Chief’s Briefs - Cuse Edition

[MTHusky]

I'm in a 6th Ave subway station now, and I have no idea how I'm getting back to CT . Don't care.

There has to be a Wendy's nearby.

 

[AdamaNation]

Sorry about that.

I was asked if our lead at halftime made me feel better. Kinda. Just being selfish as I was in Syracuse for work talks trash to my clients.

 

[AdamaNation]

C

Our bench outscored their bench by a lot.

B/c Tarin is going to win 6th man again.

 

[FlakeyFoont]

Tarin Smith is money! He is going to propel this team.

 

[AdamaNation]

Tarin Smith is money! He is going to propel this team.

Already one of my all time huskies. Feel like he should have always been here. Tied with kromah for grad transfer fave. He is clutch at everything and could easily be the captain of this team. Reminds me of a 6-3”/4”(not sure) Caron.

 

[amsterdamjade]

I also thought Vital played well and under control for the most part. Only a couple of out of control plays, but he hit his shots and played good D.

I did like how Vital came back after having a bad last game. He surprised me and came back with a lot of poise. He did have a few bad decisions but overall he was exactly what we needed him to do. At the end of the game he had 2 bad plays in a row and Hurley smartly pulled him from the game.

 

[Chief00]

I did like how Vital came back after having a bad last game. He surprised me and came back with a lot of poise. He did have a few bad decisions but overall he was exactly what we needed him to do. At the end of the game he had 2 bad plays in a row and Hurley smartly pulled him from the game.

I like CV, but it’s great Hurley has the option to pull him if he plays out of control.

 

[Hankster]

Very Casual. True fans are getting ready to scout the Oregon Iowa game.

That I did for a short time. I was not impressed by both of them. I did not see the final score. Hopefully I don't stick my foot in mouth.

 

[Chief00]

I was at the game so I’m not sure if I missed something but was curious what happened to Carlton in this game? Why did he basically sit on the bench all night after 2 good games? Did I miss an injury or what?

I’m happy with what I saw from Cobb but couldn’t help thinking that Carlton could’ve been better than Yakwe at times.

Foul trouble, he did not play well and Cobb was playing great. True, Yakwe wasn’t effective offensively but he’s a banger. He hits bodies boxing out. Danny will go with matchups and who’s playing well in the current game.

 

[Chief00]

That I did for a short time. I was not impressed by both of them. I did not see the final score. Hopefully I don't stick my foot in mouth.

I did not see great quickness in that game, but I did see lots of big bodies and shooters. Danny was there until only a couple minutes left in the game. He works hard.
If they can get the ball to the big bodies - that’s our vulnerability. So our pressure will be full court again - to make it difficult to get the ball to the Bigs.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I think I turned it on at 19 to 17. The team never lost the lead, which is a new development. I felt Cuse was ranked to high going in, but they ain't Morehead or UMKC either. Big stage, national game....great win. Nice to see Cobb work through adversity and have a solid game.

 

[willie99]

Reminds me of beating Michigan State in Germany when everyone though UConn sucked. Making a statement!

Now we're talking

 

[60'sfan]

Recruiting just got a lot easier.

 

[Purple Stein]

Recruiting just got a lot easier.

Who wouldn't want to play for this guy? I flipping want to play for this guy.

 

[Blaneylover]

First, Chief wanted to thank all the great fans, who made the trip. You helped make the difference. A dozen threes to cheer for - wow!

We are back! Quite frankly, that was fun. It doesn’t get better than beating Cuse at MSG. Chief liked the way we kept the foot on the gas toward the end. Need to work on foul shooting at crunch time!

Hughes is a tough player as is Battle and Carey, so this counts for something.

Chief was impressed by the boxing out and going after loose balls. The shot selection was good too, over-all the ball did not get sticky. Loved the 1 on 1 Defense. Turnovers on the other hand killed us, especially with 5 guards we should be better at that metric.

Cobb had a nice combination of muscle and touch. 13 rebounds and double figure in points. Josh got his shots blocked and had foul trouble, but made a couple nice plays. Yakwe at 6’5” had problems getting shots off inside but played decent D. Yakwe is a real liability on offense. He just needs to focus on the offensive boards.

Gilbert killed it with 3’s. If he can continue to do that, with his quickness, he will be tough to defend. He does need to stay under control on his drives and not to get too deep if it’s not there. He had some nice assists.

Jalen played like we needed him to play. Smith is so good off the bench because you can plug him into the role or roles you need at the moment. PG, best scorer defender, shooter or whatever. Vital kept answering the bell - like any good boxer does.

My goals for this season were 1) to finish over .500, 2) to be competitive in every game, especially in the Syracuse, Villanova, Arizona and Florida State games, and 3) to make some sort of post season tournament...NCAA, NIT or CBI. I wanted to be able to look forward to watching the games again.

Well, I have seen the first three games in person. The only reason why I'm not going back to MSG today is because I fear that I may be coming down with pneumonia after walking around NYC yesterday in the snow (before the game) and the driving rain (after the game). I am thrilled at what I see. How can any UConn fan not be thrilled at what is going on? There is a buy-in to the defensive mindset. It is working. There is improved ball movement. There is palpable toughness. These things have translated into immediate success.

* The small lineup is working. Teams have to respect all of our guards...and Polley... from 3.
* The defensive plan is working and appears to have been bought into by all of the players.
* The game preparation is better. The ball movement last might was tremendous.
* The substitution patterns and the calling of timeouts to stem a run...they made me smile.

Onward and upward. I need to start buying some tickets.

 

[Report Card]

Important to note Alterique's continuing development as a leader for this team. When he shot that 3 from the Putnam Cafeteria, it gave Jalen the confidence to shoot from almost just as deep the very next offensive play. I don't believe Jalen shoots that shot if he doesn't watch Al's shot go in. It gave Jalen the "Yeah, he's right" attitude. Al is going to help Jalen get to the next level in more ways than he can imagine.
And on the other side of the ball, Al plays true point guard defense. At the start of each defensive possession, the other 4 UConn players behind him see his defensive intensity, and end up following suit. A true extension of our coach. The 60 NBA scouts were licking their chops last night.
How do we fair against a -4 IOWA tonight? Winning by 7. Science shows MSG doesn't tire UConn players. Look for Brendan Adams to make more of a splash.

 

[Waquoit]

Putnam Refectory

 

[Tex-Lager93]

When we had the lead down the stretch, we didn't let off the gas to milk the clock. A killer instinct.

 

[Chief00]

When we had the lead down the stretch, we didn't let off the gas to milk the clock. A killer instinct.

Agreed - only did that when there was a minute or two left - and it’s appropriate then.

 

[Scrutiner]

My thoughts that may not be immediately mentioned:

We had a wire to wire win. Cuse tied in 2 or 3 x in the first half but they never led.

Cuse has a built in excuse missing Frank Howard. Howard shot 37 percent from the field last year in his breakout year. That is terrible. Jalen Carey had a significantly better game tonight offensively than Howard has ever had in his career. This game was not a fluke. Howard is a good defensive player but they got a big plus tonight offensively with Carey shouldering the load.

They lead 15-13 after an 11-0 run.