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.
Hurley Quote - Looks for Solution on D
- Thread starter Chief00
- Start date
Chin Diesel
The timing could not possibly be worse
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 34,290
- Reaction Score
- 110,679
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.
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
The timing could not possibly be worse
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 34,290
- Reaction Score
- 110,679
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
Former Owner of the Pizza Thread
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2012
- Messages
- 10,315
- Reaction Score
- 36,191
Stop blaming the court that’s a soft take. We literally can’t shoot that is the problem.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 23,167
- Reaction Score
- 12,956
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.”
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.”
Last edited:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
--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.
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.
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2018
- Messages
- 7,647
- Reaction Score
- 26,947
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.
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2011
- Messages
- 2,489
- Reaction Score
- 10,537
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.
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 794
- Reaction Score
- 2,085
YES !!
CTBasketball
Former Owner of the Pizza Thread
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2012
- Messages
- 10,315
- Reaction Score
- 36,191
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.
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.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2015
- Messages
- 1,212
- Reaction Score
- 7,176
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.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2011
- Messages
- 4,461
- Reaction Score
- 11,834
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.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2012
- Messages
- 8,888
- Reaction Score
- 26,494
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.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2012
- Messages
- 8,888
- Reaction Score
- 26,494
