Chief’s Briefs - St Joseph’s Edition

[J187Money]

This is on AD Dave. Today's UConn fan that actually buys tickets has no use for mid-week games Gampel. They don't go even when they already bought the tickets. The first game had a good crowd, because it was on the weekend. So of course, the sched is loaded with weekend games at the XL. The exact opposite of what the market wants.

So true.

 

[amidagoat]

This is my view too. Akok starts for us. He is so raw he would likely be a 5 minute situational guy at a top program. Vital off the bench to score. Gilbert back up point who plays 5 minutes a game to give the real point guard a breather.

I also have to wonder what Hurley is doing. Gilbert seems to have regressed. Akok has been there half a season and looks like a raw recruit. Polley is no more effective. Despite the hype there has been no discernible improvement in any backups play.

As for attendance it is about wins and losses not who we play. If Hurley doesn’t make pretty serious progress over the next year or so that will be painfully obvious and costly.

I thought Akok looked good

 

[HuskyHawk]

[ Insert obligatory “we need the Calhoun rebounding drill“ here. ]

Give them the old Bobby Knight rebounding drill. Objective on the defensive side is to have the ball land untouched inside a virtual fortress of players blocking out. It starts with putting a body on your man.

 

[Chief00]

This is my biggest complaint. Too many guys getting switched into mismatches and they don't switch back. They don't hedge well, they overplay screeners, and get burned when they help and leave their man. This defensive system is not good and the guys are not good playing it.

For a reminder, this is what it should look like.

The concerning thing is, they practice this more than any other thing.

 

[len0322]

Not sure who I would want to have the ball if the team was trailing late in the game and needed a bucket.
Our guards proactively dribble into double teams and our forwards either can't shoot or create their own shot.

a 500 record could be a pipe dream this year. We should be 15-30 points better than that team every night

 

[Chief00]

On game day Chief goes by the eye test, the following day Chief breaks down the data:
- Our starting front-court shot 81% on 16 shots
- Our starting backcourt shot 25% on 40 shots
Very simple to see what we did wrong offensively.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The concerning thing is, they practice this more than any other thing.

My coaching career ended with 6th grade girls, but I did learn this: you can't implement a system that is more complicated than what your players can execute. I think Hurley needs to simplify it a bit. St. Joes clearly watched the tape of Sacred Heart and exploited our D by bringing all five guys outside, knowing we'd leave the basket open. We didn't adjust to that tactic and they killed us.

Hurley talks about how his half court pressure D relies on a good rim protector, and it's obvious why, if you guard everybody tight they will go by you to the rim. Yet he allows the rim to be unprotected. His system needs an adjustment. If Josh is chasing on one side, Akok needs to slide in behind him and defend the rim (and vice versa). If they can't make that work then go zone anytime somebody throws a "five guys out" offense at us.

 

[KodiacKemba]

Where was the double team ??? I mean I get tired of a teams best/impact player kill us night in n night out .. Daly dropped an easy 25,6,7 by halftime .. we have to do better at stopping well slowing their best players

 

[Bonk]

My coaching career ended with 6th grade girls, but I did learn this: you can't implement a system that is more complicated than what your players can execute. I think Hurley needs to simplify it a bit. St. Joes clearly watched the tape of Sacred Heart and exploited our D by bringing all five guys outside, knowing we'd leave the basket open. We didn't adjust to that tactic and they killed us.

Hurley talks about how his half court pressure D relies on a good rim protector, and it's obvious why, if you guard everybody tight they will go by you to the rim. Yet he allows the rim to be unprotected. His system needs an adjustment. If Josh is chasing on one side, Akok needs to slide in behind him and defend the rim (and vice versa). If they can't make that work then go zone anytime somebody throws a "five guys out" offense at us.

I'm also not sold that the pressure man-to-man has to be the defensive scheme each game, each year. The greats like Izzo, Self, Few, Bennett, etc aren't cemented to one defensive style each year, they feel it out with what kind of team they have.
I'm all for playing hard nosed man to man, but if it's not working you gotta adjust, you can't just keep trying to rev up the intensity

 

[Husky25]

Wow. Oz went off on Twitter.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Where was the double team ??? I mean I get tired of a teams best/impact player kill us night in n night out .. Daly dropped an easy 25,6,7 by halftime .. we have to do better at stopping well slowing their best players

I don't even think we needed to double him Just had to guard him with one of Polley, Wilson, Adams or Akok and not switch when he used a screen.

Late in the 2nd, they needed a basket. Akok was on Daly and Daly had no idea what to do. Akok could block his shot even playing off of him, and Daly was not quick enough to go by him. They used a screen, Akok switched to the screener, AG picked up Daly who promptly made a 3 shooting over him.

My recollection of Calhoun man to man was that we did not switch off on screens. We fought through them, with the man guarding the screener perhaps hedging for just a moment to allow the defender to get through. Hurley has them switching. That might be fine if your roster consists of guys who's last names are Brown, Tatum, Hayward and Smart. It's great in a truly "positionless" system where your whole roster has that kind of athletic flexibility. These guys don't and are getting lured into mismatches all over the court. I know Hurley wants to play that way, but he can't do it with this roster.

 

[Chief00]

I don't even think we needed to double him Just had to guard him with one of Polley, Wilson, Adams or Akok and not switch when he used a screen.

Late in the 2nd, they needed a basket. Akok was on Daly and Daly had no idea what to do. Akok could block his shot even playing off of him, and Daly was not quick enough to go by him. They used a screen, Akok switched to the screener, AG picked up Daly who promptly made a 3 shooting over him.

My recollection of Calhoun man to man was that we did not switch off on screens. We fought through them, with the man guarding the screener perhaps hedging for just a moment to allow the defender to get through. Hurley has them switching. That might be fine if your roster consists of guys who's last names are Brown, Tatum, Hayward and Smart. It's great in a truly "positionless" system where your whole roster has that kind of athletic flexibility. These guys don't and are getting lured into mismatches all over the court. I know Hurley wants to play that way, but he can't do it with this roster.

Interesting you should say that about fighting through screens, I had a discussion once with a former UConn coach, who maintained the referees would no longer allow that. I still like the Calhoun way on that.

 

[KodiacKemba]

I don't even think we needed to double him Just had to guard him with one of Polley, Wilson, Adams or Akok and not switch when he used a screen.

Late in the 2nd, they needed a basket. Akok was on Daly and Daly had no idea what to do. Akok could block his shot even playing off of him, and Daly was not quick enough to go by him. They used a screen, Akok switched to the screener, AG picked up Daly who promptly made a 3 shooting over him.

My recollection of Calhoun man to man was that we did not switch off on screens. We fought through them, with the man guarding the screener perhaps hedging for just a moment to allow the defender to get through. Hurley has them switching. That might be fine if your roster consists of guys who's last names are Brown, Tatum, Hayward and Smart. It's great in a truly "positionless" system where your whole roster has that kind of athletic flexibility. These guys don't and are getting lured into mismatches all over the court. I know Hurley wants to play that way, but he can't do it with this roster.

Yeah but we had to overcome 30 points damn near ....shouldn’t have gotten to that point in the first place so late in the 2nd I know we were exhausted.... I’m looking for what roster he can do it with in the upcoming years cuz most of them look like projects ... I need Hurley to find a shooter, scorer, playmakers but I guess all those players attend duke or nc

 

[RichZ]

What’s concerning on offense is the lack of self and team awareness. There appears to be no identification of who does what well and where?

When no one is dong anything well anywhere as was the case last night, there's not much to figure out.

 

[alphasigko]

"This is the type of team Carlton should have dominated but he played awful.
Only bright spot was Akok. That kid is gonna be an absolute force."

Totally agree with your observations of Carlton and Akok. Carlton was an absolute liability while he was on the court. Thankfully DH recognized that and sat him most of the game.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Interesting you should say that about fighting through screens, I had a discussion once with a former UConn coach, who maintained the referees would no longer allow that. I still like the Calhoun way on that.

Unless the other team sets great screens, I think it's doable and it can or should lead to moving screen calls. But the refs never seem to call those on anybody but us.

 

[Excalibur]

Wow. Oz went off on Twitter.

Surprised he could get Ollie's $&#* out of his mouth long enough to post . . .

 

[MattMang23]

A good effort to come back late in the second half but the hole was too deep. We need more defensive pressure early to uptempo and take the legs out of the 3 point shots.

A combination of 3 pointers and foul shots beat us when St Joe’s was on offense. Our offense was very selfish and we are not a good team when AG and Vital take too many shots and force their offense without other guys getting touches.

When you can’t shoot and don’t rebound, you need to do the other things to mitigate those factors. There was no ball movement for most of the game and the defense was perplexing since Chief knows the goal was to take away Daly. Instead, they left him open and no one seems to have a clue who was suppose to guard him.

if Polley can’t/won’t rebound, seldom demands the ball to shoot and if he isn’t used as a defensive stopper - what’s his role? Why did we wait until about 11 minutes were left in the game to put Tyler on Daly? What Tyler needs to do is demand the ball from AG. It isn’t his personality to do so, but he needs to grow and do that. Or else you can argue, Sid or Adams get those minutes?

Gilbert looked terrible on his drives that have no option other than a force shot against three taller guys. If he gets fouled, he doesn’t make them pay due to poor foul shooting. Chief thinks Gilbert needs to think pass first and then shot. That would create more space for him and less poor forced shots. The bottom-line, it’s the point guard’s responsibility to get a team into their offensive flow and he’s not even close tonight to accomplishing that objective. Someone needs to tell Gilbert he’s not a good enough shooter to take so many shots. Akok, Josh and Polley barely touched the ball. Vital shot poorly as well.

What’s concerning on offense is the lack of self and team awareness. There appears to be no identification of who does what well and where?

The team defense lacked intensity and I fault Dan for getting down by 10 before using a time out. That gave St Joseph’s confidence and sent a message of zero urgency to his team. I can’t really explain why guys don’t put their hands up on defense. Is it laziness, a lack of focus or something else? They gave guys really good 3 looks, accounting for 10 in the first half.

Chief is not blaming the crowd for the loss, not much to cheer about. But, lots of empty seats to start of game. The student seats are free, the game is on campus, so the problem is deeper than people acknowledge.

One good piece of news, Javonte Brown Ferguson announced for UConn as Chief confirmed weeks ago and later via DM confirm+ his verbal on 11/3.

Thanks for this write up Chief! I missed reading your thoughts after the SHU game. @tzznandrew filled in admirably but it just wasn’t the same. Glad the Briefs are back!

 

[Husky25]

Surprised he could get Ollie's $&#* out of his mouth long enough to post . . .

That's exactly how it read.

 

[intlzncster]

Surprised he could get Ollie's $&#* out of his mouth long enough to post . . .

Actually he was multitasking.

 

[freescooter]

Akok was the only reason the first half wasn't worse. Made some tough shots and was the only guy with energy. Yeah, he's raw, but a year of practice is night and day from a year of games. He deserves no negatives like that until next year. Relax on him; a freshman is still a freshman.

Gilbert is a head-scratcher, injuries and talent aside, he's looks more like a freshman than a RS Junior. Looks lost half the time, no rhythm, forcing up shots. He also looks smaller out on the court compared to past years -- couldn't finish at the rim due to his height. If he was struggling vs St. Joe's bigs I'm scared to see him against real bigs. His shot looks fine but wasn't falling, especially in the first. I think it's too early to write off his shooting but I'm getting nervous quickly.

Polley NEEDS to step up as a second or third option, especially if Carlton is out of the game. He will be a mismatch for most opposing teams when we have the ball. He was letting the game come to him until his spurt in the second half -- he needs to take the game or watch it pass him by like most of last night. Like Chief said, it's not in his personality. Hurley can only do so much with another coach's guys, I suppose.

Hurley was absolutely outcoached, NBA experience on the other bench really showing. They do have some Nova in them as well -- eerily similar to the second half at MSG last year. Perhaps Jay Wright's style is Hurley's random kryptonite.

Wasn’t really knocking Akok. Just that it is very noticeable that he is a project rather than a finished product. He would see limited action at this point in his career on a top team. He starts for UConn. That is an indictment of our talent level.

 

[imno1]

Wasn’t really knocking Akok. Just that it is very noticeable that he is a project rather than a finished product. He would see limited action at this point in his career on a top team. He starts for UConn. That is an indictment of our talent level.

I disagree. Akok is not a star yet but he would see plenty of time on many teams. And he’s only going to get better as he plays more. I hope we get him more involved in the offense but when your guards are jacking up 40 shots there’s not much else to go around.

 

[Kitaman]

This is my biggest complaint. Too many guys getting switched into mismatches and they don't switch back. They don't hedge well, they overplay screeners, and get burned when they help and leave their man. This defensive system is not good and the guys are not good playing it.

For a reminder, this is what it should look like.

You can't do this. Not fair. I had to eat an hour and a half, as I can never not watch Championship replays in totality. Condensed version next time, please, for some of us addicts. Sure I feel better but its like a hundred times I've seen this game (in full).

 

[MattMang23]

You can't do this. Not fair. I had to eat an hour and a half, as I can never not watch Championship replays in totality. Condensed version next time, please, for some of us addicts. Sure I feel better but its like a hundred times I've seen this game (in full).

If you watch championship game replays in totality, why did you waste your time watching the national semifinal? Coulda eaten much sooner.

 

[Jaker]

I know some of you have drank the koolaid and think Hurley is our savior. But the fact of the matter is he still has not proven that he can coach. His record at Rhode Island was average at best. He looks like he can be a good recruiter, but lets see if he can actually do anything with the talent he lands.