Dan Hurley hopeful UConn men’s basketball team will solve issues that have prevented the Huskies from closing out close games

[JustbrewitMan]

Hope is not a strategy - fans can hope, coaches need to have plans. If there’s not another ball handler then he better figure out a way to do it with schemes that don’t take the clock to two seconds and someone hoists up a prayer

Somebody can say "I hope xxx happens" and also have a plan for increasing the odds of that thing happening.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

If you REALLY think Hurley and Co. are hanging their hats on hope exclusively, then you really haven't been paying attention these past few years.

 

[Northbound]

Somebody can say "I hope xxx happens" and also have a plan for increasing the odds of that thing happening.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

If you REALLY think Hurley and Co. are hanging their hats on hope exclusively, then you really haven't been paying attention these past few years.

No

 

[Huskyforlife]

Still can't believe we had 3 spots open during the off season and supposedly gawked at the idea of adding a transfer. Dan needed to know this team needed another playmaker incase Gaffney didn't take the leap and Diggins needed a redshirt year. Didn't have to be some superstar, just a rotational piece would've taken this team from good to great.

 

[husky429]

Still can't believe we had 3 spots open during the off season and supposedly gawked at the idea of adding a transfer. Dan needed to know this team needed another playmaker incase Gaffney didn't take the leap and Diggins needed a redshirt year. Didn't have to be some superstar, just a rotational piece would've taken this team from good to great.

It's probably his only recruiting "failure" to date... it's fair to let it slide. I would imagine he thought Diggins would be more ready than he is.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Hope is not a strategy - fans can hope, coaches need to have plans. If there’s not another ball handler then he better figure out a way to do it with schemes that don’t take the clock to two seconds and someone hoists up a prayer

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -

“How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers." The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.” - Woody Allen

My "hope" is that we stop relying on one guy, move the ball and have critical late game shots taken by whichever guy happens to be open. I have seen endless failure from this team when we focus on getting the ball to a specific player (often easily identified by the opponent). Move the bodies. Move the ball, if open, shoot. Iso skills shouldn't be that important. Certainly shouldn't be what we are relying upon.

 

[shizzle787]

Cole needs to stop committing so many fouls. If we don’t have a reliable back up, he needs to stay on the floor. If it sounds obvious, it’s because it is.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

It's probably his only recruiting "failure" to date... it's fair to let it slide. I would imagine he thought Diggins would be more ready than he is.

I think it is more that they thought Gaffney is much better than he actually is.

 

[boog204]

I feel like we have lacked multiple competent ballhandlers/creators for many years now. Cole has had a ok/productive year, but he's not a point guard. Neither is Gaffney and obviously we have no idea what Diggins is yet. In crunch time, you need a guy who can make a play and be a threat on multiple levels. Cole can do this to an extent, but he's still limited due to his size and lack of athleticism.

 

[gtcam]

Hurley is so erratic with his personnel decisions it has to be troubling to the players
He has short leashes on players he needs to give more or any PT while he turns a blind eye on others when they crap the bed more than not
Regardless of what so many of you say about Sool, I have seen him in a few practices, the kid has handle and great court vision to the point that DH has been heard urging him on. On game day he sits him next to his son on the bench I guess to keep Andrew happy.
In the Seton Hall game, after the last TO, how the hell do you not have your best 3 pt shooters in the game and run a series of crossing runs/screens either with purpose to free one up or allow a lane to the hoop. Instead the ball is played in and 4 guys stand stationary in the corners watching someone dribbling the clock down
My hope is that Dan allows someone else to draw up his plays while another makes line up decisions while he concentrates on recruiting

 

[husky429]

Cole has had a ok/productive year, but he's not a point guard.

4.6 assists and 1.9 TOs per game would beg to differ.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

My "hope" is that we stop relying on one guy, move the ball and have critical late game shots taken by whichever guy happens to be open. I have seen endless failure from this team when we focus on getting the ball to a specific player (often easily identified by the opponent). Move the bodies. Move the ball, if open, shoot. Iso skills shouldn't be that important. Certainly shouldn't be what we are relying upon.

Agree with this. We’re a good team, but we are not a good end-of-shot-clock 1-on-1 iso team.

So just keep playing for points and running a normal offense. Don’t play to the clock. There’s a reason we don’t just stand around holding the ball for 25 seconds on possessions before the end of games. It reduces the expected points value of the possession.

If you have a player like Kemba, 1-on-1 iso at the end of the clock doesn’t hurt the expected value of a possession, so it’s smart to run clock late with a lead. We don’t have that luxury. There’s no law that you need to hold the ball at the end games. A good shot at 15 on the shot clock is better than a doomed drive to the basket/TO/or prayer launched at 2 on the shot clock.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I think it is more that they thought Gaffney is much better than he actually is.

Which is a coaching failure. Part of a staff's responsibility is to correctly assess a player's current capability and growth. When you completely screw up the PG depth chart by incorrectly assessing talent that has more of an effect than a PF. You can mask roster deficiencies at certain positions. PG ain't one of them.

 

[imno1]

I think Martin is our best option. It's hard to believe that as talented as we are we don't have many one on one players. Next year I think CFjr could be the guy after he gets his feet wet.

Cole needs to stop committing so many fouls. If we don’t have a reliable back up, he needs to stay on the floor. If it sounds obvious, it’s because it is.

less than 3 fouls per and he's playing over 32 mpg.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

It seems like the best bet is to have Ajax handle primary ballhandling/initiating offense duties when RJ is sitting. He has a decent handle, and vision. He can also take his man off the dribble. He would obviously have to work on finishing in the paint, but that's a smaller problem than our backup PG has right now.

This would leave Gaffney to backup the 2, and be a secondary handler with either RJ or AJ on the floor.

This is an imperfect solution, but less imperfect than what we're doing right now, imo.

 

[huskiesouth]

Perhaps one way of closing out games to avoid similar results to the SHU, etc. game would be to keep our foot on our opponent's throat when we have a 6-9 point lead.

 

[nycscooby]

It seems like the best bet is to have Ajax handle primary ballhandling/initiating offense duties when RJ is sitting. He has a decent handle, and vision. He can also take his man off the dribble. He would obviously have to work on finishing in the paint, but that's a smaller problem than our backup PG has right now.

This would leave Gaffney to backup the 2, and be a secondary handler with either RJ or AJ on the floor.

This is an imperfect solution, but less imperfect than what we're doing right now, imo.

Yikes! AJax as primary ball handler. Bottom line right now is that when RJ is out, we are very easy to defend and we turn the ball over to boot. If we can’t rely on Gaff and it sure looks like we can’t, Danny should see what Diggins looks like out there. We are not at practices but can Diggins really be less effective than AJax or Martin? Hard to believe.

 

[Husky Alien]

I feel like we have lacked multiple competent ballhandlers/creators for many years now. Cole has had a ok/productive year, but he's not a point guard. Neither is Gaffney and obviously we have no idea what Diggins is yet. In crunch time, you need a guy who can make a play and be a threat on multiple levels. Cole can do this to an extent, but he's still limited due to his size and lack of athleticism.

RJ is only limited due to there is no other ball handler on this team. Just look at his stats. He is more than adequate for this team as a point guard.

 

[Husky Alien]

Yikes! AJax as primary ball handler. Bottom line right now is that when RJ is out, we are very easy to defend and we turn the ball over to boot. If we can’t rely on Gaff and it sure looks like we can’t, Danny should see what Diggins looks like out there. We are not at practices but can Diggins really be less effective than AJax or Martin? Hard to believe.

I'm not one of the Diggins band wagon here. From what I have seen of him and it's not much from high school to here he seems slow to get to the hoop. Passing does look good but I think his quickness is what's holding him back.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Yikes! AJax as primary ball handler. Bottom line right now is that when RJ is out, we are very easy to defend and we turn the ball over to boot. If we can’t rely on Gaff and it sure looks like we can’t, Danny should see what Diggins looks like out there. We are not at practices but can Diggins really be less effective than AJax or Martin? Hard to believe.

I agree, everybody agrees, but it looks like DH isn't going to do that no matter how much we yell and scream. Obviously coach thinks he isn't ready.

My suggestion takes that into account and is the next option, because the Gaffney option isn't working.

 

[Hoops91]

The answer is not Gaffney, he doesn't have the ball handling (kinda important) or vision of a point guard, but the second options are tough. Hawkins is a shooting guard, not him. AJ is definitely not a point guard, not him, that only leaves Diggins but I have no idea what he's like at this point. I'm guessing he would have been thrown in the mix a long time ago if the coaching staff thought he can handle this. If Cole can stay out of foul trouble in big games, problem solved.

 

[driveway]

I think Hurley's early season hope was that Uconn would be ahead at the end of games and therefore would not need a closer like Bouknight. It is what it is. Gotta battle through it. Just enjoy. On the edge of your seat every game. You know you love it.

 

[bendm]

Still can't believe we had 3 spots open during the off season and supposedly gawked at the idea of adding a transfer. Dan needed to know this team needed another playmaker incase Gaffney didn't take the leap and Diggins needed a redshirt year. Didn't have to be some superstar, just a rotational piece would've taken this team from good to great.

Which is a coaching failure. Part of a staff's responsibility is to correctly assess a player's current capability and growth. When you completely screw up the PG depth chart by incorrectly assessing talent that has more of an effect than a PF. You can mask roster deficiencies at certain positions. PG ain't one of them.

i'm sorry but between gaff, jackson, and diggins hurley brought in three 4* players that were supposed to be competent ball handlers. two of them were ranked as top ~50 recruits and the other is an upperclassman.

the fact that he was counting on just ONE of these three guys to be a reliable backup ballhandler that could give cole a breather is not a coaching failure. the fact that we cant get anything consistently from these 3 guys (minus rebounding from aj) is an execution/performance failure.

people keep talking about all the transfers we could have gotten. list 5 transfer guards that would have signed here w/ the expectation of playing ~10 mpg yet are good enough to give us the ~20 quality mpg everyone is now clamoring for....

 

[ClifSpliffy]

It seems like the best bet is to have Ajax handle primary ballhandling/initiating offense duties when RJ is sitting. He has a decent handle, and vision. He can also take his man off the dribble. He would obviously have to work on finishing in the paint, but that's a smaller problem than our backup PG has right now.

This would leave Gaffney to backup the 2, and be a secondary handler with either RJ or AJ on the floor.

This is an imperfect solution, but less imperfect than what we're doing right now, imo.

'He can also take his man off the dribble.'
wait, whut? based on ur dreams?
get back to me when, for the first time eva, he even tries a pullup j, stepback or otherwise. forget, for now, him getting to the rim, then going under and switching to the left for a bunny.
and the standard is tries, not makes. im not greedy.

'take his man off the dribble' means mostly making a hoop, or making the great pass after breakdown. nothing more, or less.

 

[imno1]

i'm sorry but between gaff, jackson, and diggins hurley brought in three 4* players that were supposed to be competent ball handlers. two of them were ranked as top ~50 recruits and the other is an upperclassman.

the fact that he was counting on just ONE of these three guys to be a reliable backup ballhandler that could give cole a breather is not a coaching failure. the fact that we cant get anything consistently from these 3 guys (minus rebounding from aj) is an execution/performance failure.

people keep talking about all the transfers we could have gotten. list 5 transfer guards that would have signed here w/ the expectation of playing ~10 mpg yet are good enough to give us the ~20 quality mpg everyone is now clamoring for....

I just want to push back on your statement about not getting anything other than rebounding from AJ. In the 3 BE games so far he's at 9, 9, and 2 apg. Plus 5 for 6 from 3. He had too many turnovers last game but didn't have any the first 2. He is improving as the season progresses. Next step is finishing at the rim.

 

[Palatine]

If you don't have a breakdown player, you need plays to produce open shots. We might even have the plays. But as we saw at the end of SHU, this team looked very uncomfortable running the play called. Moving the ball quickly and confidently would solve the problem.