Chief’s Briefs - Kansas Edition

[Chief00]

Their bench was as short as ours. I hate losing, but I walked away thinking both teams healthy, neutral court in March, I think we can handle them. We win if we’re not a man down. We win if DC and Spencer don’t have foot problems during the game. We win if we hit our foul shots. And while I thought overall the refs did an o.k. Job in such a high intensity, physical game, we win if they call the foul where Samson Johnson had chased down an offensive rebound on the left sideline and gets taken out by a clip directly from behind (even Bilas said something) leading to a KU 3 right when they took the lead back for the last time.

Point being, despite KU coming out with far, far more intensity than us at home to start the game, it took a heck of a lot going wrong to keep us from winning. Again, it hurt losing but we all know whether you won or lost that game doesn’t count for beans when we see who wins their conferences and when we start the big dance in March. All that will really matter is that neither DC nor Spencer is seriously hurt.

So true and of all the injury recoveries I worry most about Donovan’s foot. I have zero medical information but I just can’t get Bill Walton out of my mind. Reports are that my worry is not fact based and I hope they are right.

 

[Chief00]

I like our team. Spencer played really bad in the first half. He was giving up his dribble prematurely and looked tense. He was hobbled and played so hard in the second half but he was still off. Karaban needs to be better and more aggressive. I’m not worried about him though. He got screwed a couple times by the refs. We didn’t look very athletic without Castle and with Samson not playing many minutes. Ball’s ball handling seems to be getting better but not yet good enough to create on his own against good teams. That will come. Diarra played really hard but was a little outmatched talent-wise. Again, with castle that wouldn’t be a problem. Newton kept us in the game..what a performance by him

Agree.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I also think this game is indicative of how important playing at home in a big matchup can be. There were several loose balls that Kansas was just a hair quicker to get too. That little boost of adrenaline that players feed off of that comes from a raucous home crowd most often shows up there more than anywhere else.
I agree I think while everyone would like to walk away with a 'W", this could be a big step in this team winning another national championship. This will give Hurley & staff a lot of teaching moments in the next few weeks and beyond.
If it happens in the future, I like this crew's chances if they are healthy, with Castle back against Kansas on a neutral court.

 

[alphasigko]

we meet them in March and we win. There are many factors you can point to for reasons why we lost tonight. All of them fixable. That is the most hostile environment anyone on this squad has ever faced...while being hobbled...and without our best NBA prospect. The only thing I would've changed would be the last shot by spencer. I wanted newton to go full kemba/shabazz and break his man down on the dribble and drain a game winner. I can live with this result.

ATTN: Kansas Jayhawks... LETS DO THIS MORE OFTEN!!!

It's about time they visited Connecticut!

 

[Waquoit]

I give the D credit for many of Cam's misses. The attempts weren't quite from his spots, just a bit off it seemed to me.

 

[HCCForever]

I give the D credit for many of Cam's misses. The attempts weren't quite from his spots, just a bit off it seemed to me.

Cam also had that uncharacteristic turnover on one of the few fast break chances when he traveled. The game was pretty clean otherwise with only 8 turnovers for each team.

 

[jdb50]

When we went 2 bigs in the second half we could not matchup well defensively and lost the lead. When we started the game using DC as a screener only and did not make Dickenson play defense down low it was a mistake. Maybe having DC up top is a result of no Castle but make teams defend him down low! Get em next time.

 

[gtcam]

1. Hurley waited way too long to make offensive changes in the 1st half
2. With Castle playing UConn wins by a dozen
3. Newton was awesome on offense but allowed too many 3's oi Kansas in the 2nd half by losing his man - Newton was a phenom on offense
Not a bad loss at all but should have been a W.
Life goes on.

Bring on UNC

 

[HuskyHawk]

Their bench was as short as ours. I hate losing, but I walked away thinking both teams healthy, neutral court in March, I think we can handle them. We win if we’re not a man down. We win if DC and Spencer don’t have foot problems during the game. We win if we hit our foul shots. And while I thought overall the refs did an o.k. Job in such a high intensity, physical game, we win if they call the foul where Samson Johnson had chased down an offensive rebound on the left sideline and gets taken out by a clip directly from behind (even Bilas said something) leading to a KU 3 right when they took the lead back for the last time.

Point being, despite KU coming out with far, far more intensity than us at home to start the game, it took a heck of a lot going wrong to keep us from winning. Again, it hurt losing but we all know whether you won or lost that game doesn’t count for beans when we see who wins their conferences and when we start the big dance in March. All that will really matter is that neither DC nor Spencer is seriously hurt.

This is a very fair take. While I agree with Hurley that we aren’t as good on Dec 1 as we were last year I think it’s also clear that this team has less margin for error. It’s not as strong and deep as it was. Castle will help a lot, as will the minutes Solo gets now. But it’s not likely to be as good. Still really good. Just not as good.

 

[coachn]

Agree, need some fast break mentality.

Your the best Chief. From what I saw at the Blue-White our freshman would have made a difference.

 

[coachn]

We definitely would have pushed the ball with Castle.
He makes this good team a great one!

 

[Chief00]

We definitely would have pushed the ball with Castle.
He makes this good team a great one!

I agree. Diarra has the push mindset too, but doesn’t have Stephon’s full toolbox of skills. In particular, when Stephon pushes the action, he can also make you pay on the foul line.

 

[Chief00]

This is a very fair take. While I agree with Hurley that we aren’t as good on Dec 1 as we were last year I think it’s also clear that this team has less margin for error. It’s not as strong and deep as it was. Castle will help a lot, as will the minutes Solo gets now. But it’s not likely to be as good. Still really good. Just not as good.

When you win the NC with a string of games winning by double figure margins, you are not only very good but the stars also align. Everything goes right.

My own view is if Clingan and Castle get healthy we have an opportunity to do it. I am not sure about Spencer’s feet or Karaban’s hand, if those are concerns?

I agree, as should have been expected, we miss Adama’s post moves/rebounds, Hawkin’s shooting and Andre being Andre.

I have always said Calhoun was wise to sometimes play an OOC elite game in late January/February. Stacking all 5 of them all up now puts a lot of pressure on the coaches and players and may not always yield the most optimal handling of injuries or freshman. It also may be one too many. I am impressed with guys showing grit playing through injuries but is it always a smart approach?

 

[mauconnfan]

A couple things. Can we stop with the Cam Spencer “wasn’t good” or “struggled” crap. Instead let’s say thank you for gutting it out due to our short bench and playing on 2 bad feet. For those who didn’t hear Danny’s post game interview he said Can came in the game with a tweaked foot and injured the other during the game. You could see it in the fact he couldn’t turn with his dribble or penetrate and kick as usual.

The other thing is I was impressed with DH for not going too crazy often and potentially getting a T. It was there for the taking a few times but he held back and coached as we were in the game, 2 Freebies would’ve killed us for sure. Well done.

 

[mauconnfan]

I agree. Diarra has the push mindset too, but doesn’t have Stephon’s full toolbox of skills. In particular, when Stephon pushes the action, he can also make you pay on the foul line.

Diarra was part of one of the absolute biggest no calls. That review of the out of bounds which turned their way showed a horrible missed call. That was an easy lay in but instead Jackson (think it was) got nothing but left arm and made him lose the ball. Dickinson was busy fighting for position with Clingan away from the ball there was no rim protection at all, it was an easy deuce at a critical point.

 

[Kemba Time]

Here’s the thing: Kansas couldn’t stop Newton by himself, but at the end of the game they were able to contain him by throwing multiple defenders and forcing the ball out of his hands.

When UConn has Newt and Castle together, you can’t do that. It’s kind of like a much bigger version of when UConn had both Boat and Bazz to deal with — and nobody has an answer for that.

You can pick your poison but either way, you’re drinking it.

 

[hypercat2.0]

You could sense something was off within the first few minutes of the game. They practiced feeding the ball to Clingan all night during the NH game. He wasn’t in the paint for more than 10 seconds in the first half. For some odd reason he was blocking for pick and rolls constantly where there was nowhere to go.
Hurley waits way too long to call a time out to make adjustments for fear it will show weakness. He should have had Clingan calling for the ball from the onset. He needs to score a few points quickly to get his confidence up. He’s afraid to dribble and seems lost now that Sonogo is gone.

 

[Conndog]

Dan did state that last year's team was better on December 1st last year than this team is this year. As long as this team learns and grows, it will be fine in March. I was happy to see this team come back after tough start to game. Without Newton, the game could have been over early. Even the Jayhawk announcers mentioned that this was a very tough first road game of the year for UConn.

This year’s squad has fewer impact outside shooters. Only new shooter (so far) is Spencer. Last year, besides Newton and Karaban, there was Hawkins, Joey C, and Alleyne. It was a much more potent roster. Granted you still can only play 5 at a time, but wow that is a loaded squad.