Chief’s Briefs - Villanova Edition

[Chief00]

First, let’s go back to how Chief set the table for the season - the first priority is recruiting. I also knew we were in trouble when Jalen wore a hood during introduction. I said then he is trying to hide from the limelight and responsibility rather than being a great player who embraces both. Plus, when the game is more about a distraction to Jalen, be it the hood on during introductions today or the head band two games ago - his head is definitely not in the game.

Gilbert over- penetrated again today. I know he was rusty early in the season. But quite frankly, at this point it needs to be addressed.

One play that summed up the game was in the first half when Polley made a nice baseline drive but then we did not go back to him, who now might have space for a 3, for a long time and when we did, he threw up an air ball. In part due to the pass being at ankle level. Ideally the pass should set up the shooting motion not hinder it.

Another telltale is when Jalen is tired or lazy he shoots off of one foot and swings his right front foot up while he leans back. Quite frankly, bad shooting mechanics.
Now having set the context, Chief thinks we have been running an egalitarian offense, where everyone is equal and every shot is ok regardless of ability. I agree with the Dr Hoop dude who said we need different shots for different guys and quite frankly also shots some guys shouldn’t take

Give Villanova credit they made some great halftime adjustments regarding who would handle the ball against our pressure, hence effectively taking our best on the ball defenders out of the game. They also cleverly made an adjustment to set Cremo up for threes off our double teams or collapsing defense. Booth and Pascalle played with great poise. Cremo knocked down open shots.

Chief makes it a policy not to look at the boxscore until after the Briefs but it appears they shot over 50% from both 3 and the field. The threes were good looks due to the adjustments Chief mentioned.

IMO double teams should not be a consistent thing so far away from the basket. Good teams are going to break those double team traps when they are predictable. They work ok as an element of surprise in short doses until the the other team adjusts. Then they become a negative.

Chief needs to be careful here but Josh once again came up empty in a big game. Hurley needs to resolve the Cobb matter one way or another. Most likely he would have been more effective.

Our best player today was Vital. He played hard, knocked down a few shots and rebounded. I think Sid needs more minutes. For a portion of the first half, before Vilanova spread the court, Sid and Yakwe actually created an inside shot blocking prescence. Sid needs to make the 15 foot foul line jumper his go to shot. He can jump over anyone in that region and get a good look. He needs to up his percentage there.

Final thought, text book technical by Jay Wright early in the second half. The team
got fired up and there was plenty of time left to get favorable make up calls, if needed.
I could go on but those are my initial thoughts.

 

[UConnSwag11]

First, let’s go back to how Chief set the table for the season - the first priority is recruiting. I also knew we were in trouble when Jalen wore a hood during introduction. I said then he is trying to hide from the limelight and responsibility rather than bring a great player who embraces both. Plus when the game is more about a distraction to Jalen, be it the hood on introductions today or the head band two games ago - his head is definitely not in the game.

Gilbert over- penetrated again today. I know he was rusty early in the season. But quite frankly, at this point it needs to be addressed.

One play that summed up the game was in the first half when Polley made a nice baseline drive but then we did not go back to him who now might have space for a 3 for a long time and when we did, he threw up an air ball. In part due to the pass being at ankle level. Ideally the pass should set up the shooting motion not hinder it.

Another telltale is when Jalen is tired or lazy he shoots off of one foot and swings his right front foot up while he leans back. Quite frankly, bad shooting mechanics.
Now having set the context, Chief thinks we have been running an egalitarian offense, where everyone is equal and every shot is ok regardless of ability. I agree with the Dr Hoop dude who said we need different shots for different guys and quite frankly also shots some guys shouldn’t take

Give Villanova credit they made some great halftime adjustmemts regarding who would handle the ball against our pressure hence effectively taking our best on the ball defenders out of the game. They also cleverly made an adjustment to set Cremo up for threes off our double teams or collapsing defense. Booth and Pascalle played with great poise. Cremo knocked down open shots.

Chief makes it a policy not to look at the boxscore until after the Briefs but it appears they shot over 50% from both 3 and the field. The threes were good looks due to the adjustments Chief mentioned.

IMO double teams should not be a consistent thing so far away from the basket. Good teams are going to break those double team traps when they are predictable. They work ok as an element of surprise in short doses until the thd other team adjusts. Then they become a negative.

Chief needs to be careful here but Josh once again came up empty in a big game. Hurley needs to resolve the Cobb matter one way or another. Most likely he would have been more effective.

Our best player today was Vital. He played hard, knocked down a few shots and rebounded. I think Sid needs more minutes. For a portion of the first half, before Vilanova spread the court, Sid and Yakwe actually created an inside shot blocking prescence. Sid needs to make the 15 foot foul line jumper his go to shot. He can jump over anyone in that region and get a good look. He needs to up his percentage there.

Final thought, text book technical by Jay Wright early in the second half. The team
got fired up and there was plenty of time left to get favorable make up calls, if needed.
I could go on but those are my initial thoughts.

Agreed. You also forgot to mention that it was a sellout today and the casual fans showed up. Lots of them

 

[Chief00]

Agreed. You also forgot to mention that it was a sellout today and the casual fans showed up. Lots of them

Sellout/ What about the blue seats in the upper end zone - those don’t count in the sellout calculation?
But, big picture, I agree the casual fans and other fans represented us well. Thanks for all who made the effort to go.

 

[auror]

I'd like to see GIlbert go a whole game without shooting from the restricted area. Penetrate to pass every time. For a whole game. Sub him out if he doesn't do it. Set the tone.

 

[Chief00]

Another thought Chief had. Like certain teams in the NBA it seems we don’t offensive rebound. Some of these NBA teams immediately fall back by design but I am skeptical that we do it out of anything other than lack of focus on it and guys just not going to the boards but rather fall back in defense. Chief believe that second shots psychologically damage the opponent and often end in fouls.

 

[JMick]

Another thought Chief had. Like certain teams in the NBA it seems we don’t offensive rebound. Some of these NBA teams immediately fall back by design but I am skeptical that we do it out of anything other than lack of focus on it and guys just not going to the boards but rather fall back in defense. Chief believe that second shots psychologically damage the opponent and often end in fouls.

over the last few years we have frequently been on the demoralizing side of second try attemps. I don't know how it feels as a player but as a fan, it kills me. Didn't we miss a rebound off of a missed FT and it lead to a 3 pointer? I feel like that's what started the 2nd half collapse.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

For me, Wright made some critical half-time adjustments where by pushing the ball up the court with a different player who was able to avoid some of the UConn pressure, which allowed them to slow the game down and then pass at will to find the open guy. He partially out-coached Hurley whereas Hurley does not have the talent (yet) to match such a move. Helps that Villanova right now is a program used to winning, even in adverse conditions. In recent history, UConn is a program that folds when things get tough. It will take a while to change that culture.

Overall, I am hoping that this tough OCC schedule prepares the team to do well in the AAC resulting in 20+ wins and a AAC finals berth that should get them into the Dance. If not, I strong NIT run even help in terms of changing the culture and expectations.

 

[Yardigan]

Hurley needs to resolve the Cobb matter one way or another. Most likely he would have been more effective.
.

Seems the Cobb situation is resolved. Once Dan decides a guy is 'not ready' (in his eyes), or not going to play...that guy can sit pretty much all year.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Sellout/ What about the blue seats in the upper end zone - those don’t count in the sellout calculation?
But, big picture, I agree the casual fans and other fans represented us well. Thanks for all who made the effort to go.

I only said sellout bc I started to watch the replay and the announcers called it a sellout. It was pretty close. Those seats were only probably 300-400?

 

[HHusky]

A few observations from the first 10 minutes. For a guy who drives the lane so much, Gilbert, similar to Jalen draws so few fouls per drive. The offense needs more
"work passes" to create better angles for easier entry passes to the post (Carlton). Mostly we move the ball by dribble rather than by passing thus it seems to tire us out more than the other teams D. More and better passing and off the ball movement is needed to keep all 5 of our players engaged in the game better. (teamwork)

 

[HHusky]

As Chief noted.... Villanova used spacing and passing to frustrate and break the back of our defense in the second half. Don't have any desire to rewatch the 2nd half.

 

[Rewster]

Another thought Chief had. Like certain teams in the NBA it seems we don’t offensive rebound. Some of these NBA teams immediately fall back by design but I am skeptical that we do it out of anything other than lack of focus on it and guys just not going to the boards but rather fall back in defense. Chief believe that second shots psychologically damage the opponent and often end in fouls.

Dead on.
This has been a problem with KO’s teams also.
It really bothers the hell out of me. Particularly with a team like Nova who is not looking to fast break off a rebound. We are content with thowing up 3 pointers while everybody watches and retreats after the miss. I really thought DH’s teams would be relentless in all facets of the game . Really disappointed in the lack of effort with the offensive rebounding side. I agree that a score after an offensive rebound is demoralizing to the other team.

I was not impressed with the urgency of the defense today either.
Effort is in the control of the players and can make up for talent. Just not seeing it with this team on a consistent basis which I was hoping was a going to be a hallmark of DH teams

 

[auror]

Another thought Chief had. Like certain teams in the NBA it seems we don’t offensive rebound. Some of these NBA teams immediately fall back by design but I am skeptical that we do it out of anything other than lack of focus on it and guys just not going to the boards but rather fall back in defense. Chief believe that second shots psychologically damage the opponent and often end in fouls.

We are 38th in the country in OREB%.

This is high.

We try to oreb, or at least we did vs. cupcakes. Considering our starting 4 can't rebound at all and our centers are not talented enough against good teams, that's probably more the issue than a lack of desire or gameplan.

 

[Okafour rings]

Overall, I am hoping that this tough OCC schedule prepares the team to do well in the AAC resulting in 20+ wins and a AAC finals berth that should get them into the Dance. If not, I strong NIT run even help in terms of changing the culture and expectations.

The NCAA tourney is not realistic. Once people adjust expectations as to number of wins and reaching the NIT instead of the NCAA's, the frustrations will recede.

I also feel bad for Cobb who obviously worked very hard in the offseason to get in terrific shape. He had 13 and 13 against Syracuse, 12 and 10 against AZ, and is shooting 59.6% from the field. On the negative side, his foul shooting is atrocious and on D he ventures too far out on the hedges. But Hurley can lay down the law that he never goes outside the 3-pt arc on D And there is no one on this roster that forces Hurley to sit Cobb for the entire game. He should be getting 15-20 minutes per game.

 

[Okafour rings]

Dead on.
This has been a problem with KO’s teams also.
It really bothers the hell out of me. Particularly with a team like Nova who is not looking to fast break off a rebound. We are content with thowing up 3 pointers while everybody watches and retreats after the miss. I really thought Dan Hurley’s teams would be relentless in all facets of the game . Really disappointed in the lack of effort with the offensive rebounding side. I agree that a score after an offensive rebound is demoralizing to the other team.

I was not impressed with the urgency of the defense today either.
Effort is in the control of the players and can make up for talent. Just not seeing it with this team on a consistent basis which I was hoping was a going to be a hallmark of Dan Hurley teams

Agreed. I saw multiple times when a shot went up on offense that there was not 1 UConn player within 15 feet of the basket. What happened to committing at least 2 players to offensive rebounding?

 

[joober jones]

Dead on.
This has been a problem with KO’s teams also.
It really bothers the hell out of me. Particularly with a team like Nova who is not looking to fast break off a rebound. We are content with thowing up 3 pointers while everybody watches and retreats after the miss. I really thought Dan Hurley’s teams would be relentless in all facets of the game . Really disappointed in the lack of effort with the offensive rebounding side. I agree that a score after an offensive rebound is demoralizing to the other team.

I was not impressed with the urgency of the defense today either.
Effort is in the control of the players and can make up for talent. Just not seeing it with this team on a consistent basis which I was hoping was a going to be a hallmark of Dan Hurley teams

I want to see more minutes for Whaley. He may have looked like Roger Clemens throwing a fastball during his FT attempts, but he still gives us more than what Yakwe is capable of.

 

[zepfan]

For me the equation is simple... when we play teams that are bigger and stronger and more talented across the board, we are going to lose unless we play an almost flawless game (shoot a high percentage, keep turnovers down). Chief is correct that recruiting is the key. The talent level on this team is well-below the UConn teams of the winning years. This was KOs biggest flaw - hell, he won a NC with quality players. With that said, I feel like our guards dribble too much and look for their own shots too frequently. CV has improved this year beyond my expectations. Also, with no Cobb in the game, we really are a doughnut team. Final thought... other than CV and Sid, didn't see much intensity out there... and Jalen needs to develop something offensively other than has dribble-drive to the right. Teams take that away and he is a toothless tiger it seems.

 

[Jay-Bone]

I want to see more minutes for Whaley. He may have looked like Roger Clemens throwing a fastball during his FT attempts, but he still gives us more than what Yakwe is capable of.

Our starting 4 averages 2.5 rebounds per game and had none in 32 mins tonight, let that sink in.

 

[Scrutineer]

We were traveling today and didn't get to see the game but read there was an 18-0 run by Villanova. I don't recall Calhoun allowing any 18-0 runs without a timeout and don't know what happened today.

Did Hurley call a time out after say 6 or 8 points? How many timesout did he call during the run, if any?

After any called timesout did it appear Hurley had called a play that gave us a great chance to score and break the run?

 

[Chief00]

As Chief noted.... Villanova used spacing and passing to frustrate and break the back of our defense in the second half. Don't have any desire to rewatch the 2nd half.

Smart man - why go through the agony when Chief already lived it and reported on it.

 

[Chief00]

Another thing I wanted to add as a basketball observation. We started the game going to Jalen much more handling the ball. It’s thought that Jalen is most effective that way. True or not, it did not really work since he was a no show.

 

[Ukonnfan]

It’s all between the ears. Personal decision making on the floor. Nothing to do with Danny. Lot’s of turnovers not even recorded. I was amazed that we were in it at the half as much as we threw the ball away. Could have easlily been up by 10. I believe we are getting better though. But, bad high-school-looking decisions by the guards is the major problem. Encouraging to watch Yakwe, Wilson and Vital. Liked the drive to the basket by Polley early in the game.

 

[EBonz30]

First, let’s go back to how Chief set the table for the season - the first priority is recruiting. I also knew we were in trouble when Jalen wore a hood during introduction. I said then he is trying to hide from the limelight and responsibility rather than being a great player who embraces both. Plus, when the game is more about a distraction to Jalen, be it the hood on during introductions today or the head band two games ago - his head is definitely not in the game.

Gilbert over- penetrated again today. I know he was rusty early in the season. But quite frankly, at this point it needs to be addressed.

One play that summed up the game was in the first half when Polley made a nice baseline drive but then we did not go back to him, who now might have space for a 3, for a long time and when we did, he threw up an air ball. In part due to the pass being at ankle level. Ideally the pass should set up the shooting motion not hinder it.

Another telltale is when Jalen is tired or lazy he shoots off of one foot and swings his right front foot up while he leans back. Quite frankly, bad shooting mechanics.
Now having set the context, Chief thinks we have been running an egalitarian offense, where everyone is equal and every shot is ok regardless of ability. I agree with the Dr Hoop dude who said we need different shots for different guys and quite frankly also shots some guys shouldn’t take

Give Villanova credit they made some great halftime adjustments regarding who would handle the ball against our pressure, hence effectively taking our best on the ball defenders out of the game. They also cleverly made an adjustment to set Cremo up for threes off our double teams or collapsing defense. Booth and Pascalle played with great poise. Cremo knocked down open shots.

Chief makes it a policy not to look at the boxscore until after the Briefs but it appears they shot over 50% from both 3 and the field. The threes were good looks due to the adjustments Chief mentioned.

IMO double teams should not be a consistent thing so far away from the basket. Good teams are going to break those double team traps when they are predictable. They work ok as an element of surprise in short doses until the the other team adjusts. Then they become a negative.

Chief needs to be careful here but Josh once again came up empty in a big game. Hurley needs to resolve the Cobb matter one way or another. Most likely he would have been more effective.

Our best player today was Vital. He played hard, knocked down a few shots and rebounded. I think Sid needs more minutes. For a portion of the first half, before Vilanova spread the court, Sid and Yakwe actually created an inside shot blocking prescence. Sid needs to make the 15 foot foul line jumper his go to shot. He can jump over anyone in that region and get a good look. He needs to up his percentage there.

Final thought, text book technical by Jay Wright early in the second half. The team
got fired up and there was plenty of time left to get favorable make up calls, if needed.
I could go on but those are my initial thoughts.

your missing a lot of analysis here. The roles are not define yet, the ball movement is atrocious, go watch the film and see how many times Wilson and other guys catch the ball and just stand there with it in no type of threat position.

I expected a better brief...

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

We were traveling today and didn't get to see the game but read there was an 18-0 run by Villanova. I don't recall Calhoun allowing any 18-0 runs without a timeout and don't know what happened today.

Did Hurley call a time out after say 6 or 8 points? How many timesout did he call during the run, if any?

After any called timesout did it appear Hurley had called a play that gave us a great chance to score and break the run?

I think he called two timeouts. Yielded two free throws.

It was a very bad half that exposed everything bad while making Nova look very good. I'll just let it go and see how the coaches and team respond in the new year.

 

[Chief00]

It’s all between the ears. Personal decision making on the floor. Nothing to do with Danny. Lot’s of turnovers not even recorded. I was amazed that we were in it at the half as much as we threw the ball away. Could have easlily been up by 10. I believe we are getting better though. But, bad high-school-looking decisions by the guards is the major problem. Encouraging to watch Yakwe, Wilson and Vital. Liked the drive to the basket by Polley early in the game.

That drive could have really been big but we should have immediately gone back to him to see if that gave him more space for his jumper but didn’t. We don’t seem to have the BBIQ to identify opportunities on the court in real time.