Chief’s Briefs - FSU Edition

[Chief00]

Kabengele, Nickols, Mann and 21 played great for FSU. Having good Bigs matter and we saw that tonight. We did not get many shots in close. Our drives were impacted by shot blockers. FSU can compete against the Big Boys this year. Lots of depth too. Best team UConn has played and probably will be the best team we play this season.

Where is our team at? We are winning the games we are suppose to but we have not learned the habits necessary to beat good teams. Some bad trends are surfacing against good teams. Too many unforced turnovers, committing silly fouls/not getting calls and the wrong guys taking the wrong shots. Today our shooting was mostly horrible too.

Additionally, our foul shooting was poor tonight. Gilbert consistently misses his first shot and makes his second - 50% doesn’t cut it for a pg and guys don’t seem confident at the line. Cobb was really poor at the line.

How we defend the screen on the top of the key is evolving but still very poor. Today our guards went behind the screen but that left the outside shot open and Nickols nailed it. Chief likes the guards fighting over the top of the screen. At least we avoided the Big on guard mismatch down low.

Adams offensively needs to be much more aggressive, he was too passive today.
Yakwe had his best game and Hurley has no confidence in our starting center against good teams. Yet actually tonight Josh wasn’t terrible but he did not see much time.

We need to find a shooter - if it’s Polley we need to get him the ball in the right spots and he needs to work harder at getting open.

Gilbert tonight alternated between hurrying and brilliance. A cross over dribble jumper and a pretty drive but then careless turnovers followed by a couple nice threes. Chief would like to see him run the team more and let the scoring come to him once they start playing the pass.

Having said the above, we did not quit and competed. I already lost my write-up once - so I will end here.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Kabengele, Nickols, Mann and 21 played great for FSU. Having good Bigs matter and we saw that tonight. We did not get many shots in close. Our drives were impacted by shot blockers. FSU can compete against the Big Boys this year. Lots of depth too. Best team UConn has played and probably will be the best team we play this season.

Agree with this. I don't get these people saying we're better than FSU and should beat them handily. Not based on what I saw. Men against boys.

And Chief nailed it - as he always does - on the ball screen defense. They ______ killed us all night - we looked like we'd never worked on defending screens before. The entire half court was wide open for them, we were chasing the ball all night.

I suppose you can at least say we seem to have ditched the habit of losing to teams we should beat. Now they've gotta work on beating the teams that are better than them.

 

[uchuskies2009]

Chief,

You hit on two of the biggest problems I noticed tonight as well. Free throws and going under screens. It was infuriating watching the defense on every screen up top. I understand the hedging philosophy that Coach Hurley preaches, but those were ineffective or non-existent on far too many screens tonight. I’ll also never comprehend how some pure “shooters” (read Gilbert and Wilson) regularly miss free throws.

Enjoyed the analysis once again and was very proud of the fight the team displayed in the last 4 minutes. Thought Hurley should have worked for the technical earlier in the half though.

 

[4in16]

Agree with the last point. Felt like the last couple of seasons at times but came within 5 late and didn’t totally fold like a tent, collapse and get blown out. FTs weren’t as terrible as numbers made them seem Cobb/Wilson 1-7, Rest of team was 17/19. If Adams makes half his layups and a 3 or two early this is a different ending. Gilbert kept us in this all game, really the only one who showed up. Fl St had plenty of opportunities to bury us and never did. Turnovers are still ugly but compared to the crap we’ve seen the last couple years ill take this, even though the result is frustrating.

 

[Jay-Bone]

The first 5 minutes were awesome!

 

[Tenspro2002]

Having said the above, we did not quit and competed.

It's a damning indictment of the previous regime that this is a noted mark of improvement. It's true that last year we would have folded early in the second half and lost by 25, while this year we play with pride throughout.

That said, now that we've shown we're willing to fight once down double-digits, how do we take the next step and learn to make winning plays throughout the game, when it's really being decided (in this case, the 10 minutes around halftime), not just play hard when the game is already hanging by a thread?

I fear that it may take a near-complete roster overhaul, or at the very least more than a full season of coaching.

 

[SwingDog]

Agree with this. I don't get these people saying we're better than FSU and should beat them handily. Not based on what I saw. Men against boys.

And Chief nailed it - as he always does - on the ball screen defense. They ______ killed us all night - we looked like we'd never worked on defending screens before. The entire half court was wide open for them, we were chasing the ball all night.

I suppose you can at least say we seem to have ditched the habit of losing to teams we should beat. Now they've gotta work on beating the teams that are better than them.

I agree with everything you said except the "men against boys" part. I believe UConn has proven they belong on the same floor with some of the top teams in the country. The Huskies never stopped fighting tonight and actually gave themselves a chance to win or put the game in overtime, cutting it to 5 with a minute left. The only game they were handily defeated was against Iowa.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Kabengele, Nickols, Mann and 21 played great for FSU. Having good Bigs matter and we saw that tonight. We did not get many shots in close. Our drives were impacted by shot blockers. FSU can compete against the Big Boys this year. Lots of depth too. Best team UConn has played and probably will be the best team we play this season.

Where is our team at? We are winning the games we are suppose to but we have not learned the habits necessary to beat good teams. Some bad trends are surfacing against good teams. Too many unforced turnovers, committing silly fouls/not getting calls and the wrong guys taking the wrong shots. Today our shooting was mostly horrible too.

Additionally, our foul shooting was poor tonight. Gilbert consistently misses his first shot and makes his second - 50% doesn’t cut it for a pg and guys don’t seem confident at the line. Cobb was really poor at the line.

How we defend the screen on the top of the key is evolving but still very poor. Today our guards went behind the screen but that left the outside shot open and Nickols nailed it. Chief likes the guards fighting over the top of the screen. At least we avoided the Big on guard mismatch down low.

Adams offensively needs to be much more aggressive, he was too passive today.
Yakwe had his best game and Hurley has no confidence in our starting center against good teams. Yet actually tonight Josh wasn’t terrible but he did not see much time.

We need to find a shooter - if it’s Polley we need to get him the ball in the right spots and he needs to work harder at getting open.

Gilbert tonight alternated between hurrying and brilliance. A cross over dribble jumper and a pretty drive but then careless turnovers followed by a couple nice threes. Chief would like to see him run the team more and let the scoring come to him once they start playing the pass.

Having said the above, we did not quit and competed. I already lost my write-up once - so I will end here.

Again, I agree with you. Josh is puzzling to me though. He's a completely different person against mediocre to more stronger competition. All others, I'm content as of now with the struggling since it's all new. I can see a brighter tomorrow for all. Josh has only dominated weaker competition. I still have faith though.

 

[Chief00]

Chief,

You hit on two of the biggest problems I noticed tonight as well. Free throws and going under screens. It was infuriating watching the defense on every screen up top. I understand the hedging philosophy that Coach Hurley preaches, but those were ineffective or non-existent on far too many screens tonight. I’ll also never comprehend how some pure “shooters” (read Gilbert and Wilson) regularly miss free throws.

Enjoyed the analysis once again and was very proud of the fight the team displayed in the last 4 minutes. Thought Hurley should have worked for the technical earlier in the half though.

Chief is old school - have the guard fight over the top. Have the Big stay with Big. Unfortunately, when you do that you will get beat sometimes and we don’t have the Bigs shot blockers in back to clean things up.

 

[Stainmaster]

It's a damning indictment of the previous regime that this is a noted mark of improvement. It's true that last year we would have folded early in the second half and lost by 25, while this year we play with pride throughout.

That said, now that we've shown we're willing to fight once down double-digits, how do we take the next step and learn to make winning plays throughout the game, when it's really being decided (in this case, the 10 minutes around halftime), not just play hard when the game is already hanging by a thread?

I fear that it may take a near-complete roster overhaul, or at the very least more than a full season of coaching.

Oh no! A extra full season of waiting before the team meets your standards! How ever will you survive?

Side note: no matter how often you gnash your teeth, these players whom you’ve decided don’t deserve to be here? Yeah, most of them are going to be around for a while.

 

[auror]

I'm not sure a nice way to say this, but we have dumb players.

They play hard, but the decision making is terrible. The undisciplined reaches and jumping at every ball fake is dumb. Penetration without a plan. Taking hero ball shots 1 v 4 when we have momentum. I assume Hurley scouted and gave them a gameplan, so I'm not sure why we played right into their hands with our lack of discipline and control on both ends.

We also don't have the personnel for Hurley's defensive scheme. We lack the length at guard and the wing to really bother other teams with our pressure. We don't have the rim protection to cover up mistakes when we gamble. This is what it is for a couple of years.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I agree with everything you said except the "men against boys" .

Physically, I meant.

 

[Travelman6]

Not based on what I saw. Men against boys.

.

And yet down just five with the ball 39 minutes in....UConn is approaching the door step, a door step that leads to a house where the top 25 kids hangout. They might not get a response this year after knocking on the door but I think by the end of the year they will be knocking. Tons of dumb errors, missed freethrows and yet, just a nine point loss to what is surely a top ten team. Lots of improvement so quickly.

 

[zepfan]

Agree with all of Chief's points. Biggest factor in my opinion is teams of Florida State's caliber are bigger and stronger at almost every position. Difficult to beat teams like this unless you shoot well and take care of the ball. We did neither. Other than Gilbert heating up in the 2nd half, our shooting looked pretty bad. Can't beat good teams like this. Also foul shots. We beat Syracuse because we shot lights out. With that said, I think Hurley has us playing tough. It will take time to recruit bigger better players. Until then, we can certainly still shoot for a 20 win season.

 

[Pgh2Storrs]

My voice is shot, but such a frustrating game. Great crowd tonight, though. Both the team and UConn Nation is back

 

[Chin Diesel]

Take out Cobb and the FT's were 17-21.

Gilbert 4-6
Adams 5-5
Carlton 2-2
Cobb 1-5
Sid 0-2
B Adams 2-2
Smith 4-4

 

[Chief00]

I would like Hurley to have the quick hook
on careless turnovers early in the game. Entirely too many and a bad habit needs to
be unlearned in real time. Something needs to get their attention. Some of these dudes will never be great shooters but they can be better at ball security.
Another point is part of the dumb fouls I mentioned is leaving our feet and reaching on 1x1 defense when we should be playing vertical defense.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Oh no! A extra full season of waiting before the team meets your standards! How ever will you survive?

Side note: no matter how often you gnash your teeth, these players whom you’ve decided don’t deserve to be here? Yeah, most of them are going to be around for a while.

I don't mind them being around. They're good kids who stayed committed to the program through horrible times. But they should be -- and are being -- recruited over.

Carlton is a nice 4-year backup center.
Polley should be a situational 3-and-D guy off the bench.
Vital a solid 4th guard who you play when he's hot and sit when he's not.

Those guys are not starting-caliber players on a vintage UConn team, even in our down years.

Gilbert is a guy you can build around. Sid Wilson shows flashes. But the pieces of the next great team for this program are largely not on the current roster.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Same old post Calhoun UConn, 1-3 against P5 schools, but they sure can beat up on Cornell's, New Hampshire' and Lafayette's. Hurley, clearly has the playing harder, but he will not return UConn to its previous status til he has new players. The big's, in particular, are basically interchangeable uselessness.

 

[BFieldHusky]

Probably is just coach speak but Leonard Hamilton just said in his press conference that Uconn is a tournament team in his eyes.

 

[Chief00]

Take out Cobb and the FT's were 17-21.

Gilbert 4-6
Adams 5-5
Carlton 2-2
Cobb 1-5
Sid 0-2
B Adams 2-2
Smith 4-4

Some may say Chief was a little tough on Gilbert’s FTs when I should have singled out Sid and Cobb instead of Gilbert and Cobb. But, Gilbert is the point guard and his foul shooting is the most important. Shooting 67% doesn’t cut it for that position. Eric has a softer shot than he showed - it was mental and lack of a comfortable routine for him.

 

[Okafour rings]

I'm not sure a nice way to say this, but we have dumb players.

They play hard, but the decision making is terrible. The undisciplined reaches and jumping at every ball fake is dumb. Penetration without a plan. Taking hero ball shots 1 v 4 when we have momentum. I assume Hurley scouted and gave them a gameplan, so I'm not sure why we played right into their hands with our lack of discipline and control on both ends.

We also don't have the personnel for Hurley's defensive scheme. We lack the length at guard and the wing to really bother other team's with our pressure. We don't have the rim protection to cover up mistakes when we gamble. This is what it is until the couple of years.

Be careful using the term 'hero ball'. I used the term in another thread and my b-ball knowledge was criticized by one of the savants on this board, one who can do and say no wrong.

 

[David 76]

Jalen, please remind why I'm such a big fan.

 

[Stainmaster]

I don't mind them being around. They're good kids who stayed committed to the program through horrible times. But they should be -- and are being -- recruited over.

Carlton is a nice 4-year backup center.
Polley should be a situational 3-and-D guy off the bench.
Vital a solid 4th guard who you play when he's hot and sit when he's not.

Those guys are not starting-caliber players on a vintage UConn team, even in our down years.

Gilbert is a guy you can build around. Sid Wilson shows flashes. But the pieces of the next great team for this program are largely not on the current roster.

As long as you’re aware that they’re still on the roster/in the rotation this year regardless.

You might find these games less agonizing if you focused a little more on how the current players are progressing, rather than how much you can’t wait for them to be gone. Just a suggestion.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Some may say Chief was a little tough on Gilbert’s FTs when I should have singled out Sid and Cobb instead of Gilbert and Cobb. But, Gilbert is the point guard and his foul shooting is the most important. Shooting 67% doesn’t cut it for that position. Eric has a softer shot than he showed - it was mental and lack of a comfortable routine for him.

He's 25-33 for the season. Above 75%. I'd really like my starting PG to in the mid 80's or better percentage wise since they should be handling the ball with close leads. He's been solid overall.