John A.: Does UConn have enough to win title? Geno says yes

[Icebear]

As I was watching the game early on they went through an extended period with very little movement and certainly little aggressive movement, kind of just trotting around in the offense not really trying to cut hard and make things happen and settling for long jump shots. When this is going on the players fail to move to the ball on passes leaving them long and vulnerable. The defensive end is always better but the zone seemed slow at times and lacking communication. Man to man as always was better. They were being out hustled by SMU to loose balls.

I and another person noted it in the game thread.

Geno noted the issues about the first half, as well

 

[DobbsRover2]

As I was watching the game early on they went through an extended period with very little movement and certainly little aggressive movement, kind of just trotting around in the offense not really trying to cut hard and make things happen and settling for long jump shots. When this is going on the players fail to move to the ball on passes leaving them long and vulnerable. The defensive end is always better but the zone seemed slow at times and lacking communication. Man to man as always was better. They were being out hustled by SMU to loose balls.

I and another person noted it in the game thread.

Geno noted the issues about the first half, as well

Kind of agree that UConn's hard-cutting post action was not so evident in the first ten minutes of the SMU game, but the Mustangs had a lot to do with that. After losing by 60+ in CT, they were determined early on to put up more of a fight, and they were definitely banging hard in the paint trying to keep UConn from throwing the ball in easily, and UConn was settling for long shots that weren't dropping. Might be a tendency to back off a bit to cut down the risk of another injury, as Stewie and others went down hard at some points. What bothered me more was the spate of double dribbling calls on certain UConn players who don't have frequent TOs.

Also wonder about the situation in which you have a devastating play that you might not want to show off now because you'd rather save it for the tournament. By "saving it" I mean not making it such a frequently used weapon that future opponents will be gearing up the defense to stop it. The Stef lob from the top of the key into a cutting Stewie under the basket (and vice versa) is one of the plays that an ND could focus their efforts to prevent, and once the preferred option gets snarled up, then the possession sometimes starts to get a little slowed down.

 

[Icebear]

Kind of agree that UConn's hard-cutting post action was not so evident in the first ten minutes of the SMU game, but the Mustangs had a lot to do with that. After losing by 60+ in CT, they were determined early on to put up more of a fight, and they were definitely banging hard in the paint trying to keep UConn from throwing the ball in easily, and UConn was settling for long shots that weren't dropping. Might be a tendency to back off a bit to cut down the risk of another injury, as Stewie and others went down hard at some points. What bothered me more was the spate of double dribbling calls on certain UConn players who don't have frequent TOs.

Also wonder about the situation in which you have a devastating play that you might not want to show off now because you'd rather save it for the tournament. By "saving it" I mean not making it such a frequently used weapon that future opponents will be gearing up the defense to stop it. The Stef lob from the top of the key into a cutting Stewie under the basket (and vice versa) is one of the plays that an ND could focus their efforts to prevent, and once the preferred option gets snarled up, then the possession sometimes starts to get a little slowed down.

I agree Dobbs that SMU had a lot to do with it. The worst period went from the first media timeout to the 4th.

One thing I predicted and happened steadily since the early season is more and more contact in the middle and more and more ignoring the points of emphasis in the middle. This has returned to congestion in the lanes.