Creighton post game thread | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Creighton post game thread

RuffRuff said:
So you think a freshman PG who hasn't seen one significant minute all year is going to rise like cream and become an impact player for us in mid Feb? This one just needs to drop like a rock. It ain't happening.
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Oh, I agree it isn't happening at this point - I think I'm agreeing with you. There may have been a chance to work him in if he was anything close to healthy, but now we just have to wait and see if he can play next year. People are questioning why he's not playing and acting like Hurley has him chained to the bench but there may be more to it than that. I'm simply not writing him off as a player because of his lack of availability this season.
 
JustbrewitMan said:
Yea, he's a big dude and sets hard screens by default. The scout is out to sell an illegal screen coming around Reed. That one where Neal fell to the ground was a floppity-flop.
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Reed needs to set his feet a bit more and not shift his upper body into the defensive player to be more effective on picks. He also needs more awareness of his number of fouls or where they are best used like blocking shots at the rim, not at half court. This is totally fixable and hope it's done soon.
 
freshler40 said:
Reed needs to set his feet a bit more and not shift his upper body into the defensive player to be more effective on picks. He also needs more awareness of his number of fouls or where they are best used like blocking shots at the rim, not at half court. This is totally fixable and hope it's done soon.
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The pick he was called on, if he has any awareness, he would have let it go. Solo was already by his guy, and Tarris just kept leaning further into Neal. The extra lean yielded no value.

Tarris is a mega talented guy but not exactly a future neurosurgeon. Our two centers lack common sense, which isn’t uncommon for bigs. I have no idea how the two of them continue to reach in. The one foul on Kalk, he basically hugged him a foot from the basket. You have to know when to just let it go, and get him the next time.

Sidenote: that win takes a ton of pressure off this team as it comes to the bubble talk, firmly ices it in my book. If you told me we'd take 2/3 of that set, I would have been really happy. Great win to build off of. Schedule now lands nicely where we can play a really bad Seton Hall team to further iron out wrinkles and rest some guys, into a decent Nova game at home before we head to the Garden. Winning on the road in Marquette's biggest crowd ever & Omaha is signature.
 
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Excalibur said:
He has literally been unavailable due to injury for something like 8 out of the last 10 games.
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Nowell was only unavailable to play against Texas, DePaul, Marquette, and St. John's this season.
 
RuffRuff said:
So you think a freshman PG who hasn't seen one significant minute all year is going to rise like cream and become an impact player for us in mid Feb? This one just needs to drop like a rock. It ain't happening.
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It’s insufferable. 98% of people on here have no idea how Nowell would play. Conversely, we have arguably the best staff in the country who sees him every day. There is a reason why he isn’t playing. He isn’t ready.
 
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freshler40 said:
Reed needs to set his feet a bit more and not shift his upper body into the defensive player to be more effective on picks. He also needs more awareness of his number of fouls or where they are best used like blocking shots at the rim, not at half court. This is totally fixable and hope it's done soon.
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Seems to me that many of the UConn picks, in general, are wasted. The ball handler often leaves too much space between himself and the screener which allows the defensive player to get past the pick easily.
 
The Hurley post game antics are once again getting mucho national attention. As if often goes, opposing fans think he's a petulant baby and question the Hurley upbringing, neutral media loves it and think great for the sport. Our guy certainly knows how to keep the program relevant in more ways than one.

That StJ MSG game is going to be prime time. In Hurley's next life I can see him being a promoter for WWF.
 
RuffRuff said:
He may play defense better against 5s than he does 4s too.
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Karaban has been moving his feet better even against 4's. He has really picked up his Defense this year. Too bad his shot has let him down so much.
 
Player and team stats vs Creighton last night (and some weird stats indeed)...

MinFG %3PG %FT % O RebD RebAssistsStealsBlocks
38 - tied AK, McNeeley, Ball55%- McNeeley (12/22)50%- McNeeley (5/10)90% (McNeeley)3 - Reed, Jr.8 - McNeeley3 - tied Ball, Reed, Jr.2 - Johnson1 - tied Ball, Johnson

Now some miscellaneous odd stats:
  1. 100% of free throws made were made by McNeeley (9) and Ball (3). No one else made one, and only AK attempted 1
  2. Outside of McNeeley's 5 3PT FG, the rest of the team went a collective 1 for 16.
  3. Steals per minute - usually reserved for guards: Singare had one in 1 minute of play!
  4. We shot 26/66 (40 misses) and 12-15 on the charity stripe for +3 misses = 43. Of those 43 misses:
    1. Creighton got 31 Defensive Rebounds (72%)
    2. UConn got 12 Offensive Rebounds (28%)
  5. Creighton shot 19/47 (28 misses) and 21/30 on the charity stripe for +9 misses = 37. Of those 37 misses:
    1. UConn got 27 Defensive Rebounds (73%)
    2. Creighton got 5 Offensive Rebounds (14%)
    3. 5 rebounds must have gone out of bounds
  6. Our bench scored 4 pts (all Mahaney - that with Reed, Jr. Diarra, Ross, and Singare playing from the bench)
  7. Creighton's bench scored 11 pts (from 3 of 4 bench players with minutes)
 
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Huge win. It’s possible it saved the season, too. They were looking at possibly losing 3 of 5 and 2 straight. Then if there is a wtf loss to Villanova or Providence and the season might have really gone south. Now I think there is confidence going into St John’s.
 
kobebeanbryant said:
so Karaban is like actually washed huh
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I don’t get the negativity towards Karaban. He always plays hard, plays almost the entire game, and plays smart. He knows where he is supposed to be on defense rotations and helps run the offense. He is just struggling with his shot. Despite not being able to make any shots from outside found a way to score 11 points.
 
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Scottobot said:
I don’t get the negativity towards Karaban. He always plays hard, plays almost the entire game, and plays smart. He knows where he is supposed to be on defense rotations and helps run the offense. He is just struggling with his shot. Despite not being able to make any shots from outside found a way to score 11 points.
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For as much as he's given to this program, it's downright disrespectful. He is a ride or die in my mind, he deserves our loyalty and support. There's going to be a reckoning of this season where toxic UConn twitter is going to look real stupid. I'll enjoy that immensely. AK will get right, and prove the doubters wrong.
 
Scottobot said:
I don’t get the negativity towards Karaban. He always plays hard, plays almost the entire game, and plays smart. He knows where he is supposed to be on defense rotations and helps run the offense. He is just struggling with his shot. Despite not being able to make any shots from outside found a way to score 11 points.
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I think it stems from him being a preseason all-American, always talked about as one of the best players in the country and he hasn't been very good this season. In Big East play he's shooting 40% overall, 28% from three, and averaging 13 ppg.
 
Even when game was close early on, they did not look good. Liam just took control, love the way he bullies the guards when he is aware of the switch. Other players weren't hitting but the team was all over the floor and hustling after going down big in first half.
 
Hurley - He's cocky, arrogant, sort of an ass when he wins (deserves that right I guess), but a crybaby when he loses.
 
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A couple thoughts...

Liam of course was awesome, but his 'tude was just as great. Not only feeding off the crowd's hostility, but shoving it right back in their face. I'm sure the Creighton fans hate him at this point.

Need to get Diarra healthy. Having him come off the bench and play 8 minutes won't cut it. We know Mahaney isn't the answer and I think Nowell is still out with the ankle injury?

Bottom line a great win. Liam showing that he will make a terrific pro and helping his draft status. On the flip side, I love Karaban and he basically can do whatever he wants and will still get a pass from me (not that he cares), but IMHO he continues to hurt his draft prospects. A slow 6'8" wing who can't seem to find the bottom of the basket - makes you wonder if he should have gone pro last season. Still plenty of time for him to fix whatever is going on with him, but time is running out...
 
EricLA said:
A couple thoughts...

Liam of course was awesome, but his 'tude was just as great. Not only feeding off the crowd's hostility, but shoving it right back in their face. I'm sure the Creighton fans hate him at this point.

Need to get Diarra healthy. Having him come off the bench and play 8 minutes won't cut it. We know Mahaney isn't the answer and I think Nowell is still out with the ankle injury?

Bottom line a great win. Liam showing that he will make a terrific pro and helping his draft status. On the flip side, I love Karaban and he basically can do whatever he wants and will still get a pass from me (not that he cares), but IMHO he continues to hurt his draft prospects. A slow 6'8" wing who can't seem to find the bottom of the basket - makes you wonder if he should have gone pro last season. Still plenty of time for him to fix whatever is going on with him, but time is running out...
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Which is it?
 
EricLA said:
A couple thoughts...

Liam of course was awesome, but his 'tude was just as great. Not only feeding off the crowd's hostility, but shoving it right back in their face. I'm sure the Creighton fans hate him at this point.

Need to get Diarra healthy. Having him come off the bench and play 8 minutes won't cut it. We know Mahaney isn't the answer and I think Nowell is still out with the ankle injury?

Bottom line a great win. Liam showing that he will make a terrific pro and helping his draft status. On the flip side, I love Karaban and he basically can do whatever he wants and will still get a pass from me (not that he cares), but IMHO he continues to hurt his draft prospects. A slow 6'8" wing who can't seem to find the bottom of the basket - makes you wonder if he should have gone pro last season. Still plenty of time for him to fix whatever is going on with him, but time is running out...
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Regarding the PG, Diarra looks like he needs a while off, and Nowell is always hurt, so I think we are going to have to rely on Mahaney to play some minutes for better or worse. Hopefully he can improve.
 
Scottobot said:
Regarding the PG, Diarra looks like he needs a while off, and Nowell is always hurt, so I think we are going to have to rely on Mahaney to play some minutes for better or worse. Hopefully he can improve.
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It's now or never. He'll be getting a lot of practice time. He simply needs the confidence to pass with anticipation within our offense and be competent handling the ball. Fortunately, Liam makes everyone better and his mismatch should open things up.

I doubt Liam will be a great PG options vs a team like St. Johns, but vs teams that don't pressure a ton he'll get decent run in those games to alleviate Diarra.
 
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Gutter King said:
It's now or never. He'll be getting a lot of practice time. He simply needs the confidence to pass with anticipation within our offense and be competent handling the ball. Fortunately, Liam makes everyone better and his mismatch should open things up.

I doubt Liam will be a great PG options vs a team like St. Johns, but vs teams that don't pressure a ton he'll get decent run in those games to alleviate Diarra.
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I bet if Liam is the point against St Johns they foul the heck out of him. He's not going to allow himself to be pickpocketed.

Also the point made about a 6'7 PG is well taken. Pressure McNeeley and he can probably see over the D for help.
 
AllHusky said:
I bet if Liam is the point against St Johns they foul the heck out of him. He's not going to allow himself to be pickpocketed.

Also the point made about a 6'7 PG is well taken. Pressure McNeeley and he can probably see over the D for help.
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I think if you gave McNeeley weeks to prepare, I think what you say could be correct. He is capable and has immense IQ, so I wouldn't bet against him. I just fear we don't have enough time to develop it. I am sure we'll try it early every game, so I am ready to be pleasantly surprised!
 
Captbluefin said:
Karaban has not been right since the concussion.

I believe that’s a big part of it.
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Could be why he is struggling but that's not true that he hasn't been right since the Dayton game. He had big games against Texas (first game back after the concussion), Xavier, Butler, DePaul, Georgetown, and Butler again. How do you explain that?

People keep looking for reasons why he is struggling. Sometimes it just happens and then you need to get yourself out of it. The best players, especially hitting in baseball, go through slumps. I'm confident Karaban will work himself out of his funk.
 
The more I think about last night, the clearer it becomes that our D was great. Not flulike Kalk or bad game Ashworth

Husky flu and on him like white on rice.

Ashworth is a jitterbug out there. Tough to hang onto him, great job.
 
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