It's happening again

[Giddyup5]

Yeah all good on that. Only thing I'd say that maybe "discouraged" is the wrong word tonight. Still concerned on a couple things? Yeah I hear ya, that's all. But I hear both of you but prefer to get some sleep with a positive smile on the face. Good win no matter.

This. Still concerned by our end game strategy. Thanks @Mr. French!

 

[James]

Offense stopped when Adams was subbed out for Calhoun (?). Adams is clearly the most talented playmaker on the team throw stats out the window for a growing frosh, he righted the ship with multiple paint touches when he came in late. I can only holp he is far away from the doghouse but who knows

 

[JMick]

Offense stopped when Adams was subbed out for Calhoun (?). Adams is clearly the most talented playmaker on the team throw stats out the window for a growing frosh, he righted the ship with multiple paint touches when he came in late. I can only holp he is far away from the doghouse but who knows

He came into the game pretty early and played a solid number of minutes - can't be in the dog house too bad

 

[David 76]

I agree JA should have the ball in his hands now. The occasional mistake will be more than compensated for by his playmaking.
But I don't think that was true in December or January. He is ready now.

 

[selles]

You guys are wrong to be jumping on Giddyup. It's a great win with a ton of positives, the last 4 minutes are not one of them. We had the game locked up if we just played normally. The place was rocking and we were coming off an awesome play and Ollie burned a timeout for some reason. We came back out and started running 30 seconds off the clock and settling for some desperation shots. We won but that's not how you close out games, it's burned us several times this season and just isn't a winning strategy. Great win though, if we can figure out how to remedy this we will be a really tough out.

No, the timeout was off an SMU dunk. It was to settle us for the endgame (pretty smart I thought given our endgame troubles of late).

I don't see where all this 'stall ball' was. With 3 minutes plus left we called that timeout and then got the ball to Miller with 12 seconds left on the clock. Plenty of time. Knocked out of bounds with 7 seconds left and then we got it to him on the inbounds, but he got stuffed and we get the ridiculous travel (instead of jump ball) call.

Next possession, Jalen looks to drive with about 12 seconds left but gets cut off. DHam has plenty of time to penetrate but instead takes a long 3 with 6-7 seconds left. Not a stall possession from what I could see.

Next possession is the only one that I think could arguably be considered a 'stall' but even there Jalen has the ball at the foul line with about 6 seconds left and elects to shoot a jumper instead of driving as he'd been doing so effectively the whole second half.

This game got close not because of any stalling, but because DHam took an ill-advised 3 with plenty of time to drive and then compounded the mistake by basket-hanging on defense which allowed his man to hit a wide open 3. That cut it to 4, and Jalen's missed jumper (which should have been a drive) allowed SMU to cut it to 2.

KO took two timeouts to settle us down the stretch, and we were clearly directed to get the ball to Miller off one of them. Not sure what people are looking for strategically. It all looked strategically sound to me.

 

[joober jones]

I too am discouraged. I'm really going to miss the NIT this year when we're stuck in the lousy NCAA tournament.

 

[Greathusky]

Is this the first year with the 24 second clock? If so, I am wondering if the players and coaches are having trouble adjusting given that they have 6 seconds less.

Trying to find some reason why they always are forcing shots at the end with the clock running down.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

No, the timeout was off an SMU dunk. It was to settle us for the endgame (pretty smart I thought given our endgame troubles of late).

I don't see where all this 'stall ball' was. With 3 minutes plus left we called that timeout and then got the ball to Miller with 12 seconds left on the clock. Plenty of time. Knocked out of bounds with 7 seconds left and then we got it to him on the inbounds, but he got stuffed and we get the ridiculous travel (instead of jump ball) call.

Next possession, Jalen looks to drive with about 12 seconds left but gets cut off. DHam has plenty of time to penetrate but instead takes a long 3 with 6-7 seconds left. Not a stall possession from what I could see.

Next possession is the only one that I think could arguably be considered a 'stall' but even there Jalen has the ball at the foul line with about 6 seconds left and elects to shoot a jumper instead of driving as he'd been doing so effectively the whole second half.

This game got close not because of any stalling, but because DHam took an ill-advised 3 with plenty of time to drive and then compounded the mistake by basket-hanging on defense which allowed his man to hit a wide open 3. That cut it to 4, and Jalen's missed jumper (which should have been a drive) allowed SMU to cut it to 2.

KO took two timeouts to settle us down the stretch, and we were clearly directed to get the ball to Miller off one of them. Not sure what people are looking for strategically. It all looked strategically sound to me.

I saw it that way too. But I think any time a guard pounds the ball two or three times near midcourt some people are going to start panicking. I mean, they also tend to be the people that panic in the chat room when SMU scores 4 unanswered points, but so be it.

I do think, though, that what's ultimately going to bite this team is the inability to get consistently good (or at least consistently decent) shots at the end of the clock in tight games. Having a kid like Napier who you can hand the ball to and say "make a play" is a pretty tremendous luxury. Adams is the closest to it on this team but I think - at least this year - everything with him is going to be at the rim. Think how many times in '14 Napier stretched out leads by creating threes for himself. Villanova comes to mind. duck, the second half of March comes to mind.

 

[Connecticut]

Going to sweep SMU. Honestly wonder if they are just taking games for the conference. They look like a completely different team playing out of the conference and playing weak teams in the conference.

 

[Giddyup5]

The thought is if you start running your set with 20 seconds left rather than 12 you have time to run plan b, and c before being forced to run an iso or long distance shot.

IMO they should run the offense like they do the entire game with the exception of not trying to force transition. If you get a open look with 12 seconds left. Take it. Not sure your going to consistently get a better look with this team.

 

[superjohn]

Going to sweep SMU. Honestly wonder if they are just taking games for the conference. They look like a completely different team playing out of the conference and playing weak teams in the conference.

What?

 

[UChusky916]

Going to sweep SMU. Honestly wonder if they are just taking games for the conference. They look like a completely different team playing out of the conference and playing weak teams in the conference.

 

[James]

Check this friggin quote from Adams , love his media presence




It's true you already know KO loves coaching defense , in the NBA he wasn't much on O but rarely turned it over and was a defensive minded player . The team reflects the coach, but we need more offensive execution late. That's our 'upside' viewing it optimistically, and something to key in on ; can we get buckets when it counts?

 

[selles]

I do think, though, that what's ultimately going to bite this team is the inability to get consistently good (or at least consistently decent) shots at the end of the clock in tight games. Having a kid like Napier who you can hand the ball to and say "make a play" is a pretty tremendous luxury. Adams is the closest to it on this team but I think - at least this year - everything with him is going to be at the rim. Think how many times in '14 Napier stretched out leads by creating threes for himself. Villanova comes to mind. duck, the second half of March comes to mind.

Yeah, I agree with this. The first part of my post as originally drafted was 'why are people complaining about the concept of taking the air out of the ball with the lead late, since you absolutely have to - have to - be able to do that to make a legit run in March'.

I have three kernels of hope. The first is that I don't think Adams can really be stopped on the drive, so if he figures that out he can be a huge weapon. He can hit those floaters at a higher rate than he has. The second is that DHam has been a big culprit in doing a bad job at closing, but I really think he's a very intelligent kid. I have hope that he can figure it out. I mean, the 3 he gave up late was absolutely absurd. He needs to tighten it up and I have hope he can. The third is that I think Brimah can be a shutdown factor and I hope he can build on this performance and shut down the rim late every game. That's a major weapon.

 

[James]

I saw it that way too. But I think any time a guard pounds the ball two or three times near midcourt some people are going to start panicking. I mean, they also tend to be the people that panic in the chat room when SMU scores 4 unanswered points, but so be it.

I do think, though, that what's ultimately going to bite this team is the inability to get consistently good (or at least consistently decent) shots at the end of the clock in tight games. Having a kid like Napier who you can hand the ball to and say "make a play" is a pretty tremendous luxury. Adams is the closest to it on this team but I think - at least this year - everything with him is going to be at the rim. Think how many times in '14 Napier stretched out leads by creating threes for himself. Villanova comes to mind. duck, the second half of March comes to mind.

Hamilton is a guy who did it throughout hs and aau, but from all the data/evidence it's tough to think he'll turn into a crazy efficient player (in clutch situations, or generally) later in the year .

I'm just hoping Adams really hits his stride and becomes a constant 'paint toucher', finding looks for Gibbs + Hamilton . The odd man out here is clearly purvis which is hard to fathom considering how important he is

 

[Towney007]

Yeah I mean I feel like this team's starting to come together, finally; in spite of some freaking awful losses. They hold that zillion point lead at Temple and I think everyone here is thinking big.

Brimah's presence means so much to this team and if he can have more performances similar to this, we're going to be a tough out come march. Defensively, we're already there. Adding a 'not constantly in foul trouble' Brimah to the mix makes this team pretty scary.

The offense needs to figure itself out a little more. I still don't think we have the Adams/Purv/Gibbs thing figured out yet - but at least there's enough raw talent there for it to not be a disaster. One of the three always seems to find a way to step up. Miller's been a steady Eddy and Hamilton - in spite of a little streakiness - is the multi-faceted threat we expected him to be. Callhoun expanding the bench has helped.

I'm not fearful of Temple in the least and I think we're flat-out better than Tulsa. SMU looks like the short bench is starting to finally catch up to them and while Cinncy is always a tough out - I feel like we can beat them. Right now - it's ours to lose. Lots of things coming together for us, a lot of things going wrong with everyone else.

Those Tulsa and Temple losses still piss me off though...

 

[willie99]

No it didn't, not in this conference

our all important RPI keeps climbing, even when playing in the AAC

that's encouraging

Hold serve at home, beat USF and we should be in

win at either Cinci or SMU and we should be a lock

 

[FLhusky91]

Good thing blue didn't play because if he did he would have made a few 3's to complete there comeback....

 

[Marty Jackson]

Is this the first year with the 24 second clock? If so, I am wondering if the players and coaches are having trouble adjusting given that they have 6 seconds less.

Trying to find some reason why they always are forcing shots at the end with the clock running down.

Pretty sure it's 30 seconds

 

[Hankster]

Very happy!
Agree we suck on killing the clock and wish we din't do it.
But you have to expect a team like SMU to come back at you after we had our run. This wasn't Temple.
And we did enough that even with a questionable call or two, we never lost the lead.

When did we learn to rebound like that? Great game. AB, Shonn, OC and JA get game balls. We did this with sub-par offense from DHam, Gibbs & Purvis? Normally that is death for us. Great game!

What I saw last night was a great game between evenly matched teams go at it. Agreed on the Hamilton bomb from downtown. He knew it. However, I did not see anything wrong that I would bring up for discussion. Our dogs played great. So did SMU! What is all the friction about Cassel going in for a minute? We will see on selection Sunday. Hopefully another team effort this Saturday.

 

[Towney007]

SMU looks like its short bench is catching up to them and they're out of gas..

 

[dennismenace]

Going to sweep SMU. Honestly wonder if they are just taking games for the conference. They look like a completely different team playing out of the conference and playing weak teams in the conference.

Sure did not look like they were playing out the string to me. I thought they played very hard and are to be admired considering they are going no where in the post season.
Credit to UConn inside game (Brimah, Miller) and avoiding stupid turnovers. Overall thought it was a great game and for once UConn would not give in at the end. I loved the way they tripled team the big man with the ball for SMU when he got the ball down low. Real dog fight in the paint. Loved it.

 

[uconngb]

Is this the first year with the 24 second clock? If so, I am wondering if the players and coaches are having trouble adjusting given that they have 6 seconds less.

Trying to find some reason why they always are forcing shots at the end with the clock running down.

This is a joke, right?

 

[4in16]

This is a joke, right?

Hope so.

 

[Greathusky]

This is a joke, right?

A poor joke to say the least