Chief’s Briefs - UCLA Edition

[Chief00]

I understand that overall, AK was the most dominate player on the floor, however I saw Smith as the unspoken MVP last night. He provided enough stability at the PG position to allow some fluidity in the UConn offense, especially in the 2nd half. He also scored his only basket at a crucial time when things started to look shaky. Ross needs to be on the floor. I don’t care if he starts but he needs to play more minutes than Ball if Ball’s woes continue. I would love to see the early season Ball where he mixed in many drives and middies to his game.
I am hoping that BM has finally found his shot and learns to relax a bit. He was playing in overdrive and when anyone does that they get out of rhythem and force things. He is too talented of a player {regardless of what the drunken mindless dolts on the chat say), to allow his adrenaline to generate negative results. NIL aside, he is still an 18 yo vs grown men 3 and 4 years older. Yes he will face that in the NBA but will have coaches and mentors that can work with him on that aspect. AK was a calming influence on him last night.
Good win but the turnovers still are way too high- 4 traveling calls? I haven’t see that since my grandkids U-10 travel games.
One last thing-the officiating. The T on Mick was ridiculous. During the St John’s game, Pitino did the sarcastic clap and foot stomping while waving off the refs twice in his game yesterday as he was standing out of his box and on the court and refs looked the other way. You think that the refs don’t have it out for certain coaches?…
On to MSU - it will be tough but winnable if UConn can play within themselves and create good offense.

I agree Ross has been earning minutes and Smith in some ways manages the team from the PG position better than Demary. Reminds me a little of Taliek Brown. When you have a lot of guys who want to shoot sometimes it’s good to have a PG who also doesn’t have shooting as his top priority.

 

[Chief00]

So Chief. You compliment them for holding UCLA to 39% shooting and say we could have rebounded better without the high hedge. You do know we won the rebounding 36-24. You are ridiculous about the high hedge. Watch MSU Friday, they also use it. Maybe you could meet with Hurley and Izzo and teach them about how to play defense

You are being intentionally deceptive/untruthful or just plain slow. I mentioned the 36-24 rebound advantage in the 5th paragraph of my opening post. When I discussed the hedge, I said our rebound advantage “ would be EVEN better” without the hedge. Of course, that means the advantage is good now but would be EVEN better without the hedge that hurts our positioning. I also gave Ross and Smith credit for good individual defense.

 

[NEforceUConn]

What pleased me most (which announcers mentioned) was UConn’s offense the last 5 minutes. A thing of beauty.

Ross’s block when he sprinted back on D and blocked a sure layup was superb

What a great lineup for this weekend (are there other regions).

Bleed blue

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I like how we had Smith and Demary on the floor at the same time with Smith bringing the ball up the court most of the game. Reminds me of the traditional UConn two ball handler approach we've seen over the years.

Not for nothing when we won all those ooc games earlier in the year, Smith was playing a good minutes. Once Mullins and Ball started playing in the starting lineup those minutes went away.

Reed, Karaban, Mullins, Demary, Smith..with a lot of Ross I think is our best bet forward.

 

[freescooter]

I think Ball's wrist has been bothering him and it is impacting his shooting. Mullins has been rushing his 3 point release, but he doesn't on his 2s. I think it's because he is a freshman. And, having a senior calming influence like Alex Karaban on the floor in a big game is invaluable.

Having Smith and Demary on the floor together seems to be working well as we now have 2 points guards that can generate assists at the same time and they had 10 assists and 2 TOs.

Finally, Ross is a difference maker. Plays tough defense, is all over the floor, makes winning plays, can handle the ball, and is shooting 38% from 3. He doesn't need to score to be a positive on the court.

Ross was very good. He has been in a few other games this year too. I think he is best coming off the bench though.

Mullins I thought was fine once he made some shots but he doesn’t have a great handle. He lost a couple of balls driving the lane. By the way I don’t buy the “he made a 2 so he will make 3s” thing. He made 5 of 6 including a few tough ones against Furman. Still went 0-8 from 3.


Ball was scary bad against UCLA. He was just bad against Furman. I’m not sure his problem is easily fixed. But he seems to be short on his 3s.

Reed started getting the ball and seemed to say even with 2 guys you can’t stop me. And they couldn’t.

Karaban had his 2nd strong game. He is really good getting the ball and driving the lane. I agree with bizlaw on that.

 

[Donyell 360]

Solo doesn't even look upset when he's relegated to the bench due to horrific play.

He needs to drive from the arc to a more comfortable 12-foot range to shake loose some rust.

Disagree. He looked visibly discouraged. It if wasn't more obvious it is because he is doing his best to contain his frustration and be a good teammate.

 

[ucp990411]

You are being intentionally deceptive/untruthful or just plain slow. I mentioned the 36-24 rebound advantage in the 5th paragraph of my opening post. When I discussed the hedge, I said our rebound advantage “ would be EVEN better” without the hedge. Of course, that means the advantage is good now but would be EVEN better without the hedge that hurts our positioning. I also gave Ross and Smith credit for good individual defense.

How could the rebounding be better than 36-24? That is dominating. And the high hedge helps take away dribble penetration which is our biggest weakness. You refuse to admit there are many advantages to it. Slow? Stubbornness shows ignorance

 

[Donyell 360]

We had a lot of turnovers. Alex, Ball, Braylon, Smith all had issues with ball security. Of course in Alex's case it was the only blemish in an otherwise fabulous game, perhaps the best of his UConn career?

 

[HooperScooper]

We had a lot of turnovers. Alex, Ball, Braylon, Smith all had issues with ball security. Of course in Alex's case it was the only blemish in an otherwise fabulous game, perhaps the best of his UConn career?

Add Reed to the list. He had 3 turnovers, the 2nd most to Mullins's 5.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

You know why that’s not in my memory — because the loss was entirely my fault. Only Final Four game out of our 13 that I didn’t watch from home (was in Pinehurst on a golf trip).

Never again. In ‘24, my son made me fly home early from a work convention so I was home to watch.

I appreciate the effort BL, but in all candor, nothing was going to prevent the 2024 team from winning it all.

 

[Fishy]

Solo doesn't even look upset when he's relegated to the bench due to horrific play.

He needs to drive from the arc to a more comfortable 12-foot range to shake loose some rust.

Honestly, I think he’s just so lost in space right now that he really just needs a rest and a good offseason. He’s a much better player than we’ve seen this year, but it’s too late in the game for a course correction.

We have the fewest kill shots of any of the major contenders this year. A significant part of that is our most prolific shooter is also one of our least effective shooters. He derails runs.