It’s as bad as we thought

[navery12]

My admittedly casual takeaway, is that Whaley needs to pull the trigger more on some of those open threes he has been passing on. He's shooting 44.4%, so he can make them.

Agreed, especially if he's playing with Sanogo for half his minutes. I think part of the reason the FG% at the rim is so low is teams crowd the paint against us. If they have to come out and respect Whaley's shot that opens more driving lanes for the guards who have really struggled at the rim

 

[businesslawyer]

Lack of footwork, creativity, and experience, and a lack of fundamentals IMO. Martin both look like kind of kids who only ever did layup lines and wonder why they can't finish in the game. You watch Martin and Cole going to the rim and they're both super stiff. When they try to euro-step or create and angle they don't really get anywhere. Neither of them have a counter when a help defender steps up. Gaffney is just too timid despite some explosiveness, shies away from the defender and makes his shots way too difficult. And tbh Adams just isn't very good right now. Great kid... but he has no touch and seems to just make the wrong decision when he gets in the lane.

They also don't use a jumpstop, which Hurley is preaching for a reason (as well as guys like Jay Wright who is RELIGIOUS about two-foot finishes in practice)--it's a bail out option when you aren't able to get your shot up. You can pivot, try to find a new angle, or kick to a shooter. At worst, it's a jump ball or strip TO instead of a monstrous block that gets the other team energized.

Just my 2 cents.

I see it differently. Without Bouk, Akon and Jackson, the principal problem is a lack of athleticism. We are without those players unathletic compared to our conference peers. Carlton, Martin, Cole, Gaffney, Adams and Polley do not have the combination of strength, hops, speed and quickness that their peers do. Only Sanogo and Whaley are plus on athleticism at this level. Sãnogo shows it but is still learning, and Whalley, frankly, seems to be too concerned about his stroke from 3 and not enough about finishing in the paint and making foul shots.

 

[Improviser]

So Polley is our best rim finisher? Who'd have thunked that?

But only 12.5% of his shots are at the rim (it seems he almost never gets to the rim), so I don't know how representative of a sample this reflects. It is like a baseball player who hits 450 but has 10% of the at-bats of other players.

However, that being the case, maybe he should take more shots at the rim which means he has to hustle and get more shots at the rim, or just be a better offensive rebounder.

 

[UCLJ0211]

Take notes..

 

[Edward Sargent]

I think we need to run more in transition if we want to improve our shooting %s. We aren't good in the half-court. We also turn the ball over a lot on the break. I don't have the stats on our team, but I've gotta imagine that the higher % of turnovers would be worth it if we can just score the ball more on the run.

I think we have attempted 3 or 4 alley oops and all have ended up with passes out the back of the endzone!!

 

[UConnStats]

You can visibly see these guys panic and rush it when they get the ball to the rim. The guards are throwing up prayers and the bigs might as well be blindfolded. These guys all need to go up stronger. Right now nobody on this team outside of Sanogo is confident offensively.

 

[Edward Sargent]

So much for being one of the better offensive rebounding teams when we miss the put backs at that rate!

 

[husky429]

I see it differently. Without Bouk, Akon and Jackson, the principal problem is a lack of athleticism. We are without those players unathletic compared to our conference peers. Carlton, Martin, Cole, Gaffney, Adams and Polley do not have the combination of strength, hops, speed and quickness that their peers do. Only Sanogo and Whaley are plus on athleticism at this level. Sãnogo shows it but is still learning, and Whalley, frankly, seems to be too concerned about his stroke from 3 and not enough about finishing in the paint and making foul shots.

Personally, I wouldn't call Sanogo a + athlete--I'd call him really skilled and humongous with phenomenal hands and coordination. He doesn't run very fast or act as a vertical spacer by any means IMO. So I guess it depends how you define athleticism--we may be in agreement anyways because I do consider coordination, footwork, skill to be a part of your athleticism

Totally agree that we're functional athleticism deficient right now outside of Martin and Whaley probably. But there's also skilled guards all over the country that aren't super athletic but are able to make plays at the rim. Plenty of them just in our conference. Athleticism and size just masks a lack of skill to an extent--which is probably why Martin is able to convert at the rim much better % than the other perimeter players despite his meatloaf hands.

 

[Chin Diesel]

My admittedly casual takeaway, is that Whaley needs to pull the trigger more on some of those open threes he has been passing on. He's shooting 44.4%, so he can make them.

If teams sag off him and he has time to catch and square up, I'm okay with him shooting 3-4 three's a game. I'd wager a pint of macro beer that Whaley ends up with a higher 3 pt shooting percentage for the year than Martin or Adams.

 

[imno1]

I think we need to run more in transition if we want to improve our shooting %s. We aren't good in the half-court. We also turn the ball over a lot on the break. I don't have the stats on our team, but I've gotta imagine that the higher % of turnovers would be worth it if we can just score the ball more on the run.

The next time Gaff runs in transition will be his first

Not a great list of teams

View attachment 63935

3 from the CT maybe it's the water

 

[NJHusky]

Not a great list of teams

View attachment 63935

Just for perspective, can you post the teams/% at the top of the list?

 

[CL82]

Maybe we should have given the ball to the 7' guy that transferred??

As a parting gift?

 

[NJHusky]

As a parting gift?

he did have 2 dunks and left with a perfect shooting percentage

 

[CL82]

he did have 2 dunks and left with a perfect shooting percentage

Hey I liked Javonte and I wish he had stayed, but this year is kind of like a Monopoly get out of jail free card. I wish the kid the best.

 

[navery12]

Just for perspective, can you post the teams/% at the top of the list?

No surprise why Gonzaga is so good, high percentage at the rim and they take a ton of shots from there

 

[UCDaveD]

The yips are contagious.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Not a great list of teams

View attachment 63935

So, just below the median of CT Div 1 teams: below Central, Hartford, and Quinnipiac; above Fairfield and Sacred Heart. Yale not playing.

They're like a team of Junior year Oriakhis, though better.

 

[NJHusky]

Hey I liked Javonte and I wish he had stayed, but this year is kind of like a Monopoly get out of jail free card. I wish the kid the best.

agree 100%

 

[Huskymagic]

Have Ty Polley start and begin his work in the post and midrange and crashing the boards.

Ty Polley is the answer.

Cole is a losing player. Worst finisher on the team and least clutch player on the team. He needs to play off ball.

 

[Improviser]

So much for being one of the better offensive rebounding teams when we miss the put backs at that rate!

Well sometimes they get fouled on the put backs and that means a trip to the line, even if they only make one of two . Problem is that sometimes they miss both foul shots.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Akok and Jackson aren't guys that know how to finish around the rim in the half court unless they're catching lobs or have wide open dunks. They are both elite in transition but half-court offense is lacking.

Another reason why I think we need to be running more (even if it means more TOs), is that we can start to develop our young guys that are so good at running. They won't get better at fixing TOs unless they practice. Hopefully when Jackson and Akok are back and get some game time, we can go to that.

I'm excluding 5s from this conversation mostly. If Sanogo can't shoot 50%+ from 2 he shouldn't see the floor.

I'm with you on running. Have been all along. Hurley seems to think we need to play slow, because we are offensively challenged. I think that's why you play fast.

My completely amateur, eye test only opinion is that we have too many guys who are playing volleyball around the rim. I'm not sure why we even call them layups when they are released so far from the basket. They are just throwing the ball at the backboard as quickly as they can. It's rushed.

Instead, jump, get the damned ball near the backboard and then release it. Go up strong, protect the ball, initiate the contact, then make your shot.

 

[Improviser]

Have Ty Polley start and begin his work in the post and midrange and crashing the boards.

Ty Polley is the answer.

Cole is a losing player. Worst finisher on the team and least clutch player on the team. He needs to play off ball.

Not sure how good Polley's footwork would be in the post. He needs footwork and post moves. Not sure he has post moves. Kind of late in the year for an experiment.

The one 3 with very good footwork was Vance Jackson. He had excellent footwork but left because he did not want to play close to the basket. I don't think he ever became a star at New Mexico or New Mexico state. I did like his shot and inside footwork. Too bad he did not stay with the program.

Cole does seem to break the press and get the ball upcourt. If he is not the point guard, do you really want Gaffney to be the one? If we had another good point guard, I would agree that Cole would be better off ball. Though, his shooting percentage, on average, is not that great either.

 

[Dove]

From Katie Sharp on twitter...

“UConn is shooting 52.7% on shots at the rim (layups, dunks, tip-ins) per hoop-math.com.

That ranks 325th out of 347 D-1 teams.”

22nd in yip % !!!!!

 

[Huskymagic]

Not sure how good Polley's footwork would be in the post. He needs footwork and post moves. Not sure he has post moves. Kind of late in the year for an experiment.

The one 3 with very good footwork was Vance Jackson. He had excellent footwork but left because he did not want to play close to the basket. I don't think he ever became a star at New Mexico or New Mexico state. I did like his shot and inside footwork. Too bad he did not stay with the program.

Cole does seem to break the press and get the ball upcourt. If he is not the point guard, do you really want Gaffney to be the one? If we had another good point guard, I would agree that Cole would be better off ball. Though, his shooting percentage, on average, is not that great either.

Dagger Trey Ty is a wing on offense. He’s best as a second option. He’s a big weapon to winning.

However, because we lack any good options on offense with Bouk our and our point guards playing subpar overall, teams are making it an emphasis to play Polley tight and take him out of games.

Until Bouks return we need to play Polley differently and make teams adjust again how they play him.

No team cares if Cole scores. It never leads to winning.

 

[RF79]

That stat is downright sad.