Hurley: UConn between going young or still competing

[pj]

I get what Hurley is doing here and I think he's trying to light a fire under certain players and isn't actually at the point of blowing it up this season, quite yet. It's one game into the conference schedule. He's sending a message let's see if certain players respond

I agree with this. He seems to be trying to make a credible threat toward Jalen. But, the threat is stronger than the execution.

 

[kansashusky]

The ceiling of Sid and BA is much higher than Whaley and Carlton, and they can grow from valuable minutes. Whaley and Carlton don't have a high ceiling, and playing them more will just result in us losing, and not gaining anything.

Polley, if he is hitting shots, has a decent ceiling, but he is so limited physically, both defending and rebounding, that more playing time wont't equal his entire development.

 

[JB75]

Think about the bad things that have happened since our little late comeback against fsu:
1) Jalen goes for 2 points against Manhattan and our offense looks alarmingly like last years-clearly worst offensive showing of season
2) we look lost in second half of nova game
3) diarra now pushed back to feb
4) yakwe out fir USF game(and season)
5) we lose killer game to USF
6) polley has brutal shooting night
Pretty crazy succession of circumstances since FSU Game. Weird how team is actually regressing in numerous facets. Health, desire, production , defense rebounding etc. If you would’ve told me this a month ago I would’ve laughed at u

 

[yukonfan4]

Man people like this I can’t stand.

easy there. the question mark next to improved(?) was meant to convey skepticism. obviously that lineup wouldn't win as many games as the current one. that's a given and misses hurley's point of contemplating the change in the first place

 

[the Q]

The ceiling of Sid and BA is much higher than Whaley and Carlton, and they can grow from valuable minutes. Whaley and Carlton don't have a high ceiling, and playing them more will just result in us losing, and not gaining anything.

Polley, if he is hitting shots, has a decent ceiling, but he is so limited physically, both defending and rebounding, that more playing time wont't equal his entire development.

BA and (ideally) Sid don’t really play the same position as those guys. You’re playing Wilson at the 4? That’s extremely undersized.

Polley has rated surprisingly well defensively. Not great or anything but better than average

 

[JB75]

Maybe we stun everyone and play our balls off tmrw. I just wanna see effort and an improved offense with less turnovers. Can we at least do that the rest of tear?

 

[upstater]

new and improved(?) lineup:

gilbert
vital---b.adams
wilson-whaley
polley-diarra
carlton

trial by fire

Great lineup--except when it comes to scoring.

 

[Jaybird65]

Maybe we stun everyone and play our balls off tmrw. I just wanna see effort and an improved offense with less turnovers. Can we at least do that the rest of tear?

If they can somehow give a game long effort, for me, it will be fun watching. I want to win but that's more of a hope this year than expectation; I have a hard time watching when the effort doesn't seem to meet the eye test. It wasn't that long ago that I thought this team was really fun to watch; maybe I got blinded by that light but I'm hoping otherwise.

 

[superjohn]

I think we have a different definition of the word “disaster”. Take him out of the rotation, then you’ll see what a disaster is, I can assure you that.

Reminds me of watching Carmelo at the end with the Knicks. You might peek at the boxscore and think he must have been pretty good cuz he got 18-20 points, then you actually watch the game....

 

[August_West]

Really Its simple.

Sid needs to see a lot more floor.

Its pretty easy.
All our guys can play more than one spot. Sid is a 3 really, but is playing 4 now. CV is a 2/3.... Jalen is a 2/1..........

Sid or Polley at the 4.
Sid or CV spot BA at the 3
CV or Jalen or BA at the 2
Alterique or Jalen at the 1

Tarin Smith doesnt need to see the floor. Swapping/Rotating players through those positions will give Sid and Polley and Alterique the time they need while still getting CV and Jalen the minutes you need to actually have people who can score a hoop. and BA can get 10 maybe depending on game......


for the 5 spot? who cares? Nothing happening here no matter what

Carlton and Whaley with Cobb and Yakwe spotting

 

[Griffman]

It's not the NFL draft, we won't get better recruits by tanking. I'm assuming he's calling out Jalen Adams and Cobb. Can't be Vital. We have no choice to play Carlton, Whaley and Sid with all the injuries.

Sid is the only one I feel with benefit from more playing time. B. Adams isn't any good.

 

[casual-yardin]

Some people probably won't like this but it's one of the things I love about Hurley, he's extremely candid and won't give you the politicians response.

He knows there is no getting through to Jalen and the frontcourt is a disaster. It's unfrotunate that outside of playing Alterique and Sid all of the minutes and giving Brendan Adams a much bigger roll there isn't all that much he can do for the future. I guess play Josh the whole game but we all know how that'll go.

He knows the front court is a disaster. He's proly also starting to realize that the guys with the requisite talent (AG & Sid) aren't ready yet. I'm sure he's also trying to send a message.

It's extremely unlikely that he feels there is no getting through to Adams.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Reminds me of watching Carmelo at the end with the Knicks. You might peek at the boxscore and think he must have been pretty good cuz he got 18-20 points, then you actually watch the game....

Agree, I'd always held out a tiny bit of hope that he was capable of putting the team on his back and taking it to a next level. Watching the USF game extinguished a lot of whatever was left of that hope.

 

[yukonfan4]

Great lineup--except when it comes to scoring.

it's hard to pickup sarcasm here sometimes, so just in case we missed each others attempts at it see below:

the question mark next to improved(?) was meant to convey skepticism. obviously that lineup wouldn't win as many games as the current one. that's a given and misses hurley's point of contemplating the change in the first place

 

[UConnStats]

The ceiling of Sid and BA is much higher than Whaley and Carlton, and they can grow from valuable minutes. Whaley and Carlton don't have a high ceiling, and playing them more will just result in us losing, and not gaining anything.

Polley, if he is hitting shots, has a decent ceiling, but he is so limited physically, both defending and rebounding, that more playing time wont't equal his entire development.

Sid could be better than Polley by the end of the year if he adjusts. Right now, the speed on the game is definitely a bit much for him, and he’s clearly nervous judging by the missed layups/dunks. It makes sense to keep playing Wilson.

I don’t think much can be done about the center situation. Carlton already plays more than Cobb, and we lost Yakwe. We really are stuck at that spot. Whaley has a low floor and ceiling. He’s a foul trouble big only IMO.

I think the biggest potential change could be BA’s minutes. If he could prove himself more, we could use his size (relative to the other guards) at the 3 this year. Wouldn’t mind him playing more at Smith’s expense if the game flow permits. It would really make sense if he could shoot 36%+ from 3 in conference play.

 

[JMick]

To me, part of this is just candid and part of it is issuing a challenge to the older guys. He's basically telling them that if they don't step it up, we're going to lose anyway and if that's the case then we'll lose with the young guys.

 

[whaler11]

It is way too early to bag this season.

 

[3rdbass]

CV shud not get his minutes cut back. Maybe Jalen a little and deff Tarin smith

Why cut our most productive guard minutes in CV. Jalen fine but I want to continue to see CV play significant minutes. He can have an even greater impact as on the floor leader for our young guards. He definitely will be a better guard to look up to than Jalen is right now with his attitude.

 

[CL82]

As long as we get Kofi I don’t care if we play walkons this season

Avatar/post

 

[3rdbass]

Jalen has been a disaster for the team this year. If you think these 20 point performances by him are really doing anything towards the team winning and improving I don't know what to tell you.

I would definitely not call him a disaster. Definitely a regression from last season but he is still the best player on the floor who can create his own offense. He is the difference to losing by 10 instead of 30 like last year. The difference between this year and last year is we have 2 extra guards to help out and mitigate some of the damage. Unfortunately our front line is just as bad as last year if not worst with Carlton's regression.

 

[AdamaNation]

This is a bad look.

The boneyard can call it a season one game into conference play with a key injury. Never the coach. At least Ollie would say we gonna keep grindin. Work hard and be strong for one another. Cuz we’re UConn 10 toes in. Stair takers. Planting seeds in the garden. We don’t jump ship with the rats. Practice is Greta. Got a new Lamborghini in the garage. And a Ferrari. Not throw in the towel.

 

[AdamaNation]

Somehow I don't see Wilson playing the 5 spot for Cobb. Yes Wilson will get minutes but Cobb has to play the 5 with Carlton otherwise someone might get killed.

Carlton will only play 8-10 minutes a game due to fouling out.

 

[JMick]

It is way too early to bag this season.

Well it's good he didn't say they've made a decision yet, then. Never understood getting mad at a coach when they give an honest answer. I much prefer it to a load of bull

 

[superjohn]

I would definitely not call him a disaster. Definitely a regression from last season but he is still the best player on the floor who can create his own offense. He is the difference to losing by 10 instead of 30 like last year. The difference between this year and last year is we have 2 extra guards to help out and mitigate some of the damage. Unfortunately our front line is just as bad as last year if not worst with Carlton's regression.

I haven't seen him be the best player on the floor in any of our games against the non cupcakes.

 

[whaler11]

Well it's good he didn't say they've made a decision yet, then. Never understood getting mad at a coach when they give an honest answer. I much prefer it to a load of bull

I’m not mad I’ll judge him by what he actually does - but it’s a weird thing to even say. They don’t lack for available minutes and no one all that interesting to give more to.