Chief00’s Briefs - Nova Edition

[Chief00]

same people making the same mistakes, nobody benefits from this

listened to the game on XM as we headed to Boston to watch Kemba sit. Nova announcers, they couldn't get over how BAD Gilbert's turnover was with under one minute left

I obviously didn't see the play, but they did, and they had to mention how bad it was at least 5 times

I'm thinking, just another day at the office

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot like Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for repeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caught up in it too.

 

[selles]

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot line Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for reipeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caugh up in it too.

Kind of a delicate balance for Hurley though, isn't it Chief? If he harps too much on turnovers we'll spend entire possessions passing the ball on the perimeter and launch garbage threes with the shot clock running down.

Not generally a huge Elmore fan but I thought he made an astute point that our offense stagnated when we spent too much time moving horizontally on the perimeter. That hurts us just as much as turnovers.

Quite frankly, turnovers may be a cost of doing business with this particular squad.

 

[djct1999]

A quick start, then 4 dead minutes at the end of the half followed by a good jump out of the gate in the second half. Later Villanova went to a zone and that challenged our weakness - hitting outside shots.

The three themes that killed us were allowing open threes after collapsing the defense, poor outside shooting and offensive turnovers. I thought we rebounded and blocked shots well.

Josh looked more fluid today - perhaps his haircut helped? Gilbert played better but CV took over the turnover machine. First half story was 10 UConn turnovers and 5 assists. Our senior guard Vital had 4 turnovers himself. Villanova was 6 for 11 from the 3 point line while UConn shot 16%. The last 4 minutes of the first half was a black hole.

Bouknight wasn’t strong with the ball. We also missed Akok numerous times when he beat his man down court.

Samuels and Gillespie killed us the second half along with good foul shooting. They are more polish and poised than our players. Turnovers consistently take us out of the game at critical times.

We battled hard but mentally did not execute. You can’t often beat good teams with 17 turnovers. We need shooters. Another missed opportunity.

I suppose Hurley will say this is year 2 of a rebuilt - being competitive against a good team but lose late in the game. However, we need to start actually winning games.

Watching yesterday made me nostalgic as hell. Damn, I miss Ben Gordon and Rashad Anderson. Remember the days we had guys drain threes?

 

[HuskyHawk]

One can only conclude, whatever Danny is doing to create accountability for turnovers, it’s not enough. It’s not hitting home and creating an impression. Ball security isn’t something the players seem to be concerned about. As has been mentioned, I think there is some relationship with having bad shooters, teams overplaying the passing lanes and our guys unconsciously figuring - why bother looking for the perfect open shot line Villanova does, when the guy will miss it anyways. But, so much of it is people performing a dysfunctional behavior they don’t seem to be held adequately accountable for reipeating and to them it becomes the acceptable norm. That’s why seniors do it more than freshmen but let’s not fool ourselves, the freshman our caugh up in it too.

It is clearly a problem and I hate when our guys dribble into crowds and get stripped. But there was a good pass to Bouk, which he fumbled away. A good pass from Bouk to Akok which he missed.There were more and several like that last week too. AG made a great pass to Carlton and it went through his hands and hit him in the face. There was a lob where the target didn’t jump.

What that tells me is that we still aren’t a good TEAM, the guys don’t always see what the other guys see. The connections aren’t there. Is it all on the guards? I’m pretty sure a significant chunk of our blown passes are because the target wasn’t paying attention or wasn’t ready. I had hoped we’d start to become a more functional team and for parts of the last two games we were, playing well enough to win against ranked teams. But late in games we seem to revert to old habits.

 

[businesslawyer]

Looked like Gilbert was forced to take some late in shot clock 3s because of lack of half court offense and good Nova D. It's not like we're creating or taking many kickout open 3s

1000 times this. Early in the season, Gilbert was hoisting up poor shots early in the shot clock and was deserving of the criticism of this board and others. Yesterday, his forced shots were at the end of the possession where somebody was going to have to take a low percentage shot. He played an outstanding two way game yesterday, unfortunately marred by a huge and totally unnecessary mental mistake that really hurt us.

 

[imno1]

Looked like Gilbert was forced to take some late in shot clock 3s because of lack of half court offense and good Nova D. It's not like we're creating or taking many kickout open 3s

Villanova definitely has better shooters but they also get the ball in better scoring position than our team. UConn is not a good 3 pt shooting team but we do ourselves no favors with the shots we do take.

 

[billybud]

UConn shot 49% field goals to Nova's 38.8%

Had 35 rebounds to Nova's 23...

Had 6 blocks to Nova's 3

BUT....

Nova hit 48% of their three pointers to UConn's 13%.

Nova had 16 FT's to UConn's 3 (just 3?)

Nova had 9 steals to UConn's 1

Three pointers, free throws, and TO's allowed Nova to pull ahead.

 

[cohenzone]

Great summary! UConn definitely missing a knock-down shooter but also missing that player willing to run around through multiple screens without the ball to get open. Villanova moves the ball well on perimeter and hits from outside.
Even though we were owning the lane we were trading 2's for 3's.

Actually, Vital was doing a lot of that. I was watching him. The ball movement has to be aware of it. Nobody on the team is Richard Hamilton, one of the game’s best at moving without the ball, but CV was kind of knocking himself out.

The constant in our close losses to good teams has been a lack of poise leading to bad decisions. This team is so much more watchable than it was two and three years ago. I’d love to see our younger guys settle a bit more into what they do best and just play the game. Too much “should I do this” right now. I’m also in the ancient camp that kids should learn the pull up 10-15 footer that makes them harder to defend. But it ain’t as sexy as a dunk, reverse lay up or three pointer. Rip Hamilton made a career off the pull up and KEA used it to his advantage as a smaller guard.

 

[billybud]

Re those pull up jump shots....I wonder if the size of opponent's guards have any impact.

I noticed Nova's guards range 5'11, 6'0, 6'1...and to a 6'3 and 6'4. Would seem that you could get off a jumper or two.

Some teams are going with taller guards...could impact opponents jumpers.

FSU, for instance, has a 6'7, 6'6, and three 6'5 guards.

Michigan can put their 6'9, 6'7, and 6'6 guards out for a big lineup.

 

[Chief00]

Kind of a delicate balance for Hurley though, isn't it Chief? If he harps too much on turnovers we'll spend entire possessions passing the ball on the perimeter and launch garbage threes with the shot clock running down.

Not generally a huge Elmore fan but I thought he made an astute point that our offense stagnated when we spent too much time moving horizontally on the perimeter. That hurts us just as much as turnovers.

Quite frankly, turnovers may be a cost of doing business with this particular squad.

Chief doesn’t accept that level of turnovers. You could make some arguments as a running team that a few turnovers are healthy. Cousy use to say early in the game he would be a little aggressive putting the ball where the guys filling the lanes should be if they are running hard. That way they would run hard the rest of the game. This team doesn’t have that level of sophistication. But, most of our turnovers are in the half court offense anyways.
I do agree with the horizontal offense comment. It’s especially non productive when you lack shooters. We must of been doing some things right though or else the game wouldn’t have been so close.

 

[Chief00]

1000 times this. Early in the season, Gilbert was hoisting up poor shots early in the shot clock and was deserving of the criticism of this board and others. Yesterday, his forced shots were at the end of the possession where somebody was going to have to take a low percentage shot. He played an outstanding two way game yesterday, unfortunately marred by a huge and totally unnecessary mental mistake that really hurt us.

So that begs the question what the heck are we doing in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock? The horizontal weave for a team that can’t hit threes is useless. It’s like driving circular around a traffic circle for 25 seconds and then taking a hard turn with a few seconds left, no matter your location. That doesn’t take you to your destination - a made shot.

 

[Chief00]

Re those pull up jump shots....I wonder if the size of opponent's guards have any impact.

I noticed Nova's guards range 5'11, 6'0, 6'1...and to a 6'3 and 6'4. Would seem that you could get off a jumper or two.

Some teams are going with taller guards...could impact opponents jumpers.

FSU, for instance, has a 6'7, 6'6, and three 6'5 guards.

Michigan can put their 6'9, 6'7, and 6'6 guards out for a big lineup.

Ironically, the 3 point shot has highlighted the importance of taller guards on both ends of the court.

 

[Hankster]

Calhoun always said Wright teaches his players to phony flop

Going to Nova Uconn games in Philly from the Okafor days on,I made several comments that Wright was going to be a very good coach. I don't know about the flops. I always thought Coach K was the master teacher of that. LOL I am trying to think what player it was some years ago who took a flop but the offensive player was like 2 feet from him. He went to Duke. A guard. I am still laughing.

 

[Kemba Time]

Chief doesn’t accept that level of turnovers. You could make some arguments as a running team that a few turnovers are healthy. Cousy use to say early in the game he would be a little aggressive putting the ball where the guys filling the lanes should be if they are running hard. That way they would run hard the rest of the game. This team doesn’t have that level of sophistication. But, most of our turnovers are in the half court offense anyways.

Alterique is not in the top 200 in the country in most turnovers per game this year and his TO numbers are in line with Bazz, Boat, Kemba and basically any other recent primary ballhandler UConn has had. The idea that he is some sort of turnover machine with poor ball security is mostly a false narrative created be a few costly moments in key spots and an incorrect segment of the fan base that seems to have a need to scapegoat the only player on this team capable of initiating the offense.

 

[Chief00]

Going to Nova Uconn games in Philly from the Okafor days on,I made several comments that Wright was going to be a very good coach. I don't know about the flops. I always thought Coach K was the master teacher of that. LOL I am trying to think what player it was some years ago who took a flop but the offensive player was like 2 feet from him. He went to Duke. A guard. I am still laughing.

I agree Duke does the phony flop too. But, Jim had Wright tagged with that label. May go back to some contentiousness of Jay spreading health rumors about Jim with recruits? From what I have been told they made up and cleared the air on all that and now if not friends are cordial to each other. While Jim taught how to take a real charge, he did not believe in teaching the phony flop. It went against his belief in toughness and did not think there was a part in the men’s game for the phony flop.

 

[Chief00]

Alterique is not in the top 200 in the country in most turnovers per game this year and his TO numbers are in line with Bazz, Boat, Kemba and basically any other recent primary ballhandler UConn has had. The idea that he is some sort of turnover machine with poor ball security is mostly a false narrative created be a few costly moments in key spots and an incorrect segment of the fan base that seems to have a need to scapegoat the only player on this team capable of initiating the offense.

In Chief00’s OP post in this thread Chief said:
“ Gilbert played better but CV took over the turnover machine.” So how is that scapegoating Gilbert for the Villanova loss? The context of that comment was in the prior game against WSU, turnovers were: Gilbert (5) to Vital (2). For the season, Vital (42), Carlton (44) and Gilbert (45) lead the team in turnovers. I agree Vital is worse because he has less assists (44) to Gilbert’s (81). Neither has above a 2.0 assist to turnover ratio, which you want to see in a senior guard.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

How do you watch that game and come away from it saying Gillespie sucks? What game were you watching? I’m not saying he’s an all American or anything like that but he’s a poised, strong upperclassmen leader who can stroke it. He doesn’t make boneheaded mistakes and sets his team up for success. He’s certainly a player I’d take, kinda kid that doesn’t seem to get rattled. Weird take especially when comparing him to the play of our guards.

If he was UConn player he would foul out. The kid loves to push off and apparently that’s allowed in Philly.

 

[alphasigko]

Sid was a non-factor during most of his time on the court and his defense is awful at best.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

If you can't finish the job and win the game, which is ultimately the goal, you stink.

Actually, if you can't or don't win, you lose.
"Stink" is what phrases like this put out.
That's your unforced error.
But it's correctible.

May coaches, players, and fans all improve.

 

[Martin]

Jermaine samuels has been a 24% 3pt shooter all season him going 4/6 today definitely didn’t help

This seems to happen too often the gods of basketball must be mad at us

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Didn't get a chance to watch the game yesterday, just watched it now.

So that begs the question what the heck are we doing in the first 25 seconds of the shot clock? The horizontal weave for a team that can’t hit threes is useless.

Good question. When we had the lead with about 6 minutes left the offense became much more stagnant, running too much clock before seriously looking to score. At that point if your first effort doesn't succeed, there's no time to go to second or third options, or to reset completely. You're stuck with hoisting threes from areas you don't want to by players you don't want shooting threes.

On the other hand, after looking at the game there's a fair amount to be more optimistic about. Obviously having Polley on the floor for the shooting would be nice. That's out. But Carlton inside was much improved, showing rolling hooks with both hands successfully. When the offense was run aggressively they got good shots much of the time. Gilbert made some shots, including floaters and finishing layups inside.

On the down side, the turnovers remain a problem. Also, all drivers, if they look to pass at all, look to pass inside only. There are no kickouts as the D collapses to the drive. And it seemed to me that a lot of the stagnation occurs when Carlton is use for the screening on the weave. He isn't quick enough rolling to the hoop to make the D respect that, and they don't have to account for him at the three point line. That needs to change.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Alterique is not in the top 200 in the country in most turnovers per game this year and his TO numbers are in line with Bazz, Boat, Kemba and basically any other recent primary ballhandler UConn has had. The idea that he is some sort of turnover machine with poor ball security is mostly a false narrative created be a few costly moments in key spots and an incorrect segment of the fan base that seems to have a need to scapegoat the only player on this team capable of initiating the offense.

So while the overall amount of turnovers isn’t bad, as you mentioned, the timing of them is devastating. He singlehandedly cost them the Wichita State game with horrible turnovers, fouls and bad shots late in that game. Some of his poor shots don’t count as turnovers but they essentially are. Whether it’s a byproduct of not having a go to guy or just trying to force it too much, the results late in games have been brutal.

 

[tentoes4rings]

It is clearly a problem and I hate when our guys dribble into crowds and get stripped. But there was a good pass to Bouk, which he fumbled away. A good pass from Bouk to Akok which he missed.There were more and several like that last week too. AG made a great pass to Carlton and it went through his hands and hit him in the face. There was a lob where the target didn’t jump.

What that tells me is that we still aren’t a good TEAM, the guys don’t always see what the other guys see. The connections aren’t there. Is it all on the guards? I’m pretty sure a significant chunk of our blown passes are because the target wasn’t paying attention or wasn’t ready. I had hoped we’d start to become a more functional team and for parts of the last two games we were, playing well enough to win against ranked teams. But late in games we seem to revert to old habits.

The point about guys not being on the same page is a very good talking point. That’s what I noticed at the Wichita State game, guys not being on the same page. Gilbert made two or three close range bullet passes that weren’t handled. They weren’t bad passes if the guy was expecting it or had the hands (Carlton) to catch it. There seems to be 4-5 passes each game where the passer and recipient aren’t on the same page, resulting in a careless turnover. This needs to be cleaned up soon to beat any decent teams.

 

[Chief00]

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Joe Piscarcik fumble bad.

Not THAT bad, but notably/shockingly so in context.
The situation required no errors, and this one was not just an unforced error but consciously chosen.
It seemed so ill-conceived that I don't think the average Boneyarder would have been wowed if it had worked.
And it really wasn't consistent with the rest of the game, but rather like some that we've seen & wish not to see.