Creighton Post Game Thread

[RuffRuff]

During the NBA draft process the NBA people told Karaban he had to work on hitting threes off movement and the dribble and score off the bounce going to the basket. I think he's been pretty good at the former but he's been terrible at the latter. I wonder if he's trying too hard to show he can get to the basket and it's just not his game. He either loses the ball because his handle isn't great, gets his shot blocked (which seems to happen a lot) or misses the shot. Or commits an offensive foul like today, which I don't remember happening before but figured add it to the bad after today's game. He doesn't seem to draw a foul on those drives although he did against Nova (which was a debatable foul).

I wonder what his percentage scoring is when he goes to the basket? Is he trying too hard to do that to the detriment of the team?

I am hard pressed to see the potential.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Creighton is a really good team that lost three in a row early in the season when Kalkbrenner was having back problems. No #1 seed wants to see Creighton as an 8 or 9 in their bracket. Some days the other team is just better.

 

[prankster]

So what . It was a bad call, but you don’t win basketball games by hinging your hopes on a fluke prayer of getting an “ in shooting motion “ call on what everyone in the building knows is an automatic floor foul call in that situation.

Gosh! You are right.

Just a "bad call".

One that cost us the game, but what does that matter, really?

Dross us to 4th in the conference, but, when you get down to it, who cares about conference standings? Or even national rankings, when you get right down to it.

The outcomes matter not at all. Just tune out. It isn't like anyone cares, really.

Pay Ackerman her quarter million, She's just that good. And John Cahill? No one has ever been more even handed, ever, regarding UConn bball.

Don't believe me? Ask Jim Calhoun.

 

[homunculus]

1. Officiating
2. Creighton made shots
3. We missed layups

That’s it. That’s the game.

 

[superjohn]

During the NBA draft process the NBA people told Karaban he had to work on hitting threes off movement and the dribble and score off the bounce going to the basket. I think he's been pretty good at the former but he's been terrible at the latter. I wonder if he's trying too hard to show he can get to the basket and it's just not his game. He either loses the ball because his handle isn't great, gets his shot blocked (which seems to happen a lot) or misses the shot. Or commits an offensive foul like today, which I don't remember happening before but figured add it to the bad after today's game. He doesn't seem to draw a foul on those drives although he did against Nova (which was a debatable foul).

I wonder what his percentage scoring is when he goes to the basket? Is he trying too hard to do that to the detriment of the team?

Agreed but I don't think AK would ever try and do something to get his at the detriment of the team. I think Hurley is telling him to do it even though he's really bad at it. My hope is it will stop but Hurley is still going to that well after timeouts. I think it will have to change once Liam is back but it needs to change before that. We lost to Nova and Creighton because Alex was a ghost for two halves and then we had him doing stuff he's really bad at. He needs to go back to being that player who is getting open threes off of slip screens and flare outs and who is getting layups off of backdoor cuts.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

Hurley is a fast learner. I hope after this season he never again assembles a roster this void of shot creation. It’s too reliant on sets and very easy to game plan against for the elite coaches. Guys like Newton and Spencer could get you a bucket. Right now that guy hasn’t emerged for us. Losing Liam made it even more alarming.

Get used to it cause unless we hit the portal hard, it’s more of the same next year

 

[Gurleyman]

McNeeley gets back healthy,,we will be in good shape. And why constantly whine about Reffing? Serves no purpose, sound like Syracuse fans.

We can’t expect McNeeley to solve everything. That’s a tough injury for a shooter because it affects the exact “lift” mechanism you need to elevate for the shot. If it’s heavily taped and stiff - he’ll be pushing the shot more and be mechanically off.

He can still do other things - he was getting great and going downhill and making passes. And he will battle on the boards and lead the break. But he might not be the same player we last saw.

 

[adrock7]

We're probably not a Top 10 team with Liam. We're definitely not a Top 10 team without him.

 

[mussels]

Diarra was very good almost the whole game but made 2 very bad decisions during crunch time. Too much time left on the 30 sec clock to take that to the hoop on Kalkbrunner bad choice for the lead.

A few people mentioned this. When I saw that, I took it as a pride type of thing.

Ashworth was way overplaying Diarra’s left hand, and basically daring him to take a free trip to the hoop to challange Kauk with his right. Hassan couldn’t resist the “taunt”

 

[nychuskyfan]

63 points from our offense isn't going to get it done. Are they ever going to figure out how to game plan Kalk sagging in the paint on D? The top half of the key was open the entire game. Why aren't we getting it into the bigs? Hoping for a better performance next game.

This. I think McDermott just gave a blueprint for how to better handle our sets - by putting your center in deep drop coverage. Granted not everybody has a 7’2” center but Samson often had the ball just inside the 3 pt line and nobody within literally 10 ft of him and never looked to do anything. With Kalk anchored to the paint and available for help, their defenders could stay aggressive and run us off the 3 pt line. I didn’t see any adjustments (but obviously trust in the staff, how could you not at this point?).

Having said that, I thought we played hard. Lots of diving for loose balls so can’t fault the effort.

 

[aceboon]

During the NBA draft process the NBA people told Karaban he had to work on hitting threes off movement and the dribble and score off the bounce going to the basket. I think he's been pretty good at the former but he's been terrible at the latter. I wonder if he's trying too hard to show he can get to the basket and it's just not his game. He either loses the ball because his handle isn't great, gets his shot blocked (which seems to happen a lot) or misses the shot. Or commits an offensive foul like today, which I don't remember happening before but figured add it to the bad after today's game. He doesn't seem to draw a foul on those drives although he did against Nova (which was a debatable foul).

I wonder what his percentage scoring is when he goes to the basket? Is he trying too hard to do that to the detriment of the team?

Creighton was running him off the line so he has to get into the paint and score. Creighton did it him to last year in Omaha and AK basically self checked out of the game, this time he put it on the floor and got into the paint. He just has to make more of those shots, plain and simple, he's capable of stopping on two feet and hitting that floater/push shot.

 

[CTBasketball]

Got ran off the 3point line and were afraid of Kalkbrenner down low. Took way too many contested floaters.

Team has no cohesiveness on the defensive end, it’s going to limit our ability to go far.

 

[UCONNFAN179]

Maybe not great, but a lot better than they are now.

True

 

[TheHorde]

We don’t keep the play in front of us… lots of chasing,,, slow feet and got beat off cuts all day long. We played better D in 2nd half but too little, too late.

Other question I had is why creighton seemed to be in front of every play and we were lagging.. I don’t know if that’s being slow. Karaban seems like he lost his D assignment quite a few times - looked confused on who he was supposed to be guarding.. That’s not good…

The pressure on the ball was not there. It seemed like the defense was consciously trying to prevent penetration, and it opened up a lot of terrific entry passes from Creighton’s guys on the perimeter. This team overall doesn’t have the same level of length and athleticism on the perimeter. We all know that. They are having trouble taking multiple things away, whether it be the three, penetration to the rim or into the lane, or entry passes into talented bigs or guys with position inside.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Get used to it cause unless we hit the portal hard, it’s more of the same next year

Depends how quickly Mullins develops

 

[HooperScooper]

No, bad defense cost us the game today.

63 points isn't going to get it done most times. So I'd say it was the offense that cost them the game. They held Kalkbrenner to 16 points and Ashworth to 12. Hard to complain too much about that. Unfortunately Neal killed us. Was it 2 or 3 years ago when they kept losing games scoring in the 60s? Playing with fire when you do that.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Get used to it cause unless we hit the portal hard, it’s more of the same next year

I expect we’ll hit the portal hard for a playmaking guard or wing to complement the freshman class. That’s what the staff thought we had in Mahaney and they were probably a little overconfident in the Sophomores’ development as guys that could put it on the deck and go create.

 

[navery12]

That’s the thing, it was so obvious. And yet people on here wanted to play it off as nothing. Also not in a good mood

Everyone here knew losing McNeeley was a big deal. You said it was going to derail the season, that's what people disagreed with because it was dumb

 

[alphasigko]

I may ask for the moon. But he could be a game changer for us if he can shoot that 12-15 footer at free throw area. It's there all the time and he can do it.

And perhaps rebound more than the does?

 

[blkknight1]

I would say that being out hustled to loose balls and being out toughed on the boards is a major concern. We get a stop on defense but then the don't secure the board. We conceded the rebound way too often on the offensive end and on the defensive end someone sneaks in to poke it out or there's a Tapout and a scramble that leads to opens shots.

These are lost possessions and this team is not good enough to be giving away possesions.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Everyone here knew losing McNeeley was a big deal. You said it was going to derail the season, that's what people disagreed with because it was dumb

It already has derailed any chance of a top seed and the Providence to Newark path. And don’t say that doesn’t matter. Hurley even said this stretch without Liam will be meaningful only if we can keep winning, which we are not. Can we win it all as a 6/7/8 seed? Sure, we’ve done it before. But the numbers suggest, no chance.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We're probably not a Top 10 team with Liam. We're definitely not a Top 10 team without him.

Probably not. But you know who else doesn’t really look like a top 10 team? Every other team. Auburn and Iowa State might be really good. I’m not sold that anyone else is really.

As for this game, the worst foul call was the one on Diarra at the end of the half. It wasn’t even a foul and took away a made 3. That’s ballgame.

 

[RuffRuff]

It already has derailed any chance of a top seed and the Providence to Newark path. And don’t say that doesn’t matter. Hurley even said this stretch without Liam will be meaningful only if we can keep winning, which we are not. Can we win it all as a 6/7/8 seed? Sure, we’ve done it before. But the numbers suggest, no chance.

I wouldn’t say it’s derailed entirely but we’d have to catch fire and win out once Liam is back and sweep series with Marquette and StJ to get there. Weirder things have happened.

Have to just hope he’s back soon as I’m not even confident we win at Xavier, who just won at Marquette today, without him.

 

[willie99]

We didn’t play well, we can't complain, we have to get better. I think everyone associated with this team will acknowledge that

And James Breeding is the scum of this earth. Just an incompetent and horrible official

 

[HooperScooper]

I expect we’ll hit the portal hard for a playmaking guard or wing to complement the freshman class. That’s what the staff thought we had in Mahaney and they were probably a little overconfident in the Sophomores’ development as guys that could put it on the deck and go create.

Before the season Hurley said for the team to be championship quality Mahaney was going to have to play at an All American level. Big swing and a miss on that.