Chief’s Briefs - USC Edition

[ThabeetDown]

Bouknight is at 75% of that killer instinct that Kemba/Bazz had. I don't know if he'll make it there -- obviously, both hit their peaks as upperclassmen and I doubt Bouk makes it there, so I suppose it's unfair in a way to compare him to them. The pass at the end when the shot clock was expiring was alarming. You can see how good he is (usually at the beginning of the game) but then he kind of goes through the motions the rest of the way. He still needs to bring 100% effort/concentration the whole game, which exactly what I said after the last game.

Couldn't agree with Cheif's take more on Polley. It's sad to see but he's not 100% of what he used to be, hell he might not be 75%. The lack of athleticism is definitely affecting his confidence (and causing him to foul more too and thus not see the court and get in a rhythm for his 3s, which every good shooter need). I don't know if time and reps will fix him or if he's just toast.

Josh was unreal today. He fought teeth and nail with a future NBA-er in the paint for boards. Never saw that coming to be honest after the first two games. If he gives that effort rest of the way, especially in the Big East, I think the team as a whole will be very successful. Can essentially same the same thing about Whaley, but we expect that of him now. We don't of Josh.

Gaffney and Cole need to step up. Combined for 12 points. One of them needs to be in double figures in each game. Don't care who it is, but someone needs to step up. Cole on defense is a cause for concern -- he is not a high D1 athlete and it shows on that end.

I don't know what you have against Martin, Chief. He steps up and makes plays. He isn't the most talented but comes to play. He might end up the second best player behind Bouk this year and be the Robin to Batman...

College refs continue to be an embarrassment to the sport. What else is new.

 

[Chief00]

Whaley did an amazing job on Mobley tonight. Big time defensive performance from him. Looks like a potential all defense guy.

Can't wait for Akok to rejoin the lineup. I don't think this game is close if we had him for today. Really looking forward to seeing a lineup of Cole, Bouknight, Martin, Akok, and Whaley.

Bouknight has to find some consistency throughout these games. This is the 2nd game he's gotten off to a great start just to disappear for stretches throughout the rest of the game. We need Cole, Gaffney, or Martin to step up more as a playmaker offensively.

All in all happy for the win from our boys tonight!

Whaley did good against some talent tonight. Played very active.

 

[Chief00]

Bouknight is at 75% of that killer instinct that Kemba/Bazz had. I don't know if he'll make it there -- obviously, both hit their peaks as upperclassmen and I doubt Bouk makes it there, so I suppose it's unfair in a way to compare him to them. The pass at the end when the shot clock was expiring was alarming. You can see how good he is (usually at the beginning of the game) but then he kind of goes through the motions the rest of the way. He still needs to bring 100% effort/concentration the whole game, which exactly what I said after the last game.

Couldn't agree with Cheif's take more on Polley. It's sad to see but he's not 100% of what he used to be, hell he might not be 75%. The lack of athleticism is definitely affecting his confidence (and causing him to foul more too and thus not see the court and get in a rhythm for his 3s, which every good shooter need). I don't know if time and reps will fix him or if he's just toast.

Josh was unreal today. He fought teeth and nail with a future NBA-er in the paint for boards. Never saw that coming to be honest after the first two games. If he gives that effort rest of the way, especially in the Big East, I think the team as a whole will be very successful. Can essentially same the same thing about Whaley, but we expect that of him now. We don't of Josh.

Gaffney and Cole need to step up. Combined for 12 points. One of them needs to be in double figures in each game. Don't care who it is, but someone needs to step up. Cole on defense is a cause for concern -- he is not a high D1 athlete and it shows on that end.

I don't know what you have against Martin, Chief. He steps up and makes plays. He isn't the most talented but comes to play. He might end up the second best player behind Bouk this year and be the Robin to Batman...

College refs continue to be an embarrassment to the sport. What else is new.

I like Martin and his toughness. When I said he hadn’t blended in yet last game - I still think I was right but should have explained better. That game he was open but did not receive or demand the ball. I do like his rebounding. We outrebounded USC by about 10 rebounds and that’s what Martin had. His defense is good too. Did some posters go overboard last game - of course.

 

[Mike Honcho]

no one made him out to be a star you just gave him zero credit. he is easily our best SF. polley and AJ just arent there yet.

That sounds like more of an indictment on our SFs.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Martin seems like a pretty solid all around player. Decent size and physical abilities. Attacked ok. Didn't finish a ton. I thought he was a bit of. Black hole at time. Solid role player.

 

[Huskybass]

Remember when boneyarders were proclaiming the end of Carlton?

Josh went from the odd man out to a very important contributor tonight. We are going to need Josh against bigger front lines.

 

[Chief00]

D looked solid much of the game. Not looking at the stats, but I thought we took care of the ball ok. Got an early season win against a power conf school. We just didn't make a ton of shots.

The season is young. I'll take it.

When you shoot 34% and win, you are doing some things right. But, shooting makes the game easier. The book on UConn is to play a zone against us and cheat on Bouknight. Who’s going to step up on the 3 line? I actually think Gaffney could some but he needs confidence.

 

[bendm]

That sounds like more of an indictment on our SFs.

take it as you like. he's probably our best F too until akok comes back since whaley is more of a C. it's all about matchups and we dont many teams as big as USC was.

 

[djct1999]

Let’s keep it brief. That was as bad a second half as I can remember.

 

[Chief00]

Let’s keep it brief. That was as bad a second half as I can remember.

Not a lot of baskets - but we did win on toughness.

 

[Fatroony5]

Quite frankly, one thing we have learned with the exception of Bouknight other guys are up and down. Especially with Polley not playing well, the book on UConn is to play a zone against them.

We box out and go to the ball well on the defensive boards. A bad trend is giving away foolish fouls and allowing your opponents to tally easy points at the line. We do far too much reaching, taking very bad gambles. Otherwise our defense was decent.

Josh looked thinner and played well early. The Josh and Whaley combination is interesting and shows the value of experience. Whaley played well. Sanogo got in foul trouble and it’s tough to be productive on the bench. While Chief really likes his game he needs to make better decisions on the court.

Unfortunately, Chief hasn’t changed his assessment of Polley. He just isn’t moving well after his injury and is having problems getting in the flow of the game. He got in foul trouble as a result. For a guy who is suppose to be a shooter, he’s displaying very little confidence in his shot.

E Mobley is going to be a great player but other than some foolish fouls on him, we defended fairly well until late.

Chief thought Danny was slow to call a timeout on USC’s run halfway through the second half. Nor did we make any offensive adjustments. Gaffney is a good player but he needs to be much more aggressive offensively. We are very dependent on Bouknight offensively. When he’s out of the game, it shows. Even when he was in the game shooting was cool the second half.

Martin is solid but not the star some posters made him out to be after last game. Jackson did not seem ready.

Chief doesn’t know why refs allow timeouts when the ball is basically being contested on the floor. Those are really jump balls.

We desperately need another scorer. But, we did play tougher than our opponent.

I’ll take the win, but it was certainly ugly. UConn was forced to basically play two bigs the whole game. Tough offensively playing two bigs when they weren’t hitting any perimeter shots. So I agree, the book is out to play zone until they can scheme it up better. Seemed like Hurley was just trying to figure out what guard line up gave him the best chance to win.

All in all, take the win and move in. Do think this game looks a bit different if Akok was playing. Gives you another big body, with a bit more playmaking. Playing Whaley/Carlton was the right move for this game, But having some more flexibility sliding Akok in with either guy would’ve helped offensively. The zone struggles are a bit concerning, gonna have to figure out the right matchups for it.

 

[navery12]

At this point we're going to see a zone every game until we show we can beat it. No reason to think we can't, but hopefully it happens soon

 

[Captbluefin]

Cole needed to pass it to Bouk in the end of game possessions. He has never had to do that before. He is a scorer way more than distributor. That works at Howard it is not going to work here where he is 2-3rd option on the floor

 

[Excalibur]

At this point we're going to see a zone every game until we show we can beat it. No reason to think we can't, but hopefully it happens soon

We picked the zone apart for a good portion of the first half with Whaley and Bouknight at the high post.

 

[djct1999]

Not a lot of baskets - but we did win on toughness.

We won by default. USC missed more wide open shots than we did. Great outcome, brutal 15 mins.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Bouk needs to work on creating his own shot. I feel like we haven't seen much of that this year. Everything is either a good looking 3, an assisted look, or something at the basket. Would like to see his midrange game come together more to help with end of clock situations.

 

[Chief00]

We picked the zone apart for a good portion of the first half with Whaley and Bouknight at the high post.

Whaley and James did that well early on. We need to do better job adjusting after the other team’s adjusted to us.

 

[Chief00]

Bouk needs to work on creating his own shot. I feel like we haven't seen much of that this year. Everything is either a good looking 3, an assisted look, or something at the basket. Would like to see his midrange game come together more to help with end of clock situations.

I agree to a large extent. The problem is all the analytics today arguing against the mid range game. I don’t think the analytics capture the whole impact. Likelihood of getting fouled, possibility of getting an offensive rebound are two things that often don’t get factored into analytics.

 

[UCPharma11]

I like Martin's decisiveness when the ball is in his hands.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I agree to a large extent. The problem is all the analytics today arguing against the mid range game. I don’t think the analytics capture the whole impact. Likelihood of getting fouled, possibility of getting an offensive rebound are two things that often don’t get factored into analytics.

If you base your game around analytics too much you end up like the Rockets and I HATE their style of play. Once guys get their midrange game perfected it takes their game to another level though. Like with Kemba and Bazz. I think that's the next step for Bouk. He's great off the ball and when he has a good look. But he has to get to the point where he can get his own looks on a more consistent basis.

That possession where Cole got the ball at the end it seemed like Bouk couldn't find the look and had to give it up after turning down the screen. Maybe it could be the zones too though, i dont know. We'll have to see how his game develops over the season.

 

[auror]

I agree to a large extent. The problem is all the analytics today arguing against the mid range game. I don’t think the analytics capture the whole impact. Likelihood of getting fouled, possibility of getting an offensive rebound are two things that often don’t get factored into analytics.

They are factored in, but there are differences between college basketball and the NBA. Offensive rebounding is a major difference. It's a lot more effective in college.

Getting fouled is hugely emphasized in analytics, so your ignorance is showing there.

Long mid range shots are still bad in college. Floaters are okay.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Too early to make anointments and final judgments. 3 games in - there is lot's of improvement and building blocks. This team is learning how to win and that is step 2 after being tough which I think we are. Now the refinement defensively and offensively- individual players have been dow jonesers the first 3 games - some good stretches, some bad stretches. Whaley has been the most consistent as a senior should be. Everyone else, Bouknight included, have shown flashes but need to be more consistent. Without cupcakes, it is hard to get Jackson, Sanogo, etc the experience to get off the launching pad. It is now trial by fire the rest of the way on.

I am happy to be 3 - 0 with lots to work on but glimpses of good things.

 

[HooperScooper]

I actually think Gaffney could some but he needs confidence.

Gaff was very passive in this game. One of the big problems why the offense wasn't better in the 2nd half.

 

[3rdbass]

Quite frankly, one thing we have learned with the exception of Bouknight other guys are up and down. Especially with Polley not playing well, the book on UConn is to play a zone against them.

We box out and go to the ball well on the defensive boards. A bad trend is giving away foolish fouls and allowing your opponents to tally easy points at the line. We do far too much reaching, taking very bad gambles. Otherwise our defense was decent.

Josh looked thinner and played well early. The Josh and Whaley combination is interesting and shows the value of experience. Whaley played well. Sanogo got in foul trouble and it’s tough to be productive on the bench. While Chief really likes his game he needs to make better decisions on the court.

Unfortunately, Chief hasn’t changed his assessment of Polley. He just isn’t moving well after his injury and is having problems getting in the flow of the game. He got in foul trouble as a result. For a guy who is suppose to be a shooter, he’s displaying very little confidence in his shot.

E Mobley is going to be a great player but other than some foolish fouls on him, we defended fairly well until late.

Chief thought Danny was slow to call a timeout on USC’s run halfway through the second half. Nor did we make any offensive adjustments. Gaffney is a good player but he needs to be much more aggressive offensively. We are very dependent on Bouknight offensively. When he’s out of the game, it shows. Even when he was in the game shooting was cool the second half.

Martin is solid but not the star some posters made him out to be after last game. Jackson did not seem ready.

Chief doesn’t know why refs allow timeouts when the ball is basically being contested on the floor. Those are really jump balls.

We desperately need another scorer. But, we did play tougher than our opponent.

I think Cole is that. He has a great shot but just has to be more aggressive too. It would be nice to have on more shooter on the team whether it is Gaffney or Polley.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My sense is that we are trying to be 2018 Villanova on offense with one reliable outside shooter. Yeah, that isn’t going to work.

The Defense with two bigs was vastly improved. All you people saying Whaley isn't a 4. He sure as hell is on D and if he can hit those elbow jumpers he is offense too. You don’t actually want your 5 hedging on ball screens. As we saw on offense, having a 7 foot shot blocker planted at the rim erases a lot of defensive mistakes. There is a reason even NBA teams play that way.

The answer to zones is to go back to basics. Feed the paint, pass big to big from foul line to post. Kick out of the post as needed and make threes, of of the collapse on the post the guy at the foul line shoots or passes out. It sucks that Daniel Hamilton never had this team to work with. Our Zone buster foul line decision makers are Akok (out) Polley (not good) Jackson (young). Maybe Martin can help but we didn’t use him there. We used Whaley there briefly and it was so-so.

Overall a good win. Cole needs to shoot better. Gaffney needs to get past the deer in the headlights phase. Josh needs to play. Polley needs to play very little unless he can be better. Adams looked tentative after one good and one bad game. Almost rather see him be cocky. It was pretty clear that the bigger lineup was better on D and the boards. If we can figure out how to run, run, run. I don’t care about our zone offense. Transition kills zone teams. Jackson and Akok are the keys to us playing that way.