Hurley Quote - Looks for Solution on D

[Chief00]

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.

When you shoot 31% FG/ 53% FT - the problem isn’t the building. Even on offensive rebounds / second shot attempts guys are not using some basic techniques which would lead to layups or foul shots. Instead we take rushed tip in attempts or very off balance heaves.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It's not a good look.
Penny wise, pound foolish.

Any time you lose by a couple of points you can throw out the "We needed one more stop mantra".

Whereas problem is this team can't score 60.

 

[Chin Diesel]

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.

This x2000.

No way UConn loses this game if it's played on campus.

Save XL for CCSU games. Real games, real teams need to be at Gampel.

 

[CTBasketball]

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.

Stop blaming the court that’s a soft take. We literally can’t shoot that is the problem.

 

[businesslawyer]

I will stick to what I’ve been saying on the BY forever, which is that I don’t care what a coach says because, like politicians, when they speak I don’t believe that they are speaking for the purpose of communicating what they actually think.

But having said that, is that a bizarre take on the game? Yes, it is. Defense played more than well enough to win. (And I thought at least two of reeves 3s were decently contested by the way.). But maybe he talked about D so as not to throw players under the bus with what he was thinking, which was probably “if my players never hit outside shots, or foul shots, it’s going to be a roller coaster ride this year.”

 

[Chief00]

I will add that you always have to take a post game press conference with a grain of salt, given the emotions that were just expended. However, it’s not the type of language that we haven’t heard before this season.
Granted, the goal is to win anyway you can. But, we do have a serious offensive problem and I am not hearing or more importantly seeing how we are addressing it.

 

[Chief00]

So who is the offensive mind on the staff?
As an assistant, I always thought Tom Moore was elite at taking away the top scorer of the other team.
Murray has learned offense mostly under Hurley.
Kimani - I think he’s a good recruiter and has worked individually with guys on things.

 

[auror]

But having said that, is that a bizarre take on the game? Yes, it is. Defense played more than well enough to win. (And I thought at least two of reeves 3s were decently contested by the way.). But maybe he talked about D so as not to throw players under the bus with what he was thinking, which was probably “if my players never hit outside shots, or could shots, it’s going to be a roller coaster ride this year.”

It is in his power as coach to make sure his guys compete and are in the right position on D.

It is not in his power to make the open shots for his players.

Of course, he did mention the guys missing open shots during the press conference, but people are too busy taking 1 quote to stand for his entire messaging.

 

[Rakkasan]

Couple of thoughts:

--Marquette will be telling if lessons were learned. Shaka focuses first on D. Will Danny anticipate and practice or be surprised again on game day.

--Not focusing on O is Danny's MO. At URI his teams played intense D but it was only when an extremely talented EC Matthews and crew matured did the offense work. Saw the same with Bouk (and without Bouk) last year. Say what you will about Cooley but Friars ran plays out of TOs and in the half court. Not all the time but enough that it seemed organized and adjusted depending on D presented.

--Luke was an asst at X. X runs some nifty O sets so surprised there isn't more creativity in the half court. The cuts run at the Friars worked really well. I would expect more of those. Get a team on their heels looking for cuts and it opens up driving lanes for the athletes that Uconn has.

Huskies play strong D and have good athletes. They are not consistent shooters though. What gets adjusted and rolled out at Marquette? I think Uconn loses in a tough environment at MU and then is staring at Top 25 X, on the road, 0-2 with 0-3 looking at them. That is not far fetched. How Hurley responds may be the balance of the season.

 

[Chief00]

It is in his power as coach to make sure his guys compete and are in the right position on D.

It is not in his power to make the open shots for his players.

Of course, he did mention the guys missing open shots during the press conference, but people are too busy taking 1 quote to stand for his entire messaging.

Too many guys, missing too many shots, too often. Yes, there is some randomness involved but it is also systematic and it would be foolish to dismiss it as just bad luck or not a problem.

There’s definitely a shot clock element to it - where we waste time, trying to do nothing productive and the last one with the hot potatoe gives it a toss with the buzzer soon going off.

There’s also definitely an element where guys haven’t developed a couple signature shots and spots where teammates seek them out.

The screening and cutting is sub par as well. Too many guys are too loose with their handles.

Shooting is often a by product of individual work in the gym and flow in the game. Both need to be examined.

Finally, get back to campus after the game and call a practice for foul shooting on a Saturday night. Assuming the NCAA still allows that type of thing.

 

[Palatine]

The D is not the problem. In two of our losses we held the opponents in the 50s.

Finding a way to get some easy buckets or get to the foul line during our 8 minute droughts is the problem.

 

[bendm]

So who is the offensive mind on the staff?
As an assistant, I always thought Tom Moore was elite at taking away the top scorer of the other team.
Murray has learned offense mostly under Hurley.
Kimani - I think he’s a good recruiter and has worked individually with guys on things.

i thought murray was a basketball savant, why cant he just dust off some offensive sets from his louisville playbook for starters? the entire staff cant just focus on recruiting and neglect the actual game planning but i'm wondering how staff even describes the offense to recruits so it sounds appealable.

 

[Chief00]

i thought murray was a basketball savant, why cant he just dust off some offensive sets from his louisville playbook for starters? the entire staff cant just focus on recruiting and neglect the actual game planning but i'm wondering how staff even describes the offense to recruits so it sounds appealable.

Ok - Quite frankly, I hope you are right about Luke being an underutilized offensive savant.

 

[Husk04ies]

Hurley said from the get go that the offense was going through Sanogo....almost seems like they didn't know what to do offensively once he was out.

 

[Lefty2one]

This is embarrassing for Hurley. PC had 55 points with 5:30 (on the nose) left in the game. Durham's layup with :45 seconds left were the only points we gave up in the final five and a half minutes. On top of that, we held PC to under 40% from the floor and this guy thinks we need solutions on defense.

 

[tower1]

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

YES !!

 

[CTBasketball]

Hurley said from the get go that the offense was going through Sanogo....almost seems like they didn't know what to do offensively once he was out.

No Sanogo means the defense can be more active on the perimeter. Doesn’t help our shooting percentages.

 

[Chief00]

No Sanogo means the defense can be more active on the perimeter. Doesn’t help our shooting percentages.

I think one of the realities of this current group in its current state - is you need to take more shots in the 2 point area and try to score some FT points. Of course, we need to do better than 53% from the line. I think we can.

 

[Kolumbo]

Defense - very good
Offense - very bad
Helter Skelter
Rebound and Run
Use the Deep Bench
Martin and Jackson can score more easily in transition than in the half court sets

 

[donyell34]

Far cry from the Auburn game having Sanogo makes a difference but the regression is alarming, confidence isn't there especially in the closing minutes. It's a bummer Johnson and Diggins aren't getting any playing time and I believe Hurley blew that opportunity against cupcakes. We need these guys to play with Gaffney unable to improve and make a difference and the at least to me the "mystery" of Akok.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

i thought murray was a basketball savant, why cant he just dust off some offensive sets from his louisville playbook for starters? the entire staff cant just focus on recruiting and neglect the actual game planning but i'm wondering how staff even describes the offense to recruits so it sounds appealable.

I think in an ideal world Hurley has multiple players on the court that can win 1 on 1 matchups and are given lots of freedom on offense as long as the defensive effort is where it needs to be... This is an appealing way to play theoretically and I would think is what they pitch to the recruits. The problem is this roster is not built to play like that and Hurley hasn't adjusted the offense yet to make up for the lack of pure playmaking/scoring.

 

[uconndogs]

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.

I don't know. The flip side is to say that PC outplayed us in a defensive battle.

I know you have to be able to score, but great teams also defend well. Calhoun's teams won an awful lot of really ugly defensive battles and if you didn't defend you didn't see much of the floor. You have to play both ends of the floor to win imho.

 

[pj]

Chief imagines we could have won 53-52, but if that’s our goal, it is going to be a long season.

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

I don't disagree with the above ... but we did win a national championship 53-41. Maybe Jim Calhoun was doing it wrong, but it worked.

 

[pj]

So who is the offensive mind on the staff?
As an assistant, I always thought Tom Moore was elite at taking away the top scorer of the other team.
Murray has learned offense mostly under Hurley.
Kimani - I think he’s a good recruiter and has worked individually with guys on things.

Maybe @CL82: Fall practice highlights

 

[CL82]

Maybe @CL82: Fall practice highlights

Genius is never appreciated its own time.