Grades and Thoughts...

[mauconnfan]

First of all no moral victories especially against a team that helps them make decisions in March and you have a 5 point lead with a minute left in regulation. Bad loss period no taking anything else away.

The players:

Gilbert - Played solid in regulation minus 2 in a row of his usual stunts 1st half and the final play. (said it before and will later on, that was on DH). His defense was very good (ask Scruggs) but most that hate him have no clue of that the only see the obvious. And the "obvious" showed its ugly head in both OTs. I am bamboozled by his inability to understand he has finished about 3% of his career deep penetrations to the basket with 80% of them never seeing the rim just hands, arms and elbows? I mean it's beyond frustrating. But in all reality why doesn't DH take him out, he needs to do that he's in charge. They become turnovers it's awful. Call it hero ball or whatever you want end result is it's really dumb! B+ regulation D in OT (made FTs gave us a chance so no F)

Vital - Damn the kid plays hard and honestly easily the best rebounder on the team. If he was 6'6 he'd get 15-18 a game he is awesome, tough too gets big boards. But his decisions in both halves on his shot selection was awful. Without going into detail his attempt at a long ball with lots of time on the shot clock with around 1 minute was as dreadful a shot as we've ever seen for our Huskies. Crazy thing is with the clock running out if the ball wasn't going to Bouk then would've preferred him than AG in regulation. Had a rough night making shots he makes too so all other negatives are magnified. C- rebounds count.

Carlton - Maybe stay in the hotel so you're not in foul trouble in the first half then Uber over and have a stretch in the 2nd half which helps us get back in the game. Another frustrating basketball player. Has some nice things going on, one of them is not explosion. Worked the boards hard for a couple tap ins/follow ups but also was too slow to finish impact shots late regulation which take a 6pt lead to 8 instead of the blocked shot and a run out by X. Needs to make more FTs too.I will say this 1st OT that was not a travel off the Vital pass he did not have possession until he stopped with the ball. It was rolling up his arms and hand, bad call one of many by that crew in the OTs. The non finish when wide open and the air ball from 5 feet hurt us bad, they should be 2's. D+

Polley - Kid made some big ones and he's proven to be a sharpshooter when needed. Like that in him. He also is progressing nicely on the defensive end, quietly unnoticed but he's solid there. But what else, rebounding? Had his hands on a few, position on a few that he didn't come up with. A couple of those needed up being X put backs.He HAS TO rebound the basketball better. No excuses at 6'9" he has to want that damn ball a lot more. Until then he's just a shooter. C-

Akok - Had a rough night but I can't speak for much else until I hear what was up. Can only guess it was physical but who knows. He did make them miss shots when he was in, didn't get to people a couple times on the perimeter. But he did grab some loose rebounds, missed a couple open looks but they were good shots. Not sure will be short with him on this but like the kid a lot. INC

Adams - Man I am still not really sure but he's winning me over. Playing good D, making a few shots and drives. Actually should have seen more time I think. I'm not sold he can run the point against good quick defenders but the way some guys are playing let's check it out I guess. Tough kid, active as all heck. Less minutes than I though he should've had. B-

Wilson - You know what I am tough on Sid, his defense is erratic at best and I think he could be a really solid defender if he'd stay home more. But he was asked to spell the bigs on Joes, had to actually and he did a solid job Jones didn;t get a shot off during that stretch with Sid and the double downs. Credit to Sid also had one big rebound to give us a chance in 1st OT. B

Gaffney - He's coming along but got beat on D again. I think he can defend but he overplays too much and comes off the floor too. He's a little better with the ball and running the offense but want to see a confident potential scorer when he's out there. Not a lot to go on last night needs to be more visible. C

Bouk - Wow the ceiling is incredible. Without talking about the actual scoring, the almost put back dunk on the weak side off a miss was incredible. He's something we haven't seen in ages. The Lamb comparisons are good but he's doing things already which took Jeremy some time. Lots of fun awaiting us but last night he was really good on the offensive end. The ball should have been in his hands, or at least a play should have been run for him the last possession of regulation, no question. He can take his guy and get something, anything off so we'd have a chance to end it right there. The long armed rebound, put back and FT was great to send us into 2 OTs. Has to get better on his man but his hands are incredible. Quick hands makes a difficult defensive match up especially when he starts keeping his guy in front of him. He played well, really fun to watch. B+

DH and staff - I mean these kids are playing their tails off. Nothing else to say about that. The focus coming out needs to get better 1st half but there is no quit in them at all and you can point at DH and the staff for making that a pleasure to watch. He needs to take control of AG and CV though. Can't allow that out of control crap any longer they are hurting our team. We have depth and proven playmakers on the bench so cut into their minutes unless they are playing well. It will only help everyone and down the stretch anyway. In bounds plays are awful, like looking into a 4 year mirror. Toss it high to the big guy - please give us a chance to score from below the basket. No one moves. Biggest play was the worst move, ball in AGs hands with 18 seconds left? To top it off it was all on him no one was moving they just spread it out and let him go, and what happened LOL. That needed to be him bringing it down on the same set and at the 10 second mark Bouk coming to get it and keep the floor spread no doubt. Bad bad play call Bouk gets us a good shot even if doubled because he can kick out to a shooter. AG they know he's 5'9 and can't score in the paint X was thrilled. And not being able to get Sid in on time was crucial too he should've been sitting at the table anyway knowing the offense/defense situation. Instead we get his 5th and he's again not there to take a last second shot. C

This one hurt, I watched "Dublin Murders" for 1 & 2 because I couldn't sleep. I'm tired as crap but I know one thing, they really need this W on Sunday vs the 'Canes. UM will be tough and a strange match up for our guys. Really glad they have a day to forget about this one bouncing back immediately would've been disaster I think.

Go Huskies!

 

[Jay-Bone]

Deng - Had a rough night but I can't speak for much else until I hear what was up. Can only guess it was physical but who knows. He did make them miss shots when he was in, didn't get to people a couple times on the perimeter. But he did grab some loose rebounds, missed a couple open looks but they were good shots. Not sure will be short with him on this but like the kid a lot. INC

Ajou Ajou?

 

[mauconnfan]

Ajou Ajou?

OMG thanks told you I'm tired! LOL

 

[Chin Diesel]

Had to catch the game on tape delay and didn't finish watching it until 1:30am.

Not much to disagree about on grades.

For the staff, the benefit of these tourneys is to see what your players are capable of doing against high level competition in the "now" timeframe. The skill in coaching is to see what you have and figure out what you need to do to get your team playing its best ball in March. Through 3 higher level games- Florida, Buffalo, X, it's apparent Gilbert isn't leading the team like you'd expect a 4th year PG to do.
From a coaching/development you have ask what can a coach do in the next 10-14 weeks to get Gilbert to be where the team needs him. From my eyes, the answer is "not much". He overpenetrates and is dependent upon bad defense or overeager referees to get him to the line. It isn't like he would be making those layups if he wasn't fouled.
Dilemma is what to do at the PG spot. I'm not sold on Adams doing this for 30 min every game. Vital obviously isn't a PG, Gaffney isn't ready yet.
So, I think you end up with a flawed team that has to ride this out. From a coaching stand point the less Gilbert shoots, the better. I'll explain later how I get these unbelievable observations no one else sees. His drives to the hoop basically start the fast break for the opponent. And since he can't shoot a jumper, his defender can sag off making kickouts to the wings or corner difficult too.

Other than that, Vital is flawed but we have seen him for 2+ years be able to score and rebound.

Akok has the energy others are lacking and I think getting him going early vice forcing it to Josh and watching TO's happen may be the kick in the pants the team needs.

If there was a way to bench Josh for the first half and only play the second half, I'm all for it. His 1st/2nd half splits for production must be large.

Sid has been good for one eye popping offensive play a game. I still think staff needs to get him closer to 8 points a game than 3-4 points a game. With him Akok and Bouk, back door alley oops should be easy. I just don't know who throws it to them.

 

[jibsey]

Carlton has 8 rebounds and 10 points. For all his flaws who else is doing that in his place?

 

[browndog319]

Had to catch the game on tape delay and didn't finish watching it until 1:30am.

Not much to disagree about on grades.

For the staff, the benefit of these tourneys is to see what your players are capable of doing against high level competition in the "now" timeframe. The skill in coaching is to see what you have and figure out what you need to do to get your team playing its best ball in March. Through 3 higher level games- Florida, Buffalo, X, it's apparent Gilbert isn't leading the team like you'd expect a 4th year PG to do.
From a coaching/development you have ask what can a coach do in the next 10-14 weeks to get Gilbert to be where the team needs him. From my eyes, the answer is "not much". He overpenetrates and is dependent upon bad defense or overeager referees to get him to the line. It isn't like he would be making those layups if he wasn't fouled.
Dilemma is what to do at the PG spot. I'm not sold on Adams doing this for 30 min every game. Vital obviously isn't a PG, Gaffney isn't ready yet.
So, I think you end up with a flawed team that has to ride this out. From a coaching stand point the less Gilbert shoots, the better. I'll explain later how I get these unbelievable observations no one else sees. His drives to the hoop basically start the fast break for the opponent. And since he can't shoot a jumper, his defender can sag off making kickouts to the wings or corner difficult too.

Other than that, Vital is flawed but we have seen him for 2+ years be able to score and rebound.

Akok has the energy others are lacking and I think getting him going early vice forcing it to Josh and watching TO's happen may be the kick in the pants the team needs.

If there was a way to bench Josh for the first half and only play the second half, I'm all for it. His 1st/2nd half splits for production must be large.

Sid has been good for one eye popping offensive play a game. I still think staff needs to get him closer to 8 points a game than 3-4 points a game. With him Akok and Bouk, back door alley oops should be easy. I just don't know who throws it to them.

I don’t disagree with your observations. The only thing with the Carlton thing is this: if you make him wait till the 2nd half, does he then have lead in his shoes in that half? I feel like he needs to feel the competition out in the first half so he can calibrate himself. If he doesn’t play till the second, I think he’s basically first half Josh anyway.
I also forget what it’s called, but there’s a type of runner that is better suited to long runs - so they can’t sprint but they build up over the course of a run. So they’re great at marathons. They are sluggish at the beginning but they are still completely full of gas at 26 miles. A sprinter will have no gas, but are like a bolt of lightning. There’s a name for it.
Maybe watching video of the competition beforehand so he’s mentally prepared could get him there? And warming up longer so that he’s hitting his full tank and maximum energy at the start of the game?

 

[Deepster]

Dogmania???! Is that you?

 

[mauconnfan]

Dogmania???! Is that you?

D-head is that you?

 

[Chin Diesel]

Carlton has 8 rebounds and 10 points. For all his flaws who else is doing that in his place?

No one. His rebounding has been fine. His offense is so low percentage/efficiency. 10 points and 5 TO's.

 

[SubbaBub]

We likely needed this game for Selection Sunday.

SHU, Florida, Buffalo, Xaiver, Florida looks a whole lot better than SHU, Florida, Buffalo, Miami. Especially with a bad loss to St Joes.

 

[intlzncster]

No one. His rebounding has been fine. His offense is so low percentage/efficiency. 10 points and 5 TO's.

His TO's are what kill us the most.

That said, a bunch of his boards are when he goes up soft, misses, and gets then rebounds his own shot. Not sure how great that is.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Carlton has terrible hands. He does not seem able to catch (grasp?) the ball cleanly. He seriously needs to work on catching the ball on passes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We likely needed this game for Selection Sunday.

SHU, Florida, Buffalo, Xaiver, Florida looks a whole lot better than SHU, Florida, Buffalo, Miami. Especially with a bad loss to St Joes.

A double OT one point loss against a ranked team on a neutral court won’t hurt us. Just need to put Miami away tomorrow. Miami is a good team. It’s a learning experience and I expect the team to get better.

 

[uchusky32]

Agree Mau, AG played tough on D. Did his usual over penetration and took some jumpers that he did not need to take. If he has the green light he needs to know or be smarter and if he can't do that there is no reason for him to have the green light. He was best when being a distributor. He needs to be shooting 1000 jumpers every day.

CV, yup, plays hard but doesn't always play smart and as AG isn't athletic enough at the rim. He took a 3 coming out if a timeout that was just horrible and should have been sitting on the pine after that. Rebounds, hustles but the negative things he does as a senior arrived ridiculous.

Tyler Phommachanh, can shot and needs to shot more. Played good D. Got some gift rebounds but he is getting better and is a plus on the floor.

Bouk, is the real deal.

Carlton, does something's well. Has some touch with his right hand and hits the offensive boards. But his left is pathetic. Can't jump and is slow of foot. Also the ball can't go nto him with no chance of coming out.

Gaffney, has to be a threat on offense. Can he hit a jumper? He looks very weak out there.

Side, athletic, played some D. Can't shot. Not sure how he fits moving forward with Book.

Akok, not sure what happen to him. Missed some shots but looked OK to me. There were other glaring problems with AG, Carlton and CV that stood out.

DH, didn't damage this game well. And has given AG and CV to much freedom on the court. He has to see better what is happening on the court and make adjustments. Not sure how much tape he is reviewing with the team but AG needs to be in the film room big time.

 

[Travelman6]

Crushing loss. I don't recall the last time a loss has hurt that much, it has been a while since I had my heart in my chest like that, thumping like a jackrabbit, maybe Colorado a few years back. Fun to have that feeling back for three games in a row though even if the result is 2-1 and not 3-0.

Just my silly opinion but IMO Hurley needs to drill it in AGs head, from the bus ride back to the hotel last night and on, that, on offense, he functions best as the distributor and only that, less than 5 shots per night and his free throws should always outnumber his shots. AG has a role and IMO, it is not to shoot as much as he has! Dish the rock!