Either Stewart or Ross needs to start | The Boneyard

Either Stewart or Ross needs to start

Ross needs to start in place of Solo. It certainly isn't a cure-all but we're going to have a few more losses before the tournament if we don't fix the terrible defense and Ross while nowhere near a lockdown guy is a lot better defensively than Solo.

Hurley basically said as much in the postgame presser.
 
superjohn said:
Ross needs to start in place of Solo. It certainly isn't a cure-all but we're going to have a few more losses before the tournament if we don't fix the terrible defense and Ross while nowhere near a lockdown guy is a lot better defensively than Solo.

Hurley basically said as much in the postgame presser.
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Yep, it's close, but Ross brings more energy than Stewart and I trust him more out there.
 
superjohn said:
Ross needs to start in place of Solo. It certainly isn't a cure-all but we're going to have a few more losses before the tournament if we don't fix the terrible defense and Ross while nowhere near a lockdown guy is a lot better defensively than Solo.

Hurley basically said as much in the postgame presser.
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I'd be down for this (even with what HW611 would be like). In a perfect world, Ross crosses off the boxes of us having a lack of athleticism, a lockdown defender, and someone who can get downhill. Of course, Ross has only been all of those things in exhibition games, but it's got to beat Solo getting lost chasing his man around every play.
 
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I would take Ross's floor over Solo's at this juncture. Ross filled the stat sheet last night, he's just more active and not redundant with BM.

He fell hard for a couple of Creightons set plays that gave up points, so I think he does have his fair share of defensive lapses. I like the energy, size, defensive potential, and I think he's got enough complimentary offensive punch. I think we need to hand him 25 minutes and just see what happens.

Mullins and Reed remain your main offensive options.
Silas, AK, and Ross secondary scorers.
 
I hate to make a scapegot of Solo after a loss. The issues have been glaring for a while. It's hard for me to swallow a kid being allowed to take the shots he does. Take 3s, but take them open and in the flow of the offense. The early offense contested shots really frustrate me. That's on the COACHES.

This season he's had 3/10, 1/8, 1/6, 2/9, 1/7, 0/5, 2/10 games.... at a certain point someone has to say STOP SHOOTING. No one player needs that volume, particularly one who is shooting 30% from deep. Get to the rack, break pressure, find your mid-range J, pass and rebound. There are so many more options to positively impact the team than taking 10% or more of our possessions on a shot you can't make right now.

Solo's offensive rating is 116 and defensive rating is 105.

Silas: 127/97
Mullins: 117/100
AK: 131/102
Reed: 121/92

Jayden: 122/100
Jaylin: 107/101
Smith: 108/103
Reibe: 128/98

Obviously these two stats aren't everything. But it's fair to say that Solo's defense is worse than the rest of this team by a decent margin.
 
husky429 said:
Mullins just dropped 22/7 and plays defense.

If you bench anyone it's the guy who can't defender a renegade team of girl scouts.

But frankly, Ross and Stewart haven't shown enough to warrant a change.
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I struggle to see this team being championship caliber without Ball getting back to last year’s form offensively, but I’m quickly losing faith that is a realistic possibility and he’s been an offensive black hole with huge volumes too often.

Stewart and Ross just haven’t shown the kind of offensive skillset to really be much of a threat on that end, but at least they bring some defensive stability. We’re trying to make the best of a bad situation at that spot in the lineup and I’m really not sure what the best answer is here.
 
Do you want to see a higher floor or a higher ceiling?

Solo is a mess right now but we know that when his head is on right and he's healthy he's all big east caliber on the offensive end and only awful on defense. Right now his shot is a mess and his defense is atrocious. You fix some of that with Ross or Stewart - though Ross's defense is wildly overrated and Stewart is only serviceable - but you give up offensive ceiling (though Ross has admittedly canned some nice shots recently). The other issue, in year three now, is that Ross and Stewart frequently tantalize us by playing very well in limited minutes against some opponents and then, when given more time, promptly turn back into pumpkins.

Watching the leashes on some of these players I think Danny has made his peace with the idea that he needs Reed/Solo/Karaban to hit their ceilings for this team to go anywhere. Looks like he's fine with letting them work their issues out on the court so long as they come around eventually. Lack of bench depth dictates a lot of that too.

I think a sneaky key issue is lack of ballhandling on this team. If you could play another guard next to Silas that played more pg and let him focus on scoring more could open things up, but Solo isn't a pg and Malachi out there like that spells trouble.
 
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WhereistheDove? said:
I struggle to see this team being championship caliber without Ball getting back to last year’s form offensively, but I’m quickly losing faith that is a realistic possibility and he’s been an offensive black hole with huge volumes too often.

Stewart and Ross just haven’t shown the kind of offensive skillset to really be much of a threat on that end, but at least they bring some defensive stability. We’re trying to make the best of a bad situation at that spot in the lineup and I’m really not sure what the best answer is here.
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I don't think it needs to get much more complicated than "how do we stop fouling so much?"

We have one loss this season to the #2 team in the country if we send SJU and Creighton to the line 20x instead of 30+.
 
PAHusky said:
Do you want to see a higher floor or a higher ceiling?

Solo is a mess right now but we know that when his head is on right and he's healthy he's all big east caliber on the offensive end and only awful on defense. Right now his shot is a mess and his defense is atrocious. You fix some of that with Ross or Stewart - though Ross's defense is wildly overrated and Stewart is only serviceable - but you give up offensive ceiling (though Ross has admittedly canned some nice shots recently). The other issue, in year three now, is that Ross and Stewart frequently tantalize us by playing very well in limited minutes against some opponents and then, when given more time, promptly turn back into pumpkins.

Watching the leashes on some of these players I think Danny has made his peace with the idea that he needs Reed/Solo/Karaban to hit their ceilings for this team to go anywhere. Looks like he's fine with letting them work their issues out on the court so long as they come around eventually. Lack of bench depth dictates a lot of that too.

I think a sneaky key issue is lack of ballhandling on this team. If you could play another guard next to Silas that played more pg and let him focus on scoring more could open things up, but Solo isn't a pg and Malachi out there like that spells trouble.
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That's not coaching. Letting Solo jack up terrible shots and not play any defense shouldn't be allowed and Hurley benched him right away last night and didn't start him in the second half. I think Hurley finally realized the rope he's giving to certain players isn't going to fly anymore and changes need to be made.

The focus should be on Silas, Braylon, and Tarris on offense. They're our three best offensive players and we aren't doing anything without playing defense so we need to insert Ross in the starting lineup.
 
I am a die hard fan of the program, but some big challenges need to be overcome.

Lets see...
Hurley - Whatever levers Hurley has been pulling haven't worked with this group. They're playing uninspired basketball and seem to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Even winning brought out trepidation and not joy.
Demery - A stud. Hard to ask for more from him.
Reed - For all his physical advantages, he's playing games like it's a part time job.
Ball - He was aptly named as he does not seem to grasp the team concept; not a good basketball IQ. Also has upper body strength but a weak base. Sort of like a bowling pin. Cam was the antithesis of this.
Mullins - Has a ton of skills and is trying to be a savior, but just not mature enough physically. He's getting knocked around.
Karaban - Great face of the program but he needs to mend. Use the time to put the distracting legacy stuff behind him.
Ross - If Whaley was the wrench, Ross is the ratchet. Nervous/Twitchy, but scary to rely on game in and game out. He so desperately wants a high profile block that he bites on every up fake.
Stewart - An enigma. Good guy, but has regressed terribly. Where have his innate around the rim talents gone?
Reibe - Freshman center...probably exceeds what was originally envisioned.
Smith - Looks overmatched physically compared to many BE point guards.

I hope these guys find a way to enjoy their time together. Their ceiling is high, but at the moment, the shortcomings do not appear to be moving in the right direction.
 
husky429 said:
I don't think it needs to get much more complicated than "how do we stop fouling so much?"

We have one loss this season to the #2 team in the country if we send SJU and Creighton to the line 20x instead of 30+.
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It's not that simple though. We've always had a fouling problem but we were at least doing a good job of not getting beat much. Now everyone is going one on one and blowing by our guys on the perimeter.
 
Since Creighton, Ross has shot 84(!!!)% from the floor and 70% from 3.

Last night was the first time he started off a game or half and the team came out guns blazing.

Over these last few games Ross has finally been playing with the aggressiveness I’ve talked about where he is actively wanting the ball and looking to make a play. Not just hover around on offense. He has also not been getting down on himself after making a mistake.

I would be super excited at what putting him in the starting lineup would do for this team and his growing confidence. He's ready.
 
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superjohn said:
That's not coaching. Letting Solo jack up terrible shots and not play any defense shouldn't be allowed and Hurley benched him right away last night and didn't start him in the second half. I think Hurley finally realized the rope he's giving to certain players isn't going to fly anymore and changes need to be made.

The focus should be on Silas, Braylon, and Tarris on offense. They're our three best offensive players and we aren't doing anything without playing defense so we need to insert Ross in the starting lineup.
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I’d bet him not starting Solo was more based on the fact that he had 3 fouls.
 
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Fatroony5 said:
I’d bet him not starting Solo was more based on the fact that he had 3 fouls.
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If Stewart wasn’t playing so bad he probably would’ve found every reason to start him too. And he tried to put Stew in 4 minutes into the half for reasons I didn’t understand. Completely blew the momentum.
 
The sample size is big enough to know that we need to make adjustments on the defensive side of the ball. This team can't play it the way past teams have. We don't have the personnel. Dan Hurley and staff have to accept that and tweak it. This doesn't mean they have to make wholesale lineup changes and play defense the same way.
We don't have the same kind of rim protection and the rest (less Silas) can easily get blown by.

Lastly BY's the sky is not falling.
Lol
 
I’ve been biting my tongue most of the season because I don’t like criticizing the team but Solo might be the worse defender that has played significant minutes for a UConn team. I still think we have the talent to compete with anyone but not if we keep fouling and can’t defend. It’s disappointing that only Silas and Braylon have improved since the start of the season. imo Demary, Mullins, Ross, Karaban (healthy) and Reed is our best lineup. I’ll shut up now
 
Nobody in white played defense last night. Guys getting blown past all over thr court. Guys that tried to defend, fouled.

Turnovers were down.
Too many free throws were missed.
They couldn't guard chairs.

When you give up 90, you aren't guarding.
 
boog204 said:
I'd be down for this (even with what HW611 would be like). In a perfect world, Ross crosses off the boxes of us having a lack of athleticism, a lockdown defender, and someone who can get downhill. Of course, Ross has only been all of those things in exhibition games, but it's got to beat Solo getting lost chasing his man around every play.
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If somehow this change is made, they need to do more with Ross than have him receive a pass once during the offensive set in an inconsequential spot, then have him hide in the corner as a decoy/shot of last resort.

He's shown in plenty of instances now that he can penetrate & dish or make a mid-range jumper, and also can provide an accurate entry pass to our 5 position and put them in a good position to score.
 
Scrappy3 said:
It’s a tough time to reinvent yourself but
Our defense needs it
My thinking is use mullens as sixth man for 25-27 start Ross and solo
Also don’t play karaban hurt
Play Stewart there
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Ross needs to start for Ball. We need Mullins playing as many minutes as possible. He is the 2nd best player behind Demary. Ball can sit and be the microwave off the bench. If he isn't shooting well then Smith can play more or Stewart depending on the matchup. Problem Stewart is playing his worst ball of his career right now on both sides of the ball.
 
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JustbrewitMan said:
If somehow this change is made, they need to do more with Ross than have him receive a pass once during the offensive set in an inconsequential spot, then have him hide in the corner as a decoy/shot of last resort.

He's shown in plenty of instances now that he can penetrate & dish or make a mid-range jumper, and also can provide an accurate entry pass to our 5 position and put them in a good position to score.
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Why do we need him doing more than helping out with ball handling and taking wide open shots? He is shooing 40% from 3 even on limited shots that is what I like to see from him. He just needs to play good D. We have enough other players who can score instead of trying to push things that really aren't in Ross's wheelhouse.
 
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