Gonzaga Post Game Thread | Page 11 | The Boneyard

Gonzaga Post Game Thread

BigErnMcCracken said:
If you really want me to answer, I think it’s beyond idiotic to write off a kid who was an all-American last year and a first team all WCC player who’s clearly playing out of position and has had an undeniably rough start to his UConn career.

It’s the role of our best coaching staff in America to figure out a way to integrate him into what this team wants to do. But we have a whiny, entitled fan base that sucks the enjoyment out of absolutely everything. We’re either the best team in the country or bound for the NIT game to game. A bunch of spoiled clowns who want this kid “bolted to the bench.” This place was on suicide watch after Maui and then they beat Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga and there are people who still want to use the occasion of a nationally televised win over a top ten team to rip the kid. It sucks. Do your thing.
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It was Dan Hurley who bolted him to the bench in the 2nd half after the 10 second violation. When he is not hitting threes or making winning plays Dan Hurley will not put him on the floor, unless he has no choice, like Singare. Yesterday was not a good day for AM. He got a total of 7 minutes of play yesterday and no one here made that decision. We even tried having Liam bring up the ball on one possession. We need a 2nd playmaker/facilitator and right now I don’t know who that is. Hass cannot play 40 minutes and if he gets in foul trouble we are going to get pressed.
 
Stinger92860 said:
It was Dan Hurley who bolted him to the bench in the 2nd half after the 10 second violation. When he is not hitting threes or making winning plays Dan Hurley will not put him on the floor, unless he has no choice, like Singare. Yesterday was not a good day for AM. He got a total of 7 minutes of play yesterday and no one here made that decision. We even tried having Liam bring up the ball on one possession. We need a 2nd playmaker/facilitator and right now I don’t know who that is. Hass cannot play 40 minutes and if he gets in foul trouble we are going to get pressed.
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There is a lot of roster flexibility when Nowell is available. Nowell is key to Mahaney’s potential success this season.
 
Stinger92860 said:
It was Dan Hurley who bolted him to the bench in the 2nd half after the 10 second violation. When he is not hitting threes or making winning plays Dan Hurley will not put him on the floor, unless he has no choice, like Singare. Yesterday was not a good day for AM. He got a total of 7 minutes of play yesterday and no one here made that decision. We even tried having Liam bring up the ball on one possession. We need a 2nd playmaker/facilitator and right now I don’t know who that is. Hass cannot play 40 minutes and if he gets in foul trouble we are going to get pressed.
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It will be Nowell as soon as he’s healthy enough to go.
 
kobebeanbryant said:
IMO our “best player” at the end of the year has to be him or Stewart for this team to reach its ceiling.

The other guys on the roster can flourish in more complementary roles.

I think McNeeley is obviously most likely based on what we have seen so far. Stewart seems to be on trajectory for next year, but he seems capable if given the time to grow into it.
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Rotation dynamic is at 90%, pretty clear at this point we need Nowell back and healthy as the primary backup ballhandler to Diarra. We should be seeing more light bulbs going off with AM at this point, and it just doesn’t seem like it’s happening. Still looks uncomfortable. I’d like to hold out hope, it’s just that his physical limitations give me little confidence. It’s going to be interesting to see how he’s used by March as up till this point he’s providing absolutely nothing this team needs. It feels like Dan Hurley is going to have to make a choice between Nowell and him and stick to it at some point sooner rather than later as you can only experiment for so long.

Liam is the more dynamic scorer to AK, and honestly has more natural leadership traits. It’s not his team per se, but he has established himself as one of the emotional leaders of the team. He’s an alpha. He has great body language, which resonates into the confidence of the team. AK just doesn’t have that, his skillset is more of a great complementary player as is his disposition. Will be interesting to see if that’s a shift that plays out.

Stew always comes in with great energy and confidence. Love the idea of him providing instant offense and a spark off the bench, as he’s playing that role really well. Getting him in that 15-18 minute range as a primary bench guy feels a good balance.

It’s funny thinking back to everyone here projecting out the minutes distribution in the preseason, thinking how are we going to get all these studs equitable minutes and how off that was. Always lands back on a top 7-8 guys getting the bulk, with a top 5-6 getting majority.
 
The 10 second violation was a symptom. He was tentative and afraid to bring the ball up the floor. Even if he got it over, we wouldn’t have gotten into our offense until 15 seconds on the shot clock. We like to run stuff and put pressure on the defense but we have to get into our sets first. Same way if you run stuff and a shooter breaks open and doesn’t shoot, you might have just wasted all that effort. Being tentative hurts our offense.

AK was guilty of that too late, albeit on a cold night. Got the ball in the middle of the zone and did nothing, then swung the ball when he was wide open to a covered Diarra.

We can figure out something with AM off the ball thinking like a scorer and being a secondary passer. But he’s just not making quick or smart decisions with the ball in his hands yet. Need to simplify things, then maybe expand the role later.
 
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Stinger92860 said:
They have to give Nowell a long look in live games as we need another facilitator and ball handler. I see no other choice here. At the same time they need to figure out how to help AM get better. If just enough to be serviceable. He played one minute in the 2nd half and that time was not positive.
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Yup. Need to be able to give Hass a breather. I’m assuming we see Nowell for 10 min against xavier
 
WeAreUCONN said:
What exactly is wrong with Karaban? He missed all of his 3’s. Didn’t box out on several occasions. Threw the ball away a few times and seemed reluctant to shoot for most of the game.
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Have you made one positive post this year? It is always what we can’t do. And you actually said Scheyer is a great recruiter and you love watching him work. Someone identified you as a troll and that has to be it. With a handle like we are UConn you are prohibited from saying positive things about Dook on this board.

Don’t worry about Alex he will be just fine.
 
yungdowork said:
Lots of deserving praise for Singare in here. I was really impressed with how hard he ran, kid had his arms and legs pumping every time down the floor. That was his reputation going back to EYBL, but you still just love to see it. I will be cheering every time he steps on the court
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I think he’s earned a few min every game, not just the break in case of emergency minutes
 
REB1094 said:
Just watched some highlights of the 2nd half 10-0 run. Didn’t realize this real time, but it was:
  1. Stewart 3 from Liam assist
  2. Stewart layup from Liam assist
  3. Tarris dunk from Liam assist
  4. Liam 3 from Diarra assist
Liam has star potential for us. If he can improve his consistency, I don’t see why he can’t be our best player by March
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Potential???
 
I don't have enough words to describe Danny Hurley.
He is a Maestro. He is a 3 Michelin star chef. He is a Field Marshall.
Sometimes he experiments and adds a little too much salt, or not enough pepper but watching him tweak his masterpiece as the season progresses is like watching DiVinci in real time.

So be patient with him when he puts a player on the floor for a few minutes that we don't deem as worthy. They are all carefully selected chess pieces. We are blessed.
 
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RedStickHusky said:
We're chasing so the best we can do is position ourselves to take advantage if a team ahead of us slips. And the BEast doesn't offer us a lot of big wins. Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Duke, Kentucky... We'd need a few of them to fall beneath us.
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It's possible and very likely that will happen because 4 of those teams are in the SEC and will play against each other.
 
lateralous said:
Last year was obviously the exception but I generally believe teams are better off going through a certain amount of adversity during a given season. Coming off two straight natties and an offseason filled with adulation, I think the reset that getting embarrassed in Maui provided will prove to be an invaluable part of this teams development.

It was hard to watch at the time but IMO the Huskies will be that much better off having gone through it, even if it means we’re ultimately a seed or two below what we might otherwise have been without 3 straight losses.
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Last year they did go through adversity when they lost Clingan for 1 month. It's just last year's team was so stacked they still won all 5 games albeit not in the dominant fashion that we were accustomed to.
 
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TroyHall98 said:
There is a lot of roster flexibility when Nowell is available. Nowell is key to Mahaney’s potential success this season.
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Yep for Mahaney to play off the ball sy the 2 guard. I have been preaching this even before the season started. I had him penciled in as the starting 2 with Diarra at the 1. I didn't know ball wouod shoot as well as he has.
 
TroyHall98 said:
This sealed the win! They shut down Nembhard in the 2nd half and Ike was a non factor.
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The decision to have Ross defend Nembhard really turned out well. It looked like Ross has watched tape of Ricky Moore - similar style of hounding and intense guarding with some quick jabs to go for steals.

I'd be surprised if UConn encounters a player that's faster than Nembhard during Big East play. He was very impressive for the Zags - oh he can Zig too!
 
AntG168 said:
Then your response was incoherent. Anomaly simply means outside the norm. The performances in Maui have shown to be an anomaly as they don’t reflect how this team has played outside of Maui. It doesn’t mean they didn’t “earn the losses” or they don’t “still have to get better”. It just means that their performance in Maui is clearly not their baseline as a team.
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Three games in three days when you lost the first one after clawing back in is tough.
Dayton played well against better teams and still lost heartbreakers their first two games and had more fight than we did for the final spot.
 
JMick said:
He was taking terrible shots. Idk if he's just trying too hard to be "the guy"

He was rushing and was way too far off the 3pt line
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AK regularly takes and makes 3s from that distance. He just had a bad shooting night. Most of those were good takes within the flow, though probably should have faked more on a few of them and tried to create something for a teammate or himself off the dribble. He had a few nice takes to the basket and probably should have done it a tad more. He'll be just fine. I expect some monster games coming up and him playing huge when it counts most in March.

I actually like how he and some of his teammates take 3s a foot or two beyond the arc. Many teams are coached to defend at the arc, so learning to let 'em fly a foot or two deeper where the shots are less contested is a good strategy and clearly seems to be taught and encouraged by the coaching staff. It also stretches the D to open up the middle of the floor for all sorts of opportunities.
 
3rdbass said:
Yep for Mahaney to play off the ball sy the 2 guard. I have been preaching this even before the season started. I had him penciled in as the starting 2 with Diarra at the 1. I didn't know ball wouod shoot as well as he has.
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All this off the ball stuff with AM - do we even need that piece? An undersized poor defensive 2 to go alongside a small PG? You can’t force it. Trying to maximize his offense only makes him a bigger defensive liability. This isn’t a charity game, it’s trying to win. The only way he offers any value is with his dribble. We don’t need a small spot up shooter who is only has a pretty good shot.
 
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Shout out to Diarra. Not the best scoreline and the ill-advised 3, at the end, stands out, BUT, the guy is a warrior. Lot's of minutes doing probably the most essential job on a team. Played all but 4 minutes, hustled and delivered early to Samson and always great for 1 spectacular (spin in the lane) moment. UConn fans are so spoiled and have such a high standard, his play goes almost unnoticed.
 
JMick said:
I was actually pretty impressed by how fast he found the open guy. Not his fault his teammates didn't hit on it
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I like the kick-outs, but thought he could have gone right up strong to the basket on the second one. He'll learn. There are usually 3 good options: Go right up, or hard fake once and go up to score & draw a foul, or kick it out. To his credit he didn't choose the poor bad habit options of either bringing the ball down or trying to dribble it in traffic. I like what I'm seeing. He's definitely learning. It's not often when you see an inexperienced big who gets spot minutes come in during meaningful moments in the game and play as relatively mistake free as he's been doing. Props to the big fella!
 
kobebeanbryant said:
Have you watched him try to put the ball on the floor and get into the lane. It’s not pretty. That’s really not his game, due to his athletic limitations.

Others have said it best, he’s more of a “system guy”. And when there are other playmakers on the floor to attack the defense and he can play off that within the flow of our offense, he’s in the perfect system for his abilities.

When our offense gets bogged down or he gets asked to be the one to attack the defense, you can see his limitations. He just gets pushed further and further back off the 3pt line in an attempt to get a clean look.
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I've seen him put the ball on the floor and then play off two feet and hit the quick pop shot or draw contact plenty of times. The point isn't for him to suddenly became Rip Hamilton, it's to see one go down or get the FT line and get in rhythm, not just keep launching deeper 3s when's he cold.
 
JMick said:
He was taking terrible shots. Idk if he's just trying too hard to be "the guy"

He was rushing and was way too far off the 3pt line
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Massive overreaction.
 
RuffRuff said:
All this off the ball stuff with AM - do we even need that piece? An undersized poor defensive 2 to go alongside a small PG? You can’t force it. Trying to maximize his offense only makes him a bigger defensive liability. This isn’t a charity game, it’s trying to win. The only way he offers any value is with his dribble. We don’t need a small spot up shooter who is only has a pretty good shot.
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I hear what you're saying. I continue to root for the kid, but unless he can get stronger, improve his D and more consistently contribute (finish his drives, get to the line, make quicker decisions, find open teammates, and knock down his open 3s), he's taking minutes away from teammates that could contribute more than what he's giving. So far he's turned out not to be a good fit for what he was brought here for.

He had a good game the other day, but until he shows consistency with what I described above, he shouldn't have any more of a role than the Joey Cal role. I hope Hurley and the staff can coach him up. I think Nowell might turn out to be the better backup to Diarra once he's healthy. I hope AM can improve and give us 5 to 10 solid minutes at the 1 or 2, but so far he's not been able to do that. Note that I thought he showed improvement on D a game or two ago, but unfortunately he didn't build on that last night and that backcourt clock brainfart was inexcusable. He's on too thin of ice to be making those types of mistakes.

I've not given up hope, but anticipate Hurley being careful how he tries to bring him along.
 
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