Inbounding the ball problem for CT -- both times seemed strange to me

[CTtoSanDiego]

I am mystified by the two 5-second inbound calls. I know it sometimes happens, but these were puzzling. I'll have to go back and look, but both times (especially the second time), it seemed to me as if the inbounder was waiting for some signal from the ref... didn't even have the ball in a position to throw it, and there was very little movement by our players on the court. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this, and has any comment. I can't remember ever seeing a team get a five second call when inbounding to start a quarter or a half from midcourt. It's the easiest place to inbound from. Brain freeze? Confusion? Can't make mistakes like this against a team as good as SC

 

[Wheeling]

I'm screaming at my tv to call a timeout. Especially in the first half when we don't use them. Also when we dribble and stop with no one to pass to. Movement at times has been a problem. Under the basket inbound play I wish Katie Lou had a year eligibility left to inbound the ball.

 

[Zarathustra]

I am mystified by the two 5-second inbound calls. I know it sometimes happens, but these were puzzling. I'll have to go back and look, but both times (especially the second time), it seemed to me as if the inbounder was waiting for some signal from the ref... didn't even have the ball in a position to throw it, and there was very little movement by our players on the court. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this, and has any comment. I can't remember ever seeing a team get a five second call when inbounding to start a quarter or a half from midcourt. It's the easiest place to inbound from. Brain freeze? Confusion? Can't make mistakes like this against a team as good as SC

I saw that no one " came to the ball".... at least in the inbounds for the start of the third quarter.... truly puzzling.

 

[freshler40]

I am mystified by the two 5-second inbound calls. I know it sometimes happens, but these were puzzling. I'll have to go back and look, but both times (especially the second time), it seemed to me as if the inbounder was waiting for some signal from the ref... didn't even have the ball in a position to throw it, and there was very little movement by our players on the court. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this, and has any comment. I can't remember ever seeing a team get a five second call when inbounding to start a quarter or a half from midcourt. It's the easiest place to inbound from. Brain freeze? Confusion? Can't make mistakes like this against a team as good as SC

This is a good observation and has happened often in men's and women's games. I think, when the ref gives you the ball, you then have 5 seconds. All players should know this.

Apparently, the player taking the ball out is instructed to get it to so and so. Perhaps they shoot foul shoot better or something like that is the reason. If the inbounding player is unable to start the play we are stuck. The other players often ignore what is going on to our detriment. Our coaches need to work on this as the three turnovers hurt a lot. At this high level, and many years of play you would think this problem would have gone away. The third inbounds call was on Griffin who was called for a line infraction or something similar. These only added to the again high number of turnovers we commit., many not forced. Help!

 

[BobbyJ]

I am mystified by the two 5-second inbound calls. I know it sometimes happens, but these were puzzling. I'll have to go back and look, but both times (especially the second time), it seemed to me as if the inbounder was waiting for some signal from the ref... didn't even have the ball in a position to throw it, and there was very little movement by our players on the court. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this, and has any comment. I can't remember ever seeing a team get a five second call when inbounding to start a quarter or a half from midcourt. It's the easiest place to inbound from. Brain freeze? Confusion? Can't make mistakes like this against a team as good as SC

On the first inbounds play, instead of breaking to the corner where the ball was closest to, Griffin went the opposite direction taking herself out of any passing lane. On the second, the ball was being inbounded from near halfcourt and Muhl stood in the backcourt near the foul circle and never moved to the ball.

 

[DefenseBB]

And don't forget the "brain cramp" that Aubrey had where she picked the ball up after a SC basket and then stepped across the baseline back onto the court to hand the ball to another player to do the inbounds pass but was called for violating the in-bounds rules. Also, thankfully, Nika was astute enough to do the off the back of Zia Cook on the inbound play, otherwise that would have been a 3rd 5 second call.

The point is you can't, absolutely can't have 3 deadball turnovers against elite teams and also commit 15+ inplay turnovers a game as well. This team needs to be smarter.

My other pet peeve was when we needed to foul, Aubrey was clueless that SHE needed to foul as she only had 1 foul while Nika, Lou and Aaliyah all had 4 fouls. Yes, I am calling Aubrey out on this as she comes from a basketball family and should absolutely be aware of the situation.

 

[Rowdy831]

To start the quarter it looked like they were all on the wrong side of the floor and nobody was moving toward the ball. Nika appeared to be expecting the ball to be thrown in around the top of the circle by her positioning. That was a tough turnover though in a game where your mistakes had to be limited for you to win.

 

[BBallF]

I saw that no one " came to the ball".... at least in the inbounds for the start of the third quarter.... truly puzzling.

That's right. The ultimate responsibility for that on the court is the PG, but everyone also has responsibility. Two blown possessions.

 

[TWG236]

DefenseBB, I agree wholeheartedly. Besides Aubrey's failure to foul, which caused Nika to foul out, Juhasz also ran up and face guarded a player in the back court. She then let the player dripple right pass her without fouling her. This time it was Lou who had to foul her. Which was Lou's fifth foul. Juhasz only had 2 fouls at the time. Not smart basketball. I guess it's one of the problems when you win every game by double digits and don't have to think about these types of situations. So hopefully, they all learned an important lesson.

 

[Ardenque]

The team looked unprepared in several situations: non-strategic fouling, no substitution plan to spread fouls around and poor execution for inbounding. These are all coachable situations.

 

[topogigio]

No question the UConn players didn't "come" to the ball on both in-bound violations. However, the count is very arbitrary. I believe there is no specific clock, rather the hand and arm swipe by the official. I thought both calls were rather quick. Has anyone actually timed it out in real time? Also, seems to me that SC had difficulty on one inbound play that appeared to be at least 5 seconds. Maybe it's just my Husky bias, and my mental clock is adjusted accordingly. Same with the 3 second call. Arbitrary at best, and many times not even noticed.

 

[BobbyJ]

No question the UConn players didn't "come" to the ball on both in-bound violations. However, the count is very arbitrary. I believe there is no specific clock, rather the hand and arm swipe by the official. I thought both calls were rather quick. Has anyone actually timed it out in real time? Also, seems to me that SC had difficulty on one inbound play that appeared to be at least 5 seconds. Maybe it's just my Husky bias, and my mental clock is adjusted accordingly. Same with the 3 second call. Arbitrary at best, and many times not even noticed.

That’s why players are coached to set their picks and make their cuts as soon as the ball is handed to the inbound passer. In case the count is quick. Griffin went the wrong way and Muhl got distracted and wasn’t watching the official.

 

[Bald Husky]

DefenseBB, I agree wholeheartedly. Besides Aubrey's failure to foul, which caused Nika to foul out, Juhasz also ran up and face guarded a player in the back court. She then let the player dripple right pass her without fouling her. This time it was Lou who had to foul her. Which was Lou's fifth foul. Juhasz only had 2 fouls at the time. Not smart basketball. I guess it's one of the problems when you win every game by double digits and don't have to think about these types of situations. So hopefully, they all learned an important lesson.

Brain freeze, it happens when you are tired.

 

[sun]

On the 2nd failed inbound, Dorka was the inbounder and Aubrey, who was downcourt, moved forward enough to be in the clear to be passed to but Dorka didn't seem to see her at all because she wasn't looking in the downcourt direction.
From the camera angle it looked like Aubrey moved maybe at least 5-6 feet forward and in the direction of being clear toward Dorka.
I felt that it was Dorka's fault for not rapidly scanning the entire court and passing the ball to a spot where Aubrey could have easily reached it first.
Anywhere in Aubrey's direction downcourt looked like tossing the ball to would have worked.
Aubrey's movement was delayed but there was still enough time to pass the ball if Dorka had looked left.

 

[cgshuskie]

Another problem not addressed by our legendary coaching staff......

 

[freshler40]

On the 2nd failed inbound, Dorka was the inbounder and Aubrey, who was downcourt, moved forward enough to be in the clear to be passed to but Dorka didn't seem to see her at all because she wasn't looking in the downcourt direction.
From the camera angle it looked like Aubrey moved maybe at least 5-6 feet forward and in the direction of being clear toward Dorka.
I felt that it was Dorka's fault for not rapidly scanning the entire court and passing the ball to a spot where Aubrey could have easily reached it first.
Anywhere in Aubrey's direction downcourt looked like tossing the ball to would have worked.
Aubrey's movement was delayed but there was still enough time to pass the ball if Dorka had looked left.

I would add that some of our offense also is tunnel vision style. We seem to have to pass to a certain player and don't scan for other possibilities. This slows down our offence, creates 30 second squeezes or clock violations. Perhaps this vision comes from repeating practice activities but in real games we sometimes lose opportunities. All players should be aware of a possible pass or need to help. The defense creates problems that need to be solved.

Our offense can seem mechanical and easily scouted. In the SC game we had some creative penetration, a much better flow, I hope this continues as we are much more effective at a faster pace. To score like we did against SC was great to watch.

 

[sun]

I would add that some of our offense also is tunnel vision style. We seem to have to pass to a certain player and don't scan for other possibilities. This slows down our offence, creates 30 second squeezes or clock violations. Perhaps this vision comes from repeating practice activities but in real games we sometimes lose opportunities. All players should be aware of a possible pass or need to help. The defense creates problems that need to be solved.

Our offense can seem mechanical and easily scouted. In the SC game we had some creative penetration, a much better flow, I hope this continues as we are much more effective at a faster pace. To score like we did against SC was great to watch.

Hopefully having an extra player or two available soon should help us to present our opponents with some new looks to confound them with.

 

[Blond D.]

I was wondering why Geno didnt put Ines and Amari in to foul when SC was inbounding the ball, then take them out and put Nika and Lou back in during the foul shots.

 

[boontonbomber]

And don't forget the "brain cramp" that Aubrey had where she picked the ball up after a SC basket and then stepped across the baseline back onto the court to hand the ball to another player to do the inbounds pass but was called for violating the in-bounds rules. Also, thankfully, Nika was astute enough to do the off the back of Zia Cook on the inbound play, otherwise that would have been a 3rd 5 second call.

The point is you can't, absolutely can't have 3 deadball turnovers against elite teams and also commit 15+ inplay turnovers a game as well. This team needs to be smarter.

My other pet peeve was when we needed to foul, Aubrey was clueless that SHE needed to foul as she only had 1 foul while Nika, Lou and Aaliyah all had 4 fouls. Yes, I am calling Aubrey out on this as she comes from a basketball family and should absolutely be aware of the situation.

You should be calling out all those highly paid coaches.

 

[boontonbomber]

Not sure Dorka should ever be inbounding the ball.

 

[DefenseBB]

You should be calling out all those highly paid coaches.

You can lead the horse to water.....but at some point the players need to apply the knowledge....

 

[Monte]

This WAS the best defensive team that UCONN as played this year. However, I am sure the coaching staff knew this. Let's hope new
inbound plays are developed and practiced before they meet again.

 

[TCC Kid]

This WAS the best defensive team that UCONN as played this year. However, I am sure the coaching staff knew this. Let's hope new
inbound plays are developed and practiced before they meet again.

There are big players, there are tall players, there are big tall players and some with talent. Remove one Talented tall big player from SC and the 4 point difference dosen't exist. 7 against 11 is pretty wearing in a fast moving game. Dorka was great Edwards was great, Lou---was Lou, Nika was Nika, Griffin was better than Griffin, I'm not sure the Greatest Defensive team was that great. They did however minimize Uconn's 3. \
But it was the 3 or more Boston layups that couldn't be stopped that made the winning margin.

 

[Bigboote]

The one on the end line was bizarre -- two players standing still, one breaking away from the inbounder, the other one breaking toward. Also it was the quickest 5-second count I've ever seen. I got in four one-thousands.

 

[JRRRJ]

I am mystified by the two 5-second inbound calls. I know it sometimes happens, but these were puzzling. I'll have to go back and look, but both times (especially the second time), it seemed to me as if the inbounder was waiting for some signal from the ref... didn't even have the ball in a position to throw it, and there was very little movement by our players on the court. Just wondering if anyone else noticed this, and has any comment. I can't remember ever seeing a team get a five second call when inbounding to start a quarter or a half from midcourt. It's the easiest place to inbound from. Brain freeze? Confusion? Can't make mistakes like this against a team as good as SC

I have been mystified that the Huskies don't appear to have any designed in-bounds plays to use when they're tossing in from under their own basket.

The vast majority of the time, Nika tries to passe the ball to someone on a sideline (usually on her left), then races past that person for a hand-off and goes to the top of the key to start a play. I'm getting old, but I clearly remember the team getting many easy layups or open 3s on those occasions, and this incarnation of coaches doesn't seem to think it's worthwhile. Are defenses so much better? If they were, seems to me they should have scouted the UConn play and do something to interfere with it.

It's a head-scratcher to me, for sure.