Chief’s Briefs - Georgetown Edition

[Chief00]

Start Read and play him as many minutes as he can
Drop the damn hedge - costs the team a dozen points a game at minimum
Try to get Stewie a bit more involved in the offense
Being it looks like Ball can hit a few layups, clear some lanes for and look for him on his cuts to the hoops
TEACH BASIC DEFENSIVE SKILLS
on to the next match.........................................

Of course, I agree on the hedge. Reed can be a double/double guy in the paint but isn’t so great chasing guards near half court.
One of the reason our 3 point defense is so bad is that recovering from the hedge creates a lot of in between defenders - giving 3 point shooters ample time to take a comfortable open shot. The hedge also produces mismatches with our current personal and no help if your man drives.

 

[Chief00]

I decided to see what casual fans were missing so kept my eye on high hedges. Was surprised at how poorly it worked. Drives, open 3's and offensive rebounds. It was astoundingly bad. If you high hedge need to do it like Houston or don't do it. Big, big error in coaching.

Thanks for confirming. The chain reaction it creates is a monster.
We also don’t have 6-5 Newton and 6-6 Castle switching off on Bigs.
I don’t think our defense is as bad as the mismatches the high hedge scheme creates. And the worse part is when guys get caught in between.

 

[Chief00]

As a sidenote, traffic was brutal on 84 took me an hour to get from my driveway in New Britain to the security check -and I left at 5:25pm crazy. I’m sure many were caught in it- and there were no accidents - just pure traffic. Also what’s up with the 630pm starts ? barely gives you time to get home from work -reset -then have to buck the Hartford traffic - start at 7pm like normal. That extra half hour would help greatly.

I have been giving myself more of a cushion and it takes the stress out to some extent.

 

[Chief00]

A dozen points a game? To say the least that is quite an exaggeration.

If anything an understatement. The chain reaction from the collapse of the high hedge makes every poor 3 point shooting team have one of their best 3pt % games of the season.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

A timely and solid win!

Good to see a lineup change to start the second half. Once again we started the game with our starting center (Reed) on the bench and that quickly created a major deficit yet again, that needed to be overcome.

Impressed with 18-20 from FT (90%), what we will need post season. The officiating was sound and consistent.

We had a significant margin in assists and rebounds, a trademark of many UConn wins, especially if we don’t go crazy with turnovers.

Nothing would thrill me more not to have to say this after every game. Yet, despite clear evidence to the the contrary we repeat this mistake every game. As a starter, Reed would be a consistent double /double guy and he is doing a better job in recent games of avoiding foolish fouls. Tonight Reed had 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Besides Reed’s and other points in the paint, Ball and McNeeley are the guys who shot with confidence from 3. They shot 5-9 and the rest of the team 0-4 from 3 in the first half.

I was impressed with Nowell’s low and tight dribble and the body to protect the Big East reach ins and grabbing. He may be earning some minutes on a skillset we need more depth at.

We shot 55% from FG and that makes the game easier. But, we haven’t learned to make our opponents hanging out at the 3 line uncomfortable by denying the ball and making them move their feet and lose their concentration. Way too many comfortable 3’s.
Very pleased with Diarra’s contribution, he did it all with points, assists and rebounds. His defense was very intense especially in the second half. He drove to the basket under control and finished.

The more Reed plays, the better he gets. In some ways he almost gives us a Clingan like presence that opens things up for McNeeley, Karaban, Ball and Diara. There aren’t many teams that can defend both. I can’t believe Michigan let this kid go.

 

[uconnyankee]

Sent this to Moore

"Tom:

Hope all is well for you and team, seems like a tough slog this year. Contacting you as seems the defense/rebounding is your area.

I have a question on the value and efficiency of the high hedge on defense as it is used by UConn. Watched the Georgetown game with specific emphasis on opponents attack of UConn's high hedge. Looked like a significant part of their half court offense was setting high pick by center and allowing UConn to do its high hedge defense.

In vast majority of high hedge possession Georgetown was able to attack and get open kick out to 3 point shooter, drive between center/guard, pass to mismatch inside or get good offensive rebounding position. Looked like Liam and AK (sometimes Ball) would be forced to cover low post and have no chance of recovering to challenge 3 point shooters and/or their close outs took them out of position to guard penetration.

I contrast UConn's high hedge with Houston's. Houston seems to maintain their 2 on 1 high hedge and count on offense having trouble finding open player to break the double team. They also seem to have better spacing on other 3 defenders during double team and also recover from the high hedge without giving up positional defense.

I also think that not playing centers deeper in lane also takes away ability to help other 4 players defend "Big East drives which are often nothing more than push/shove/jump into defender moves which draw lot of fouls"."

Shock the World.

No offense but what’s your credentials? Maybe we can start a thread for all the coaches on here to provide their input. That way the UConn staff would be able to find it much easier.

 

[6Nattys4Us]

The more Reed plays, the better he gets. In some ways he almost gives us a Clingan like presence that opens things up for McNeeley, Karaban, Ball and Diara. There aren’t many teams that can defend both. I can’t believe Michigan let this kid go.

He had a year at PF then a year at C there ... when their scoring threat had some behavioral issues during Reed, Jr's., sophomore year, that player had to sit out either the home or away games, I think 6 of them and Reed, Jr. became the #1 scoring option which opponents knew as well. Like AK, Reed, Jr., was better as a helper, not the focal point.

Here he is learning how to be both the focal (on getting the pass, posting up, shooting) as well as the helper (offensive rebounds, put backs, fouls). Yes, the more he plays the more we see both of those games. Feels like a vast majority of people of all walks of life want Reed, Jr., to start over Johnson, but I don't see Hurley changing that as he will reward Reed, Jr., with the starting roll next year with Riebe coming off the bench.

Also means Singare might hit the portal which would not be a bad thing for us and good thing for him.

 

[Chief00]

No offense but what’s your credentials? Maybe we can start a thread for all the coaches on here to provide their input. That way the UConn staff would be able to find it much easier.

So you disagree that when a center is in the paint on defense he can help and rebound better?

 

[2Infinity]

Game we should have won and did although the way Gtown hung around makes me think it could have gone either way had Sorber not been injured.

Despite the big win against a barely .500 team, XL still the worst venue in college hoops. Place was half empty and sounded like a morgue while the back to back defending champs were playing. People complain about late games and getting home late afterwards, then can’t make it to an earlier game on time.

The early start clearly had a lot to do with late arrivals. Place was half full early on, but people were streaming in for the first quarter or so. Was certainly not half empty after that, more like 75-85% full. Considering the opponent, our team this season and dealing with rush hour, crowd size was pretty good!

 

[uconnyankee]

So you disagree that when a center is in the paint on defense he can help and rebound better?

I’m saying that anyone on this board submitting letters of suggestion or guidance on coaching is a little conceited.

Do people on here really think they can provide insight that this staff hasn’t considered? As if the same staff that has delivered 2 NC’s suddenly needs input from The Boneyard?

 

[CONN78SEJ]

He had a year at PF then a year at C there ... when their scoring threat had some behavioral issues during Reed, Jr's., sophomore year, that player had to sit out either the home or away games, I think 6 of them and Reed, Jr. became the #1 scoring option which opponents knew as well. Like AK, Reed, Jr., was better as a helper, not the focal point.

Here he is learning how to be both the focal (on getting the pass, posting up, shooting) as well as the helper (offensive rebounds, put backs, fouls). Yes, the more he plays the more we see both of those games. Feels like a vast majority of people of all walks of life want Reed, Jr., to start over Johnson, but I don't see Hurley changing that as he will reward Reed, Jr., with the starting roll next year with Riebe coming off the bench.

Also means Singare might hit the portal which would not be a bad thing for us and good thing for him.

I’m not looking past March because I don’t think they have a chance in hell. I do actually think this years team has a chance to go deep into the tournament, but I have to say that Hurley’s team next year looks to have legit top 5 or top 3 written all over it. I mean, Reed and Riebe, sort of reminds me of Sanogo and a young gangly Clingan, add to that, Mullins, Adams, the kid from down under, and the remainder of this years team (Ball, Stewart, Mahaney, Ross) if Liam McNeeley stays in Storrs one more year.