Chief’s Briefs - Iona Edition

[Chief00]

Propelled by Vital, UConn got out to a strong start but the second team allowed 9 straight points. Chief has never been a fan of two platoon basketball, rather I am a fan of positional rotations, so you don’t lose continuity. Having said that, while Adams and Bouknight have gotten the good press this year, tonight the first team dominated.

Vital and Gilbert have really upgraded their recent play. Better shot selection, less turnovers and extending their defense. I thought this was their best combined game this season, until Vital did some hero ball plays late in the second half.

Josh dominated Agee in the post but Whaley got abused by Agee. Size matters. Chief loves the low post position Josh got tonight. He is such a more effective player when he starts 3-4 feet out vs. 6-10. It appears Hurley’s comment after the last game about finishing at the rim was heard by Josh.

The starting line-up opened both half’s strong, when they do that it really gives this team a great chance to win.

Coaching matters, Chief is seeing improvement. I liked Gilbert’s 10 assists/1 turnover tonight and Josh crashing the boards. Next is both improving their foul shooting. Chief also feels Danny addressed the offensive puzzle against the zone tonight. A few plays ended with Akok taking the baseline for a lob pass. Finally, good halftime adjustments on Crawford and Agee with an assist to Agee’s ankle. They did very little the second half.

Polley shot well the second half and the unselfish play and good ball movement was good to see. Guys are starting to see everyone does better individually when the team plays like that. Bouknight knows how to finish around the hoop. That dunk attempt was ill advised considering the defenders position but what an aggressive statement he made.
Update:
- Josh 3-6 and AG 1-3 need to work on their foul shooting.
- Starters AG, Tyler Phommachanh and CV were a combined 8 of 15 from 3.
- Attendance was only 5,909. Opponent, Gampel mid week game for season ticket holders and exams starting for students. From a business perspective, now that we are winning, we know the variables that drive home attendance. We need to do a MUCH BETTER job of scheduling using favorable teams, dates and locations. Unless a marque opponent, let’s not go up against the NFL. Same fan demographic. We are getting buried in too much debt not to be a lot smarter about this.
- Upgrade the WiFi and cellular capabilities at both locations. It’s an embarrassment and the students/millennials won’t go somewhere consistently where this stuff doesn’t work well. We need to get with the times.

 

[uchusky32]

Team getting better. Playing much more unselfish ball.

Need to get rid of those spurts of bad decision making and quick poor shots. When the ball moves and goes inside good things happen.

Could have won by 30 if we played what I would call Danny ball consistently in first half.

 

[UCDaveD]

Team FT shooting =

 

[bmayuc]

Gilbert has shot like 2 layups in the last 4 games total, and has moved into concerted pass-first mode. It suits his skill set so, so much better. Today he had 12 points on 9 shots, which both feel exactly right. Oh, and he had 10 freaking assists. Great Job Gilbert.

 

[caw]

Agree on the platoon subs, though this team is kind of built for it positionally. It’s impressive how deep this team is considering there are only 10 available scholarship players. 8 solid players with 7 guys who can put up double figures and even Whaley and Gaffney are solid 9, 10. Could be better if there are even some available players 11-13 but the players available fit very well. Lots of individual issues but the team fit is pretty good.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Solid notes Chief. All five starters came up big. AG’s best game all year by far. Josh too. Akok continues to quietly impact the game in ways that don’t show on the stat sheet. His hustle and speed combine with some really ferocious rebounding lately. He can get up and rips balls down like Rodman. Nobody strips him on those.

Agree on not liking the hockey substitution model. Maybe in the NBA but probably not. Bouk becomes an instant double team target in that offensively challenged lineup. Sid plays best with Akok or Josh where he can be a secondary shot blocker. Adams is best settling down the starters when they are out of sorts and adding hustle. Whaley flashed some offense and got abused by Agee. Missing Springs here.

A solid, impressive win against a quality team. Good prep for IU. We need more from the bench In that game.

 

[bazz&boujee]

good teams win, great teams cover! huskies roll. game they easily could of been caught peaking ahead. now it’s time for what we all want... some national freakin’ exposure. let’s ball baby!!!!!

 

[Robertelamin]

Pretty long for a brief Chief

 

[Chief00]

Solid notes Chief. All five starters came up big. AG’s best game all year by far. Josh too. Akok continues to quietly impact the game in ways that don’t show on the stat sheet. His hustle and speed combine with some really ferocious rebounding lately. He can get up and rips balls down like Rodman. Nobody strips him on those.

Agree on not liking the hockey substitution model. Maybe in the NBA but probably not. Bouk becomes an instant double team target in that offensively challenged lineup. Sid plays best with Akok or Josh where he can be a secondary shot blocker. Adams is best settling down the starters when they are out of sorts and adding hustle. Whaley flashed some offense and got abused by Agee. Missing Springs here.

A solid, impressive win against a quality team. Good prep for IU. We need more from the bench In that game.

I think AG only had 1 turnover again. He’s showing the character Coach Calhoun and Coach Hurley talked about. Yes, he’s a great kid and I don’t care if the usual dislike posse don’t agree with me.

 

[Chief00]

Pretty long for a brief Chief

But someone will still say - I am surprised you left that out.

 

[Jimdish255]

It's coming together. Hurley's priorities have changed from guard crazy to balanced offense. The defense can be like glue at times and everybody seems to want and expect each other to make great plays on both ends during every game. Just a solid elevation with room to be more consistent. The depth has benefits that resonate during practice and extend through the game as guys are rotating in. They are having fun. So am I.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

At this point Hurley is doing the line shift subbing because he can. You won’t see that once we get more into the nitty gritty

 

[Kitaman]

Winning big and still not clicking on all cylinders. Hurley is tweaking a freaking bad arse monster truck. By the end of next month I expect to see the recertified UConn machine doin what we do!

 

[Madmannsucks]

He can afford to get a look at everyone against Iona's of the world. Expect the rotation to tighten up down the road soon. Nice to see the tam getting better as the season progresses. I kind of forgot what that looked like for this team.

 

[BFieldHusky]

He can afford to get a look at everyone against Iona's of the world. Expect the rotation to tighten up down the road soon. Nice to see the tam getting better as the season progresses. I kind of forgot what that looked like for this team.

Disagree. The combinations will change but he is going to play 10 guys. That's the way his system works.

Look at our 2nd half numbers this year. We are wearing teams down.

 

[superjohn]

He can afford to get a look at everyone against Iona's of the world. Expect the rotation to tighten up down the road soon. Nice to see the tam getting better as the season progresses. I kind of forgot what that looked like for this team.

If you mean tighten up by him only playing 7 or 8 guys, it's not going to happen. If you mean figure out how to mix and match better and define roles a little better I agree but we're going to go 10 deep all year. Our depth is an advantage and we'll wear teams down.

 

[DonaldDraper]

Look at our 2nd half numbers this year. We are wearing teams down.

This x 1000

Win the battle to the first TV timeout and wear em down in the second half sounds like a good game plan to me.

 

[Okafour rings]

Spot on regarding Hurley getting his message across, Chief. The Huskies are playing team ball that we haven't seen in years. Take a look at the 18 assists on 30 baskets. And this team looks like they really like each other: the play when Carlton got knocked down near the baseline, Akok rushes to help him up only to slip on a wet spot and fall himself...Carlton reaches out and grabs him so he doesn't hit the floor hard, smiles, helps him up, and taps him on the head.

Hey, don't look now, but Polley is now 17 for 40 from the arc, 42.5%. I know he's a starter, but can you say Rashad Anderson?

Vital, I love and hate him at the same time. He hustles, is a great rebounder for a guard, good anticipation as he was 4th in the nation in steals entering this game...but he makes 3-4 plays a game which cause you to yell at the TV. The end of the first half was a prime example. I could just tell when he took the inbounds pass with 12 seconds to go that he wasn't going to give the ball up, and it ended in a horrible 24-ft shot. He's good, he could be better.

UConn had 19 offensive rebounds tonight. We haven't had that kind of work on the boards in a long, long time.

 

[ctchamps]

Tyler Polley rebounds like he’s got bunions but shoots like he’s got onions.

He had a great game today. When he’s hitting from the outside and Josh is manhandling on the inside AG’s assist numbers go up.

Loved the sequence where all the bigs were crashing the offensive boards and although they kept missing bunnies kept at it.

 

[UconnU]

Every time Tyler Polley takes a three I’m 100% sure it’s going in.

 

[Purple Stein]

Tyler Polley rebounds like he’s got bunions but shoots like he’s got onions.

He had a great game today. When he’s hitting from the outside and Josh is manhandling on the inside AG’s assist numbers go up.

Loved the sequence where all the bigs were crashing the offensive boards and although they kept missing bunnies kept at it.

Polley goes after every board near him with one tentative arm. He needs to go up with both hands and be more aggressive.

Amazing shooting performance, though!

 

[ctchamps]

Polley goes after every board near him with one tentative arm. He needs to go up with both hands and be more aggressive.

Amazing shooting performance, though!

He’s getting better. His offensive rebound was with authority.

 

[SouthBayHusky]

Every time Tyler Polley takes a three I’m 100% sure it’s going in.

Feels a bit like the ghost of Rashad Anderson has come home.

 

[cohenzone]

At this point Hurley is doing the line shift subbing because he can. You won’t see that once we get more into the nitty gritty

Not quite the same situation, but I think in the mid or early 60s,CCSU (actually CCSC back then) was a very strong D2,team and one year was so deep with good talent that they routinely had two 5s that played pretty much equal time without any drop off. I don’t think we’ll see too many games with full team substitution.

 

[Chief00]

If you mean tighten up by him only playing 7 or 8 guys, it's not going to happen. If you mean figure out how to mix and match better and define roles a little better I agree but we're going to go 10 deep all year. Our depth is an advantage and we'll wear teams down.

Yes, that’s my point. He will play 9-10 guys but better not to have two teams but one integrated team with often 2-3 starters playing with 2-3 subs.