Hurley Quote - Looks for Solution on D

[Chief00]

Hurley quote:
“But we still had enough to win the game, if we guard the ball a little better.”

Maybe so but should this be our post game focus when our opponent shot 39% to 31% for UConn from the field. Our 3pt% was 27% and we were 53% on the foul line.

If Danny steers away from the elephant in the room - very poor shooting and offense - it’s almost like this staff is incapable of developing offensive answers. It’s not in their comfort zone. So they don’t even go there.

I don’t think we are looking for “prolific” offenses but how about a minimally competent one? Chief imagines we could have won 53-52, but if that’s our goal, it is going to be a long season.

 

[WestHartHusk]

The real question: is Hurley the basketball equivalent of Edsall? All this focus on defense when his offense is a disaster is…concerning.

 

[king conn]

That quote is being overlooked

He is saying, we have to hold opponents in the 40's, rather than we need to score more than 50 . And rather than taking a good hard look at my offense, the players have to execute harder on defense

That sounded like our old football coach

 

[CardiacAndre7]

You should win 9/10 of the games that you give up 57 points. I don’t know how he thinks focusing on the defense is the issue. That’s just ridiculous. How about focus on finding more ways to get the ball in the hoop.

 

[SubbaBub]

He's lying. D was fine with the exception of the last 3 minutes of the 1st half. You aren't winning games shooting 31%. This was an offense problem.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

He's lying. D was fine with the exception of the last 3 minutes of the 1st half. You aren't winning games shooting 31%. This was an offense problem.

Painfully obvious.

 

[Captbluefin]

The next 5 games are going to show a lot.

 

[karstenkibbe]

This staff needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror - especially the team’s leader. He talks about accountability. But he doesn’t seem to hold himself accountable. The buck stops with Hurley.

 

[mauconnfan]

My question is does he allow his staff to give him their educated opinions during the games? I mean there’s no way between Kimani, Tom and Luke non of them knew Polley was playing way too much. At least I hope not and the same with bringing Gaff in to finish the game? I mean they had to know better.

 

[Improviser]

That quote is being overlooked

He is saying, we have to hold opponents in the 40's, rather than we need to score more than 50 . And rather than taking a good hard look at my offense, the players have to execute harder on defense

That sounded like our old football coach

Which football coach? We had a lot of them who said the same thing.

Yes, the FB team scored more than 50, but it took 4 games to reach that number.

 

[Kenny11]

We routinely (especially when gaffney is in the game) make the first pass with 14 seconds left on the shot clock. Our motion offense set relies heavily on our 5 reversing the ball on the perimeter where he is not a threat to drive and it causes issues.

The quick hitter plays we ran towards the end, one for a Hawkins three and a play against the zone for Martin’s foul line jump shot were actually good looks (despite both being misses). Maybe we should run more of those type of plays and just scrap the motion offense which is slow and doesn’t work. There is no excuse to play so slow. Just leads to forced shots at the end of the shot clock

 

[Husky]

Offense looks rough at the moment

 

[RichCTBB]

It would be nice to see shots taken within the first 15 seconds of the shot clock….more points in transition. This motion offense obviously limits possessions and doesn’t work when you can’t shoot. I fear that there will be a lot of ball watching when Adama returns. They’ll start dumping it down to him and hope he bails them out. Just like when Bouk returned from his injury last year. It just seems to be the psychology of this team unless someone emerges as another capable alpha other than RJ.

 

[Husky Alien]

Hurley needs to make a statement by calling a time out waaaay sooner than when he does.

 

[LBird33]

Hurley quote:
“But we still had enough to win the game, if we guard the ball a little better.”

Maybe so but should this be our post game focus when our opponent shot 39% to 31% for UConn from the field. Our 3pt% was 27% and we were 53% on the foul line.

If Danny steers away from the elephant in the room - very poor shooting and offense - it’s almost like this staff is incapable of developing offensive answers. It’s not in their comfort zone. So they don’t even go there.

I don’t think we are looking for “prolific” offenses but how about a minimally competent one? Chief imagines we could have won 53-52, but if that’s our goal, it is going to be a long season.

To me it looks like they over rely on the three vs looking for higher percentage shots inside

 

[mauconnfan]

To me it looks like they over rely on the three vs looking for higher percentage shots inside

I think we made 11 two pointers yesterday in 40 minutes. That’s ridiculous and needs to stop. Obviously one would hope it will change with Sanogo coming back but we need to get to the basket more especially when we can’t shoot it.

 

[gtcam]

He needs a mentor who can teach him some basketball offense acumen - something he has proven to be devoid of at this point
Seems crazy that he was a PG
Every team is going to collapse on the bigs and force this team to shoot from the outside - it will kill them because odds are high that Sanogo won't be taught to pass out under pressure, the team as a whole is not a good 3 pt shooting team and there is no half court offensive schemes.
The coaches in the NBE are not stupid.

 

[DMIL]

Hurley quote:
“But we still had enough to win the game, if we guard the ball a little better.”

Maybe so but should this be our post game focus when our opponent shot 39% to 31% for UConn from the field. Our 3pt% was 27% and we were 53% on the foul line.

If Danny steers away from the elephant in the room - very poor shooting and offense - it’s almost like this staff is incapable of developing offensive answers. It’s not in their comfort zone. So they don’t even go there.

I don’t think we are looking for “prolific” offenses but how about a minimally competent one? Chief imagines we could have won 53-52, but if that’s our goal, it is going to be a long season.

Well said Chief......this elephant is getting bigger and bigger. It's all connected. Our key players are not doing their most basic, fundamental job and that is consistently defend and get buckets. There is absolutely no flow on offense against these stronger defensive teams and we have been exposed. Our offense does not have to be great but it needs to be functional against solid D1 teams. There really isn't excuse for the lack of offensive execution. Even when you focus on the things they can control individually it has been a failure.

These guys have to individually take accountability for the things they can control. The upper classmen and the players that have been through some wars have to start playing like it. They have been playing soft. I think some good points have been made about the actual quality of our depth. Point guard is a glaring weakness on this team. Cole can only be effective at PG when the others are knocking down wide open shots and hitting free throws.

I don't know what the answer is yet but I think a start is for the players to take some accountability and execute on some of the basics like defending open shooters, making better decisions with shot selection, making wide open shots and making free throws. Particularly the upper classmen. We can't depend on Cole to carry this team. Coach needs to figure this out fast.

 

[ASweet3781]

Hurley needs to make a statement by calling a time out waaaay sooner than when he does.

He won't. He wants to be "one of the guys".

 

[Husky Alien]

He won't. He wants to be "one of the guys".

I think your right! Like the chest bump with RJ against St B towards the end of the game when RJ made that crucial shot , saying he was a Bad Mfr....

 

[ucawn]

Look we were conceding wide open dunks all game and let AJ Reeves get numerous clean looks in half 1. Also in 2nd half we had the crowd into it and played really unorganized and pathetic defense leading to 2 easy layups after Watson seals the lane for a dribbler. The shooting was pathetic. I rewatched the game and there were just so many times where we biff wide open looks, don’t know what it is. Also for the middle chunk of each half our offense looks uninspired. There’s people cutting but they don’t even look to receive a pass most of the time. They’re too locked into a set play it seems. I’d love to see us try some more freelance, I expect offense to look drastically different with Adama back, but I must say despite the energy/crowd which was great in the XL… WE ARE A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TEAM WHEN WE PLAY AT HOME, GAMPEL, vs THE XL! I would be ecstatic if we never played another ball game in the building. Words wouldn’t encapsulate my joy. We SUCK in the building, but look like a championship team in Gampel.

 

[TheChamps990411]

We routinely (especially when gaffney is in the game) make the first pass with 14 seconds left on the shot clock. Our motion offense set relies heavily on our 5 reversing the ball on the perimeter where he is not a threat to drive and it causes issues.

The quick hitter plays we ran towards the end, one for a Hawkins three and a play against the zone for Martin’s foul line jump shot were actually good looks (despite both being misses). Maybe we should run more of those type of plays and just scrap the motion offense which is slow and doesn’t work. There is no excuse to play so slow. Just leads to forced shots at the end of the shot clock

I agree except that we should run a motion offense that looks to get guys attacking the basket and when the shot is not there you kick it out. That is the offense we should be running not just trying to get guys an open shot for 3. This team doesnt shoot well enough to do that. We do have athletes and length and guys should be going to the basket constantly.
We should also be looking to fast break off our defense when turnovers are created. If theres a steal, or rebound we need to go. Florida played like that in 2014 because they couldnt shoot and they won 30 games and went to the F4. This team playing to those strengths could have similar success.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

While mistakes happened yesterday on defense, it’s hard to fault the D other than Reeves’ open looks from 3 in the first half, and a couple Croswell rebound put backs in the second. Watson will get his. But only 11 2’s, nearly 9 minutes without a basket, and quite a few late in the shot clock 3’s should be as plain as the nose on his face.

Hurley seems to think the coaches need only provide is a basic offensive structure, and everything else follows. It doesn’t. You need two or three different sets against man D, and the players need to know how to handle how the D responds. What if they switch? What if they trap the dribbler? Go under the screen? Fight over? How do you get a defender to leave a shooter? You see this kind of ‘second nature’ improvisation in NBA games … except that it’s not second nature, it’s situational memory and court awareness. And it’s taught.

What about zones? Yeah, you need offensive structure agains 2-3, matchup zones, 1-3-1, etc. and the PG has to recognize and call it out early in the clock.

Coaching offense is hard. It’s also necessary. NBA players take a lot of 3’s because they can hit them. This squad would be better off trying for shots 15 ft. and in, and kicking out for 3 when the right shooters are open. It’s much less efficient to miss 3’s than make 2’s.

 

[Chief00]

I want to see some good offensive execution that translates into actual points. At this point in the season. that needs to be the focus of this team rather than beating up each other in practice.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Focusing on the D is insane.

Offense is what wins games. I actually think they expend too much energy defensively. Crazy, I know, but you have to play hard on offense. Offense is hard.

There has to be more balance. Good defense, good defensive principles, and good defensive rebounding.

I just feel like they max out on D, effort wise, the offense becomes where you can rest up for the next possession.

I wish they would play as hard on offense, and responsible for offensive effort, as they are on defense.

PC shot 39% from the floor and scored 57 pts. That has to be a win with the players UConn has athletically.