Game Strategy

[Vuce]

Yeah having the better players doesn't make you the best team. We have 2 championships that price that.

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

 

[Kitaman]

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.

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.

 

[freshler40]

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

Amen, who are we benefiting?

 

[freshler40]

Well said

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.

 

[HuskyHawk]

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.

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.