Chief’s Briefs - Hartford Edition | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Chief’s Briefs - Hartford Edition

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Ricker said:
I don't understand playing with 1 big and then sending that big out to the 3 point line to hedge or double team. The lane was wide open time after time. I agree with Chief00 that we create mismatches that work against us. I like playing with 1 big for segments to see if we can speed up the game, but count me in the camp that wants a second true big on the court a lot. We are not going to be able to play long stretches this way against 7 footers like Haarms with BYU, or against the 2 Seton Hall bigs, and similar teams. When we were failing to dictate the game with our 4 guard lineups, why would we not even try a second low post big tonight at all? (Polley doesn't count)

I never bothered to watch more than a few minutes of Martin at URI so I was interested to see him play. I thought he did some good things but I guess I need to watch again because I didn't see the audition as the starting 4 that others did. I liked his rebounding in terms of contributing from the 3 position, but I watched a bunch of teams the last few days that I can't see Martin matching up with. I really think the team hurts itself to go the whole game with Polley or Martin at the 4. Whaley extends to the 3 point line with Haarms in the post and Martin is supposed to switch? I don't think so. Akok will be our answer but I see clearing him as far more important than I did earlier.

I also think If Gaffney or Cole picks up an early foul, we should quickly go to 1 point guard. We need them both more at the end of the games when ball handling and foul shooting might be key. It doesn't make sense to me to risk foul trouble in the first half, and the need to play one or the other for long stretches without a break.
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Good points. I think you can pair up Polley and Martin at the forward position. You can decide which one is the 3 and which one is the 4.
 
huskypantz said:
[QUOTE="Stlh8L8ner, post: 3750519, member: 10653”]
I almost spit out my jack n Cole when the color commentator said this game was a city rivalry game. Lol
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Didn’t he say “inner city rivalry” game?
[/QUOTE]

and he called us "Connecticut State" numerous times
 
Chin Diesel said:
It doesn't matter what you believe.

He has 1 TO in 60 minutes.
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Yeah, I looked up up a few seconds after I wrote that and corrected it before I saw your post since I knew there might have been 1 my eye test may have missed.
 
Stlh8L8ner said:
First 8 or so minutes I thought Bouk was going to drop a 40 piece and we'd win by 30. My kid and I do addition/subtraction as we're watching but it was tough early on. He said we were up by 21 when it was only 19 so I'm talking to his teacher on Monday.

Foul trouble really took a couple of guys out of their game (Polley, Andre). Refs were brutal but there were some pretty dumb fouls.

Beginning of the game we moved the ball well but we then fell back into too much one on one offense and struggled when UHa started to wake up.

When Cole picked up his 4th foul and had to sit I legit got a little bit nervous. Gaff had a solid game but there is a certain calm that RJ brings.

Sanogo's post moves are really impressive given his age. If he goes to Kareem's Big Man Camp (is that still a thing?) next summer, he might be unstoppable next year.

I almost spit out my jack n Cole when the color commentator said this game was a city rivalry game. Lol
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Me too. I was watching it with my pops and almost spit out the leftover stuffing I had fir dinner. We were dying laughing. City rivalry ? Lol. I swear these announcers say anything sometimes. As a side note , bouk looked scary good first 5 mins. I too thought 30 or 40 for him tonight.
 
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On a normal night I don’t think m hurley subs out bouk when he did in the first half. He would have kept riding the hot hand. Bouk was not the same the rest of the game.
I’ve never been a huge adams guy in general but tonight wasjust disappointing. The worse he played the more he tried to do more offensively. Hurley give a him a much longer leash than almost anyone for some reason.
Through 2 games I feel like Cole has been very sloppy with the ball when passing on the perimeter. Love his jumper though.
 
CL82 said:
Sanogo at the 5 and Whaley at the 4?
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I agree with various posters who want more effective size. Thus far, Polley hasn’t exhibited much mobility. Without him in the flow, we are going to struggle shooting, especially when Bouknight is cold. Chief ideally likes to have 3 shooters in the game, and doesn’t appear we will have that without Polley and Akok recovering from injuries.
 
Jbirdp5 said:
On a normal night I don’t think m hurley subs out bouk when he did in the first half. He would have kept riding the hot hand. Bouk was not the same the rest of the game.
I’ve never been a huge adams guy in general but tonight wasjust disappointing. The worse he played the more he tried to do more offensively. Hurley give a him a much longer leash than almost anyone for some reason.
Through 2 games I feel like Cole has been very sloppy with the ball when passing on the perimeter. Love his jumper though.
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I agree, Cole has shot a little better and passed a little worse than anticipated.
 
husky429 said:
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.
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I agree on Whaley. He was everywhere tonight. Proving he deserves it. Polley was kind of no show. Sanogo needs to be out there. Took awhile for him to step on the hardwood as far as I am concern.
 
Mooch82 said:
2 games in and we’ve yet to see 2 bigs on the floor at the same time (aside from garbage time w Springs/Brown against Central). Really interesting. Not sure why we’re recruiting so many bigs if we’re only going to play 1 at a time.

Would like to see Sanogo/Whaley out there together a bit. We should’ve dominated down low tonight and didn’t bc we insisted on playing small ball for 40 minutes. I get the positionless basketball thing and playing quicker, more athletic players...but it clearly didn’t work tonight.

Adams was awful. Not sure if he contributed one positive thing tonight. No clue why he saw the minutes he did.

I know Jackson had the fouls, but was disappointed he didn’t play more.

I liked what I saw from Polley last game but he was back to invisible Polley tonight. I know he didn’t play much due to fouls (which were mainly due to him not moving his feet) but even before the foul trouble he looked tentative.

Our 6 best guys are Cole, Gaffney, Bouk, Martin, Sanogo, Whaley. Jackson should be next up minutes wise, then Polley and Adams. Neither of those guys should get more than 15 minutes most nights. Would also like to see Carlton play more; hopefully we use 2 bigs at times going forward and then Carlton can spell one of them.

Will take a while for Danny to figure out the best rotation, but I found myself scratching my head quite a bit tonight.
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Right now I agree with the Sonogo Whaley show. Give it a try Danny. They both have upsides right now. We cannot go into Vandy and play like last night. Hartford drove to the hoop with ease the second half. they looked faster. Batter have a good mindset for Tuesday.
 
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Polley will take some time to regain aggression and trust his knee. Also, you lose explosion but also endurance after an ACL. Those take time to rebuild, and rehab alone doesn’t do it. The game 2 nights earlier likely made last night tougher on him than you know. That will improve with PT.

He’s a really solid shooter, be patient.
 
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.
 
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husky8273 said:
Didn’t he say “inner city rivalry” game?
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and he called us "Connecticut State" numerous times
[/QUOTE]
Anyone have a clue who the color commentator was? Said he played for John Thompson at Georgetown and was later a coach ("I knew the firing squad" when referencing fired coaches).
 
XLCenterFan said:
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.
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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.
 
aburks41 said:
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
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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.
 
superjohn said:
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.
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This. My exact feeling when he ignored that obvious pass to Sonogo. Give the Frosh a breakaway basket and let him build his confidence.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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superjohn said:
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.
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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 Dan Hurley 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.
 
Chin Diesel said:
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.
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I agree about Polley and/or Adams losing playing time. And to think they were big minute players in the past.
 
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auror said:
Jackson converts that potential energy into kinetic energy and hits his man on defense.
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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.
 
Ricker said:
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.
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Nobody tell Nelson
 
Palatine said:
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.
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I agree with this assessment b
 
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.
 
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