Finger pointing

[gsmooth]

The frustration from 2nd half of Providence game carried over to this game. Even at the start, the body language wasn't good and definitely saw the finger pointing behavior coming out for first time this season as game progressed. Somehow we still had a chance to win despite everything.

I wish this wasn't true, and I hope it isn't although I can't prove this, but I was thinking the same thing. In particular with Andre Jackson I felt it carried over.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Not to mention the fact that the “top notch tactician” who definitely would have won that game had his squad get dumptrucked by Xavier by 22 last night.

This place is a tire fire after a loss. Always will be.

Absolutely. I’d like your post, but looks like I’m banned from doing that. Lol

 

[gsmooth]

I hope this wasn't Sanogo's attitude (and have no reason to believe it was) but the last thing you want in a team sport is a player take the attitude "I did my job, it was someone else's fault".

very true. I found that entire exchange unsettling.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love DH, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does DH not listen?

Didn't that top notch tactician lose at home to the same Marquette team by an almost identical score less than a month ago?

 

[HuskyHawk]

When he grabbed Adama and Jordan after the TO did he say “Sorry guys. I put you in a difficult position because we didn’t game plan for Marquette.”

OR

“WTF are you guys doing out there. We practiced to stop those plays and this is the way you play!?!”

If someone wants to blame Hurley for the loss than they will use that statement in the press conference as evidence he’s a bad coach instead of realizing he’s fabricating an excuse for bad play. He’s putting the blame on himself which is admirable. There are a lot of over reactive fans I would expect this from. I’m surprised you’re interpreting it through that narrative.

When he did that Adama had just guarded Kolek beautifully for 15-20 seconds only to have someone else come in unguarded get the pass and score. I’m sure he didn’t want to listen to that crap from Hurley.

I don’t think Hurley is a bad coach. I don’t think he had them prepared for what Marquette threw at them. Early in the huddle he said they couldn’t sustain that defensive intensity, and he was wrong about that. Marquette learned from the blowout loss against us and changed. That was not the usual game from Marquette. We seemed to expect them to be the same as last time and they caught us off guard. All that aside, if Hawk is just ordinary we win anyway.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I don’t think he had them prepared for what Marquette threw at them.

Yeah, our three most important players give us a subpar performance and two no shows and that was due to how the coach prepped the team.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yeah, our three most important players give us a subpar performance and two no shows and that was due to how the coach prepped the team.

take them one by one.
Adama: not subpar except on D, and that mostly came because Marquette went 5 out and isolated Sanogo on guards and our guys didn’t prevent the P&R. It was a systematic defensive issue, not an individual issue, just as it was during our losing streak.
Jackson: played him on Kolek, which he wisely did not do in our prior win. Shutting down the assists matters more than Points with Kolek. Result was AJax had early foul trouble and never got into the game. Couldn‘t be aggressive.
Hawkins: Marquette guarded him with a much bigger but athletic player (never had before), so even with his quick release couldn’t get clean looks. Yes, he wasn’t good, but we’ve seen all year if he’s frustrated early he starts missing. Shaka made sure of it.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

In Providence game 2nd half, I saw joey look at newton when he threw him that pass that went out of bounds because joey wasn't looking. Next play Newton tries to take the charge but gets called for blocking. Joey goes over to offer hand to help newton up and he just refuses. Just awkward watching.

 

[willie99]

It was just a frustrating night for a ton of guys. When you're underperforming in a big game like that, there's gonna be plenty of signs of frustration.

-Hawkins' shots weren't falling,
-Joey didn't have a great shooting night and had to play more minutes (20) than Andre (15) because of foul trouble.
-Newton had a tough night finishing and was getting absolutely no calls when he was attacking the rim. I'm always surprised at some of the stuff refs let defenders get away with versus him


I also think it's very frustrating when you have a dude like Joplin go off for double his season average because he just isn't missing. Playing a zone let him get a lot of high quality looks from 3, and he made us pay for it. It's always tough to play a zone if a team is going to make 3's at a high rate

One possession right in front of us, he was absolutely clobbered and no call

Same thing when they called the ball out of bounds on Karaban, he was hit with a block that would be illegal in the NFL. Again, right in front of us. But the "IDIOT" gave us a makeup call seconds later

 

[Scoe]

Hawk was not off. He was way, way off. Not playing D, not hitting the boards like he does and moping around. The second team dug us out of a hole and Hurley didn’t ride the horse to the finish that got him back in the race. Frankly, how you dont have your 7 footer in around the rim in the final 5 seconds is just stupidity or surrendering to the moment.

Hawk wasn’t just way off he was on the opposing team.

 

[connVA]

In Providence game 2nd half, I saw joey look at newton when he threw him that pass that went out of bounds because joey wasn't looking. Next play Newton tries to take the charge but gets called for blocking. Joey goes over to offer hand to help newton up and he just refuses. Just awkward watching.

I saw that too. Between that, the tension with Hurley, Sanogo, and others last night, and the benching to start the Providence game, you have to wonder whether there are chemistry issues between Newton and the rest of the group. Unfortunately, Hurley doesn't have much choice at this point- he's the best guard we've got (categorizing Hawk as a wing/SF) and still our best (only) option for running the point for anything longer than a couple minutes of AJ or Diarra here or there.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I saw that too. Between that, the tension with Hurley, Sanogo, and others last night, and the benching to start the Providence game, you have to wonder whether there are chemistry issues between Newton and the rest of the group. Unfortunately, Hurley doesn't have much choice at this point- he's the best guard we've got (categorizing Hawk as a wing/SF) and still our best (only) option for running the point for anything longer than a couple minutes of AJ or Diarra here or there.

Yeah I wouldn't for a second doubt there's something with Newton and the rest but who knows. At times he looks like he is just mailing it in. We need him badly.

 

[McLovin]

Please don’t take this the wrong way. I love DH, he has turned the program around, plus he recruits well. However, he may not be a strong Xs and Os coach when compared to the larger coaching community. Someone has to be in the lower 50%.

I think a top notch tactician (e.g. McDermott, etc.) figures out a way to win that game last night. We needed one stop and one basket, and not necessarily in the last minute or two. The switch to pressure and zone was a good move, but 5-10 minutes late, and in the zone would you rather have DC or AS guarding the basket? Why no screeners for Newton bringing up the ball?

Do we not have someone on staff that can help? Does DH not listen?

I do not agree that he’s not a good X and O coach as many people suggest. He has designed a great offensive and defensive scheme this season.

Last night he made some adjustments to our defense in the second half and we allowed only 10 points over the final 10 minutes. And he drew up a bunch of plays for our guys to get open looks down the stretch. We just didn’t hit them.

The bigger issue with Hurley during his tenure is his teams mentally folding when things get tough. Although they missed a bunch of shots yesterday, they looked confident out there and made a roaring comeback after being down 10.

Although we didn’t win, I feel like we are in a good spot going into the tournament in regards to strategy & confidence.

 

[caw]

After watching this X - Marquette game maybe the fingers should just be pointed at Marquette.

 

[Woof 101]

when this happens, moving these players to the bench may be the best course of action. Our 2nd unit was more productive last night and they should have gotten more minutes.

Oh my, oh my you mean something JC would have done? I remember him burning a time out just over a minute into a game because of a missed defensive assignment. The time out was to bench the player.

Anyone who had said they would take DH over Shaka as far as Xs and Os maybe should reassess. Shaka bested UConn last night.

Is it not an irony that his last name is Smart.

How about you all wait until the g.d. season is over before you judge the coach? Geez.

How about people get to use the forum to vent over a sad ending to the regular season? On a home away from home court? With a majority of the crowd in our favor? That and the favorites in the betting world. Some see the coach dropped the ball and they have the right to express their opinion. Just as do you yours.

 

[jibsey]

After watching this X - Marquette game maybe the fingers should just be pointed at Marquette.

We're pretty much as good as them as they take down Xavier it seems. Very wide open 3's from them all night. Not acceptable. If we're gonna do anything the D has to notch up.

 

[caw]

We're pretty much as good as them as they take down Xavier it seems. Very wide open 3's from them all night. Not acceptable. If we're gonna do anything the D has to notch up.

Crazy part is they made almost all their open shots last night. Tonight, they are getting the same shots and hitting just 7-22. Kam Jones 0-5 with at least 3 wide open misses.

Don't get me wrong, UConn had flaws last night on D but some was good play calls by Shaka, some was making every shot they took. Tonight is showing they don't always make open shots, last night they did.