Chief’s Briefs - Butler Edition

[Chief00]

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

We lead our opponents in rebounds 657 to 564 (by 93), our opponents lead us 432 to 330 (by 102) in foul shot attempts. Again, the numbers tell the story. I am trying to focus on the data not emotions and I try to be consistent win or lose.

Toughness is always great unless it leads to dumb fouls - but it’s also an emotion, which is needed but there’s limits to it if we don’t focus on the numbers too. Butler was grabbing multiple times on each of our possessions and we shot in the paint - yet this huge foul shot disconnect impacted the strategy of the game late in the game once again.

Many here need to believe the numbers, I am just a messenger of them. I know this bias is not suppose to consistently happen but it is.

An uninformed SI writer has already written an article last night about how Hurley was rude to the official when the real story should be how the officials personal feelings about Hurley makes them do their job in an unprofessional manner and they should be investigated as a result.

Last night Pat Driscoll’s crew once again delivered a 2 to 1 foul shot advantage for our opponent.

 

[Chief00]

I will stand up for our players about this criticism about us not doing things well, when every major statistics category, other than foul related ones show that they do:

Assists: UConn (368) to Opponents (188). That’s almost 10 more unselfish assists per game. An unbelievable unselfish #!

Steals: UConn (108) to Opponent (93). Isn’t that toughness along with rebounding?

Rebounds: UConn (657) to Opponents (564). Is that toughness?

Shooting %: UConn (49.4%) to Opponent (42.5%). This clearly shows both our offense AND defense are much better than our opponents !

The truth is absent the Syracuse native Pat Driscoll crew games and another crew we would only have 1-2 loses. It is tough to overcome 14-16 less foul shot attempts per game, foul trouble reducing player minutes, and opponent going into bonus early storm. So the impact is even bigger than the direct FT points.

 

[Sea Goat]

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.

We stop moving our feet - a dead give away that a foul isn't far behind... Sometimes it becomes assumed unfortunately.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Rebounds: UConn (657) to Opponents (564). Is that toughness?

Chief I appreciate your data but rebounding has absolutely been an issue over the last few games. Vs Creighton Ashworth gets a huge 3 off an offensive rebound we didn't box out. Final moments of regulation yesterday JStew let's one go off his fingers and out of bounds, or how about the out of bounds after Telfort missed a second FT.

Even some of the rebounds we get when we are in good position can turn into a scramble. I'd like more Big Hoss Tarris to help us out with that. No doubt when he gets his paws on it

 

[ableton04]

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

Same goes for how a lot of the plays on offense are run - you can really see how much better Clingan was at operating at the top of the key. Neither of our centers screens as well and they almost never pull off the occasional pass to a cutter that Clingan was great at. Samson in particular is just a head scratcher on offense - he should be the ideal pick & roll big man for a college team but it's almost like he's regressed this season at times.

 

[Icehawk]

Has there been bad reffing? Sure. But last night we got so many non calls or calls our way I just don’t buy the “refs are against us” story. Every game? Come on.

 

[boog204]

Same goes for how a lot of the plays on offense are run - you can really see how much better Clingan was at operating at the top of the key. Neither of our centers screens as well and they almost never pull off the occasional pass to a cutter that Clingan was great at. Samson in particular is just a head scratcher on offense - he should be the ideal pick & roll big man for a college team but it's almost like he's regressed this season at times.

Samson was an ideal pick and roll big when he was paired with a player who was threat. Hassan is a total dog. He plays his ball$ off. But why would Samson's man give help when the player with the ball is not a threat? Teams have figured out that both Hassan and Samson are more or less not offensive threats in the half court. There's no reason to have Samson's guy come out and hedge or give help if Hassan is not a threat.

You also have to factor in that last year Samson was doing PNR with a 6-5 Newton, 6-6 Castle, and 6-4 Spencer more often than not. DH already said during a recruit talk, that we needed to bring in bigger guards again to run the PNR game.

And on the foul discrepancy. We foul. A lot. We start four guys who are bad on-ball defenders who have slow feet. Those are all fouls. Solo and Stew get beat off the dribble literally every time and then try to catch up with their body. Samson is constantly fouling. AK doesn't commit many fouls, but he is constantly getting beat.

On offense, we rarely if ever have guys who go to the hoop. Our offense is lots of screening and looking for open 3's. It works beautifully at times. Solo, a guy who shoots 45% from volume, is constantly getting wide open looks. That's great offense. But we rarely post up. We do not put defenders in position to commit fouls. Last year we had THREE players who could take their man off the dribble, more or less at will, AND were heady enough to draw fouls either legitimately or by throwing their body/head around. This year we have ONE guy who has that skill and he's been out the last five games. We get away with TONS of fouls and other things. The "refs are against us b/c of DH" thing is so tired.

 

[jibsey]

You are right,we don’t go to the line be because we don’t drive and draw fouls. Our opponents do though. “On offense, we rarely if ever have guys who go to the hoop.……..” Yup.

So Hurley does not have this type of 6’3- 6’5 quick tough guard on the roster. No T Newt. Is that a recruiting mistake?

 

[BlueandOG]

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.

We were called for more fouls because we fouled more often, not because of a conspiracy by the refs.

 

[Chief00]

We were called for more fouls because we fouled more often, not because of a conspiracy by the refs.

Read the thread I just posted on Hurley’s insights. In my view, he’s on target.

 

[Chief00]

You are right,we don’t go to the line be because we don’t drive and draw fouls. Our opponents do though. “On offense, we rarely if ever have guys who go to the hoop.……..” Yup.

So Hurley does not have this type of 6’3- 6’5 quick tough guard on the roster. No T Newt. Is that a recruiting mistake?

We have more paints in the paint.

 

[Chief00]

Samson was an ideal pick and roll big when he was paired with a player who was threat. Hassan is a total dog. He plays his ball$ off. But why would Samson's man give help when the player with the ball is not a threat? Teams have figured out that both Hassan and Samson are more or less not offensive threats in the half court. There's no reason to have Samson's guy come out and hedge or give help if Hassan is not a threat.

You also have to factor in that last year Samson was doing PNR with a 6-5 Newton, 6-6 Castle, and 6-4 Spencer more often than not. DH already said during a recruit talk, that we needed to bring in bigger guards again to run the PNR game.

And on the foul discrepancy. We foul. A lot. We start four guys who are bad on-ball defenders who have slow feet. Those are all fouls. Solo and Stew get beat off the dribble literally every time and then try to catch up with their body. Samson is constantly fouling. AK doesn't commit many fouls, but he is constantly getting beat.

On offense, we rarely if ever have guys who go to the hoop. Our offense is lots of screening and looking for open 3's. It works beautifully at times. Solo, a guy who shoots 45% from volume, is constantly getting wide open looks. That's great offense. But we rarely post up. We do not put defenders in position to commit fouls. Last year we had THREE players who could take their man off the dribble, more or less at will, AND were heady enough to draw fouls either legitimately or by throwing their body/head around. This year we have ONE guy who has that skill and he's been out the last five games. We get away with TONS of fouls and other things. The "refs are against us b/c of DH" thing is so tired.

If the truth is tired to you it’s because reality can get tiresome. Hurley just nails it brilliantly in the article I just posted on BY. Thank you Coach.

 

[Chief00]

This post is also dumb.

So Hurley is dumb too since he just validated what I said.

 

[Chief00]

Same goes for how a lot of the plays on offense are run - you can really see how much better Clingan was at operating at the top of the key. Neither of our centers screens as well and they almost never pull off the occasional pass to a cutter that Clingan was great at. Samson in particular is just a head scratcher on offense - he should be the ideal pick & roll big man for a college team but it's almost like he's regressed this season at times.

Excellent point about Donovan screening so well.

 

[ctbro1999]

the ball off Samson's leg

The ball did not go off Samson's leg. Butler player who stripped the ball touched it last.

 

[gtcam]

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

The Butler sucks

 

[Seamus84]

There's no doubt the Ref's have a tough job and fouls could be called on basically every play. Hurley said as much in his post-game presser and added that the issue is not whether we committed fouls...we did. The issue is the other team is also committing fouls and those aren't being called at rate where the discrepancy is glaring.

 

[boog204]

If the truth is tired to you it’s because reality can get tiresome. Hurley just nails it brilliantly in the article I just posted on BY. Thank you Coach.

Haha... Well stated, Plato. A foul can be called on literally every play. 97% of Samson's screens are illegal. We body people all over the place and our physicality is called out by every non-BE fan based we've encountered.

If we're getting called for holding on screens/cuts, etc., then I'm with you and crying out. But we don't. We're given TONS of leeway. You battle through. I love DH but I think he comes across as a tool with this "we deserve better treatment" thing. AK said it best in that article, you play through it and learn how to deal with it. DH is not doing us any favors. Two-time champion or not, he's not JC who was able to work the refs to his side.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I will stand up for our players about this criticism about us not doing things well, when every major statistics category, other than foul related ones show that they do:

Assists: UConn (368) to Opponents (188). That’s almost 10 more unselfish assists per game. An unbelievable unselfish #!

Steals: UConn (108) to Opponent (93). Isn’t that toughness along with rebounding?

Rebounds: UConn (657) to Opponents (564). Is that toughness?

Shooting %: UConn (49.4%) to Opponent (42.5%). This clearly shows both our offense AND defense are much better than our opponents !

The truth is absent the Syracuse native Pat Driscoll crew games and another crew we would only have 1-2 loses. It is tough to overcome 14-16 less foul shot attempts per game, foul trouble reducing player minutes, and opponent going into bonus early storm. So the impact is even bigger than the direct FT points.

we lead the country in Assist/TO and in Assists/Made baskets

 

[Chief00]

On ESPN a few minutes ago - Stephen A Smith has Hurley’s back too!!!!
Good for Stephen A !!!!

Dan Hurley criticizes referees after UConn's OT win over Butler: 'We get held ... every single game'

https://www.ctinsider.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/uconn-mens-basketball-butler-solo-ball-20047298.php

 

[DogMania]

I usually don't jump I to Chief's Briefs, but today I will. I think most of our fouls were warranted.

I do believe Butler got away with a lot of clutch and grab off the ball, especially on Ball. Those should have been called to allow player movement. Those are legit fouls that weren't being called. Some ref units are calling those, but not the crew last night.

Hurley should tone down his antics and just work the refs on one or two things to get some calls.

I don't see any ref conspiracy. I see a lot of bad D and fouling. Earlier in the season Johnson seemed to be getting 1 to 2 bad calls against him, but lately the ones called on him and his teammates look legit. Maybe we're not getting enough calls on our offensive end, but I don't think we hunt contact enough or use up fakes to draw fouls.

 

[gtcam]

I don't recall where Chief00 ever said that UConn doesn't commit fouls.
I know that UConn, as a team, commits many fouls and they are called, rarely overlooked.
The issue I have with the officiating is that the refs definitely allow opponents to do what they just had called as a foul on UConn.
One can't help but think that the refs in general have a grudge w/DH and if DH makes a comment like that to a ref - I can't blame them to a much lesser degree. Instead of hurting DH alone, it hurts the team and the players.
Maybe DH should sit with the head of NCAA officials for an air cleaning?

 

[RuffRuff]

I usually don't jump I to Chief's Briefs, but today I will. I think most of our fouls were warranted.

I do believe Butler got away with a lot of clutch and grab off the ball, especially on Ball. Those should have been called to allow player movement. Those are legit fouls that weren't being called. Some ref units are calling those, but not the crew last night.

Hurley should tone down his antics and just work the refs on one or two things to get some calls.

I don't see any ref conspiracy. I see a lot of bad D and fouling. Earlier in the season Johnson seemed to be getting 1 to 2 bad calls against him, but lately the ones called on him and his teammates look legit. Maybe we're not getting enough calls on our offensive end, but I don't think we hunt contact enough or use up fakes to draw fouls.

There were plenty of calls in this game that were highly favorable to the Huskies. One in particular on Bizjack, called on a Karaban offensive rebound, that was a total ghost foul and bail out. I could name a few more. The refs didn't dictate outcome at all.

Not one to constantly criticize the refs because they are part of the game and something you can't control, only solution for. So the constant crying there is painful, but all fan bases do it. I will say, this year's refereeing tone on the aggregate has definitely been a little funky as it comes to Uconn. There is something in the air and it smells a little funny.

 

[DogMania]

There were plenty of calls in this game that were highly favorable to the Huskies. One in particular on Bizjack, called on a Karaban offensive rebound, that was a total ghost foul and bail out. I could name a few more. The refs didn't dictate outcome at all.

Not one to constantly criticize the refs because they are part of the game and something you can't control, only solution for. So the constant crying there is painful, but all fan bases do it. I will say, this year's refereeing tone on the aggregate has definitely been a little funky as it comes to Uconn. There is something in the air and it smells a little funny.

There always seem to be some head scratching calls, but I've never seen a UConn D get blown up as often as this year. Once the D breaks down and players are scrambling, it just leads to a lot of fouls and open looks. If they can learn to play good positional D and keep players in front of them, we probably wouldn't see nearly as many fouls, even if some are phantom.

 

[DogMania]

Assists: UConn (368) to Opponents (188). That’s almost 10 more unselfish assists per game. An unbelievable unselfish #!

The assist differential is very deceiving since many of our opponents are threading our defense off the dribble and scoring without the assist of an assist. Granted, UConn scores a lot of baskets off of half court execution which leads to more assists than teams that rely on dribble penetration.

The eye test lately clearly shows that you can is struggling against teams that they shouldn't be and you can't rely on the stats. The ones that is very telling, teams are scoring a lot of points at the free throw line against us. Imagine if our defense was a little closer to what we're used to seeing. We likely have just one or two losses and be ranked in the top 10.

Much improvement is needed on both ends of the floor, and hopefully getting McNeeley back at some point will help in that direction.