Chief’s Briefs - DePaul Edition

[tennmike]

The

It’s not his responsibility he’s helping by bringing the ball up but then setting himself up for 3’s. Diarra is the point guard. And he’s guarding their great driving guards best he can. I don’t expect assist from him.

The team has lofty goals and not good enough to have single dimension starters. Tristan was a point guard and both Cam and Castle had assists. The offense relies and assists.

 

[ctkaiser]

As big of an advocate I am of Ball playing PG, he does not look comfortable putting the ball on the floor enough to do so.

Think Nowell should get more time. Ball would be a lottery pick easily if we could teach him to do anything else at a high level to go with his shooting.

We have to find a way for him to start to utilize his elite athleticism to pair with his shooting next year.

Agree with using Nowell more. Does Hurley offer a reason for not doing it?

 

[jdb50]

Ball not being the point lets him get open for his 3 pointers. No idea why he can hit layups or 6 footers.

 

[REB1094]

Agree with using Nowell more. Does Hurley offer a reason for not doing it?

He's PG3 - will probably be only used in Singare-type situations (extreme foul trouble or garbage time)

 

[Scottobot]

We shoot 50%, they shoot in the 30% range but the Big East officials kept DePaul in the game with a 28 to 10 foul shot advantage. For those who think Val Ackerman does a good job, think again.

Losing McNeeley is big especially with conference games ahead.

Hurley is back to his Mahaney at point guard experiment, while he had some good moments the +|- with him in or out of the game really hurts with him at PG rather than shooting guard. Diarra had foul trouble but perhaps put Ball at point when Diarra is out and move Mahaney to shooting guard where he is more comfortable. He did nail down 7 points.

Ball and Karaban 3’s won the game for us. A combined 11-17 from three or 33 points. Diarra had 9 of our 22 assists but was hurt by fouls. We led DePaul in assists 22 to 13 but the officials gave them numerous assists with foul shots.

The FT discrepancy each game is amazing. McNeeley is bumped all the time when he dribbles the ball and nothing is called. Opponents are bumping and grabbing UConn players as they run their sets and nothing called. Then their opponent drives out of control towards the hoop, initiates contact and throws up a shot that doesn’t even reach the rim and the refs call a foul every time.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

The FT discrepancy each game is amazing. McNeeley is bumped all the time when he dribbles the ball and nothing is called. Opponents are bumping and grabbing UConn players as they run their sets and nothing called. Then their opponent drives out of control towards the hoop, initiates contact and throws up a shot that doesn’t even reach the rim and the refs call a foul every time.

Always feels like a balancing act, especially in conference play. Weaker opponents getting the benefit of the call. I wonder if the Marquettes/St. Johns' will get those calls.

 

[Chief00]

The FT discrepancy each game is amazing. McNeeley is bumped all the time when he dribbles the ball and nothing is called. Opponents are bumping and grabbing UConn players as they run their sets and nothing called. Then their opponent drives out of control towards the hoop, initiates contact and throws up a shot that doesn’t even reach the rim and the refs call a foul every time.

I agree, that’s what I see too, but the media largely doesn’t cover the 28 to 10 foul shots, but rather Hurley’s reaction.

 

[Chief00]

Need to groom AM at point. Sorry chief but SB is NOT a point guard.

Didn’t that grooming start early on? The +/- results are just not there even when he’s playing ok but the offense just doesn’t flow.

 

[Fan1978]

"Beyond lousy", I guess you could be correct.

Still, I feel I saw improvement over his defense earlier this season.

Subjective opinion, to be sure. Still, I think I saw progress, today.

I spend a lot of the game watching him on the defensive end. Watch the replay, he was beat over and over. I agree he has been improving f
Earlier in the year. Hopefully today was an aberration

 

[Deleted at users request]

He's PG3 - will probably be only used in Singare-type situations (extreme foul trouble or garbage time)

Is what it is but I wish he was PG2 and Mahaney got moved to SG2.

 

[giddyup]

This a very good team; not a great team. Thin at guard and spotty defense isn’t going to get us to a 3rd. Teams with great penetrators and a strong 3 will give us problems.

 

[gars44]

The FT discrepancy each game is amazing. McNeeley is bumped all the time when he dribbles the ball and nothing is called. Opponents are bumping and grabbing UConn players as they run their sets and nothing called. Then their opponent drives out of control towards the hoop, initiates contact and throws up a shot that doesn’t even reach the rim and the refs call a foul every time.

Yeah, I totally agree. I'm no basketball mind, I really have little idea what is going on on the court, but to the eye it seems like other teams play us much closer than we play them, and we get called for fouls and they don't. Like today, Depaul was all over our guys, to me it looked like they were fouling.

 

[jibsey]

The

The team has lofty goals and not good enough to have single dimension starters. Tristan was a point guard and both Cam and Castle had assists. The offense relies and assists.

Solo is a sophomore, not even half through 2nd year and still developing. Doing a fantastic job trying to shut down top guards, hit 3’s and rebound. You call that single dimension? You are nuts. Doing damn well too.

 

[bendm]

Mahaney had a good game but can’t consistently get the team into their half court offense. I like Mahaney but I like him at shooting guard.

Then he shouldn’t be in the rotation. Hurley brought him in to play PG and Ross is backup SG. We aren't going 10 deep. Either Mahaney or Nowell becoming a reliable backup PG for ~10mpg will make or break this season.

 

[gtcam]

I think one of the missing links this season vs last is that the SG defense - be it Ball or AM, is not what UConn had in Cam/SC
That has been huge. The other teams seem to have more guards going off vs UConn.

 

[GHSWolverines]

Didn’t that grooming start early on? The +/- results are just not there even when he’s playing ok but the offense just doesn’t flow.

I am talking about AN not AM.

 

[GHSWolverines]

I am talking about AN not AM.

Sorry chief a typo on me.
Oops

 

[GHSWolverines]

Then he shouldn’t be in the rotation. Hurley brought him in to play PG and Ross is backup SG. We aren't going 10 deep. Either Mahaney or Nowell becoming a reliable backup PG for ~10mpg will make or break this season.

It should be Nowell

 

[bendm]

It should be Nowell

Then why the heck isn’t he playing??? He and stew are really getting the shaft

 

[jibsey]

I’m trusting Hurley (rather than Yard jockeys) and his staff to utilize his bench properly regarding Mahaney, Nowell, , Stew, Ross and the rest. They know who to play and when.
You want to know why? Because Hurley and his extensive talented staff staff spend every waking second with these players and not us at practice and know who does what best.
Seems reasonable, right?

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Sometimes, the defense looks bad on purpose when it's part of the overall gameplan to beat a team:

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Then why the heck isn’t he playing??? He and stew are really getting the shaft

This is likely why Stew had limited minutes today...probably missed some practices

 

[AllHusky]

With you Prankster. Some times don’t see much progress on actual defending, but he clearly wants to be better, whereas I thought he was indifferent early in season. Just seems like it doesn’t come naturally to him.

Ross is sneaking up on relevance. Make an offensive play for gods sake Jayden!

 

[Scottobot]

Always feels like a balancing act, especially in conference play. Weaker opponents getting the benefit of the call. I wonder if the Marquettes/St. Johns' will get those calls.

I don’t think it’s the weaker opponents getting the calls. I think its the 7 schools that left the original Big East to form the “new Big East” get preferential treatment from the refs.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Villanova
I think UConn in particular gets shafted because league still bitter they left for AAC for a while. It’s crazy because UConn’s success is the only thing keeping the league afloat right now.

 

[gsmooth]

I don’t think it’s the weaker opponents getting the calls. I think its the 7 schools that left the original Big East to form the “new Big East” get preferential treatment from the refs.

DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St. John's, and Villanova
I think UConn in particular gets shafted because league still bitter they left for AAC for a while. It’s crazy because UConn’s success is the only thing keeping the league afloat right now.

And UConn did not leave the Big East. Those Catholic 7 schools left the Big East to form their own conference and then a few months later decided to buy the Big East name from the remaining members which were UConn, South Florida, and Cincinnati. The AAC is the original Big East so to speak. It's kind of like the Baltimore Ravens are the original Cleveland Browns.