Chief's Briefs - BYU Edition

[Chief00]

Give BYU credit but we did not seize the opportunities in the second half. Demary made some key plays late for the win.

Tonight, Karaban looked very relax with good body balance on his shot. No leaning forward or backwards. When Alex has this approach he is a very valuable weapon. We needed to look for him more tonight. He won the game for us. Reed also shot well with a high FG% but needs to improve his foul shooting.

Our defense was generally very good until
Our late collapse and took our opponent’s best player out of the game. Reed still needs to not to chase guards with the ball. Additionally, we allowed too many offensive rebounds. Twice as many as we had. Not enought boxing out.

Demary is a great team guy, creates environment of unselfish ball sharing yielding 3x’s the assists as the opposing teams. We really missed Mullins with Ball having a subpar game.

Ross played good defense and had some good dunks.

We got screwed by the refs the second half and we imploded. With Mullins injuried we don’t have enough of offensive answers if one of our Big 3 has an off game.

Only once we ran a good play to make them pay for pressing. We need to do much better than that from a coaching and player perspective. Also not sure why we put the ball in Smith’s hand when they were likely to foul.

Next!

 

[CL82]

In some ways, last night to win was the best possible result for us. The team learned that you can never take your foot off the gas against other top teams. And you definitely can't let players like Dybantsa get comfortable. It seems like there was a moment in the second half when Stewart fell leaving Dybantsa wide open for a shot. He made it and from that point forward, began to take over the game. Something as simple as that change the tide of that game. The good news is that we had an opportunity to learn those lesson without losing the game.

I love the fact that Alex seemed comfortable taking big shot after big shot, and driving the lane, etc... This is the Alex Karaban that we all thought we would get last year. I wonder what this game will do for his confidence and game presence on a go forward basis. AK is one of those kids you can't help but cheer for. I hope he has an outstanding season!

Reed looked terrific! We are going to need him to be this good every game if we want to have the type of season we think is possible. Interesting in the post game pressor that Hurley said that Reed is only at "80%." I look forward to seeing what he looks like at 100%, because he looked pretty darn dominant last night.

These are two excellent teams and we may well see them again in the tournament. It will be interesting how each team adapts. There's no doubt in my mind that we will be a better team by then, especially with Mullins back, but I'm pretty confident they will be as well.

The schedule Hurley is put together this year is an insane gauntlet. Hopefully we will come out of it battle hardened.

I would have posted this last night, butI looked for the Briefs after the game but did not see them. It's weird they must've gotten bumped down or something. Like the Bizlaw's the View firm 241, I always appreciate the time you sink into these posts in the discussion that they generate.

 

[temery]

I would have posted this last night, butI looked for the Briefs after the game but did not see them. It's weird they must've gotten bumped down or something.

All threads for a couple hours after a game ends will be merged into the post game thread. It makes things easier to moderate, makes the board easier to read.

 

[OwenMoney]

Overall we did not play “generally very good” defense last night.

-We gave up 84 points.
-they shot 49% from the floor.
-they had 10 offensive rebounds and out rebounded us overall. This will make Danny insane.
- we didn’t protect the rim late. Few offensive charges, poor help rotation, few blocks. Reed is not a rim protector in the UConn big man tradition. He can get better.

A lot to work on but a great learning experience.

 

[Palatine]

In his short time on the court, Reibe didn't seem comfortable --but he didn't look our of place either. If he can spell Reed and get accustomed to the pace and intensity of these bigger games, he should grow a lot this year.

 

[Jaydumo20]

In his short time on the court, Reibe didn't seem comfortable --but he didn't look our of place either. If he can spell Reed and get accustomed to the pace and intensity of these bigger games, he should grow a lot this year.

Well said. And thx @Chief00
It takes time to get comfortable. Smith and Stew still need to find their footing. But they will play. Smith is still a dog.
Also, anyone saying anything about J Ross other than his fouls is probably still hanging on to a year old gripe. Give it a rest. The kids good

 

[Old Man UConn]

learning while winning is not the worse thing. Seem to let down in the last 1`0 minutes when BYU made free throws which led the team to play tentatively. It can easier chasing down a team then putting them away. The amounts fouls called against UCONN allows the opponent to score. Hurley could use a zone for certain situations like this. Break up the opponents rythme.
good win for this group to learn to play in close games. This is a very new team.
NEXT

 

[Old Man UConn]

Spend today working on free throws, Ross is becoming a very good player off the bench. Stewart is starting to worry me. GOOD win when tourney seedings become important

 

[Hurleyman216]

I said this in the chat but I was surprised at how much a few of the BYU players were able to push off and create space for themselves on offense. Saunders and Dybansta did it at will. I’m not sure why it was being allowed, I feel like every other season those would be charge calls. Without some of these plays the clearest one being when Dybansta charged through one of defenders, traveled then threw up a shot well after the “foul” which went in and was counted. There were a few similar plays (missed travel and goaltending all on one play). This felt more like an 10-12 point more comfortable win. Give BYU credit, they battled back, but the game was not nearly as close as the final score. We were by far the better team. I thought we also stopped going into Reed. BYU did a better job of denying him in the 2nd half, but when that happens we need to make the other team pay by hitting 3’s or driving if Reed is double teamed. Learning experiences for our team.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Overall we did not play “generally very good” defense last night.

-We gave up 84 points.
-they shot 49% from the floor.
-they had 10 offensive rebounds and out rebounded us overall. This will make Danny insane.
- we didn’t protect the rim late. Few offensive charges, poor help rotation, few blocks. Reed is not a rim protector in the UConn big man tradition. He can get better.

A lot to work on but a great learning experience.

A bit of a tale of 2 halves. 1st half absolutely was very good defense...and even the first maybe 5 min of the 2nd. After that they couldn't miss

 

[CL82]

All threads for a couple hours after a game ends will be merged into the post game thread. It makes things easier to moderate, makes the board easier to read.

Ah got it. I liked having both threads, because the post game thread usually was more hot, takes and the chief's briefs thread tend to be more analytical, X's and O's, etc. But it's all good, I'll adapt.

Thanks for letting me know. This morning I was thinking "how did I miss that thread?"

 

[huskiesNhoos]

I said this in the chat but I was surprised at how much a few of the BYU players were able to push off and create space for themselves on offense. Saunders and Dybansta did it at will. I’m not sure why it was being allowed, I feel like every other season those would be charge calls. Without some of these plays the clearest one being when Dybansta charged through one of defenders, traveled then threw up a shot well after the “foul” which went in and was counted. There were a few similar plays (missed travel and goaltending all on one play). This felt more like an 10-12 point more comfortable win. Give BYU credit, they battled back, but the game was not nearly as close as the final score. We were by far the better team. I thought we also stopped going into Reed. BYU did a better job of denying him in the 2nd half, but when that happens we need to make the other team pay by hitting 3’s or driving if Reed is double teamed. Learning experiences for our team.

Ya that late dybansta one on Ross(? Think it was his 5th) besides probably being a charge was one the announcers were toeing the line of calling bs because the new continuation rule allows for that extra step ala the NBA but he definitely took 2

 

[CL82]

A bit of a tale of 2 halves. 1st half absolutely was very good defense...and even the first maybe 5 min of the 2nd. After that they couldn't miss

Definitely want to do a rewatch to see exactly what happened. Curious to hear @Hey Adrien! and @husky429's take among others.

 

[Excalibur]

Reed is not a rim protector in the UConn big man tradition. He can get better.

Reed's block rate last year was top 25 nationally. You're wrong. He's still not 100% recovered and will probably take a step backwards after being undercut last night.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Definitely want to do a rewatch to see exactly what happened. Curious to hear @Hey Adrien! and @husky429's take among others.

They'll certainly give the better analysis but I think the simplified version is that fouls started to accumulate and we had to give a little more space which they took full advantage of. Dybansta rightfully gets most of the attention but saunders and wright are way better than I was expecting - both legit #1 options on almost any other team

 

[Excalibur]

They'll certainly give the better analysis but I think the simplified version is that fouls started to accumulate and we had to give a little more space which they took full advantage of. Dybansta rightfully gets most of the attention but saunders and wright are way better than I was expecting - both legit #1 options on almost any other team

BYU attacked us off the dribble much more effectively. We got a couple of bad calls, committed a couple of bad fouls, and got burned almost every time we helped down from the perimeter.

 

[ctchamps]

Reed's block rate last year was top 25 nationally. You're wrong. He's still not 100% recovered and will probably take a step backwards after being undercut last night.

Shouldn't that undercut by Wright on Reed been reviewed by the refs for a possible technical?

 

[Excalibur]

Shouldn't that undercut by Wright on Reed been reviewed by the refs for a possible technical?

I don't think so. He just held the box out too long. And if that gets reviewed then Demary's chicken wing in the first half should be too.

 

[Chief00]

In some ways, last night to win was the best possible result for us. The team learned that you can never take your foot off the gas against other top teams. And you definitely can't let players like Dybantsa get comfortable. It seems like there was a moment in the second half when Stewart fell leaving Dybantsa wide open for a shot. He made it and from that point forward, began to take over the game. Something as simple as that change the tide of that game. The good news is that we had an opportunity to learn those lesson without losing the game.

I love the fact that Alex seemed comfortable taking big shot after big shot, and driving the lane, etc... This is the Alex Karaban that we all thought we would get last year. I wonder what this game will do for his confidence and game presence on a go forward basis. AK is one of those kids you can't help but cheer for. I hope he has an outstanding season!

Reed looked terrific! We are going to need him to be this good every game if we want to have the type of season we think is possible. Interesting in the post game pressor that Hurley said that Reed is only at "80%." I look forward to seeing what he looks like at 100%, because he looked pretty darn dominant last night.

These are two excellent teams and we may well see them again in the tournament. It will be interesting how each team adapts. There's no doubt in my mind that we will be a better team by then, especially with Mullins back, but I'm pretty confident they will be as well.

The schedule Hurley is put together this year is an insane gauntlet. Hopefully we will come out of it battle hardened.

I would have posted this last night, butI looked for the Briefs after the game but did not see them. It's weird they must've gotten bumped down or something. Like the Bizlaw's the View firm 241, I always appreciate the time you sink into these posts in the discussion that they generate.

Thank you, so true you never want to leave a star who is struggling unguarded. Once they make a shot they can go off for many more with total confidence. Steward and Ross did a good job on the star the first half and sometimes we underappreciate good defense in real time. But offensively Stewart was disappointing as was his rebounding.

 

[Chief00]

Shouldn't that undercut by Wright on Reed been reviewed by the refs for a possible technical?

I thought it deserved other look. It looked intentional to me based on or replay.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Definitely want to do a rewatch to see exactly what happened. Curious to hear @Hey Adrien! and @husky429's take among others.

Thanks for the praise, @CL82

Some reasons for the defensive lapses:

1) Once Keita went down w/ 9 minutes left in the first half, that forced BYU to play smaller and less in the low-post. Bošković is more of a perimeter guy and although he had a crappy game, just having him out there allowed for more space to Dybantsa to cook. Prior to Keita's injury, Dybantsa had just one FGM. Even a guy like Mboup got some minutes at the five, but he's so darn athletic where even though he doesn't have a perimeter shot, that athleticism creates space, when needed. Bottom line, when you have a 6-9 215 offensive creator, removing a low-post piece could actually help since the lower usage guys replacing Keita did a better job getting out of Dybantsa's way.

2) Adding onto Dybantsa stepping up following Keita's injury (7 FGM over final 28 minutes). Dybantsa was clearly uncomfortable early on and it was almost like Keita's injury shook the butterflies out of Dybantsa's anxiety/trying too hard. He had more of a killer instinct and just clearly looked more comfortable as probably being the most nervous of his collegiate career. He is literally one of the main reasons why this game was in Boston in the first place.

3) Didn't help that Stewart and Ross, two of the guys assigned to guard Dybantsa, were in foul trouble. I love Ross' defensive intensity, but he fouled out in just 12 minutes. Ross had four fouls w/ 8 minutes remaining and Stewart had four fouls w/ 7 minutes remaining. Overall, Steward had a bad overall game too.

4) Defensive issues were also compounded once Reed fell ackwardly and that clearly affected his small space movement. Personally, I would have liked to see Reibe, heck, even Komora, after that fall.

 

[temery]

Ah got it. I liked having both threads

It's never "both threads." It's one post game thread for an hour or two, or up to a dozen threads, more after a loss.

 

[CL82]

Once Keita went down w/ 9 minutes left in the first half, that forced BYU to play smaller and less in the low-post. Bošković is more of a perimeter guy and although he had a crappy game, just having him out there allowed for more space to Dybantsa to cook. Prior to Keita's injury, Dybantsa had just one FGM. Even a guy like Mboup got some minutes at the five, but he's so darn athletic where even though he doesn't have a perimeter shot, that athleticism creates space, when needed. Bottom line, when you have a 6-9 215 offensive creator, removing a low-post piece could actually help since the lower usage guys replacing Keita did a better job getting out of Dybantsa's way.

Interesting. Will look for this on the replay.

 

[HooperScooper]

We got screwed by the refs the second half and we imploded. With Mullins injuried we don’t have enough of offensive answers if one of our Big 3 has an off game.

Last night showed they have a big 4. One was off and they still scored 86, 43 in each half. They have plenty of firepower on offense. Not worried about that at all. Defense, fouling and turnovers were the issues last night.

 

[HooperScooper]

They'll certainly give the better analysis but I think the simplified version is that fouls started to accumulate and we had to give a little more space which they took full advantage of. Dybansta rightfully gets most of the attention but saunders and wright are way better than I was expecting - both legit #1 options on almost any other team

We saw Wright last season. He torched us then as a freshman. We knew he was very good.