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.

 

[Jimdish255]

Lucky to win this game. Hate to say it but he amount of weak calls we got was actually uncomfortable to watch. It just looks like we're a little worn down and it's hard to pinpoint a specific reason. Maybe the personnel dynamic hasn't resulted in complementary play or the backcourt leadership we were spoiled by a few years ago.

 

[Spaceman213J]

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.

There are guys there that can do it. It is a bit inexplicable to me.
I don't know if there is such a concentration on rebounding because of some of the differentials early on, that it has slowed them down and kept them from getting out and running.

 

[Chief00]

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.

Agree Reed hitting his free throws is one of the keys to victory and it also shows he’s been putting his work in. Free throw improvement usually requires lots of practice.

 

[Kitaman]

I agree. We need some running mentality.

Fast Break 2026 threads:

linky 1

linky 2


Its like Hurley is making them wear these under their unis during games:

 

[Chief00]

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.

I got to the DePaul game early and was surprised by how many shots AK missed in practice. Decades ago I watched Jo Jo White warm up long before a Celtics game in Hartford. He missed 1 shot in 45 minutes of shooting.
Alex has a knuckleball rather than a classic backspin rotation on his shot. It is often a tough decision - do you try to fix a fundamentally poor form shot and run the risk of making things worse trying to tear down over a decade of muscle memory practice. Sometimes practice can make it work regardless of form fundamental. Unfortunately, it may have been a mistake, perhaps a 100% rebuild shot woukd have been better. The arena was filled yesterday with NBA scouts and it is very unlikely Alex helped himself.

 

[UCan3]

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

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

 

[HCCForever]

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.

I rewatched the ending if the game and agree that Ball’s floater was huge. Unfortunately late in game, Solo also missed two FTs and had that Georgetown player fly by him on the baseline for two points. He also had a nice look at a three but hit front of rim. Solo is one of my favorites to watch so I hope he gets off this slump.

 

[CL82]

Optimists are happy with the 18 -1 record, but struggling to beat. Georgetown is problematic. Repeatedly blowing double digit leads is problematic. Yes, we escaped with wins but you have to wonder whether we would be able to do that against better competition. Having a great defense, but an inconsistent offense is the formula that got Hurley's early UConn teams eliminated the first weekend of the tournament. I trust the staff to figure it out, but there's definitely a reason to be concerned.

 

[Chief00]

Blocks and steals were a key boxscore advantage; a fastbreak would help take better advantage of them.

It's a good point that a lot of minutes are going to players not currently performing. What do you do about it? You seem to think that what Hurley has done is play "head games". But maybe that's what Solo needs?

I think Hurley promised a defensive focus this year and that was what he was trying install with Solo Ball. Yet, whatever you want to call it and I could have used a better description, what happened was his defense did not improve but his offense went from good to bad. So it was not good how Solo process his benching.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Solo is doing the thing again where he lands like 10 feet away from he jumps again. Not going to make anything do that. Hurley also saying he’s playing through an injury that would bench most guys. Maybe he should have taken more time. Not much drop off with Ross/Stewart.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Optimists are happy with the 18 -1 record, but struggling to beat. Georgetown is problematic. Repeatedly blowing double digit leads is problematic. Yes, we escaped with wins but you have to wonder whether we would be able to do that against better competition. Having a great defense, but an inconsistent offense is the formula that got Hurley's early UConn teams eliminated the first weekend of the tournament. I trust the staff to figure it out, but there's definitely a reason to be concerned.

We were able to hang on vs BYU and Florida blowing big leads.

 

[Chief00]

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.

He has gotten stronger and has learned from experience. Given the line drive and knuckleball nature of his shot - (it doesn’t have an arch or textbook backspin) anything other than a total swish is unlikely to go in.
I think Alex could work on bank shots using the top part of the box. That would help him score within 10 feet and have a higher trajectory that’s more difficult to block or harass, yet it’s not like trying to reconstruct his jump shot mid season.
Basketball purist can’t say what they want about Alex’s shot, but that also has to be balanced with his shot winning games for us this season.

 

[CL82]

We were able to hang on vs BYU and Florida blowing big leads.

Yup. I suppose one conclusion you can draw from that is no bad things can happen from blowing big leads. Another one is we won't be able to keep dodging bullets indefinitely.

As I said above, I trust the staff to fix it, but it is concerning and does need to be fixed.

 

[HooperScooper]

I got to the DePaul game early and was surprised by how many shots AK missed in practice. Decades ago I watched Jo Jo White warm up long before a Celtics game in Hartford. He missed 1 shot in 45 minutes of shooting.
Alex has a knuckleball rather than a classic backspin rotation on his shot. It is often a tough decision - do you try to fix a fundamentally poor form shot and run the risk of making things worse trying to tear down over a decade of muscle memory practice. Sometimes practice can make it work regardless of form fundamental. Unfortunately, it may have been a mistake, perhaps a 100% rebuild shot woukd have been better. The arena was filled yesterday with NBA scouts and it is very unlikely Alex helped himself.

He's also leading the team in 3 point shooting percentage at 42% with the 2nd highest volume. So there's that.....Smh

 

[pj]

He's also leading the team in 3 point shooting percentage at 42% with the 2nd highest volume. So there's that.....Smh

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

 

[Chief00]

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

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.