Florida post game thread

[DRBackup]

I went out to watch the game with a friend, so was spared what must have been an annoying chat. Didn't post on this thread either.

It is pretty simple for me, you make shots or you don't. The team played good defense, more steals than usual, some key blocks and we were fantastic on the boards. Samson was excellent early on. On offense we missed wide open look after wide open look. That's on everybody. As a result we started trying to force feed Reed, which Florida knew was coming and completely shut down. Reed is a bigger black hole than Sanogo ever was, he has to learn how to pass out rather than taking terrible shots.

Even with all of that, Florida missed a ton of free throws and we should have won the game with better execution down the stretch. But the guys didn't have it, and Florida did. That's how it goes. If you told me we'd lose by 2, this game isn't what I would have expected. I'm not disappointed in losing to a 1 seed, I am disappointed in losing that particular game the way we did. But next year is a new season. Let's go.

Yeah, the guy they gave it to like 3 times is a "black hole". For the record, Tarris Reed in his first year in our system assisted the ball at a faster rate than Sanogo as a junior. Reed, 1 assist every 19 minutes, Sanogo 1 assist ever 21 min

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

That one sequence where Diarra got a steal and had the chance to drive to the hoop for a layup attempt (and probably good chance of drawing a foul), but decided to pass it to Ball who also had a chance to launch a catch and shoot 3.....but didn't, then fumbled the ball out of bounds....that was a killer. Think Florida scored on their next possession too.

We also had multiple opportunities when we were up 38-32 to really put the screws to Florida, but Ball missed a 3, then later Reed missed a contested lay-up attempt. Soooo many opportunities where we could have pushed the lead to 8 or 9 but just couldn't convert.

There was another sequence we were up 40-34, McNeeley got a steal but missed a layup, then Florida drilled a 3 a few moments later. Just killer.

There was a play late where somebody - I can't remember who - picked off an uncharacteristically telegraphed Clayton cross-court pass and then Solo immediately got stripped on the wing and lost it out of bounds. That was a killer. Realistically you can't give away possessions in a game like that.

Better team won. We've had enough March magic where this one stings but it'll fade quickly.

 

[Tdaley]

Clayton showed us the value of the high hedge. Without it he would have been bombing threes all game. Samson neutralized his effectiveness (driving and shooting) for a good part of this game. Liam, Alex and Solo were slow to neutralize the slip. That was the problem all season. But without the hedge teams would have killed us on drives to the basket or making open threes because this team was flawed defensively. The early part of the season demonstrated that. Tarris is ineffective with it but leaving him for drop coverage with this teams lack of foot speed would have been worse.

I don't understand the complaints about the high hedge this game when it was a major reason the game was close. I said to myself the second foul on Samson under a minute in the first half was going to haunt us. It did.

I agree with this post 100 percent. The alternative to the defense that Hurley ran all season with our players would not have been pretty.

 

[ctchamps]

Once again I agree, other than the concept that Mahaney would be worse off in a less extended man. Mahaney went from 2 time all league, to unplayable defensively because of system. In my "Reed drop" scenario they wouldnt be as overextended, but rather Mahaney would be giving a step or 3, holding at the 3 pt line. Not in full "shell drill" deny, but more of a 23 matchup, foot in the paint/2 passes away coaching concept. Would it have worked, who knows, but it wouldve kept Reed on floor more (& I love Samson). Danny really loves that stifling man mindset, that most of our lineup werent suited for being either slow footed, and for the IQ lapses on rotations. Which makes their defensive effort yesterday impressive.

It would certainly help Mahaney with his player driving to the basket. Unfortunately I do not remember whether Mahaney was one whose players he guarded shot a high percentage of threes early in the season. If so was it the result of his playing off his man as you propose and he was slow to contest shots?

Last season Donovan played similar to what you propose and Samson played the high hedge. The alternating of the two types of play threw other teams off their game and was why we were so dominate. We had five perimeter defenders who could deal with both options and deal with them incredibly.

This season Hurley was going to do the same thing only in reverse order. Reed is an incredible defensive rebounder. I cannot believe the number of rebounds he made where I thought he didn't have a chance. But he is not at the level of Donovan in having the reaction time to release from the player he's defending and contesting an opposing player driving to the basket. It too frequently resulted in an uncontested layup or him committing a foul. That was the reason for Hurley trying Reed with the high hedge. Which we both agree was a failure as well.

 

[ctchamps]

Florida made a good adjustment against it in the last eight minutes. But it was very disruptive to their offense for most of the game.

Part of it was that. Part of it was Samson sitting on the bench for most of the second half. He was cold when he finally came back in.

 

[Dogdeacon]

I doubt we see him next year at UConn. We need bigger and quicker guards who can compete at this level.

Probably right, his upside at UConn is a more effective 6th man and given that he came to UConn with starting expectations and possibly developing to play at next level a role that rules out being a starter might be too much of a letdown. At same time he is what he is and a year playing and developing against the best talent leaves the upside window open even if just a tiny bit.

 

[AllHusky]

I think Hurley encourages him to stay
5-10lb weight room
Increased confidence
Better than Joey Cal
Cam lite

 

[upstater]

I would of rather had Fresman El-Amin, Kemba, Allen, Okafor, Gordon, Butler, Donyell Marshall and Hamilton. I guess you must be part of McNeeley's family. You are defending him pretty hard. He is good kid just has more limitations than we thought and isn't a great shooter.

You named 8 guys.

This is crazy.

8 better freshman.

You think that's a lot (by the way, I can name more than that, but I wouldn't say freshman Kemba).

 

[Sibeerian]

I remember a game in the early 1990's against Georgetown where every time we had what appeared to be a reasonably open shot they fouled and sent us to the free throw line. We went about six minutes without scoring from the field, and although we were able to keep a small lead during that stretch, once they stopped fouling, with about two minutes left we couldn't hit a shot.

I had flashbacks of that when Florida kept sending us to the foul line.

One of the sillier broadcast stats is "(Team) hasn't scored a field goal in (x) minutes." Kind of hard to score a field goal when you're getting fouled and sent to the line every time.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[Edward Sargent]

Went to the dentist for the second day in a row and rewatched the second half - so many missed opportunities to build on a 6 point lead at around the 9 minute mark and we didn't get it done. Two attempted reverse layups by Stewie and Alex, the ball off Solo on the sideline and the ball Solo nearly had on the ground but was scooped up for an uncontested 3, the bad bounce off a missed free throw and 3 bad high hedges leaving the roller wide open. Ughh we just didn't have the killer instinct this year

 

[bendm]

Just because u don’t have legit championship aspirations doesn’t mean this one didn’t sting. Tourney magic for two straight years so I dunno how u could not think of even this game we wouldn’t not have a decent chance in our region to reach final 4. and we completely fell apart in the last three minutes of the game. We’re leading the entire second half— now if Florida blew the door‘s off us or worked us in the second half and we lost by 10 -fine is what it is But they had the game and to end that way I don’t know how you can walk away and shrug your shoulders. Lotta people I saw at work today were sick to their stomach with that loss slipping away. Would have cleared a path to final 4 for us too. Just a brutal ending. And because of all that this loss is definitely worse than the Michigan State loss. To me everything was magnified because we had the game makes it much much worse.

Then you work with a bunch of entitled bozos. And yeah Expectations determine the level disappointment. We were more likely to lose by 20 than win that game but We played our best defensive of the season and barely came up short thanks to incredible shot making from Clayton. Woulda been nice to make the sweet 16 but oh well. We don’t hang sweet 16 banners.

 

[ctbro1999]

There was a play late where somebody - I can't remember who - picked off an uncharacteristically telegraphed Clayton cross-court pass and then Solo immediately got stripped on the wing and lost it out of bounds. That was a killer. Realistically you can't give away possessions in a game like that.

Yeah, that was the play where Diarra stole the ball. I thought to myself at the time "We are gonna regret not converting that into points" and unfortunately I was right.

 

[AllHusky]

There was a play late where somebody - I can't remember who - picked off an uncharacteristically telegraphed Clayton cross-court pass and then Solo immediately got stripped on the wing and lost it out of bounds. That was a killer. Realistically you can't give away possessions in a game like that.

Better team won. We've had enough March magic where this one stings but it'll fade quickly.

I for one have no problem with overwhelming greediness. See Will Farrell in Wedding Crashers
“More for us!!”

 

[3rdbass]

You named 8 guys.

This is crazy.

8 better freshman.

You think that's a lot (by the way, I can name more than that, but I wouldn't say freshman Kemba).

I would he would of been incredible penetrating on this team. He had a great tournament his Freshman year coming off the bench. He was huge that Missouri game in the Tournament. Our weakness on this year's team was penetration. I could name more too but just came up with some off the top of my head.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Yeah, the guy they gave it to like 3 times is a "black hole". For the record, Tarris Reed in his first year in our system assisted the ball at a faster rate than Sanogo as a junior. Reed, 1 assist every 19 minutes, Sanogo 1 assist ever 21 min

Sanogo was a lot better able to actually score against a double. I like Reed. Whoever had the plan to force feed him the ball is as much to blame for the loss as anyone. Multiple turnovers and a lot of terrible shots that had no chance were the result. Have to take what the defense gives you.

 

[mauconnfan]

Yeah, that was the play where Diarra stole the ball. I thought to myself at the time "We are gonna regret not converting that into points" and unfortunately I was right.

Bad decision there and it hurt. The trailer was the play there and was wide open, needed to convert that one.

 

[RuffRuff]

Sanogo was a lot better able to actually score against a double. I like Reed. Whoever had the plan to force feed him the ball is as much to blame for the loss as anyone. Multiple turnovers and a lot of terrible shots that had no chance were the result. Have to take what the defense gives you.

Reed has no composure - panics, isn't strong with the ball. Sonogo was a steel trap once the ball went into him, had coolness and technique, strong soft hands and impeccable footwork. Miles apart. Most amazing about Sonogo was that he rarely got stripped, knew how to protect the ball even when defense collapsed on him. Tarris always feels like he's ready to lose the ball if he has it more than a 2-3 count.

 

[UConnSwag11]

 

[Umami Zen]

There was a play late where somebody - I can't remember who - picked off an uncharacteristically telegraphed Clayton cross-court pass and then Solo immediately got stripped on the wing and lost it out of bounds. That was a killer. Realistically you can't give away possessions in a game like that.

Better team won. We've had enough March magic where this one stings but it'll fade quickly.

The play you referenced was a killer- Was not convinced by replays that it wasn't the defender who tipped it out and instead of Solo losing control. However-ball security is huge at that time of game. We had our chances in that game.

 

[RuffRuff]

The play you referenced was a killer- Was not convinced by replays that it wasn't the defender who tipped it out and instead of Solo losing control. However-ball security is huge at that time of game. We had our chances in that game.

Was part of three consecutive gaff offensive possessions which killed us. It was definitely off Solo - player poked it, Solo lost the handle and then tried to grab back and fumbled it. They showed the replay. This one particularly hurt. What they didn't show was the replay on AK's take to the rim, which was awkward and he could have done a lot more with it, but he missed so bad that there had to have been some contact (clean or not). I think this may have been the play Hurley threw his post game tantrum over.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Was part of three consecutive gaff offensive possessions which killed us. It was definitely off Solo - player poked it, Solo lost the handle and then tried to grab back and fumbled it. They showed the replay. This one particularly hurt. What they didn't show was the replay on AK's take to the rim, which was awkward and he could have done a lot more with it, but he missed so bad that there had to have been some contact (clean or not). I think this may have been the play Hurley threw his post game tantrum over.

I watched the Karaban play again today. It's pretty iffy and not worth getting worked up over I don't think. Karaban would have been better served just taking it at the rim and trying to get a whistle. He had a clear angle. Make Condon block that without fouling. There was a little body contact on the reverse but no arms or anything. Not the kind of thing that's gonna get called. The reverse had no chance.

 

[navery12]

I watched the Karaban play again today. It's pretty iffy and not worth getting worked up over I don't think. Karaban would have been better served just taking it at the rim and trying to get a whistle. He had a clear angle. Make Condon block that without fouling. There was a little body contact on the reverse but no arms or anything. Not the kind of thing that's gonna get called. The reverse had no chance.

The Karaban shot is the one getting all the attention because it was the end of the game, but we had 2 other similar missed opportunities too. Stewart's reverse was another one where in hindsight he should have just gone straight up. But the one that really eats at me is Diarra on the fast break where he was anticipating the defender coming to foul him and missed the layup

 

[NHUConnfan]

You named 8 guys.

This is crazy.

8 better freshman.

You think that's a lot (by the way, I can name more than that, but I wouldn't say freshman Kemba).

A lot of people forget that freshman Kemba was a turnover machine...absolutely reckless with the ball driving to the hoop. He was a good player as a freshman, but it's crazy to suggest he was better than Liam.