Does this UConn team have one or more winning-time go-to play-makers?

[Doctor Hoop]

Revisiting this Q. It depends on what you mean by “go to.” There isn’t anyone right now who can break their guy down an either get to the hoop unimpeded or get the D off balance like Kemba for an open J. I think Ball has the best potential to do that, since the D has to fear the 3.

But there are a lot of guys that, working within the offense, I’d feel comfortable taking a final shot. McNeeley, Ball, Karaban at the top of the list. But Mahaney, Stewart, Ross can all shoot, and Reed posting up, Diarra with his experience, and Johnson slipping to the hoop are also options.

 

[Umami Zen]

When the offensive sets break down as the shot clock is winding down. Still working on it ala Tre Johnson one-on-one skills.. If the ball finds the open shooter? We're good

 

[uh-no]

not ending the first half of this Texas game…air ball

we ran zero offense on that possession. that ticked me off. diarra needs to do better there.

That's why you don't play hero ball and play offense instead....

 

[DogMania]

Revisiting this Q. It depends on what you mean by “go to.” There isn’t anyone right now who can break their guy down an either get to the hoop unimpeded or get the D off balance like Kemba for an open J. I think Ball has the best potential to do that, since the D has to fear the 3.

But there are a lot of guys that, working within the offense, I’d feel comfortable taking a final shot. McNeeley, Ball, Karaban at the top of the list. But Mahaney, Stewart, Ross can all shoot, and Reed posting up, Diarra with his experience, and Johnson slipping to the hoop are also options.

I probably didn't title this thread all that well.

It was intended mostly about making the shot or creating a great scoring opportunity for a teammate when the game is close or outcome in the balance.

It's clear that at this point the team doesn't seem to have a player who can break his man down off the dribble. (McNeeley has shown promise in this, though usually needs to catch it while in motion or when he has a mismatch where he can split the seams and take it to the basket.). That's not what I was aiming for. Just wondering if we had multiple options yet where the moment isn't too big for them, where they can be counted on to make a play with the game on the line to secure the W.

That's what we had the past two seasons, albeit they tended to pull away in the second half often not needing any late game heroics.

 

[uh-no]

I probably didn't title this thread all that well.

It was intended mostly about making the shot or creating a great scoring opportunity for a teammate when the game is close or outcome in the balance.

It's clear that at this point the team doesn't seem to have a player who can break his man down off the dribble. (McNeeley has shown promise in this, though usually needs to catch it while in motion or when he has a mismatch where he can split the seams and take it to the basket.). That's not what I was aiming for. Just wondering if we had multiple options yet where the moment isn't too big for them, where they can be counted on to make a play with the game on the line to secure the W.

That's what we had the past two seasons, albeit they tended to pull away in the second half often not needing any late game heroics.

what got me at the end of the half is diarra didn't even try. he didn't do anything. dribble-dribble-dribble-jack a 3 is the worst offense you can possible run and antithetical to everything Hurley stands for, and Diarra ran it to a T at the end of the half. If that's the game plan, at least pass it to ball/alex/liam first.

I suspect that possession royally ticked DH off, but there are still bigger things to work on, like the adjustments that needed to happen to the 2H def/off and the sloppiness under pressure. and layups...that cleaning up that kind of play will be a late-season improvement.

 

[DogMania]

we ran zero offense on that possession. that ticked me off. diarra needs to do better there.

That's why you don't play hero ball and play offense instead....

I agree. Frustring seeing Diarra take so many clock running down desperation shots. I'd rather see them get into their motion and get the ball to someone in solid scoring position, such as a catch and shoot 3 by Ball, Karaban, McNeeley, Stewart or Mahaney, or a cutter who breaks free who can finish inside or draw the foul and get to the line.

Enough of the dribble till seconds on the clock then jack up a wild 3. I see that happen in the NBA way too often and have always wondered if the percentages favor trying to create a good shot off of solid execution. I do realize that the ball passing multiple hands can be subject to getting picked off or the D preventing the ball from being in the hands of the best scorer, but I still wonder if the success rate of shots off a half court set or scripted situational play would outweigh that. Just seems a low percentage shot in the hands of your best shooter and/or handler isn't the best way to go.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I probably didn't title this thread all that well.

It was intended mostly about making the shot or creating a great scoring opportunity for a teammate when the game is close or outcome in the balance.

It's clear that at this point the team doesn't seem to have a player who can break his man down off the dribble. (McNeeley has shown promise in this, though usually needs to catch it while in motion or when he has a mismatch where he can split the seams and take it to the basket.). That's not what I was aiming for. Just wondering if we had multiple options yet where the moment isn't too big for them, where they can be counted on to make a play with the game on the line to secure the W.

That's what we had the past two seasons, albeit they tended to pull away in the second half often not needing any late game heroics.

If anyone can get into the paint or at the top of the key, just dump the ball to Reed and it’s almost always an automatic two, or an and one. It’s a tight off the glass bounce that’s almost impossible to pin, without fouling Reed. Sort of reminds me of Sarah Strong on the women’s team. Anyone know how many more years does Reed have?

 

[Gurleyman]

Sometimes it’s just simplicity. You want to be sure you shoot at the right time so as to not allow a basket the other way and it’s easiest to do that with an iso. Running offense isn’t guaranteed to have anyone break open at the right moment. You could get a clean look too early and give up a transition opportunity or force a bad shot because you needed a couple more seconds for the actions to work and ended up stuck.

But recently we have had success getting looks without isos - thinking AK at the half vs. Gonzaga and Miami (Jackson helped the Gonzaga one along with a little improv). Had a couple good looks at the rim against SDSU as well. And last year Cam had a good look at the end of the half from 5 feet that didn’t fall. But felt like we have been pretty good with Newton driving and options around him where we got good looks.

Could be that we’ll add more of that in as the season goes on, but we’re keeping it simple for now until everyone is more crisp with their timing.

 

[jibsey]

I probably didn't title this thread all that well.

It was intended mostly about making the shot or creating a great scoring opportunity for a teammate when the game is close or outcome in the balance.

It's clear that at this point the team doesn't seem to have a player who can break his man down off the dribble. (McNeeley has shown promise in this, though usually needs to catch it while in motion or when he has a mismatch where he can split the seams and take it to the basket.). That's not what I was aiming for. Just wondering if we had multiple options yet where the moment isn't too big for them, where they can be counted on to make a play with the game on the line to secure the W.

That's what we had the past two seasons, albeit they tended to pull away in the second half often not needing any late game heroics.

Agree. This team is set up to create that shot if the ball handler is covered like Diarra was and they should work on that. We don’t have Kemba.
Of course it may not work all the time and people will ask why didn’t he put the shot up or why was a pass picked off. There no guaranteed scenario.

 

[alphasigko]

Anyone but Diarra taking the last shot before halftime, or at the end of regulation.