Chief’s Briefs - Maryland Edition | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Chief’s Briefs - Maryland Edition

Chief00 said:
Maryland’s 1 on 1 and 3 ball vs. UConn’s offensive rebounding. Early on almost all our points were on second and third shots. But, the bottom line is we don’t have enough shooters and our defenders don’t always identify their 3 ballers. 32% FG percentage compared to 51% for MD. 30% 3FG compared to 50% for MD. Our offense seems to have no purpose or thought once Adama left with 2 fouls.

I thought Gaffney was the one guy who brought his offensive game. He seems to have the ability to drive by his defender and finish better than Cole. We should have played him more the first half.

I love Whaley’s defense but when we open the game with him taking more shots than other guys, we are following our opponents game plan not ours. But, his shot blocking, offensive rebounding and put backs helped keep us in the game. Whaley, Cole and Polley combined for 3 of 18 shooting during the first half. The team had 18 offensive rebounds but only 22 points.

Maryland definitely did their homework. Posting Cole and taking away Bouknight and Sanogo.
Chief did notice that when guys came in off the bench on defense they don’t always play their guy right. Thinking Gaffney playing under the scene on Ayala shooting a 3 and Jackson not keeping the ball handler between his knees and allowing him the angle to drive.

Chief thought our biggest matchup advantage was Sanogo since Bouknight had a star defender on him who had lots of help but 2 early fouls killed that and MD created a healthy lead with Adama out of the game. The trend of UConn’s Bigs committing fouls away from the basket continues with Whaley fouling a 3 baller. If we are going to play small ball at the end why bench Sanogo with 2 fouls early? Makes no sense.

On offense, UConn players seem to lack self awareness. With Whaley hosting 3’s and offensive rebounders rushing the putbacks on the offensive rebound. Chief can’t tell you what offense we ran. Totally disjointed. But, also give lots of credit to Maryland’s defense.

Ayala, Wiggins and Scott were Maryland’s Big 3. We did not close well with missed foul shots, Cole with a lane violation, etc. But, despite that we lost by single digits, a sign of our potential and the fact we did not quit. But, 42% foul shooting doesn’t get it done in the tournament. Bouknight looked tired toward the end and as Chief has been saying needs to come back stronger and better condition and lead us next season. That will make him a top 5 draft pick. He’s not ready yet.
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I think folks try to make Bouk something he hasn’t developed into which is a leader. We wanted him to be RIP or Caron Butler and he not. This transition really hasn’t happened for many great players until their junior or senior years so this isn’t just on him.

We all know that a weakness on this team is their tendency to go long stretches without scoring. Not only did that happen in this game but the Maryland defense forced UCONN into horrible shot selection. Too many forced shots. We needed a consistent second scorer. Where was Martin or Cole? Where was the key free throw shooting? They took Sanogo out of the game offensively. Did they run sets to get Polley open shots in his sweet spot that would’ve opened up their defense? They forced Whaley into taking a number of 3 point shots. They failed to control the pace of the game and generated minimal transition points. They failed to seize every opportunity they had in this game. They failed to seize the moment.

With the Terps and staff shutting down our most talented player we needed others to emerge offensively and it didn’t happen. The moment was too big for them unfortunately. It’s nothing more than that. This is a team and program that cannot skip steps. Learning how to beat good teams and well coached teams is a process.

This was a painful game to watch but with pain comes the needed growth and experience needed in order for this team and program to take the next leap. We are on our way.
 
This was actually a good breakdown and your responses have been engaging as well.

Too late, kid.
 
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KembaMan15 said:
I feel like NBA teams rather take Bouk and have him work on his weaknesses in their system than do another year in college.
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There’s some pressure on a top 10 pick to produce - for people who think he will go that high.
 
Chief00 said:
Maryland’s 1 on 1 and 3 ball vs. UConn’s offensive rebounding. Early on almost all our points were on second and third shots. But, the bottom line is we don’t have enough shooters and our defenders don’t always identify their 3 ballers. 32% FG percentage compared to 51% for MD. 30% 3FG compared to 50% for MD. Our offense seems to have no purpose or thought once Adama left with 2 fouls.

I thought Gaffney was the one guy who brought his offensive game. He seems to have the ability to drive by his defender and finish better than Cole. We should have played him more the first half.

I love Whaley’s defense but when we open the game with him taking more shots than other guys, we are following our opponents game plan not ours. But, his shot blocking, offensive rebounding and put backs helped keep us in the game. Whaley, Cole and Polley combined for 3 of 18 shooting during the first half. The team had 18 offensive rebounds but only 22 points.

Maryland definitely did their homework. Posting Cole and taking away Bouknight and Sanogo.
Chief did notice that when guys came in off the bench on defense they don’t always play their guy right. Thinking Gaffney playing under the scene on Ayala shooting a 3 and Jackson not keeping the ball handler between his knees and allowing him the angle to drive.

Chief thought our biggest matchup advantage was Sanogo since Bouknight had a star defender on him who had lots of help but 2 early fouls killed that and MD created a healthy lead with Adama out of the game. The trend of UConn’s Bigs committing fouls away from the basket continues with Whaley fouling a 3 baller. If we are going to play small ball at the end why bench Sanogo with 2 fouls early? Makes no sense.

On offense, UConn players seem to lack self awareness. With Whaley hosting 3’s and offensive rebounders rushing the putbacks on the offensive rebound. Chief can’t tell you what offense we ran. Totally disjointed. But, also give lots of credit to Maryland’s defense.

Ayala, Wiggins and Scott were Maryland’s Big 3. We did not close well with missed foul shots, Cole with a lane violation, etc. But, despite that we lost by single digits, a sign of our potential and the fact we did not quit. But, 42% foul shooting doesn’t get it done in the tournament. Bouknight looked tired toward the end and as Chief has been saying needs to come back stronger and better condition and lead us next season. That will make him a top 5 draft pick. He’s not ready yet.
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Chief was tragically wrong
 
businesslawyer said:
But what he’s not is a point guard. Any time the ball is thrown to him in the half court offense, he catches it and isn’t ready to immediately pass, shoot, or drive. He instead takes a few dribbles and backs off.

I see Gaffney being more of a 2 next year than a 1. But he has the potential to be a good basketball player if he makes the adjustment.
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Agreed also lacks vision and ability to create for others. Needs to work on his shot and become more an off guard.
 
98Uconn said:
Idk. We missed a million gimmes. If we're gonna criticize the game plan, we need to factor in that making these 2 footers would have made the coaching look much better...
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Fair point, Martin doesn’t keep his eyes on the rim. Most players should always do that when they go up with a put back. Only a few gifted guys have that sense where the rim is without looking with focus.
 
Chief00 said:
Some good points but he does have more of a burst of speed than Cole and finishes better. He does need to work on thinking a step ahead with his passes and creating for others. I do like 83% FT, which is important for a pg.
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My biggest frustration with Gaffney- and to a lesser extent Cole- is when we're down 8 or 10 with 2-3 minutes left and they're taking the air out of the ball out at the top of the key. I was screaming at my TV for them to push the damn ball and get some urgency (and scaring the crap out of my dog).
 
Chief00 said:
Maryland’s 1 on 1 and 3 ball vs. UConn’s offensive rebounding. Early on almost all our points were on second and third shots. But, the bottom line is we don’t have enough shooters and our defenders don’t always identify their 3 ballers. 32% FG percentage compared to 51% for MD. 30% 3FG compared to 50% for MD. Our offense seems to have no purpose or thought once Adama left with 2 fouls.

I thought Gaffney was the one guy who brought his offensive game. He seems to have the ability to drive by his defender and finish better than Cole. We should have played him more the first half.

I love Whaley’s defense but when we open the game with him taking more shots than other guys, we are following our opponents game plan not ours. But, his shot blocking, offensive rebounding and put backs helped keep us in the game. Whaley, Cole and Polley combined for 3 of 18 shooting during the first half. The team had 18 offensive rebounds but only 22 points.

Maryland definitely did their homework. Posting Cole and taking away Bouknight and Sanogo.
Chief did notice that when guys came in off the bench on defense they don’t always play their guy right. Thinking Gaffney playing under the scene on Ayala shooting a 3 and Jackson not keeping the ball handler between his knees and allowing him the angle to drive.

Chief thought our biggest matchup advantage was Sanogo since Bouknight had a star defender on him who had lots of help but 2 early fouls killed that and MD created a healthy lead with Adama out of the game. The trend of UConn’s Bigs committing fouls away from the basket continues with Whaley fouling a 3 baller. If we are going to play small ball at the end why bench Sanogo with 2 fouls early? Makes no sense.

On offense, UConn players seem to lack self awareness. With Whaley hosting 3’s and offensive rebounders rushing the putbacks on the offensive rebound. Chief can’t tell you what offense we ran. Totally disjointed. But, also give lots of credit to Maryland’s defense.

Ayala, Wiggins and Scott were Maryland’s Big 3. We did not close well with missed foul shots, Cole with a lane violation, etc. But, despite that we lost by single digits, a sign of our potential and the fact we did not quit. But, 42% foul shooting doesn’t get it done in the tournament. Bouknight looked tired toward the end and as Chief has been saying needs to come back stronger and better condition and lead us next season. That will make him a top 5 draft pick. He’s not ready yet.
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Don't you have some other Board to post on? I thought you did.

Word I heard is that you are a very, very big deal over there.
 
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98Uconn said:
Idk. We missed a million gimmes. If we're gonna criticize the game plan, we need to factor in that making these 2 footers would have made the coaching look much better...
Expand ...
That’s absolutely true. However, Sanogo was dominating and capable of finishing if he wasn’t put on ice again. Ball movement was terrible most of the night and we didn’t exploit our size. Hurley panicked and went small and played right into Maryland’s game plan. We wasted so many minutes with a disorganized offense scheme in the last 5 minutes. He’s a terrible in-game coach. Until he actually proves he can prep his teams to wins some big games, my opinion won’t change.
 
businesslawyer said:
But what he’s not is a point guard. Any time the ball is thrown to him in the half court offense, he catches it and isn’t ready to immediately pass, shoot, or drive. He instead takes a few dribbles and backs off.

I see Gaffney being more of a 2 next year than a 1. But he has the potential to be a good basketball player if he makes the adjustment.
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He also plays at a pace that suggests we are up 20, regardless of score. Cannot be the PG solution in 21.
 
DMIL said:
I think folks try to make Bouk something he hasn’t developed into which is a leader. We wanted him to be RIP or Caron Butler and he not. This transition really hasn’t happened for many great players until their junior or senior years so this isn’t just on him.

We all know that a weakness on this team is their tendency to go long stretches without scoring. Not only did that happen in this game but the Maryland defense forced UCONN into horrible shot selection. Too many forced shots. We needed a consistent second scorer. Where was Martin or Cole? Where was the key free throw shooting? They took Sanogo out of the game offensively. Did they run sets to get Polley open shots in his sweet spot that would’ve opened up their defense? They forced Whaley into taking a number of 3 point shots. They failed to control the pace of the game and generated minimal transition points. They failed to seize every opportunity they had in this game. They failed to seize the moment.

With the Terps and staff shutting down our most talented player we needed others to emerge offensively and it didn’t happen. The moment was too big for them unfortunately. It’s nothing more than that. This is a team and program that cannot skip steps. Learning how to beat good teams and well coached teams is a process.

This was a painful game to watch but with pain comes the needed growth and experience needed in order for this team and program to take the next leap. We are on our way.
Expand ...
Good points - learning how to win - especially on a big stage - is a process.
 
businesslawyer said:
You’re not outcompeted when you outrebound the other team by 18 and recover half your misses. Our problem tonight is that we weren’t close to good enough. It was not about not having played hard or tough enough.
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After the start of the game the rebounding advantage was not nearly as dominant. Guarding your man and keeping him in front of you is also part of competing. They played with more of an edge than us.
 
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Im not sold in why AJ gets so much pt. Especially in the second half when we really needed to score. I know he's an athletic freak, but at this point his chances of scoring are limited to fast break dunks. I would have rather polley in there to try to catch lightning in a bottle
 
connVA said:
My biggest frustration with Gaffney- and to a lesser extent Cole- is when we're down 8 or 10 with 2-3 minutes left and they're taking the air out of the ball out at the top of the key. I was screaming at my TV for them to push the damn ball and get some urgency (and scaring the crap out of my dog).
Expand ...
LOL - Fair point and that goes to the point of trying to play up tempo throughout the game. Jim Calhoun was saying that he would like to see us play that way. Running transition offense is a mentality we don’t seem to have despite our athleticism.
 
Chief00 said:
Maryland’s 1 on 1 and 3 ball vs. UConn’s offensive rebounding. Early on almost all our points were on second and third shots. But, the bottom line is we don’t have enough shooters and our defenders don’t always identify their 3 ballers. 32% FG percentage compared to 51% for MD. 30% 3FG compared to 50% for MD. Our offense seems to have no purpose or thought once Adama left with 2 fouls.

I thought Gaffney was the one guy who brought his offensive game. He seems to have the ability to drive by his defender and finish better than Cole. We should have played him more the first half.

I love Whaley’s defense but when we open the game with him taking more shots than other guys, we are following our opponents game plan not ours. But, his shot blocking, offensive rebounding and put backs helped keep us in the game. Whaley, Cole and Polley combined for 3 of 18 shooting during the first half. The team had 18 offensive rebounds but only 22 points.

Maryland definitely did their homework. Posting Cole and taking away Bouknight and Sanogo.
Chief did notice that when guys came in off the bench on defense they don’t always play their guy right. Thinking Gaffney playing under the scene on Ayala shooting a 3 and Jackson not keeping the ball handler between his knees and allowing him the angle to drive.

Chief thought our biggest matchup advantage was Sanogo since Bouknight had a star defender on him who had lots of help but 2 early fouls killed that and MD created a healthy lead with Adama out of the game. The trend of UConn’s Bigs committing fouls away from the basket continues with Whaley fouling a 3 baller. If we are going to play small ball at the end why bench Sanogo with 2 fouls early? Makes no sense.

On offense, UConn players seem to lack self awareness. With Whaley hosting 3’s and offensive rebounders rushing the putbacks on the offensive rebound. Chief can’t tell you what offense we ran. Totally disjointed. But, also give lots of credit to Maryland’s defense.

Ayala, Wiggins and Scott were Maryland’s Big 3. We did not close well with missed foul shots, Cole with a lane violation, etc. But, despite that we lost by single digits, a sign of our potential and the fact we did not quit. But, 42% foul shooting doesn’t get it done in the tournament. Bouknight looked tired toward the end and as Chief has been saying needs to come back stronger and better condition and lead us next season. That will make him a top 5 draft pick. He’s not ready yet.
Expand ...
No mention of Martin who was brutal and 1 for 10 with many shots easy layups?
 
KembaMan15 said:
Bouk was a great player, but he has no legacy at UConn.

I wish him great success in the NBA and I hope he wins championships and makes millions. He won't be remember much for his time at UConn.
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Disagree he will be remembered for choosing and raising quality of player that we are able to recruit. He choose us while we were in AAC conference. Good Luck Bouk
 
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ASweet3781 said:
"Maryland definitely did their homework. Posting Cole and taking away Bouknight and Sanogo."

No doubt they were prepared.

How did we counter? Didn't look like we were able to figure out anything to get us going. Not the first time this shortened season. That's scary.
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Making shots within 2 feet would have made everyone think differently. We had 10 turnovers. Played pretty clean. Just couldn’t finish. We got shots off. I’m dumbfounded at the last 2 weeks. I really see the absence of upper class leadership and the void left by vital. It’s no one’s fault because you can’t just make a person be that. One point to take from this too is a bunch of better teams than us lost to worse teams than us while playing better than us in this tournament so I say touché COVID tournament. Touché.
 
Jbirdp5 said:
I love all that Martin brings to the game but it is nearly impossible to miss as many shots as he did near the basket.
the defensive lapses we shocking to me. We have had terrible offensive spells all year but the easy baskets that got from mistakes was astonishing and disappointing.
I think I’m most upset about how non competitive we seemed for a good majority of the game. Never felt the fire, felt like we were outcompeted on the floor.
this also ends the debate for me on where bouk ranks in the all time great huskies: as immensely talented as he is the greats in this program do it in March.
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That’s why he went to Rhode Island and not an SEC school. But he is going to leave here making an all big East team
 
These takes about Bouk are insane. He is a legit NBA player who will excel in the league. Not sure I saw one take in this thread referencing Maryland's D. Normally don't go in on BY brethren, but are you serious? Watch a little NBA, you'll see Bouk got the Greek freak treatment. Their pack-line showed no respect for our ability to shoot straight. Do we?

How many legit threats do we have other than Bouk, I mean someone who scares you. I won't name names but no one scares me if I'm a defender but Bouk. No. One. Else. So, if there is no other threat, scoring against four is comparable to always having someone hanging on your arm. Stop with the Bouk takes.

If he stays, granted, I'm frickin ecstatic. I'm most happy for his success. His success will benefit us. He will never claim to be anything but a Husky. So I get mourning but don't attack THE Dude who put us back on the frickin map! Bouk not ready is a weak, weak, take that presumes a hella ofa lot, namely that he had good help. He Did Not.

We are not YET back to where we were. The three will get us back. Great players will get us back. Marketability helps. Free pub helps, like Bouk playing 82 games a year in the league, whether you watch it or not, this sells recruits. It's often one of the first selling points in the recruiting process.

Mourning I get. Don't bite the hand that fed you. Recruits see that and though this is inconsequential of us, Bouk sees it, the Jayhawks see it, his network sees it. So relax with that bullish. It hurts us in the end. One bad take multiplied and amen'd by multiple likes on UCONN's primary fan blog. Smh.
 
gtcam said:
Vital has onions
Bouk is still looking for his
Everyone has Covid this past year - didn't stop Ayala and many others in the big games
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One of this team’s weaknesses was that no one stepped up and replaced Vital’s leadership. Teams without leaders don’t have wholes greater than the sum of the parts. But Whaley doesn’t have that kind of personality, and Bouk either doesn’t or didn’t feel like an underclassman can fill that role.
 
gtcam said:
Vital has onions
Bouk is still looking for his
Everyone has Covid this past year - didn't stop Ayala and many others in the big games
Expand ...
Wow you didn’t even get what I was saying. Lambs freshman year they played the Tourny. Bouk freshman year their was no tourney. Also, you can’t compare Kemba and Vital. Never said anything about Ayala. Bouk missed a bunch of games to injury. Not an excuse but easy to double and throw guys at the other teams best players when no one else steps up. That also forces their best player to force shots and try to much.
If Cole or Martin opened things up maybe Bouk could get free. I just saying. Bouk played bad but no one helped him either.
 
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