Hurley Postgame Press

[jibsey]

You might have misread my post in that it wasn’t a criticism of Mullins - he is a star!

But we need to either run plays for him or get him the ball so he can start to make plays off dribble.

He rarely touched the ball in the 2nd half.

So yes if he is not going to get the ball, we either get it to him or sub for someone who can be more active in the offensive sets.

We agree Mullins is a star. But we must find ways to involve him - 2nd half it often felt like it was 4 on 5.

I bet the coaches are going to do something on this.

 

[DogMania]

The FT yips will cost you in the Tournament and this team is actually get worse in that department. It started last year with AK and now the FT misses and FT disparity is becoming more and more evident against good teams.

I remember the Kemba and Bazz championship runs. They were money at the free throw line, their supporting cast was pretty good as well, and they won so many close games because they converted at the free-throw line at an extremely high rate when it counted most. To win it all you need to have at least a couple of players who knocked down some shots at critical times and take care of business at the free throw line throughout most of the game. Leaving points at the line can be the difference of advancing or going home early. Demary, Ball, Mullins and Alex need to be money at the line while the rest, including Reed, Reibe, Smith, Stewart and Ross, need to just be solid. Going 0-2, 1-2 or missing the front end of a 1:1 can add up and prevent them from moving on.

If UConn can put it together and dominate the field like they did in their last two championships, they might get away with poor free throw shooting. But I don't think they have that kind of team and the margin of error will be much smaller this time. We need some of our poor free throw shooters to at least be adequate and the ones that we want at the line late in close games be money at the line. I think the latter is more likely, but I'm not sure they will get there. I hope they do. We've often found that once we get out of the Big East, the officiating plays in our favor, where losing a free throw fest is less likely.

 

[dogpause]

Castle wasn't the same player in February that he was in the tournaments. While Mullens is not as physically mature, I'm certain he will be better in March, and so will this team.

 

[Spaceman213J]

I'm not laying it all on Reed's feet, but he is not the same big at the top that DC, Sanogo and even SJ were. The offense relies on guys keep moving and setting backscreens and moving to open spots. Reed is a below average passer and teams have learned to let him catch the ball out pass the FT line and to playoff. He'll eat up 5 seconds of the shot clock. There is too much dribbling already and also a soft press and teams don't have to really play 'D' for 30 seconds like they did with last couple of championship teams.
SJ and Diarra provided a change of pace. They were fast for their position. Reibe looks like he's going to be really good, but he doesn't come in and provide speed. This team is just different.
They still can make a run at it all, but they have to clean up the bad TO's and foul shooting to have a chance. There just isn't a big margin of error for this team against the best teams in the country.

 

[LIuconn]

Clingan is an unfair comparison. He was a unicorn.

 

[HW611]

Clingan is an unfair comparison. He was a unicorn.

The guy literally made opposing coaches take layups out of their game plans.

 

[SwingDog]

It’s the annual player is underperforming due to a mysterious nagging injury even though Hurley hasn’t mentioned it in a month. The AK concussion, the Liam ankle.

As for Elite 8 max - still plenty of season to go. I’d say as of right now we know that big athletic teams could pose problems, and there are a few of those in the top 8 (UM, AZ, Duke, Illinois, Houston). I wouldn’t want to see Florida again earlier than we needed to.

We are a finesse team, similar to last year but with Silas. Hurley is going to have to coach his ass off for this team to get to the F4.

A "finesse" team known for playing tenacious defense. 🙄

 

[uh-no]

The guy literally made opposing coaches take layups out of their game plans.

except brad underwood. how'd that work for him?

30-0

 

[FightOnCT]

A "finesse" team known for playing tenacious defense. 🙄

Team is finesse, but they aren’t as “soft” as people are making them out to be

 

[RuffRuff]

A "finesse" team known for playing tenacious defense. 🙄

It pertains more to our offense. Defensivel we are not finesse, but we don’t block shots, we don’t create turnovers, we don’t create O off D, we don’t pressure the basketball. We do play sound half court defense. There is nothing about disruptive about it, we simply make the opponent work.

 

[navery12]

It pertains more to our offense. Defensivel we are not finesse, but we don’t block shots, we don’t create turnovers, we don’t create O off D, we don’t pressure the basketball. We do play sound half court defense. There is nothing about disruptive about it, we simply make the opponent work.

We're currently 11th in the country in block %. May not be obvious but we actually do block a lot of shots. Turnover % is solid too at 76th in the country

 

[jibsey]

I’m getting the idea that our fan base hates us losing. The sky is not falling but there are a couple of threatening black clouds up there. Maybe they get us maybe they don’t.

 

[RuffRuff]

We're currently 11th in the country in block %. May not be obvious but we actually do block a lot of shots. Turnover % is solid too at 76th in the country

I wonder if there is any data out there on transition offense.

 

[auror]

I wonder if there is any data out there on transition offense.

What do you want to know?

 

[navery12]

I wonder if there is any data out there on transition offense.

We're 239th in the country in fast break points, but that doesn't account for pace so it's not all that useful when we play at a slower tempo than most teams. Not sure if any site tracks stats like that accounting for pace

 

[PAHusky]

Am I crazy for not understanding the charges in this thread that Mullins doesn't get enough run for him? I think, as Dan Hurley said, it took him awhile to get used to the offense, but I see him running the same actions as Solo etc when they're the focal point of the offense as well.

I think he's not getting the ball because of a few things related to others - Malachi pounding the ball too much when they're in together, etc. - but he's also had a tough time getting open in the BE with all of the grabbing and physicality around screens, and he's a capable three level scorer but it's obvious he's thinking 3's first, second and third, which makes it easy for defenses to key in.