Chief’s Briefs - USF Edition

[nelsonmuntz]

I saw a game of two middle of the pack mid-majors where USF happened to be the better team last night. We are an AAC team with an AAC roster. Do we have a single NBA caliber player on this team? Jalen Adams may bounce around for a few years, but that's it. Most of the rest of the team is not even good enough to play in Europe.

Maybe Hurley can pull some rabbits out of his hat from a recruiting perspective, but I expect slow grind rather than overnight success, if Hurley is able to turn it around.

 

[Walker11]

In order to turn the season around, we need to bring back the game thread.

 

[huskyrob1]

South Florida killed us on the offensive boards. That was the key to the game. They played their style and tempo. We don’t have strong guys and lost the 50/50 balls.

At some point we realized with the refs calling it close - to take it to the rim. But it was too late and we were down by 11.

Chief’s goal was to finish the first half strong and get in at halftime up by double figures. We failed that test due to some late turnovers and not boxing out. But, give USF credit, they get after it on the boards. Thankfully, they aren’t a good foul shooting team, but they did improve in that area in the second half and it was all downhill from that point.

I still don’t understand the benefit of a 6-10 guy chasing a guard down 25 feet from the basket. Fortunately, USF did not take advantage of the Big on guard mismatch that this creates inside but a good offensive team would.

Both Carlton and Wilson need to go up stronger on their offensive moves. Cobb played tentative but having said that - he needs to play at least 25 minutes a game.

Rideau was the key to the game, he was aggressive and physically stronger than our guards. Over-all USF just outmuscle us and was more aggressive. Jacobs was right about Yetna. He murdered us. They got the crowd in the game, and Chief can remember years there when it was a UConn crowd.

Polley was a huge disappointment tonight. He had a ton of open looks and either turned them down or missed open shots. Your “best shooter” can’t perform like that.

Vital and Adams played good at times but not consistently. Gilbert played good defense.

Get ready to criticize me, but the first priority this year is recruiting. We need stronger, more talented players with good BB IQs.

I thought our guard play sucked, when it counted in the 2nd half, Collins and Rideau were getting to the line and making more foul shots than we were. Guarding either player in the open floor seemed impossible for Adams, Vital and Al, and letting Collins almost get his own rebound off a missed FT in the far corner showed that our guards either didn't care, were gassed, or both.

 

[Huskybass]

Why is Hurley not getting more blame for this? Just curious

Because Hurley was left with a mess that is going to take a year or two to clean up. This isn't rocket science.

 

[dennismenace]

Disagree here, Chief. Its all about skill deficiency. Lets play a game. Take a top 10 program. Who on this team would see valuable minutes? Who on this team wouldn't even see the floor? We don't have talent. And our best player, well, he isn't that good either.

You have to be trained to compete against and defeat your likely opponent. Yes, you need skill and talent but
if you are only trained to compete at the AAU level; sorry, this is not the AAU. The "top ten" programs have talent, physicality and a competitive desire both individually and as a team culture. I think we will have to wait until Hurley gets his own recruits; this team is deficient and it would take a lot of "unlearning" to create a warrior attitude which would include the physical as well as the mental/emotional to turn it around this year.
They are leaderless on the floor during a lot of minutes in every game. I hope I am wrong as far as this year but I have hope that the future is still bright. Hurley knows what it takes.

 

[pj]

Hurley succeeded at his previous schools, we have to believe he'll succeed here. Frustrating that the team isn't better, and I'll be honest, I thought the addition of Alterique and Sid Wilson would make a bigger difference than they have. I thought Jalen, Carlton, and Whaley would progress and they haven't.

Very disappointing the last two games. The last two opposing coaches have figured out this team's weaknesses and how to go after them. From 33-20 at 2:20 in the 1st to 57-49 USF at the 5:49 mark, USF outscored us 37-16. That kind of extended stretch of being dominated shouldn't happen. Then to finish the game it was even, 19-19. When they had to dig down and fight, they couldn't get stops.

I hope Hurley can figure this out, he was on a roll and I don't want to lose momentum.

 

[djct1999]

You have to be trained to compete against and defeat your likely opponent. Yes, you need skill and talent but
if you are only trained to compete at the AAU level; sorry, this is not the AAU. The "top ten" programs have talent, physicality and a competitive desire both individually and as a team culture. I think we will have to wait until Hurley gets his own recruits; this team is deficient and it would take a lot of "unlearning" to create a warrior attitude which would include the physical as well as the mental/emotional to turn it around this year.
They are leaderless on the floor during a lot of minutes in every game. I hope I am wrong as far as this year but I have hope that the future is still bright. Hurley knows what it takes.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Marbles90]

Because Hurley was left with a mess that is going to take a year or two to clean up. This isn't rocket science.

I think you all are missing the point about coaching. I don't even care about wins and losses. What I worry about is the lack of hustle, discipline, toughness especially in the areas of defense and rebounding. Heck even the announcers at one point said "USF just wanted it more." That is a culture that needs to be changed with the current team and the future teams. I get the "waiting for his players" thing but the fact he can't move the needled on this team is a sign. I hope I am wrong and you all are right about getting his guys and that this team is so far beyond hope. But not making the current team ANY better than last year is a bad coaching sign in my opinion.

 

[whaler11]

This thread is hilarious. Nobody thought the roster was ‘devoid of talent’ in September. The search function can lead you to many chuckles.

 

[Stinger92860]

Cobb and Carlton need to take the ball to the basket with authority. It's a matter of effort and intestinal fortitude.

Cobb needs someone to get him the ball inside. I got it, his defense needs improvement, but he had 7 boards in 14 minutes. We know he can score inside. Why not run a few plays for the man?

 

[Walker11]

This thread is hilarious. Nobody thought the roster was ‘devoid of talent’ in September. The search function can lead you to many chuckles.

In particular, searching "Carlton" can yield some interesting results. Even from people who are taking victory laps for "always knowing" Carlton sucked.

 

[jdb50]

Cobb needs someone to get him the ball inside. I got it, his defense needs improvement, but he had 7 boards in 14 minutes. We know he can score inside. Why not run a few plays for the man?

Totally agree. It is easier to defend our guards when we have no inside game. I still would like to see 2 bigs Yakwe and Cobb on the floor at the same time with an offensive plan to use them. Take Polley off the floor and put Vital, Al and Adams with them.

 

[huskyrob1]

Cobb needs someone to get him the ball inside. I got it, his defense needs improvement, but he had 7 boards in 14 minutes. We know he can score inside. Why not run a few plays for the man?

I would've given you 3 "likes" but could only give you one. Lol

 

[Huskybass]

I think you all are missing the point about coaching. I don't even care about wins and losses. What I worry about is the lack of hustle, discipline, toughness especially in the areas of defense and rebounding. Heck even the announcers at one point said "USF just wanted it more." That is a culture that needs to be changed with the current team and the future teams. I get the "waiting for his players" thing but the fact he can't move the needled on this team is a sign. I hope I am wrong and you all are right about getting his guys and that this team is so far beyond hope. But not making the current team ANY better than last year is a bad coaching sign in my opinion.

The roster is full of players who have serious holes in their games. Once Hurley gets players like Bouknight on the floor who have complete games, things will turn around. Talent and skills play a huge role in winning and there is no denying that Bouknight, Gaffney and Akok ( and hopefully 2 more great recruits) will be a significant upgrade in talent.

I am not saying that Hurley gets a pass, but he does deserve some time to bring in talent and transform the culture of the program. This team lost EIGHT games by 20 or more points last season. Anyone who thought year one under Hurley was going to be great just didn't have an appreciation for the level the program had fallen to. If there hasn't been significant progress in another year or two, then its time to start questioning Hurley.
I have no worries about Hurley being the right guy for the job, but realistically this is a 2 to 3 year rebuild given what he took over.

 

[Chief00]

Disagree here, Chief. Its all about skill deficiency. Lets play a game. Take a top 10 program. Who on this team would see valuable minutes? Who on this team wouldn't even see the floor? We don't have talent. And our best player, well, he isn't that good either.

Granted we lack shooting and are careless with the ball but it’s men against boys in terms of strength and physicality. Effort can take a weak guy only so far against a significantly stronger dude. USF wasn’t exactly skilled either - they were animals on the boards.

 

[CTBasketball]

You guys aren’t getting it. We have some talent, not a lot, but enough to win us 10 games in this conference.

The problem is that we have a loser’s mentality. It is not easy to come in and fix this, especially when the players have been exposed to this toxic behavior for a long period of time.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The reality is guys like Carlton, Whaley, Cobb, and Yakwe aren't UConn level players. Or more simply they aren't UConn level players if we want to get back to playing UConn level basketball.

Not trying to knock Yakwe because he always battles and didn't play tonight but you get the idea. Alterique is going through our normal point guard struggles early in his career and he's been away from the game for 2 years. Don't really think Jalen loves basketballl anymore.

It's all incredibly frustrsring but I won't get after Hurley until he brings in his players.

This is one reason I thought Diarra was going to be a key contributor this year. He has energy, toughness and physical strength. Aside from Yawke, he's the only guy who does. Last night we were missing both of them. With them this is a very different game.

I am really hoping this puts to rest the constant refrain to play small guys everywhere. If those small guys can all hit 40% from 3 consistently, sure. None of ours can. We need size, strength and will to rebound and we need shooters who make shots.

 

[HuskyHawk]

In order to turn the season around, we need to bring back the game thread.

I swear the level of negativity in the chat is unbearable. It's the worst mojo ever. So many bad hot takes. Any mistake means that player "sucks" and must be benched forever.

 

[J187Money]

This is the first game we lost that we were "supposed" to win - by the line (I think we were favored by 3). My expectations for Hurley are to win the games we are "supposed" to win and try and steal a couple of other ones. Now he owes us one we are "supposed" to lose. I only got to see the last 10 minutes on TV. Some great D hustle at the end, and even though we made some nice plays going to the basket - we keep giving up possessions when we absolutely cannot afford to. To me, that is the one thing that defines this set of players and has been going on for the last 2-3 years - the unforced errors, especially at the wrong times. Hurley needs to fix that.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

This team has no leader. If it's Jalen, he is the wrong person. The last few years I've watched him yell at his teammates during the game. Guy is talented he'd be better as the 3rd option on a talented team instead he is expected to be the 1st. I dont really get why polley is getting all these minutes. He doesn't seem to do anything particularly well, I'd rather give them to Wilson and get him PT for the future.

 

[the Q]

I don’t think there were any future NBA HOFers on the floor for USF. Rebounding is 1/3 strength, 1/3 desire, and 1/3 technique. True, we in general lack strength, but desire and great technique boxing out and positioning can make up for a lot. But we are 0 for 3 on these components.

There’s some size in there as well, but this is basically spot on.

And much like my issue wih the moving screens, i don’t know how you’re a D1 player and don’t know how to properly box out.

 

[billybud]

The USF team won their first conference opener in 11 years...and their first conference win over UConn in the last 10 trys in the AAC. Their guard said...

"We're not here to be last anymore."

I think that they are in the middle of an orchestrated attempt at culture change.Their coach said....."It wasn't necessarily that we had to win; obviously I feel a lot better that we did. But to play that hard and with that kind of grit and toughness I think will resonate with our fans."

"We're bigger, stronger, more physical, and we've got some toughness. We're gonna build our program on some toughness and some grit, and at least we're in the opening stages of that, and I think you saw that tonight."

 

[Towney007]

You guys aren’t getting it. We have some talent, not a lot, but enough to win us 10 games in this conference.

No. We don't.

 

[HanDurley]

Past two years we have gotten used to losing games, and it shows. Great programs, like the program we once were, do not get accustomed or used to losing games, but here we are. Need to figure out a way to change that mentality.

 

[Peacefrog]

Out rebounded and out worked. This rebounding gave me flashbacks to the past 2 years. Terrible..

I expressed a bit of concern at losing the rebounding battle against Drexel a couple of games ago, including allowing a very high offensive rebounding rate. I was repeatedly told it was “meaningless” and my concerns were ridiculous.