Chief’s Briefs - St Joseph’s Edition

[Shine33]

Wow. Oz went off on Twitter.

He’s a complete idiot and is wrong literally 100% of the time

 

[Shine33]

Akok’s fast break dunk was next level. Haven’t had someone that tall who could run and float like that in a long time. Him, Bouk and AJ next year going to be a big problem for opponents. Future is bright

 

[Shine33]

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.

He completely turned around multiple losing programs and turned Rhode Island into a Top 25 team. They are prob still better than us as a result of his tenure there. He already has proven himself. Give the man time to do it again and he will

 

[MattMang23]

But the fact of the matter is he still has not proven that he can coach.

I disagree, and I suspect Greg McDermott and Lon Kruger do as well.

 

[Sportsfan71]

I thought the same thing. Its frustrating, but I can't have it both ways.. One the one hand, to honor the players who committed already was noble of DH, it was the step he wanted to take as a leader.. On the other hand it has become pretty clear that the type of PG DH wants is on the opposite side of the AG spectrum (i can only speculate that JB is in the mold). Not that last night was entirely his fault, he had a bad game, made some awful decisions and doesn't look like a leader on the court; at all, but last night was a shared collection of errors. I remember watching the upperclassmen on last year's RI team play a game vs StBon, and the way they played such intense defense under a coach who was previously under DH, 2 or 3 star players DH recruited that stay for 3 or 4 years and are the backbone of a team...... and this team (aside from CV and AA) doesn't have that component. I convinced myself that this year would be different, but it very well could be more of the same until the holdovers are gone. As much as I hate typing that.

Agree 1000%, losing habits are hard to break. Very questionable decisions as they got within 4, and I’m being nice. Until this roster is turned over, they’ll be improving but not by UCONN STANDARDS. We can only hope some transfer but doubtful.

 

[formerlurker]

Been away on business. Did tzznandrew get arrested or is chief posting from a family bunker until the fatwa is lifted?

 

[intlzncster]

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.

eh what? after his first two rebuilding years, he had a .680 winning percentage at URI. that's good.

 

[Kitaman]

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

Believe it or not, I tend to forget the GT game. This one felt like the Final, the GT game was the toothpick after steak, potatoes and dessert. Had you not replied I probably would have still remembered this as the Final.

The tell for me should have been why I didn't see Emeka hounding Rashad for the game ball when the final whistle blew. Stay young my friend!

 

[AdamaNation]

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.

? For you. Aside from some fairly good recruiting as a whole what would you rate Dan’s performance as it regards coaching to the team he has, in game adjustments, and technical/game management? Just interested in your opinion.
I recall part of Ollie’s Perfomance issues had slow starts, bad shooting, bad offense, and the oft mentioned late timeout once the game got away. He was accused(rightfully so) for sitting. Dh stands arms crossed. Not hating it’s way too early but, taking recruiting out(and he has also whiffed on his share of higher ranked recruits, but solid) how different are things from a fans perspective at this point?? I see too many parallels. I also understand the culture issues but in all honesty the only winner on this team is the only one who actually played under the last guy. Rique played like 10 minutes the rest were freshman. We can blame past national championship culture( which CERTAINLY eroded) but this teams having more time with new guy should have a different approach. NOT a Hurley hater AND openly defended KO almost to the end. Just not as vehemently after February (rique injury vs MSU ended a lot of things). 9 beers in. So sorry. Go.

 

[AdamaNation]

eh what? after his first two rebuilding years, he had a .680 winning percentage at URI. that's good.

In 2 conferences far worse than the AAC

 

[AdamaNation]

This is pretty much the story of UConn Men's basketball since October 2014.

This is ALL Deandre Daniels fault. He boat and ham with brimah facey and purv keep us a tournament team.

 

[AdamaNation]

I thought Akok looked good

And effortless

 

[Excalibur]

This is ALL Deandre Daniels fault. He boat and ham with brimah facey and purv keep us a tournament team.

It should have been a tournament team anyway.

 

[AdamaNation]

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.

Lots of shared sentiment without any Hurley hate. But Ollie also recruited well if not better. The exodus was a very vivid piece of writing on the wall. But if you think that he somehow still got the junior class we have( which blows) you have to wonder. Is KO the b-ball version of pasqualoni? Next year is a 100% make or break for Hurley and AD David Benedict I am not gonna take year 4 of losing records and say it’s the big east we need to adjust but recruits better than it’s been. Go huskies. Please fix everything. preferably with who we have. But this is torture.

 

[Apollo]

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

I think you mean his &%$#. Nobody says "$&#*" anymore

 

[intlzncster]

In 2 conferences far worse than the AAC

what does that prove? the guy said his record wasn't good. It was.

And it's not like the basketball coaching changes significantly. Concepts are the same, relating to kids is the same, communicating the same. The biggest difference between the levels is the step up in recruiting and pressure.

 

[AdamaNation]

what does that prove? the guy said his record wasn't good. It was.

And it's not like the basketball coaching changes significantly. Concepts are the same, relating to kids is the same, communicating the same. The biggest difference between the levels is the step up in recruiting and pressure.

Ok. My posts are really to get another view as I am a passionate fan but a god awful loser.

 

[intlzncster]

Ok. My posts are really to get another view as I am a passionate fan but a god awful loser.

I'm not following. You on the sauce tonight merv?

 

[AZHuskiePop]

It should have been a tournament team anyway.

They were a tournament team (NIT)
and if Purvis and Boatright didn’t have key injuries they probably were an NCAA team.
They also won 25 games the next year With a freshman PG and went to the NCAA round of 32.

 

[husky429]

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.

You didn't watch any URI games did you?

 

[Apollo]

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.

Perhaps Jay Wright's style is Hurley's random kryptonite proven

 

[Chief00]

Could we add a game to our schedule today, so James‘s suspension would be over by UF game?

 

[Excalibur]

They were a tournament team (NIT)
and if Purvis and Boatright didn’t have key injuries they probably were an NCAA team.
They also won 25 games the next year With a freshman PG and went to the NCAA round of 32.

That is incredibly disingenuous. You know what I mean by tournament team. The talent gap between that team and this one is almost as big as the gap between this team and St. Joes.

Purvis missed two games, one of which was a win. Boatright didn't miss a game until the NIT, and his injury against SMU happened with the game already in hand for SMU.

Adams was the backup the following year. So, no, they didn't have a freshman point guard.

 

[AdamaNation]

I'm not following. You on the sauce tonight merv?

Maybe

 

[MattMang23]

Believe it or not, I tend to forget the GT game. This one felt like the Final, the GT game was the toothpick after steak, potatoes and dessert. Had you not replied I probably would have still remembered this as the Final.

The tell for me should have been why I didn't see Emeka hounding Rashad for the game ball when the final whistle blew. Stay young my friend!

No doubt. That 2004 Final was a coronation and not a championship game.