Help me out! I am profoundly biased men’s basketball fan! | The Boneyard

Help me out! I am profoundly biased men’s basketball fan!

FT shooting (mostly Clingan tbf) and defending athletic 4s are the big ones to me. Harrison Ingram from UNC, Malik Reneau from IU, and KJ Adams from Kansas all gave Karaban 18+ on over 60% shooting. We get burned on dribble penetration sometimes but I think some of that is by design since we have a bonafide rim protector
 
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I would add Karaban getting in foul trouble. He seems to flirt with 3-4 fouls every game. He also gets a terrible whistle for being one of the best players in the country.
 
Definitely dribble penetration as mentioned. Not good to not have a real back up 4 in the physical sense as to negate the one issue we have with Alex. Need Stephon to catch up but believe he will. Having a solid mid range game moving forward will be huge for him as well as getting near the 30% mark for 3s. And as said many times over, DC need to start making free throws at a much better rate or he won’t be able to play in key minutes where his defense will be required.

Good news is you really have to think hard to answer!
 
I think the ft shooting worry shouldn't be there, I actually think ft shooting will be a major strength. The only bad ft shooter in our rotation is Clingan and I expect his ft shooting to continue improving. Samson may be a weak ft shooter but he has so few attempts.

Cam, Karaban, and Newton are as good as it gets from the line and Newton and Cam will be the ones with the ball in their hands along with Castle who looks like a good ft shooter.
 
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Free Throw % could improve, but I think the issue is a bit overstated. It's 145th in the country at moment (72%), which is not really good or bad just fine; it has been a little inconsistent game to game. But considering Clingan has been significantly better than the first couple games of season and I suspect the game at the Phog probably is weighing it down right now (8-15) I think this will be fine in long run. Oddly enough teams shoot really poorly against UConn from foul line (65%, 29th best defensively in CBB).

I also think the 3-point shooting will improve naturally as Karaban normalizes his hit rate, Newton and Ball will get better and Spencer we know already is excellent. The looks are just too good they've been getting as the offense has looked as good or even better than last year at times.

My #1 concern is 3-point defense. UConn has been excellent at minimizing attempts as is the MO of a Hurley defense (33rd in country in 3s attempted per game), but teams are shooting a blistering 36% from 3, which is 323rd in the country defensively. They aren't giving up many attempts but when they do it's to the better shooters and relatively uncontested. Anecdotally there have been times I've seen some ball watching or a missed rotation. Given it's on a low volume it's not overwhelmingly concerning, it's just an area of opportunity to improve.
 
Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.
 
HailUConn said:
Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.
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That's true but benches like that are rare in times of portal I think.
 
HailUConn said:
Not a knock on Samson, Ball or much improved Hassan, but it’s quite discernible that our secondary unit this year is not as strong and experienced as last year with veterans like Joey, Hassan, Alleyene and Clingan in both offense and defense.
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I posted yesterday the weak link is our second unit.
I would double Diarra , everyone on the unit depends on him to create even Johnson . We need a secondary creator.to take the pressure off him .
Plus someone to make shots ,
With Castle at full strength Ball can hopefully step into that role but he is not creator. yet.
We certainly could have used Allyne . He could create his own shot plus take some me pressure off Diarra as he had a decent handle . Right know he can only use 8 in tight games . That’s more starter minutes than a coach typically likes.
We can attack on perimeter D because Clingan will only get better as a rim protector. So your 6’5” and you beat Cam big deal . Karaban might not have lift but he is much stronger than last year.
The only thing about the first 5 that concerns me is minutes .
If Clingan shoot‘s FT in the 60% Im not very concerned . He will score a lot of points plus with 4 options at crunch time there is no reason for him to be on the line .
 
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With Clingan and Spencer hobbled and Castle out (like at Kansas) we didn't look very athletic (in an explosive sense), but that shouldn't be a problem anymore.
 
Kenny11 said:
With Clingan and Spencer hobbled and Castle out (like at Kansas) we didn't look very athletic (in an explosive sense), but that shouldn't be a problem anymore.
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Clingan moved so much better last game than he did all season, looked quicker and was jumping much better. I know he probably wouldn't shed more than a few lbs in such a short time frame but he did look thinner which is strange.
 
I'm not sure. I'll go "injuries" since that is what has seemed to matter so far.

Depth at the 4? It didn't matter last year.

Bigs getting in foul trouble? Last year we had two playable guys and it was fine.

FT%? Clingan looks to be improving and the rest of the guys are solid even if we've had some rough patches.
 
Free-throw shooting.

If there is an egregiously bad call, especially in a close game, can Hurely be trusted to keep his cool? I think he's grown so leaning towards yes.

Injuries, like any team, there is only so much depth any team can have. But as long as they don't get hit by the injury bug they should be able to weather any storm. The wrong injury could pit an emphasis on depth.
 
Storrs South said:
My #1 concern is 3-point defense. UConn has been excellent at minimizing attempts as is the MO of a Hurley defense (33rd in country in 3s attempted per game), but teams are shooting a blistering 36% from 3, which is 323rd in the country defensively. They aren't giving up many attempts but when they do it's to the better shooters and relatively uncontested. Anecdotally there have been times I've seen some ball watching or a missed rotation. Given it's on a low volume it's not overwhelmingly concerning, it's just an area of opportunity to improve.
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This^
 
That they don’t make more team issued gear available for purchase.

Just went on the Nike site and saw Air Pegasus sneakers with the logo for some pretty terrible college athletic teams…but not UConn.
 
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Hurley can win close games.

Kansas has great success extending half court pressure. Guarding the ball handlers 30-35 feet out daring us to dribble past them. It worked long enough to win them the game. Gonzaga was able to do it for a short stretch in the 2nd half. This is the "what does Hurley need to do if they just leave Andre unguarded" question for the season. I think the answer is go to a Newton, Castle, Ball lineup forcing them to change.

Clingan needs to be a more reliable option on offense. The Gonzaga game needs to be the norm.

Can't have an off-night from 3 against the top teams.

Do we have (need) a go to scorer when we need a bucket. It's Newton but is that as sure a thing as Sanogo last season.
 
From what I saw on Reddit, Zag fans and others were very impressed with our 3-point defense
 
SubbaBub said:
Hurley can win close games.

Kansas has great success extending half court pressure. Guarding the ball handlers 30-35 feet out daring us to dribble past them. It worked long enough to win them the game. Gonzaga was able to do it for a short stretch in the 2nd half. This is the "what does Hurley need to do if they just leave Andre unguarded" question for the season. I think the answer is go to a Newton, Castle, Ball lineup forcing them to change.

Clingan needs to be a more reliable option on offense. The Gonzaga game needs to be the norm.

Can't have an off-night from 3 against the top teams.

Do we have (need) a go to scorer when we need a bucket. It's Newton but is that as sure a thing as Sanogo last season.
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Without Newton dropping in3s from everywhere this game wouldn't have been that close even with a shot to win it.
 
jibsey said:
Without Newton dropping in3s from everywhere this game wouldn't have been that close even with a shot to win it.
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Well, if other people make their shots then it's close again

We lost at KU by 4 points, can't spin that.

Every game ever played has players exceeding expectations and other players falling short of expectations
 
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