Florida Post Game Thread

[Mike Honcho]

Sorry. I meant the Jumbotron at MSG.

Yes. He got a nice response from the crowd.

 

[7774]

There’s all the depth in the world for him to play an easy 30 minutes a game. It’s so unnecessary.

There definitely isn't.

 

[DGRU]

Maybe so, but Malachi is playing with so much more confidence and guts. Hopefully Silas figures it out, but he doesn’t seem up to the task right now. Not sure why Malachi is having more fun out there. Maybe a difference in personalities

I wonder if there’s a coach that Dan can talk to about inbounding tricks when teams start pressing hard late? It just seems like something his teams have always struggled with.

too bad he doesn't know any HOF coaches! (although Calhoun's teams often sucked at that too) Maybe Geno or Dad can draw something up.

 

[thekollieman]

Well not sure he backed off - that reach in was unnecessary that got him off the court.

I don’t want him to change anything other than when he come into the game maybe play solid D but don’t look to make that spectacular defensive play in first 60 sec. Get in flow of game, play solid D but we need him on the court, we really do. Then tune it up on D for sure! Again not change D intensity just get in flow of game first.

With regard to the blow by drives that were referred to, Mullins was allowing space to avoid fouling again. That’s all I was commenting on because he was described in the prior comment as being unable to guard a chair, which I object to.

 

[NJHusky]

Objective comments from Sam V about officials last night

 

[Icehawk]

We were loud. I did hear some Florida cheering on TV but no chants like ours. Camera showed a lot of Gator fans though FWIW.

Alex will play 35+ every game just like has the last 120+ games, hasn't been an issue for him. Glad he is back to his best self.

I have faith Demary will shine brighter as we continue the season, I'll admit I was down on Newton for a long time and I'm not going to make the same mistake.

Mullins made some dumb fouls, freshman-style as we should expect. Still managed to have a positive effect. Foul calls seemed weird though with a bunch of calls I couldn't detect anything on and, as mentioned, a lot of shirt grabbing was ignored.


Our deep bench and overall game feels like 2023 again... and I'm all for it.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Reminding myself that Newton had some downs in his first year too. A lot on his shoulders, but he’s a great, proven high major player. He’ll bounce back

A lot of us weren't all in on Newton until the tournament... It takes a while.

 

[navery12]

A lot of us weren't all in on Newton until the tournament... It takes a while.

And a slightly smaller group continued to criticize him all the way through the championship game. There's even a small group that continues to criticize him after back to back championships and an All American season

 

[UCan3]

With regard to the blow by drives that were referred to, Mullins was allowing space to avoid fouling again. That’s all I was commenting on because he was described in the prior comment as being unable to guard a chair, which I object to.

oh no, he can definitely guard. I agree with you there. I mean the dude's a freshman playing and like his fifth game or whatever it is he's playing fine on defense.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

Its a Hurley blindspot, he won't take AK off the floor. When Mullins minutes increases Hurley has gotta shave some minutes off of AK to keep him fresh and give Stew some run. AK had two early first half fouls vs Arizona and still managed to play 35 minutes in that game.

Hurley knows how meaningful these early games are. Unfortunately many on the boneyard don’t. We are basically Gonzaga this year if the Big East doesn’t improve, so he’s gonna ride him in these high profile games. I’m sure once league play starts the minutes will be reduced. If we want a 1 or 2 seed, these games are must wins.

 

[RedStickHusky]

And a slightly smaller group continued to criticize him all the way through the championship game. There's even a small group that continues to criticize him after back to back championships and an All American season

You're never going to sway the fringe that is more interested in being right than in seeing a player have success.

 

[Umami Zen]

Agree on Golden and whines even when wrong. (This is why other teams fans don’t like our guy too lol). He was up 18-4 in free throw attempts and was bitching.

By the way great call on Haught late game when he moved out a would be help defender by boxing him out before there was even a shot attempted which would’ve left a wide open lane for a lay up. Chimbeyu and the other big dude got away with a couple of those clear outs prior.

Their Bigs were doing an excellent job of clearing out lanes/bodies for Lee/Fland to take it to the hole.

 

[aceboon]

Hurley knows how meaningful these early games are. Unfortunately many on the boneyard don’t. We are basically Gonzaga this year if the Big East doesn’t improve, so he’s gonna ride him in these high profile games. I’m sure once league play starts the minutes will be reduced. If we want a 1 or 2 seed, these games are must wins.

I'm not asking for Hurley to shave AK down to 28-30 minutes per game, you can take the condescending gimmick somewhere else

 

[Dutch Boyd]

I'm not asking for Hurley to shave AK down to 28-30 minutes per game, you can take the condescending gimmick somewhere else

Condescending? Stop being so soft.

 

[aceboon]

Condescending? Stop being so soft.

gimmick is running old, i'll take care of it for the both of us

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Hurley made it a point to give guys more freedom for creativity this year than to have them run the same offenses as in the past. It hurt us a lot lost year when guys were able to key in on our sets and our players weren’t prepared to take anyone one on one.

In 2024 all of those guys were equipped with that ability to go one on one while also running the offense, but they were also guys who developed that ability elsewhere or came in with it (Castle).

It’s harder to have that ability when you spend your formative college years running an offense that discourages it like our “Fab 5” class did. Hurley wanted to work more on letting them play with more freedom this summer which looks like a good move.

That’s all good and well but Silas is not playing with much freedom, either that or he’s just in a huge rutt. He isn’t attacking at all or looking to shoot at all, he looks fully caught in the system.

 

[Griffman]

39 out of 40 minutes is crazy for Karaban wtf.

It’s the right thing to do playing Alex 35+ minutes per game because we are a much better team with him out on the floor and he is showing no signs of fatigue. Sorry, but giving some of his minutes to Stewart/Ross or anyone else is ridiculous. We are 9-1 against high level competition and Alex is shooting .505/.435/.842 with a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Play him as much as possible and enjoy him this season because there will be a major void next year when he’s gone.

 

[nomar]

Can we stop with the Tristen stuff? SD is not TN. Hassan was never the PG Malachi already is. Love HD but he was a different player. He was never an option to start at PG.

Demery came to UConn with an arguably better pedigree than Newton, having started and played well for an SEC team. Newton really struggled until the staff figured out how to unlock his skills for the team. Let's give the staff and Silas some leeway rather than throwing him under the bus because of a few bad games. Malachi's getting plenty of minutes and we're a possession away from a 10-0 record with wins over 5 ranked teams.

I realize you feel differently but I think you're in the minority for a reason.

 

[Gurleyman]

Sorry but a couple of those fouls were really ticky tack for how physical the game was.

I agree with the general sentiment, but 4 of Mullins' fouls were dumb freshman fouls. The first one was a fluke, but fouls 2-5 were him reaching after getting beat by the ball handler. I love the kid, but let's not re-write history either.

Foul 4 was after he and Tarris had a player boxed in and Tarris gambled on a steal and foul 5 was reaching in on an offensive rebound.

 

[HW611]

That’s all good and well but Silas is not playing with much freedom, either that or he’s just in a huge rutt. He isn’t attacking at all or looking to shoot at all, he looks fully caught in the system.

Personally, I explicitly saw this problem coming for Silas. He wasn’t much of a distributor at Georgia. He’s learning how to be that here. It doesn’t have much to do with the system as much as it’s a learning curve for his game in general knowing when to pick his spots.

He’ll be fine later in the year and takeoff year 2. But being a real PG is the hardest position on the court.

 

[ThetaZoo]

From being there, 50/50 at best

Listen to the UConn chants at every timeout. Sure sounds like more than 50%.

 

[Excalibur]

Demery came to UConn with an arguably better pedigree than Newton, having started and played well for an SEC team. Newton really struggled until the staff figured out how to unlock his skills for the team. Let's give the staff and Silas some leeway rather than throwing him under the bus because of a few bad games. Malachi's getting plenty of minutes and we're a possession away from a 10-0 record with wins over 5 ranked teams.

I realize you feel differently but I think you're in the minority for a reason.

This post about (mainly) Newton was in February 2023. It's a fun re-visit for some of the takes . . .

Thread 'We need a point guard'

Feb 18, 2023

I am stunned that someone built a team without a point guard and thought it would work. And that he thinks he can do it again next year.

If Seton Hall doesn’t lose KR in the first half, we’re 0-2 against Seton Hall this year - we can only score against them in spurts and when they start to pressure our offense, we simply fall apart. We had Sanogo out there at the end trying to run the offense.

That was just ugly.

• Fishy
• Replies: 362
• Forum: UConn Men's Basketball Forum

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[Excalibur]

Personally, I explicitly saw this problem coming for Silas. He wasn’t much of a distributor at Georgia. He’s learning how to be that here. It doesn’t have much to do with the system as much as it’s a learning curve for his game in general knowing when to pick his spots.

He’ll be fine later in the year and takeoff year 2. But being a real PG is the hardest position on the court.

He's following the Newton script very closely.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It’s the right thing to do playing Alex 35+ minutes per game because we are a much better team with him out on the floor and he is showing no signs of fatigue. Sorry, but giving some of his minutes to Stewart/Ross or anyone else is ridiculous. We are 9-1 against high level competition and Alex is shooting .505/.435/.842 with a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio.

Play him as much as possible and enjoy him this season because there will be a major void next year when he’s gone.

Alex's 3-point shooting percentage returning to Fresh/Soph levels has been a low key critical perimeter scoring boost UConn has needed while Solo has been struggling (Although, there're glimpses Solo is rounding in to form).

 

[JustbrewitMan]

For ha-ha's, I went to the replay and used my iPhone stopwatch to evaluate the 5-second call on Fland.

I started stopwatch when the ball was secured in Fland's hands, then stopped it when the ball left his hands.

I did 4 trials. Each one came out above 5.2 seconds. So it seems like a pretty fair call.