Chief’s Briefs - Maryland Edition

[Chin Diesel]

Agree, and miss his off court leadership as well. Chief could see CV on the coaching staff some day. CV and Hurley’s relationship was one that really grew from rocky to excellent.could have used his foul shooting today.

I could easily see a 35 year old CV coaching and challenging players on a roster to a 3 point shooting contest and winning.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Sanogo was never going to be the reason we won or lost this game.

Gameplanning for Sanogo to be the win/loss was already game planning to lose.

 

[BlueDogs]

Sanogo took himself off the floor with two quick fouls. This was going to be a tough matchup because we play two bigsband they play with none. He couldn't guard anyone on the floor because they play nobody like him. Of course, conventional wisdom indicated that they would have nobody to guard him, either.

The hope going into the game, at least for me, was that we would exploit the mismatch with Sanogo instead of having Sanogo exploited.

Once the lead grew to double digits and it was clear that they were going to shoot better than their average from three, it was difficult to play him more minutes.

With our edge, Sanogo, out of the game, it became important that we have another option for scoring besides Bouknight. Those potential options were Cole and Martin...and they combined to shoot 3-22.

That’s one way to view it. The other is we sat him 1st half (ok) but then wasted him the second half too. At minimum he collapses the D and forces defenders to help. He dominates on the glass and is the one guy who can at least finish inside. We ended up playing Maryland small ball.

 

[bendm]

the bottom line is we don’t have enough shooters

of hurley's 13 signings so far only 2 (cole and hawk) would qualify as good 3 point shooters. gaffney was at 35% this year and everyone else was under 33%. if hurley doesnt sign at least 2 transfers this summer that can come close to 40% from 3 then i'm going to be very confused and worried

 

[Blaneylover]

Sanogo was never going to be the reason we won or lost this game.

He had become our second option. With him off of the floor, we needed either Cole or Martin to become the second option. They were 3-22.

Hurley was right during the post-game. Success in the tournament is often so dependent on matchups. This was going to be difficult matchup. Contrasting styles.

With that being said, I would have hoped that we would be able to take advantage of the extra man they were running at Bouknight by spacing Polley, Cole, Martin, or Gaffney on the floor to give them clean looks. That didn't seem to happen.

 

[August_West]

That’s one way to view it. The other is we sat him 1st half (ok) but then wasted him the second half too. At minimum he collapses the D and forces defenders to help. He dominates on the glass and is the one guy who can at least finish inside. We ended up playing Maryland small ball.

Sanogo got abused on defense. This game is played on 2 ends of floor.

 

[Madmannsucks]

I don’t think he’s a guaranteed lottery pick. MSG exposed certain things on a big stage and he did not figure out how to make MD pay for doubling and triple teaming him. There’s a big money difference between a top 5 and a guy who could fall into the 20’s. Every year there’s maybe 25 guys who think they might be lottery picks.

I think he could improve with another year. If he is a 1st rounder, even if not lottery, he will go. 4 or 5 mill even if he is a bust.

 

[BlueDogs]

Sanogo got abused on defense.

Yes in a man to man. How about a zone to stop penetration and counteract the player rotation which was killing us?

 

[August_West]

Yes in a man to man. How about a zone to stop penetration and counteract the player rotation which was killing us?

Whelp, we’d have to talk to hamburgler about that one.

 

[Chief00]

Sanogo took himself off the floor with two quick fouls. This was going to be a tough matchup because we play two bigsband they play with none. He couldn't guard anyone on the floor because they play nobody like him. Of course, conventional wisdom indicated that they would have nobody to guard him, either.

The hope going into the game, at least for me, was that we would exploit the mismatch with Sanogo instead of having Sanogo exploited.

Once the lead grew to double digits and it was clear that they were going to shoot better than their average from three, it was difficult to play him more minutes.

With our edge, Sanogo, out of the game, it became important that we have another option for scoring besides Bouknight. Those potential options were Cole and Martin...and they combined to shoot 3-22.

I agree Martin’s and Cole’s 3-22 doesn’t get it done. Gaffney was the guy who could get by his man but we did not go to that nearly enough. Another thing I would say is our ball movement was not very good and that raises all ships. Polley had a really quiet game for a senior.
What we never really did much was go inside then out fir a shot.

 

[Chief00]

Sanogo was never going to be the reason we won or lost this game.

He just needs to learn to lay off on intensity further from the hoop. His post defense was good. Ayala and Wiggins had 7 of their 9 threes, so for the other guys, if you don’t guard them, play off. I think by Hurley using the 2 foul rule it makes teams focus on baiting us into them. First play smarter not to create that but if it happens maybe just play on. If you fall behind by double digits, it becomes a guards game anyways.

 

[Chief00]

He had become our second option. With him off of the floor, we needed either Cole or Martin to become the second option. They were 3-22.

Hurley was right during the post-game. Success in the tournament is often so dependent on matchups. This was going to be difficult matchup. Contrasting styles.

With that being said, I would have hoped that we would be able to take advantage of the extra man they were running at Bouknight by spacing Polley, Cole, Martin, or Gaffney on the floor to give them clean looks. That didn't seem to happen.

Good point, we did not exploit often enough where Bouknight’s double teams came from and the couple times when we did, we missed open shots. Lots of missed shots. Some at the rim and some at 3. We need some shooters. Sad that Polley did not seem healthy enough or otherwise be able to fill that role in his last game.

 

[Chief00]

I think he could improve with another year. If he is a 1st rounder, even if not lottery, he will go. 4 or 5 mill even if he is a bust.

But compared to over $20 million.

 

[Umami Zen]

Experience beats inexperience. Terps played great D and we did not have an answer for Ayala.. Game flow dictated who we had on the floor--To Maryland's advantage.

At crunch time we weren't making winning plays. Next year's team needs to put a premium on FT shooting. Better FT shooting may not have won the game last night be it certainly would have tightened the screws on the opposition.

The new NBA is about potential and not production so I guess Bouk will be moving on .

Time to find some bucket- getters and shooters for next year.Year 4 of the rebuild.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Good points - learning how to win - especially on a big stage - is a process.

We didn't have any big stages this year. No screaming fans definitely had its impact

 

[dennismenace]

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.

Agreed. One of the things we discussed earlier in the year was the depth of this team and its overall capacity to play good defense. DH seemed to abandon the transition/pressure/uptempo style and in so doing played away from our strength which was to have been wearing down the other team and dominating the end (last 10 minutes) of the game. When I think back to JC's years when he played 8/9/10 deep we would often fall behind in the beginning of the game but confident that we would wear down opponents and own the last 10 minutes. That plays well against a team like Maryland who lacks depth. We will probably have that capability again next year so DH has plenty to think about with an abundance of fine young talent coming in and Akok hopefully recovered. Some of our younger players will have more experience so that should help in terms of stability.

If we own the boards no reason not to get into up-tempo transition on offense and continuous pressure defense. It's a strategic view to dominate and enforce your will on your opponent rather than play counter punch and adapt to their game plan. Act and make them react; not the other way around.

DH needs to move to the next level which I believe he can and will. Announcers pointed out how calm and methodical (confident) Maryland's floor leaders were. They were playing their game so they enforced their will.

LOL JC had a good mentor in Red Auerbach in his early years and Blaney for a bench coach with an alt type personality and head for X and O's. It's OK to get opinions from winners. That's being teachable. You still have to make the decisions but keeping an open mind often helps to find the solution instead of repeating the problem(s).
Wishing all the best to this team who played very hard this year. Just need to learn to play smarter.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Gaffney is a really good athlete and pretty explosive. Just starting to play with the confidence that makes him capitalized on his talent. He’s a player.

He's just like the rest. Nothing consistent here. The guy barely averages 2 made shots a game.

Hopefully next year there's consistency from this team.

 

[scdono]

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.

Spot on analysis.

 

[Chief00]

Agreed. One of the things we discussed earlier in the year was the depth of this team and its overall capacity to play good defense. DH seemed to abandon the transition/pressure/uptempo style and in so doing played away from our strength which was to have been wearing down the other team and dominating the end (last 10 minutes) of the game. When I think back to JC's years when he played 8/9/10 deep we would often fall behind in the beginning of the game but confident that we would wear down opponents and own the last 10 minutes. That plays well against a team like Maryland who lacks depth. We will probably have that capability again next year so DH has plenty to think about with an abundance of fine young talent coming in and Akok hopefully recovered. Some of our younger players will have more experience so that should help in terms of stability.

If we own the boards no reason not to get into up-tempo transition on offense and continuous pressure defense. It's a strategic view to dominate and enforce your will on your opponent rather than play counter punch and adapt to their game plan. Act and make them react; not the other way around.

DH needs to move to the next level which I believe he can and will. Announcers pointed out how calm and methodical (confident) Maryland's floor leaders were. They were playing their game so they enforced their will.

LOL JC had a good mentor in Red Auerbach in his early years and Blaney for a bench coach with an alt type personality and head for X and O's. It's OK to get opinions from winners. That's being teachable. You still have to make the decisions but keeping an open mind often helps to find the solution instead of repeating the problem(s).
Wishing all the best to this team who played very hard this year. Just need to learn to play smarter.

Agree, it’s time to go uptempo. Many college coaches don’t like to do that now because they lose control or at least that’s what two former NBA players think.

 

[husky8273]

But compared to over $20 million.

rookie salary scale for '20 draft picks

Rookie Scale Salaries For 2020 NBA First-Round Picks | Hoops Rumors

 

[Chief00]

He's just like the rest. Nothing consistent here. The guy barely averages 2 made shots a game.

Hopefully next year there's consistency from this team.

Trust me Gaffney is a good player and they win with him out there more.

Hurley let MD dictate things. Sanogo, the key to us winning, played only 16 minutes and had just 2 fouls.

 

[billybud]

Maryland's defense near the rim made it difficult for a close in shot...they were physical, they got over the ball and they collapsed.

Normally, a team counters by opening it up with perimeter shooting and medium jumpers to draw out the defenders....but the shooting was off.

If you just looked at the Offensive Rebound stat...you'd wonder how you could lose....UConn had 22 Offensive Rebounds to Maryland's 4....but that actually was indicative of why Maryland won...they were shooting 50% from the 2's and 3's both....

 

[Tdaley]

of hurley's 13 signings so far only 2 (cole and hawk) would qualify as good 3 point shooters. gaffney was at 35% this year and everyone else was under 33%. if hurley doesnt sign at least 2 transfers this summer that can come close to 40% from 3 then i'm going to be very confused and worried

There is doubt that this years roster was short on offensive players. I expected Jackson to be a better scorer than he was. A transfer of a quality player who can actually shoot the rock would be welcomed.

 

[Hoops91]

Bouknight passed up to many open shots, he got caught dribbling too much. Physically he’s not strong. He could use another year at UCONN
Their half court offense is not good at all.
Why didn’t they put Jackson on Ayala? How could they not stop him?
Why didn’t they try to push the ball and press more? Calhoun lived off that.
Jackson has 0 offense
UCONN is miserable in close games
I’ll be glad to see Carlton gone
Why do our bigs continue to guard out past the 3 pt line?
Sanago is a great freshman
And finally, can’t we get a shooter..
Until next year

 

[Klipper]

Major difference between getting drafted and a lottery pick. Guarantee that there are 10 other players that will have showed themselves off as a better product than Bouknight during the NCAA tournament.
Not only will some players show off marked abilities, others will show that they are not ready.
Bouk is in that second class.
so he gets drafted low first round or high second round. May mean a lifetime on the bench or G league.
He’s better off returning getting more physical and leading the team as he is suppose to. Last nite he was abysmal. Best players on other teams getting double n tripled team as well. Bouknight can’t even hit his foul shots.