Chief’s Briefs - Hartford Edition

[Chin Diesel]

If we play like this next week we go 0-3.

For all the hype, Cole is not impressing me.
Sanogo is a gem - he is performing above his hype.
Bouk thinks he can just show up and be the man.
Jackson cannot shoot at all.
Gaff needs more minutes and looks - I wouldn't mind if he started at point for a few games.
Whaley is a beast in spurts - let's get him more involved.
Martin can be good.
We need fewer guys getting more minutes, and a more cohesive unit on the floor.

As many have said the preseason dream/hype of 11-12 man rotations was a fantasy.

Game film always has a way of shortening the rotation.

When Akok comes back there will be 9 players in the rotation with one of those nine, my guess Polley or Adams, seeing less than five minutes.

 

[Rico444]

The problem I have with adams is that when he is cold (like tonight) he tries to shoot himself out of the slump. When he's hot he can take 7-8 shots a game, but when hes not he really needs to limit himself to 5 shots max

My problem with him is that his shot selection is terrible. I love that he's confident in his abilities, but he ain't Michael Jordan.

 

[Hugo]

He looks like a guy who is playing to keep his minutes instead of just playing the game. i hated that he went in for the dunk last game instead of just passing it ahead to Sanogo.

This. My exact feeling when he ignored that obvious pass to Sonogo. Give the Frosh a breakaway basket and let him build his confidence.

 

[microfich]

As far as guarding beyond 30 feet you have to realize 2 things:
1) Dan Hurley is a premier basketball coach.
2) He is coaching a long bench of premier athletes that will be able to do things to push the envelope in their athletic favor.

When they finally get it we will be using our high doubles to force mistakes out top and drain the clock with the hedger properly timing his retreat and the back line efficiently sliding to cover the open men in the path to the hoop. Hurley is willing to let his players fail in spurts in order to let them grow for the long term goal.

How many times over the past 2 years has Carlton or Whaley hedged and been beaten back to his man? Many but didn't you also notice that they improved on this as the season wore on? The same will occur with Andre Jackson's back line responsibilities.

Would a second big help when using this tactic? Certainly that would be an advantage on the back end and maybe we'll get there once Akok is back. Still, that shouldn't stop us from using it in most any lineup in early games to get it down for when it counts especially considering the reduced practice time we've had and may unfortunately experience again.

 

[UofCT]

 

[Ricker]

Comments by the Hartford coach were more candid and inciteful than most interviews with general platitudes and cliches. He does say that in the Big East there is going to be a number of games where UConn is going to have to go small at the 4 with Martin. Hurley said expect Martin to be north of 30 min a game. Also said he will decide today whether to play the Mohegan Sun games or back out.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What an absurd take on Martin. Outside of Bouknight's explosion in the first 5 minutes Martin was probably the best on the court tonight.

Absolutely. He needs to be starting immediately. He does so many critical things. But two stand out. When our 5 gets pulled out on a ball screen on offense he can and does go to the rim to a pass or offensive rebound. Second he can defend around the basket, which none of our other forwards are doing effectively. He is likely no worse than our 3rd or 4th best player.

While the chat was loaded with people griping about Adams, at least he is high effort. I fail to understand why Polley is starting. A good 3 point shooter, if he is open and catches a pass. He can’t hit the broad side of a barn off the dribble. He’s a poor rebounder and inside scorer and defender. He’s ok defending outside if he uses his length to play off guys.

Cole and Gaff need to not be playing together except with a late lead or if we are being pressed.

Jackson is a dynamic talent who is young. Today he committed quick stupid fouls and DH made him watch. That’s fine. He needed the lesson and we can afford it against Hartford. Eventually I’d like to see him start at the SF spot with Martin as a 4.

 

[ucp990411]

Question on Martin. Can he shoot?

 

[ucp990411]

As many have said the preseason dream/hype of 11-12 man rotations was a fantasy.

Game film always has a way of shortening the rotation.

When Akok comes back there will be 9 players in the rotation with one of those nine, my guess Polley or Adams, seeing less than five minutes.

I agree about Polley and/or Adams losing playing time. And to think they were big minute players in the past.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Jackson converts that potential energy into kinetic energy and hits his man on defense.

Hurley was sending him a message in a game where he could afford to do so. Against CCSU, Jackson was our best defender. Tonight, game called tight and he could not avoid the touch fouls.

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Comments by the Hartford coach were more candid and inciteful than most interviews with general platitudes and cliches. He does say that in the Big East there is going to be a number of games where UConn is going to have to go small at the 4 with Martin.

Nobody tell Nelson

 

[freescooter]

We see the same thing every year. The defense guarding guys 30 feet from the basket. Picking up cheap fouls or letting the opposing guards get by them. The defense is much better when we relax and drop back a little. The exaggerated overplay almost always gets us in trouble. Relaxing the pressure just a bit would make us much more effective.

Adams killed us tonight. He is the one player on the court playing hero ball.

Cole is still too sloppy with the ball. He had 4 TOs versus CCSU. He had, at least, two in the first half tonight. Not a good trend.

This game was custom made for Carlton in the second half. A few minutes would might have kept Sanogo out of foul trouble. Hurley must have Josh really deep in the doghouse.

I agree with this assessment b

 

[coachn]

POG Gaffney. JB get some defensive intensity and move your feet.

 

[Huskymagic]

That’s scary hearing Hurley at the press conference say that they are looking to increase RJ’s minutes to 30 a night.

Also Polley needs to play big minutes. No one on the team has his shooting ability.

Gallagher and Hurley have the same basketball philosophy. That’s a problem for our level. If Hurley philosophy is to play small then he should not recruit so many big guys. The recruiting actions don’t match his actual basketball philosophy.

PS: You don’t supplant players who led a turnaround with transfers to take the reign so to speak. They need to be cogs in the machine not the actual engine.

 

[uchusky32]

Hurley should have been benched for Kimani.

Not calling timeouts a was a mistake.

 

[inWV]

Martin was a beast tonight Chief. Did you watch the same game as me?

I want more Sanogo and Jackson vs Adams and Polley right now.

Wouldn't be against some mimutes with Whaley/Sanogo together vs big teams if we're going to shoot like crap anyways.

Martin is less “bendy” than Jackson, they are visually and kinetically two very different players. Martin looks like a guy who can get rebounds in the BE.

 

[Rico444]

POG Gaffney. JB get some defensive intensity and move your feet.

Gaffney wasn't great on defense tonight, but I'm noticing a difference this year in him being disruptive with his long arms. He blocked or disrupted a few shots and passes in the game yesterday and I don't remember much of that last year.

 

[Mister P]

Another positive was hearing the U-C-O-N-N chant in the second half after UConn made a run and a TO was called !
I just wish it was done with 10k people in attendance.

 

[freescooter]

Maybe it changes as the season progresses, but this team to me looks like a collection of talent that doesnt really go together very well. I’d also say some of the talent is pretty raw. Sanogo for example is a bull but needs to learn a little finesse. Bouknight reminds me of Rudy Gay in that he seems to take time off. Gay drove me nuts with that. He’d score 10 in a row then he’d go 12 minutes without a touch.

Im also inclined to agree with Nelson on the offense. We scored 102 against what barely qualifies as a d1 team ( I think they are 347 of 353 teams). But once Hartford settled down and stopped missing Layups it was hardly a blowout it really should have been. We scored 68 against an America East opponent.
FWIW I’m still not sold on Cole. His defense is suspect and he isn’t exactly the prolific scorer and distributor he was made out to be. Plus he is a sloppy ball handler. He is going to find that there Is a huge difference between major college basketball and low mid-major.

 

[ucp990411]

I agree with this assessment b

The point of guarding 30ft out or overplaying is to disrupt the opposition's offense. Remember the 2014 championship game? Kentucky could not run an offense. The problems we are having is our rotations are not good. This is a result of missing 2 weeks of practice.

 

[ZenConn]

It'll get better. We got the W. 5 years ago we would have lost this game by 7.

 

[MexicoHusky]

The makeup of the team looks solid. Some good guards and what appears to be a bit more size and athleticism down low than most of our recent teams. The team needs more practice, more games and more experience. We'll see how things progress in a month or so.

 

[Watchdog]

DH's comments in his press conference may answer some here who are questioning his game management and "failure" to call time outs.

In the pre-season he said he's looking for the emergence of a leader (CV's not walking through that door) and in the press conference he referred to senior members of the team when saying, "We need our seniors to show leadership. We need more out of these guys, being vocal, making an impact. Get more from the tip. Get a lot more solid play from Isaiah, Tyler and (hesitated here and probably caught himself before saying Josh) Brendan. Two of three of those guys weren't good."

So, unless we suddenly believe DH and his staff are incompetent, maybe he wanted to give the players the opportunity to show who he can count on to be the leader we need when we get to league games. Would we have won in 1999 without Khalid, in 2004 without Taliek, in 2011 and 2014 without Kemba and Shabazz?

Even thinking back to less significant times, like Tate George's freshman year, I can picture Tate huddling up the team after a foul or some other important point in a game and taking charge. Are there examples of that in the first two games this year? Maybe I missed them.

 

[Fatroony5]

And the Dam Breaks and recruits came and we got a talented team. But, we did not play sharpe tonight.

However, Chief is not sold on our starting lineup. Jackson and Sanogo need more time. Polley had a really hard time getting in the flow tonight. Maybe rusty from his injury but a veteran needs to know how to do things that will get you going.

How do we go over 7 minutes without a hoop or a meaningful change in strategy? I don’t understand our game plan. We keep making the same type of dumb foul over and over again.When will we start playing defense with our feet and keep the offensive player between our knees.

Sanogo continues to impress. His hands are like a vacuum sucking up the ball. Adama also uses his broad shoulders to create space on his soft baby hook.

Bouknight can make it look easy and when he hits the 3 he’s nearly impossible to defend. Quite frankly though, he needs to guard against being too non-chalant on his drives. Keep his eyes on the basket/blackboard. Have an offense when his outside shot is not falling.

On defense. Chief noticed we picked up a few feet outside the 3 line, thus Hartford seldom had an open, comfortable 3 look. The refs kept Hartford in the game - half their points came from the line.

Chief is old school, why do we double team 25 feet away from the basket, when we don’t need to in order to stop anyone - then we foul the guy who was an open man trying to recover. Our defensive switches creates mismatches that benefit the other team.

Martin hasn’t really blended in yet. He looks like an imposing specimen but quite frankly didn’t play with the energy AJ Jackson does.

Starting to see Coles as a guy we go to if Bouknight goes cold. I was surprised even given some foolish plays and fouls how come Jackson did not play more? On a night like tonight all depth is that everyone is equally cold.

Quite frankly, Chief thinks we need to establish an identity as an offensive rebounding team that crashes the boards, especially if we don’t shoot great. We need to do that, but also have to have a rotation back to the opponents basket.

Josh DNP.

We have a lot to clean up in practice.

Few thoughts: obviously a poorly played game, at least the last 20-25 minutes anyway. Defensively it looked a lot like year 1 or parts of last year. Constant hand checking fouls, -13 from the line. That can’t happen, kills the flow of the game and allows for easy points for the other team. With Hurley, it all starts on defense. Not a ton of time to get these things fixed before conference play, but better adjustments and better defensive stances can at least help. Make these teams beat you for 40 minutes by making tough shots, can’t bail them out with fouls.

Sanogo is a beast. He’ll make some mistakes because he’s a freshman but he’s going to be really good. Love his ability to make himself big on the block, establish good position, and hit that baby hook. I’d like to see more of that; even if he doesn’t go up with it, let’s get him some touches on the block. He’s probably already our Best big in terms of post moves and being decisive with the ball in that position.

In a normal season, Hurley would Have a lot more of these games to figure out line ups. Unfortunately everything is so shortened there isn’t a ton of time to figure out the rotations. Over time that’ll tighten up as guys get more familiar with each other and their roles get more defined. I’m not overly concerned about that yet. The sky ain’t fallin. Adjust some of those guard heavy line ups and let’s see what happens. Lots of talent, but lots of new pieces. Guys gotta figure out their roles and carve them out. It’ll happen, just won’t overnight. I’m probably more optimistic than most, think it just comesdown to understanding the personnel we have and how to best utilize it. And playing better foul free defense.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Whaley played like the senior he is. Glad to see it. Without his effort this game gets way out of control. He is invaluable as a point forward when the offense decides to be played through him. No one else on the team can play that role.

Martin needs time to gel, but I like he brings. Kind of reminds of a Shonn Miller-type who does the dirty week and grabs his hard hat and lunch pail when the team needs it.

You've seen both games what Bouk is capable when he plays at 100% effort x 100% focus. He just does not play like this 100% of the time. That's the only thing keeping him from being a Kemba/Shabazz.

Sanogo 8 points in 11 min. I know he can't play with Whaley per say but like come on Danny. He did miss a few shots he was making earlier in the 2H but still. Only two boards though -- Whaley and Martin each grabbing 10 probably had something to do with his lack of playing time in a game where Hartford was rebounding better (which is flat out unacceptable).

Brendan Adams giveth and taketh. 1-7 from the floor, 0-4 from 3. Hurley gave him 24 min and Jackson 5. If his shot aint falling he shouldn't be playing. It's not like his defense (which is usually pretty good) is that much better than Jackson's...Hurley seems a little too obsessed with him (and in all fairness he did deserve it last game but was flat out terrible tonight). If those two are seeing 30 min total, I'd rather see it at 15 each as of now.

Speaking of, Jackson only 5 min, 3 fouls. His effort on D is great (like the charge attempt that was a block by an inch). He'll be just fine but similar to Sanogo the gameplan didn't quite benefit him minutes-wise especially in the second half.

Polley looked real slow out there. Hopefully, it's just 2nd game back from a major injury slow. 0 3P attempts (only 2 shots). He needs to carve out his role quickly with this deep roster.

Gaffney, to me, continues to outplay Cole and is the better facilitator to the offense as a whole. Cole can score better sure, but what Gaffney brings is currently more valuabe. I'd much rather have Cole come off the bench and inject the team with some offense at the under 12.

Honestly disappointed Josh was a DNP. I feel like he could have given some positive, veteran minutes in the post and helped with the boards.

Lack of 3P shooting success is a concern. Hartford was the #1 3P% D in the country last year I believe. In today's game (and especially if you look at Nova) 3P shooting needs to be at least average to be successful. If Polley and Adams aren't hitting em I don't know who is! Vital ain't walking through that door, sadly.

Refs were terrible but Hartford adopted and we didn't, plain and simple. That's on the coaches and the player's mindsets. They got way too cocky after the hot start. It kind of reminds me of the St. Joes game from last year minus the scoreline. These guys needed to be taken down a peg and I think Hurley can get that message across.

At the end of the day, a win is a win. Hartford isn't a pushover like many think they are -- they could definitely win their conference. I think it's a great teaching game, especially with limited practices. On to Vandy.

Cole, Gaffney, and Bouknight all hit threes last night