- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 2,849
- Reaction Score
- 5,196
It's evident this year's Huskies are a very good team that can beat their opponent in many different ways. Granted they've been playing without Clingan, but there are some thing that could use some improvement.
Some of the following are obvious:
FT shooting. They're leaving a lot of points at the line and they're too good a shooting team to be doing so poorly at the line, especially with some of our better shooters. Performances like last night could be costly in the upcoming win-or-go-home tournaments. Last night should have been a blowout if they hit their FTs at a solid clip, especially the 1:1s that resulted in 0 points followed by Xavier 3s.
A little more rest for our 3pt shooters (Karaban, Spencer and even Newton). Notice that there have been games where these 3 deep shooters seemed to miss some of their 3s when looking a tad fatigued, but then start knocking down 3s after given a stint on the bench. I think the bench (especialy Diarra who brings energy on both ends of the floor) is showing it can hold their own enough to give these 3 a little more rest to keep them fresh to lock and load and drill more dagger 3s especially in the second half. Teams that have active half-court offenses that eat up much of the clock making their opponent defend for long stretches are doing so by design to wear down UConn, which is a smart strategy. Tired legs often result in missed jumpdhots and turnovers.
Get out on the break more often. They're a tad turnover prone in transition, but if they look to run more they'll more than make up for the extra handful of turnovers, by finishing or drawing fouls. Running the half court sets too much allows teams to get used to seeing it and defending it better. We did see them push the ball more against Xavier which was a welcomed sign. They have enough depth, other than at the 5, so running more, especially when they go small, might help make up for their lack of size when Johnson is on the bench. Though he's good at catching and flushing in both the break and half court set (screen and cut backs).
Try to sustain their energy in their half court motion offense throughout the game and not pound the ball or stand around. Although they're better than just about any UConn team I've ever seen running the half court motion/multiple-screening set, there are times where they seem to not move as quickly off the ball, or pass/drive as decisively as they do when they're running it with precision. Part of this is the result of players not in their usual positions when key players are in foul trouble and not on the floor. And of course when teams play zone against them, they have to run more a spacing, quick screen, quick cutting to soft spots in thr zone. Pounding the ball while 4 stand and watch seems to often result in highly contested shots as the clock runs down.
Figure out how to better stop penetration. Lately teams have started to exploit a weakness driving it right to the basket. Not having Clingan and depth in the post, plus some issues with stopping or slowing the penetration from the perimeter have unearthed this deficiency. Hurley has been very good at resolving such defects, but this one seems to be a tougher one to fix. They've shown signs of improvement in short spurts, but teams have clearly been trying to exploit this, resulting in easy baskets, trips to the line and last night getting players in poor rebounding position resulting in offensive rebounds and way too many second chances. Just about all season long they've been outstanding at protected the defense glass, so hopefully this was an outlier and not something we'll see very often.
Note that this year's team does many things well and are one of the best complete teams this year, especially when they have Clingan causing mayhem in the paint at both ends of the floor. Often they defend well and score inside, midrange and beyond the arc. They're probably the most versatile team in all college hoops. The Big East seems to allow a lot of physical play. I'm fine with most of it. I hope they stop allowing teams from grabbing and bumping players off the ball, restricting movement, which is how teams try to stop UConn's multi-screen motion offense. I'm excited to see see this team continue to evolve and improve, though they are already a team capable of repeating as champions.
Some of the following are obvious:
FT shooting. They're leaving a lot of points at the line and they're too good a shooting team to be doing so poorly at the line, especially with some of our better shooters. Performances like last night could be costly in the upcoming win-or-go-home tournaments. Last night should have been a blowout if they hit their FTs at a solid clip, especially the 1:1s that resulted in 0 points followed by Xavier 3s.
A little more rest for our 3pt shooters (Karaban, Spencer and even Newton). Notice that there have been games where these 3 deep shooters seemed to miss some of their 3s when looking a tad fatigued, but then start knocking down 3s after given a stint on the bench. I think the bench (especialy Diarra who brings energy on both ends of the floor) is showing it can hold their own enough to give these 3 a little more rest to keep them fresh to lock and load and drill more dagger 3s especially in the second half. Teams that have active half-court offenses that eat up much of the clock making their opponent defend for long stretches are doing so by design to wear down UConn, which is a smart strategy. Tired legs often result in missed jumpdhots and turnovers.
Get out on the break more often. They're a tad turnover prone in transition, but if they look to run more they'll more than make up for the extra handful of turnovers, by finishing or drawing fouls. Running the half court sets too much allows teams to get used to seeing it and defending it better. We did see them push the ball more against Xavier which was a welcomed sign. They have enough depth, other than at the 5, so running more, especially when they go small, might help make up for their lack of size when Johnson is on the bench. Though he's good at catching and flushing in both the break and half court set (screen and cut backs).
Try to sustain their energy in their half court motion offense throughout the game and not pound the ball or stand around. Although they're better than just about any UConn team I've ever seen running the half court motion/multiple-screening set, there are times where they seem to not move as quickly off the ball, or pass/drive as decisively as they do when they're running it with precision. Part of this is the result of players not in their usual positions when key players are in foul trouble and not on the floor. And of course when teams play zone against them, they have to run more a spacing, quick screen, quick cutting to soft spots in thr zone. Pounding the ball while 4 stand and watch seems to often result in highly contested shots as the clock runs down.
Figure out how to better stop penetration. Lately teams have started to exploit a weakness driving it right to the basket. Not having Clingan and depth in the post, plus some issues with stopping or slowing the penetration from the perimeter have unearthed this deficiency. Hurley has been very good at resolving such defects, but this one seems to be a tougher one to fix. They've shown signs of improvement in short spurts, but teams have clearly been trying to exploit this, resulting in easy baskets, trips to the line and last night getting players in poor rebounding position resulting in offensive rebounds and way too many second chances. Just about all season long they've been outstanding at protected the defense glass, so hopefully this was an outlier and not something we'll see very often.
Note that this year's team does many things well and are one of the best complete teams this year, especially when they have Clingan causing mayhem in the paint at both ends of the floor. Often they defend well and score inside, midrange and beyond the arc. They're probably the most versatile team in all college hoops. The Big East seems to allow a lot of physical play. I'm fine with most of it. I hope they stop allowing teams from grabbing and bumping players off the ball, restricting movement, which is how teams try to stop UConn's multi-screen motion offense. I'm excited to see see this team continue to evolve and improve, though they are already a team capable of repeating as champions.
