Florida Post Game Thread

[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

• 
• 

 

[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.

 

[alexd]

Not sure if this stat was posted...but Malachi in five top 25 games so far, has 31 ast and 6 TO's.

 

[Excalibur]

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.

Ross would have intercepted the pass if there was no whistle. He stopped when they blew it dead. It's a moot point.

 

[Inyatkin]

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

• 
• 

One of the worst threads in the history of this board. Brutal to re-read

 

[RuffRuff]

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

Oh, I know what you're laying down. Some of that group can't admit an AA PG of a dominant team is a pretty darned good basketball player, and shouldn't be even included in a great Uconn PGs alongside Kemba & Shabazz.

 

[Excalibur]

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).

As is typical, he catches a lot of crap in the game chat, but outside of the Arizona game, he's been exactly what we need him to be -- not trying to do too much, hitting open shots, selectively driving and getting the offense organized, and making plays of all kinds down the stretch.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

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

Gimmick? What you playing head coach? If I was trying to be condescending my reply would be, thankfully you’re not our head coach. Keep up the good work hero. Could care less if you ignore lol.

 

[DW1361]

There definitely isn't.

Agree, Hurley had few options in this game to offset their advantage down low. Hopefully however, there will not be the need to play him more than 32 minutes a game or it will hurt us later in the season.

 

[DW1361]

One of the worst threads in the history of this board. Brutal to re-read

I was one of the few dissenters on that thread, but I was ignored and gave up quickly. No sense trying to oppose the SHARK when there is blood in the water. It was a feeding frenzy!!!

 

[nomar]

One of the worst threads in the history of this board. Brutal to re-read

A related personal favorite is the one from 2022 where half the board lost its mind because Gaffney transferred and we didn't have a PG. As if we weren't going to the portal to find someone much better than the guys who'd transferred because they had no future at UConn.

 

[TroyHall98]

Agree, Hurley had few options in this game to offset their advantage down low. Hopefully however, there will not be the need to play him more than 32 minutes a game or it will hurt us later in the season.

The offset was the perimeter depth and of course the motion offensive sets. Lee was absolutely gassed chasing Ball all game..as evident by the jersey pulling. There weren’t many bad shots through the course of the game for UConn.

 

[alexd]

One of the worst threads in the history of this board. Brutal to re-read

LoL.... hard to believe we somehow won it all 6 weeks later. 😂🤣😂

 

[Mr. French]

Sometimes I wonder if people here actually watch the game.

1. Huge game by Reid, especially if he'd not 100%. It was 3 vs. 1 on the backboard. We will need to improve rebounding though Florida is a beast on the offense glass. Not likely to see a better rebounding team this year. Reibe is a factor. He is just what we need to manage Reid's overuse and fouls.

2. Speaking of fouls, the refs swallowed the whistle in the 2nd half (good) but we need to stay out of early foul trouble. It forces Hurley’s hand on the rotations and matchups.

3. Speaking of Hurley, great job on containing Lee in the 2nd half. I can't remember seeing a faster guy with the ball. Without him we cruise. Also, good job allowing Mullins to get something positive from the game even after he forced his first couple shots. He was able to find his way at the end. Still needs time.

4. Speaking of Mullins, dude can't guard a chair. Gators were blowing by him like he wasn't even off the bus. That needs to improve a lot by March or other good teams are going to target him. Though 3 of 4 games coming at the Boston Garden, Allen Fieldhouse and MSG vs top 10 teams, the kid is fearless and isn't bothered by the big stage. Can't teach that.

5. Huge game by Smith, don't win without him in the 2nd half. Silas had an excellent game on defense, the fantasy players aren't giving him his due.

Foot on the gas for Texas. Win that one and roll the Big East, which this team should and lock up a 1 seed.

This team will get better which is exciting to think about.

My guy, not to be a total jerk but you’re snarky about people not knowing stuff and you spell Reed wrong and you make 2 bad points about Mullins.

 

[NJHusky]

Agree, Hurley had few options in this game to offset their advantage down low. Hopefully however, there will not be the need to play him more than 32 minutes a game or it will hurt us later in the season.

I was in the play him less camp but have changed my mind. He’s 22 and it appears he’s in great shape. Playing 35 min a game now isn’t going to hurt him over 35 games.

If it isn’t affecting his play in game, doing it for a season shouldn’t have any long term consequence. He’s making key plays late indicating he’s not winded

When we were training our young dog and trying to run him tired, the trainer said all you are doing is getting your dog in better shape. Lol. Every week it will take longer to tire him out

NBA guys play 35+ over 72 games plus playoffs. Why should it bother a college kid over 35 games

 

[Andrewsz1991]

There was a massive kid there, probably 16, above 7 foot, white kid. I didn’t know who he was and have looked at recruiting boards for byu and Florida.

Anybody have any idea who he was if they saw him?

 

[DW1361]

He has had late season slumps two years in a row. He is capable yes, but the minutes have taken a physical and mental toll on him and I really believe he should play less minutes per game. Stewart is showing signs he can contribute more, just last night was no time to experiment.