Everyone needs to take a DEEEEEP breath, and hold it | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Everyone needs to take a DEEEEEP breath, and hold it

huskeynut said:
I have purposely stayed away from the post game threads. Same way I stay out of the chat room during games. The level of angst is just crazy. Too many couch coaches on this board.

Hurley and company have work to do. No one should be surprised. Four starters are gone. All impact players. It will take time to get it going. Won't list some of the obvious needs, but it will get fixed. Hurley did not become a crazy, incompetant coach because the team lost two games in Maui.
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Well, he isn't incompetent, but he does lean toward crazy. He's really letting the calls affect him, for the worse. I think the team is starting to reflect that too. That's my concern.
 
To me the silverest lining from these two losses is seeing McNeeley and Ball play. They both have a serious will to win, and that alone should get this squad to the sweet sixteen.
 
This summer, I said Aidan would not be a fit or the guy we think. I was challenged and pushed to shame. Well, I do hope he gets developed by March but I'd say, play Nowell more. He's done more in short stints
 
HooperScooper said:
Tried it. Lasted about a minute. Passed out and fell. Hit my head and got a huge gash on my head. Blood everywhere. Rushed to the emergency room. They're telling me they need to keep me overnight and I can't watch the game tonight. Thanks for the suggestion.
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LOL don't do everything people suggest on the internet :)
 
August_West said:
Hass, no matter what, will still have a huge role on this team. From the bench or starting. And we will need every bit of it. He's up for the task. But he cannot be the only "on the ball" guard on this team. There is a point where increased usage with him leads to decreased efficiencies. And yep, Mahaney is not him. I'm not out to bash this kid. I like him. I still think he has a good contribution to this team in him, but the envisioned role the staff had for him will not pan out. I keep hearing, seeing, and thinking about the comparisons to Tristen's start here. Everyone would love to believe that it is just an adjustment period from player and staff like we had to go through with Tristen before everything clicked on both sides. I wanted to believe that myself at one point. But it is not the same situation. We will see improvement from him, I don't doubt that in the slightest, but other things just are what they are. He will never not be the 1st point of attack on every teams game plan against us. He's just not a great defender. Not individually and not from team D principles either. The latter may improve a little. More importantly I just don't see him thriving as an on the ball guard. It's just not there. The vision, passing, timing, all are just a step slow. He would be much better off ball. The problem there is even if he is better off ball, is he better than Ball? Ross? Stewart? McNeeley? We have a glut of off ball guards/wings . Some real tough playing time decisions are about to be made, there is no choice, we can't keep up this, the rotation needs to be set or it will be disjointed mess still, and we are going to have some unhappy campers. Nowell needs 20mpg. Probably more, but that is a decent starting point. Even yesterday, in 13 minutes he had 5 assists and zero turnovers. The kid is a dog defensively and despite his height he won't be punked. Our guards were punked 2 days in a row. Especially the Memphis game.

We have 2 games now before we get thrown to the wolves with Baylor Texas, Gonzaga and Xavier. 2 games to set something up and get these guys feeling like they have a plan. I hope we see one.
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I always liked Mahaney's game at St. Mary's, when he was a freshman I even thought he could be a future NBA player. I wanted him here and I trusted what Hurley saw in him as starting point guard (even though he's always been just a bucket getter) but yes it's clear it isn't/wasn't going to work for a whole bunch of reasons and it's nothing like the Tristen situation.

We seem to be a guard/ballhandler/go get us a bucket guy short but it's not nearly as bad as some other years. We had two seasons in a row where we had championship aspirations and championship rosters but ended up with only one reliable ball handler. It was Marcus Williams and a freshman Antonio Kellogg and then next season it was Marcus Williams and a freshman Craig Austrie and freshman Rob Garrison.

If it was just Diarra and Mahaney we should be worrying but Nowell was a borderline McD's all-American and he's physically already there. I agree he should be 20 minutes per game and with that time I could see him being the starter as the season progresses.

I'm not sure what happens with Mahaney but if he's just told to go out there and score without any point guard duties life should be a lot easier for him and he should be able to do that. I feel badly for him, his confidence is clearly crushed at the moment.
 
El Obrero said:
To me the silverest lining from these two losses is seeing McNeeley and Ball play. They both have a serious will to win, and that alone should get this squad to the sweet sixteen.
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Really impressed with Ball, he had a couple of nice drives to the hoop yesterday and his 3 pt shot has always been there. His shot to force OT in the first game was huge. I don't think he has the mentality to take over games yet. I hope that happens soon.
 
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superjohn said:
I always liked Mahaney's game at St. Mary's, when he was a freshman I even thought he could be a future NBA player. I wanted him here and I trusted what Hurley saw in him as starting point guard (even though he's always been just a bucket getter) but yes it's clear it isn't/wasn't going to work for a whole bunch of reasons and it's nothing like the Tristen situation.

We seem to be a guard/ballhandler/go get us a bucket guy short but it's not nearly as bad as some other years. We had two seasons in a row where we had championship aspirations and championship rosters but ended up with only one reliable ball handler. It was Marcus Williams and a freshman Antonio Kellogg and then next season it was Marcus Williams and a freshman Craig Austrie and freshman Rob Garrison.

If it was just Diarra and Mahaney we should be worrying but Nowell was a borderline McD's all-American and he's physically already there. I agree he should be 20 minutes per game and with that time I could see him being the starter as the season progresses.

I'm not sure what happens with Mahaney but if he's just told to go out there and score without any point guard duties life should be a lot easier for him and he should be able to do that. I feel badly for him, his confidence is clearly crushed at the moment.
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Even if he does come in as a 2 guard, and score (not sure he would ever replicate the instant burst scoring of Joey Calcaterra though), wouldn't his issues on defense cancel out any scoring he might bring?

Joey did eventually improve on defense and that IMO was because he had quickness which I don't think Mahaney has.
 
RuffRuff said:
The data wizard speaketh. Takes are often best coming from neutral sources focused on data. Stay the course.

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The not talented enough thing I've heard on this board and from this guy is nonsense.

We certainly played poorly the past two games mostly because the defense has been horrible and we're fouling like demons. I think not playing together, guys taking on bigger roles, focusing too much on offense over defense heading into the season, and having the easiest first four games of the season all factor in as does the team not adjusting to how the refs are calling the games in Maui but this team has tons of individual talent. The not having the talent thing is just bogus, right now our sum is way less than our parts.

Recruit rankings- several of those guys are going to play in the NBA

Hass #82 recruit
Solo #46 recruit
Liam #17 recruit
Alex #95 recruit
Samson #57 recruit
Tarris #35 recruit
Jaylin #67 recruit
Ahmad #37 recruit
Jayden #82 recruit
 
superjohn said:
The not talented enough thing I've heard on this board and from this guy is nonsense.

We certainly played poorly the past two games mostly because the defense has been horrible and we're fouling like demons. I think not playing together, guys taking on bigger roles, focusing too much on offense over defense heading into the season, and having the easiest first four games of the season all factor in as does the team not adjusting to how the refs are calling the games in Maui but this team has tons of individual talent. The not having the talent thing is just bogus, right now our sum is way less than our parts.

Recruit rankings- several of those guys are going to play in the NBA

Hass #82 recruit
Solo #46 recruit
Liam #17 recruit
Alex #95 recruit
Samson #57 recruit
Tarris #35 recruit
Jaylin #67 recruit
Ahmad #37 recruit
Jayden #82 recruit
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You’re pretty stubborn on this stuff, lol. Love it!!
 
This team is good, the defense is bad. Losing 2 games in a row sucks, but it was by 3 points total. Those are games we should win, and by February I think win easily. But I think the piece many here are missing is that it's not a massive step forward from the defense that flips these results. It's a very doable task
 
RuffRuff said:
You’re pretty stubborn on this stuff, lol. Love it!!
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What he's saying just isn't true. The analytics nerd is trying to show he's right and that the greatness of Dan Hurley is the only thing that can turn this around because we barely have top 25 talent. We all know Hurley is great, it doesn't mean he's doing a great job with this team so far. The reality is our talent is way better than Colorado's talent. If it was based on talent we would've wiped the floor with them yesterday.
 
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superjohn said:
What he's saying just isn't true. The analytics nerd is trying to show he's right and that the greatness of Dan Hurley is the only thing that can turn this around because we barely have top 25 talent. We all know Hurley is great, it doesn't mean he's doing a great job with this team so far. The reality is our talent is way better than Colorado's talent. If it was based on talent we would've wiped the floor with them yesterday.
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The issue is HS rankings are not telling of talent - efficiency analytics much more accurate portrayal.
 
superjohn said:
What is Colorado's talent?
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Do you actually think the better team, the most talented team, the favored team always wins?

That's pretty funny. In your world, they don't have to play the games, just let superjohn pick the winners and that's that

In all seriousness, bet with your head, not over it, otherwise there's no reason for a real UConn fan to be this angry. It's just not healthy
 
willie99 said:
Do you actually think the better team, the most talented team, the favored team always wins?

That's pretty funny. In your world, they don't have to play the games, just let superjohn pick the winners and that's that

In all seriousness, bet with your head, not over it, otherwise there's no reason for a real UConn fan to be this angry. It's just not healthy
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Not sure I’d qualify it as anger - all fans of Dan Hurley, so maybe just fiery and following suit ;). These message boards really don’t offer a good sense of anyone’s true state of mind. Just fingers on key boards.

I bet most of the “angry” peeps here would be fun to grab a beer with.
 
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StllH8L8ner said:
I’m not on the ledge because as much as I didn’t want to believe it, I knew it might be tough sledding this season. Reminds me of the year after the Dream Season. A bit of a let down although that was the year Big Rod gave Laettner the forearm shiver into the floor so there was at least one highlight…for me anyway.

We lost A LOT of talent and expecting role players to step into the extremely large shoes of Cam, Newt, Steph, Cling, etc is simply not realistic. It’s a lot to ask of guys most of whom barely saw the court last year. That said, a loss to Colorado was not on my bingo card.
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“Big Rod gave Laettner the forearm shiver into the floor…”
Violent thugs engaged in assault should not be a highlight for anyone…
 
RuffRuff said:
Not sure I’d qualify it as anger - all fans of Dan Hurley, so maybe just fiery and following suit ;). These message boards really don’t offer a good sense of anyone’s true state of mind. Just fingers on key boards.

I bet most of the “angry” peeps here would be fun to grab a beer with.
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Bro-Be careful what you ask for. These angry dudes take receipts and they don't have a sense of humor. Life is too short not to laugh once in awhile. Sometimes at the guy in the mirror. LOL
 
temery said:
this reply might very well get first place.
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When you start writing this as, "This is my favorite comment," you'll be stepping out of the problem and into the solution.

I know you're human, but please don't forfeit being the power of example.

I'm unhappy with many of the same things others have seen and found troubling.
StllH8L8ner said:
I’m not on the ledge because as much as I didn’t want to believe it, I knew it might be tough sledding this season. Reminds me of the year after the Dream Season. A bit of a let down although that was the year Big Rod gave Laettner the forearm shiver into the floor so there was at least one highlight…for me anyway.
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Post/handle is good for the mojo.

Everybody, please: the games are played one at a time. I recommend watching them that way.

I don't know what's coming up, but it s about time for me to check on the haiku thread.

We all play a part in this - coaches, players, and fans.

BRING IT, tonight and every other game day. We all make a difference.
 
NickDanger said:
“Big Rod gave Laettner the forearm shiver into the floor…”
Violent thugs engaged in assault should not be a highlight for anyone…
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You're not the guy to decide any such thing. Nobody is. You more so. Do NickDanger's job.
 
Mr. French said:
Ryan Boatright with some advice (some posters have this opinion too):

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Mahaney actually has shown slight improvement on defense when he’s not defending the lead point guard. If you watch closely he is not making the same mistake twice, but he is physically limited.

Wouldn’t mind seeing a lineup on Saturday with Nowell/Diarra, Mahaney, McNeeley, Karaban, and Reed. He is a natural off ball scorer.
 
jleves said:
Can I panic now?
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Panic might be strong word but UConn needs to get it together. The last and only 2-ranked team to lose 3 straight to non-conference opponents was Louisville in the 86-87 season. They were in the Metro then and finished 16-14. They won the Metro regular season but lost in the Metro tournament. They were invited to the NIT but Denny Crum declined. This was the year after they beat Duke to win the NCAA championship.
 
The only thing I will add is the lineup is not set at this time. There is work to be done for sure, but we need to stay calm as this is still November
 
superjohn said:
He turned down the best three point shooter in the country Koby Brea who was begging to come here and instead went with Aidan Mahaney who Hurley was going to turn into a point guard. Brea is shooting 68% from three and scoring 15 points per game as we wasted preseason and the first 5 games on the Mahaney starting point guard experiment.
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I am glad somebody else posted this because
I wanted to. I have followed Dayton very closely the last few years (my daughter graduated from there) - I watched just about every game last year.

I was the guy last Spring begging for Brea. Not that Mahaney was/is a bad player. I do believe he will be better than what we have seen but everyone on this board just looked at Brea’s stats and saw him just a good 3 pt shooter. He would have been awesome in the Hurley system. Dayton ran everything through Holmes last year. Kobe’s points were almost always under duress, contested, shot clock bail out 3’s. You don’t see that in the stats. He is a lights out shooter. I have not watched any KY games this year, so I can’t comment on him this year except for his stats which, as you posted look damn good…
 
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