Chief’s Briefs - Georgetown Edition

[Sphinx]

Shaky- yet still winning, which says something about the overall character, mindset, and resolve of this team. They don't quit and they find a way to win, ugly or not. Hopefully, they emerge from this unsettled period with better play across the board- starting with Villanova on Saturday. Perfect time to take a week off after a victorious but grueling stretch of games. And I think the leadership is there, but this team needs to get its fire and intensity back.

Good point. What we are seeing, hopefully, is a winning team getting a wake-up call without having to lose.

 

[Improviser]

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

His defense has improved, maybe because his BB IQ has risen so that he anticipates better what his opponent will do and moves his feet to get there.

He definitely rebounds better now that he has incrementally gained weight and added muscle. In his first year, he was constantly getting outmuscled by opponents near the basket.

His shooting still is baffling how he bricks so many outside shots, but he makes up for it a bit by cutting to the basket and getting putbacks.

Agree he is not a first option on offense and I think he would agree with that too. I am not sure he is trying to be a first option because he passes around the horn and usually makes his move when none of his teammates are taking shots or driving to the basket. Some of his runners are bricks though.

He is no Steve Novak as a shooter, but his intangibles as a selfless, team first player have value.

 

[freescooter]

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.

Chief
This is one of your best analyses, but Dan Hurley says you aren’t allowed to criticize him or the players so you need to reword it to hide the identity of the team, please.

 

[El Obrero]

The good news: they've figured out how to win the close games.
The bad news: they forgot how to win the blowouts.

 

[Slick]

Ross is the player who can get down the floor on a break but he is not on the court much. For some reason we have had multiple games where all our 3 point shooters are off. Today was another Ball/Karaban quinella. And not just from 3. I hope the week off gets these guys refocused. Kudos to Reed hitting his free throws.

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

 

[RuffRuff]

This team has almost 0 fast break abilities. This team really misses an Andre Jackson type player who can get out and run.

13 turnovers and how many points on the break? 2 ? 4?

I know we run good offensive sets but nothing is better then a wide open layup or dunk.

This. Haven't seen a Uconn team that generates less easy buckets. Even when it seems like we are in charge and build a decent margin, it seems like it's never in that "kill shot" mode. We're super methodical. It's always an opponents 6-0 run away from them being right back in it. We don't run at all. Did we have one fast break all game today? I know Solo picked off a pass for an easy bucket, but those are few and far between. We generally don't pressure the ball enough on the POA to really generate much there.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Chief
This is one of your best analyses, but Dan Hurley says you aren’t allowed to criticize him or the players so you need to reword it to hide the identity of the team, please.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Maybe if you didn't create a personal brand as the most pessimistic tw@t who consistently complains about the team (even after championships, lol), you would perhaps be treated differently. Yet you are seemingly bewildered why people continue to dunk on you and your terrible takes.

 

[HW611]

To Chiefs point, I can't imagine being Ball and watching upperclassmen get extended rope year over year as long as we’re winning and then when it's his time that happens to him.

I don't think Hurley is wrong, but man this is something that could've been happening so it's just weird for Ball that it's happening now after what he's seen.

 

[Scottobot]

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.

Ball’s jump shot with 58 seconds left to extend lead to 7 was a big shot. The missed FTs at the end of game were pretty ridiculous.

This team was designed to take and make a lot of 3s. I think their struggles there more than anything else have disrupted their flow and mojo. The misses there also impact their ability to setup defense.