Hurley's X's and O's

[Doctor Hoop]

I know I'm in for a boatload of grief posting this, to the point that I almost titled the post "Sacrilege!". I like Hurley's fire, his passion, but I've yet to be impressed this year with the offense or defense in terms of creativity and/or tailoring it to the opponent. When we have more talent, we win, when we don't we lose. And regardless of the opponent our offense looks the same to me, and not much different from last year. On defense we still seem to make iffy plays that open the floor for the opponent.

I'm not seeing creativity, offensive patterns that play to players strengths, etc. We have three guys that can make a 3 more or less reliably - Vital, Polley, and Gilbert - and both Adams occasionally. And none of the plays are designed to get them a 3. We have two starters, Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably, and Smith and Vital occasionally can do it. But none of the plays open up the floor for them to take advantage of that They get to the hoop, or near it, surrounded and outmanned. There's way too much standing around, with guys watching one-on-one play.

Maybe this is just the players - bad habits, not enough time to work on it, not enough talent, etc. But particularly when your players aren't as talented as you'd like them to be, you've got to create more structure to put them in positions that work for them. Nova ran an NBA-style offense in the second half today, and it worked for them because they could seemingly all drive, and also shoot from 3. We ain't got that.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I’m no worried about his game plan when he has players he didn’t bring in. I give it two years or so to see how it goes. Big exodus next year.

 

[huskeynut]

Basically the same team as last year that had a losing record. What did you expect?

New coach needs at least 3 years to get his X's and O's working.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I’m no worried about his game plan when he has players he didn’t bring in. I give it two years or so to see how it goes. Big exodus next year.

While that's true, he should be showing more actual coaching with the players he's got this year. If we see some of that as the season progresses, fine. Though they're not his players, they are players, and some have some tools - a McDAA point guard, a 1st team all-conf. guard, a 6'8" 3 point threat, a 6'10 center with length, a junior sniper with a shooter's conscience, a highly recruited athletic freshman swingman, a couple of 5th year players who were quite productive on their prior Div. 1 teams. Etc.

 

[tzznandrew]

Basically the same team as last year that had a losing record. What did you expect?

New coach needs at least 3 years to get his X's and O's working.

You could see some of the high IQ players yelling at some of the lower IQ players during sets because they were in the wrong places and clogging up the paint. It happened throughout the first half (you know, before the dam burst). Even high IQ players take time to internalize the movements and placements on a floor.

 

[Palatine]

Letme ask the board a simple question. Who should be at the foul line when the opposing team switches into a zone?

 

[Jimdish255]

I know I'm in for a boatload of grief posting this, to the point that I almost titled the post "Sacrilege!". I like Hurley's fire, his passion, but I've yet to be impressed this year with the offense or defense in terms of creativity and/or tailoring it to the opponent. When we have more talent, we win, when we don't we lose. And regardless of the opponent our offense looks the same to me, and not much different from last year. On defense we still seem to make iffy plays that open the floor for the opponent.

I'm not seeing creativity, offensive patterns that play to players strengths, etc. We have three guys that can make a 3 more or less reliably - Vital, Polley, and Gilbert - and both Adams occasionally. And none of the plays are designed to get them a 3. We have two starters, Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably, and Smith and Vital occasionally can do it. But none of the plays open up the floor for them to take advantage of that They get to the hoop, or near it, surrounded and outmanned. There's way too much standing around, with guys watching one-on-one play.

Maybe this is just the players - bad habits, not enough time to work on it, not enough talent, etc. But particularly when your players aren't as talented as you'd like them to be, you've got to create more structure to put them in positions that work for them. Nova ran an NBA-style offense in the second half today, and it worked for them because they could seemingly all drive, and also shoot from 3. We ain't got that.

Agree with the OP 100% Could have integrated my thread into yours.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Letme ask the board a simple question. Who should be at the foul line when the opposing team switches into a zone?

Polley, or Adams would be my choice.

 

[kansashusky]

Basically the same team as last year that had a losing record. What did you expect?

New coach needs at least 3 years to get his X's and O's working.

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Letme ask the board a simple question. Who should be at the foul line when the opposing team switches into a zone?

Train or Jalen. Both don’t have three point shots. I’d say cobb it he’d get in. Polley needs to be on the perimeter

 

[UConnSwag11]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

All those coaches have been with those teams for more than a year or two... Louisville has better talent

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Agree with the OP 100% Could have integrated my thread into yours.

Looks like we wrote at the same time.

 

[tzznandrew]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

What was the talent differential there? Did Louisville have high end players? Ohio State? Or were they essentially player A10 guys minus 2 guards who are high level talents and SF who was suspended for the first 8 games?

In other words: these programs weren't left barren. KO had multiple bad recruiting years in a row. Didn't happen in these other schools.

 

[UConnDad]

Letme ask the board a simple question. Who should be at the foul line when the opposing team switches into a zone?

Who's in the game?

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Train or Jalen. Both don’t have three point shots. I’d say cobb it he’d get in. Polley needs to be on the perimeter

Polley needs to be anywhere he can take an open jumper. He is our best shooter, Vital's awkward shot that was successful today notwithstanding.

 

[Huskyforlife]

When we win Hurley’s a genius and when we lose Hurley doesn’t know his X’s and O’s. It’s a player problem imo.

 

[Kitaman]

Not sure what Hurley can do with this group. Perhaps Adams is fragile and Hurley knows it. The announcers talked about Hurley not happy with selfish, look at me play but then the players still were trying to put up highlights. These are Ollie's boys and all that comes with that. Remember Ollie rarely pulled his players when they were mistake proned or playing selfishly. If Hurley pushes the wrong buttons with this group he'll lose them 'forever'. I bet its delicate. He a new boss with a job to do, with old employees who didn't like to work and aren't used to working together.

Already thought, he's done a job on Vital who is nowhere near the player he was last year. Cobb 'was' looking better too. AG is new and still playing like he hasn't left high school, so to that end he's a freshman adjusting to D1 play. Hurley had to assign Jalen to the leadership role but Jalen is not that kind of leader. Carlton looks better this year when playing mid majors.

Just saying there is improvement, and maybe that should be enough this year. Forget NCAA Tourney and focus on the direction of the team. I'm more enthused and engaged this year, even looking forward to watching each game. Last year I would have my laptop out multi-tasking and sometimes even have the game on as background noise. Perhaps I will lower my expectations and just enjoy the transformation and hopefully the beginning of something special.

If we are better this year than last year and considering the past couple of years, then I will label this squad a success in spite of all of our pimples. In two years I expect all of us to be in a happy place. Our incoming freshman class will be exciting but they too will take a year or so to adjust.

Its a new chapter folks, the book isn't finished but its becoming an enjoyable read.

 

[Marbles90]

Basically the same team as last year that had a losing record. What did you expect?

New coach needs at least 3 years to get his X's and O's working.

Similar to football’s “we need time” we should see signs of improvement. While I like how the team came out this season, I feel like they have regressed. Look how far we have come since the Syracuse game? I was not expecting the team to be great but I was expecting the team to get better - especially on defense. Start with great defense. It covers a lot of ineptitude. And certain players - especially Jalen Adams have actually gotten worse. Jalen should have followed Larrier last year and tried to get to whatever he could in the G league or overseas. I think his stock is dropping. Great talent but showing a lack basketball ability.

 

[huskeynut]

That’s just not true. Look at Ohio state, look at Louisville, look at Florida, look at LSU.

I'll be more specific - Hurley is going to need the time I mentioned. The talent we presently have is not good enough to compete with teams like Nova or Duke or others. Jalen is supposedly our best player. That should tell you all you need to know about talent level.

 

[CL82]

What is frustrating to me is that ball movement looked better earlier this year. It sticks in one place too much and there too much purposeless dribbling on the perimeter. Hurley has to see that. He has to fix it.

 

[upstater]

The picks are weak this year--you don't really see any of these guys setting picks well. It's a problem because our guards rarely see any free space.

 

[upstater]

Letme ask the board a simple question. Who should be at the foul line when the opposing team switches into a zone?

I would put Polley there--not Sid. Sid isn't seasoned enough and can't really hit the foul line J reliably. Wilson played a good game but had a few turnovers against the zone because he was panicked.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I know I'm in for a boatload of grief posting this, to the point that I almost titled the post "Sacrilege!". I like Hurley's fire, his passion, but I've yet to be impressed this year with the offense or defense in terms of creativity and/or tailoring it to the opponent. When we have more talent, we win, when we don't we lose. And regardless of the opponent our offense looks the same to me, and not much different from last year. On defense we still seem to make iffy plays that open the floor for the opponent.

I'm not seeing creativity, offensive patterns that play to players strengths, etc. We have three guys that can make a 3 more or less reliably - Vital, Polley, and Gilbert - and both Adams occasionally. And none of the plays are designed to get them a 3. We have two starters, Adams and Gilbert, who can drive and finish at the hoop reliably, and Smith and Vital occasionally can do it. But none of the plays open up the floor for them to take advantage of that They get to the hoop, or near it, surrounded and outmanned. There's way too much standing around, with guys watching one-on-one play.

Maybe this is just the players - bad habits, not enough time to work on it, not enough talent, etc. But particularly when your players aren't as talented as you'd like them to be, you've got to create more structure to put them in positions that work for them. Nova ran an NBA-style offense in the second half today, and it worked for them because they could seemingly all drive, and also shoot from 3. We ain't got that.

I thought his offense at URI sucked. It was isolation heavy. A marginal upgrade over what Ollie ran. His defense is better, once these guys learn how to play it.

That said, he clearly called for us to feed the post early, and we did. Those were bad passes to Carlton and our first turnovers of the game. Other passes inside also lead to turnovers. Cobb could have helped. Nova could extend their man as far as necessary because there were no players running backdoor or cutting. Watched them against KU and the Jayhawks killed them with those kinds of plays.

I think Dan is a very smart guy. I think he knows basketball and will, over time, run an offense that can adapt and score against any defense. He will need the right players to do that. Our guards can’t get free because there is no inside threat, and nobody like Polley moving enough to create openings. Polley needs to be running around like Rip out there. Instead he’s an absolute statue, acting like he’s Shaq or something.

 

[CL82]

I would put Polley there--not Sid. Sid isn't seasoned enough and can't really hit the foul line J reliably. Wilson played a good game but had a few turnovers against the zone because he was panicked.

When you see Sid play the potential makes you drool but all the time off has cost him.

 

[Travelman6]

This team has improved but it still has so far to go. When you have a lot of ground to make up even drastic improvements seem small as we see with this team. Plus The last coach, if he were with this team would be 7-6 at Best, with several close and/or overtimes wins.