Chief’s Briefs - UCF Edition

[buddy]

As I said Gilbert is the only one who has shown evidence of shot improvement. I would also add CV’s shot selection has improved.
When Chief is discussing Polley, Adam’s and Gilbert and I focus on how Gilbert has spent time in the gym on his own - you can draw your own conclusion about the others. Polley can shoot but doesn’t have the game confidence to shoot and he just needs to practice on his own time so it becomes so automatic - he doesn’t even think about it during the game.

Mr. Silver in the UConn news posts seems to feel that AG has the lowest field goal percentage of the starters. I believe he still penetrates too deeply against the tall trees. I am impressed that his three point shooting has improved, but I don't see a take over the game in a good way guy here.

 

[Stainmaster]

At least he didn't get re-injured in preseason practice or the Morehead State game.

 

[Waquoit]

Hurley too busy grinding to coach the current roster?

What makes you say the current squad isn't being coached?

 

[J187Money]

My take - my son wanted to bring his GF so I bought a solo ticket - was able to pick one up at 10:30am for $60 Row D on the floor behind the UCF bench. Game is much different at that angle.

- spot on re: Dawkins - was super smooth and is definitely a pro
- Tacko is even taller when you see him at ground level
- Gilbert played great on-ball D - couple of the fouls they called on him were weak.
- Polley looked lost most of the time
- We got killed driving - UCF is too good on D and we gave up a lot of unforced errors.
- We looked super small compared to UCF - amazing - this is how UCF used to look v. us. Sad, really.
- Jalen - people keep saying he doesn't care - but when Vital tied up the game he was running down the court screaming. Criticize his play - but he cares. He showed it all game. Effort didn't convert to results, but he didn't take any plays off.
- The unforced errors kill us - when we were down 43-40 - we went 4-5 straight trips without a decent look. Would have been better off taking 3s from 24 feet than giving up possessions.

 

[Danzz]

My take - my son wanted to bring his GF so I bought a solo ticket - was able to pick one up at 10:30am for $60 Row D on the floor behind the UCF bench. Game is much different at that angle.

- spot on re: Dawkins - was super smooth and is definitely a pro
- Tacko is even taller when you see him at ground level
- Gilbert played great on-ball D - couple of the fouls they called on him were weak.
- Polley looked lost most of the time
- We got killed driving - UCF is too good on D and we gave up a lot of unforced errors.
- We looked super small compared to UCF - amazing - this is how UCF used to look v. us. Sad, really.
- Jalen - people keep saying he doesn't care - but when Vital tied up the game he was running down the court screaming. Criticize his play - but he cares. He showed it all game. Effort didn't convert to results, but he didn't take any plays off.
- The unforced errors kill us - when we were down 43-40 - we went 4-5 straight trips without a decent look. Would have been better off taking 3s from 24 feet than giving up possessions.

- The unforced errors kill us
This been the problem all season and it isn't getting any better.

 

[buddy]

At least he didn't get re-injured in preseason practice or the Morehead State game.

That is true! One never knows what is around the corner though. I hope that he holds out and succeeds.

 

[Rich]

Full disclosure, unanticipated road trip came up on very short notice, so I was unable to attend the game as planned nor did I see it live on TV. I did record and finally got home to watch this morning.

I will be extremely short since it’s already time to focus on our next opponent.

Chief was very impressed with Dawkins, looks like a pro. Makes things look easy, no wasted French pastry, but very efficient and deadly.

Gilbert had some open look 3’s and unlike Adams and Polley recently - was able to knock down a good percentage. Over-all Gilbert’s on the ball defense is really good now and he has improved on reducing his overpenetration. The improvement on his 3 ball shows he’s been in the gym on his own time. In short, he’s a smart, coachable hard working competitive kid with talent. This is what we need throughout the lineup.

Under KO, we were known for our slow game starts, Hurley cleaned that up but our second half starts are terrible. Need to work on that and quite frankly Chief thinks it begins the last 5 - 6 minutes of the first half.

It’s tough to tell when you don’t have the live eye test and pick up on various vibes that may not present on TV but it’s clear whatever Hurley is doing with the refs is backfiring. True, bad teams don’t deserve favorable calls however even after factoring that in, the raw number of foul shot attempts is so out of equilibrium that it can in part be explained by many refs being annoyed by Danny. The conference’s Danny previously coached in were exclusively in the Northeast and Chief would suggest refs from other regions are less likely to buy the Jersey boy routine. Danny needs to make some adjustments that way and I think he will.

I know effectively KO left Danny with no Bigs to feed with positive results in the post. However, a steady diet of this top of the key weave motion offense is too predictable and ineffective. The reality is we are about a 55-60 point a game team against good competition during the competitive part of the game. This idea that we can score 80 a game against good teams is unwarranted. I would like to see more guys coming off multiple screens. True, our guys aren’t built to set great screens but it’s time to try.

Once again, Chief will say the team’s number 1 priority is recruiting. Chief aligns with that concept in his own allocation of energy and focus. I know, many frustrated posters are tired of hearing Chief say that since September while certain casual fans were focused on what our tournament seed would be. God bless them and casual fans have a right to be that way - but Danny and those who support him must be more pragmatic. Hence, the grind continues despite the naysayers, we have already broke the dam with 3 very good recruits and more are flowing to UConn. Stay tuned. I do think Danny may add more players than he anticipated due to a variety of factors, some publicly known and others may not be.

100% correct.

 

[AdamaNation]

The other factor in the lack of offensive boards by UCF was that they had a clear strategy to not let us run on them off shot misses.

Many times, pretty much everyone from UCF got back on D soon after a shot went up and didn’t crash the boards at all.

Nevertheless, I thought our energy and fight to get offensive boards was loads better than what we saw vs USF.

Don’t need to crash against us. One big will challenge our whole team. Thus the fast break after misses is being met at half court with a line of defense. Our only break opps are off of picks above the arc or mid court. Good coaching has recognized this almost as easily as playing zone against the last few years.

 

[the Q]

1) yes UCF’s strategy was to take away the fast break. That helped on the boards. The lack of second chance points despite so many boards was more disturbing.

2) instead of the weave I’d like to see more small on small screens, and Polley running more pick and pops.

3) the only way our bigs are scoring is off boards, dropping the ball in on a drive (need Gilbert to do this more), or high low game. I’d really like to see more high low game, especially with Cobb in there as he can work the high post.

4) I agree that vitals shot selection has been better. I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

5) Gilbert struggles finishing at the rim and needs to either drop it down, kick it out or get a floater. That should come with more experience though.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Some very good comments here. At this point, without any offensive presence in the paint, we move the ball around and then penetrate, where the ball is usually stripped or our guys fall down or we lose it out of control.
Credit to UCF defense, like FSU, they were very solid on D. Against USF our problems were entirely unforced. We just missed everything.

I can't believe I am saying this, but we absolutely had to stop those pointless drives into the trees late against UCF and just rain 3 pointers down on them. If they fall, we have a chance to steal that game. If not, the outcome is the same. This team needs to be practicing 3 point shooting more than anything else, and we need to just green light everybody to take those. It's the only hope we really have to score points, and open up the area around the basket for the guards and bigs.

 

[the Q]

Some very good comments here. At this point, without any offensive presence in the paint, we move the ball around and then penetrate, where the ball is usually stripped or our guys fall down or we lose it out of control.
Credit to UCF defense, like FSU, they were very solid on D. Against USF our problems were entirely unforced. We just missed everything.

I can't believe I am saying this, but we absolutely had to stop those pointless drives into the trees late against UCF and just rain 3 pointers down on them. If they fall, we have a chance to steal that game. If not, the outcome is the same. This team needs to be practicing 3 point shooting more than anything else, and we need to just green light everybody to take those. It's the only hope we really have to score points, and open up the area around the basket for the guards and bigs.

Yeah, basically we have to play like those mid major giant killers in March. We aren’t really good anywhere inside the arc, so might as well live and die outside of it.

 

[Waquoit]

I can't believe I am saying this, but we absolutely had to stop those pointless drives into the trees late against UCF and just rain 3 pointers down on them.

Those aren't mutually exclusive. They did kick the ball out for 3's off of drives often.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Those aren't mutually exclusive. They did kick the ball out for 3's off of drives often.

Yes. And most of the time those guys passed the ball around the horn until somebody drove again.

It's pretty simple in my mind. There are four ways this team can score
1. Transition
2. Outside shots
3. Layups off of good passes (like the backdoor cuts we saw recently)
4. Free Throws

Every guard going into the lane should be looking to draw a foul first and worrying about the shot second. We have to stop avoiding defenders and start attacking them.

 

[Waquoit]

Yes. And most of the time those guys passed the ball around the horn until somebody drove again.

Except for the 20 times they shot a 3-pointer. They shot plenty of threes. They didn't make enough.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Except for the 20 times they shot a 3-pointer. They shot plenty of threes. They didn't make enough.

They abandoned it late when we were behind and trying to close the gap, in favor of driving for layups. And with this team, that number could be between 30-40.