Chief’s Briefs - WSU Edition

[Chief00]

Another road game we let slip away. Quite frankly, 2 points in the first 6 minutes. The experiment of having Vital come off the bench is not working. At lot of runs since then but when you add it all up that was a negative that we did not completely overcome.

There is a God and proof is we shot this poorly and were up by 7 with 5 minutes left in the first half because WSU shot worse and did not warm up. Good defense or poor offense by WSU, whatever they shot poorly.

One would think a point of emphasis since the Gilbert injury would be that Bigs would call out screens. It appears Josh failed to do that and Smith took a hit.

The offense looks very hurried and disorganized. Guys are trying to do too much themselves and the ball movement is poor.

Chief thought B Adams showed some solid flashes as did Polley and Gilbert. Cobb was a disappointment.

While Gilbert did a decent job pushing the ball, he did over penetrated at times and rushed at other times when he should have calmed things down. He’s our best player and we will go as he does. He had some great plays and shots at the end but not enough. Second game in a row he crammed up. More fluids?

I thought relatively speaking Josh made an attempt on several occasions to finish stronger around the basket. Having said that the big kid on WSU gave us problems on both ends of the court. McDuffie started slow but made some big plays late.

 

[TRest]

Even chief is bored with his schtick.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Next year,UConn wins this game.

Things I liked with the perspective that everything happening now is a building block for next year.

AG absolutely sealing the deal of him being the heart, head and soul of the team.

Josh making several post moves where he maintained his verticality and avoided charges or hooking offensive fouls.

Brandon Adams hitting 3's. Teams are slacking off of him until he shows he can make them.

Defense first ten minutes of game. Offense was horrid with 5 points but team played tough and held Shockers to 12 points. That is a sign of coaches getting through to players.

There was a rotation where BA, Sid and Vital were switching off defenders and preventing WSU from getting everything going. That was a lanky defensive alignment that took an offense completely out of it's rythym.

Josh fighting that mountain of a center. Didn't always win but he fought.

 

[uchusky32]

Really poor defensive set and or execution at the end. This team finds ways to lose.

 

[Bonk]

Our players play like losers

 

[djct1999]

Let's be brief. This team is both unlucky and flat out bad.

 

[mussels]

Josh was key on both of Alterique's late three's. First was the offensive rebound off Alterique's miss then a good pass back out to him. Second one was set up on a Josh pick.

 

[ASweet3781]

Next year,UConn wins this game.

Things I liked with the perspective that everything happening now is a building block for next year.

AG absolutely sealing the deal of him being the heart, head and soul of the team.

Josh making several post moves where he maintained his verticality and avoided charges or hooking offensive fouls.

Brandon Adams hitting 3's. Teams are slacking off of him until he shows he can make them.

Defense first ten minutes of game. Offense was horrid with 5 points but team played tough and held Shockers to 12 points. That is a sign of coaches getting through to players.

There was a rotation where BA, Sid and Vital were switching off defenders and preventing WSU from getting everything going. That was a lanky defensive alignment that took an offense completely out of it's rythym.

Josh fighting that mountain of a center. Didn't always win but he fought.

These players have shown no ability to win basketball games at this level or even make it through a full college basketball season physically or mentally.

These players deserve nothing but skepticism until they figure out how to win games.

 

[ucawn]

This team has been close to winning their last 5 games except SMU. Only players we’ll lose that played in those is Cobb and Smith. These players plus the incoming class should be able to win all these close games we’ve lost. We should be pretty good next year. Hurley always does way better his 2nd season too

 

[Bonk]

Let's be brief. This team is both unlucky and flat out bad.

I need someone to explain to me this whole “unlucky” narrative. I’m very confused. Personally I think we lost this game because we were bad. We had a 10 point lead at one point, we didn’t rebound well, had some ugly turnovers. Just because WSU hit a tough, semi lucky shot at the end doesn’t mean UConn was unlucky. If you’re not good enough to put away bad teams you leave the door open for these tough losses

 

[imno1]

Really poor defensive set and or execution at the end. This team finds ways to lose.

I’ve seen this so many times. You got to pick up the ballhandler and make him work the whole way down. I actually thought he was going to have an open lane to the basket.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Our players play like losers

You and the two guys who liked this, a three-legged stool. No, three stool samples.

The kids looked sad that they'd lost this time. First time I've seen that. At some point it'll turn over. But you guys probably won't.

 

[Chief00]

Even chief is bored with his schtick.

It was a tough game to like other than the excitement at the end. As Chief has said all season we need more talent. There’s only so much to say when too many guys lack talent. I am not going to beat them up for that fact. Over-all they have played hard and competed this season, we have a talent deficit and Chief can’t analyze our way out of that.

 

[Bonk]

You and the two guys who liked this, a three-legged stool. No, three stool samples.

The kids looked sad that they'd lost this time. First time I've seen that. At some point it'll turn over. But you guys probably won't.

Lmao wut...

 

[mussels]

I’ve seen this so many times. You got to pick up the ballhandler and make him work the whole way down. I actually thought he was going to have an open lane to the basket.

Of course if you foul, that's the game. It wasn't like the guy had a high percentage shot.

 

[Tuna]

I need someone to explain to me this whole “unlucky” narrative. /QUOTE]
They’ve been without Gilbert or Adams or both for the last 8 games.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It's nearing end of a season and I'm more interested looking forward.

Most players have played like losers because the past few years they've been led by coaches and players who weren't all in mentally or physically (Did I dance around calling players and coaches losers?).

In the genre of Jimmy's and Joe's over X's and O's, gimme Hurley as a coach and AG with the ball and the same supporting cast starts winning.

 

[DAC17]

Very simply...another road game.

 

[dannyHAM]

I finally saw Carlton dunk a ball which was exciting. Other than that I thought Polley did a great job guarding McDuffie in the first half, and I thought wilson/adams had some bright spots. Alterique has the potential to be something special for us. Just has the clutch gene.

 

[mussels]

They didn't "play like loser's" they gave it everything they had, and they lost a game on the road without their best player.

Maybe it was Carlton's fault for not growing two inches and putting on 20 pounds of muscle before the game.

 

[HanDurley]

Tarin Smith's decision making on fast breaks never cease to amaze me, my god.

 

[JB75]

Even tho AG gives me a heart attack every time he gets bumped, he is easily my favorite player since bazz/boat. Adams played well , vital was horrible , Smith was beyond horrible. Everyone else - “blah” One question - how come can we can’t get a big white dummy like that dude Miitgaard from Wichita State ? just someone to be something of a presence down low - are guys like that that hard to find? don’t understand it. Not even mad about the loss - I’m numb to it by now - let’s get all this out of our system this year - next year it on and popping!!!

 

[SwingDog]

Of course if you foul, that's the game. It wasn't like the guy had a high percentage shot.

I think the Huskies did the best they could under those circumstances. With 6.4 seconds on the clock, there was plenty of time for Wichita State to get the ball down the floor and get a decent shot. I agree, it was not a high percentage shot and it was not uncontested. UConn made the Shockers take a tough shot. Sometimes those shots fall, what can you do. Ideally, UConn would not have been in the position where they had to fight tooth and nail to close a 6 point gap in the last minute, but that's the way it went. In the not too distant future, I think they start winning these close ones, but give Wichita State credit- they made some adjustments when UConn had the upper hand and played hard and ended up getting the win.

 

[Caronimo]

Deflating loss. I feel like Tom Brady’s football.

 

[Chief00]

Back to the recruiting grind tomorrow - and Ray Allen Gampel game on Sunday. A busy weekend for Chief.