Chief’s Briefs - Villanova Edition

[Chief00]

Agree with almost all Chief, very well said.

Will disagree on Silas he was really good and when he’s not playing, we aren’t the same team or close. He makes big plays and I trust in him down the stretch as much, if not more, than anyone on this team. Need more of Silas, thought he could take his guy at will yesterday although his aggressiveness is based on his foul situation. The way he’s improved on his decision making is amazing to me.

Mullins was being held, groped and assaulted off the ball (as was everyone else) but they didn’t call fouls on anyone in the first half which I felt was a disadvantage to UConn yet again. The head shot to Braylon was not intentional and was unfortunate. He will be out a while so we need people to step up in a big way for a week or 2.

Tarris is a bit concerning, he’s leveled out. He has no explosion to the rim, he’s not boxing out at all which helped Brennan have a banner day. Also he’s too slow to develop his move, if he dribbles more than once and certainly more than twice, he needs to pass the ball. In his defense he threw a couple of very nice passes.

Also agree on screens, we don’t hold on to screens long enough often, releasing too early so our guards can’t deflect their defender off. Need to stay strong and make the defenders make decisions in the roll.

Overall can’t be unhappy they’re finding ways to win. The defense has been very solid and once again, UConn is tough to score on. But the offense is stagnant too often and it will be a bit worse with Braylon not in the lineup for a while. Alex can’t wait 31 minutes to wake up and we need Solo to be that guy we saw yesterday, more consistently.

As you said Stew and Ross came up big defensively at some point each. But now they need to score a little. Will be interesting as long as Braylon is out.

Good summary, I meant to praise Demary but thought Demary led us the prior game but felt Alex led us late this game. My comment below:
“Demary continues playing pretty good with 10 points and 7 assists. He did not lead us today to victory, Alex did but nevertheless Silas plays a key role.”
Also, I wonder if Reed is still fighting off an injury? You are right his footwork isn’t as quick as early in the year.

 

[Excalibur]

I don’t think they called a foul on Lewis think they just called it out of bounds on him, which was the right call?

There was no foul (or call) on the play. He reached, and hit his shoulder. I broke my nose doing the same thing in high school.

 

[mauconnfan]

There was no foul (or call) on the play. He reached, and hit his shoulder. I broke my nose doing the same thing in high school.

Agree just playing basketball it happens.

 

[Ricker]

Just a couple thoughts. Expressing them is a form of therapy.

1. Overall turnovers haven't been terrible, but somebody has to see that Tarris shouldn't start his moves to the basket from 15ft away. His success rate is about 20% and turnover rate about 60%. If he has to dribble 3-4x nothing good is going to happen. Either stop giving him the ball that far out or kick him in the ass to pass out and reset lower. Tarris with 4-5 turnovers in games is not helpful.

2. Inbounding the ball under pressure after a made basket late in games is cringeworthy. I personally would rather have a big target like Alex catching the pass than throwing it in. He'll make the next pass or hit the foul shots. Catching, being double teamed into a corner and needing to make a hero pass doesn't seem like a great tactic even when it works.

3. What has happened to Malachi Smith? In the big games he was a totally reliable starter worthy player. Now he is a shadow of that player and foul shooting is a turnover. The ball gets bruised he holds the dribble so long. Are we really coaching him to run the point that way?

4. Reibe is so much more than I hoped for, yet 12 for 26 from the line kills his usefulness closing out games. Is his foul shooting really that bad or is it just getting to the line infrequently and not getting a rhythm. There are bad matchups for him, but in general I'm very comfortable with him in the game. My impression, (possibly wrong), is that a lot of his minutes are platooning with Malachi at the point and the ball not moving. I think he does much better playing with the starters.

5. I still have some hope that Furphy could help offensively in Mullins absence but doubt that will happen.

Lastly, are we ever going to play something better than our B- game?
On paper I thought we were a team with offensive punch. Not so much in reality.

 

[Chief00]

Just a couple thoughts. Expressing them is a form of therapy.

1. Overall turnovers haven't been terrible, but somebody has to see that Tarris shouldn't start his moves to the basket from 15ft away. His success rate is about 20% and turnover rate about 60%. If he has to dribble 3-4x nothing good is going to happen. Either stop giving him the ball that far out or kick him in the ass to pass out and reset lower. Tarris with 4-5 turnovers in games is not helpful.

2. Inbounding the ball under pressure after a made basket late in games is cringeworthy. I personally would rather have a big target like Alex catching the pass than throwing it in. He'll make the next pass or hit the foul shots. Catching, being double teamed into a corner and needing to make a hero pass doesn't seem like a great tactic even when it works.

3. What has happened to Malachi Smith? In the big games he was a totally reliable starter worthy player. Now he is a shadow of that player and foul shooting is a turnover. The ball gets bruised he holds the dribble so long. Are we really coaching him to run the point that way?

4. Reibe is so much more than I hoped for, yet 12 for 26 from the line kills his usefulness closing out games. Is his foul shooting really that bad or is it just getting to the line infrequently and not getting a rhythm. There are bad matchups for him, but in general I'm very comfortable with him in the game. My impression, (possibly wrong), is that a lot of his minutes are platooning with Malachi at the point and the ball not moving. I think he does much better playing with the starters.

5. I still have some hope that Furphy could help offensively in Mullins absence but doubt that will happen.

Lastly, are we ever going to play something better than our B- game?
On paper I thought we were a team with offensive punch. Not so much in reality.

Thoughtful comments. Looking at Reibe’s shot mechanics, he should have much better FT results. My suggestion is not complicated, since his form is pretty good - more repetition taking shots in the gym.

 

[Chief00]

Just a couple thoughts. Expressing them is a form of therapy.

1. Overall turnovers haven't been terrible, but somebody has to see that Tarris shouldn't start his moves to the basket from 15ft away. His success rate is about 20% and turnover rate about 60%. If he has to dribble 3-4x nothing good is going to happen. Either stop giving him the ball that far out or kick him in the ass to pass out and reset lower. Tarris with 4-5 turnovers in games is not helpful.

2. Inbounding the ball under pressure after a made basket late in games is cringeworthy. I personally would rather have a big target like Alex catching the pass than throwing it in. He'll make the next pass or hit the foul shots. Catching, being double teamed into a corner and needing to make a hero pass doesn't seem like a great tactic even when it works.

3. What has happened to Malachi Smith? In the big games he was a totally reliable starter worthy player. Now he is a shadow of that player and foul shooting is a turnover. The ball gets bruised he holds the dribble so long. Are we really coaching him to run the point that way?

4. Reibe is so much more than I hoped for, yet 12 for 26 from the line kills his usefulness closing out games. Is his foul shooting really that bad or is it just getting to the line infrequently and not getting a rhythm. There are bad matchups for him, but in general I'm very comfortable with him in the game. My impression, (possibly wrong), is that a lot of his minutes are platooning with Malachi at the point and the ball not moving. I think he does much better playing with the starters.

5. I still have some hope that Furphy could help offensively in Mullins absence but doubt that will happen.

Lastly, are we ever going to play something better than our B- game?
On paper I thought we were a team with offensive punch. Not so much in reality.

What interesting about Smith is he’s a career 70% foul shooter - not great for a point guard but better than the 53% he is this year.

 

[HooperScooper]

What interesting about Smith is he’s a career 70% foul shooter - not great for a point guard but better than the 53% he is this year.

Yeah I brought that up also a couple weeks ago. He shot 70% or better all 3 years at Dayton. Currently 52.9% this season. Strange.

 

[Chief00]

Yeah I brought that up also a couple weeks ago. He shot 70% or better all 3 years at Dayton. Currently 52.9% this season. Strange.

He is 18 for 34 from FT this season. To be 70.5%, he would need to be 24 for 34. So I am talking about different outcomes on 6 shots. But, this year is definitely an illustration why 6 shots can matter, especially when your opponent might intentionally foul a 53% PG when behind. Obviously, by late January it is probably impacting his minutes too. Along with 34% FG.