Creighton Post game thread

[djct1999]

What’s this complex offense you speak of? I think the staff has already simplified dramatically if you know what you’re watching. It’s just constant DHO for McNeeley, Ball, and Karaban. With a few wrinkles(slips, back screens, etc). What would you suggest they run instead with no one who can break a guy down one on one? The roster is just flawed.

We are also better than we were in November. This was a disappointing loss that sort of encapsulated some of the good and a lot of the bad on this team. We are heading into the tournament playing good ball and have a week to recharge.
Let’s enjoy the ride. We talked ad nauseum why this team doesn’t stack up with the previous two. The reasons why can’t be fixed overnight or in season. With that in mind, as much of an emotional roller coaster this season was, this team and the staff probably got the most out of this group it could. Many on here have unrealistic expectations .

 

[scotty0330]

This. Our offense isn’t going to work consistently when their center is huge and just waits at the rim. After all these games, did we ever consider keeping Reed on the low block and making them play us 4 v 4 and not 4 v 5?

Short answer is no, but you’re right. Take away a game from McNeeley being out of his mind and the performance against Creighton has been pretty consistent - in a best of 7 series UConn ain’t coming out the winner.

 

[microfich]

Sorry if already posted but I'm not going to go through every post on this emotional thread.
Game Mistake 1: Starting McNeeley on Neal. How did they ever come up with that one? Our worst defender on their quickest player.
Season Mistake 1: Roster construction with only 2 players (Diarra, Ross) capable of guarding outside the paint.

 

[ThetaZoo]

We beat ourselves with a slew of idiotic plays. That being said, the botched out of bounds call when it was clearly off Kalkbrenner was the turning point. We were down 3, then they got the ball and hit a 3. They held it out of reach from that point on. Still, we put still ourselves in the position to lose.

I've got a job for Ackerman. Lobby the NCAA to institute the same challenge rule that the NBA has. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of officiating.

 

[lateralous]

Steph last year was not by his own admission great defensive player when he came to UConn but by the end of his time here was elite. Why because he wanted to be a great defender.

This has been one of the most baffling parts of this season for me. After watching what Steph turned into defensively by the end of last season, and frankly how much attention he got for said defense, I was sure Ball, Stewart and Ross spent the offseason competing to be that guy and they would all be dogs out there. It was clear pretty early that that wasn’t the case

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Just get down the court and launch a shot? That's not an offense.

When UConn screws around running down the shot clock, what ends up happening is one of the centers ends up with the ball out near the 3 pt line with 7 seconds left and panicking to find somebody to pass to and, in turn, they panic to get off a shot. UConn had THREE shot clock violations of this nature last evening. Not good.This team is too lacking in athleticism.

 

[my2cents]

Here's MY 2 Cents:
The difference between First Half defense and Second half defense is that Hurley takes you out in the first half if you get two fouls. No one wants to be taken out early, so they play softer in the first half.
Samson Johnson is really only effective in Pick and Rolls. Creighton knows this so Kalkbrenner just stays in front of the rim. Put a shooter in that would pull him out of the paint.
McNeeley would be better taking an open 14 footer than driving to the rim with that spinning he throws up.
Why Stewart gets so few shots is a mystery to me.
We have zero 1 on 1 players who can get us a basket.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

This. Our offense isn’t going to work consistently when their center is huge and just waits at the rim. After all these games, did we ever consider keeping Reed on the low block and making them play us 4 v 4 and not 4 v 5?

Nope, cuz Dan Hurley won't adjust from his Euro style offense. I remember seeing a you tube vid of the intricacies and sophistication of Hurley's (cuts, screens, ball movement). But it is not working with this void of shot finishers on this team.

 

[BPT2Storrs]

McNeeley drove to the basketball numerous times and never got a call. He is good at getting to the basket but the goal is to draw fouls and it didn’t happen.

Our run had Reed, Mahaney and Stewart. I have not at one time this season said Mahaney needs to be in the game, but the last two games he absolutely needed to play more.

I don’t know if it’s just me but I saw a lot of good looks last night but our players, notable diarra and AK, didn’t want to take the shot. At one point Mahaney passed up a wide open look. These guys gotta shoot in those situations, off night or not.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Looking at the Box which I always do first thing no one on this team had a good night.
Liam 6-20 and 0-5
Alex 3-10 and 0-3
Jaylin 23 min 1 shot
Samson 24 min 1 shot, 1 rebound and 1 foul
But the most telling was Hass with only 1 assist and the team with only 7
They weren't running their plays it would seem and resorted to hero ball which we aren't good at

Hurley talked about the lack of assists post game and it's mostly because Kalk sits deep in the paint and then the rest of their team blankets the 3 point line. SJU is their kryptonite because they can hit the mid range J, while we struggle with it. That shot is always going to be there against Creighton's defense but Liam and AK missed a ton of floaters.

 

[Thighbone]

Get me out of this league with these refs and these fake “Big East” Midwest Catholic schools.

The tough play in this league is what prepared us for our two national championships, moron.

 

[Hunt for 7]

We don't want a 6 foot point guard. That would make us incredibly small with Solo and Braylon looking like starters.

Maybe we stop beating around the bush a little. I’ve only read 3 pages to be fair. Liam was 6-20 and played bad defense. AK wasn’t too much better. If our two best players show up we might win this game.

On to the next, but, it’s been about 3 weeks of poor play from Liam. Some anointed him our best player. Maybe he is, but let’s call a spade a spade. He has not been good enough.

I mentioned it when it happened…..has anyone considered Liam is still not 100%. Said it repeatedly high ankle sprains can linger. Or after coming back you tweak it just a bit and now you are thinking about it and that impacts your play.

There were a few times over the last few games he seemed to be limping a bit and favoring that ankle he hurt. In the end that injury derailed our season we were red hot our confidence was high and then that balloon was popped.

Alex went into one of the worst shooting slumps I have ever seen and the rest of the team started to lose confidence. I think with all we don’t know about the back of house dynamics the coaches may have done a great job keeping the team competitive if half the team had checked out.

 

[DogMania]

Probably brought up but how did the let two players who averaged 11 and 4.5 points per game go off for 19 each, where most were in the first half?

Maybe the strategy was don't let Ashworth and Kalk best us. Instead those two torched them.

Though it looked like McDermott had them spread the floor pulling everyone out of the paint and let those two dive it or take step back 3s. He's a great coach.

 

[Hi-Low]

"Overnight scout?" Give me a break McDermott. He has known for almost a week he would probably be playing us on Friday and they already played us twice this year and play us twice every year. Not exactly scouting from scratch here.

McDermott is sort of a phony imo. He's also not a "great" coach although everyone seems to say it. He's made 1 Elite Eight & 2 Sweet 16's in his entire coaching career (age 60) and has had some highly ranked teams that lost early....underachiever. Great coaches tend to win something, he's not making the HOF because he beats UConn.

McDermott also started the $1 beer game thing against UConn so his drunken fans could scream obscenities at UConn players & Dan Hurley for 2 hours. Then McDermott gets "offended" when Dan Hurley gives it back to drunken fan's at the end of 2 hours of constant nonsense and uses it as an excuse for his player dunking the ball with a second left when UConn had already waved the white flag.

Maybe I'm in the minority but not a McDermott fan. Pitino is a great coach, Dan Hurley is a great coach....McD not so much.

 

[HCCForever]

Almost 100 more posts in this thread than the Nova win thread. It's been 8 hours.

The power of anger and despair.

Or perhaps just venting. No need to vent, when UConn wins. Obviously, we are a passionate fanbase that is very disappointed in the team's performance last night. Hopefully, this team can recover and win some games as the 2022-2023 team did after their BET semifinal loss.

 

[jibsey]

McDermott is sort of a phony imo. He's also not a "great" coach although everyone seems to say it. He's made 1 Elite Eight & 2 Sweet 16's in his entire coaching career (age 60)....underachiever. Great coaches tend to win something, he's not making the HOF because he beats UConn.

McDermott also started the $1 beer game thing against UConn so his drunken fans could scream obscenities to UConn players & Dan Hurley for 2 hours. Then McDermott gets "offended" when Dan Hurley gives it back to drunken fan's at the end of 2 hours of constant nonsense and uses it as an excuse for his player dunking the ball with a second left when UConn had already waved the white flag.

Maybe I'm in the minority but not a McDermott fan.

Disagree. He’s always been deferential and complimentary to Hurley and Uconn. He's not fake slick Rick. I will root for them tonight no question.

 

[87Xfer]

Back to attacking our players and our coaching staff. So bizarre, many don't deserve this program.

Jeff McDermott is a great coach, a good man, and it's obvious he gets the whistle. Creighton and the whistle is the antithesis of UConn and the whistle. That gets really ugly for us.

Conference officiating is the worst, I'm not even sure it's worth hoping for change at this point. It is what it is. All one has to do is look at how different the games are officiated once the dance begins. The contrast is undeniable, and Dan is still Dan.

I will acknowledge that we have to play hard for 40 minutes. We can't expect to overcome a large first half deficit every game. If this team has any shortcomings, it's not playing hard for 40 minutes.

Let's dance

Who is Jeff McDermott

 

[connVA]

McNeeley drove to the basketball numerous times and never got a call. He is good at getting to the basket but the goal is to draw fouls and it didn’t happen.

Our run had Reed, Mahaney and Stewart. I have not at one time this season said Mahaney needs to be in the game, but the last two games he absolutely needed to play more.

I don’t know if it’s just me but I saw a lot of good looks last night but our players, notable diarra and AK, didn’t want to take the shot. At one point Mahaney passed up a wide open look. These guys gotta shoot in those situations, off night or not.

They were giving Diarra that foul line jumper all night long. He’d penetrate but instead of shooting he’d pivot while desperately looking for a pass out to the perimeter. If he starts hitting a couple of those he either draws Kalk away from the basket and more slips and lobs to the bigs open up or he draws some of the defenders away from the three-point line to give our shooters better looks.

 

[uconnyankee]

Do you honestly think Kimani has done a good job this year coaching defense? I am not criticizing a college student. Kimani is a professional.

Just asking…. Is it possible that after losing 7 players in two seasons to NBA that winning 3 NC’s in a row is a tough hurdle to climb? And maybe a drop off in year three is simply an obvious consequence?

 

[Conndog]

Newton became a really good defensive player. It would have been good to have him playing against some of our competition this year. I think you were thinking early on Newton. He became a lot better playing defense and used his body to keep people in front of him.

Newton was also amazing with defensive recovery. If his man got past him and turned the corner, he had quick long stride to get back in position. I’ve never seen anyone recover so quickly!

 

[homunculus]

They also don't play anyone other than Gonzaga after XMas pretty much every year. Has to make defensive metrics appear better. Out of conference they played some low level west coast teams like Arizona St, Utah, Nebraska, USC, Wash St, etc...

This confuses me, though. Are we supposed to religiously believe in the metrics, or are they meaningless?

 

[Hunt for 7]

Almost 100 more posts in this thread than the Nova win thread. It's been 8 hhorse.

The power of anger and despair.

All this does is prove the saying misery loves company. We do a good job of arguing and making fun of each others take but right now this is the only place we can share our disappointment without sounding like we are a bit unhinged. I mean how many places can I say this loss ruined my weekend without sounding like a 60 yr old cry baby. My wife got up and left the room when they went down 17, she played hoops in high school and college so she gets the game.

She usually watches the big games with me and my sons but last night she finally said she had enough she was going to bed. The only positive was that my oldest son 16 years old (yes I am 60 but that a long story) and I were not screaming at the tv. It was clear that we just were not going to win this game. As soon as we and McNeeley came out at halftime and looked like the keystone cops and he gets called for the clear path flagrant it was kind of over.

She knew as I did that we would make a run but that was all that would happen. DePaul almost beat them and we came out and made them look like a top ten team. McDermott just has Hurley’s number he outcoached Hurley last night. He has continued to expose one of Hurley’s biggest flaws as a coach, he is stubborn, which is why he makes so few in game adjustments.

We needed to do something radical in that game to have a chance to win. Personally I would have played small ball and put all of our best shooters in the game together. AK, Liam, Stewart, Ball and Mahaney and stopped Kalkbrenner from playing in the lane. DePaul played them tougher as they has a few guys that could make their own shots. And the refs allowed DePaul to take three steps on step back threes. Also look at it position by position DePaul is more athletic than we are right now. Creighton will get mauled by St Johns and be out of the tourney in the first or second round, they just have our number.

 

[connVA]

I have to give credit to McDermott’s game planning against us because he seems to nail it every time. He recognized that AK was the difference on Thurs and decided to shut him down and force McNeeley to be the focal point. Not sure if he fully anticipated Hurley would go all in on Kalk and Ash and specifically prepped his offensive sets around Neal, Green, and others but it wouldn’t surprise me. Guy is a great coach.

 

[Hunt for 7]

We are also better than we were in November. This was a disappointing loss that sort of encapsulated some of the good and a lot of the bad on this team. We are heading into the tournament playing good ball and have a week to recharge.
Let’s enjoy the ride. We talked ad nauseum why this team doesn’t stack up with the previous two. The reasons why can’t be fixed overnight or in season. With that in mind, as much of an emotional roller coaster this season was, this team and the staff probably got the most out of this group it could. Many on here have unrealistic expectations .

I am good with that idea. Either way it won’t matter after next Sunday because the season will be over. It is hard to root hard for a team that plays defense as badly as we do. But I was rooting for them last night just kind of knew what the outcome was going to be when we were down 11 at half.

 

[Hi-Low]

Disagree. He’s always been deferential and complimentary to Hurley and Uconn. He's not fake slick Rick. I will root for them tonight no question.

Cool, he's deferential on camera but just don't buy it...I'll take Slick Rick over McDermott, at least he's not pretending.