Chief’s Briefs - St John’s Edition

[tentoes4rings]

Embarrassingly bad!
At least know the dimensions of the court.
Try to pass to a player that has the same color jersey as yours.
So many uncontested turnovers.
Backs turned on drives.

Yeah, three Purvises today (stepping on end line) was brutal.

 

[XLCenterFan]

The only reason we beat Nova last year is because Dan Hurley got tossed. If he was there all game we lose for sure. Let Kimani be the head coach Wednesday.

 

[shizzle787]

That was terrible. We are not the team we all thought we were.

Actually, we are the team were thought we were before the season started.

 

[BigFanCT]

Yes, we do get hosed on call- on the road and now at home. But this shouldn’t be a surprise anymore. No one should be asking why. Jeff Goodman (for as much as we don’t like him) has stated multiple times that he has talked to BE refs and they are DONE with Dan Hurley. Sick of his antics. So I don’t know if it’s a call to the big east to say cut the BS or an apology letter from Dan Hurley. But it shouldn’t be a question why anymore. It’s unfortunate that not only do we need to worry about our players every game, but our coach and his attitude too. But we are where we are.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

I miss Calhoun on days like this. I miss him sitting the entire starting lineup to send a message. Since the start of the Big East season our 2 point field goal % defense has been horrific. This is one of the worst defensive teams i've ever seen.

 

[J187Money]

Already home in East Haven from the game. Didn't even have the heart to go have a drink. Ugh. That was miserable.

 

[HuskyinWRNY]

Actually, we are the team were thought we were before the season started.

Can't argue there

 

[UConn77]

Actually, we are the team were thought we were before the season started.

Sadly this is true. They are going nowhere in the post-season. Maybe they’ll win one game, but I just don’t see them going much deeper than that.

 

[Daz]

Big East officiating is a mess and in crisis. Saw things in the first half I have not seen in 30 years, including an out of control ref going after a fan 50 feet from the court then trying to toss a fan for saying rabbit ears at end of first half from 30 feet away. It is not in the Security handbook how to handle an out of control ref who should be the one tossed. The inmates are running the asylum. Time for a new league commissioner.

Not much to say about the first half other than Hawkins shot over 60% from the field and 100% from the FT while the rest of the team shot about 30% FG and 50% from the line.

In the second half Karaban and Sanogo contributed as well. Jackson was saddled with 4 fouls.

We need to play much better and losing at home is terrible. We are neither defending or exhibiting ball movement. The refs were terrible and Hurley behaved. This 4 out offense doesn’t work. Our best defense today was that early zone. We had 38% more fouls.

The four transfer guards are good players supplying depth, but unfortunately none have emerged from the pack as a stand out. Jackson refuses to shoot except for the occasional toss at the basket. Hawkins, Karajan and Sanogo carrying the offensive load. A good top twenty team, back in the national discussion, but a long shot for final four unless something really changes.

 

[Conndog]

One good thing was watching Hawkins drive hard to the basket. Maybe this is being discussed/emphasized, has to start somewhere, let's see if this increases.

 

[DMIL]

I think the box score of this game is telling particularly at Home.

• 51% Shooting by St Johns to our 41%
• 37 free throw attempts by St. John’s to our 27
• 21 UConn Turnovers to their 10
• 26 Bench points by St. John’s to our 11

These are meaningful disparities and these conference games are revealing. It is exposing our lack of discipline and composure in these tight games. This is the case on offense and defense. There was an expectation that we would get better with situational basketball as the season goes on however it happened. You always have to have a counter punch. The dead possessions and self inflicted turnovers simply kill the momentum of this team and undermines some of its strengths.

The team seems to have lost it’s identity and I’m surprised the coaching staff hasn’t figured out an effective counter yet. Hawkins certainly flashed today and played aggressive however his 7 turnovers hurt.

4 out of 5 Conference losses is a problem. Samson will make a difference when he returns and we may need to shorten the rotation a bit. Let’s see if Hurley can figure this thing out. Our opponents smell blood.

 

[gsmooth]

Very true — why is that? I understand why we can’t do the opposite on offense (the roster is poorly constructed with just jump shooters that mostly can’t shoot). But why can’t we guard the penetration? The high hedge makes sense.

This is what the Villanova game exposed to a certain degree even though I was hoping it was a 1 game outlier. UConn only shot 9-30 with so many wide open 3s. Other teams scouting UConn said “ okay, we can live with that these guys are not that great at outside shooting”. UConn should’ve shot much better then that considering how wide open those 3s were.

 

[Sea Goat]

I

How much would it cost to get Ollie back?

I don't know, but he's now is walking around with $11mm of UConn's money in his pocket...

Our talent is solid, but they seem to regress as the season goes along. It's sad - HCJC generally had his team get better and much tougher as the season progressed. Don't see that anymore...

 

[Horatio]

We’re losing to Big East physicality, better coaches and Big East officiating. We have players that aren’t used to Authentic Big East fist fights and our coach hasn’t adjusted because he’s being a “ Nice” guy during these fist fights. They have to figure it out. Getting another big back in the rotation helps

 

[jayteeman]

Foul trouble got in the way....some rough play and voila...we get an extremely strange disastrous outcome.
The fouls are truly dictating the game. It's destroying the flow, and just changes the behavior of how aggressive you can play.....before you know it, its not a game, but rather a clever display of how to get the call.
For this game you really have to disect where the screws fell off....you just can't take this talent and have this outcome against the caliber of this opponent......my god, what did I just watch?

 

[Frank06830]

That’s why you need two Bigs back there to protect the rim.

Yep Sanogo MIA at the rim because of his hedging and slow reactions

 

[HuskyBaggins]

We have lost our identity.

It was our bench but that's gone. Was our 2 headed monster (DC/AS) but that's gone. Was our outside shooting, but that's gone. Was our defense, but that's gone. Was our ability to make runs in games, but that's gone.

What the hell is left?

We haven't lost our identity, our identity was a mirage. They need to quit yapping about "eLiTe dEfEnSe". They're literally making other teams' offenses better at this point.

 

[HuskyBaggins]

Going to post this in every thread possibly, How many dribbles are we going to give up?

All of them it seems

 

[Chief00]

We don’t deserve to even mention the refs today, let alone have it be the first bit of analysis.

We were hot steamy stinky smelly dog poo from coaching down to most of the players.

Don’t disagree as far as the game - the ref made the opening due to two of the most bizairre interactions I have seen with fans in 30 years,

 

[Chief00]

Need some kind of reset. Maybe a lineup change or three. Hopefully they have some refs at practice that can help them understand how to understand court dimensions, understand how to set a screen, understand how to set up a screen. Coach needs zero tolerance for on court antics like his sideline mannerisms. Make some people “earn” their PT. Abandon the 1-3-1.

Two Bigs starting lineup needed. Change the dynamic. Guards are not the strength of our team.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Sanogo has 13 blocks in 19 games this season.

And as we saw several times today, now that the season is getting in to the grind, Sanogo can barely get above the rim. He scares exactly no one.

 

[connVA]

Big East officiating is a mess and in crisis. Saw things in the first half I have not seen in 30 years, including an out of control ref going after a fan 50 feet from the court then trying to toss a fan for saying rabbit ears at end of first half from 30 feet away. It is not in the Security handbook how to handle an out of control ref who should be the one tossed. The inmates are running the asylum. Time for a new league commissioner.

Not much to say about the first half other than Hawkins shot over 60% from the field and 100% from the FT while the rest of the team shot about 30% FG and 50% from the line.

In the second half Karaban and Sanogo contributed as well. Jackson was saddled with 4 fouls.

We need to play much better and losing at home is terrible. We are neither defending or exhibiting ball movement. The refs were terrible and Hurley behaved. This 4 out offense doesn’t work. Our best defense today was that early zone. We had 38% more fouls.

Newton and the other guards are struggling so badly that our starting line-up is returning to the 3-on-5 problem in the half-court that we had last year- (smart) coaches only need to worry about Sanogo, Hawkins, and Karaban and can effectively ignore AJ and Newton while collapsing the second or third man on Sanogo or sending help at Hawkins. Last year the issue was AJ and Whalley (both had a three pointer but needed their own zip code worth of space to get it off).

With regard to AJ, he could be an active participant in the offense but remains too timid about his shot. There seem to be at least one or two instances every game where he gets the ball outside the arc with -5 seconds on the shot clock and plenty of space and, instead of taking shot, passes it off to (effectively) a non-shooter like Diarra or Alleyne (for a bad miss or clock violation) or a well-covered Calceterra or Karaban (for a contested shot or clock violation).

 

[giddyup]

The four transfer guards are good players supplying depth, but unfortunately none have emerged from the pack as a stand out. Jackson refuses to shoot except for the occasional toss at the basket. Hawkins, Karajan and Sanogo carrying the offensive load. A good top twenty team, back in the national discussion, but a long shot for final four unless something really changes.

Not a top 20 team in reality, we have 1 win in the last 5 games. Top 20 teams don’t perform at that level.

 

[housekeys]

We just got punked.

Punking people requires the refs blessing. Yea, we got punked.

 

[freescooter]

I actually can’t believe you’re complaining about the refs. That’s laughable. Our team legitimately sucks. And you’re complaining about the refs.

14-0 start and we’re a bottom half of the BE team. Funny how that works.

I think the 14-0 was a little deceiving. 6 of those games we win playing with 4 against 5. Yes we beat Alabama and Iowa State but that was in a tournament and those are always suspect given the back to back nature of the event and the early season when teams are still coming together. We have a sub par backcourt. Again. A front court that is at best confused. No semblance of an offensive scheme. A coach who is overmatched game in game out. The refs might be bad, but they are the least of our problems.