Chief’s Briefs - Villanova Edition

[Rewster]

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.

I agree. He is an effort guy. He can stand around as well as the other guys and watch the guards dribble. The difference is he will try to get a rebound

 

[Edward Sargent]

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.
What was going on with Jalens passes?

 

[Hi-Low]

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.

I truly hate bashing our players.....Is Jalen just a "broken" player at this point? He certainly is still capable of playing well but after the last 2 years maybe his spirit is just shot and he can't get it back. I'm sure he came to UConn envisioning a Kemba/Napier tenure but by his sophomore year those visions became nightmares. Did he ever really put the hours in the gym working on his shot & his game to make himself the best he could be though? I hope he finds his game in January and ends his UConn tenure on a high note.

 

[CTBasketball]

Tyler Polley:

32 minutes, 2-4 shooting, 3 fouls, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals.

Either we’re not getting him the ball, he’s excellent at not getting open, or he’s great at standing still and doing nothing.

 

[Rico444]

I also knew we were in trouble when Jalen wore a hood during introduction.

And there it is. The moment chief jumped the shark.

 

[Chief00]

Tyler Polley:

32 minutes, 2-4 shooting, 3 fouls, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals.

Either we’re not getting him the ball, he’s excellent at not getting open, or he’s great at standing still and doing nothing.

Quite frankly, I think all of the above. He has the ability to shoot though. which is a rare capability on our team.
The drive should have set good opportunities up for him and it didn’t.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Tyler Polley:

32 minutes, 2-4 shooting, 3 fouls, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 blocks, 0 steals.

Either we’re not getting him the ball, he’s excellent at not getting open, or he’s great at standing still and doing nothing.

He's the ideal 3&D backup at the 4, but shouldn't be starting at this level. Ditto, Carlton.

Our ideal starting lineup next year would have nobody who played significantly under the previous regime (I still maintain Vital is the ideal 6th man on a team of the caliber we aspire to be). We currently start 4 guys whose only college basketball experience is losing, giving up, and embarrassment. That's the problem -- we desperately need an infusion of talent and BBIQ, guys who haven't been tainted by the Ollie years.

 

[Chief00]

Did he ever really put the hours in the gym working on his shot & his game to make himself the best he could be though? .

No.

 

[Chief00]

Too often our passes are bailout passes rather than really setting up a teammate for a score ball. A bailout pass is when you try to take your man and fail then you pass it as a last resort rather than to create a scoring opportunity. There’s a big difference between catching a ball at your chest vs ankles - when transitioning into a shot.

 

[storrsroars]

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.

Gilbert is averaging 0.1 oreb per game. Vital 1.0. Adams 0.8. Seems AG just isn't interested in that facet of the game.

 

[polycom]

Gilbert is averaging 0.1 oreb per game. Vital 1.0. Adams 0.8. Seems AG just isn't interested in that facet of the game.

Gilbert might be 5 10...maybe

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We made our half of the court look very small with terrible spacing yesterday.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Gilbert is averaging 0.1 oreb per game. Vital 1.0. Adams 0.8. Seems AG just isn't interested in that facet of the game.

Gilbert has to rush back on D and give up and 1s when he’s trying to foul guys.

 

[mauconnfan]

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.

The guys handling it less and turning it over more not sure who would believe it to be better to get it in his hands more.

 

[huskyrob1]

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.

Not having Cobb in the game at all killed us, and in addition Adams and Carlton at the same time leading us on the court like Moms Mabely and Amida Brimah. The short pass going through Carlton's hands near the basket was vintage Brimah.

 

[Forte]

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.

It's getting so old people pointing to TALENT over and over and over again. The talent is not so low on this team that it should lead to embarrassing blow outs by NON ranked teams. What do people not get about this years Villinova team not being last years championship team.. Jay Wright himself admited it. Plus they played with out their best player, like some of the other important teams we lost to this year. Teams who don't have the name Duke do still win and keep respectable scores against "more talented teams." Apparently Penn States talent is so much better than ours? I mean who would want such low talent like Jalen Adams, Sidney Wilson, Gilbert, Polly on their team. Too bad Ollie couldn't have recruited like Furman. People play the talent card way too much on this board. 18-0 runs are not because of talent.

 

[Chief00]

The guys handling it less and turning it over more not sure who would believe it to be better to get it in his hands more.

I think they felt it was a way to get their best player engaged in the game from the start. But, I agree too bad they have to try to push buttons like that.

 

[hansonel-amin]

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.

I hope that Coach Hurley continues to give Sid more burn. He understands the game and spacing, and the quickness of his jump is extraordinary, which allows him to get rebounds, and to block shots, that are not expected. If he can start dropping his foul line jumper on a consistent basis, he will be difficult for others teams to handle.

 

[storrsroars]

Gilbert might be 5 10...maybe

Understood, but simple smart positioning should get him more than 0.1 per game, especially off missed 3pt attempts.

Looked for KEA's oreb stats, but guess they didn't keep that stat in 90s.

 

[J187Money]

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 landed in Mexico and checked the score. 36-35 us. Was excited. Got through immigration and it was 54-36. Like WTF.

 

[Hi-Low]

I landed in Mexico and checked the score. 36-35 us. Was excited. Got through immigration and it was 54-36. Like WTF.

19-0 run after Jay Wright Technical....you would think one of our shots would have accidentally gone in at least.

 

[auror]

Understood, but simple smart positioning should get him more than 0.1 per game, especially off missed 3pt attempts.

Looked for KEA's oreb stats, but guess they didn't keep that stat in 90s.

Nobody orebs with all 5 guys, even the teams that lead the country. Gilbert has a high steal rate, so it's not like he's not quick to the ball or putting in effort.

 

[Scrutineer]

Gilbert might be 5 10...maybe

People keep questioning his height, but If he's only 5'10", then Adams and Hurley are only 6' per the photos showing them standing next to each other.

Plus, we constantly hear coaches say "rebounding is about effort and understanding the game" so maybe height isn't all it's cracked up to be.

On another note, many are concerned about Gilbert driving into traffic in the lane. Apparently he did it a lot in high school and all-star games and got away with it or excelled at it so maybe old habits are hard to break. The video below shows him in an all-star game in December of his senior year. He could do it all and we can only hope as he regains confidence and adjusts to the college game he'll be the player we all looked forward to.

 

[joober jones]

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

Which is exactly why we need more minutes from Whaley. He's the best natural rebounder on the team.

 

[Chief00]

Which is exactly why we need more minutes from Whaley. He's the best natural rebounder on the team.

Chief just being brutally honest, I don’t think any Big on the roster this season is a Big Rotation answer for next year. Sure, we may prefer one guy over another, but are any answered for next season? IMO no.