Chief’s Briefs - Butler Edition

[Chief00]

Good to see UConn dominate again with block shots (13 to 3) and rebounding (47 to 29). That interior dominance translated to a 51% to 30% FG% differential despite Butler being a 90 points per game team. But, only 60 tonight. We had six guys with 5 to 8 rebounds (Karaban, Reed, Demary, Ball, Ross and Reibe). And due to Demary’s 11 assist led in that category 19 to 10.

Solo Ball (26 points) was our offensive star tonight with a balance offensive game (8-14 FG, 3-6 3Pt, and 7-8 FT).

Our traditional point guards (Smith & Demary) combined for 2 points but Demary did get 11 assists. They played good defense, however while a small sample Smith was 0-3 from FT. Again, he needs to be much better from the line as one of our primary ball handlers.

Hurley was frank and honest in the post game show saying we need more work on the high screen defense and against transition baskets. Does he sound like Chief? lol

I am usually skeptical about depth but this team is starting to learn their roles and contributing what the team needs them too. I still think on fast breaks sometimes we do miss guys with a better angle or who is a better shooter.

Ross had a very good game with 13 points (6-9) and 8 rebounds. His defense was also outstanding. Mullins had 12 points and again shot over 50%. Hurley says he still needs to learn the offense and Chief thinks just as important his teammates learn about him. Reed shot 67% for 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. To me he still doesn’t look like he is fully recovered from his injury but is making some progress. Reibe is making that journey smoother with his solid play.

24 Butler FT attempts to 13 FT attempts for UConn. Seriously, do you see a pattern?

 

[bendm]

Chief, Donny said Hartford is a wine & cheese crowd and that speaking from experience it’s not like being on campus. Your thoughts?

 

[Waquoit]

Reed shot 67% for 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks. To me he still doesn’t look like he is fully recovered from his injury but is making some progress.

As odd as it may sound, I thought Reed kinda sucked on offense for someone shooting 67%, He missed bunnies. Add to that his unforced errors. But I agree, he's not fully recovered yet. I still think some of those misses should have been off glass but that's the yelling at clouds me.

 

[Excalibur]

The high screen defense was really suspect tonight. Jumped out too early when we hedged hard and gave up multiple slips, gave dribblers an open lane when we dropped. For parts of the second half we went 50-50, where the big would step hard and then drop, just to disrupt the flow a bit. Wasn't great but was better than the previous two strategies.

 

[Coach J]

The briefs are pretty on point. One thing that I noticed is J. Ross wasn't credited with a rebound for either his outback slam or the rebound and putback he had on his last basket. That would have given him 10 for the game and a well a deserved double double. It's a shame our home statistician routinely misses things like this. I remember rewinding games Clingan played where they credited him with 3 or 4 blocks when he actually had 7 or 8 on tape. See that I didn't say 6 or 7 🤪

 

[Chief00]

Chief, Donny said Hartford is a wine & cheese crowd and that speaking from experience it’s not like being on campus. Your thoughts?

He did say that, which was out of touch with reality. The records are what they are - UConn has not lost in Hartford in almost 3 years while they lost at Gampel last season and less than a month ago.

 

[Chief00]

The briefs are pretty on point. One thing that I noticed is J. Ross wasn't credited with a rebound for either his outback slam or the rebound and putback he had on his last basket. That would have given him 10 for the game and a well a deserved double double. It's a shame our home statistician routinely misses things like this. I remember rewinding games Clingan played where they credited him with 3 or 4 blocks when he actually had 7 or 8 on tape. See that I didn't say 6 or 7 🤪

Thanks, I agree the home statistics guy seems to routinely miss things. And there seems to be an absence of any meaningful checks and balances. J Ross had an outstanding game.

 

[Chief00]

The high screen defense was really suspect tonight. Jumped out too early when we hedged hard and gave up multiple slips, gave dribblers an open lane when we dropped. For parts of the second half we went 50-50, where the big would step hard and then drop, just to disrupt the flow a bit. Wasn't great but was better than the previous two strategies.

I agree, giving up multiple slips that lead to open dribble lanes or mismatches with our guy a step behind during the first half. I did notice that adjustment for parts of the second half, especially with Reibe. The key is he has to drop quickly to stay between the opposing Big and the basket.
Until a team consistently burns us with 3’s from a center, there’s no need for for our guy to put himself so out of position and create a mismatch with our guard covering their big.
But, we need to keep in mind overall our defense is very good - just need to clean up this issue and sloppy undiscipline fouls.

 

[Dove]

As odd as it may sound, I thought Reed kinda sucked on offense for someone shooting 67%, He missed bunnies. Add to that his unforced errors. But I agree, he's not fully recovered yet. I still think some of those misses should have been off glass but that's the yelling at clouds me.

Did you see Reed's face just before tipoff? Was like he just woke up.

 

[Chief00]

As odd as it may sound, I thought Reed kinda sucked on offense for someone shooting 67%, He missed bunnies. Add to that his unforced errors. But I agree, he's not fully recovered yet. I still think some of those misses should have been off glass but that's the yelling at clouds me.

He just doesn’t have that quick footwork we saw pre injury. True, he likes the floater more than the bank shot. Does the floater well but certain shot location should be using the bank shot.

 

[Chief00]

Did you see Reed's face just before tipoff? Was like he just woke up.

It is clear Hurley is not satisfied with his injury recovery results and is on him regarding certain things.

 

[businesslawyer]

As odd as it may sound, I thought Reed kinda sucked on offense for someone shooting 67%, He missed bunnies. Add to that his unforced errors. But I agree, he's not fully recovered yet. I still think some of those misses should have been off glass but that's the yelling at clouds me.

The shooting was fine. He’s not going to hit 80% of the jump hooks he takes. The problem with Reed was the turnovers and the black hole nature of his offense yesterday.

 

[mjmoney23]

Reed was catching the ball and trying to back in from way too far out. He was never the fastest guy, but he really seems to be lumbering since his return. He did move better than he did in previous games, but it's still not at his normal level.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

Reed was catching the ball and trying to back in from way too far out. He was never the fastest guy, but he really seems to be lumbering since his return. He did move better than he did in previous games, but it's still not at his normal level.

He has been less dominant on the boards as well.

 

[Palatine]

The high screen defense was really suspect tonight. Jumped out too early when we hedged hard and gave up multiple slips, gave dribblers an open lane when we dropped. For parts of the second half we went 50-50, where the big would step hard and then drop, just to disrupt the flow a bit. Wasn't great but was better than the previous two strategies.

That is true BUT... because the rotations were good, it led to our extremely high number of blocked shots.

 

[Coach J]

He just doesn’t have that quick footwork we saw pre injury. True, he likes the floater more than the bank shot. Does the floater well but certain shot location should be using the bank shot.

When he walked off the court during TV timeouts you could see he was favoring that leg a little, he also looked to be winded/worn out some - so to me he is probably at 75-80% of where he would be if fully healthy for a good two week span where he can go all out in back to back days at practice and have been conditioning to go with full strength in his leg/ankle during games.

 

[gtcam]

Another spot on write-up Chief00

I am also concerned about the lack of scoring from the PGs as well as the fouls. Overall, I thought the officiating was a bit better than usual (meaning it was less lousy) but UConn committed so many senseless fouls last night.
If Reibe can refine his offensive game a bit he will be a lottery pick after next season. I agree with those who say that he is ahead of where DC was ay this same point in time. The team seemed to move the ball better when he was in last night vs. Read who was doing his impersonation of AS when the ball reached him and he went with it into that damn black hole. I didn't like his body language during the game.
A couple of WTfrig calls on Mullens. The kid has baller written all over him. He needs to learn to slow down a bit, control his tempo and don't take those long jumpers that dont even touch iron. Can't wait until that game comes when he gets his triple double because he is capable. Enjoy him while we can!!!
Ross showed us what he is capable of - his job now is to do this whenever Hurley calls his number.
Ak is a rock, but he didn't look the same after smacking his head on the court.
Ball had a scorer's night, but he needs to recognize those times when giving the ball up to trailers is better than trying to force a shot.
These are games that UConn has to display dominance and beating a decent Butler team by 20 is a great start. Got that opening NBE night monkey off their backs.
Good win for UConn

 

[Sphinx]

<snip>

Mullins had 12 points and again shot over 50%. Hurley says he still needs to learn the offense and Chief thinks just as important his teammates learn about him.

I like this observation. I would say the same about Ball. Mullins and Ball are among the premier 3-point shooters in CBB, and the UConn offense should be geared to getting them open treys. It would be a shame if force-fitting them into Hurley's offensive sets made them 2-point shooters, and there is evidence that this is already happening to Ball. Just my take.

 

[Excalibur]

I agree, giving up multiple slips that lead to open dribble lanes or mismatches with our guy a step behind during the first half. I did notice that adjustment for parts of the second half, especially with Reibe. The key is he has to drop quickly to stay between the opposing Big and the basket.
Until a team consistently burns us with 3’s from a center, there’s no need for for our guy to put himself so out of position and create a mismatch with our guard covering their big.
But, we need to keep in mind overall our defense is very good - just need to clean up this issue and sloppy undiscipline fouls.

I think the personnel is not build for blitzing ball screens, but we've been so terrible in drop coverage that we need to find another way. At least when you blitz the ball screen, you're disrupting the ball handler.

And you will apparently never learn that the point of a hard hedge is not to defend the center away from the basket, it's to disrupt the ball handler. Many of the best defensive teams in the country blitz ball screens even more aggressively than we do. It's effective. I really think you're at the point that you don't like it simply because it's not what Jim Calhoun did.

 

[Fan1978]

As odd as it may sound, I thought Reed kinda sucked on offense for someone shooting 67%, He missed bunnies. Add to that his unforced errors. But I agree, he's not fully recovered yet. I still think some of those misses should have been off glass but that's the yelling at clouds me.

Hundred percent agree on reed, where was the drop step and window. Settled to often for 8 footer. Needs to establish lower position before entry pass. Too much dribbling and poor turnovers. He made some nice passes last game. He is an average passer and proved it last night.

 

[Chief00]

I think the personnel is not build for blitzing ball screens, but we've been so terrible in drop coverage that we need to find another way. At least when you blitz the ball screen, you're disrupting the ball handler.

And you will apparently never learn that the point of a hard hedge is not to defend the center away from the basket, it's to disrupt the ball handler. Many of the best defensive teams in the country blitz ball screens even more aggressively than we do. It's effective. I really think you're at the point that you don't like it simply because it's not what Jim Calhoun did.

The record is it creates a lot of fouls for our centers and puts us in the penalty foul wise too early in the game. We have been fortunate this year that teams that have gotten a lot of FT attempts, have shot FT’s poorly.
Calhoun’s philosophy, which I do love, is that the man we assign to cover someone is the best one to do it. Therefore plan A is to fight through traffic and screens to stay with your man. Sure other guys assist to allow you to catch up if the defender is slowed down but mainly you are accountable for your man. Very simple and worked well.

 

[Chief00]

Another spot on write-up Chief00

Thanks, I also enjoyed reading your spot on observations.

 

[Excalibur]

The record is it creates a lot of fouls for our centers and puts us in the penalty foul wise too early in the game. We have been fortunate this year that teams that have gotten a lot of FT attempts, have shot FT’s poorly.
Calhoun’s philosophy, which I do love, is that the man we assign to cover someone is the best one to do it. Therefore plan A is to fight through traffic and screens to stay with your man. Sure other guys assist to allow you to catch up if the defender is slowed down but mainly you are accountable for your man. Very simple and worked well.

Calhoun's hedge strategy was "step and recover", to give the guard just enough time to fight over the screen. We tended to give up some open 3s when the big dropped too quickly or the guard didn't get through the screen.

Last night, we fouled more in the second half, when we mostly abandoned the hard hedge, so your point on it being the cause of fouls is still off. Our bigs, for the most part, have not fouled away from the basket much this year, and we're fouling around the basket no matter what strategy we employ.

My point is that there is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. Florida won two straight championships blitzing ball screens with a hard hedge and mixed it in last year as well. Baylor won a championship the same way. Houston does it regularly. The Roy Williams Carolina teams mixed their ball screen defense up a ton. Other teams switch everything (Duke, Villanova under Jay Wright).

 

[husky429]

The shooting was fine. He’s not going to hit 80% of the jump hooks he takes. The problem with Reed was the turnovers and the black hole nature of his offense yesterday.

This. Sanogo needed to learn the same thing. Look for your jump hook, use a counter. If it's not there find a shooter. This 6 dribble back down crap from 1984 disrupts our flow on offense.

 

[Fan1978]

Calhoun's hedge strategy was "step and recover", to give the guard just enough time to fight over the screen. We tended to give up some open 3s when the big dropped too quickly or the guard didn't get through the screen.

Last night, we fouled more in the second half, when we mostly abandoned the hard hedge, so your point on it being the cause of fouls is still off. Our bigs, for the most part, have not fouled away from the basket much this year, and we're fouling around the basket no matter what strategy we employ.

My point is that there is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. Florida won two straight championships blitzing ball screens with a hard hedge and mixed it in last year as well. Baylor won a championship the same way. Houston does it regularly. The Roy Williams Carolina teams mixed their ball screen defense up a ton. Other teams switch everything (Duke, Villanova under Jay Wright).

Refs let them play in first half same as texas game. Second half was quite different. How are players to know what to expect with this bipolar refs.