Geez…We are 24-3, we played poorly and lost a game..relax | The Boneyard

Geez…We are 24-3, we played poorly and lost a game..relax

RuffRuff said:
We've played poorly for 7 weeks is the issue. If it was one isolated game, I don't think most of this place would care. It wasn't an off night, it's been an off 2026.
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23-3
 
angry roland garros GIF by Tennis Channel
 
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I’m ready to move ahead, but I’ll ask a question that will keep the thread alive.

Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things, but is the loss to Creighton @ home our biggest outright L ever in terms of the spread (+15)? I saw something saying biggest in last 20 years, but nothing concrete.

George Mason +9
Yale +12.5
Seton Hall +13.5 (last year)

Not sure if that plays a part.
 
@ Nova will be a very important game to see what this team is made of

The context is important. You’ve been playing poorly for a while, but still winning. You were still leading the conference, still in the conversation as a 1 seed, still a top 3 or top 5 ranked team even if it didn’t feel like. There was a lot of pressure in all of that

Now that pressure is all gone. You lost at home against a team that has no business even being competitive with you. You’re not #1 in the BE anymore, you’re not in the 1 seed race, you might even be closer to 15 than 5 on Monday.

Now you’re going on the road to #3. They’re on a roll, building their case for a strong seed, and this is 1 of their only 2 good opportunities left. They’ll be motivated and hungry

How will you respond?
 
After that next day hangover I think I'm back on this train. It may not be next game, or St.Johns but by BE tourney time we'll be playing close to A game ball.
In Dog We Trust
 
Defense has disappeared over the last several games though giving up > 1 pt per possession.

That has to be fixed else the W-L will regress to the means and that’s not good
 
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I think most of us, including Hurley as he stated in his press conference, see the glaring problem with this team: defense. The players are not good 1-on-1 defenders with the exception of Demery. Creighton spread the floor and cleared the lane and had their players drive to the hoop for layups as there was no help in the paint. Great strategy and I would expect all teams to do that against UConn going forward. It seems to me that Hurley has to modify the defensive scheme to coverup the individual defensive liabilities including positioning Reed and Reibe in the paint more often to discourage layups.

I think the offense is fine, but they need to clean up some of the turnovers and inbounding the ball. AND, practice FTs!
 
If we'd been playing fine and had that game, there'd be consternation but no worry. Given the narrow escapes we've had lately, this is more concerning than otherwise.
I have no idea what the answer is, but all those wins give us a nice cushion, at least
 
It starts with effort/energy/hustle.. Defense is largely about effort. If we can match Nova's energy and win the boards. Good things can happen. Reed/Reibe vs Brennan will be key.
 
The issue isn't that we lost a game. Hell, going into this year, most people thought we'd lose at least one OOC game, @SJU, @Seton Hall, and maybe @Creighton. By my count and prediction, we're actually a game ahead.

But it's that, as our own coach said, we've been playing with fire for a bit now, and some issues were festering. Despite that, we were able to sneak away with two GTown wins, the PC games, and others that were closer than they should have been. Our next two games, if we do not tweak some things asap, could easily be L's and then the "we're 24-3 refrain" changes again. We all know there are some problems with the way we're playing on both sides of the ball. This isn't just idiot fans on a msg board talking anymore; it's our head coach as well.
 
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UConnJim said:
I think most of us, including Hurley as he stated in his press conference, see the glaring problem with this team: defense. The players are not good 1-on-1 defenders with the exception of Demery. Creighton spread the floor and cleared the lane and had their players drive to the hoop for layups as there was no help in the paint. Great strategy and I would expect all teams to do that against UConn going forward. It seems to me that Hurley has to modify the defensive scheme to coverup the individual defensive liabilities including positioning Reed and Reibe in the paint more often to discourage layups.

I think the offense is fine, but they need to clean up some of the turnovers and inbounding the ball. AND, practice FTs!
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Good thing about McDermott, he always finds your weaknesses before the tournament.

It give the coaches a chance to fix it for when it really matters. If I recall McD was the one that started sagging off Ajax as a D and then other teams started using it too. That’s what lead to Ajax in the dunkers spot.

If we don’t learn about that strategy by McD who knows if we have a counter during the tourney?
 
boog204 said:
The issue isn't that we lost a game. Hell, going into this year, most people thought we'd lose at least one OOC game, @SJU, @Seton Hall, and maybe @Creighton. By my count and prediction, we're actually a game ahead.

But it's that, as our own coach said, we've been playing with fire for a bit now, and some issues were festering. Despite that, we were able to sneak away with two GTown wins, the PC games, and others that were closer than they should have been. Our next two games, if we do not tweak some things asap, could easily be L's and then the "we're 24-3 refrain" changes again. We all know there are some problems with the way we're playing on both sides of the ball. This isn't just idiot fans on a msg board talking anymore; it's our head coach as well.
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Bingo, we haven't looked good since January 4th outside of two blowouts and the great defense we used to lean on is now a joke according to our coach and what we're seeing with our own eyes.
 
quick q from a football fan (ie. basketball ignorant) - are the problems, whatever y'all have determined them to be, fixable? or are we approaching the talent limits of UConn for this year?
 
Most of our guys are not good defenders but why does it seem like every opposing player including backups can get to rim but we only have one
 
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Jetskies said:
quick q from a football fan (ie. basketball ignorant) - are the problems, whatever y'all have determined them to be, fixable? or are we approaching the talent limits of UConn for this year?
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I think that's the great debate.

I think enough of it is fixable that they still have a shot but Hurley needs to be willing to change some of his schemes - I think one flaw is he gets a bit stubborn/stuck and can take a while before he relents and changes up (just see Andre Jackson as a perfect example). It doesn't help that our guys seem to lose all skill for stretches at a time, I mean what the heck was with those misses at the end of Creighton? Coach can't fix that himself.

GO HUSKIES!
 
I don't know that there is anything that can be done about the individual defense at this point for the players who are weak at it. But maybe there are some defensive setups Hurley can set up that masks the problem. And there are individuals who are defensive liabilities. the problem is subbing them out losses offense for better defense. Not sure the solution. Will be interesting to see what happens next.
 
EricSD said:
I don't know that there is anything that can be done about the individual defense at this point for the players who are weak at it. But maybe there are some defensive setups Hurley can set up that masks the problem. And there are individuals who are defensive liabilities. the problem is subbing them out losses offense for better defense. Not sure the solution. Will be interesting to see what happens next.
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You just can't have AK, Mullins and Solo out there together. There are no workarounds. You can't keep working around Solo Ball - you just have to blend him in and hide him with the right players around him, or limit him.
 
Jetskies said:
quick q from a football fan (ie. basketball ignorant) - are the problems, whatever y'all have determined them to be, fixable? or are we approaching the talent limits of UConn for this year?
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After all we didn’t beat BYU, Florida, Illinois and Kansas (and lose to Az by 4 missing 2 starters) by accident - and while nobody is the same team they were in November/December, those teams were still all at that point already better than PC, Georgetown and Creighton are now. Adjustment, adaptation, familiarity, exhaustion, officiating, hidden injuries, who knows - but I don’t think at all that this is a skill/talent problem. Let’s remember that McDermott has beaten us every single year under Hurley including one of the all time great teams (and yes I agree with others that as part of the recent trend it’s more concerning than if it happened in a vacuum but it’s still a valid point that he always knows how to pick us apart even at our best). There are certainly serious issues that need to be addressed but we’ve proved we have the talent.
 
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