Hurley found out one thing last night... | Page 3 | The Boneyard
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Hurley found out one thing last night...

UCan3 said:
I no longer get made when he has nights like last night.

That’s Alex playing at his best - I truly believe that. He runs into bad matchups once inawhile - just a solid all around player that puts it all out there.
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I am not saying he is a bad player. Alex is the glue to this team. But let's get real. If he was truly first round or early 2nd round NBA material, then why is he back for another year?
 
T-Squared said:
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. The kid hasn’t played a minute yet. So many on here assume that he’ll be a double-digit scorer, based on stuff that they read or saw about him during his recruitment. I hope he is that good. But I remember overzealous expectations were applied to Hawkins his freshman year, and they weren’t met.
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He had 12 points in 16 minutes the one time we did see him in a UConn jersey, and he looked the part. He didn't knock down a couple good looks (2-7 from three - with one a late shot clock prayer that was blocked), but he cut well, made good reads, got his feet set in an instant - scored in the paint and on the break. He just fouled three-point shooters twice so he had to sit a lot.
 
Gurleyman said:
He had 12 points in 16 minutes the one time we did see him in a UConn jersey, and he looked the part. He didn't knock down a couple good looks (2-7 from three - with one a late shot clock prayer that was blocked), but he cut well, made good reads, got his feet set in an instant - scored in the paint and on the break. He just fouled three-point shooters twice so he had to sit a lot.
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Great description of a freshman with potential. However, I can’t say based on what I have seen so far that he would have made that much of a difference over Ross and Stewart. I thought those two played pretty well. I rewatched the game and I didn’t see at all how Karaban was outclassed. Except for the fouls, he did some great things out there. I saw a couple of time where he was missed when in great position to score. Arizona played pretty good defense and that was that.
 
DW1361 said:
Great description of a freshman with potential. However, I can’t say based on what I have seen so far that he would have made that much of a difference over Ross and Stewart. I thought those two played pretty well. I rewatched the game and I didn’t see at all how Karaban was outclassed. Except for the fouls, he did some great things out there. I saw a couple of time where he was missed when in great position to score. Arizona played pretty good defense and that was that.
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You can't really run plays for Ross or Stewart - or if you do, the defense isn't going to get out of their system trying to stop it. You run Mullins around off screens it's probably going to be different - people are switching, or shading out to get in the passing lane, and then suddenly you have mismatches or things are open other places when we run misdirection and the screener slips to the rim. Spencer or Hawkins could sometimes create things without even touching the ball, just by making the defense worry about them.

Solo got open a lot yesterday off the ball coming around screens. Mullins also probably would have. Alex did not. He had a three when Arizona took a bad gamble on a steal and give him a look, but that was kind of it. His other 3 attempt was rushed.

Ross gave us 3-2-0 in 22 minutes. Stewart had a good first half, but then had one second half basket on a "look what I found" layup after AK lost the ball.
 
GHSWolverines said:
I am not saying he is a bad player. Alex is the glue to this team. But let's get real. If he was truly first round or early 2nd round NBA material, then why is he back for another year?
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It’s literally more guaranteed money to stay for someone in his position than to go 2nd round. Then in terms of the emotional connection and career aspirations for this particular basketball season, staying obviously tips the scales. Gone are the days of leaving early for anyone but sure-thing multi-year NBA contract types, which everyone heres seems to agree is not where Alex stood or stands in his draft projection. I think he definitely would’ve been drafted 2nd round last year, but that would’ve been only the beginning of fighting his way into the league.
 
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Gurleyman said:
You can't really run plays for Ross or Stewart - or if you do, the defense isn't going to get out of their system trying to stop it. You run Mullins around off screens it's probably going to be different - people are switching, or shading out to get in the passing lane, and then suddenly you have mismatches or things are open other places when we run misdirection and the screener slips to the rim. Spencer or Hawkins could sometimes create things without even touching the ball, just by making the defense worry about them.

Solo got open a lot yesterday off the ball coming around screens. Mullins also probably would have. Alex did not. He had a three when Arizona took a bad gamble on a steal and give him a look, but that was kind of it. His other 3 attempt was rushed.

Ross gave us 3-2-0 in 22 minutes. Stewart had a good first half, but then had one second half basket on a "look what I found" layup after AK lost the ball.
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Yes , Mullins could have. Hopefully he comes back next week and proves you right. That would be most welcomed.
 
thekollieman said:
It’s literally more guaranteed money to stay for someone in his position than to go 2nd round. Then in terms of the emotional connection and career aspirations for this particular basketball season, staying obviously tips the scales. Gone are the days of leaving early for anyone but sure-thing multi-year NBA contract types, which everyone heres seems to agree is not where Alex stood or stands in his draft projection. I think he definitely would’ve been drafted 2nd round last year, but that would’ve been only the beginning of fighting his way into the league.
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Not to mention the NIL money would a good incentive to come back.
 
GHSWolverines said:
I am not saying he is a bad player. Alex is the glue to this team. But let's get real. If he was truly first round or early 2nd round NBA material, then why is he back for another year?
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Because he is not. His best decision was to stay in school and collect NIL Had he left he might already being in europe playing bball.

Alex is Alex. He is a senior playing up to his full potential, every game. A great Husky! Hurley knows this and that's why he plays 35 mins a game.
 
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thekollieman said:
I definitely hear you on all that and don’t disagree, but my perspective on reffing has come around to this: it’s a nearly impossible job and overall I prefer them to err on the side of fewer whistles. I also saw plays where I was sure they were gonna call against UConn and didn’t, but then again the off ball holding probably goes unnoticed a lot more.
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This. When touching your opponent is both legal and illegal you will get degrees of calls. So, in my opinion, calling fewer fouls is always preferable. I don't like to hear from announcers that the refs are calling fouls as a way to control a physical game. If the players don't mind then neither should the refs. Only when players start to take offense and raise the animosity should refs feel that they need to step in.

I don't need to see a hand-check foul 35 feet from the basket. I don't really like loose ball fouls and I hate off-ball fouls so much.
 
UCan3 said:
Because he is not. His best decision was to stay in school and collect NIL Had he left he might already being in europe playing bball.

Alex is Alex. He is a senior playing up to his full potential, every game. A great Husky! Hurley knows this and that's why he plays 35 mins a game.
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I think the difference between a great college player and a nba regular is about athleticism; something Alex lacks. His deadly shot from 3 and crazy intelligence, plus his size are the reason he is so damn good. However, he doesn't have the athleticism to get his own shot and therefore doesn't have the confidence to do it. Personally, I would like to explore posting him up occasionally as he will be guarded by a smaller player who can chase him around.
 
One thing that I have found interesting and once again shows that you really can’t draw any conclusions from the player highlight videos, is that Smith is about the same level shooter that Diarra was. His form looked so much better on his video than what I have seen in games this year.

Maybe it’s better to phrase it that at times he shows nice rhythm and mechanics on his shot then there are times his right elbow is completely out of position as he starts his shot. I was hoping he would be a more reliable three point shooter but now that I have watched he may just be a little quicker but smaller version of Hassan. But it appears Hassan was a much better free throw shooter.

And this kid had a game against us last year wish we could get that version of him more than the one we have seen.

That makes him an ok back up but we cannot expect much more from him and as I feared with his size once he gets into the lane he has difficulty getting his shot off and he has missed too many make able shots at the rim because he worries to much about his shot getting blocked.
 
uh-no said:
if we have to play koroma for any substantial time....we're in big trouble. Bro has a LONG way to go.
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I must have watched a different game. Korona was competitive, fighting for boards, bodying people and being aggressive. Is he skillful? No. But he brought an energy to the game. Now, he needs to make some darn FT’s for sure.
 
Iluvsuebird said:
I must have watched a different game. Korona was competitive, fighting for boards, bodying people and being aggressive. Is he skillful? No. But he brought an energy to the game. Now, he needs to make some darn FT’s for sure.
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I do think you were watching a different game. He may have been fighting for boards and being aggressive but it wasn't very productive. 12 minutes, 2 rebounds, 0 field goals, 2-6 from the FT line, 3 fouls, and no rim protection. He did have 2 steals and 2 assists but overall I would say the less Koroma we see the better. Little spots when there is foul trouble is fine but nothing more.
 
Waquoit said:
Last year's season came down to playing a top team tough the entire game, and coming up short in winning time. Just like the other night. Who on this team can we count on to get a bucket in the big spot? I think Alex is more Sylvio than Tony.
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The only conclusion you can draw from the Arizona game is that our team this year hobbled is as good as our team last year. At full strength I have all the confidence we are the best team in the country
 
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willstafa24 said:
I think the difference between a great college player and an nba regular is about athleticism; something Alex lacks. His deadly shot from 3 and crazy intelligence, plus his size are the reason he is so damn good. However, he doesn't have the athleticism to get his own shot and therefore doesn't have the confidence to do it. Personally, I would like to explore posting him up occasionally as he will be guarded by a smaller player who can chase him around.
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I think you make valid points. I will only add that - that doesn’t change anything about how much I appreciate Alex’s contributions to the team. I think he’s doing the best he can and at the end of the day, that’s all any of us can do.

I likee to think about myself in the same manner. I may not be the best but I’m always trying - like Alex :)
 
uconnbill said:
One thing about Reibe is that he can play outside, as we witnessed when he made a couple of threes. I could see him and Reed playing together at times.
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Love to see him get more comfortable taking that shot. He sure looked like he has the range.
 
thekollieman said:
I definitely hear you on all that and don’t disagree, but my perspective on reffing has come around to this: it’s a nearly impossible job and overall I prefer them to err on the side of fewer whistles. I also saw plays where I was sure they were gonna call against UConn and didn’t, but then again the off ball holding probably goes unnoticed a lot more.
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The problem is our system is heavily dependent on movement. The scout on us is to hold our players and dare the refs to call every foul. They won't.
 
HooperScooper said:
I do think you were watching a different game. He may have been fighting for boards and being aggressive but it wasn't very productive. 12 minutes, 2 rebounds, 0 field goals, 2-6 from the FT line, 3 fouls, and no rim protection. He did have 2 steals and 2 assists but overall I would say the less Koroma we see the better. Little spots when there is foul trouble is fine but nothing more.
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I couldn't disagree more. I'm not saying I want him to get minutes when Reed is back, but he was very productive against Arizona. I hesitate to use +\- because it's a flawed stat but in the 2nd half against Arizona Reibe was -9 and Koroma was +7. We made our huge run and had our best defensive possessions with Koroma on the court. Do I wish he had more offense or was a little bigger? Sure. But if either of those things were true he's not coming to UConn as a 3rd C
 
Iluvsuebird said:
I must have watched a different game. Korona was competitive, fighting for boards, bodying people and being aggressive. Is he skillful? No. But he brought an energy to the game. Now, he needs to make some darn FT’s for sure.
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Like Korona's toughness. It's useful in games against bigger teams such as AZ. We seemed smaller at every position during that game.
 
TheRealKBuks said:
The only conclusion you can draw from the Arizona game is that our team this year hobbled is as good as our team last year. At full strength I have all the confidence we are the best team in the country
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We are in the top tier. But every UConn team that won the whole thing had someone who shot daggers. Some teams had two. We don't have one yet. Of course we can win without someone like that but it would be a first.
 
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DW1361 said:
Yes , Mullins could have. Hopefully he comes back next week and proves you right. That would be most welcomed.
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Mullins will start making his mark on the team in game 2 or 3 playing post injury. He is really good and AK will benefit because Mullins will have to be guarded out to the 3 line and Alex can get his best looks, feet set in corner for the 3.

Mullins is a Danny kind of player, aka plays both ways. "Tenacious D" and keeps his head up from the inbound foul line to the finish or the 3. He's a top tier freshman on a top tier team. I think his 3 pt. % will be equal to or higher than Solo's. I haven't watched this much tape on a true freshman since Clingan's senior HS year....
 
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