Chief’s Briefs - Butler Edition

[Chief00]

A tough win in the usual 8 on 5 Big East game.
There was a 28 to14 Butler foul shot advantage in a 2 point UConn win.

So our home court foul disadvantage continues at the courtesy of the Big East officials. Special Guest star Syracuse’s Pat Driscoll. How does Butler grab so much on defense but get so few foul calls?

Again, we lead in FG%, rebounds and assists. There’s been a lot of wrong media narratives that some posters seem to buy into, but there’s one major statistic that sticks out against us and that’s foul shot attempts. We are down -88 for the season before tonight despite 4 cupcake games.

Sol Ball has definitely established himself as our go to offensive guy. Why don’t we get him the ball at end of plays more?

I thought our centers were a little better in not chasing guards around at mid court but still they need to be better at protecting the paint and playing under screens not above them.

Hurley needs to re-rethink playing his centers at half court on defense - way too
many fouls and mismatches result with this team.

The guy we need to find more playing time for is Stewart. He has the full package and has the ability to become better defensively. But needs to improve in that area.

Reed needs less fouls and more minutes. Johnson makes too many bad decisions. Needs to be more basic and take less risk.

Alex played tough but well only in spots. If the team flows better, the game will get easier.

We need to work on our late game half court office. Too many very poor shots as clock is ticking down.

 

[Mister P]

Surprisingly, I don’t think Driscoll was a problem for us tonight. To me, his whistle was quiet tonight. It was the other two guys making all the calls.

 

[geordi]

Get off the soapbox about the officials. Look at the way we defend. You might as well give everyone of our guys a blackjack and brass knuckles. Every official in the country is not biased against UConn. Yeah, it was a 2 point win, but it should have been a dozen. We're a 78% foul shooting TEAM that blew at least 3-4 foul shots tonight. We missed at least half a dozen shots 2 feet from the basket. Diarra drove into two defenders under the hoop another 4-5 times.

Let's face it. We are soft. We are not quick and quickness on the opponent draws fouls...so they shoot twice as many FTs as we do.

 

[InKembaITrust]

Another dumb post.

 

[GHSWolverines]

Only plus I saw was the play of AK. He needs to play like that every game.

 

[GHSWolverines]

face it. We are soft. We are not quick and quickness on the opponent draws fouls...so they shoot twice as many FTs as we do.

This is why we foul more than our opponents

 

[BEFAN]

Chief seems to think fouls are like jump balls: you get one, they get one. That's not how it works. Some teams foul more than others. Unfortunately, UConn is one of those teams.

 

[uchusky32]

We foul. No excuse. We don't rebound well. We're not tough.

 

[Marbles90]

the usual 8 on 5 Big East game.

God, you can’t be this dumb…

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Our offense is predicated on half court sets to get open looks and shoot. Our players don’t have the ability to break down guys off the dribble.

It’s not surprising that that style of play doesn’t results in free throws.

 

[Chief00]

Surprisingly, I don’t think Driscoll was a problem for us tonight. To me, his whistle was quiet tonight. It was the other two guys making all the calls.

I did say it was 8 on 5.

 

[Chief00]

Our offense is predicated on half court sets to get open looks and shoot. Our players don’t have the ability to break down guys off the dribble.

It’s not surprising that that style of play doesn’t results in free throws.

Butler was grabbing and holding all night and they get twice as many foul shots.

 

[Chief00]

Mahaney and Ross were big preseason miscalculation. I still think Mahaney in the right role could help.

 

[storrsroars]

Whomever noted a game or two ago that opposing coaches are giving Samson the AJax treatment - that was ridiculously apparent tonight.

If Danny is going to keep him at top of key, then Samson needs to toss up a three in the next couple of games just to keep defenses honest.

 

[Spaceman213J]

The defense plays way too much with their hands and not their feet. Johnson could be a really good rim protector, but he is constantly dropping his hands onto guys shoulders. Reed turns his back completely to ball sometimes and leaves half the paint wide open.

Diarra did over penetrate way too often tonight, but he was good on defense.

AK played smart tonight and made some big plays.

Stewart made a few nice plays, but he's another guy who has to keep his hands off the offensive player.

 

[blackuc]

Sampson has no low post game and will never draw a foul unless he is cut off on a rim run lob.
Most of our offense is motion and jump shots that don't get you to the foul line.
Diarra driving into the trees and throwing up shots to beat the shot clock also does not get rewarded with free throws.
Bottom line is the team really misses Liam right now and until he comes back our offense will continue to struggle

 

[Marat]

We beat Butler by 2 without Liam, and we beat Butler by 4 with Liam. What does that tell us ?

 

[jibsey]

This team needed something from Mahaney tonight. I mean it was Butler at home for God’s sake. Got to have some production from him.7 minutes 0-2 and zero points. Just not acceptable. Ok he didn’t get minutes for a reason but geez, if not against Butler than who?

 

[UConnTrumbull]

We beat Butler by 2 without Liam, and we beat Butler by 4 with Liam. What does that tell us ?

Both times we were up, 15, I believe? Can’t put inferior teams away for some reason

 

[Mike Honcho]

Solo Ball has definitely established himself as our go to offensive guy. Why don’t we get him the ball at end of plays more?

Because he cannot create his own shot.

Also, enough with the refs. We got a bunch of favorable calls. Off the top of my head... the missed Samson travel (x2?), the ball off Samson's leg (fortunate that the replay sucked), a ton of missed calls where Samson/Stewie/Reed lacked verticality but were given the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Marat]

Both times we were up, 15, I believe? Can’t put inferior teams away for some reason

That's because we can't get defensive stops for an extended period of time, to increase the spread. Need to improve on that end.

 

[housekeys]

Our offense is predicated on half court sets to get open looks and shoot. Our players don’t have the ability to break down guys off the dribble.

Right observation but I come to a different conclusion. There is on the ball and off ball contact. One is called, the other is not. It is the absence of calls when UConn runs its sets and makes cuts that is the issue. You are right, we don't have the ability (without Liam) to break down guys like other teams. Thus the a FTA advantage. It is the off ball non calls that are literally and figuratively holding UConn back.

Also, enough with the refs. We got a bunch of favorable calls. Off the top of my head... the missed Samson travel (x2?), the ball off Samson's leg (fortunate that the replay sucked), a ton of missed calls where Samson/Stewie/Reed lacked verticality but were given the benefit of the doubt.

You are correct about UConn getting the benefit in a number of on the ball calls, proving that refs are poor. Again the issue is the off ball non calls. I wonder what would happen if European refs call a UConn game?

You can out talent a team, out play a team or do both. UConn tries to outplay you, other teams try to out talent us. It is no surprise we get beat by a player going off in recent games.

Oh and refs have a hard job.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Right observation but I come to a different conclusion. There is on the ball and off ball contact. One is called, the other is not. It is the absence of calls when UConn runs its sets and makes cuts that is the issue. You are right, we don't have the ability (without Liam) to break down guys like other teams. Thus the a FTA advantage. It is the off ball non calls that are literally and figuratively holding UConn back.


You are correct about UConn getting the benefit in a number of on the ball calls, proving that refs are poor. Again the issue is the off ball non calls. I wonder what would happen if European refs call a UConn game?

You can out talent a team, out play a team or do both. UConn tries to outplay you, other teams try to out talent us. It is no surprise we get beat by a player going off in recent games.

Oh and refs have a hard job.

Yea I mean that's part of the game and always has been. I complain about the lack of 3 second calls but until they make freedom of movement a point of emphasis, the refs just aren't going to call the off ball holds and hand fighting. We have to be stronger and fight through that stuff if we want to run this intricate offense.

Jordan Hawkins wasn't physically strong but he knew how to sprint into screens at the right angle to get maximum separation in a way that Solo just isn't able to do right now. And not to mention, Donovan was one of the best screeners we've ever had, right up there with Jake Voskuhl. Adama was also up there given that he's an absolute tank of a human.

Those details matter, and it's partly a personnel issue and partly an execution issue. But to blame the refs is to turn a blind eye on how the game has always been called, especially in the rough and tumble Big East.

 

[3rdbass]

A tough win in the usual 8 on 5 Big East game.
There was a 28 to14 Butler foul shot advantage in a 2 point UConn win.

So our home court foul disadvantage continues at the courtesy of the Big East officials. Special Guest star Syracuse’s Pat Driscoll. How does Butler grab so much on defense but get so few foul calls?

Again, we lead in FG%, rebounds and assists. There’s been a lot of wrong media narratives that some posters seem to buy into, but there’s one major statistic that sticks out against us and that’s foul shot attempts. We are down -88 for the season before tonight despite 4 cupcake games.

Sol Ball has definitely established himself as our go to offensive guy. Why don’t we get him the ball at end of plays more?

I thought our centers were a little better in not chasing guards around at mid court but still they need to be better at protecting the paint and playing under screens not above them.

Hurley needs to re-rethink playing his centers at half court on defense - way too
many fouls and mismatches result with this team.

The guy we need to find more playing time for is Stewart. He has the full package and has the ability to become better defensively. But needs to improve in that area.

Reed needs less fouls and more minutes. Johnson makes too many bad decisions. Needs to be more basic and take less risk.

Alex played tough but well only in spots. If the team flows better, the game will get easier.

We need to work on our late game half court office. Too many very poor shots as clock is ticking down.

We need both our centers. Reed isn't good at playing against pick n roll offenses while Samson is. Reed also isn't as good when our guards are rolling to the basket on geting an easy shot as Samson. We need both of them right now as you can tell from one fouling out and one with 4 fouls. The one issue i do have is when Reed is in there we need to work on geting him the ball more on the block so he can score down low. We aren't using his biggest strength by not incorporating his post game into our offense.

 

[Chief00]

Get off the soapbox about the officials. Look at the way we defend. You might as well give everyone of our guys a blackjack and brass knuckles. Every official in the country is not biased against UConn. Yeah, it was a 2 point win, but it should have been a dozen. We're a 78% foul shooting TEAM that blew at least 3-4 foul shots tonight. We missed at least half a dozen shots 2 feet from the basket. Diarra drove into two defenders under the hoop another 4-5 times.

Let's face it. We are soft. We are not quick and quickness on the opponent draws fouls...so they shoot twice as many FTs as we do.

The numbers are the numbers not a soapbox. You need to be more data driven and less emotional. It is very difficult to win when we have this type of obstacle to overcome every game and it’s a disservice to our players.