DePaul Post Game Thread

[Excalibur]

Attendance: 15,684

We use tickets sold as attendance. VetTix was giving away tickets right up until game time.

 

[F101Voodoo]

You do wonder if games like last night will have any impact on AK making first team all BE, which would be a nice way for him to see out his junior year. My sense is the voting committee will look to give it to him unless there is someone else fully deserving. Right now that team will consist of:

Kam Jones (POY likely)
Eric Dixon
Ryan Kalkbrenner
RJ Luis

Those 4 are locks. Then you have guys like Ashworth or Conwell/Freemantle putting up good numbers. Still feel AK in good position.

Alex's shooting percentages have dropped significantly over the last few games to 43% from the field and 38% from three, after being really solid most of the year.

Is AK. having medical problems? I wonder! Is his confidence injured?

 

[Deleted at users request]

The team is banged up and they came back nicely in the 2nd half - thats about it
AK did enough on the floor to even out his poor shooting night - he is not a super star but he is a glue man and proved it last night.
DePaul is MUCH improved and certainly in my eyes not the worst team in the NBE anymore. Once they get a few more decent recruits and portal players they will no longer be the brunt of jokes.
I guess Dan Hurley knows that he had been blessed by ready made stars the past few seasons and now it's time to start coaching again - at least the remainder of this season.
I expected a very noticeable down shift in player ability overall this season, so this is not a surprise. I'm just surprised it took Dan Hurley this long to hint at that fact.
UConn will again participate in the Dance and once there you play the tournament with facing elimination every game and if 100% healthy, this team can still make noise.
One game at a time..................................

This is my worry with Dan Hurley when it comes to evaluating his team which is confusing because he’s such a great evaluator of HS talent. We find diamonds in the rough like nobodies business.

But when they get here we seem to not be able to identify what players should probably get special coaching and get pushed in certain ways until it affects winning.

These past two years we’ve been so talented that it wasn’t going to matter and roles were easy to allocate. This year has been a big mismanagement of who should be what as those decisions were much tougher to make.

 

[John]

We use tickets sold as attendance. VetTix was giving away tickets right up until game time.

I was there, the crowd was fine, it was a Big East game crowd

 

[444JR]

We keep seeing what Jaylin Stewart can do. Pretty soon everyone will realize what we have and will let this kid go to do his thing on the court.

Agreed. The narrative against Jaylin Stewart is baffling. He's one of our own and clearly has the ability to go off in the scoring column. He's a much better post defender than he is perimeter defender, see Villanova game vs Dixon. Tough for both Ross and Stewart to play consistently when their roles are so inconsistent. Someone mentioned Ross has only played 400 minutes. There's a great athlete there, but it's no wonder his timing is off on both ends of the court. Excited to see those two grow every game. Jaylin Stewart 6/7FG for 15 points!! Yet this board has so much negativity for him because of his +/-?? There's four other Huskies on the court with him getting scored on!! Is the expectation that much higher for Sophomore Stewart than it is for Senior starter Samson Johnson 4 points, only 2 shots, and 3 rebounds or Junior Aiden Mahaney who went 3/9FG for 10 points??

I admit that I have a real soft spot for Stewart and Reed Jr. I think their skill level is so clear and they have the tools to be game changers for this team. Alongside McNeeley, healthy Karaban, and rising star Solo Ball we have some dawgs who can beat anyone on their day. Add to that our fearless leader Hassan Diarra. Things just need to click at the right time, but the narrative against Stewart is frustrating to say the least. I'll add that whenever the game plan completely goes away from Tarris Reed Jr. I'm baffled and the announcers always seem to be as well. Almost feels like people are pushing Stewart out the door. I don't get it.

 

[dennismenace]

The players showed absolutely zero sense of urgency for the first 15 minutes. There was so little movement of players on offense. It looked nothing like what us fans have become accustomed to seeing on the court. I have no idea why Hurley let them just stand around and move at a snails pace.
Last 25 minutes was obviously much better. After being down 28-14 UConn outscored DePaul 58-33.
Observations-
The lack of urgency in cutting away from the ball. It literally was at a pre-gane walk through pace.
Samson Johnson just falling to the ground and an absolute refusal to want to rebound. So infuriating to see a big who doesn't aggressively try to grab every ball.
The amount of good looks where the ball was halfway down in the first half and rimmed out.
Alex comes off curls and screens, catches the ball and hesitates way too much. He needs to decide before he gets the ball if it's going to be catch and shoot or catch and drive. He loses so much momentum and space when he hesitates.
Reed was a beast. Sorry not sorry but he needs to start and play as much as his conditioning allows.
Don’t look now but two straight double digit scoring games by Mahaney.
Stewart may be an enigma but he can score which is more than what Ross brings.
Reed, Karaban, McNeeley, Ball and Diarra. Mahaney, Stewart and Johnson off the bench. You figure out that 8-man rotation and see what happens in March and April.

Oddly Mahaney showing a way to get to the rim by effectively using the backboard from a little bit of distance as he goes down the lane. Beats getting hammered and stuffed. Jalen Adams used to use this technique as well. Keeps the defender honest as well.

 

[F101Voodoo]

I can understand to a certain extent leaving Gampel early due to the traffic although I would never do that and I have waited 30 or so minutes to leave the garage. I cannot understand leaving a game in Hartford since I rarely ran into much more than 5 minutes of traffic. Of course, I grew up on the mean streets of Hartford in the crime infested former Insurance capital of the world /s so I knew where to park.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxreply is below..

I also grew up in Hartford we got bulgerised they stole my hard earned summer job money I was saving for college. Parents finally escaped from Hartfords hell . We owned a small single house on the outskirts. I hated the City of Hartford ever since even though I worked for all three BIG insurance companies in Hartford. Escaped from the garbage pit of city hell.

 

[F101Voodoo]

Did Dan Hurley just overplay the THREE PEAT crap and give the team overstuffed BS confidence and it backfired in a nuclear way?

 

[Deepster]

All the talk about our defense this year and I'm surprised how little we recognize losing Castle and what that did to the defense. Forget Clingan. That's obvious. Castle is 2 years removed from high school and shutting down 30 year old NBA veterans. Replace him with the below mediocre defensive performance of Stewart and Mahaney and it's pretty easy to see how we got so bad on the perimeter so quick.

 

[SwingDog]

All the talk about our defense this year and I'm surprised how little we recognize losing Castle and what that did to the defense. Forget Clingan. That's obvious. Castle is 2 years removed from high school and shutting down 30 year old NBA veterans. Replace him with the below mediocre defensive performance of Stewart and Mahaney and it's pretty easy to see how we got so bad on the perimeter so quick.

It's true we don't have a lockdown defender like Castle, but tough, tenacious defense is a hallmark of the program and I would think something that's considered in the recruiting process. Our defensive liabilities this year are what's most disappointing to me. Sure, being a good defender requires some athletic abilities such as quickness but, like rebounding, it's also much about the intangibles like toughness, will, determination, and a mindset where you play every single possession like there's no tomorrow. Because elite defense is such a critical part of Hurley's/UConn's culture, to see us lacking in that department is frustrating...BUT I still think we can get better with what we have. It kills me seeing the likes of Neal and Telfort bullying their way or driving to the basket against us on their strong side, daring anyone to stop them. We have to do better with that if we're going to win the big games.

 

[HCCForever]

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxreply is below..

HCCForever said:
I also grew up in Hartford we got bulgerised they stole my hard earned summer job money I was saving for college. Parents finally escaped from Hartfords hell . We owned a small single house on the outskirts. I hated the City of Hartford ever since even though I worked for all three BIG insurance companies in Hartford. Escaped from the garbage pit of city hell.


I get the point. I moved out years ago but I still have fond memories of growing up in the Southend. Times have changed but it was a nice place to grow up back then.

 

[Waquoit]

The boos are simply douchie on all the blue hairs and mom jeans in the crowd’s part.

The blue hairs aren't sitting in the good seats anymore.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Pretty damn funny:

 

[superjohn]

Pretty damn funny:

Meghan Bard

 

[ctchamps]

I'll go on a limb and suggest if #1 UConn was playing #2 DePaul last night and it was a 28-14 deficit the crowd reaction would have been much different than what we saw last night when #25 UConn was playing a 1-9 (In-conference) DePaul team.

Let me know what happens next time Georgia football is getting trounced at home in the first half by Rice.

So you negate my post by ridiculing the Georgia example. That doesn't address the other points I've made about booing. What value does it serve the team?

Analytics weighs losses at an opposing teams court differently than neutral or home courts. The expression home court advantage is said for a reason. Getting to MSG or Barclays Center or TD Garden for the NCAA tournament were advantageous.

From a fans standpoint I think booing our team is great. Tell me how it helps our players.

 

[jake14mw]

He is our best player. Who is all around at everything on offense and would be playing even better than we saw ,if healthy. Its a valid reason

Yes, he is. And injuries are part of basketball. Being without one freshman (as great as he is), is no excuse for playing like that. So, every time Liam gets in foul trouble, or is hurting, the team is expected to limp along until he's back in? I've heard Hurley reference his absence WAY too much. Next man up.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Everyone who thinks we’re just going to get steamrolled by Marquette should back of the ledge.

Now why did you go and do that? We had a great chance to thin the herd of the negative crowd.

 

[F101Voodoo]

HCCForever said:
I also grew up in Hartford we got bulgerised they stole my hard earned summer job money I was saving for college. Parents finally escaped from Hartfords hell . We owned a small single house on the outskirts. I hated the City of Hartford ever since even though I worked for all three BIG insurance companies in Hartford. Escaped from the garbage pit of city hell.


I get the point. I moved out years ago but I still have fond memories of growing up in the Southend. Times have changed but it was a nice place to grow up back then.

I grew up in the south end and southwest end walking distance to Elwood . Bulkelly High graduate. My wife grew up n west end. Got out by early 1970”s.

 

[Chin Diesel]

So you negate my post by ridiculing the Georgia example. That doesn't address the other points I've made about booing. What value does it serve the team?

Analytics weighs losses at an opposing teams court differently than neutral or home courts. The expression home court advantage is said for a reason. Getting to MSG or Barclays Center or TD Garden for the NCAA tournament were advantageous.

From a fans standpoint I think booing our team is great. Tell me how it helps our players.

Yep, you wrote a long post and I replied to part of it.

It's a message board. Get used to it.

 

[Scoe]

In the grand scheme of things, does booing vs cheering really matter to a team or player, noise is noise. I remember when Randy Johnson was a Yankee he said "I don't care if the fans boo me or cheer me but be loud when I'm on the mound".

 

[Stew Crew]

I was there, the crowd was fine, it was a Big East game crowd

Definitely better than the Butler game. I've been to more exciting funerals.

There were plenty of empty seats that are season tickets. I'm guessing, based on the people sitting around me, that a lot of season ticket holders sold or gave away their seats from last night, figuring it would be a blow out.

 

[NotADime89]

In the grand scheme of things, does booing vs cheering really matter to a team or player, noise is noise. I remember when Randy Johnson was a Yankee he said "I don't care if the fans boo me or cheer me but be loud when I'm on the mound".

The people posting on twitter crying all night/morning about the booing are exhausting (and I don't agree with the booing). I just listened to a twitter space from last night and a lady talking on the space sounded like she was legitimately going to cry when talking about the boos. She was reprimanding the people that booed saying don't come to games anymore as of she was some UConn fan police. I got a laugh out of it

 

[Scoe]

The people posting on twitter crying all night/morning about the booing are exhausting (and I don't agree with the booing). I just listened to a twitter space from last night and a lady talking on the space sounded like she was legitimately going to cry when talking about the boos. She was reprimanding the people that booed saying don't come to games anymore as of she was some UConn fan police. I got a laugh out of it

Those reactions don't suprise me at all lol. To me fans who wanna be the fan police are even worse than the fans who booed. I see comments like we shouldn't play in Hartford anymore that logic is so dumb, despite what anyone thinks about the Civic Center UConn is going to play games in Hartford their a state university.

So trying to lose fans is better? The booing was a vast minority and it wasn't continued booing.

 

[RuffRuff]

The people posting on twitter crying all night/morning about the booing are exhausting (and I don't agree with the booing). I just listened to a twitter space from last night and a lady talking on the space sounded like she was legitimately going to cry when talking about the boos. She was reprimanding the people that booed saying don't come to games anymore as of she was some UConn fan police. I got a laugh out of it

You may get whacked by the Husky Maffia - go into the yard protection program.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

This is the first game I missed in like 10 years. I was flying with no wifi. So my thoughts are not game specific. I would never boo Uconn. Period. But I sure get frustrated, not with losses, but with the continuation of the same defensive mistakes, game in and game out. I am in peace with the fact that we are a lazy defensive team. Lazy you say? Yes, because we have great athletes. There is zero reason Solo should get beat as badly as he does, 15 times a game. Same with Ross and Stew. And I have even seen Hass get beat on the perimeter. I never played at this level. But I remember learning early on that playing defensive is about energy and commitment. Anticipating and studying your opponent, so that you can take away what they want to do. How come our perimeter guys keep getting beat to the right by right handers, and to the left by left handers? This is lack of preparation. Lack of focus. That said, I ride or die with these guys. And I believe in Dan Hurley and the coaching staff. I think that March will still be special.

 

[Palatine]

We keep seeing what Jaylin Stewart can do. Pretty soon everyone will realize what we have and will let this kid go to do his thing on the court.

He has got to pick up his defense, both one-on-one defense and understanding where to be in the system. His offense is real. His defense.....

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Just to give context. Stew came out we were losing 47-44. Ross replaced him. When Stew returned we were up 64-54. So that's a 20-7 swing in eight minutes. This is the third or fourth time this has happened this year.

Ross is -24 since Baylor

Stew is -33

Two examples of Stew’s defense last night - smaller man goes right over him for a 5-6 chip shot, uncontested. Later he’s guarding a man at the 3 pt line, the guy puts a little shim on Stew, in place, to the point Stew loses balance and almost falls and the guy nails a wide open 3.

Then you see how he played defense against Dixon and ask yourself, where is that? It feels like focus with him. First defensive possession of the game he basically gave a DePaul guy an easy free o rebound/layup without a care in the world. Very hard kid to figure out without knowing what he looks like day in day out. He shows these flashes but cannot sustain it.

The second and one is from an inexperienced player totally losing his player on an inbounds play.

The first and one Reed got totally schooled and Ross was alert enough to come to the play with a potential to make a stop. His premature jump is a timing issue. He's only had 400 minutes of game time experience between last season and this.

When I watch Ross I see a player who is engaged with everything that is happening on the court when the other team has the ball. He is reactive even when it's not his player handling it. Stewart and Mahaney on the other hand are glued to watching their player for the most part. Solo is transitioning which is why his defense is improving and he made that fantastic block. Or maybe his one on one defense is improving allowing him to be more comfortable to watch the court. So in court awareness on the defensive end Ross is ahead of Stewart without question.

As far as the plus and minus differential between Ross and Stewart, some of it can be explained to timing when a player is on the court and whether the team is making or missing baskets more than the other team and is not always relatable to how well a player plays. Stewart is well ahead of Ross on the offensive end. But a part of Ross's weakness is the staff are not giving him the green light. If we were down players similar to Vital's sophomore season and Ross was getting the playing time Vital had we'd being seeing a different player on the offensive end.

Yea I was watching Ross closely in the 2nd half. Gunn was starting to be a problem in the 1st half and looked like he could go off, but Ross did a real nice job shadowing & neutralizing him in the 2nd half.

You can tell why Hurley loves Ross because he's busting his arse to get better, and is definitely getting better on defense in-game. He's doing fewer high-risk gamble plays and biting for less up-fakes.

The 2nd one he fell for (late in the game), he was fuming at himself. Right after it happened, after Hass got in his face, when he got to Hurley & heard it from him, after Kimani spoke to him too. Not sure if it showed up on the broadcast, but he emphatically punched his seat before he sat down...hard enough that I thought "he better not have just broken his hand with that"

The offense is gonna be tough to get dramatically better because other than fast-break runouts, he's a 3rd/4th/5th option in most sets and isn't going to get the best looks. Nearly all of his last 4-5 3pt shots have looked really good, some of them should have fallen.

His one drive to the hoop he likely got fouled but it wasn't called.

 

[Waquoit]

There were plenty of empty seats that are season tickets.

Not really.

 

[dennismenace]

Ross' one shot was so wildly uncoordinated looking that it really makes you wonder if potential is even there. It looked like the Elaine Dance of college basketball.

I had to look up "The Elaine Dance" LOL. For other clueless people like me:

 

[ctchamps]

The people posting on twitter crying all night/morning about the booing are exhausting (and I don't agree with the booing). I just listened to a twitter space from last night and a lady talking on the space sounded like she was legitimately going to cry when talking about the boos. She was reprimanding the people that booed saying don't come to games anymore as of she was some UConn fan police. I got a laugh out of it

Not sure you're putting me into this category or not. I wouldn't police people about booing. That is far worse than the act itself imo. I just don't see the value in it. All i'm asking is for those who do it, support it, or advocate for it, explain to me the value it provides in helping a team perform better.

@Scoe brings up one player who isn't bothered by booing as an example to refute my contention. That player isn't bothered by it. I'm sure there are people who thrive on it. An American women player in the Australian Open loved it. But are these the majority of players?

If chin or anyone else can give me objective information that counters my point I'd gladly admit I'm wrong.

Not for anything but when things don't go well a vast majority of this forum's posts are repetitive crying. Most of the people posting here have been crying since Maui. They want players and coaches to change. It's not a coincidence that we insist others change when we refuse to. I also find it strange that this twitter women made you exhausted when the majority of this forum is that way.