Either Stewart or Ross needs to start

[jibsey]

You're correct with his post. But one thing you left out was the detrimental effect of his bad shots. You know since you're a basketball coach, what is one way a team that is behind 8-15 pts gets back in the game? When a player on the team with a big lead takes a bad shot or two. When UConn had the 7 pt lead early in the 2nd half Hurley took out Ross and put in Solo, I don't know why, and he puts up two rushed 3 pt shots and Creighton went on an 8-0 run and took back the lead in 2 minutes. He did the same thing against Providence at Gampel. UConn was up 10 in the first half with a chance to blow open the game and Solo took one bad shot and 2 turnovers from trying to do too much and Providence got back in the game.

Quick and bad shots also led to rebounding fouls, one or two on Braylon.

 

[PAHusky]

This board cracks me up. February calls for Koroma. Three page dissertations on the effects of solo’s poor shot selection and Mullins is putting up 30 footers 8 seconds into the shot clock. Pegging Ross as the savior because he’s the only perimeter defender other than Silas who doesn’t get constantly cooked (seriously, no one will talk about it but Karaban is almost as awful on defense as Solo, he’s just got such a high bball IQ that he makes a nice play once in awhile).

This team is what it is and goes as far as:

• Hurley can figure out how to get the best out of Mullins/solo/Reed on offense
• Malachi plays ok and Silas plays steady
• Stewart and Ross combine for an above average game in the aggregate

 

[gsmooth]

This board cracks me up. February calls for Koroma. Three page dissertations on the effects of solo’s poor shot selection and Mullins is putting up 30 footers 8 seconds into the shot clock. Pegging Ross as the savior because he’s the only perimeter defender other than Silas who doesn’t get constantly cooked (seriously, no one will talk about it but Karaban is almost as awful on defense as Solo, he’s just got such a high bball IQ that he makes a nice play once in awhile).

This team is what it is and goes as far as:

• Hurley can figure out how to get the best out of Mullins/solo/Reed on offense
• Malachi plays ok and Silas plays steady
• Stewart and Ross combine for an above average game in the aggregate

Shhhh! Don't say anything about Karaban or else a certain faction of the BoneYard brigade will come after you. There were 8 pages in the Creighton Post Game thread debating about where Karaban fits among the UConn greats. I love that Karaban came back for this year and he is the Robert Horry of college basketball and arguably the best glue guy in college basketball. However, it's okay to be honest about his game, which you are being in this case. He sucked against Creighton. If people talk about how hurt he was, which he clearly was, he should've been benched once it was determined how ineffective he was or been scratched altogether and not played. Solo, Mullins, and Karaban do not create a good defensive presence. Silas and Tarris are the best defenders in the starting line up by 100 miles.

 

[Scrappy3]

I’d start Ross against St. John’s

 

[RuffRuff]

I’d start Ross against St. John’s

I don't care how he gets in, I would have a quick hook on Solo if he's turning the ball over or taking bad shots. Ross should play close to 25 in this game.

 

[mauconnfan]

Let’s calm down on Ross in this game I think he crapped his pants and had a huge turnover against the Johnnies last game late. My God you people are amazing. He’s a bench guy, he played good D last game and is an improvement on that end and that end alone. Let’s see more before we take a bench guy and make him a 25-30 minute guy. Wow

 

[Fan1978]

He is tough and physical, thats it.

Great free throw shooting as well

 

[karstenkibbe]

I seriously cannot believe this thread is still going eight pages later. Yard gonna ‘yard.

 

[RuffRuff]

Let’s calm down on Ross in this game I think he crapped his pants and had a huge turnover against the Johnnies last game late. My God you people are amazing. He’s a bench guy, he played good D last game and is an improvement on that end and that end alone. Let’s see more before we take a bench guy and make him a 25-30 minute guy. Wow

I think in this game specifically, Solo is going to be a hard play given how soft with the ball he is and his defense.

 

[superjohn]

Let’s calm down on Ross in this game I think he crapped his pants and had a huge turnover against the Johnnies last game late. My God you people are amazing. He’s a bench guy, he played good D last game and is an improvement on that end and that end alone. Let’s see more before we take a bench guy and make him a 25-30 minute guy. Wow

Nah, nobody said we need him for offense. We need a defender with size, quickness and length on the perimeter. If Solo is getting cooked and or taking bad shots Ross needs to come in. We need Ross as a big part of this team instead of an afterthought. We're going to need a confident Jaylin too. This becomes a very different team if the bench is a major plus like it was earlier in the season. They struggled and Hurley went away from them, he admitted that was a mistake.

 

[RuffRuff]

Nah, nobody said we need him for offense. We need a defender with size, quickness and length on the perimeter. If Solo is getting cooked and or taking bad shots Ross needs to come in. We need Ross as a big part of this team instead of an afterthought. We're going to need a confident Jaylin too. This becomes a very different team if the bench is a major plus like it was earlier in the season. They struggled and Hurley went away from them, he admitted that was a mistake.

We also play better when Malachi brings us positive minutes, he's just hit or miss. I would say right now Jayden is in front of Stew. Stew hit some shots last game (he still gets zero rotation on the ball, surprised he hasn't fixed that as he's throwing knucklers up there), but if he's not hitting shots, he brings less to the floor. Ross had two blocks. He simply does things that energize the floor.

 

[Scrutineer]

We also play better when Malachi brings us positive minutes, he's just hit or miss. I would say right now Jayden is in front of Stew. Stew hit some shots last game (he still gets zero rotation on the ball, surprised he hasn't fixed that as he's throwing knucklers up there), but if he's not hitting shots, he brings less to the floor. Ross had two blocks. He simply does things that energize the floor.

Ross seems to lack confidence in his shot, yet was four for five on FT's in a big game with 20,000 fans jeering him. So maybe, just maybe, he can become more comfortable on offense with more minutes per game while continuing to play well enough on defense to lead the team in +/- as he did at +16.

Jaylin looked so at ease on his two made three's, and was so much better early in the season compared to the last couple months, that they need him to be that guy every game if the team wants to get to the big prize. Has to be the same issue of confidence as Ross.

We're not going far without those two guys contributing like they did at Villanova so I say keep playing them meaningful minutes and stop beating up the rest of the starters by playing them more than 25-30 minutes.