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Game Strategy

Chin Diesel

Chin Diesel

Wild Horses couldn't drag me away
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38 minutes in to the game and it's beginning to look like leaving Sanogo on the perimeter one on one to guard Gilliespie might not be working.

Also had the effect of leaving UConn guards guarding a Nova forward in the post.

Once Bouk got dinged up he needed to go full on distributor and decoy. He also doesn't have game legs yet. First game cramp on the quad, today cramp on the calf.

0-4 from FT line to start game overall and Bouk starting 2-6 is atrocious.

No surprise here. Whaley's worst game this year in all facets by far.

Would really like to see Sanogo dunk some of those bunnies.

Previous game and every player played a C+/B or better.

Today? Did anyone at better than a C+?

If we see Nova again I want Jackson on Gillespie. I wouldn't have minded a small ball lineup with Martin at the 5 covering Robinson Earl.

Guess Vegas knew what they were doing with the spread.
 
Nova played tough D on Bouk, he forced things too much, missed too many.

We couldn’t hit a big shot coming down the stretch

Gillespie with 2 dagger 3s.

Pretty simple.

Tough loss.
 
Chin Diesel said:
38 minutes in to the game and it's beginning to look like leaving Sanogo on the perimeter one on one to guard Gilliespie might not be working.

Also had the effect of leaving UConn guards guarding a Nova forward in the post.

Once Bouk got dinged up he needed to go full on distributor and decoy. He also doesn't have game legs yet. First game cramp on the quad, today cramp on the calf.

0-4 from FT line to start game overall and Bouk starting 2-6 is atrocious.

No surprise here. Whaley's worst game this year in all facets by far.

Would really like to see Sanogo dunk some of those bunnies.

Previous game and every player played a C+/B or better.

Today? Did anyone at better than a C+?

If we see Nova again I want Jackson on Gillespie. I wouldn't have minded a small ball lineup with Martin at the 5 covering Robinson Earl.

Guess Vegas knew what they were doing with the spread.
Expand ...
I was also wondering why Jackson was not on Gillespie along with why Sanogo kept switching to guard Gillespie.

Gillespie should not have had offensive control in the paint,period.
 
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Any pass to the free throw line would be encouraged. Tired of seeing baseline screens just to loosen a uconn player to eventually catch the ball above the 3 point line just to pass it back to another player above the 3 point line
 
Bouknight “not having game legs” is an excuse. Hes 19 and a projected lottery pick. If he truly is struggling to keep up after missing 8 games then something else is up.
 
I am getting increasingly frustrated with 2 things:

1) We do not adjust on defense. Ever. Literally ever. We ALWAYS hard hedge the guards and pressure the ball no matter what. Having a base defense is important and I love what we do, but Sanogo is simply not athletic enough to play well in that position. We are also recruiting kids like Clingan who will not play well in a system that requires him to defend the perimeter. We should hard hedge with Whaley and NOT with Sanogo. Why do we not have a zone to throw out there occasionally? Why do we not have another type of ball screen coverage?

2) Our offensive structure is absolutely terrible. Hurley does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offense. As I have said before: teams with less talent are able to have a better offense. Don't tell me "well we aren't very good!" Frankly, I wouldn't care if they just missed shots as long as we had SOME sort of offensive system.

We have great set plays, but not base offensive motion or 2 that doesn't put Sanogo at the top of the key in a weave--where he is not in a position to succeed. The entire second half, we were shooting mid-range Js and playing hero ball outside of the occasional play call from the sideline. We need off ball screening, back cuts, etc. significantly more.

That being said, I thought the subs and TO situation was generally pretty good today--that at least is a step in the right direction. Hurley also recruits well and manages a team as well I would've hope for. He has GOT to recognize these weaknesses and address them one way or another. Without Kentucky-level talent, the offense we're running isn't going to make us a perennial top-10 team.
 
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If we had a creative pg that could break down the defense, our bland weave offense would be far better. But it's going to have to come via recruiting. Cole plays like an undersized tweener. He's not a pg.
 
Kitaman said:
How come Jay countered Bouknight but Dan couldn't counter Gillespie? That sums up today's coaching.
Expand ...
1) Andre Jackson was in foul trouble and he’s the only guy who can handle Gillespie on the blocks
2) we run switching off screens and nova is very VERY good at exploiting switch matchups

It’s pick your poison. Let your guy try to defend one on one post ups in the blocks, or help off a shooter down low and have nova rain 3s on you. Hurley chose to take chances on the back downs. Problem is no one but Jackson could adequately defend it. This is why nova is great every year.

I have no problem with hurleys scheme in this case. The players need to be tougher one on one on defense in the paint.
 
UCfor3 said:
He has had the better team ever time they played. The first 2 times it wasn't even close. Give it time.
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Yeah having the better players doesn't make you the best team. We have 2 championships that prove that.
 
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Ripper32 said:
Not having a true PG is going to kill you in a game like this. And it showed.
Expand ...

I’m not sure what this means in the context of the game that was played today. What would a “true PG” have done that would have been the difference today?

I’m honestly curious what you’re thinking because if I made a list of all the reasons they lost this game it would take me a while to get to “not having a true PG.”
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
I’m not sure what this means in the context of the game that was played today. What would a “true PG” have done that would have been the difference today?

I’m honestly curious what you’re thinking because if I made a list of all the reasons they lost this game it would take me a while to get to “not having a true PG.”
Expand ...
Being able to break down your man, forces their defense to overcompensate and help. They were happy just reading our weave and picking us up after the switch on the perimeter. There was no stress placed on their defense. Plus, if we had an exceptional PG, it would take so much more pressure off Bouk. He spends a lot of energy to create shots, which takes it toll.
 
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We screen every single offensive possession. Can UConn's guys not dribble the ball past their defender? Just draws the double team and they stand there. Everyone knows it's coming.
 
—-We needed Polley to step up in the 2nd half, especially since Villanova is the worst team in the BE defending the three. Polley needs to catch and shoot, instead of hesitating and passing to a less proficient shooter.
——We need to make our foul shots. Period.
—-Refs have to be more attentive to out of bounds calls. At least three obvious blown calls all went against us.
 
HungryHuskies said:
We screen every single offensive possession. Can UConn's guys not dribble the ball past their defender? Just draws the double team and they stand there. Everyone knows it's coming.
Expand ...
Actually, no, Uconn's guards cannot dribble by their man straight up.
 
Ripper32 said:
Being able to break down your man, forces their defense to overcompensate and help. They were happy just reading our weave and picking us up after the switch on the perimeter. There was no stress placed on their defense. Plus, if we had an exceptional PG, it would take so much more pressure off Bouk. He spends a lot of energy to create shots, which takes it toll.
Expand ...
We made them pay for overplay traps exactly once in the game. When gaff recognized and found sanogo
 
Perhaps we are relying too much on freshman to play team defense against a team that knows what it's doing on offense.

Defense wasn't the problem today but if you looking for areas to nitpick, it's here. Sanogo is bad a pick and roll defense. He gets caught out every time and often finds himself switching with no idea how to switch back. He is our very own Gary McGee. Jackson fouled out in 16 minutes. If we have anyone who should be guarding there 'bigs' on the perimeter it's him and it didn't work.
 
husky429 said:
I am getting increasingly frustrated with 2 things:

1) We do not adjust on defense. Ever. Literally ever. We ALWAYS hard hedge the guards and pressure the ball no matter what. Having a base defense is important and I love what we do, but Sanogo is simply not athletic enough to play well in that position. We are also recruiting kids like Clingan who will not play well in a system that requires him to defend the perimeter. We should hard hedge with Whaley and NOT with Sanogo. Why do we not have a zone to throw out there occasionally? Why do we not have another type of ball screen coverage?

2) Our offensive structure is absolutely terrible. Hurley does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offense. As I have said before: teams with less talent are able to have a better offense. Don't tell me "well we aren't very good!" Frankly, I wouldn't care if they just missed shots as long as we had SOME sort of offensive system.

We have great set plays, but not base offensive motion or 2 that doesn't put Sanogo at the top of the key in a weave--where he is not in a position to succeed. The entire second half, we were shooting mid-range Js and playing hero ball outside of the occasional play call from the sideline. We need off ball screening, back cuts, etc. significantly more.

That being said, I thought the subs and TO situation was generally pretty good today--that at least is a step in the right direction. Hurley also recruits well and manages a team as well I would've hope for. He has GOT to recognize these weaknesses and address them one way or another. Without Kentucky-level talent, the offense we're running isn't going to make us a perennial top-10 team.
Expand ...
Well said
 
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Kitaman said:
Yeah having the better players doesn't make you the best team. We have 2 championships that price that.
Expand ...
Our upperclassmen on those teams weren't what they are on this this team, especially at point guard. Also, having the best players doesn't ALWAYS make you the best team but it's the leading reason. 2011 and 2014 are the exception not the rule. Like Valvanos NC St team and Rollies Nova team. Teams do go on late season runs.
 
Kitaman said:
Yeah having the better players doesn't make you the best team. We have 2 championships that price that.
Expand ...
Yeah but having the best backcourts in the country in 2011 and 2014 makes up for the other shortcomings. This team doesn’t have a real PG right now and the 2G just came back from 8 games off
 
UCfor3 said:
Our upperclassmen on those teams weren't what they are on this this team, especially at point guard. Also, having the best players doesn't ALWAYS make you the best team but it's the leading reason. 2011 and 2014 are the exception not the rule. Like Valvanos NC St team and Rollies Nova team. Teams do go on late season runs.
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Our Championships always had an All American, most title teams do. Bouk's season (COVID game suspensions and his injury) will always make me wonder what could have been. I think if he stayed healthy (and the team reached full potential) we could do similar post season damage. He has All American potential, 1st team at that.

With that said, its not over, and the Bouk is not closed by any means. If we get there and everyone is reasonably healthy, to me it looks real good for us. Hell we almost won on the road to the best team in the conference, and a team who was top 4 a few weeks ago.

We've got a very good team, still learning how to play together. Just need to hurry up and graduate in a couple of weeks.
 
uconntoatl said:
Any pass to the free throw line would be encouraged. Tired of seeing baseline screens just to loosen a uconn player to eventually catch the ball above the 3 point line just to pass it back to another player above the 3 point line
Expand ...
Amen, who are we benefiting?
 
uconngb said:
Well said
Expand ...
An occasional zone might change the game tempo, they cold best us inside for much of this game. Perhaps this chopped season hasn't allowed us to install other defenses. The only change to getting beat inside by Gillespie was to sit Cole. Martin might have been a better choice on Gillespie to stop the bulling.
 
husky429 said:
I am getting increasingly frustrated with 2 things:

1) We do not adjust on defense. Ever. Literally ever. We ALWAYS hard hedge the guards and pressure the ball no matter what. Having a base defense is important and I love what we do, but Sanogo is simply not athletic enough to play well in that position. We are also recruiting kids like Clingan who will not play well in a system that requires him to defend the perimeter. We should hard hedge with Whaley and NOT with Sanogo. Why do we not have a zone to throw out there occasionally? Why do we not have another type of ball screen coverage?

2) Our offensive structure is absolutely terrible. Hurley does not deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to offense. As I have said before: teams with less talent are able to have a better offense. Don't tell me "well we aren't very good!" Frankly, I wouldn't care if they just missed shots as long as we had SOME sort of offensive system.

We have great set plays, but not base offensive motion or 2 that doesn't put Sanogo at the top of the key in a weave--where he is not in a position to succeed. The entire second half, we were shooting mid-range Js and playing hero ball outside of the occasional play call from the sideline. We need off ball screening, back cuts, etc. significantly more.

That being said, I thought the subs and TO situation was generally pretty good today--that at least is a step in the right direction. Hurley also recruits well and manages a team as well I would've hope for. He has GOT to recognize these weaknesses and address them one way or another. Without Kentucky-level talent, the offense we're running isn't going to make us a perennial top-10 team.
Expand ...

My complaint is the same as it has been. If you only play man, always hard hedge, and always switch on screens, anybody decent can carve your D up. They repeatedly got the mismatches they wanted. Throw in two minutes of zone, stop hedging, put Carlton in and let him play zone on the rim. There are dozens of wrinkles that would knock teams out of synch and frustrate them. Hurley seems to prefer to adjust his personnel rather than his defense, and it often leaves us weaker on the offensive end.

This was a team we should have killed on the boards and with interior offense. But we blew that because we wouldn’t try something different on D.
 
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