Chief’s Briefs - Le Moyne Edition

[Chief00]

Don’t tell me tell Hurley.

The Lakers offered him $70 million for the Euro ball offense concepts, or some think so, in addition to the NC’s. What we are being reminded of early this year, despite the 40 point cupcake blowouts, is that intense defense, rebounding, pushing the ball and being able to score with contact are important ingredients too. Hurley always preached these things but do we do them from the start of the game or after 5-6 poor minutes?

 

[Chief00]

And you call others casual.

I always say it with love and sometimes with humor.

 

[Chief00]

Signare - Why did he not play? It is literally malpractice to not get him some minutes and build up his confidence and see what he can do when we have a 40-point lead.

I always cringe a little when I hear the media brag about our depth. Often too much depth creates as many problems as it solves. Too many guys, if roughly equivalent ability, battling for minutes, which there isn’t enough of. Geno believes in maybe a 8 player rotation but sometimes that means a couple of injuries ruin his season.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I don't think he was above average. He was decent but still got beat off the dribble a lot. The thing he has that Mahaney doesn't is girth to help be physical on D. Mahaney doesn't have that so he will have to make it up in effort and he is probably quicker than Spencer(Doesn't take much). LOL!

Mahaney also doesn’t have Donovan behind him to make getting beat off the dribble irrelevant. Cam looked bad on that end until Donovan came back. Then he looked average when he didn’t have to worry about getting beat.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I always say it with love and sometimes with humor.

As do I Chief!

Always keep on Chiefin'.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't think he was above average. He was decent but still got beat off the dribble a lot. The thing he has that Mahaney doesn't is girth to help be physical on D. Mahaney doesn't have that so he will have to make it up in effort and he is probably quicker than Spencer(Doesn't take much). LOL!

The thing that Spencer had that Mahaney doesn’t have is Donovan Clingan. People didn’t want to get to the basket when DC was in the game now they’re not as scared.

 

[tennmike]

There are only two categories. There is the Casual Fan, and then there is Chief.

I'm sure he was just being sensible. Trying to beat the traffic.

 

[JerseyAlum]

In his interview Hurley said he's figured something out and team will be working on it over the week. He also said he needs to get more time for Ross and Stewart. In other interviews he's dinged Mahaney, Ball and McNeeley for their defense.

So I expect some change with either Mahaney, Ball or both to be subbed for Diarra or Ross to start the games.

Another possibility is Reed for Samson. That concerns me because a lineup of Mahaney, Ball, McNeeley, Karaban and Reed would end up getting Reed into foul trouble or end up being a layup line for opponents.

Bottom line imco (in my casual opinion) I would limit the number of minutes Ball and Mahaney are on the court together.

If that becomes the lineup I do not worry for Reed, Jr. When he was pressured to be the number one option at Michigan in his Sophomore campaign in several games he did not fare well. In this lineup he is behind AK and LM for sure and maybe Ball.

Seems like the second half of the last game had a lot of Reed and Ross working together in some minutes I saw (on my iphone was tough). Ideally we see them and AK, LM and Diarra or Maheney (or Nowell) some.

 

[Chief00]

I think we're not yet where we want to be. Maybe a bit of anxiety that won't go away until we beat a major team or two. There's also some pressure to be good, especially foron the new guys. I also think we're playing too fast in the half court offense. Maui is exactly what we need to help stabilize things, even if we lose a game, or dare I say it --two. Then we'll have a reading on where we are and where we need to improve.

Seems to me that we worry too much about Mahaney and Sampson. I think they'll both be fine, and our sophs will step in at Maui and takeover. Lovin' the ride and feel lucky to be a UConn fan.

Agree, we are playing too fast and sometimes without focused purpose in the half court offense.