Georgetown Post Game Thread

[aceboon]

Mahaney's just been such an enigma this whole season. You can say "well it turns otut he's undersized, not strong enough" for BE play...but then you watch the game last night, and you see Malik Mack from G'Town. He's listed on their roster as 6'2", 175 lbs...but he looked like a skinny like shrimpy 8th grader when he was standing next to Diarra. No joke, he's at most 5"10" and 160lbs soaking wet.

Yet, Mack was battling, getting downhill, into the lane, getting shots up vs. trees.

Make it make sense.

Mahaney didn't look good against the bottom feeders in the non-conference, I don't buy the size issue it's more of him not fitting in/grasping the system and then his confidence got shattered imo. The Big East is filled with guys who have transferred up from midmajors, it ain't like this is the BE from the old days.

 

[Slick]

Reed needs to start. Please Dan, put your fondness for Samson behind you, all of Uconn Fandom is begging you.

Hurley needs to be cautious. If Reed picks up quick 2 or 3 fouls we are in trouble

 

[upstater]

What happened his freshman year? He didn’t end up finishing it.

And yeah he wasn’t much of a scorer but he was a magical passer. Which when playing next to guys like Ben, Rashad, Emeka, Charlie etc. is all you really need to do lol

You can also argue that it's easier making assists to Ben, Rashad, Emeka and Charlie than it is to Solo, Liam and Karaban.

 

[Chasm64]

Does anyone remember what Diarra was like his freshman year. I think we need to understand freshman who can step in an be great or very good players at this level are rare. Nowell will be a very good major to high mid major guard by the time he is a junior. He was not great last night his defense needs major work but he will be able to run an offense get to the basket and be an efficient passer.

May never be a great shooter but he will be a better shooter than Diarra is by the time he leaves college.

I don’t remember what Diarra was like his freshman year because he wasn’t here

 

[Coach J]

I will say two things:

1. It will kill us to at least switch to a zone now and then. Like when weaker man defenders are in the game.

2. Dan Hurley HAS GOT TO STOP WITH THE CENTER HEDGE ON THE PERIMETER! For the one or two times it is successful it costs us 5 times that in open dunks in the paint or wide open threes because we are always scrambling to recover. It is flat out stupid to continue doing when it costs us every game.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I still think we have to give Nowell a chance. I watched his high school film and he is quicker than what we have seen. His body will be an advantage next year when he goes to the hoop. He will learn to make contact and get into the bigger players when he drives.

What I liked about him most was his court vision and not telegraphing passes. The pass to Alex he moved his defenders hands with a ball/head fake to create space to make that pass. It is a small thing but I really see him being able to get the ball to Reed in the post. He will learn that he does not have to get anll the way to the basket when he beats his man as evidenced in sequence where he was at the foul line after beating his man and he saw two passes in advance by getting the ball to Liam who then got it to Ball for an open three. He saw all that when he made the first pass or at least it seemed clear to me he did.

He definitely sees the court. Not saying he is Marcus Williams but I think he will be an above average passer and an above average guard at the college level. Clearly his length or lack thereof will create obstacles but I see him being an effective player during his time in college.

 

[uconngb]

I keep waiting for one of our reserves to have that career game that we seem to suffer through when playing other teams with some schlub who averages 3 and 1 somehow going off for 18 and 4 on 65 percent shooting.

When can we get a few of those from our bench?

As soon as Ross gets more playing time

(Answering for HuskyWarrior)

 

[uconngb]

I will say two things:

1. It will kill us to at least switch to a zone now and then. Like when weaker man defenders are in the game.

2. Dan Hurley HAS GOT TO STOP WITH THE CENTER HEDGE ON THE PERIMETER! For the one or two times it is successful it costs us 5 times that in open dunks in the paint or wide open threes because we are always scrambling to recover. It is flat out stupid to continue doing when it costs us every game.

Two things I’ve been harping on for months now

 

[TheShot1990]

BTW, am I the only one who thought this was unsportsmanlike by Cooley to not only stand on the court, but also to jump up and down right behind Liam while he was shooting?

 

[aceboon]

BTW, am I the only one who thought this was unsportsmanlike by Cooley to not only stand on the court, but also to jump up and down right behind Liam while he was shooting?

reminded me of Shaka damn near contesting a Tristen 3 point shot in the first half of the BET championship last year

 

[UConnJim]

Shabazz Napier and Boatright were rated similar to Nowell coming out of high school and those guys were good right from the get go. Napier might not have been a great scorer right off the bat, but he was very good at backing up Kemba, so good in fact they often played together with Shabazz running point and Kemba playing off the ball.

Here are some stats from freshmen year UConn point guards:

3 Point FG%: Boat 37.7%, Bazz 32.6%, Walker 27.1%, Price 27.3%, Marcus Williams 17.6%, T Brown 25.0%, Ricky Moore 29.4%

FT%: Boat 69.0%, Bazz 77.1%, Walker 71.5%, Price 69.0%, Marcus Williams 69.2%, T Brown 54.5%, Ricky Moore 52.0%

Assist/TO Ratio: Boat 1.82, Bazz 1.67, Walker 1.61, Price 1.80, Marcus Williams 1.79, T Brown 2.04, Ricky Moore 2.00

Nowell: 3 Point FG% = 20.0%, FT% = 57.1%, Assist/TO Ratio = 2.70

Nowell has been injured with sporadic playing time which makes being competitive more difficult. He is a highly rated recruit who needs to play now to get ready for March and he will developed for next year just like a l the above UConn PGs.

 

[LetsGoUC]

If we run our offense through Reed like we did Sanogo, we are a much better team.

 

[homunculus]

Definitely agree with the last sentence. We don't have the type of athletes (& bbiq) to play the stifling man Dan Hurley wants & get the rotations down. I wrote something like this after the Memphis game. As for Boat, he was quicker, better athlete, and JC wasnt running the same defensive system. But you are correct, we thrived with a smaller backcourt. As a thought experiment, do you think Khalid could play defensively in this system without a shot blocker behind him? I have my doubts, & loved KEA.

Boat was definitely a better player and athlete. My bad if I implied otherwise. Bottom line is, I feel like there has been a lot of over the top negativity, almost from day one, toward this kid who I see as a good player who is just not fitting. I’m not sure why the comments about him get reactions out of me more than prior players. Maybe it’s just because we reached such a high pinnacle as a program, and our struggles are really pretty “moderate” in the grand scheme of things. Or maybe it was the dude sitting somewhere above me in Gampel screaming at the top of his lungs about how awful Mahaney is.

 

[homunculus]

BTW, am I the only one who thought this was unsportsmanlike by Cooley to not only stand on the court, but also to jump up and down right behind Liam while he was shooting?

There was another point where he was standing a good six feet fully on the baseline talking to the ref who was about to hand the ball to UConn.

 

[Mister P]

BTW, am I the only one who thought this was unsportsmanlike by Cooley to not only stand on the court, but also to jump up and down right behind Liam while he was shooting?

I think Cooley was being demonstrative towards the Hoya defender because he was po’d that he left Liam to help double team down low which left Liam wide open on the kick out. It appeared that he chewed him out some after the basket was made.

 

[uconnbill]

But that’s not our IDENTITY. So, noT

So you fall on the sword with the players who can't run the defense you want. You need to mix it up as even the pro's play some zone, just saying

 

[boog204]

Here are some stats from freshmen year UConn point guards:

3 Point FG%: Boat 37.7%, Bazz 32.6%, Walker 27.1%, Price 27.3%, Marcus Williams 17.6%, T Brown 25.0%, Ricky Moore 29.4%

FT%: Boat 69.0%, Bazz 77.1%, Walker 71.5%, Price 69.0%, Marcus Williams 69.2%, T Brown 54.5%, Ricky Moore 52.0%

Assist/TO Ratio: Boat 1.82, Bazz 1.67, Walker 1.61, Price 1.80, Marcus Williams 1.79, T Brown 2.04, Ricky Moore 2.00

Nowell: 3 Point FG% = 20.0%, FT% = 57.1%, Assist/TO Ratio = 2.70

Nowell has been injured with sporadic playing time which makes being competitive more difficult. He is a highly rated recruit who needs to play now to get ready for March and he will developed for next year just like a l the above UConn PGs.

Nowell has played around 100 minutes the entire year. You’re comparing him stats wise to guys who were starters (Price, Taliek), sixth men on Natty and FF teams (Bazz and Kemba,) Boat who could have easily been the starter and a backup in Ricky, who played on a 32 win team and locked up Allen Iverson in the BET. Oh and Marcus Williams, a guy who had a 13 assist game. As a freshmen. Off the bench.

This has unfortunately been a lost year for Nowell and his rust is very, very evident. He looks much slower and lacks explosiveness. Hope this is just injury related.

 

[uconngb]

So you fall on the sword with the players who can't run the defense you want. You need to mix it up as even the pro's play some zone, just saying

I was being sarcastic….of course we should have been changing things up

 

[navery12]

So you fall on the sword with the players who can't run the defense you want. You need to mix it up as even the pro's play some zone, just saying

The issue is that I'm not sure a zone even helps these guys. Apart from it just being something they don't practice, I just don't see it going well.

Most of the defensive issues don't stem from a lack of size or skills or talent, we just have a lot of players who have very little basketball accumen on the defensive side. They're not getting out muscled for the most part, they're just losing their man or getting caught staring at the ball. And I think the same thing happens in a zone defense

 

[uconnfan68]

I will say two things:

1. It will kill us to at least switch to a zone now and then. Like when weaker man defenders are in the game.

2. Dan Hurley HAS GOT TO STOP WITH THE CENTER HEDGE ON THE PERIMETER! For the one or two times it is successful it costs us 5 times that in open dunks in the paint or wide open threes because we are always scrambling to recover. It is flat out stupid to continue doing when it costs us every game.

Or our center fouling the 3pt shooter.

 

[Mr. French]

I will say this, as maybe a non sequitur to what's been discussed here:

Some posters, notably @HuskyWarrior611 have been critical of Solo's ability to attack, and in turn our coaches' willingness to emphasize that with him.

I have to think he's getting that message now. I've seen him be much more aggressive attacking and using his athleticism. There's still a lot to be learned as far as controlled finishing, but he's attacking much harder lately.

PS, no dig at 611, I was just saying he's one of the many posters (and some rightly so) critical of Ball's ability to attack for his talent level. He's clearly TRYING it more the last handful of games.

 

[freescooter]

Most college players have shortcomings. It’s only when they don’t produce that fans make that shortcoming that player’s identity. We had a tiny backcourt in 2014, Boat was no bigger than Mahaney and that team managed to play D well enough to win the championship including against teams along the way like Michigan State. (And everyone can spare me the moving goalposts about their overall comparative value as players, we’re talking about size.) The problem is not with any single player, or their physical attributes - everyone on the team including Diarra, Karaban and McNeeley are getting blown by or losing assignments. It is a systemic problem, stemming from the fact that the coaching staff has been slow (or flat out refusing) to adapt to the weapons they have in their arsenal, believing in the system above all else.

I agree with this but please don’t compare Nowell to Boatright and/or Napier. Yeah they are all short. 2 were outstanding players. One is behind Mahaney on the depth chart. Even if Hurley changes his system Nowell isn’t the solution

 

[Deleted at users request]

I will say this, as maybe a non sequitur to what's been discussed here:

Some posters, notably @HuskyWarrior611 have been critical of Solo's ability to attack, and in turn our coaches' willingness to emphasize that with him.

I have to think he's getting that message now. I've seen him be much more aggressive attacking and using his athleticism. There's still a lot to be learned as far as controlled finishing, but he's attacking much harder lately.

PS, no dig at 611, I was just saying he's one of the many posters (and some rightly so) critical of Ball's ability to attack for his talent level. He's clearly TRYING it more the last handful of games.

No dig taken! I’m happy to see that being emphasized. Don’t expect him to be good at it this year, if he ends up being + before year end that’s great!

But it’s important that it’s being emphasized and he’s working on it now and then will be able to refine it based on experience over the offseason.

 

[Palatine]

I agree with this but please don’t compare Nowell to Boatright and/or Napier. Yeah they are all short. 2 were outstanding players. One is behind Mahaney on the depth chart. Even if Hurley changes his system Nowell isn’t the solution

Boatright was incredibly quick with an excellent vertical for a guy his height. Napier was very savvy, a very good ball handler, good shooter, not as quick as Boat but much quicker than Nowell.

 

[Mr. French]

No dig taken! I’m happy to see that being emphasized. Don’t expect him to be good at it this year, if he ends up being + before year end that’s great!

But it’s important that it’s being emphasized and he’s working on it now and then will be able to refine it based on experience over the offseason.

Even when I disagree, sometimes vehemently, I can tell you know stuff about ball so I just didn't want it coming across like I was "calling you out."

 

[Deleted at users request]

Even when I disagree, sometimes vehemently, I can tell you know stuff about ball so I just didn't want it coming across like I was "calling you out."

 

[3rdbass]

Boatright was incredibly quick with an excellent vertical for a guy his height. Napier was very savvy, a very good ball handler, good shooter, not as quick as Boat but much quicker than Nowell.

I'm not sure about that. Napier had a great change of pace dribble though and was quick with his hands on D. I don't think Nowell is slow I just think he hasn't adjusted to the game speed due ot being injured most of the season and never gettng any consistent minutes. He seems to be doing better recently but definitely has a lot to grow into even a decent player.

 

[RuffRuff]

The issue is that I'm not sure a zone even helps these guys. Apart from it just being something they don't practice, I just don't see it going well.

Most of the defensive issues don't stem from a lack of size or skills or talent, we just have a lot of players who have very little basketball accumen on the defensive side. They're not getting out muscled for the most part, they're just losing their man or getting caught staring at the ball. And I think the same thing happens in a zone defense

Not sure I agree. Managing your territory versus chasing a man, reading a switch, fighting through picks has a lot less complexity to it. When the basis of the issue is being too slow footed and having spacial awareness issues, a zone could help. They don’t need to run it 40 minutes, but to splash in for 3-4 minutes here and there can be the kind of curveball to throw off another team just enough.

When you’re letting some of the worst 3pt shooting teams in hoops light you up I really don’t know what you have to lose honestly. To keep up the same strategy at this point when you have almost a full season sample of the defense being awful feels silly. Man when done well has the higher upside but done poorly has lower downside. Zone keeps you in the safe middle.

 

[navery12]

Not sure I agree. Managing your territory versus chasing a man, reading a switch, fighting through picks has a lot less complexity to it. When the basis of the issue is being too slow footed and having spacial awareness issues, a zone could help. They don’t need to run it 40 minutes, but to splash in for 3-4 minutes here and there can be the kind of curveball to throw off another team just enough.

When you’re letting some of the worst 3pt shooting teams in hoops light you up I really don’t know what you have to lose honestly. To keep up the same strategy at this point when you have almost a full season sample of the defense being awful feels silly. Man when done well has the higher upside but done poorly has lower downside. Zone keeps you in the safe middle.

Well that's my point, I wouldn't say any of Ball, Stewart, and Ross are slow footed and they're still horrible defenders this year. And if we're already getting burned by 3 point shooting now, that's going to get worse in a zone which is even more susceptible to wide open 3's. Changing it now would be nothing short of a disaster

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Not sure I agree. Managing your territory versus chasing a man, reading a switch, fighting through picks has a lot less complexity to it. When the basis of the issue is being too slow footed and having spacial awareness issues, a zone could help. They don’t need to run it 40 minutes, but to splash in for 3-4 minutes here and there can be the kind of curveball to throw off another team just enough.

When you’re letting some of the worst 3pt shooting teams in hoops light you up I really don’t know what you have to lose honestly. To keep up the same strategy at this point when you have almost a full season sample of the defense being awful feels silly. Man when done well has the higher upside but done poorly has lower downside. Zone keeps you in the safe middle.

The defense looks worse in person than even the story the analytics tell. The breakdowns that I see in the games, especially away from the ball, would be unacceptable during a middle aged pickup game at the YMCA. I think defensive instincts are somewhat intrinsic, and Ball and Steward in particular just don't have them.