Either Stewart or Ross needs to start | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Either Stewart or Ross needs to start

imno1 said:
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
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It’s crazy how bad at defense he is. I can’t figure out why. He’s athletic, he’s quick, he’s strong. I think he’s trying… Doesn’t make sense
 
Gutter King said:
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.
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Ross bites for any and all shot fakes, head and body fakes, and any other fake put in front of him. He has been doing that since he 1st stepped onto the court as a Husky.
 
Probably have to mix it up a bit and see what the outcome is - been touch and go for a bit now.

How about Hurley stop always comparing this team to the two title teams and pointing out how this team falls short.

Everyone knows how the squads are different - forget the incessant comparative. Figure this team out and get the best out of these players and this team.

Sorry mini rant over
 
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bendm said:
I said Ball needs to be benched for Ross in the postgame thread and got half a dozen ?s

But it has to be Ross. He would directly help our D by guarding the opposing teams best perimeter player and he would indirectly help the O. We don’t need the fifth option taking anything but wide open 3s and dunks so those extra shots will go to the other starters, mullins and Reed in particular.
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100% agree with all of this.
 
JustbrewitMan said:
Because parking him in the corner doesn't put as much pressure on the opponent's D to make a mistake than having him be a purposeful part of the offensive sets and motion.

He doesn't have to be the feature, but he's athletic enough, quick enough, and enough of a threat to make 3's and/or penetrate into the lane to make the defense react and expend effort/make potential mistakes that he's being absolutely wasted and underutilized sitting in the corner.

Even if he was a moving decoy in an offensive set, that would be better than what they usually have him do.
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Got to give Ross a chance. Look what happened last night. McDermott gave Zugic a chance and he responded. Maybe Ross will too.

What’s the common denominator in last year’s disappointment and this year’s regression from the good start to the season: SB’s terrible defense is the answer. He even makes others look worse defensively because they are forced to cover for him. He scores 14 and gives up 20+. Last year, at least, he tried to fit into the offensive scheme and took good shots. This year he seems to think he is the man and his 3 point shot selection is terrible. I’ve seen him numerous times on the break take the ball to the basket while being guarded on the break, instead of passing out to a wide open Mullins for 3.

Hate to be down on him, but he is playing selfish basketball, not making anyone else better. He was a team player last year despite his defensive deficiencies, but not this year.
 
alphasigko said:
Ross bites for any and all shot fakes, head and body fakes, and any other fake put in front of him. He has been doing that since he 1st stepped onto the court as a Husky.
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It is a weakness but a lot of times he recovers because of his athletic ability. He shut down Graves last night for the first 4 minutes of the second half.
 
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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Mullins is a good defender, he’s actually Ricky Moore compared to Solo so this is way off I think!😳
 
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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On a scale of 1-10 on defense, Solo is a 1 and Ross is a 5.5.
 
Orc said:
Is Furphy not good? I don't get why he can’t get any playing time with Solo and Stewart having a terrible year. He looked great in world games last summer
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Have you seen him - looks like a fly in the winter when he's out there.
 
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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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He actually shot well for a couple games prior to last night. It's more than that - he hoists a lot of poorly time threes, has no sense on how to be anything but a gunner.

I think if we give Ross some leash and run, he can make the most of it.
 
i started to read these comments and about to lose my mind . 1) we are 22-3 ,although not playing well recently, having beaten some very good teams 2) our best lineup and rotation is the one we usually play 3) everyone needs to play better at what they do best and strengthen the things that aren’t what they do best; drastic changes will not help only hurt … small things that might help and i am guessing will occur 1) Mullins will get more “looks”/ touches . he is our best player and can create 2) if alex is hurt and needs time to get better give it to him ; he doesn’t have great foot speed and quickness and if those are compromised his smarts can’t cover that 3) take better shots 4) defensively stop overplaying as much , number 23 is playing in portland… if however we get blown out in next two then PANIC !!
 
Compare this year’s squad to 2023 and 2024:
Both of those championship teams started a defensive specialist. Clearly AJax was limited offensively (although he could playmake) and Castle sacrificed offense. UConn needs to start Ross. At his height, he can take the toughest assignment from 1-4.
Ball should come off the bench like Joey California
 
husky429 said:
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.
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Also it seems like in the more recent games wherein he didn’t shoot well from three, he didn’t really look to get to the rim as an alternative path to scoring like he did so well in the first half of the season.
 
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Stewart has been a good passer on the interior. I would start him over Ball. And then we can still bring in Ross for his energy in the frontcourt. We need Stewart to be a factor and not an invisible man. Ball can sub in for Braylon. Hurley needs to get his 3 point shooters to be more disciplined in shooting closer to the 3 point line and not so early in the shot clock. Some of our early 3s from way out are just momentum killers. Also make the opponent play defense.
 
Until we can stop people from blowing past our guards to the hole we need to reestablish a post presence (Tarris/Riebe) both for shot blocking and rebounding. We cannot surrender the paint/boards in order to have them out near the perimeter hedging etc. while the interior is unguarded. As done in the past the driver still has to get around them at the hoop or pass off. Also, having Ross playing more minutes will help the interior play as well as being a better option guarding those slashing to the basket. I agree that it is not to late to try have Solo coming off the bench and let him try to light things up that way. Otherwise take him out and then bring him back again later. We are going to be watched closely going into the season ending games and BE tournament. The present setup has proven to depend too much on offense three pointers and sacrificing defense. We need to be polished and ready for the YE tournaments. Also, free throws and inbounds. Hurley needs to take some responsibility at aftergame briefings and quit dumping on the defensive performance of the players he is coaching. If its not working fix it; don't just blame.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
True. Also, Ross hasn't benefited from being able to get in the flow of any game except 2 - last night's game and the other game where he was our best player.
I think his tentative play at times is simply based on his desire to be "perfect" in his limited minutes. But he is a very good shooter, doesnt mind using his body to protect the rim, makes some really smart passes and if he does lose his man he really beats himself up over it.
He is a key piece to this thing moving fwd.
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Mullins has to play 36 mins a game.
Ross needs to start and play a ton.
Ball is the microwave off the bench aka Tony Gwynn.
Cargo Karaban has to get healthy.
Love to see Smith get it going again.
 
brihman said:
Mullins has to play 36 mins a game.
Ross needs to start and play a ton.
Ball is the microwave off the bench aka Tony Gwynn.
Cargo Karaban has to get healthy.
Love to see Smith get it going again.
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John Gwynn
 
I have no problem with a shock to the lineup.

I am 100% convinced this current rotation of starters and bench players is a Sweet 16 team at best.

And as an official spoiled and arrogant fan who has witnessed the rise of UConn from the bottom of the BE to the top of the basketball world......I could care less if any UConn team loses in the first round or the E8. Final Four is a minimum for me to consider a season a success.

So, start Ross and bring Ball off the bench. Does it work? IDK. But I know the current rotation will not work. So, is it six one, half dozen the other?

Potential benefits- Clarifies roles on the starting unit and potential John Gwynn fire off the bench from Ball. Shifts the ratio of time Ball is chasing starters as compared to playing against opponents bench players.

Potential downfalls- Welp. Could just be another way of scrambling the same eggs and the team still goes nowhere.

Me? Put me in the camp of the status quo isn't getting this team to Indy for the FF. So, any change, is worth a shot.
 
Silas 32/Smith 8
Mullins 20/Solo 20
Ross 24/Mullins12/Stew4
AK 33/Stew 7
Reed 28/Reibe 12

Give Ross some starter minutes and see how he responds.
brihman said:
Mullins has to play 36 mins a game.
Ross needs to start and play a ton.
Ball is the microwave off the bench aka Tony Gwynn.
Cargo Karaban has to get healthy.
Love to see Smith get it going again.
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