Chief’s Briefs - Marquette Edition

[Son of Robert]

Marquette's man to man defense on the perimeter was exceptional most of the game. It was a main factor in our loss to them in our first meeting also. And they made enough shots to keep their lead and win the game. We had some faults for sure, but I will give Marquette credit for a game well-played.

 

[uconnfan68]

As usual good analysis by Chief.
If we shoot 12-15 from FT we win.
Despite Hawkins having an unusual bad shooting night, and meltdown by Andre we still had 3 or 4 wide open 3s in last 2 minutes that would have won the game.
The loss highlighted the one weakness of this team which is the lack of a player that can find a way to score when nothing is working. I don’t understand why Hawkins can not use how tight teams play him to pump fake and draw fouls. Hawkins needs to get crafty at getting to FT line. Fake a 3, duck under the guy and draw a foul.
Karaban is the least tight player at crunch time. They need to run more plays get him shots at crunch time.
Clingan was on a roll in second half, why did Hurley pull him?
Especially with Andre in foul trouble.
Andre needs to attack rim for his points. I don’t like him as the passer out on perimeter even though it works sometimes. He needs to be on the baseline because it pulls the defense into him to block him dunking, which opens up the outside shot for the teams best shooters. Go inside to Andre and let him pass back out to shooter.
It seems like we regressed to January where Andre was PG hanging out on perimeter and not dunking the ball. It doesn’t work. Every time he dunks, he fires himself up and defense elevates to new level. Every time he misses a 3 he gets depressed and defense sucks. Get that man some dunks and we could win a championship.

UConn is the more talented of these 2 teams, yet we lost 2 out of 3.

Andre needs to figure out how to score when 5-10’ from the hoop. If he can’t, maybe try football.

 

[giddyup]

For us to reach the next level, we have to win highly contested games. There will always be the reasons why we came up short. Excellent teams find ways to win. We just aren’t there yet. At some point it’s on Hurley to win the tough ones.

 

[jorge34]

I agree, but is our two minute offense a guy off the bench jacking up 3’s? I like Joey C but when you have two first team Big East guys, find a way to use them. Sanogo seemed to be open and he was dominating his man.

Not just 2 minute offense…. 6 and a half minute offense.

Guards shot 0-7 with missed front end of 1 and 1 in last 6.34 after karaban tied game at 64.
Only points were sanogo’s 2 layups.

 

[Cheddie]

I agree that Karaban has ice water in his veins. The dude is so poised and calm. He cleans up his deficiencies and you see that the second time he matches up with someone.

He needs to take more that 5 shots in 35 minutes.

 

[jorge34]

The other thing was Clingan was taken out of the game not to return.

That made no sense. At very least he needs to be back in when Jackson fouls out

 

[BarkingDog]

AS was good scoring the ball and rebounding but his defense was atrocious

Adama Sanogo was the best player on the floor for either team last night.

He carried his team on the offensive end but yet instead he is getting dragged on here for his defense.

Sanogo is a tremendous defender, especially guarding players, often bigger than he is, 1v1 in the post. He has great feet , is strong and defends without fouling .

But last night Hurley left him on an island, having him defend smaller players in space. It was a coaching mistake and not fair to Adama.

Then there was the play when kolek blew by Newton, Adama switched and picked kolek up and stayed with him as he kept his dribble alive. Adama forced kolek to the baseline under the basket where he was trapped by a single defender and the end line. Adama, our 245 pound 6-9 center, defended the conference player of the year point guard one on one for about 10 seconds, completely denying him. It was great defense.

Meanwhile, Newton is standing there and watching as kolek picks up his dribble and makes an impossible bounce pass to what had been adamas man for a layup.

Hurley yells at Adama and Newton as they come off the floor. Ok. Fine. Whatever. Sanogo seemed to handle it.

One more thing. Marquette is a top 10 offense and UConn held them to 70 points. The defense, with Sanogo on the floor, shut out MU for the last 4 minutes of the game. The defense is not the reason they lost. One more basket, one more three, a couple more free throws and we’re talking about the upcoming game tonight instead of rehashing last night.

Maybe the guy who was 8-12 from the floor and the game’s leading scorer should have gotten a touch in the last three or four possessions. Adama would have scored or gone to the line. He was deep into the post and had his man sealed and was calling for the ball and well, you know what happened.

On to the national tournament.

 

[ctchamps]

The other thing was Clingan was taken out of the game not to return.

I love Clingan. It's unusual to have a freshman, never mind a freshman big, able to contribute as much as he has over this season.

In those last minutes of the game Adama was not the defensive liability he demonstrated earlier. Had he been I would agree with the individuals who wanted Donovan in the game at the end over Adama.

Let me put it this way. In the last 8 seconds when Adama sealed his player for an open look how many times this season have we seen Donovan successively do that? If Adama gets that pass I have confidence its a basket or made free throws. At this stage I don't with Donovan.

And heads up to the Marquette player who cut off Newton's angle to make that pass. It was clearly Newton's first choice. Precious seconds were lost trying to do that but it was a smart decision that failed not by poor decision making or execution but by a better defensive play.

 

[ucp990411]

He took enough of shots but what I was disappointed in was that we did not seem to run stuff to get our star going using good percentage shots.

We are so easy to prepare for. These teams know what we do and we make very few changes to our schemes.

 

[gtcam]

He took enough of shots but what I was disappointed in was that we did not seem to run stuff to get our star going using good percentage shots.

When the staff starts running stuff I may think something went wrong. Never seen a team who appears to have no specific plays or strategic plans to close games. But then again I don’t get paid $3mill to do so. Telling Hawk to run around while being held and mugged is not going to do it. He is fortunate to have the quickest release. RHam did it but JC had plays and picks with movement by other players helping out. Hawk is on an island by himself. Ridiculous

 

[JeffConn]

I agree, but is our two minute offense a guy off the bench jacking up 3’s? I like Joey C but when you have two first team Big East guys, find a way to use them. Sanogo seemed to be open and he was dominating his man.

Even though I would have reveled had he hit one, I was also questioning myself why it was Joey who was taking the shot at the end of the game when we had two league first teamers as well as AK. Funny thing, not sure he was option 1, or 2, but if Joey had made one of those, some folks would probably be talking about what a great coaching move it was having Joey be in there.

 

[hoophuskee]

The problem was that one of our centers couldn’t guard a lamp post last night.

Wrong. Overall. But yeah the centers contributed. Team effort but mostly the guard and Jackson.

Awful defensive guard play oblivious for help defense. There is such a thing as ball-you-man on Defense. Instead the guards were asleep. The big not good either.

 

[hoophuskee]

Adama Sanogo was the best player on the floor for either team last night.

He carried his team on the offensive end but yet instead he is getting dragged on here for his defense.

Sanogo is a tremendous defender, especially guarding players, often bigger than he is, 1v1 in the post. He has great feet , is strong and defends without fouling .

But last night Hurley left him on an island, having him defend smaller players in space. It was a coaching mistake and not fair to Adama.

Then there was the play when kolek blew by Newton, Adama switched and picked kolek up and stayed with him as he kept his dribble alive. Adama forced kolek to the baseline under the basket where he was trapped by a single defender and the end line. Adama, our 245 pound 6-9 center, defended the conference player of the year point guard one on one for about 10 seconds, completely denying him. It was great defense.

Meanwhile, Newton is standing there and watching as kolek picks up his dribble and makes an impossible bounce pass to what had been adamas man for a layup.

Hurley yells at Adama and Newton as they come off the floor. Ok. Fine. Whatever. Sanogo seemed to handle it.

That was clearly on Newton. He took his eyes off his man. Newton was awful last night.

 

[Drfla]

Adama Sanogo was the best player on the floor for either team last night.

He carried his team on the offensive end but yet instead he is getting dragged on here for his defense.

Sanogo is a tremendous defender, especially guarding players, often bigger than he is, 1v1 in the post. He has great feet , is strong and defends without fouling .

But last night Hurley left him on an island, having him defend smaller players in space. It was a coaching mistake and not fair to Adama.

Then there was the play when kolek blew by Newton, Adama switched and picked kolek up and stayed with him as he kept his dribble alive. Adama forced kolek to the baseline under the basket where he was trapped by a single defender and the end line. Adama, our 245 pound 6-9 center, defended the conference player of the year point guard one on one for about 10 seconds, completely denying him. It was great defense.

Meanwhile, Newton is standing there and watching as kolek picks up his dribble and makes an impossible bounce pass to what had been adamas man for a layup.

Hurley yells at Adama and Newton as they come off the floor. Ok. Fine. Whatever. Sanogo seemed to handle it.

One more thing. Marquette is a top 10 offense and UConn held them to 70 points. The defense, with Sanogo on the floor, shut out MU for the last 4 minutes of the game. The defense is not the reason they lost. One more basket, one more three, a couple more free throws and we’re talking about the upcoming game tonight instead of rehashing last night.

Maybe the guy who was 8-12 from the floor and the game’s leading scorer should have gotten a touch in the last three or four possessions. Adama would have scored or gone to the line. He was deep into the post and had his man sealed and was calling for the ball and well, you know what happened.

On to the national tournament.

Maybe you should re-watch the first few minutes of each half before you defend Sanogo’s defense.

AS was the best offensive player on the court.

 

[huskyharry]

Not normally an issue in our Big East play but poor foul shooting in a close game hurt us today, 60% doesn’t cut it in post season.

We did not seem to know our identity today. Our star Hawkins turned down shots and Joey C coming off the bench took the key shots at closing time. No knock on Joey but Adama, Hawkins and Karaban should take most of the key shots at closing time.

Our defense seemed poorly prepared and made bad choices. We left shooters open and we played left handlers as if they were right handlers.

I thought Clingan played well and our team suffered when he came out. Adama played well and tonight would have been a perfect double big night but we were not prepared to do it.

I thought we had learned that Andre would start the game by letting the game come to him on offense. Today he took a different approach and that led an Un-Andre type game that led to foul trouble and him being a non factor in the facets of the game he normally stars in.

One thing we limited was turnovers (9) but our offense seemed out of synced the entire night despite some good performances.

Our bench played well. Clingan, Alleyne and Joey over-all played well and totaled 25 points.

It was a winnable game that we did not win. Give Marquette credit for battling and hitting 3’s from downtown. We did lead the rebounding battle by 10, but they made 4 more threes and in a close game that made the difference.

Agree. Clingan only getting ten minutes was a mistake. His + - must have been good.
No doubt UCONN could not play Coach Hurley’s preferred defensive schemes with both players in the game but it is a shame that he never really tried to work out a system that would allow them to play well on both ends on the floor together at least ten minutes a game.

 

[huskyharry]

You expect your best defensive player to play defense without fouling. 5 fouls in 15 mins is on him.

The charge drawn by Kolek was particularly bad. He very rarely drives to score anyway so why force the action there?

 

[August_West]

Agree. Clingan only getting ten minutes was a mistake. His + - must have been good.
No doubt UCONN could not play Coach Hurley’s preferred defensive schemes with both players in the game but it is a shame that he never really tried to work out a system that would allow them to play well on both ends on the floor together at least ten minutes a game.

Clingan was + 10 I think, Adama was -11

 

[Chief00]

Agree. Clingan only getting ten minutes was a mistake. His + - must have been good.
No doubt UCONN could not play Coach Hurley’s preferred defensive schemes with both players in the game but it is a shame that he never really tried to work out a system that would allow them to play well on both ends on the floor together at least ten minutes a game.

All true.

 

[Chief00]

Clingan was + 10 I think, Adama was -11

That about right, but it should not be viewed as a mutually exclusive thing. Adama played well too, he was playing many minutes with 2-3 starters who had sub par games. We need to play the Bigs together.

Successful coaches adjust to their talent l, unsuccessful one’s coach to their system.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

That about right, but it should not be viewed as a mutually exclusive thing. Adama played well too, he was playing many minutes with 2-3 starters who had sub par games. We need to play the Bigs together.

Successful coaches adjust to their talent l, unsuccessful one’s coach to their system.

THIS. FOR DAYS. next yr, can you imagine an aggressive 2-3 matchup w Castle & AJ at top and Sanoga and Karaban on the wings and Clingan in middle? (assuming Hawk goes pro) offensively we could just "villanova ISO Post Up" the weak defender on the other team....

but pride goes before the fall.....if clingan and sanogo are splitting 40 minutes next yr,so we can stay in his mano y mano half court man to man ALL GAME LONG, i just dont know...the best coaches, COACH...you adapt to your personnel, so that an off night by a player wouldnt make a difference with the talent he recruited

 

[hoophuskee]

I’m sorry. It’s beyond irrational to believe that Hurley told the team not to try to get the ball to Sanogo in the last 2:14. Sheesh. Players are given things to look for, but they have to decide if the play is there and, if not, go to the next option;

You're not understanding my point.

First off, he, Hurley, "told you" in a way that he wasn't so interested in playing a power inside game by the fact he didn't use the two bigs together even though it was obvious that Marquette was struggling with them defensively, correct?

Secondly, most importantly, I am not arguing with you in regard to Hurley not telling the team to get the ball inside. However I am saying that he probably didn't tell his team to as a number 1 priority to get the ball inside to Sanogo. There is a difference of what you said by saying "don't throw the ball inside" vs what I'm saying of "prioritize getting the ball to Sanogo." .

1--- Anyone can replay the last 2;14 and see that UCONN did not have a priority to get the ball to Sanogo. Around the 2:14 mark that possession notice how Hawkins has the ball while Sango drops from 15-20 feet on right side to the opposite side of the lane. Newton initially goes away from Sango to his right. Then he comes back left. If he takes 2 or 3 more dribbles he hits Hawkins with a pass and then Hawkins has a great angle to get the ball to Sanogo who has somewhat established position on the left side. Instead Newton picks up his dribble and makes a pass that forces Hawkins more toward the middle- away form Sanogo. Then Hawkins does his one-on-one thing and when he goes left instead of looking to pass to Sanogo, Sanogo clears out and then we see what happens; a crummy shot by Hawkins.
If the priority was to get the ball inside then Newton would have made it a point to deliver the ball to Hawkins in a better position so Hawkins could dump the ball to Sanogo. And if that didn't work Hawkins could have dribbled not away from Sanogo but toward him then picked up his dribble (and made the low post entry pass), and the other point is that Sango would never have cleared the lane if he was the #1 priority. He would have held his position so Hawkins could deliver him the ball.

2-- Then . look at the play around 1:00 - 1:15 left. Karaban catches the ball and you can see from the video that Sanogo has the defender pinned on his back. An absolute clear path for Karaban to deliver the ball to Sanogo for a probable dunk. Instead Karaban doesn't even glance half-a-second to Sanogo. As soon as he catches sit he throws it to another perimeter player away from Sanogo.
If Sanogo was the #1 priority then at the very least Karaban would have looked inside. You can see Karaban never had the intent to look inside.

3-- Sanogo and Clingan were 12-17 from the floor. If Hurley was so interested in exploiting this he could have brought in Clingan at the time the crummy ft shooter from Marquette took his one-and-one ft if he didn't want to call a timeout. Or as I stated just call the damn timeout. Instead he chose not to go with the bigs. To not run a play for Sanogo. That tells us combined with the other 2 above that during final 2:14 that the number 1 priority on Offense was not set to get the ball to Sanogo. These are 3 instances in the final 2:14. It’s not what you replied to me with that Hurley told his not to give him the ball. It's that the Offense wasn't #1 intent/priority to give him the ball. That's the issue.

But he was UCONN's best Offensive player last night. And in the final 2:14 whether Clingan is in or not, UCONN didn't give our best player the chance to score. Sure it's on the players to some extent. But it's clear Hurley did not put the #1 top priority to get his best player the ball in a position to score (or to make a pass off a double team) during the final minutes.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

THIS. FOR DAYS. next yr, can you imagine an aggressive 2-3 matchup w Castle & AJ at top and Sanoga and Karaban on the wings and Clingan in middle? (assuming Hawk goes pro) offensively we could just "villanova ISO Post Up" the weak defender on the other team....

but pride goes before the fall.....if clingan and sanogo are splitting 40 minutes next yr,so we can stay in his mano y mano half court man to man ALL GAME LONG, i just dont know...the best coaches, COACH...you adapt to your personnel, so that an off night by a player wouldnt make a difference with the talent he recruited

If Adama is back next year AND playing on the wing, I will personally start a Fire Hurley fund

 

[Chief00]

You're not understanding my point.

First off, he, Hurley, "told you" in a way that he wasn't so interested in playing a power inside game by the fact he didn't use the two bigs together even though it was obvious that Marquette was struggling with them defensively, correct?

Secondly, most importantly, I am not arguing with you in regard to Hurley not telling the team to get the ball inside. However I am saying that he probably didn't tell his team to as a number 1 priority to get the ball inside to Sanogo. There is a difference of what you said by saying "don't throw the ball inside" vs what I'm saying of "prioritize getting the ball to Sanogo." .

1--- Anyone can replay the last 2;14 and see that UCONN did not have a priority to get the ball to Sanogo. Around the 2:14 mark that possession notice how Hawkins has the ball while Sango drops from 15-20 feet on right side to the opposite side of the lane. Newton initially goes away from Sango to his right. Then he comes back left. If he takes 2 or 3 more dribbles he hits Hawkins with a pass and then Hawkins has a great angle to get the ball to Sanogo who has somewhat established position on the left side. Instead Newton picks up his dribble and makes a pass that forces Hawkins more toward the middle- away form Sanogo. Then Hawkins does his one-on-one thing and when he goes left instead of looking to pass to Sanogo, Sanogo clears out and then we see what happens; a crummy shot by Hawkins.
If the priority was to get the ball inside then Newton would have made it a point to deliver the ball to Hawkins in a better position so Hawkins could dump the ball to Sanogo. And if that didn't work Hawkins could have dribbled not away from Sanogo but toward him then picked up his dribble (and made the low post entry pass), and the other point is that Sango would never have cleared the lane if he was the #1 priority. He would have held his position so Hawkins could deliver him the ball.

2-- Then . look at the play around 1:00 - 1:15 left. Karaban catches the ball and you can see from the video that Sanogo has the defender pinned on his back. An absolute clear path for Karaban to deliver the ball to Sanogo for a probable dunk. Instead Karaban doesn't even glance half-a-second to Sanogo. As soon as he catches sit he throws it to another perimeter player away from Sanogo.
If Sanogo was the #1 priority then at the very least Karaban would have looked inside. You can see Karaban never had the intent to look inside.

3-- Sanogo and Clingan were 12-17 from the floor. If Hurley was so interested in exploiting this he could have brought in Clingan at the time the crummy ft shooter from Marquette took his one-and-one ft if he didn't want to call a timeout. Or as I stated just call the damn timeout. Instead he chose not to go with the bigs. To not run a play for Sanogo. That tells us combined with the other 2 above that during final 2:14 that the number 1 priority on Offense was not set to get the ball to Sanogo. These are 3 instances in the final 2:14. It’s not what you replied to me with that Hurley told his not to give him the ball. It's that the Offense wasn't #1 intent/priority to give him the ball. That's the issue.

But he was UCONN's best Offensive player last night. And in the final 2:14 whether Clingan is in or not, UCONN didn't give our best player the chance to score. Sure it's on the players to some extent. But it's clear Hurley did not put the #1 top priority to get his best player the ball in a position to score (or to make a pass off a double team) during the final minutes.

It never makes sense to give one of your top 4 players ten minutes. Especially, when he was +10 or +8 when he was in the game.
There is simply no excuse for not being prepared to go double big.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

If Adama is back next year AND playing on the wing, I will personally start a Fire Hurley fund

I meant bottom wing defensively of expanded matchup 2-3, opposite karaban, similar to syracuse with clingan only one in paint in middle- offensively hes a power forward, karaban can play 3....if you choose to go big

im bothered by the disrespect given to sanogo...he always plays his ass off...and, umm, led league in scoring....i dont think pros value his skill set, so he will be back...should get more support...along with time in game WITH clingan

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I meant bottom wing defensively of expanded matchup 2-3, opposite karaban, similar to syracuse with clingan only one in paint in middle- offensively hes a power forward, karaban can play 3....if you choose to go big

im bothered by the disrespect given to sanogo...he always plays his ass off...and, umm, led league in scoring....i dont think pros value his skill set, so he will be back...should get more support...along with time in game WITH clingan

I love Sanogo, I am fully on board with him getting the minutes he has. But if Clingan is playing better, he should get his minutes ticked up. It’s a game by game situation

 

[Chief00]

If Adama is back next year AND playing on the wing, I will personally start a Fire Hurley fund

Yeah, we couldn’t use a guy who shoots 58% and rebounds.

 

[August_West]

I meant bottom wing defensively of expanded matchup 2-3, opposite karaban, similar to syracuse with clingan only one in paint in middle- offensively hes a power forward, karaban can play 3....if you choose to go big

im bothered by the disrespect given to sanogo...he always plays his ass off...and, umm, led league in scoring....i dont think pros value his skill set, so he will be back...should get more support...along with time in game WITH clingan

I can’t see him coming back. The plan has always been Clingan next year. I really like Adama as a player and a person. He’s made himself into a seriously great college player, but there have been promises made.

I can’t really see Hurley playing him at the 4 for 25-30 minutes. It doesn’t make sense.

 

[gsmooth]

I love Sanogo, I am fully on board with him getting the minutes he has. But if Clingan is playing better, he should get his minutes ticked up. It’s a game by game situation

Both you and FreeKlaiber are correct IMO. I am bothered by the disrespect given to Sanogo as well. However, I have said the same thing as you, minutes distribution should be determined by game flow.

 

[BarkingDog]

I can’t see him coming back. The plan has always been Clingan next year. I really like Adama as a player and a person. He’s made himself into a seriously great college player, but there have been promises made.

I can’t really see Hurley playing him at the 4 for 25-30 minutes. It doesn’t make sense.

What promises were made and how do you know this?

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Yeah, we couldn’t use a guy who shoots 58% and rebounds.

Try him on the wing. That’ll work well