Creighton Post Game Thread

[KingAG]

Why does he have to be higher than that? All those players are clearly better than him. That's in no way a slight to him. We all know Karaban has played the most years, the most games, and has won the most games.

Rip, Emeka, Ray, Kemba, Shabazz, Donyell, Caron, Gordon, Clingan, Hasheem, Clingan, Tristen, El-Amin, Sanogo, Jackson, Hawkins, Adrien, AJ Price, Rudy Gay, Cam, Castle

You think he's better than any of them?

In an all time UConn list he’s over Cam and Castle to me. So is Ryan Boatright. I wouldn’t fight that list though. He definitely ain’t near 50 like @RuffRuff says

 

[KingAG]

An all time great has to at minimum be on an all American team, or a first team BE team.

You think a BE fan of another school looks at Karaban and says, that’s one of the all time great Huskies? I think not. They’ll say nice player, been around a long time, won a couple titles as a role player.

We’ve had lots of them.

That knocks out castle

 

[auror]

I’d say in most cases the 5th player on a dominant NC team could have easily been replaced, yes. Those teams usually win because they have 2-3 special players. Alex was a supporting actor.

In conference play in '24, AK scored 14 points per game while shooting 54% on 2s, 43% on 3s, and 91% on FTs. He was 2nd on the team in field goal attempts per game in conference play.

For the season, AK was 3rd in points per game, 3rd in rebounds, 3rd in steals, 3rd in blocks, 3rd in FG%, 2nd in 3pt%.

A supporting actor isn't taking the 2nd most shots on the team.

 

[willie99]

There is no one on this team who is "that guy."

Mindnumbing.

Mullins tried to be, and I'm not sure he's shaved yet

He missed a bunch of shots, but others missed all their shots

I can't believe we may have peaked before the holidays

 

[willie99]

I’ll say this and be back on Saturday.

You better get us now. Because it’s coming.

We really shouldn’t do this thread to ourselves. Go have a drink.

I suppose that's our best outlook

"We're on to Nova"

The Patriots did win the SB after getting drubbed by the Bengals that year

 

[HW611]

So Giffey played as big a role as a freshman that Karaban did? You’re lying.

Senior Giffey is more comparable to freshman Karaban. And that says a lot.

The way Giffey’s circumstances were setup, he always had someone competing with him for his position.

It’s very rare for someone to come here with no competition at their position. Like at all.

 

[HW611]

It’s gone make yall sick when they put him on that wall.

What’s the criteria for being put on the wall?

 

[RuffRuff]

That knocks out castl

In conference play in '24, AK scored 14 points per game while shooting 54% on 2s, 43% on 3s, and 91% on FTs. He was 2nd on the team in field goal attempts per game in conference play.

For the season, AK was 3rd in points per game, 3rd in rebounds, 3rd in steals, 3rd in blocks, 3rd in FG%, 2nd in 3pt%.

A supporting actor isn't taking the 2nd most shots on the team.

Look which teams he loaded up his point production against. I’ve looked at AKs numbers - they were against the dregs of the league. DePaul, Gtown, Butler.

The eye test is appropriate with AK.

Steph not an AA….. ok. AK is 4 year player and will not even get votes for AA.

Go ask a fan of another BE team if Alex is an all time great Husky.

He’s just not guys. It’s like the hood ornament of two speculatar teams. He’s a great student athlete and a symbol of a great run as a productive player, great he ain’t.

 

[boog204]

Rock bottom for him right now. 10 minutes of nothingness tonight.

I know +\- can be misleading, but he was -15 in 11 minutes. That’s impressively bad.

 

[Edward Sargent]

The Silas-Solo-Braylon-AK-TR starting lineup.

It's too duplicative and you end up with three guys waiting around for Silas to get them the ball for a three. And when you have a very high volume shooter like Solo who really does not add much if he's not scoring, the lineup does not work that well.

I've wanted them to break that lineup up with Reed or Stewart. You add a bigger body on defense and for rebounding and he's not going to sit and wait on his shot. E.g. We looked our best in the second half when we started with Reed in for Solo. Once Solo came back, he immediately front rimmed a long three and the Creighton run began.

You mean Ross

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Solo ball is the problem.
Solo ball’s defense is THE problem.

He’s the worst starting defender since Antoine Anderson.

And if he is only shooting 30% from 3, he does us no good at all.

Alex is also a huge problem. He’s almost unplayable with games like that. His defense has been bad all year and can’t inbounds the ball. He gets cooked every possession.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Yea I won't sit here and explain AK's importance to UConn fans.

You don’t need to. Regardless if he has a leg injury, he hasn’t been able to guard a tree all season. Almost unplayable on defense.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Go ask a fan of another BE team if Alex is an all time great Husky.

This is actually a solid test of perceived greatness. Most BE fanbases don’t fear Alex. When he announced that he would be coming back last Spring all of BE twitter was clowning him. Unfortunately he has not done much to silence the haters. I don’t think the “Captain All America” nickname has helped in that regard either.

 

[Horsebrnhil]

OK, gonna try to be an optimist.

AK is the only real contributor from the title teams with this group. Hurley's got a championship culture, but he is not without his blind spots.

Maybe this is a loss that "shocks the system" and guys turn it up a notch. Hopefully it prompts the staff to figure out exactly what changes are needed and how we can adjust.

A 1 seed is probably off the table. That doesn't concern me as much as the fact we've regressed as the season has gone on.

At the same time, we've seen they're capable of beating some of the best teams in the country during the non conference. Gotta turn this into an opportunity to get better.

It may never completely click this year, but I have to believe the staff will be relentless in trying to figure it out.

No. 1 seed not 'totally' off table.
1. Recover from last night.
2. Run the table regular season
3. Run through BE tournament.
4. Hope Michigan, Duke, Iowa St. etc falter in their tournaments.
OK, Pollyana take your meds, and go back to 🛌.
🤪

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Can we get back to talking about the team?

Has anyone else mentioned that we only have one player who creates offense? Too much is being put on Demary's shoulders. And we have become an easy scout.

And on defense, we give up so many buckets right at the rim now. There's little to no rim protection.

I'm not sure how these problems get fixed, but if they're not, you can go ahead and make other plans for March instead of rooting for the Huskies.,

 

[Lafayette]

Picked the wrong night to go electronics free.

Looks like we reverted to no perimeter D, missed a bunch if FTs, tried to shoot 3s on volume and other than Silas who shot the most FTs doubt many drives to the hoop.

I can guess inbounding was a concern and AK and Solo checked out…

Gonna have to check yt now to get a condensed game recap. Ugh lost at home to a .500 team…this does not bode well for Saturday

 

[ucp990411]

Yeah it's easy to see that UConn besides Silas and Reed don't have good 1 on 1 defenders in the starting lineup.

Don’t know about Reed being a good one on one defender. Seems like other teams bigs score over him repeatedly. He makes it easy for opponents to feed the post. I think the biggest problem with our defense is that we don’t have a rim protector to make for our lousy perimeter defenders.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

All the legendary players in UConn history and the record for most wins will belong too… Alex Karaban and Samson Johnson. Lol

Just doesn’t feel right man.

Why? The legendary UConn players dont stay for 4 years

 

[Deepster]

On Alex, I know there isn’t a direct line drawn between the two statements but:

1) He’s a great kid. Hard worker. Smart on court judge. Key contributor to 2 all time great NCAA title teams. The type of kid you’d be glad if you’re daughter brought home

2) For the second year in a row, we are approaching March looking for a freshman (who missed a month) to lead us.

 

[Deepster]

And if I’m going to try to find any silver lining? Every great team faces adversity. It’s what you do when you face it that defines you. The next month will write the ending to this one.

 

[Umami Zen]

Took the night off from the Yard. Twenty-three pages of observations already.
Greg outcoached Danny on this night with in game adjustments. Creighton played with intensity and focus. Probably as close to their A game (with this year's team) as they've played all year. Credit to them.

In the first half- Was stunned at the ease with which their guards controlled pace and got down hill into the paint. With minimal rim protection at the hoop. Ball/AK/Mullins were repeatedly beat off of the dribble-allowing them to get their shots. Seemed obvious to me that despite AK's effort-He was not playing healthy- Foot speed/leg strength was definitely affected. Thought Ross provided energy throughout the game.

Second half we abandoned Tarris (again) .Put him on ice. And tried to win with our shooters. Seemed like Danny handed the keys to the car to Mullins to shoot us into a victory. We had multiple opportunities in and around the paint to score-with good shots-and they didn't fall. "Stuff" happens.

Greg continues to work his good cop-bad cop deal with refs when playing Dan. 34 FTs.10-5 isn't luck. Plenty to work on before Nova on Saturday. Guess we'll see what kind of resilience our guys have. Nova will be ready. Man in the mirror time.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

We have been flirting with danger in games like this all year. We played like garbage against Georgetown then spent the last few days getting called out for fan support.

Well, tonight you had $2 beers, free t shirts, a kid walking 40 miles to the game and Okafor giving an impassioned speech at halftime.

And the team laid an egg.

Play better and the fans will act accordingly. This one is on the coach and the team.

Behold the power of anti-haiku, and those who are amused by it.

 

[Scoe]

It's the end of the world as we know it.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

One positive: I loved Ross' energy and length on defense. He's a key piece to this team and championship level teams need glue guys like him.

On the flipside, I'm trying to figure out pragmatically what is the cause of Solo Ball's defensive issues. He's athletic and I don't see an effort issue. He's also got a plus wingspan and he's surrounded by capable defenders in the backcourt, so it's not like he's left out there to dry. If there's one area that's clear that he needs to work on, it's switching off screens and/or PnR D, but what can he do to work his way to an at-least average level on defense?

With Mullins' shot-making and Ross' ability to defend and stretch the floor, I'm dreaming up more lineups with Demary at the 1, Mullins at the 2 and Ross at the 3, but realistically we need Ball to play well on both ends if we want to reach our ceiling.

Side note: Karaban is clearly still affected by his quad injury, so his impact will be on the rise once that's cleared up.

 

[IndyLives]

Coach Hurley coached his ass off his first few years here. It seems he is coasting this year. No passion on the sidelines. His coaching moves are non-existent or has made play worse. None of the players are progressing. Most have regressed. Embarrassing display last night in front of a national audience against a garbage team.