Chief’s Briefs - Georgetown Edition

[Chief00]

We are on a roll, playing with confidence and unselfishly. Chief loves scoring points in the paint and today that happened in all sorts of ways. That led to 63% UConn FG vs 35% FG for Georgetown in the first half. We maintained a 61% pace for the game.

A sign of our unselfishness and efficiency was a 5.0 assist to turnover ratio compared to 1.0 with Georgetown.

Alex Karaban has come back from his ankle injury strong and got us off to a great start with 17 points in the first half including two threes and finished with 25.

The other two guys who fueled our good start were Castle and Johnson. In recent games Castle is no longer a freshman. He plays with great poise and does what it takes to win. Johnson showed improvement getting rebound position before the shot goes up. That is a key to good rebounding. His vertical explosion on lop pass dunks is outstanding. The lone negative was 2 fouls beyond the 3 point line. Bigs should save their fouls for the paint.

Spencer was not a huge scorer today but did not force anything. He filled the boxscore with rebounds and assists. I would also be remissed if I did not mention Clingan’s 4 first half assists. Clingan, Spencer and Newton all had at least 5 rebounds and 5 assists today.

One of the few negatives is that Clingan (2-6) and Diarra (4-7) shot poorly from the foul line. Both will need to improve to win the NC. Diarra has been shooting FT’s well and Clingan has been making the second shot after the first miss. But, today the combined result was 46%.

 

[Dove]

Huskies are 37-4 in last 41 games.

 

[Chief00]

Huskies are 37-4 in last 41 games.

Yes, great winning ways and consistency and the balance is pointing out some areas of needed improvement to stay hungry. Coach Hurley is good at that.

 

[HHusky]

As Chief points out the high assist rates lead to efficient offense. The extra pass frustrates the defense and get us easier shots, particularly in the paint. It's a great formula for winning. It will serve us well down the line
and make it difficult for most any team to beat us.

 

[Chief00]

As Chief points out the high assist rates lead to efficient offense. The extra pass frustrates the defense and get us easier shots, particularly in the paint. It's a great formula for winning. It will serve us well down the line
and make it difficult for most any team to beat us.

Couldn’t agree more, a target Assist to Turnover Ratio is >2.0, our ratio attributed to players was 5.2 (26/5). There were 2 random team turnovers (26/7). Georgetown’s ratio was 1.1 (10/9).

 

[HHusky]

How often do you see 2 GUARDS lead a team in rebounds?
Spencer and Newton 6 apiece!

 

[Poe]

I like that the only drama in this game was whether Johnson was going to get a technical for hanging on the rim after one of his dunks.

 

[HHusky]

The refs understand these days that's its in the best interests of the players (dunkers) to hang onto the rim until they get balanced and make sure they won't crush anyone when they disengage from the rim.

 

[HHusky]

As opposed to the days of Jerome Lane (Pitt).

 

[CTRick74]

Still will need to keep their foot on the gas for 40 minutes against the better teams.

 

[Chief00]

How often do you see 2 GUARDS lead a team in rebounds?
Spencer and Newton 6 apiece!

Agree, I love the way, in any given game guys contribute to winning in different ways.

 

[my2cents]

I am getting sick of hearing that we haven't won a Big East Championship or Reg. Season since 2006 WITHOUT mention that we were out of the Big East for a number of years.

 

[Storrs South]

I am getting sick of hearing that we haven't won a Big East Championship or Reg. Season since 2006 WITHOUT mention that we were out of the Big East for a number of years.

Yes but there was not a single season during the AAC years they would have won the regular season title in the Big East so it's somewhat of a moot point

 

[caw]

Castle now 10/27 from three in BE play for 37%. Not a huge sample size but impressive considering where he started the season.

It's really thwarted the attempt by coaches to pull a Jackson style defense against him.

 

[joelerg87]

I am getting sick of hearing that we haven't won a Big East Championship or Reg. Season since 2006 WITHOUT mention that we were out of the Big East for a number of years.

Kemba and the 2011 team?

We haven’t won a regular season conference championship since 06 (including the AAC).

Id prefer we just win the conference this year and then don’t hear about it again.

 

[dogpause]

Tristen FT's shooting is back. For the past three games, his form looks like it did last year.

 

[my2cents]

Kemba and the 2011 team?

We haven’t won a regular season conference championship since 06 (including the AAC).

Id prefer we just win the conference this year and then don’t hear about it again.

How about if you have won National titles in that span? Doesn't that make the point moot too? If you have room for one banner, Reg. Season Championship or National title,, which one you putting up? QED.

 

[joelerg87]

How about if you have won National titles in that span? Doesn't that make the point moot too? If you have room for one banner, Reg. Season Championship or National title,, which one you putting up? QED.

QED? Make the point of the national championships in your first post then. Instead you talk about how we weren’t in the big East for several years.

I’m rather happy with the natty’s and would obviously rather have those but you do get that commentators are trying to fill 2 hours on air right? They think it’s interesting that we haven’t been able to win the conference in nearly two decades.

Some of you people have to find something to complain about.

 

[Chief00]

I am getting sick of hearing that we haven't won a Big East Championship or Reg. Season since 2006 WITHOUT mention that we were out of the Big East for a number of years.

I agree, that’s sloppy reporting. Tough to win a league Championship when you are in another league. Of course, a few of those years we were in a dip anyways.

 

[DMIL]

QED? Make the point of the national championships in your first post then. Instead you talk about how we weren’t in the big East for several years.

I’m rather happy with the natty’s and would obviously rather have those but you do get that commentators are trying to fill 2 hours on air right? They think it’s interesting that we haven’t been able to win the conference in nearly two decades.

Some of you people have to find something to complain about.

Winning your conference is always the goal particularly if you have a team that is good enough to do it. The same thing is true for the conference tournament. These are goals and it's something worth achieving and something to be proud of. It's been too long since we've won either. Hurley is about to finally change that.

 

[my2cents]

QED? Make the point of the national championships in your first post then. Instead you talk about how we weren’t in the big East for several years.

I’m rather happy with the natty’s and would obviously rather have those but you do get that commentators are trying to fill 2 hours on air right? They think it’s interesting that we haven’t been able to win the conference in nearly two decades.

Some of you people have to find something to complain about.

They can make all the points they want. I am calling out a "non factual" negative point where they WRONG. You can't win a league title in a league you are not in. If they added the AAC, fine.
However, along with the negative point about the UCONN program, which you seem to be happy about, they could add how many national titles we have won in the same timespan.

 

[Chief00]

Tristen FT's shooting is back. For the past three games, his form looks like it did last year.

Agreed.

 

[Chief00]

They can make all the points they want. I am calling out a "non factual" negative point where they WRONG. You can't win a league title in a league you are not in. If they added the AAC, fine.
However, along with the negative point about the UCONN program, which you seem to be happy about, they could add how many national titles we have won in the same timespan.

I would much rather win National Championships - we are not PC where a league title or championship is the ceiling and that’s a stretch.

 

[alphasigko]

Clingan's offense is horrible and so is his FT shooting. He was great on defense, but soft on numerous plays because he was trying to not commit a foul... Playing tight defense w/o fouling is a learned skill that he has to work on along with developing an array of shots other than his lame rebound put backs that he hoists w/o even aiming while trying to draw a foul. Sadly he is no Adama.

Thankfully we have Cam, AK and Castle to take up the slack.

 

[Chief00]

Clingan's offense is horrible and so is his FT shooting. He was great on defense, but soft on numerous plays because he was trying to not commit a foul... Playing tight defense w/o fouling is a learned skill that he has to work on along with developing an array of shots other than his lame rebound put backs that he hoists w/o even aiming while trying to draw a foul. Sadly he is no Adama.

Thankfully we have Cam, AK and Castle to take up the slack.

Please don’t overlook Donivan’s 6 assists.

 

[alphasigko]

Please don’t overlook Donivan’s 6 assists.

Agreed, but he really need to work.on his put back shots. Getting stuffed by Supreme Cook is embarrassing. What would he look like and do against Edey?

 

[GlastonTim]

Agreed, but he really need to work.on his put back shots. Getting stuffed by Supreme Cook is embarrassing. What would he look like and do against Edey?
[/I’d imagine he’s working on everything he needs to work on. Trust in Dan and Donovan’s work ethic.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Clingan's offense is horrible and so is his FT shooting. He was great on defense, but soft on numerous plays because he was trying to not commit a foul... Playing tight defense w/o fouling is a learned skill that he has to work on along with developing an array of shots other than his lame rebound put backs that he hoists w/o even aiming while trying to draw a foul. Sadly he is no Adama.

Thankfully we have Cam, AK and Castle to take up the slack.

We can only hope that the kid playing center at Minnetonka State sees the opportunity to start and transfers over.

 

[gtcam]

Clingan's offense is horrible and so is his FT shooting. He was great on defense, but soft on numerous plays because he was trying to not commit a foul... Playing tight defense w/o fouling is a learned skill that he has to work on along with developing an array of shots other than his lame rebound put backs that he hoists w/o even aiming while trying to draw a foul. Sadly he is no Adama.

Thankfully we have Cam, AK and Castle to take up the slack.

Obviously you are not the President of the DC fan club
Have a nice day Sunshine

 

[Chief00]

Obviously you are not the President of the DC fan club
Have a nice day Sunshine

With Donovan you always have to start with how dramatically he changes the game defensively. You can never underestimate that fairly unique impact.
Having said that his minutes have been limited due to his foot injury to 20 minutes per game. But, he still averages 12 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. He shoots over 60% from the field. So extrapolate that out if he played 32-35 minutes. True, his foul shooting needs work.