How did they lose all those games?

[Palatine]

Those loses helped us. Overcoming adversity builds character.

We lost because teams had adjusted to us and we needed to make the proper adjustments to that. It was also the most horribly officiated gauntlet the team has gone through. Our adjustments worked and we have gotten away form those lunatic Big Easy refs.

 

[giddyup]

Ohhh here we go blaming hurley.

Hurley sucks. He still hasn’t won the big one. …Seriously, the coach by his own admission has evolved and he’s been great down the stretch having his team ready, making changes and managing the game flow. Even his use of TOs to collect the team has been great.

 

[Kitaman]

Why not credit the Conference? It wouldn't be inaccurate.

 

[Rocktheworld]

It took DH a long time to figure out several adjustments on the offensive end; namely how to deal with teams sagging on AJ. That started with BE teams knowing he doesn’t have a great 3 point shot, which OOC teams did not know. And the inverse of that —lack of familiarity— is how we dominated at PK

And it took some time to figure out rotations with 6 new players.

And we weren’t running Miller Lite specials all year

 

[OkaForPrez]

Not the point of this thread, but consider the 9 man rotations last year to this year.

Hawkins --> Hawkins: big improvement in handle, defense
Jackson --> Jackson: playing smarter
Sanogo --> Sanogo: an even more polished offensive game, adding the 3 point shot

Cole --> Newton: Better D, better able to get to the rim
Martin --> Alleyne: Step down in rebounding and toughness, comparable shooting
Whaley --> Karaban: Worse D and rebounding, but much better shooting and a better overall fit
Polley --> Calcaterra: Less size, but a much more well-rounded game (handle, D) and therefore, again, a better roster fit
Gaffney --> Diarra: About a wash, maybe slightly better D
Akok --> Clingan: Very different games, but obviously a much bigger impact from Clingan

Overall, last year's individual players had too many weaknesses that were too difficult to paper over with other guys (who themselves had some glaring weaknesses). This year's players are much better well-rounded individually and a better fit overall.

Hass is so much better than Gaff

 

[runner11]

Do you remember how eager we were to get Samson back after AK was getting abused on the defensive end game after game? The first Hopkins matchup and the first Xavier matchup were tough watches for the kid. He improved immensely and we no longer had a weak link to attack on the defensive side.

But as many said, the key was figuring out how to utilize Jack.

 

[MyDorona]

It seems as if the offense evolved through adversity. Jackson standing at the three point line for most of the games never made any sense. Now he rarely stands there and if he does, he dribbles or passes rather than shooting.

Hurley deserves a ton of credit for adapting his vision based on his personnel this year. Since he arrived at UConn, he has always described his ideal offense as four-out, with multiple ball handlers and four shooters. He even rebuilt the entire roster this off-season in that image.

For the first time in his five seasons with UConn, I think Hurley thought he could finally execute his vision in '22-23. But, once it became apparent that Jackson was never going to stretch a defense as a shooter, Hurley modified his ideal and played to the strengths of his personnel.

He also deserves credit for pivoting away from pre-season darling Samson when it became obvious that there was no role in the rotation for him. Hurley could've jeopardized this team's potential all for the sake of keeping Samson in Storrs next season. I'd imagine this was a difficult pivot.

 

[TheChamps990411]

After each of these dominant wins the TV commentators have expressed puzzlement at how this team could have lost that string of games. The simple answer is they are this good when they play hard, when they play with confidence. For some reason the team got tentative, and lost confidence. And paid the price. But they've had it in spades in the Tournament.

Once Ajax had guys sagging off of him the offense became stagnate and his loss of confidence permeated through the team and into all aspects. Man i remember watching a game where it felt like i saw Ajaxs soul leave his body. He got the ball turned around and his defender just pulled away. There was no one within 10 feet of him and he had this blank look and just passed the ball off and rotated with absolutely zero energy. He looked deflated. HIs teammates who obviously respect and look up to him mustve felt a whole lot worse than i did in that moment.

It felt to me like this team was not having fun and simply had zero confidence. To complicate things we then saw Newton play some absolute horrendous basketball because it was getting in his head. With Newton and Ajax struggling it was just too much to overcome. But Hurley to his credit figured it out. He learned how to optimize Ajaxs talent in his system and once he started having success then thriving this team took off. Ajax knows his place now and hes great. Just a joy to watch and so is this team. Its all about Ajax. Its always been. Hes the heart and soul of this team.

 

[Jaydumo20]

This is why conferences matter. The BE prepares teams wonderfully for the tournament. The biggest preparation was taking away the offense UConn spent all preseason and early season developing.

It takes time to realize something is not a fluke or a system needs more than a tweak before deciding to change. That January swoon was a blessing for this team. It gave us plenty of time to make the changes and perfect them. We are lucky to have players who can learn quickly. Our greatest strength is player adaptability. And top to bottom our players have shown incredible positive change and development.

This is the way! I have spoken!

Great points. It bears even more analysis because I think it can help us make sense of Ws and Ls throughout the season. Not to say that Hurley planned to lose those games at all. But I think people see a single season as too much of a monolith and less as a movie, as @Umami Zen so aptly stated.

There is an often vocal or even nagging unspoken fear that this team is also the team that lost to st. John's , during what Joseph Campbell would call the belly of the beast part of the season. But the hero is transformed if he avoids being consumed. This is a different team.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

Hurley deserves a ton of credit for adapting his vision based on his personnel this year. Since he arrived at UConn, he has always described his ideal offense as four-out, with multiple ball handlers and four shooters. He even rebuilt the entire roster this off-season in that image.

For the first time in his five seasons with UConn, I think Hurley thought he could finally execute his vision in '22-23. But, once it became apparent that Jackson was never going to stretch a defense as a shooter, Hurley modified his ideal and played to the strengths of his personnel.

He also deserves credit for pivoting away from pre-season darling Samson when it became obvious that there was no role in the rotation for him. Hurley could've jeopardized this team's potential all for the sake of keeping Samson in Storrs next season. I'd imagine this was a difficult pivot.

Agree 100 percent.

 

[jontaejones]

Obviously, I didn't watch as much as you guys, but...

1) The Big East is a guard's league. And Alleyene and Newton were at a disadvantage and it toughened them up. The other conferences are more geared towards ... other things.

2) You guys stink in close games. If you had won some of those close games, you'd have maybe have 5 BE losses and a BET championship and be a 2 seed and then ... nobody's talking about why they lost so many games.

Has UConn won a close game yet? I don't mean that in a deragatory way either, as they likely won't have to.

 

[WlfdHusky]

We didn't adjust on offense fast enough when Big East teams figured out how to stop Andre and use his man to double Sanogo. Trouble on offense affected our defense.

We started using Andre differently, Sanogo adjusted and took higher % shots instead of forcing through double teams.

"We didn't adjust on offense fast enough " I think this is what Hurley was talking about (I know it is obvious now) when he said in a post game presser that he & the coaching staff failed a bit in quickly identifying how to put AJ in a position to succeed using his strengths against opponents when they sagged off him hard. It has had a ripple effect and paid exponential dividends and is a great testament to how good this coaching staff is. It should silence aa$$hhaatts that were whining about how this staff couldn't adapt. They did. It just took more than 5 minutes and it is about to result in championship #5!

 

[HuskyHawk]

We didn't adjust on offense fast enough when Big East teams figured out how to stop Andre and use his man to double Sanogo. Trouble on offense affected our defense.

We started using Andre differently, Sanogo adjusted and took higher % shots instead of forcing through double teams.

I think the defense was just as important and not just impacted by the offense. Our guys were out of sorts switching styles and Hurley had Sanogo in some kind oh half-way hedge defense. Now, when he’s in he goes out and disrupts all over and other guys pick up the paint. When DC is in we drop and perimeter guys play differently. It wasn’t easy and we figured it out.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Obviously, I didn't watch as much as you guys, but...

1) The Big East is a guard's league. And Alleyene and Newton were at a disadvantage and it toughened them up. The other conferences are more geared towards ... other things.

2) You guys stink in close games. If you had won some of those close games, you'd have maybe have 5 BE losses and a BET championship and be a 2 seed and then ... nobody's talking about why they lost so many games.

Has UConn won a close game yet? I don't mean that in a deragatory way either, as they likely won't have to.

Honestly, not this year. The Big East was the best big man league in the country by a huge margin. Kalkbrenner, Nunge + Fremantle, Soriano, Dixon, Crossell. Even Marquette’s Cs were good and Gold is a hell of a backup. Our massive advantage was mitigated.

Our few close games we won we simply extended the lead. Making it look different than it was.

 

[That Guy]

1. We were playing a very tough stretch on the road and against some of the best teams in the league.

2. Our defense was not anywhere near the level it should've been. We had the #88 defensive efficiency in January and in one of Hurley's press conferences before the Final Four he himself described the defense as "pathetic" during that stretch.

 

[jontaejones]

Honestly, not this year. The Big East was the best big man league in the country by a huge margin. Kalkbrenner, Nunge + Fremantle, Soriano, Dixon, Crossell. Even Marquette’s Cs were good and Gold is a hell of a backup. Our massive advantage was mitigated.

I don't know if I would go that far, but it was better.

The BE rarely ever gets 5 star big men.

 

[UCfor3]

All the reasons have been stated and overstated. Tough stretch in schedule, bad defense, AJax and Sanogo and how they were being used in the offense, point guard play(Newton was ina funk not really asserting himself), etc...Truth is it was a blessing in diguise and it forced the staff to really take a hard look at things and dig deep and make the proper adjustments. Do we all wish it happened quicker. Of course. Nobody enjoyed the St Johns debacle. But they eventually adjusted and look where we are. You learn way more in life from your failures than your successes. The failures of January forced us to change for the better and become the juggernaut we are now. That's what I mean by blessing in disguise despite the fact it sucked while it was happening.

 

[REB1094]

This team had some VERY exploitable weaknesses. They were exploited, and they were exploited very severely.

It took a few weeks for Hurley and the coaching staff to adjust to this. Eventually they did, and now it's paying off. These OOC games and tournaments are typically more free flowing basketball instead of scheming against opponents' weaknesses, and UConn has been very good when teams aren't as familiar with UConn's weaknesses before the game

There will be adjustments from BE coaches next year as well. Unless we go undefeated in OOC again next year, we'll need to adjust to those adjustments quicker since we won't have as much of a buffer in ranking and seeding. After seeing the coaching masterclass that Hurley has put up Feb - now, I have full faith that it'll happen

 

[Billy Jack]

Obviously, I didn't watch as much as you guys, but...

1) The Big East is a guard's league. And Alleyene and Newton were at a disadvantage and it toughened them up. The other conferences are more geared towards ... other things.

2) You guys stink in close games. If you had won some of those close games, you'd have maybe have 5 BE losses and a BET championship and be a 2 seed and then ... nobody's talking about why they lost so many games.

Has UConn won a close game yet? I don't mean that in a deragatory way either, as they likely won't have to.

You may be on to something about close games. Yesterday Mike DeCourcy was on a Final Dour radio show and described Hurley as “atrocious” in close games throughout his career. I tried to look that up, but I couldn’t find anything. Does anyone know where to find what Hurley’s record in close games is?

 

[Hoophound]

I’m not so sure we couldn’t win a close game now. We have a lot more weapons. Calcaterra and Alleyne are far my integral to what we are doing and that means more competence at crunch time. We were lacking an adequate number of guys that could take control in right games. On top of that, Karaban has become brilliant under pressure since the skid.

 

[auror]

I don't know if I would go that far, but it was better.

The BE rarely ever gets 5 star big men.

A lot of veteran bigs in the league. 5* bigs don't last long enough to get that good. They're mostly raw. Old bigs are actually good.

Dixon 4th year (RS Jr)
Nunge 6th year / Freemantle 4th year
Kalkbrenner 3rd year
Sanogo 3rd year
Soriano 4th year
Croswell 5th year
Ighodaro 3rd year
Wahab 4th year
Anei 5th year (Ongenda when healthy 4th year)
Bates 4th year
Samuel 4th year

The best bigs are juniors but the rest of the teams had old dudes with size and strength.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Obviously, I didn't watch as much as you guys, but...

1) The Big East is a guard's league. And Alleyene and Newton were at a disadvantage and it toughened them up. The other conferences are more geared towards ... other things.

2) You guys stink in close games. If you had won some of those close games, you'd have maybe have 5 BE losses and a BET championship and be a 2 seed and then ... nobody's talking about why they lost so many games.

Has UConn won a close game yet? I don't mean that in a deragatory way either, as they likely won't have to.

Out of the ten finalists for the Abdul-Jabbar award, 4 were in the Big East.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame :: BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES TOP 10 CANDIDATES FOR THE 2023 KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR AWARD

- Top Male Collegiate Centers Named as Contenders for “Naismith Starting Five” -

www.hoophall.com

 

[elmcityboy]

i like hurley's quote about uconn being a difficult team to prepare for.

no one has the one-two punch at center that we do. jackson and hawkins are freaks with skillsets that are difficult to replicate in practice. we have depth to go nine deep with very little dropoff, and our guys run the coaching staff's deep playbook to perfection.

we aren't a perfect team, though, and we have vulnerabilities. veteran big east teams who have seen jackson, hawkins, sanogo (and hurley) multiple times already are better prepared to exploit them.

and, of course, the big east refs...

 

[jontaejones]

A lot of veteran bigs in the league. 5* bigs don't last long enough to get that good. They're mostly raw. Old bigs are actually good.

Dixon 4th year (RS Jr)
Nunge 6th year / Freemantle 4th year
Kalkbrenner 3rd year
Sanogo 3rd year
Soriano 4th year
Croswell 5th year
Ighodaro 3rd year
Wahab 4th year
Anei 5th year (Ongenda when healthy 4th year)
Bates 4th year
Samuel 4th year

The best bigs are juniors but the rest of the teams had old dudes with size and strength.

Regardless.

I don't think anybody would really call the Big East a 'big man's' league.

But Im not going to argue about it either. It wasn't really my point.

 

[SallyH]

Hurley sucks. He still hasn’t won the big one. …Seriously, the coach by his own admission has evolved and he’s been great down the stretch having his team ready, making changes and managing the game flow. Even his use of TOs to collect the team has been great.

Absolutely. He even admitted that he needed to put Jackson in a position where he could have more success.