Do Yourself A Favor and Read and Listen Before Any More Questions About State of Team | The Boneyard

Do Yourself A Favor and Read and Listen Before Any More Questions About State of Team

Chin Diesel

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@Marat posted this last night. Here are questions and answers discussed with straight forward answers. I'll call myself out as guilty for asking why questions weren't being asked or why things are the way they are. This interview discusses much of what the first two pages of threads on this board asks.

-Status of Bouknight and why the verbiage changed between Saturday and yesterday.
-PG play. Throws plenty of shade at both Gaff and Cole. Said he wanted to reward Gaff for his "offensive" performance on Saturday. Made no mention of overall game (hint: get better on D) or leadership. Said Cole played well first half but didn't do much the second half. Called out Cole for needing to be more of a leader. Called out guards for being brutual against 3/4 court pressure and took "forever" to get in to something which is "incredible".
  • Talks about how team needs to win with toughness due to offensive deficiencies of the team
  • Says dumping ball in to Sanogo is best offensive choice.
  • Says Jackson and Sanogo running around was biggest takeaway.
  • Talks about team dribbling down to end of shot clock and what the offense is supposed to be.
-Directly talks about flow of game and 70 point threshold.

RJ Cole Interview

  • Asked about looking over shoulder for Bouk to return vice move on without him. Said players have to develop without him.
  • Asked about offensive struggles. Said team got open looks and couldn't knock them down.




 

nelsonmuntz

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I am less angry about this loss than most of the board, or I have been about past defeats.

UConn was terrible against the press, burning the shot clock down before even getting into the offense. Why do we play 3 guards if they are not going to be able to break the press?

We need to go inside more. It will open things up for the rest of our offense.

Honestly, I thought Providence played pretty well yesterday. We are more talented than they are, but that is why they play the games. Yesterday, they were just the better team.
 
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Providence played well and are much more seasoned than us. On paper we win but when you add variable change (covid) it changes the situation.

I will add, this is the Big East. You can’t ever sleep on a record because everyone is playing for the tournament here. Bouk is gone next year so this team needs experience in these types of games if they want to compete next year without him. At that time we won’t have the excuse “we lost our best player” because he barely played this season. Looking forward to improving with new guys.
 

HuskyHawk

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Encouraging that Hurley sees what we see and is trying to get the team to work through it. Anybody who has coached before (even small kids) realizes that players don't exactly execute things perfectly, even at this level. It was good to hear Dan admit that the press break was brutal, and that we don't want those late shot clock shots.

My primary disappointment the last couple of games was that the energy level was low. The intensity on defense wasn't as high as it has been previously. Defense fuels our offense. If we aren't generating turnovers and stops, we suffer on the other end as well. That press was effective because PC made way too many shots.

My one criticism of Hurley remains his insistence on having the 5 hard hedge, chasing way beyond the 3 point line. What I see that causing are (a) easy attempts at the rim with no protection there and (b) wings forced to cover the lane, leading to late closeouts on 3 point shooters and open shots. Leave the 5 in the paint area, let the other 4 guys play tight on the shooters knowing there is somebody behind them. You can call it the old Celtics "hey Bill" defense if you want, but it's also what Calhoun ran for most of the 2000s. We didn't lead the country in blocked shots every year by accident.
 
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I am less angry about this loss than most of the board, or I have been about past defeats.

UConn was terrible against the press, burning the shot clock down before even getting into the offense. Why do we play 3 guards if they are not going to be able to break the press?

We need to go inside more. It will open things up for the rest of our offense.

Honestly, I thought Providence played pretty well yesterday. We are more talented than they are, but that is why they play the games. Yesterday, they were just the better team.

I would argue we have no one of the pedigree of Watson, Duke or Reeves.
 

Icehawk

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I think the lack of games is really showing here, so many basic mistakes that these kids should not be making. I'd also like to see some transition plays and less clock running, especially when we aren't dominating the game. Run the clock when we are up 10, 20 not when we are down that much.

Bouk is good but we can't rely on him to carry even when he is back - he showed that with 40pts in a loss already this year. We need to get guys like Sanogo the ball and have them drive the lane more. Hurley needs to be willing to change strategies and push hot players more too, I was glad to see the lineup was not the one he's been using in past games to little success. I'd also like to see some of the guys show a bit more fire (Carlton I'm looking at you).

I really think a lot boils down to a lack of game time... it's hard to beat a team with 2x the number of games played. It's a game of teamwork and you need to have that play time to gel. It's also a game that feeds on crowd energy, it's got be tough without that too.
 
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Encouraging that Hurley sees what we see and is trying to get the team to work through it. Anybody who has coached before (even small kids) realizes that players don't exactly execute things perfectly, even at this level. It was good to hear Dan admit that the press break was brutal, and that we don't want those late shot clock shots.

My primary disappointment the last couple of games was that the energy level was low. The intensity on defense wasn't as high as it has been previously. Defense fuels our offense. If we aren't generating turnovers and stops, we suffer on the other end as well. That press was effective because PC made way too many shots.

My one criticism of Hurley remains his insistence on having the 5 hard hedge, chasing way beyond the 3 point line. What I see that causing are (a) easy attempts at the rim with no protection there and (b) wings forced to cover the lane, leading to late closeouts on 3 point shooters and open shots. Leave the 5 in the paint area, let the other 4 guys play tight on the shooters knowing there is somebody behind them. You can call it the old Celtics "hey Bill" defense if you want, but it's also what Calhoun ran for most of the 2000s. We didn't lead the country in blocked shots every year by accident.
The only one who can hard hedge and disrupt the dribbler and always get back is Whaley, Carlton was horrible at it but he barely plays anymore. Sanogo honestly could have been called for a couple more fouls doing it yesterday.

I'm more disappointed at his insistence at not running, he can say he expects us to run but it seems it's been ingrained in them to slow the pace and then we never really get into stuff in the halfcourt.
 
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I would argue we have no one of the pedigree of Watson, Duke or Reeves.
Reeves pretty much sucks. Bouknight is way better than both Watson and Duke but nobody on our team is currently on their level. Sanogo and Jackson will be better than them.
 
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@Marat posted this last night. Here are questions and answers discussed with straight forward answers. I'll call myself out as guilty for asking why questions weren't being asked or why things are the way they are. This interview discusses much of what the first two pages of threads on this board asks.

-Status of Bouknight and why the verbiage changed between Saturday and yesterday.
-PG play. Throws plenty of shade at both Gaff and Cole. Said he wanted to reward Gaff for his "offensive" performance on Saturday. Made no mention of overall game (hint: get better on D) or leadership. Said Cole played well first half but didn't do much the second half. Called out Cole for needing to be more of a leader. Called out guards for being brutual against 3/4 court pressure and took "forever" to get in to something which is "incredible".
  • Talks about how team needs to win with toughness due to offensive deficiencies of the team
  • Says dumping ball in to Sanogo is best offensive choice.
  • Says Jackson and Sanogo running around was biggest takeaway.
  • Talks about team dribbling down to end of shot clock and what the offense is supposed to be.
-Directly talks about flow of game and 70 point threshold.

RJ Cole Interview

  • Asked about looking over shoulder for Bouk to return vice move on without him. Said players have to develop without him.
  • Asked about offensive struggles. Said team got open looks and couldn't knock them down.





God bless your level-headedness and call for sanity. Until this morning, I have been too lazy to seek primary sources (these interviews, for example), and so my only exposure to the subject matter has been posts on the Boneyard. Prior to reading Hurley's quotes, I thought all the posters suggesting Hurley was ok with not attacking the press and not getting Sanogo the ball were correct. I was ready to run Hurley out of town! But, as it turns out, he agrees with us mostly, and therefore it is safe to assume he will try to work on those issues.

It is on all of us to be informed of up-to-date facts, but, if you aren't informed, for the love of god, please don't draw conclusions and passionately decry them! It simultaneously dumbs down the conversation and increases the acrimony. Alas, this is the entire problem with public discourse in general, not just on the 'yard.
 

Rico444

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My one criticism of Hurley remains his insistence on having the 5 hard hedge, chasing way beyond the 3 point line. What I see that causing are (a) easy attempts at the rim with no protection there and (b) wings forced to cover the lane, leading to late closeouts on 3 point shooters and open shots. Leave the 5 in the paint area, let the other 4 guys play tight on the shooters knowing there is somebody behind them. You can call it the old Celtics "hey Bill" defense if you want, but it's also what Calhoun ran for most of the 2000s. We didn't lead the country in blocked shots every year by accident.

The only problem is we don't have a great shot blocker there to clean up the mess. Maybe Sanogo can get there; he showed a lot of promise in that area yesterday, but without that hard hedge we're going to be giving opposing guards a wide-open lane to the basket, which is going to lead to easier points and a ton of fouls on our big guys as they step up. If we had Hasheem Thabeet or Emeka Okafor back there I wouldn't be opposed to that strategy, but without Akok we don't have a great shot blocker.
 

HuskyHawk

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The only problem is we don't have a great shot blocker there to clean up the mess. Maybe Sanogo can get there; he showed a lot of promise in that area yesterday, but without that hard hedge we're going to be giving opposing guards a wide-open lane to the basket, which is going to lead to easier points and a ton of fouls on our big guys as they step up. If we had Hasheem Thabeet or Emeka Okafor back there I wouldn't be opposed to that strategy, but without Akok we don't have a great shot blocker.

Sanogo can block. So can Whaley. Jackson and even Josh. But it's not about that stat. It is simply that by leaving the lane empty, we see Martin, Gaff, Adams and others cheating off their man, to be able to cover the rim against penetration, and that is leading to wide open 3's, especially from the corners. If our guys do stay tight outside, they get beat on the dribble and there is an open rim behind them. Watching other games and even our opponents, I haven't seen any other team sending their 5 out beyond the 3 point line on a regular basis.
 

SubbaBub

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Side note: To those who thought losing to St. Johns, Seton Hall, and Providence would feel better than losing to Tulsa, Houston, and Memphis, it doesn't.

In some respects it feels worse. I know these former BE bottom feeders suck and can't possibly be good all at the same time. Without Bouk, we aren't much better than the AAC days and that disturbs me.
 

nelsonmuntz

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Encouraging that Hurley sees what we see and is trying to get the team to work through it. Anybody who has coached before (even small kids) realizes that players don't exactly execute things perfectly, even at this level. It was good to hear Dan admit that the press break was brutal, and that we don't want those late shot clock shots.

My primary disappointment the last couple of games was that the energy level was low. The intensity on defense wasn't as high as it has been previously. Defense fuels our offense. If we aren't generating turnovers and stops, we suffer on the other end as well. That press was effective because PC made way too many shots.

My one criticism of Hurley remains his insistence on having the 5 hard hedge, chasing way beyond the 3 point line. What I see that causing are (a) easy attempts at the rim with no protection there and (b) wings forced to cover the lane, leading to late closeouts on 3 point shooters and open shots. Leave the 5 in the paint area, let the other 4 guys play tight on the shooters knowing there is somebody behind them. You can call it the old Celtics "hey Bill" defense if you want, but it's also what Calhoun ran for most of the 2000s. We didn't lead the country in blocked shots every year by accident.

We should keep it simple on the screen defense. Switch on guard/guard screens, go under on forward/guard screens. I am not that worried about a college kid doing a rushed pullup 3 on a screen, so the hard hedge seems like overkill. If there is a really good 3 point shooter off the bounce, trap him.

The hard hedges always end up with our slowest player 25 feet from where he is supposed to be, in space, against their fastest player.
 

ClifSpliffy

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remove polley from any task other than bringing him to the store to get stuff for youse from the top shelf. learn his actual data, 6'9"! and stop hallucinatin. here's to hoping that he get's angry at my continual ragging on him, and he responds with his annual good game for scoring, and we win as a result. i've given up long, long ago on him actually making a board, assist, block, pass, ever getting fouled, or handling the ball. ya know, his resume, and all that.
 

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