injury, but we all saw what a taped hand could do to AK's shot.

Hopefully not his wrist. Wrist injury is a killer

 

[jdb50]

I watched the big kid on DePaul-Nelson- ram his shoulder into Samson's chest twice in the first half at Gampel really hard and then made a move and Samson was called for a foul. Some of the stuff allowed is very surprising when the BE refs call ticky tack fouls on our team. Samson has really stepped up after having to watch from the bench last year. He is part of the offense with the up top screens and hand offs, the roll action for dunks and has been converting on in the paint shots as well. He works to rebound but sometimes our guards are the benefit of his actions. When he learns to keep his feet on the floor and not overcommit to trying for the block his D will really improve with less fouls. We are lucky to have him.

 

[Chief00]

I watched the big kid on DePaul-Nelson- ram his shoulder into Samson's chest twice in the first half at Gampel really hard and then made a move and Samson was called for a foul. Some of the stuff allowed is very surprising when the BE refs call ticky tack fouls on our team. Samson has really stepped up after having to watch from the bench last year. He is part of the offense with the up top screens and hand offs, the roll action for dunks and has been converting on in the paint shots as well. He works to rebound but sometimes our guards are the benefit of his actions. When he learns to keep his feet on the floor and not overcommit to trying for the block his D will really improve with less fouls. We are lucky to have him.

I think with Samson he just needs to not over commit defensively on screens 20 - 25 feet from the basket, which then puts him out of position for defensive rebounds. We miss not having the strongest dude out there every game ( Adama) and the guy we have to try to replace that is out (Donovan). I do feel Castle and Newton combined do help make up the difference with toughness, but just don’t have the length against 6-9 kids. If Adama had come back this season would have been very different I believe in how we handled Donovan’s foot recovery. We don’t really have a Big muscle back up with Donovan out. I guess we are trying to make that happen with Stewart.
One lesson here is on the elite level we need to have the Double Big as either part of our starting lineup or at least key rotations. Without the Double Big scheme if we have two good bigs it is viewed as a zero sum game for playing time.

 

[twiceahusky]

And Danny did a bad job not immediately taking Samson out when he got his 3rd he just doesn’t have the ability to back off. Worked out okay but normally we need more than 20 minutes from SJ so shame on the staff for keeping him in.

I’m super confused… you want more minutes from SJ, so you criticize the staff for leaving him in? That doesn’t actually get SJ more minutes, it gets him fewer.

If Sampson is going to foul every four minutes, he’s dictating that he only gets 20 minutes. Whether the staff pulls him after number three or leaves him in, it’s on him not to foul.

In this specific game, he only had four fouls so you could argue that he could/should have played more. Another reason to keep him out there … perhaps to learn how to NOT foul in critical game situations?

 

[willstafa24]

This team's weakness is its perimeter defense, specifically stopping dribble drive penetration.

That is why Newton, Spencer and Karaban need to be intense fighting through screens. That was the problem with SH and all their strong guards who love to drive. Same was true with Butler and Davis lighting them up. 2nd half they came out and fought hard through screens and stayed physical with their man.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

One lesson here is on the elite level we need to have the Double Big as either part of our starting lineup or at least key rotations. Without the Double Big scheme if we have two good bigs it is viewed as a zero sum game for playing time.

What taught us this lesson ?
We went double big once this season; at Kansas. We went from up 5 to down 4 in about 2:20.
We also went double big the year before last '22 (Whaley and Sanogo). It was OK, but all season we complained about not enough skill on the floor.
Then we went the exact opposite in 2023, and won a National Championship with the single big, 4 out.
I just can't imagine how anyone could have watched UConn play basketball the last few years and come to the conclusion that we aren't using the 'double big' lineup enough.

Not only do i think we didn't learn the double big lesson in the last couple games, but we actually learned that we are pretty decent with the NO-BIG (5-out) lineup. I'm certainly not advocating for many minutes of it, but we were about +8 in the second half of the Butler game alone with it. We won the game by 7.

The double big will work if one of the bigs can dribble, pass, and shoot (have all the qualities of a non-big). The word "big" is misleading here. I would love to put 5 guys who are 6'10"+ on the floor, but 4 of them need to have guard skills. This is the way our offense works, and given the results since the start of 2023, i really don't think we should change it...even if another team beats us in the paint a couple times.

 

[woodchuck68]

What taught us this lesson ?
We went double big once this season; at Kansas. We went from up 5 to down 4 in about 2:20.
We also went double big the year before last '22 (Whaley and Sanogo). It was OK, but all season we complained about not enough skill on the floor.
Then we went the exact opposite in 2023, and won a National Championship with the single big, 4 out.
I just can't imagine how anyone could have watched UConn play basketball the last few years and come to the conclusion that we aren't using the 'double big' lineup enough.

Not only do i think we didn't learn the double big lesson in the last couple games, but we actually learned that we are pretty decent with the NO-BIG (5-out) lineup. I'm certainly not advocating for many minutes of it, but we were about +8 in the second half of the Butler game alone with it. We won the game by 7.

The double big will work if one of the bigs can dribble, pass, and shoot (have all the qualities of a non-big). The word "big" is misleading here. I would love to put 5 guys who are 6'10"+ on the floor, but 4 of them need to have guard skills. This is the way our offense works, and given the results since the start of 2023, i really don't think we should change it...even if another team beats us in the paint a couple times.

I'm not sure that he was advocating for having two bigs play at the same time.. rather, it really comes in handy to have two separate bigs who are talented in case one of them is in foul trouble.

 

[Rico444]

I'm not sure that he was advocating for having two bigs play at the same time.. rather, it really comes in handy to have two separate bigs who are talented in case one of them is in foul trouble.

Chief has been advocating for two bigs on the floor at the same time for awhile now.

 

[ucp990411]

I think with Samson he just needs to not over commit defensively on screens 20 - 25 feet from the basket, which then puts him out of position for defensive rebounds. We miss not having the strongest dude out there every game ( Adama) and the guy we have to try to replace that is out (Donovan). I do feel Castle and Newton combined do help make up the difference with toughness, but just don’t have the length against 6-9 kids. If Adama had come back this season would have been very different I believe in how we handled Donovan’s foot recovery. We don’t really have a Big muscle back up with Donovan out. I guess we are trying to make that happen with Stewart.
One lesson here is on the elite level we need to have the Double Big as either part of our starting lineup or at least key rotations. Without the Double Big scheme if we have two good bigs it is viewed as a zero sum game for playing time.

Samson is very good with the high hedge and it totally disrupts the opponent's offensive scheme as long as rotations are done properly and we are very good with our rotations. And as far as using the double bigs, Chief you beat this drum all year last year and the season was pretty successful. If we started the double bigs as you suggest, who do you not start?

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I'm not sure that he was advocating for having two bigs play at the same time.. rather, it really comes in handy to have two separate bigs who are talented in case one of them is in foul trouble.

One lesson here is on the elite level we need to have the Double Big as either part of our starting lineup or at least key rotations. Without the Double Big scheme if we have two good bigs it is viewed as a zero sum game for playing time.

He was definitely advocating for the double big (at the same time).
He has been ever since last season.

Even though i think it made almost zero sense last season (especially in hindsight given the result), it still made more sense then than it does now because Adama could stretch the floor a bit. And the lack of foot speed for 2 bigs on the floor would get us killed on the perimeter against any team that had any athleticism at all. Offensively it would clog everything up the way it did when it was Whaley/Sanogo at 4/5.
This isn't even mentioning that we need to have 10 fouls available at the 5, especially in conference.

 

[Chief00]

What taught us this lesson ?
We went double big once this season; at Kansas. We went from up 5 to down 4 in about 2:20.
We also went double big the year before last '22 (Whaley and Sanogo). It was OK, but all season we complained about not enough skill on the floor.
Then we went the exact opposite in 2023, and won a National Championship with the single big, 4 out.
I just can't imagine how anyone could have watched UConn play basketball the last few years and come to the conclusion that we aren't using the 'double big' lineup enough.

Not only do i think we didn't learn the double big lesson in the last couple games, but we actually learned that we are pretty decent with the NO-BIG (5-out) lineup. I'm certainly not advocating for many minutes of it, but we were about +8 in the second half of the Butler game alone with it. We won the game by 7.

The double big will work if one of the bigs can dribble, pass, and shoot (have all the qualities of a non-big). The word "big" is misleading here. I would love to put 5 guys who are 6'10"+ on the floor, but 4 of them need to have guard skills. This is the way our offense works, and given the results since the start of 2023, i really don't think we should change it...even if another team beats us in the paint a couple times.

So you don’t believe we would be better this season with Clingan and Sanogo on the team? Your opposition is based on a 2 minute sample.
You don’t think we would be more cautious with Donovan’s injury if Adama was available?
But the only way we could keep both happy with minute potential was to have Double Big as part of the rotation mix and starting line-up.

 

[Chief00]

I'm not sure that he was advocating for having two bigs play at the same time.. rather, it really comes in handy to have two separate bigs who are talented in case one of them is in foul trouble.

But to do that you do need some minutes together. I don’t see these guys hurting us at all. Quite to the contrary.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

This team's weakness is its perimeter defense, specifically stopping dribble drive penetration.

That is why Newton, Spencer and Karaban need to be intense fighting through screens. That was the problem with SH and all their strong guards who love to drive. Same was true with Butler and Davis lighting them up. 2nd half they came out and fought hard through screens and stayed physical with their man.

I foresee some Newton-Cam/AK-Diarra-Steph-Clingan lineups against quicker teams. Down the stretch it’s gonna be tough to have all 3 of Newton-Cam-AK on the floor against slashing teams. I’m not sure who you sit, but Steph and Diarra are eons better on the ball defensively, and that really is our biggest issue right now.

 

[ucp990411]

So you don’t believe we would be better this season with Clingan and Sanogo on the team? Your opposition is based on a 2 minute sample.
You don’t think we would be more cautious with Donovan’s injury if Adama was available?
But the only way we could keep both happy with minute potential was to have Double Big as part of the rotation mix and starting line-up.

Grasping for straws here. Did anyone mention Sanogo? The double big wasn’t needed last year and the one game we tried it, it failed. Not needed this year as well. Chief, you did not answer my question. Go double big, who sits? And it would hurt our offense. Why do you insist on this?

 

[willstafa24]

I foresee some Newton-Cam/AK-Diarra-Steph-Clingan lineups against quicker teams. Down the stretch it’s gonna be tough to have all 3 of Newton-Cam-AK on the floor against slashing teams. I’m not sure who you sit, but Steph and Diarra are eons better on the ball defensively, and that really is our biggest issue right now.

I agree which is why it's so important for Steph to continue finding his offensive game and Diarra to maintain.

Also, I know Clingan will help immensely with the dribble drive, but I fear that leads to fouls. When JC funneled guards to Thabeet he could use those fouls bc he didn't need him on the offensive end. We need Clingan on both sides of the court, so protecting the paints with our perimeter players is paramount.