Chief’s Briefs - Georgetown Edition

[Chief00]

That's in games. What does he shoot in practice?

That’s my point, not much vastly better.

 

[Chief00]

Ross is a head scratcher as earlier in the season he was out hustling everyone of the floor.

Probably injury and factors we don’t know about, but it is probably fair to say the integration of Mullins into the team post injury hasn’t been seamless for him or others impacted. Yet, we continue to win close games under Coach Hurley.

 

[pj]

Smith and Demary are shooting 41.7% from 3pt too. Ball is at 27.5% and Mullins 36.5%. Alex had a stretch of very solid games when both Mullins and Ball were doing well. He does best when he’s the third or fourth option.
I do think you are in denial if you think his shot form has helped his draft position. He’s projected as a second round pick and Mullins is projected in the middle of Round 1. While his 3pt% is no better than Alex’s, Mullins shot passes the eye test for the basketball experts. They view his shot as having more upside once he gets over freshmen nerves, etc.
When Alex had his NBA workouts after the 2023 season the teams did look at his tryouts practice shooting. AK made a decision not to stay in draft and did no tryouts after last season.
I think AK has a lot to offer the team and along with Demary keep it all together, that’s when he plays his best. If drafted by the right NBA team, I think he can have a good NBA career, doing what the team needs him to do and he’s smart enough to figure that out.

Chief, I agree with you about his draft position. But, Alex is going to play professionally and make plenty of money on top of millions made at UConn. He'll have a great life. It would be nice to be an NBA star but not every player can get there. I'll enjoy Alex and his magnificent contributions to UConn, root for him in the NBA, but I'm not going to guess whether his shot could have been improved and brought him a few extra millions.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[Chief00]

Chief, I agree with you about his draft position. But, Alex is going to play professionally and make plenty of money on top of millions made at UConn. He'll have a great life. It would be nice to be an NBA star but not every player can get there. I'll enjoy Alex and his magnificent contributions to UConn, root for him in the NBA, but I'm not going to guess whether his shot could have been improved and brought him a few extra millions.

I agree, we have been blessed having Alex and he will have a successful future. He has a good work effort and has the brains to figure things out. I may be wrong but my guess is NIL money was one factor that made him come back this season after taking in NBA tryout feedback the year before. At any rate, an easy guy to root for since he tries to do things the right way through hard work and logical analysis.

 

[Chief00]

Do you have inside information about the mind games Hurley played with Solo or are you just talking out of your butt?

Maybe it sounds that way but I did not mean “mind games”in a negative manner. Good coaches attempt to motivate their players to improve by using various techniques. It’s all part of coaching. It’s a process in which some things work and other stuff doesn’t and you adjust accordingly. What I am saying, at least short term, having Solo ride the bench for defensive reasons had the unexpected consequence or result of hurting his offense, which had been going pretty good. So what happens next? You try to make adjustments to what did not work.

 

[DRBackup]

Georgetown narrowly beat us in assists and rebounds. Georgetown, also shot 8% higher FG and 17% greater from 3PT. These metrics are often a barometer for victory.

However, Demary and Reed won the game for us. Reed had 15 points and was 5-5 from FT and had 11 rebounds. Demary had 11 points, 5 assist, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. They shot a combined 50% FG. A strong argument can be made that Demary has become our on-court leader in recent games.

Karaban and Ball combined for 5-21 FG (24%) and 1-11 3PT (9%). Yet, they combined for 67 minutes of the team’s 200 minutes. The theory being they would win it at the end and they both made a couple plays late, but were 0-4 FT combined in the closing 2 minutes. Ball has played very poorly since Hurley started playing head games with him a couple games ago. The lesson here is they both got to play better for more minutes but of course a win is a win.

The Bottomline is UConn doesn’t get enough easy baskets, especially off the 13 turnovers they produced. While we typically beat pressure, we did not make them pay down the other end. In short, we need to work on developing a fast break mentality when the opportunity presents itself. Too often we walk it up. While we are good at halfcourt sets, they are a lot of work and a running game can get guys off who otherwise might be slumping.

Huh. Today I learned Hurley is "playing head games" with Solo Ball.

 

[DRBackup]

Team is awful shaky. Silas is largely holding this team together. I don’t see any other leadership.

The "awful shaky" 2nd ranked team in the game.

 

[RuffRuff]

The "awful shaky" 2nd ranked team in the game.

I know, right? Very weird year. Of late, we are somewhat non impressive 18-1, 8-0 BE team. It's keeping it interesting because we don't really know what this team is yet and it's January.

 

[twiceahusky]

Maybe it sounds that way but I did not mean “mind games”in a negative manner. Good coaches attempt to motivate their players to improve by using various techniques. It’s all part of coaching. It’s a process in which some things work and other stuff doesn’t and you adjust accordingly. What I am saying, at least short term, having Solo ride the bench for defensive reasons had the unexpected consequence or result of hurting his offense, which had been going pretty good. So what happens next? You try to make adjustments to what did not work.

“Head games” has a negative connotation. Just ask Foreigner.

 

[Chief00]

The kid makes some great plays but also throws up some real bricks. I think getting him more involved as option -1A or 1B is critical to getting the game shot reps to be the scorer we want.

I’d also like to see Silas take more looks.

As much as folks talk about Reeds numbers, the fact is he leaves a lot on the table, misses a ton of bunnies and rarely if ever kicks out. He’s constantly crowded at the rim because Ds know his tendency, so they collapse down. Reed shrinks the floor to a 6 foot radius deleveraging every other player.

Ball simply is a liability and needs to play limited minutes until he earns time playing well.

AK hasn’t improved one iota in 2 years and doesn’t seem like it capable of being your first scoring option.

Smith dribbles way too much and starts the O late in the clock killing rhythm.

Stewart brings some hops and adds intangibles on D and contesting on the boards. We don’t need three guys competing to be 3 hero’s.

Reibe is a disappointment for a 7 footer. He plays like he’s 6’8” and 100 pounds. He needs a lot more work and needs some physical development.

Overall, we lack a real athletic multi-tool forward that can bang, hit the boards and score on the inside. We are very 2 dimensional. Feed Reed or take a 3. The offense is stalling because there is no inside out movement and the guys are floating outside the arc. As good as each guy should be they don’t complement each other. Silas is the saving grace stirring enough activity to keep them functioning at a level that gets them by.

I agree we lack a muscular power forward. How many times this year in a possession have I seen Mullins open, waving for the ball, which he doesn’t get until later in the possession, and then he takes a rushed and uncomfortable shot.

 

[Old Man UConn]

Team as a group are not the greatest passers. they are always getting the opponents' best effort. The bench is not providing much spark at this moment, need more out of Stewart. Since returning from injury Ross seems not to give some defense that leads to offense. This time of the year in the past has been a lull for the Huskies hope the cure is coming.

 

[Ewekon]

Team is awful shaky. Silas is largely holding this team together. I don’t see any other leadership.

I think we have a coach that is always under self imposed pressure, it leaks to the team and the result is, well, this right now.

We need to seek progress, not perfection (Some may know). Progress from this level will come in feet and inches, not yards and more. Progress from this level is on the way to building a championship.

I believe every one of our starters to be among the top 5 at their respective positions in the BEast. I'd never trade our coach(es).

Losing begets losing. Going on the road to an improving Villanova and taking a loss will bother me. P me off, etc.

It may, though, be a hindsight moment should the doom befall us in that road game.

Breathe guys. Team and fans.

 

[Ewekon]

Ross has played extremely poorly. If Hurley leaves him on the floor long enough we probably end up losing these close games.

The vaunted depth is Riebe, Smith.... Stewart....Ross. it always tightens and this is no exception.

Do we have the best starting 5 in the country?

I am going to the mat with yes. YES

 

[RuffRuff]

The vaunted depth is Riebe, Smith.... Stewart....Ross. it always tightens and this is no exception.

Do we have the best starting 5 in the country?

I am going to the mat with yes. YES

Top to bottom, I think by end of year, Houston may have the best starting 5.

Houston - Fleming (lottery pick), Cenac (first round pick), Tugler (second round pick), Uzan (second round pick), Emmanuel Sharp.

They have another McD AA coming off the bench. AZ obviously right there.

 

[gtcam]

With the exception of Solo, the defensive work has paid off for the most part season to date. Now it is perhaps the time to work on getting established a bunch of set plays that can free up BM, SB and AK. Silas needs to rediscover his midrange game, Reed needs to discover that jumping helps under the hoop and pass out of double teams and most importantly, play at a high level consistently while on the floor.
We all see UConn getting held on the offensive side of the ball and all the players need to be trained to sell the fact.
First half season is defensive training and second half is offensive orientated is hopefully what Dan Hurley may be approaching with this team.
It’s a team that can and has final four aspirations and I feel it does, but there’s lots of room for improvement.

 

[HooperScooper]

Losing begets losing. Going on the road to an improving Villanova and taking a loss will bother me. P me off, etc.

It may, though, be a hindsight moment should the doom befall us in that road game.

They have 8 more games and over a month before they need to go to Villanova so we'll see where they are then. I'm betting they'll be better at that point.

 

[Ewekon]

They have 8 more games and over a month before they need to go to Villanova so we'll see where they are then. I'm betting they'll be better at that point.

I flipped the home/away. Rookie mistake.

 

[Donyell 360]

Interesting take that UConn might be complacent with these weak BE opponents. They get up for the high profile non-conference games but struggle against weaker opponents. Maybe they can flip the switch back on come tournament time. But we have a long way to go. Still plenty of time to figure things out. It is a luxury that we keep winning, but maybe this team needs a loss or two to wake them up. I'd rather not lose any BE games, but whatever it takes to get ready for March. Danny will figure it out.

 

[RuffRuff]

Interesting take that UConn might be complacent with these weak BE opponents. They get up for the high profile non-conference games but struggle against weaker opponents. Maybe they can flip the switch back on come tournament time. But we have a long way to go. Still plenty of time to figure things out. It is a luxury that we keep winning, but maybe this team needs a loss or two to wake them up. I'd rather not lose any BE games, but whatever it takes to get ready for March. Danny will figure it out.

I think dropping one would be healthy for this squad specifically. They feel like they've gotten a bit lazy.