Crazy stat

[BigErnMcCracken]

 

[Penfield]

During the first half of the MSU game I was thinking that our defense was going to keep us in games our offense had no business being in. That seems silly now, but it is the one facet of the game that I actually trust Ollie to improve as the season progresses.

 

[tcf15]

Along the same lines, Cassius Winston (Michigan State) and Jaylen Barford (Arkansas) went a combined 21/27 (.778) from the field and 8/10 from three for a total of 52 points.

 

[Stinger92860]

I know the offense is bad, but they need to fix the D asap. That would at least give us a chance.

 

[jibsey]

D is our trademark in the past but the Arkansas coach noticed that we were tapped out energy wise in the second half. Our depth was freshman off the bench.

 

[Brochacho]

The number I looked up was that since Winston hit a 3 to start his tear, we've been outscored 128-80 in 48:23 of gameplay.

 

[Son of Robert]

Along the same lines, Cassius Winston (Michigan State) and Jaylen Barford (Arkansas) went a combined 21/27 (.778) from the field and 8/10 from three for a total of 52 points.

It is true that these two were flat out sizzling hot and both were just the dagger points of two teams in full offensive fruition, and with Uconn already reeling, the gates of the dam just opened wider. The positive is that we hung tough against an extremely good Michigan State team, final four caliber, but we were exposed, and rightfully so, as the inferior team. They wore us down through size, athleticism, talent, and team play. I repeat though that we did compete successfully with MSU for 30 minutes or so, and this is a glimpse of how good this young Uconn team might be. That was a very high effort competitive game til they smoked us.

Arkansas we showed dog. No excuses. Arkansas played 3 games in 4 days also, and still had their team spirit, energy, and pride on full display. Ran us off the court, and that was not nearly Arkansas' best effort.

Someone else mentioned that Ollie's offensive strategy is more NBA oriented and I agree with this. He gives his players too much freedom the entire game and there is at times very little structure, discipline, or team play ala sharing the ball with spacing, strategic motion, passing, and higher percentage shot selection. Most of the shot taking comes from at best two players being involved in a given shot attempt, through penetration/creativity. With the talent we have this is sometimes good enough. It worked against Oregon, but will not succeed consistently against top tier teams, as demonstrated.

Uconn has to have more of an offensive game than just this and this is about coaching. If we are not in transition/running Uconn needs some X's and O's in their pocket to supplement the straight up aforementioned guard play. Defensively Uconn can contend, but that is so much more about effort and pride. Go Huskies!

 

[MadDogRevival]

One way to look at it is that these guys got hot.
Another way to look at it is that our defense did not make the proper adjustment to slow them down.
At some point, make somebody else beat you. That simple.
I'm not buying, "they got hot." We let them stay hot.

 

[80shusky]

I would think part of this would be the team's lack of shooting to an extent. If UConn isn't making baskets and shooting at a horridly low level they can never set up any kind of defense and the other team constantly has run outs. It was on display over and over in the Arkansas game. UConn runs up the court, dribbles around and around, forces up a bad shot, it caroms off the rim or backboard and Arkansas runs out in to transition and scores in seconds. Rinse, repeat. Easy, high percentage shots over and over and over again while UConn takes off balance, bad shots or forced drives with no ball movement to move the defense.

 

[Kitaman]

I've watched basketball long enough to know that when you have one person dribbling for 15 seconds the defense is not expending much energy. Just standing with one eye on the ball and the other glancing at your man. The key word is `standing`.

Just saying opponents get to rest a lot of times during our possessions. It's a gift that keeps on giving.

 

[willie99]

I'm watching the Twerps attacking the Cuse zone today, and I'm thinking about the days we could do that

Pass to the paint, pass to the baseline, and a third pass leading to some bunny for somebody. We haven't run anything like that in years. then again, we haven't had the bigs capable of running that offense. Hopefully somebody from this team can become a force down low and that changes everything

 

[80shusky]

I'm watching the Twerps attacking the Cuse zone today, and I'm thinking about the days we could do that

Pass to the paint, pass to the baseline, and a third pass leading to some bunny for somebody. We haven't run anything like that in years. then again, we haven't had the bigs capable of running that offense. Hopefully somebody from this team can become a force down low and that changes everything

I agree, but we do have to get them involved in order for them to contribute. I would bet Cobb, Carlton and Onuorah would be capable of passing in and out of the post to contribute to ball movement. But someone has to pass it to them in the paint first.....

 

[ZenConn]

I agree, but we do have to get them involved in order for them to contribute. I would bet Cobb, Carlton and Onuorah would be capable of passing in and out of the post to contribute to ball movement. But someone has to pass it to them in the paint first.....

Passing in and out of the post is effective if the post player was a threat to score. All of our forwards not named Larrier combined to score 9 points with 11 turnovers and 23 fouls in the past two games. The only threat our post players have is to turn the ball over or miss a layup.

With that being said, we'll see how Cobb handles it. I'm also surprised that Larrier isn't posting up more often.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

One way to look at it is that these guys got hot.
Another way to look at it is that our defense did not make the proper adjustment to slow them down.
At some point, make somebody else beat you. That simple.
I'm not buying, "they got hot." We let them stay hot.

Yeah, the 'they got hot' argument tends to fall apart for me when the majority of their threes came either wide open or with the defense lazily going under the screen again and again and again, giving them plenty of room to get a clean look. Good shooters hit wide open shots pretty consistently.

 

[80shusky]

Passing in and out of the post is effective if the post player was a threat to score. All of our forwards not named Larrier combined to score 9 points with 11 turnovers and 23 fouls in the past two games. The only threat our post players have is to turn the ball over or miss a layup.

With that being said, we'll see how Cobb handles it. I'm also surprised that Larrier isn't posting up more often.

I agree, but our post players aren't getting the ball much. It is hard for them to do anything if all they are doing is setting high ball screens and trying to rebound jacked threes before they are even in position.

 

[selles]

Passing in and out of the post is effective if the post player was a threat to score. All of our forwards not named Larrier combined to score 9 points with 11 turnovers and 23 fouls in the past two games. The only threat our post players have is to turn the ball over or miss a layup.

With that being said, we'll see how Cobb handles it. I'm also surprised that Larrier isn't posting up more often.

Larrier isn't posting up more because he weighs 120 pounds and shies away from contact. He's a 3.

In fairness to our posts, two of them (Whaley and Diarra) are being played out of position. Neither has the size to play the middle. A third (Big Dave) is a mediocre player who has been getting excessive minutes due to some nice picks against a mid major and injuries. A fourth (Cobb) has been hurt.

Going forward, I think it's pretty clear that Carlton and Cobb should see the bulk of time at the 5, with Big Dave getting 5-10 minutes.

Also, this may be counter-intuitive, but I think we desperately need to start playing a second big (Whaley, Diarra) at the 4 for 15-20 minutes a game. Those guys are athletic enough to handle the defensive assignment, and I think they'll be far more effective as a 4 than a 5. I'd also tell them to crash the offensive glass as hard as possible.

Our #1 offensive staple is clearly going to be drives by our guards. We need a #2 option off that. In a perfect world, the #2 option would be kickouts for three. But we really don't shoot it consistently enough. So I'd love to see a Whaley/Diarra playing alongside a Carlton with orders to crash the glass. At least for part of the game, as an alternate look to the small ball.

 

[Tenspro2002]

D is our trademark in the past but the Arkansas coach noticed that we were tapped out energy wise in the second half. Our depth was freshman off the bench.

We started with no energy either. What's the excuse for that?

 

[Robertelamin]

We started with no energy either. What's the excuse for that?

There is no excuse. They mailed it in.

 

[Kenny11]

The self proclaimed Sniper is shooting 18.5% on 3 pointers. Another crazy stat.

 

[Son of Robert]

Larrier isn't posting up more because he weighs 120 pounds and shies away from contact. He's a 3.

In fairness to our posts, two of them (Whaley and Diarra) are being played out of position. Neither has the size to play the middle. A third (Big Dave) is a mediocre player who has been getting excessive minutes due to some nice picks against a mid major and injuries. A fourth (Cobb) has been hurt.

Going forward, I think it's pretty clear that Carlton and Cobb should see the bulk of time at the 5, with Big Dave getting 5-10 minutes.

Also, this may be counter-intuitive, but I think we desperately need to start playing a second big (Whaley, Diarra) at the 4 for 15-20 minutes a game. Those guys are athletic enough to handle the defensive assignment, and I think they'll be far more effective as a 4 than a 5. I'd also tell them to crash the offensive glass as hard as possible.

Our #1 offensive staple is clearly going to be drives by our guards. We need a #2 option off that. In a perfect world, the #2 option would be kickouts for three. But we really don't shoot it consistently enough. So I'd love to see a Whaley/Diarra playing alongside a Carlton with orders to crash the glass. At least for part of the game, as an alternate look to the small ball.

Actually I agree with most of your post, except Onuorah can contribute more than five or ten minutes. Out of the 3 bigs there are things he perhaps does better than the others. He is an important cog in the depth of that frontcourt. Carlton and Cobb could also see time at the 4 which really gives us certain interior capabilities. It's all situational.

 

[Ant3411]

The self proclaimed Sniper is shooting 18.5% on 3 pointers. Another crazy stat.

If it wasnt for the BU game he'd be under 10%. But hey, let's call him Sniper!

 

[QDOG5]

Larrier isn't posting up more because he weighs 120 pounds and shies away from contact. He's a 3.

In fairness to our posts, two of them (Whaley and Diarra) are being played out of position. Neither has the size to play the middle. A third (Big Dave) is a mediocre player who has been getting excessive minutes due to some nice picks against a mid major and injuries. A fourth (Cobb) has been hurt.

Going forward, I think it's pretty clear that Carlton and Cobb should see the bulk of time at the 5, with Big Dave getting 5-10 minutes.

Also, this may be counter-intuitive, but I think we desperately need to start playing a second big (Whaley, Diarra) at the 4 for 15-20 minutes a game. Those guys are athletic enough to handle the defensive assignment, and I think they'll be far more effective as a 4 than a 5. I'd also tell them to crash the offensive glass as hard as possible.

Our #1 offensive staple is clearly going to be drives by our guards. We need a #2 option off that. In a perfect world, the #2 option would be kickouts for three. But we really don't shoot it consistently enough. So I'd love to see a Whaley/Diarra playing alongside a Carlton with orders to crash the glass. At least for part of the game, as an alternate look to the small ball.

Amen to your post. We can lose by 40 with two guards, TL at the three and a combination of our 6 bigs at the 4-5 spots. I'm pretty sure KO is allergic to that type of lineup but the 3 or 4 guard lineup is not going to cut it against good teams.

 

[tcf15]

Along the same lines, Cassius Winston (Michigan State) and Jaylen Barford (Arkansas) went a combined 21/27 (.778) from the field and 8/10 from three for a total of 52 points.

Cassius Winston (MSU): 28 points, 12/15 (.800) from the field, 4/5 (.800) from three

Jaylen Barford (Arkansas): 24 points, 9/12 (.750) from the field, 4/5 (.800) from three

Lukas Meisner (Columbia): 25 points, 9/13 (.692) from the field, 4/6 (.667) from three

Total: 77 points, 30/40 (.750) from the field, 12/16 (.750) from three