It’s hard to be that unprepared for a game.

[Improviser]

I'm going to add to this, as I see a lot of "Whaley took too many 3's even though he was left wide open" posts. Clearly, teams left him open because he couldn't make them reliably (about 30% on the year). What if, and I'm just spitballing here, coaches recognized that they needed him to be another outside threat, and worked with him with a lot of extra shooting to be more of a confident weapon out there? He may have taken more 3s than we wanted while shooting 30%, but he also passed up a ton of shots when wide open. He has good shooting form and a smooth stroke. That can be and should have been developed into much more of a weapon than it was. Could that be on Whaley? Sure. But if I'm that player that baseline shoots at 30% I have to hear from the coaches that they want me working on that and want to see me take it when I'm open. That gives confidence.

Players, unless they are extremely self-motivated, will develop at their own pace. Coaches who recognize abilities and capacity to improve that may not be apparent to the player can expand the limits and accelerate the timetable. Like Sampson did with Carlton.

Beilein, especially when coaching West Virginia, developed bigs who could shoot 3's. Look at Kevin Pittsnogle for one.

His other players could too.

So yes, these skills can be developed by a coach.

 

[auror]

What makes this fan base so great is how emotionally invested we all get. I wouldn't change it for the world. But a a day later, this narrative has to change. Last night had nothing to do with Hurley. The guys on the floor came up short. How so:



This is about execution. We didn't execute as we should have. Can't blame Hurley for that although some on here still will.

I was going to look for this. Thanks. Confirms my suspicions based on their shooting %s and how easily we scored in 2nd half (layups, FTs, open 3s, etc.).

But even more than us coming up short, their team came up huge. They were +13 points vs. expected shots, we were 1 off our expectation.

Where we did gift them points was on the fouled 3pt shots. That's on Sanogo and Martin.

 

[CheshireCat]

When does "just happened" become a reality check for the head coach? We have a pattern of losing close games because of our offense. At some point the coach needs to look in the mirror

Looking in the mirror and seeing this doesn’t help much…

 

[bballerct50]

Hurley's weaknesses are:

• Lack of in game adjustments (zone? Sanogo getting beaten on hedged screens, Jackson getting beaten on dribble (his ankles are probably killing him), etc)
• Flow of offense (yes, that is on him)
  
  • Rewatch the Auburn game. I saw aggression towards the basket, half court offense looking for cutters TOWARDS the basket, spreading the court. Crisper passing. back door cutting. etc. All With confidence and less panic.
    • Michigan state game meanwhile had a lot less flow. As season went on, flow was worse, played more scared.
    • Calhoun's teams ran their plays, hit cutters, looked for the ball, were aggressive. Ran to their spot. Sharper passes. And most of all, didnt panic when holding the ball (or look scared when holding the ball 30 feet away from the hoop)
      • How many times did a double team on cole/jackson/etc and cause a turnover
  • Last night, was a lot of ball hand offs outside 3 pt line, not hitting any cutters to the basket (nor any cutters looking for the ball), last minute ISOs or pick and roll for Cole (hero ball), players were tentative with ball even outside 3pt line (why have your back to the basket wayyy out there???)
  • Why did the team play timid and scared? When most players look this way, its on the coach.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Beilein, especially when coaching West Virginia, developed bigs who could shoot 3's. Look at Kevin Pittsnogle for one.

His other players could too.

So yes, these skills can be developed by a coach.

Kevin Pittsnogle shot almost 50% from 3 as a freshman in college. Your general point is not wrong, but Beilein didn't turn him into a shooter.

 

[LBird33]

They aren't the better team. We had more talent at 4 of the 5 positions on the floor. They executed better, had more focus, adjusted better, ran better sets, mixed up their defense, etc. We were unprepared AGAIN for a big game.

Many times this season either for a half or full game our offense was very inconsistent. During the last stretch of games we were on a role. What I saw last nite was that team on offense that I saw earlier this season. Their defense was better than their offense

 

[auror]

Many times this season either for a half or full game our offense was very inconsistent. During the last stretch of games we were on a role. What I saw last nite was that team on offense that I saw earlier this season. Their defense was better than their offense

This was true in the 1st half, but not the 2nd. We scored 41 points on 27 possessions in the 2nd half. 1.53 points per possession. That's like the first Georgetown game level of offensive explosion.

 

[dennismenace]

The quote was that New Mexico St is a better team than UConn. By any metric you want to look at that is erroneous. Yea they shot out of their tonight but that was 1 game. 1 game doesn’t make you a better team…

New Mexico state was a better team at crunch time last night. Uconn was a better team on paper last night.

 

[Kolumbo]

Starting here at 7:35. NMSU rebounds, kicks out, Whaley is guarding no one. Ball goes to Allen, 3. Whaley was too late getting there and Martin was close to Allen but left to stay with his guy. The game plan should have been to have at least 1 player in Allen's jock strap all night. He was left completely unguarded. This was a wide open look at crunch time.

 

[dennismenace]

How more ppl don't see this is beyond me. Gone are the days of hoping to mold freshman or recruit a once every decade game changing recruit chooses your school. Every mid major underclassman is playing to move up in competition. There will be proven, game ready players every year to go out and recruit. The college game is changing quickly.

Well said! No let's hope the coach can likewise change from inflexible to flexible.

 

[auror]

Starting here at 7:35. NMSU rebounds, kicks out, Whaley is guarding no one. Ball goes to Allen, 3. Whaley was too late getting there and Martin was close to Allen but left to stay with his guy. The game plan should have been to have at least 1 player in Allen's jock strap all night. He was left completely unguarded. This was a wide open look at crunch time.

Pretty confident this is Whaley's fault, not the coaches. We absolutely 100% have a plan for how to defend after scramble offensive rebounds. And it's to do what Jackson does and grab the nearest guy and then switch back when able. Allen does a nice job of slithering away, but it's a bit unlucky that he slithers to the spot exactly opposite on the court that Whaley's man goes to, and Whaley takes 2 steps towards his guy before realizing we're in scramble instead of re-setting the defense. This is definitely a breakdown, but it's not schematic, Execution, not game plan.

Anyways, we did have a guy on him at all times, because this was Allen's only open shot of the entire night, and Whaley still got a bit of a contest in.

 

[NEforceUConn]

Damn you guys are relentless. We had a fighters chance of putting the game away, and came up short.

Don't blame the players or coach.

4 dislikes? What is wrong with you people?

 

[7774]

Starting here at 7:35. NMSU rebounds, kicks out, Whaley is guarding no one. Ball goes to Allen, 3. Whaley was too late getting there and Martin was close to Allen but left to stay with his guy. The game plan should have been to have at least 1 player in Allen's jock strap all night. He was left completely unguarded. This was a wide open look at crunch time.

Hey, you found the 1 really open perimeter shot he had all game. Great job!

 

[CheshireCat]

Kevin Pittsnogle shot almost 50% from 3 as a freshman in college. Your general point is not wrong, but Beilein didn't turn him into a shooter.

Endless hours of shooting every day makes a shooter - not a coach. A coach can help tweak technique, etc, but the player has to want it. Hard pressed to think many head coaches are coaching players on their shooting technique - that's why they have assistants.

 

[Kolumbo]

Pretty confident this is Whaley's fault, not the coaches. We absolutely 100% have a plan for how to defend after scramble offensive rebounds. And it's to do what Jackson does and grab the nearest guy and then switch back when able. Allen does a nice job of slithering away, but it's a bit unlucky that he slithers to the spot exactly opposite on the court that Whaley's man goes to, and Whaley takes 2 steps towards his guy before realizing we're in scramble instead of re-setting the defense. This is definitely a breakdown, but it's not schematic, Execution, not game plan.

Anyways, we did have a guy on him at all times, because this was Allen's only open shot of the entire night, and Whaley still got a bit of a contest in.

I get that it's on Whaley and I'm no coach but shouldn't the plan include having someone in Allen's back pocket no matter the situation? They talked about him all week, he was on fire, and he "slithered away" in crunch time.

 

[Improviser]

Damn you guys are relentless. We had a fighters chance of putting the game away, and came up short.

Don't blame the players or coach.

I didn't give you a Dislike or a Like either.

Your comment in the second sentence about a fighter's chance makes some sense, but bad in game decisions and execution, reduced the "fighter's chance."

And, some of the players missed too many bunnies, while others fouled Allen late in the shot clock on two 3's that likely would have been missed. The result: extra points for NMSU and a loss.

And, the coach, well why didn't he make some adjustments for Allen?

We'll know better how good a team NMSU is, after they play Arkansas.

 

[Kolumbo]

Hey, you found the 1 really open perimeter shot he had all game. Great job!

37 points and he had one open look. Come on. Gee I found another when Polley was guarding him.

 

[tzznandrew]

Damn you guys are relentless. We had a fighters chance of putting the game away, and came up short.

Don't blame the players or coach.

Against a 12 seed that isn't very good. Arkansas is going to kill them.

Having a "fighting chance" against a team we should have beaten by double figures is exactly why we should blame the coaches, the players, or both.

 

[7774]

37 points and he had one open look. Come on. Gee I found another when Polley was guarding him.

Aside from free throws, the huge majority of his points were on step back fade away 3s with a hand in his face and turn around fade away 2s with a hand in his face. Keep cherry picking though.

 

[Kitaman]

You can argue about Hurley all you want, but the one resounding issue was our slow starts. If Hurley fixes that next season our improvement (i.e. wins) should be positively impacted.

If he doesn't fix that, then we have a problem.

With that said the only offensive firepower we have returning is Sanogo and Hawkins (small sample). Anyway he needs to figure out an effective offensive 5 even if defensively we sacrifice points.

This fan found this team very boring, slow and unexciting. There was no one close to having 30 point game, hot hand or dominating performance. Hell I can only recall 1 maybe two daggers, meaning there was no one to be counted on to take the final shot.

I guess my biggest request is for Hurley next season to put some excitement on the floor for those of us who are not so defense focused. I guess you get a certain age where offensive production is more exciting than defensive production.

 

[Kolumbo]

Aside from free throws, the huge majority of his points were on step back fade away 3s with a hand in his face and turn around fade away 2s with a hand in his face. Keep cherry picking though.

Cherry picking! he had 37 points! Seems to me a better defensive gameplan would be to do more than run up and try to put a hand in his face. Especially during winning time. We give defenses credit all the time for locking down one of our players. The defense just didn't get it done, whatever the plan was. cherry picking.

 

[7774]

Cherry picking! he had 37 points! Seems to me a better defensive gameplan would be to do more than run up and try to put a hand in his face. Especially during winning time. We give defenses credit all the time for locking down one of our players. The defense just didn't get it done, whatever the plan was. cherry picking.

I didn't realize you were actually Kolombo. Maybe leave the analysis to people with 2 eyes.

 

[Improviser]

You can argue about Hurley all you want, but the one resounding issue was our slow starts. If Hurley fixes that next season our improvement (i.e. wins) should be positively impacted.

If he doesn't fix that, then we have a problem.

With that said the only offensive firepower we have returning is Sanogo and Hawkins (small sample). Anyway he needs to figure out an effective offensive 5 even if defensively we sacrifice points.

This fan found this team very boring, slow and unexciting. There was no one close to having 30 point game, hot hand or dominating performance. Hell I can only recall 1 maybe two daggers, meaning there was no one to be counted on to take the final shot.

I guess my biggest request is for Hurley next season to put some excitement on the floor for those of us who are not so defense focused. I guess you get a certain age where offensive production is more exciting than defensive production.

One example of that, was the Florida Gulf Coast Team, when coached by Andy Enfield (now at USC).

Pure excitement, but not a lot on the defensive end. Hard to get it even on both ends.

The only semblance of that was when UConn destroyed Georgetown this season in the first meeting.

Takes a really poor defensive team to bring out showtime for the other team.

 

[connVA]

Hurley to the team prior to each practice leading up to the NMS game: “Ok guys, I want to work on our culture, our identity. Play hard, rebound hard, defend hard. Let’s go!”
Post-practice huddle-
Hurley: “Great job working on our culture, our identity everyone!”
Player 1: “ Hey coach- I’ve heard that Teddy Allen is a real load. What’s our strategy to stop him?”
Hurley: “Our culture, our identity!”
Player 2: “ Coach- is that a strategy?”
Hurley: “Our culture, our identity!”
Player 1: “Uh-oh, I think he might be on tilt again.”
Hurley: “Actually, forget all that. I need to be able to say that we got away from our culture and our identity during the postgame press conference. Remember, that’s what I always say.”

 

[Griggs]

I do believe that with 5:08 left in the game the score was 58-58 . Basically an OT period. Irregardless of what happened previously, all UConn had to do was be the better team for.5:08, and did not.

 

[auror]

Teddy made 4 mop-up FTs and 6 FTs on dumb fouled 3-pointers. That's 10 of his points right there.

He took 27 shots. We fouled him on 3 of the misses. He had 3 "easier" looks (1 by the rim, 2 late contested 3's... ironically he missed the rim one). The other 24 shots were guarded and most of them very closely guarded.

At times, we helped with all 5 guys. I call this screenshot: "The Boneyard says we didn't try to guard Allen with more than 1 person."

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Hurley to the team prior to each practice leading up to the NMS game: “Ok guys, I want to work on our culture, our identity. Play hard, rebound hard, defend hard. Let’s go!”
Post-practice huddle-
Hurley: “Great job working on our culture, our identity everyone!”
Player 1: “ Hey coach- I’ve heard that Teddy Allen is a real load. What’s our strategy to stop him?”
Hurley: “Our culture, our identity!”
Player 2: “ Coach- is that a strategy?”
Hurley: “Our culture, our identity!”
Player 1: “Uh-oh, I think he might be on tilt again.”
Hurley: “Actually, forget all that. I need to be able to say that we got away from our culture and our identity during the postgame press conference. Remember, that’s what I always say.”

I'm sure that took you a while to type and it's not nearly as clever as you probably thought it was.

 

[Woodson]

I'm sure that took you a while to type and it's not nearly as clever as you probably thought it was.

That was generous. It;s one of the dumbest fricken posts from anyone in the last 24 hrs, which is really saying something

 

[Kolumbo]

Teddy made 4 mop-up FTs and 6 FTs on dumb fouled 3-pointers. That's 10 of his points right there.

He took 27 shots. We fouled him on 3 of the misses. He had 3 "easier" looks (1 by the rim, 2 late contested 3's... ironically he missed the rim one). The other 24 shots were guarded and most of them very closely guarded.

At times, we helped with all 5 guys. I call this screenshot: "The Boneyard says we didn't try to guard Allen with more than 1 person."

This can be fun. Granted we don't have a Ricky Moore on this team but there are ways to minimize the dammage.

"The Boneyard says we were prepared to lock down allen."

 

[Kolumbo]

"But we had hands in his face."