Chief’s Briefs - Marquette Edition

[Chief00]

Reed finished 7-10 FG (70%) and we ended the game as a team 3-24 (13%) from 3PT. Yet, after a Reed 4-8 FG first half, he took only 2 shots the entire second half. As a team we lack self awareness of what’s working and what isn’t. We are an equal opportunity Euro offense that gets assists but guys individually shoot the same volume if it is working for them vs. not in a given game.

From 3pt - Karaban was 0-5, Mullins 1-10 and Ball 2-7. Mullins was 3-5 from 2pt and the team should have worked with him for more 2pt opportunities.

What can we do better:
1) Marquette shot 48% FG compared to UConn at 36%. As indicated earlier in the post Reed’s teammates need more self awareness that he has a mismatch and that they should get him the ball when he’s shooting 70% to team 36%. Almost double our team’s total results. I am a numbers guy and want that.

2) The high hedge Defense leaves us in between and in mismatches that favor our opponents not us. Reed adds little defensive value 25 feet from the basket. Leave him in the paint protecting the rim and he would average 15 rebounds per game and many more blocks. Plus less fouls recovering from being a step behind after chasing guards beyond 3pt line.

3) More self awareness regarding whose hot and whose not and get it to the hot hand who can help you win, rather than the equal opportunity Euro hand that just adds to misses.

4) Demery had 9 assists and went 9-10 from FT. The team had 94% foul shooting, we need to continue that in post season tournaments.
5) Contrary to my detractors we went double big with Reed/Reibe. Granted only for a minute or so and we did not try to leverage it, but it’s a start of something interesting we need.

6) We need to learn to play verticle defense with less reaching in. Reibe bends his elbows on defense when he should reach straight up vertically. Other guys need to play defense primarily with their feet and not their hands.

 

[HCCForever]

Like you I’m surprised that they didn’t feed Reed the ball more in the second half. Gold was in foul trouble and it would have been nice to get him out of the game. I realize he only played 15 minutes but UConn had opportunities to go at him. Late in the game, Gold had that nice slam off a rebound and was involved in defense of Silas’s shot.

 

[SwingDog]

If you had told me we'd be 17-18 from the line and +15 on the boards, I'd say it's comfortable win. Unfortunately, none of that could make up for the abysmal shooting from the perimeter. I'm with you, Chief, in that I don't understand the strategy to keeping shooting from the 3pt line when the shots aren't falling. Tarris was having success inside, so why stop? Also, Karaban, Ball, and Demary are all capable of producing from midrange, so why not mix it up by shooting more of those? This is one of the most bewildering and frustrating losses of the past several season, especially considering all that was on the line- and after a week's rest.

 

[ucp990411]

Reed finished 7-10 FG (70%) and we ended the game as a team 3-24 (13%) from 3PT. Yet, after a Reed 4-8 FG first half, he took only 2 shots the entire second half. As a team we lack self awareness of what’s working and what isn’t. We are an equal opportunity Euro offense that gets assists but guys individually shoot the same volume if it is working for them vs. not in a given game.

From 3pt - Karaban was 0-5, Mullins 1-10 and Ball 2-7. Mullins was 3-5 from 2pt and the team should have worked with him for more 2pt opportunities.

What can we do better:
1) Marquette shot 48% FG compared to UConn at 36%. As indicated earlier in the post Reed’s teammates need more self awareness that he has a mismatch and that they should get him the ball when he’s shooting 70% to team 36%. Almost double our team’s total results. I am a numbers guy and want that.

2) The high hedge Defense leaves us in between and in mismatches that favor our opponents not us. Reed adds little defensive value 25 feet from the basket. Leave him in the paint protecting the rim and he would average 15 rebounds per game and many more blocks. Plus less fouls recovering from being a step behind after chasing guards beyond 3pt line.

3) More self awareness regarding whose hot and whose not and get it to the hot hand who can help you win, rather than the equal opportunity Euro hand that just adds to misses.

4) Demery had 9 assists and went 9-10 from FT. The team had 94% foul shooting, we need to continue that in post season tournaments.
5) Contrary to my detractors we went double big with Reed/Reibe. Granted only for a minute or so and we did not try to leverage it, but it’s a start of something interesting we need.

6) We need to learn to play verticle defense with less reaching in. Reibe bends his elbows on defense when he should reach straight up vertically. Other guys need to play defense primarily with their feet and not their hands.

The only reason they went double bigs was because there was one second left on the shot clock and he put Reibe in to guard the inbounder to prevent the lob. They missed the shot and got the rebound. Double bigs lasted one possession and 22 seconds. Did you watch the game?

 

[Palatine]

We couldn't get the ball to Reed in the second half after the first few minutes. Forcing the ball to him was difficult and resulted in TOs.

I don't think we ignored or stopped getting the ball to Reed. I think Marquette stopped it.

 

[SwingDog]

We couldn't get the ball to Reed in the second half after the first few minutes. Forcing the ball to him was difficult and resulted in TOs.

I don't think we ignored or stopped getting the ball to Reed. I think Marquette stopped it.

I think we could have gotten the ball to Reed. The problem is we kind of stopped trying in the first several minutes of the 2nd half and from then on he was spending too much time far away from the basket trying to set screens which he wasn't really running off of and looking for the ball.

The 14 TO's were costly.

 

[REB1094]

Tarris Reed was unstoppable in the paint

Braylon Mullins, Solo Ball, and Alex Karaban were ice cold from three

We decided to try to win the game with Braylon Mullins, Solo Ball, and Alex Karaban shooting threes

We lost

 

[SwingDog]

Tarris Reed was unstoppable in the paint

Braylon Mullins, Solo Ball, and Alex Karaban were ice cold from three

We decided to try to win the game with Braylon Mullins, Solo Ball, and Alex Karaban shooting threes

We lost

 

[bendm]

We couldn't get the ball to Reed in the second half after the first few minutes. Forcing the ball to him was difficult and resulted in TOs.

I don't think we ignored or stopped getting the ball to Reed. I think Marquette stopped it.

Then that’s a pretty simple recipe for beating us. Double Reed and make us hit 3s.

 

[superjohn]

If you had told me we'd be 17-18 from the line and +15 on the boards, I'd say it's comfortable win. Unfortunately, none of that could make up for the abysmal shooting from the perimeter. I'm with you, Chief, in that I don't understand the strategy to keeping shooting from the 3pt line when the shots aren't falling. Tarris was having success inside, so why stop? Also, Karaban, Ball, and Demary are all capable of producing from midrange, so why not mix it up by shooting more of those? This is one of the most bewildering and frustrating losses of the past several season, especially considering all that was on the line- and after a week's rest.

We're a good three point shooting team, not great by any stretch and we were god awful at it today. What we're great at is scoring when Tarris gets it on the block and Silas, Braylon, and Solo are taking midrange shots. It's inexplicable we completely stopped feeding Tarris (it's happened throughout the season) in the post and Silas, Braylon, and Solo scoring in the midrange which they've abandoned.

 

[uconn_jack]

Can always count on you to criticize the high hedge and advocate for double bigs. You're anything if not consistent.

 

[Mike Honcho]

6) We need to learn to play verticle defense with less reaching in. Reibe bends his elbows on defense when he should reach straight up vertically. Other guys need to play defense primarily with their feet and not their hands.

This is big. Mullins, Solo, and Tarris are particularly awful at this. Solo tried to take two charges early in the first half -- both were called blocks -- and he sat for the rest of the half. Tarris might have gotten all ball on his 3rd PF, but it was a lousy decision. Competing hard also means knowing when and when not to take chances. For my money, Silas is the only one on the squad with the quickness to slap down at a ball when someone is driving the lane. Other guys need to keep verticality and keep their man in front of them instead of trying for steals.

Marquette's gameplan around creating deflections was brilliant and a lot less risky.

 

[Chief00]

If you had told me we'd be 17-18 from the line and +15 on the boards, I'd say it's comfortable win. Unfortunately, none of that could make up for the abysmal shooting from the perimeter. I'm with you, Chief, in that I don't understand the strategy to keeping shooting from the 3pt line when the shots aren't falling. Tarris was having success inside, so why stop? Also, Karaban, Ball, and Demary are all capable of producing from midrange, so why not mix it up by shooting more of those? This is one of the most bewildering and frustrating losses of the past several season, especially considering all that was on the line- and after a week's rest.

I agree. Unfortunately, feeding the hot hand or consistently the post, is not part of our Euro Ball principles. While our assists numbers for the season may indicate we are unselfish they also indicate we don’t drive enough and take too many quick long 3’s after receiving a pass. Sure, some go in but yesterday we had a 13% success rate and we kept raining very ugly quick threes.
While I like Karaban and respect various ethics he represents, Hurley putting him on the Wall before his season ended was bizarre. When All Time UConn greats with NBA all star career talent take a few post UConn years to get on the wall why not stay with that timeframe especially when he was a 2-4 option in many of these UConn wins not a 1-2.

 

[Chief00]

This is big. Mullins, Solo, and Tarris are particularly awful at this. Solo tried to take two charges early in the first half -- both were called blocks -- and he sat for the rest of the half. Tarris might have gotten all ball on his 3rd PF, but it was a lousy decision. Competing hard also means knowing when and when not to take chances. For my money, Silas is the only one on the squad with the quickness to slap down at a ball when someone is driving the lane. Other guys need to keep verticality and keep their man in front of them instead of trying for steals.

Marquette's gameplan around creating deflections was brilliant and a lot less risky.

Reducing risk in our decisions is key. I have been known to criticize calls (LOL) but you are correct we too often put ourselves in the position when it is a 40% to 100% chance we will get called for a foul. Without a deep bench (contrary to the preseason experts) let’s not try to take charges against quicker guys early in the game. Yesterday, Reed’s fouls were mostly due to recovering after the High Hedge put him out of position, his poor decisions, and not playing verticle defense. Other guys had some of the same issues plus lots of reaching in. All that switching gives us really bad angles on plays resulting in us being a step behind or caught in the middle with a late burst to get to the opponent and often that burst momentum leads to fouls.

 

[Chief00]

Can always count on you to criticize the high hedge and advocate for double bigs. You're anything if not consistent.

So you think the extended high hedge has been working well? The one game, for whatever reason we don’t do it extended, we beat St John’s by 32. But back to it the very next game. With our starting center shooting 70% and Reibe displaying a soft shot in the post we kept firing up 3’s at a 13% conversion rate. Worse, the effort to get these bad shots led to 16 turnovers, including Karaban and Mullins getting 5 turnovers and 3 assists combined. Demary had 9 assists but also had his Euro ball sloppy moments with 4 turnovers too.

 

[Chief00]

The only reason they went double bigs was because there was one second left on the shot clock and he put Reibe in to guard the inbounder to prevent the lob. They missed the shot and got the rebound. Double bigs lasted one possession and 22 seconds. Did you watch the game?

lol - in your deceptive double big summary you left out me saying “ Granted only for a minute or so” and “we did not try to leverage it”.

 

[Chief00]

We couldn't get the ball to Reed in the second half after the first few minutes. Forcing the ball to him was difficult and resulted in TOs.

I don't think we ignored or stopped getting the ball to Reed. I think Marquette stopped it.

We were putting him out to screen for our 13% 3pt shooters 25 feet from the basket. Sometimes a pick and roll is fine but to have a productive good post game, the post positioning needs to start early in the possession most of the time.

 

[CTBasketball]

We scrapped the hedge vs. St John’s and it was utter domination. And we go back to it vs. two garbage perimeter shooting teams in Seton Hall and Marquette. And leave the basket wide open.

Feels like the coaching staff is just swinging blindly or too unaware to see what’s not working.

 

[Hankster]

This is big. Mullins, Solo, and Tarris are particularly awful at this. Solo tried to take two charges early in the first half -- both were called blocks -- and he sat for the rest of the half. Tarris might have gotten all ball on his 3rd PF, but it was a lousy decision. Competing hard also means knowing when and when not to take chances. For my money, Silas is the only one on the squad with the quickness to slap down at a ball when someone is driving the lane. Other guys need to keep verticality and keep their man in front of them instead of trying for steals.

Marquette's gameplan around creating deflections was brilliant and a lot less risky.

Marquette's defense was relentless. It seemed who ever got the ball was quickly double or triple teamed. Talk about Reed getting the ball, I saw the defense collapse around him. Our guys were doubled teamed from the top of the key and beyond. Our offensive movement was always the top of the key. Why Marquette didn't have that same game plan is beyond me.

 

[ucp990411]

Marquette's defense was relentless. It seemed who ever got the ball was quickly double or triple teamed. Talk about Reed getting the ball, I saw the defense collapse around him. Our guys were doubled teamed from the top of the key and beyond. Our offensive movement was always the top of the key. Why Marquette didn't have that same game plan is beyond me.

In other words it is easy to game plan against us and we don’t make adjustments. This year has not been Hurleys best coaching experience but there still is a ways to go

 

[giddyup]

I agree. Unfortunately, feeding the hot hand or consistently the post, is not part of our Euro Ball principles. While our assists numbers for the season may indicate we are unselfish they also indicate we don’t drive enough and take too many quick long 3’s after receiving a pass. Sure, some go in but yesterday we had a 13% success rate and we kept raining very ugly quick threes.
While I like Karaban and respect various ethics he represents, Hurley putting him on the Wall before his season ended was bizarre. When All Time UConn greats with NBA all star career talent take a few post UConn years to get on the wall why not stay with that timeframe especially when he was a 2-4 option in many of these UConn wins not a 1-2.

I’ll disagree not with the behavioral observation but the cause. Euro ball played as a team works, Eiro ball played as a scheme with everybody focused on getting their shot instead of the best shot is the problem. It’s fundamentally a Solo, Mullins, AK problem. 3 guys who don’t know who is top dog but think they are equals lots of passing leading to my turn to be hero and suboptimal shots. Truth is none of them have emerged as go to guys, or been given confidence and message to be the go to guy. Team is mismanaged.

 

[pj]

I’ll disagree not with the behavioral observation but the cause. Euro ball played as a team works, Eiro ball played as a scheme with everybody focused on getting their shot instead of the best shot is the problem. It’s fundamentally a Solo, Mullins, AK problem. 3 guys who don’t know who is top dog but think they are equals lots of passing leading to my turn to be hero and suboptimal shots. Truth is none of them have emerged as go to guys, or been given confidence and message to be the go to guy. Team is mismanaged.

Too much similarity among the players on the court. Jayden Ross may not be as good a basketball player as Solo Ball, but putting Ross on the court in Ball's place (or Mullins's place) may make for a better team. Hurley might try rotating those 3 Ball-Mullins-Ross for 27 minutes each, so Ross is on court for 2/3 of the game.

 

[SwingDog]

In other words it is easy to game plan against us and we don’t make adjustments. This year has not been Hurleys best coaching experience but there still is a ways to go

It's easy when we become so formulaic that the offense is predictable. How many times have you heard opposing coaches say pretty much the exact same thing? "UConn is so tough to guard because they run their sets" I think to some extent we've become too predictable and easy to neutralize. Overall, I think we've seen an improvement with defense, including less fouling, but on offense there needs to be more shot creation and the ability to improvise and make plays apart from running "the sets." How much is this on coaching? I don't know, but it may be time to retool and adds some other wrinkles to the offense.

 

[Seamus84]

Marquette's defense was relentless. It seemed who ever got the ball was quickly double or triple teamed. Talk about Reed getting the ball, I saw the defense collapse around him. Our guys were doubled teamed from the top of the key and beyond. Our offensive movement was always the top of the key. Why Marquette didn't have that same game plan is beyond me.

We don’t need Tarris to be Jokic, but recognizing the double-team and finding the open shooter a couple times a game would create better open looks for the outside. Some of the 3-24 could be attributed to rushing in tight shooting windows. Would also open space in the paint for Tarris as the game goes on.

 

[gtcam]

My take on the performance (lack thereof):
No sense singling anyone out - everyone, coaches and players. need to look at themselves in the mirror and ask a simple question - WHY?
Why, with a share of the NBE title as well as a #1 seeding in the NCAAs, did you allow yourselves to play and coach with no emotion, sense of urgency or with any concept on how to beat a very bad team that ran zero plays but allowed the opponent to get in your heads.
Regardless of the excuses of being too hard to get the ball inside, WHY not find other ways to get the ball into Reeds hands in the 2nd half.
WHY did the team, especially AK, BM, SB and SD, decide that the 2pt midrange shots, which were there all afternoon, were ineffective and keep throwing up 3s that were out of your range.
WHY does the other teams' ball handlers continually beat you and penetrate the lanes, always drawing fouls? UConn must be taught that slapping at the ball, especially from behind, much better than playing defense with your feet - does the team work on lateral quickness drills?
WHY does Dan Hurley allow himself to again, more concerned about the refs vs. coaching his team? Fining him $25K is like fining me $25- a joke - he will never learn or understand. I bet those refs will be rushing to shake his hand next week at MSG

A question to the team and the staff- WHO is/are the leaders of this team? Is it the PG? is it the Ring of Honoree Alex K? There is no fire on this team. Cam Spencer or AJ Jr is not walking on the floor - who is the vocal leader?

Yes this team could possibly beat anybody on any given day but will lose to everybody on any given day. Going into the March/April tournament run is not the time to play basketball the way they have recently.

I will be overly elated if UConn goes on one of those great tournament runs but the play since the NBE season started has me overly cautious and expecting the worse. So be it.

To have 5 players representing UConn on the 25-26 NBE all conference teams (all the "starters") is unreal - it's time to start reflecting that talent 100% of the time