Chief’s Briefs - Maryland Edition

[Chief00]

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.

People thought Chief was nuts saying he should come back even in this past week. I think now the consensus is forming that he should. Even his handlers may be having more of at least a little open mind about it.

 

[3RingsCT]

Chief-

A very well though out recap of the game. More level headed than my early reactions, to be honest.

After reflecting on what happened, Maryland was more prepared and they did what they wanted to do.

I didn’t see much flow and sets weren’t run very well. Maybe this was accentuated by the fact they missed nearly every early shot.

As the game went on, we took too many 3’s and missed most of them. When it appeared we were clawing our way back with around 5 minutes left, we missed free throws.

It was just the worst time to have their worst game. Some people say look at the rebounding, but Maryland had 25 defensive rebounds. That’s 25 missed offensive opportunities, which is extremely high.

The debate will go out about Bouknight and going to the NBA. He’s an interesting player in that regard because in years past, the players that went to the NBA early were proven college studs and were clearly on the up swing. I don’t think Bouk compares to those guys. However, understanding who gets drafted in the NBA now, you’d realize he’s going. More so on what he might do rather than what he has done. I just don’t see his game now translating into anything at the NBA level for several years.

Next year will be a rough one. Losing 3 of the top 5 scorers. I really think the offense needs to be predicated on Sanogo getting many touches on offense. If not to score, thrown to him with the threat of scoring to kick out to a guard for a shot. I think he can be a beast with maturity. He’s gotta learn to not get cheap fouls, but I think that will come in time.

Gaffney was the only positive last night. I think he showed promise and can hopefully improve on that.

Still worried about shooting. We really don’t have any shooters. That makes an inside game with Sanogo even more important.

On to next season. Sorry this one ended so miserably.

 

[jorge34]

People thought Chief was nuts saying he should come back even in this past week. I think now the consensus is forming that he should. Even his handlers may be having more of at least a little open mind about it.

That’s just not happening.
doesn’t make sense.... for him.
He’s a lottery pick, and at worst a first round pick.
he would be making an enormous mistake passing that up.... for another year in college

Not even sure why this is being entertained

 

[sirjames]

People thought Chief was nuts saying he should come back even in this past week. I think now the consensus is forming that he should. Even his handlers may be having more of at least a little open mind about it.

Great to see you back Chief.

 

[Klipper]

People thought Chief was nuts saying he should come back even in this past week. I think now the consensus is forming that he should. Even his handlers may be having more of at least a little open mind about it.

Beginning of year I was all in on the Bouk boat. Things change. Pandemic injuries etc.
Not NBA body or talent yet.

 

[Madmannsucks]

As of this morning-he is projected at 8, to Pelicans Ready or not, he has to take that move.

 

[prankster]

As of this morning-he is projected at 8, to Pelicans Ready or not, he has to take that move.

I think I'd rather wait a year than to be a Pelican.

Who has ever, in their lives, woken up one morning and said, I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a Pelican."

Nobody! That's who.

 

[Chief00]

Chief-

A very well though out recap of the game. More level headed than my early reactions, to be honest.

After reflecting on what happened, Maryland was more prepared and they did what they wanted to do.

I didn’t see much flow and sets weren’t run very well. Maybe this was accentuated by the fact they missed nearly every early shot.

As the game went on, we took too many 3’s and missed most of them. When it appeared we were clawing our way back with around 5 minutes left, we missed free throws.

It was just the worst time to have their worst game. Some people say look at the rebounding, but Maryland had 25 defensive rebounds. That’s 25 missed offensive opportunities, which is extremely high.

The debate will go out about Bouknight and going to the NBA. He’s an interesting player in that regard because in years past, the players that went to the NBA early were proven college studs and were clearly on the up swing. I don’t think Bouk compares to those guys. However, understanding who gets drafted in the NBA now, you’d realize he’s going. More so on what he might do rather than what he has done. I just don’t see his game now translating into anything at the NBA level for several years.

Next year will be a rough one. Losing 3 of the top 5 scorers. I really think the offense needs to be predicated on Sanogo getting many touches on offense. If not to score, thrown to him with the threat of scoring to kick out to a guard for a shot. I think he can be a beast with maturity. He’s gotta learn to not get cheap fouls, but I think that will come in time.

Gaffney was the only positive last night. I think he showed promise and can hopefully improve on that.

Still worried about shooting. We really don’t have any shooters. That makes an inside game with Sanogo even more important.

On to next season. Sorry this one ended so miserably.

I think Gaffney/Cole will be decent shooting the ball and Hawkins might be a good shooter.. We need 2 more shooters to scare people.
Sanogo biggest problem on offense is being put in the wrong zip code on defense, which leads to fouls and too little playing time.

 

[Chief00]

As of this morning-he is projected at 8, to Pelicans Ready or not, he has to take that move.

He may be projected 8th by somebody, but he is NOT going to be an 8th pick. My sense is for what happened in NYC and on the court yesterday - you are looking 15 - 30.

 

[Chief00]

Great to see you back Chief.

Thank you, good to be back. Tough loss but good discussion.

 

[Chief00]

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.

Very true observations. MD won the war of wills and made us play their small but slow ball game.

 

[UconnFanDC]

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.

Not saying he nor others are not good. Nobody has given us 3 straight games of consistency all season with the exception of Bouk. We never know who's going to be Robin to batman

 

[Chief00]

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.

Chief notices he doesn’t look and focus on the front of the rim as Chief was taught on straight on bunny shots. I think if he focuses on getting the ball over the rim with his eyes, he would do better.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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

Because Hurley asks his bigs to guard smalls outside. It’s stupid. It’s cost us games all year. Sanogo’s interior defense is fine and has improved quite a bit. Leave him in the paint.

 

[bendm]

Sanogo biggest problem on offense is being put in the wrong zip code on defens

why does hurley seem to like these big and slow Centers like kofi and sanogo and maybe even clingan when they dont fit into his defensive scheme? bigs like samson and akok are custom built for that on the other hand. they are also much better outside shooters.

 

[Chief00]

Maybe that could be a new class in our Sports Medicine Dept - Visual Rim Focus - 101

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

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.

Is Polley still injured or is he just not the shooter we were hoping him to be? I wasnt expecting much from Polley because since the Marqutte game it seemed like that was a flash in the pan. Maybe he was capable of a repeat performance but more often than not he's get a couple of 3s a game and that was it.

 

[ZenConn]

We had a ton of offensive rebounds but we weren't taking it strong. The 2 FT attempts in the first half showed exactly that. I'd imagine that with that many offensive rebounds, we'd get fouled more often. We need to stop trying to avoid the contact and take it strong to the rack. Dunk it or get fouled. And hit the damn FT's. If they don't call it, make Coach Hurley get after the refs. The missed layups by Dyson in the tweet below agonizingly reminds me of last night.

 

[olehead]

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.

Edit: Just realized Bouk played AAU with PSA not the NY Jayhawks.

 

[Chief00]

@olehead - Last sentence of 6th paragraph, Chief did say “let’s give “lots of credit to Maryland’s D”.
@ZenConn - Great coaching by the master, Jim Calhoun. If you keep your eyes focus on just over the rim and go up strong with the arm follow-up towards the basket, you are much more likely to make it and much more likely to get a foul called and much more likely not to get hurt than if you do all the contact avoidance stuff we seem to do only to end up in a bad fall or collision anyways.

 

[Chief00]

Is Polley still injured or is he just not the shooter we were hoping him to be? I wasnt expecting much from Polley because since the Marqutte game it seemed like that was a flash in the pan. Maybe he was capable of a repeat performance but more often than not he's get a couple of 3s a game and that was it.

I think a combination of both, though his shooting clearly has fallen off.

 

[Chief00]

why does hurley seem to like these big and slow Centers like kofi and sanogo and maybe even clingan when they dont fit into his defensive scheme? bigs like samson and akok are custom built for that on the other hand. they are also much better outside shooters.

I think his dad is a believer in the big, strong center. Adama runs fine for his size. He just has to be used right. If we are playing the right way, he gets the rebound and makes the outlet pass to start the fast break. We desperately need that mentality back of running basketball.

 

[Umami Zen]

I would have no problem with our offensive rebounders if they decided to start dunking over the opposition after securing the rebound rather than missing a bunny. Higher percentage shot. Maybe Samson is the guy for that.

Dunking in traffic takes a certain mentality and of course some leaping ability.

 

[Kenny11]

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.

I agree with all of this except for Bouknight coming back. Right or wrong, NBA gm’s just aren’t going to draft someone almost 22 years old with a top pick.