Chief’s Briefs - Xavier Edition | The Boneyard

Chief’s Briefs - Xavier Edition

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Akok and Jackson added energy to the squad, giving the team a good boost from the mid point in the first half. Cole and Martin gave UConn consistent production throughout. Cole was the MVP as a 6th man and had a great scoring game as Gaffney ran the point more. I remember after a recent game Hurley said they win the last two season when Gaffney runs things. We moved the ball on offense better than we have all year.

We started the game with me wondering if
there is a non shooting virus circulating in CT?
We lost the battle of the early 3’s. Do we even have a scouting report? Scant evidence of it when we leave good 3 point shooters wide open. Whatever we are doubling to or hedging to help - it’s not worth it. Throughout the game they leveraged mismatches to take the ball to the basket and create open shots or fouls.

While Whaley had some nice blocks (I counted about 4) he continues to treat the ball like it’s a hot potato bobbling it throughout the game. Most of the time it wasn’t a turnover but impacted the play. He just doesn’t play under control. Even Sanogo did not demonstrate his usual good hands today.

Gaffney reverted to playing within himself today. Rather than shooting he threw a few rushed turnover destine passes. Why can’t he stay confident? He missed at least 2 layups. Even after a recent 20 point game? Chief is stumped on that.

Cole played great coming off the bench giving us much needed points. Cole was clearly our MVP as a 6 man in a big road win with 24 points and a half dozen assists. Polley I thought played well given recent expectations - but now he needs to raise the bar as Cole did today.

The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.

Late game foul shooting needs lots of work. No excuse for what happened in the last minute.
 
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The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.
Yes. Many posters have been saying that. Playing uptempo plays to the individual strengths of the players-these guys are athletic thoroughbreds, let them run. Also, I can guarantee you whenever the shot clock gets to below 10 seconds, UConn's PPP (point per possession) is most likely below 0.5. When a good makeable shot presents itself, take it, don't waste more time to take a much worse shot which is what happens a lot with this offense.
 
.-.
Just stop. Gaffney didn’t run anything today. Cole went for 24 points and 7 assists with the ball in his hands the whole way. This was a Bazz-level performance from RJ and Gaffney had nothing to do with that.
 
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Chief00 said:
Akok and Jackson added energy to the squad, giving the team a good boost from the mid point in the first half. Cole and Martin gave UConn consistent production throughout. Cole was the MVP as a 6th man and had a great scoring game as Gaffney ran the point more. I remember after a recent game Hurley said they win the last two season when Gaffney runs things.

We started the game with me wondering if
there is a non shooting virus circulating in CT?
We lost the battle of the early 3’s. Do we even have a scouting report? Scant evidence of it when we leave good 3 point shooters wide open. Whatever we are doubling to or hedging to help - it’s not worth it. Throughout the game they leveraged mismatches to take the ball to the basket and create open shots or fouls for them.

While Whaley had some nice blocks (I counted about 4) he continues to treat the ball like it’s a hot potato bobbling it throughout the game. Most of the time it wasn’t a turnover but impacted the play. He just doesn’t play under control. Even Sanogo did not demonstrate his usual good hands today.

Gaffney reverted to playing within himself today. Rather than shooting he threw a few rushed turnover destine passes. Why can’t he stay confident? He missed at least 2 layups. Even after a recent 20 point game? Chief is stumped on that.

Cole played great coming off the bench giving us much needed points. Cole was clearly our MVP as a 6 man in a big road win with 24 points and a half dozen assists. Polley I thought played well given recent expectations - but now he needs to raise the bar as Cole did today.

The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.

Late game foul shooting needs lots of work. No excuse for what happened in the last minute.
Expand ...
As we have discussed previously over the last couple of weeks- looks like Polley took our advice and actually pumped faked & drove it to the rim & even pumped fake & got an open 3- even when he doesn’t finish at the rim it just makes him harder to guard & overall makes the offense tougher to handle. Very pleased with Polley’s performance.
 
Chief00 said:
Akok and Jackson added energy to the squad, giving the team a good boost from the mid point in the first half. Cole and Martin gave UConn consistent production throughout. Cole was the MVP as a 6th man and had a great scoring game as Gaffney ran the point more. I remember after a recent game Hurley said they win the last two season when Gaffney runs things.

We started the game with me wondering if
there is a non shooting virus circulating in CT?
We lost the battle of the early 3’s. Do we even have a scouting report? Scant evidence of it when we leave good 3 point shooters wide open. Whatever we are doubling to or hedging to help - it’s not worth it. Throughout the game they leveraged mismatches to take the ball to the basket and create open shots or fouls for them.

While Whaley had some nice blocks (I counted about 4) he continues to treat the ball like it’s a hot potato bobbling it throughout the game. Most of the time it wasn’t a turnover but impacted the play. He just diesnt play under control. Even Sanogo did not demonstrate his usual good hands today.

Gaffney reverted to playing within himself today. Rather than shooting he threw a few rushed turnover destine passes. Why can’t he stay confident? He missed at least 2 layups. Even after a 20 point game? Even Chief is stumped on that.

Cole played great coming off the bench giving us much needed points. Cole was clearly our MVP as a 6 man in a big road win. Polley I thought played well as well given recent expectations - but now he needs to raise the bar as Cole did today.

The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.

Late game foul shooting needs lots of work. No excuse for what happened in the last minute.
Expand ...
I agree with you 98.5% on everything you say most times. Today is no different! But here's how I feel:

Gaffney, has one great game and most thought having him start over RJ was the way. RJ and Martin have been the most consistent over last 6 games. Gaffney was averaging less then 2 made shots a game b4 the last game. Only Adams stayed starting too long for me. Ijs
 
UconnFanDC said:
I agree with you 98.5% on everything you say most times. Today is no different! But here's how I feel:

Gaffney, has one great game and most thought having him start over RJ was the way. RJ and Martin have been the most consistent over last 6 games. Gaffney was averaging less then 2 made shots a game b4 the last game. Only Adams stayed starting too long for me. Ijs
Expand ...
I think with Gaffney being in there, what it allows Cole to do is key. Chief also thinks the ball movement should keep improving with Jackson establishing himself. He shot poorly today but can give us a lot of dimensions.
 
gsmooth said:
The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.
Yes. Many posters have been saying that. Playing uptempo plays to the individual strengths of the players-these guys are athletic thoroughbreds, let them run. Also, I can guarantee you whenever the shot clock gets to below 10 seconds, UConn's PPP (point per possession) is most likely below 0.5. When a good makeable shot presents itself, take it, don't waste more time to take a much worse shot which is what happens a lot with this offense.
Expand ...
I don’t know if we played all that much faster just much more decisively on offense. Didn’t turn down good looks.
 
Akok, Polley, and Cole were the answers today. Akok and AJacks just naturally push tempo and speed the game up for us. It helps everyone's game. Xavier had no answer because they expected us to slow it down and play half court.

Bouk needs to be back next game and we are back in business boys. A lineup of Bouk, AJacks, Polley, Akok is a scary talented group.

PS: Sanogo needs to be on the bench moving forward. He is a 15 minute guy not a starter yet. Whaley much better at the 5.

#PlayFast
 
.-.
Jbirdp5 said:
I don’t know if we played all that much faster just much more decisively on offense. Didn’t turn down good looks.
Expand ...
Which led to less late shot clock possessions but we still need progress there.
 
Gaffney second-guessing himself whenever he gets in the pain. If he can get out of his own head he would be a dramatically better player.
 
Huskymagic said:
Akok, Polley, and Cole were the answers today. Akok and AJacks just naturally push tempo and speed the game up for us. It helps everyone's game. Xavier had no answer because they expected us to slow it down and play half court.

Bouk needs to be back next game and we are back in business boys. A lineup of Bouk, AJacks, Polley, Akok is a scary talented group.

PS: Sanogo needs to be on the bench moving forward. He is a 15 minute guy not a starter yet. Whaley much better at the 5.

#PlayFast
Expand ...
“Do you believe in magic…“

No.
 
Was nice to see Polley being much more active than in previous games. Made a couple threes, and drove it in the lane a couple times. Although he didn't find much success driving, its still important for him to do that to keep defense more honest. Once bouk comes back, polley should have an easier time getting open looks.
 
some thoughts:

* we need shooting at the 4. noticeable difference when akok came in vs. the starting lineup (whaley/sanogo pairing). once whaley came back in he started taking that open 3 look they were giving him, we need that to open up the offense.

* we have no true point guard. cole is better as a sg. gaffney needs to do some soul searching on the bench. i think andre is our best option here as a true playmaker.

* our best lineup is andre/cole/martin/akok/sanogo. this provides playmaking from andre, shooting on the wings, scoring from sanogo down low. sub whaley for sanogo at the 5 for defense when needed.
 
Chief00 said:
Akok and Jackson added energy to the squad, giving the team a good boost from the mid point in the first half. Cole and Martin gave UConn consistent production throughout. Cole was the MVP as a 6th man and had a great scoring game as Gaffney ran the point more. I remember after a recent game Hurley said they win the last two season when Gaffney runs things. We moved the ball on offense better than we have all year.

We started the game with me wondering if
there is a non shooting virus circulating in CT?
We lost the battle of the early 3’s. Do we even have a scouting report? Scant evidence of it when we leave good 3 point shooters wide open. Whatever we are doubling to or hedging to help - it’s not worth it. Throughout the game they leveraged mismatches to take the ball to the basket and create open shots or fouls.

While Whaley had some nice blocks (I counted about 4) he continues to treat the ball like it’s a hot potato bobbling it throughout the game. Most of the time it wasn’t a turnover but impacted the play. He just doesn’t play under control. Even Sanogo did not demonstrate his usual good hands today.

Gaffney reverted to playing within himself today. Rather than shooting he threw a few rushed turnover destine passes. Why can’t he stay confident? He missed at least 2 layups. Even after a recent 20 point game? Chief is stumped on that.

Cole played great coming off the bench giving us much needed points. Cole was clearly our MVP as a 6 man in a big road win with 24 points and a half dozen assists. Polley I thought played well given recent expectations - but now he needs to raise the bar as Cole did today.

The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.

Late game foul shooting needs lots of work. No excuse for what happened in the last minute.
Expand ...
I don't understand the praise for Gaffney but the rest is fine. Gaffney looked lost all game. Cold did have 6 assists and should have had 7 or 8 if the big men could convert.
 
.-.
gsmooth said:
The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s.
Yes. Many posters have been saying that. Playing uptempo plays to the individual strengths of the players-these guys are athletic thoroughbreds, let them run. Also, I can guarantee you whenever the shot clock gets to below 10 seconds, UConn's PPP (point per possession) is most likely below 0.5. When a good makeable shot presents itself, take it, don't waste more time to take a much worse shot which is what happens a lot with this offense.
Expand ...
I can not agree with you more.
 
"The other lesson today is Hurley needs to lose the mindset we need to play slow in the 60’s. We can win in the mid to upper 70’s. - low 80’s."

Have to agree here. We have alot of depth and good defenders and athletes. A wide open game gives our athletes the opportunity to wear down opponents and less thinking than in a slow down game which our half court offense doesn't do very well. This was an exciting game. We did a pretty good job of containing their guards. That guy Johnson is a dead eye and Freemantle (sophomore) is some kind of talent. He's from Jersey too!
 
This should be the rotation moving forward, these are our best 8 and can integrate Bouknight back in slowly.

Our best minutes of this game were when we separated Sanogo and Whaley. Give them 20 each at the 5 and sprinkle in a few minutes of Whaley at the 4 if needed

Jackson looked decent, the talent is there and I hope Hurley keeps letting him play through the mistakes. Maybe a few too many 3's but just like Whaley he has to take them if the defense is going to play off him. We're a good rebounding team and need to keep the opponent from clogging the paint as much as possible
 
I liked the confidence Whaley showed after the first few minutes in terms of taking the open jumpers. Of course, he's going to be 50% at best with those -- but I take that all the time -- just have to keep the other team honest. If you can stretch the floor with 4 guys at a time, the offense is going to score 80+ like they did today. Whaley and also Akok being true stretch 4s opens everything up on offense and thus allows the defense to relax and be elite as we know it can be. Quite frankly having stretch 4s is the key to success for the entire team.
 
Kemba Time said:
Just stop. Gaffney didn’t run anything today. Cole went for 24 points and 7 assists with the ball in his hands the whole way. This was a Bazz-level performance from RJ and Gaffney had nothing to do with that.
Expand ...
Cole had less ball handling responsibilities and that by itself made him more scoring minded. Gaffney helps in that way. Who else can do that?
 
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