Chief’s Briefs - USC Edition

[patrick]

I’m sorry, I know everyone thinks of Hurley as a god around here, and I really, really, really like him. But figure out an offense against a zone. It’s atrocious. 3 points in the last 8 minutes against a bad defensive team. Something has to change or it’s going to be same old. Also Gaff and Cole are as of right now net 0 players. All these offseason pics/vids of pickup game domination and ripped muscles don’t matter until you show it on the court, and neither of them have.

I pray to sir Hurley every night! I mean who would you like me to pray to? Joe Pesci?

All jokes aside we didn't score enough at the end of the game but we did have good looks!
My Gods gave us a W once again..... ugly maybe? But in March nobody will remember!!

 

[HuskyCane]

Whalley needs to be our 2nd scorer after Bouknight. He was killing the zone from the foul line and can create one on one.

 

[Chief00]

Bouknight wasn’t up and down ? Lol

Fair point but when you lead the team in scoring and your team to a victory - I thought I would make some distinction. As Danny said after the game, he should have had 27.

 

[yungdowork]

Bouknight has been red hot to start the last 2 and then cooled down considerably. Although last night he had some good looks that just didn't fall that I think he normally makes.

I think Cole does a better job running the offense right now than Gaffney but I think he might be in trouble against more skilled guards who go at him on defense. Hoping we see either more offense or more assured defense from him in the next few games.

As always, big performance from Whaley. Very pleasantly surprised by the near double double for Josh

 

[Chief00]

I don't think this game is close if Hurley is more flexible as a coach. Hurley pulling 4 guys when we were up 13 was an abysmal coaching move. He missed some obvious timeout opportunities. He needed to ride that momentum as long as possible when we were up. No movement against a basic 2-3 zone is just not okay. I LOVE a lot of what Hurley does, tonight didn't feel like his night on the offensive end to me.
Martin continues to impressive. Unbelievably tough on defense. He really needs to work on his finishing and shooting... everything seems to tough and stiff instead of smooth.
Our freshman were not ready tonight. Not ready at all. I'll give them a pass--it was their first high-major game.
This is a game we lose the last 6 years. Happy to see the improvement.

I edited out a couple points to respond to, Hurley has to now get past scoring over 100 points against CCSU and deal with some real offensive issues. It was a great line after game 2 but no longer. I couldn’t agree more it’s always a double edge sword with good depth - that you start substituting to be fair and keep roughly “equally talented guys happy” rather than doing things to win like ride momentum. Yet, with all this depth we can’t find another shooter. Yes, Danny needs to use timeouts so dry spells aren’t prolonged and make adjustments. The middle of the zone (the foul line area) looked pretty open to me. We attack there a few times but not nearly enough.
Martin right now is probably defense and rebounding but he did reach 10 points tonight, an improvement from 6. Thrilled if he gave us 8-12 per night. He will apparently get the minutes, at least until the young guys are more ready.
Its much easier and less painful to learn something from a win not a lost - so let’s use this win as a motivator of how good we are even when we play terrible offense the second half -so if we clean that up - we can beat a lot of teams.

 

[djct1999]

This is still a very young team who haven't played with each other that long. Games like last night can prove invaluable in the long run for a team like this. To still be able to win vs a quality opponent no matter how ugly it was is a gigantic step in the right direction, atleast psycologically. The best thing about last night was our frontcourt. Our FRONTCOURT! Let me repeat, we have a frontcourt. When was the last time we were able to say that? Whaley, Carlton, and Martin were fantastic. If those three can play like that, with further contributions from Sanogo and Akok, watch out. We have a legitimate roster and a coach who will have these guys flourishing when it matters most. After my initial reaction and having time to think about it, I am more optomisitc than ever!

 

[navery12]

 

[Umami Zen]

A win is a win.. Will be a valuable lesson for BE play and seeding in Tournament....USC looks like a Tournament team to me by the end of year.. Not many teams will have USC's length at the top of a zone defense.. Saw much more effort on D as compared to previous 2 games.. Josh seemed to play with some urgency.. Which he needs to do.. Don't know why but it seemed like we took too much time to get into our offense . It looked like the shot clock was winding down late into a lot of our possessions. 3-0 is better than the alternative..

 

[HuskyHawk]

Fair point but when you lead the team in scoring and your team to a victory - I thought I would make some distinction. As Danny said after the game, he should have had 27.

Well, when you score your team's first 13 (and lead 13-12) the defense is going to adjust. James wasn't going to get his points in the paint against the Mobleys, and they knew that and focused on taking away his jump shot, playing him tighter. I've also noticed that all three opponents bump him a bit, get a little rough with him. I recall screaming at Ollie's teams to do that to hot shooters. Take the foul, but make them feel it, knock them off rhythm. JB will get better at dealing with that. He's only been our lead scorer for maybe 7-8 games. Cole, Gaff or Polley need to help by actually hitting from outside. We also run fewer plays to hit slashing cutters to the basket than any team I've ever seen. I think that guys like Martin, Jackson and Akok when healthy will be very dangerous if we can get them the ball in that situation.

 

[auror]

I think the point is rather you don’t voluntarily take away 30% of the offensive floor because it allows 5 defenders to cover 30% less space. Analytics don’t account for secondary and tertiary effects of opening up the baseline when a wing is forced to come up or a guard must cover down to help, creating space at the arc, baseline or weak side. You have to create scoring threats in the tween space to allow for the other spaces to be less effectively contested. If we saw huge jumps in average scoring, I might think otherwise, but what analytics is giving defensive adjustments takeaway.

You are not using the right term. Analytics is not an offense or even an offensive philosophy. Analytics is the interpretation of useful statistics. If defense changes, analytics will reflect this.

But b|yond that, spacing the floor with shooting is a beginning, not an end. You then create the offense that utilizes that space. Having 5 guys just stand around on the perimeter isn't good offense even if all 5 can shoot. But having 5 guys who can shoot makes good offenses more dangerous.

 

[Son of Robert]

I think the offensive ball movement is much better with both Gaffney and Cole on the floor. This doesn't solve everything, or even address matchups like USC, but the offensive half court sets were turning into iso ball at times. Just sayin, it's early in the season, nothing like some ball movement to get your offense humming.

 

[Justin M]

I think we really struggle to get momentum to push the ball up and down without Akok on the floor. His blocked shots were a shot of adrenaline on both ends. Dan Hurley has done it a few times over the past few years out of timeouts, but in search of momentum and a spark, we run a back screen alley oop play, same one we ran out of the under 3 timeout - questionable given score and timing. Irregardless good win, no fans doesn’t help the momentum issue, but hopeful Akok will!

 

[Tenspro2002]

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.

We're stuck in between in terms of a 1-big or 2-big lineup.

Whaley is absolutely capable as a 4 on defense -- he's comfortable hedging on the perimeter, guarding stretch-4's, dealing with PnR, and holding his own on the post -- and our team defense overall was better with him and Carlton/Sanogo in there together. The question is on offense.

Whaley was semi-credible in the high post against the zone, but not really on the perimeter. Against a zone, you really need that 4th shooter to punish them on rotations, kickout action, the diagonal pass from the baseline, etc.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think the offensive ball movement is much better with both Gaffney and Cole on the floor. This doesn't solve everything, or even address matchups like USC, but the offensive half court sets were turning into iso ball at times. Just sayin, it's early in the season, nothing like some ball movement to get your offense humming.

The problem is that while both are capable ballhandlers, decent passers, and usually play within the flow of the offense, neither of them has been a credible threat to break someone down off the dribble, either against M2M or zone.

It's fine to have one guy who is primarily a safe option and a good spot-up shooter. But it's hard to play both of them, along with both Whaley and Carlton, because then you really have only one guy who is creating for himself or pressuring the defense off the dribble.

 

[imno1]

Funny how last year Bouk couldn't get going until the 2nd half and this year it's the other way around.
I'm a little higher on Cole than many here but our guards never penetrate. It's all east and west with them. Neither seems to have the quickness or are crafty enough to take their man off the dribble.
So happy for Josh. Just missed a double - double. He played really well but needs to be better at the line.
What can you say about Whaley? 5 blocks (should have been 6). He's become our second best player.
Josh probably deserves the start but I like him off the bench so he doesn't pick up quick fouls 2 minutes in.
I would go with the same lineup as last night and just expect Sanogo to be better.

 

[CL82]

Josh looked thinner

#thinjosh

 

[8893]

chief Jimmy

 

[Chief00]

Chief just wanted to clarify one point. I am not questioning Polley’s rehab effectiveness or his work effort to play. Quite frankly, Chief starts with the premise the next season after an ACL injury is a work in progress. Sure some guys beat that, doesn’t look like Polley will. Too bad he’s a senior and is there consideration of a Red Shirt? I haven’t heard that or if he would even want to but after Saturday, something to think about if he still qualifies? The glowing reports of his progress and even the shooting that Chief saw is in contrast to what is happening in competitive games. That’s a lesson to those few, who still maintain that cancelling football was a good idea.

 

[Chief00]

The problem is that while both are capable ballhandlers, decent passers, and usually play within the flow of the offense, neither of them has been a credible threat to break someone down off the dribble, either against M2M or zone.

It's fine to have one guy who is primarily a safe option and a good spot-up shooter. But it's hard to play both of them, along with both Whaley and Carlton, because then you really have only one guy who is creating for himself or pressuring the defense off the dribble.

That’s why we went to Philly to get a PG.

 

[August_West]

 

[Chief00]

I guess you are running this place now - good luck.
When you get 221 views in your latest OP thread, Chief00 can see why you and your moderator pals resort to stuff like this on a thread people actually view.

 

[The Funster]

Need to get a runner on the ws baseline against the zone. Get it to the line and dump down to the runner. It was there last night but only by accident, if that makes any sense.

I think its way to early to make judgements on players. Not enough practice and too many new pieces and a multitude of combinations to sort out.

Martin appears to be getting his legs under him so I'd guess that right now, our best 5 would be Carlton, Whalley, Martin, Bouk and Cole. That could change a lot in the next two months though.

 

[UConnRock]

The zone gave the offense fits. In my view it was a PG issue as there was no penetration or creativity by either Cole or Gaffney which meant no breakdown of the zone to kick out for open shots. Bouk had some good opportunities when he got to the middle of the zone and had some pass/shoot options, but for the most part it was Carlton or Whaley flashing to the middle which had limited impact to SC defense. Cole was disappointing on offense tonight, but had a nice defensive game. Martin and Bouk were the most active in trying to penetrate. I do think the offense was a bit intimidated by the shot blockers for SC

It is really nice having depth at the 4 & 5. This would have been a different game if Whatley, Carlton and Sanogo were not able to be as aggressive in their double teams due to foul trouble or depth issues. Lots of fouls to give at the 4 & 5 which has not been a luxury for years. Sanogo looked like a freshman, his time on the floor had value.

I don't blame Hurley for the substitution pattern. It is still early in the season and practices were limited. If this were a later season or conference game the bench would have been a lot shorter. Hurley and many fans are still trying to figure this team out as there are lots of new pieces to the puzzle. Hurley's ability to figure out the top 8 or 9 and keep cohesive units on the floor will dictate this season's success.

Negative surprises:

1) Polley looked lost and more like a freshman than some of the freshmen
2) Adams didn't supply the normal spark of the bench that has become expected.
3) Cole and Gaffeny as discussed above
4) The inability of UConn as a team to use their athletic ability. Limited fast break points or opportunities. Some of this may have been associated with the quick whistles that put SC in the bonus very early in both halves. But the key to beating the zone is to attack before they are set-up. There seemed to be no desire to attack early.

 

[Vancat]

That was funny.

 

[James]

I actually thought martin was an effective middle of the zone guy because of his size and feel. its 2020 and its still hard for uconn guards to make tight simple entry passes

 

[August_West]

Chief00 can see why you and your moderator pals resort to stuff like this

According to the new terms and conditions everyone just had to click August thinks the above may be a bannable offense for Jimmy.

 

[Rico444]

Chief just wanted to clarify one point. I am not questioning Polley’s rehab effectiveness or his work effort to play. Quite frankly, Chief starts with the premise the next season after an ACL injury is a work in progress. Sure some guys beat that, doesn’t look like Polley will. Too bad he’s a senior and is there consideration of a Red Shirt? I haven’t heard that or if he would even want to but after Saturday, something to think about if he still qualifies? The glowing reports of his progress and even the shooting that Chief saw is in contrast to what is happening in competitive games. That’s a lesson to those few, who still maintain that cancelling football was a good idea.

Casual fans may not realize, but players do not need to redshirt this season, as it will not count as a year of eligibility.

 

[UconnU]

I was really impressed with the fluidity of Evan Mobley. He moves like a wing.

 

[alphasigko]

Watching Cole play last evening reminded me a bit of AG's play last year. That comparison was very evident in his drive and awkward shot late in the 2nd half when, rather than passing to Bouk, he just heaved the ball straight up into the air in his shot attempt. IMO, this team does not need efforts like that.

 

[Chief00]

Casual fans may not realize, but players do not need to redshirt this season, as it will not count as a year of eligibility.

True - I knew that but wasn’t thinking.