Colorado Post Game Thread

[jibsey]

Offense is terrible this year. McNeeley had terrible passes back-to-back. Caused the loss of Reed. Not sure why Ball never looked to drive until the end of the game. Some big problems, and some appear beyond repair.
Bright spot was Nowell. Maybe time to see Abraham too instead of Ross.

We lost 1 game by 2 and 1 by one.

 

[AntG168]

Or be an 8-9 seed and win it hey you gotta win 6 games regardless.

This is the way. We’ll be the 5-8 seed no one wants to play

 

[blkknight1]

Hard to believe that Reed regressed so much after a great game yesterday.

A symptom of the fouls. Picks up stupid fouls has to sit gets out of rhythm. Losses his aggressiveness on the defensive end but also on the offensive end. Doesn’t go as hard for the offensive board. Doesn’t bang down low out of fear of drawing the offensive foul.

 

[Dibbie]

Diarra should've pass that back to Karaban. Having him take our last two shots with Ball, Karaban and McNeeley on the floor is criminal.

Calling a TO and leaving yourself only 5 seconds to run a play was dumb. Maybe DH can’t win a close game

 

[UCLJ0211]

That team destroyed Bama who was the #1 team in the country for most of the year, and won the PK Invitational early in the season. They showed they have what it takes to beat the best.

This team hasn't beat anyone and they're losing to unranked teams.

That’s exactly my point. It’s 6 games into the season.

 

[AntG168]

Calling a TO and leaving yourself only 5 seconds to run a play was dumb. Maybe DH can’t win a close game

They would’ve only had 5 seconds with or without a timeout

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Why do I remember Ross being a much better shooter coming out of HS? One thing to consider in tournament settings is the same way a team can get hot and carry that to multiple wins, teams also go through 3 day rough patches that can turn into multiple losses. You don’t have time to regroup in practice before your next game. I think it’s snowballing in Maui right now for this group. I think we’ll see a completely different team against Baylor, Gonzaga and Texas. We win 2 or 3 of those before BE play and we’re top 15 with the Maui disaster forgiven.

Get us out of Maui..

Not to be a downer, but realistically I just don’t see how we win 2/3 there. Gonzaga is simply better than us, Baylor is gonna ram it down our throats and is super athletic. Idk much about Texas but I know their Freshman is incredible. We lost to a mediocre team today, it’s a tall ask to beat good/great teams.

 

[UCfor3]

I can see a path to Nowell starting this season. And at this rate Abraham might get decent minutes later in the season.

I agree. Abraham may get the Ross role at some point. Ross is athletic and plays with tremendous energy but it's frantic, nervous energy. You could tell he didn't play last year because he kind of plays like a freshman. For someone so athletic, he gets beat off the dribble a lot and on offense his shot is just not falling. Reminds me of what we heard from Solo last year where he was supposedly making everything in practice but outside of a couple games, it didn't translate. Practice has not translated to games for Ross outside of that first game against a cupcake. Meanwhile, Stewart seems like someone who steps up when the lights come on and needs a longer rope.

 

[AntG168]

Not to be a downer, but realistically I just don’t see how we win 2/3 there. Gonzaga is simply better than us, Baylor is gonna ram it down our throats and is super athletic. Idk much about Texas but I know their Freshman is incredible. We lost to a mediocre team today, it’s a tall ask to beat good/great teams.

It seems that way now because we haven’t seen it imo. I think we should give this amazing staff some practices and time to regroup. I’ll make my full judgement after that stretch. We’ll know everything we need to know.

But I agree. Maui hasn’t provided much hope

 

[blkknight1]

They would’ve only had 5 seconds with or without a timeout

I think he was saying by callin the TO you gave Colorado a chance to setup their defense. Playing it out leaves them scrambling on offense with that amount of time. A little more time on the clock say 8 seconds you can setup a better play.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Steph was composite #9 overall. McNeeley was composite #10 overall. Steph’s supporting cast was much better. We didn’t need the sort of contribution from Steph at this juncture of the season that we need from McNeeley.

That may all be true…..but at the next level and come draft time there will be a bigger difference.

It's weird the one player you mention is Liam considering he was our best player today and has arguably been our best player so far this season. Kid is a gamer.

yeah, you are right, I really wasn’t trying to take a shot at Liam as I like him and he is everything you mention. I guess just frustration on how we are playing. And that just came to mind.

 

[NC_Uconn_Fan]

Ouch. Looks like I picked a good game to skip. Oh well, looks like it may be one of those years we have to scramble to get a bid. Unlike yesterday, this was a bad loss.

 

[AntG168]

I think he was saying by callin the TO you gave Colorado a chance to setup their defense. Playing it out leaves them scrambling on offense with that amount of time. A little more time on the clock say 8 seconds you can setup a better play.

I guess. But if he didn’t call a time out that same poster would be saying he should’ve

 

[ConnZag3]

I am starting to think the whole "can't win a close game" thing is actually becoming a concern. The team got up 4 late in OT yesterday and folded and again today up 5 after the wild Solo shot. After missing the FT out of the break it just seemed to snowball into a team that didn't have the confidence to know how to close out the game.

Anybody else think we would have been better off in an open court situation with the last 9 seconds instead of calling the timeout to draw something up? To me it's usually favorable to the offense to have an open court situation trying to get to the basket as time expires.

 

[TheHorde]

I am starting to think the whole "can't win a close game" thing is actually becoming a concern. The team got up 4 late in OT yesterday and folded and again today up 5 after the wild Solo shot. After missing the FT out of the break it just seemed to snowball into a team that didn't have the confidence to know how to close out the game.

Anybody else think we would have been better off in an open court situation with the last 9 seconds instead of calling the timeout to draw something up? To me it's usually favorable to the offense to have an open court situation trying to get to the basket as time expires.

I generally really like this staff drawing offense up, and lord knows we have shooters. But THAT was not what I was expecting.

 

[SubbaBub]

That's not your shot Diarra. Pass the ball.

 

[Scrappy3]

Two games we easily couldve won and lost

Down 12 to Memphis up 12 today lost both by combined 3 points

It’s a good team that needs tweaking

Play smarter d and focus on getting the ball to the basket more.

 

[Zonepress]

We are really talented, the sum is way less than the parts right now. We have way more talent across the board than Colorado.

What evidence other than the hype from the coach is there that “we are really talented”

 

[BPT2Storrs]

We lost by 2 and by 1 in games in which our defense has been abysmal and we have been been on the wrong side of officiating (likely due to Hurley’s antics).

Get the defense worked out and start working the refs to benefit us and we will be alright.

Diarra kept us in both games. Ball and McNeeley are trending in the right direction. Reed looked great yesterday. Stewart provided sparks off the bench. Do we have issues? Absolutely. It’s early in the season and Maui always proves to be a tough atmosphere. Teams come to play.

 

[Excalibur]

That's not your shot Diarra. Pass the ball.

By the time he got it back it was either drive or shoot.

 

[superjohn]

I love Liam and he’s a terrific shooter and scorer. But he needs to get more than 1 rebound and 1 assist playing 33 minutes. He had a couple of turnovers and a couple of near turnovers. One of his bad passes resulted in Reed fouling out. Our guards would routinely get 5-6 rebounds and 3-5 assists playing that many minutes last year.

I hear you on 1 rebound and 1 assist but he scored 20 points on 6/9 shooting and gutted it out coming back on the court from injury. I'm even more impressed with Liam after these past two games than before. He showed he shakes off a rough game to hit clutch threes at the end, he showed leadership, and he showed he will play through injury.

He's a freshman and showed the things I want to see from Karaban but Alex was quieter than a church mouse out there after saying it's all on his shoulders after the game yesterday.

 

[HCCForever]

I just read this on ESPN that UConn is just the second AP top-2 team to lose to unranked opponents on consecutive days. Not a good stat of the day.

 

[SaeHusky]

2 thoughts. :
1. We may need to learn to play some zone with this particular roster. Just not quick enough on he perimeter and no rim protection
2. Hurley needs to trust Karaban with 2 fouls and play him in the 1st half. Took him out of rhythm and we should have been up by 12 or 14 at break

 

[SubbaBub]

A symptom of the fouls. Picks up stupid fouls has to sit gets out of rhythm. Losses his aggressiveness on the defensive end but also on the offensive end. Doesn’t go as hard for the offensive board. Doesn’t bang down low out of fear of drawing the offensive foul.

True. A lot of soft whistles, but Samson just is incapable of staying on the court.

Can't have the ball in Diarra'a hands so much. Ball needs to handle more.

Diarra is also become a defense liability. He's a solid backup, nothing more. The offense needs to revolve around AK, McNeeley, Ball, and Reed. Everyone else has to pick up the hustle points.

 

[Orc]

We lost to a preseason #15 team from the Big12. It could get ugly vs Baylor and Texas