Kansas Post Game Thread

[UConnSwag11]

 

[kansashusky]

Such a fun game. Hope everyone enjoyed the atmosphere. It truly is the best in the country and it’s not particularly close.

The only thing that really matters as a take away from this game is that I hope Cam is okay. That foot injury is scary given his history.

Other than that, I would love for Dan to beat a ranked team on the road, but lucky for us the tournament in March is on all neutral floors.

 

[notEwekon]

Agreed. If last year taught us anything, it’s that you can take some L’s and still figure it out in the long run. No one game is a must win. However, you do have to win a bunch of them.

Basketball is like everything else, right? Hurley puts a working model together and in order to improve it he's got to see where it fails the pressure test. Last year's Ls were so incredibly important to that team, opponents were exploiting their flaws until Dan Hurley turned those flaws into strengths. Love my team, love my coach. They're going to be better than fine.

 

[navery12]

I don’t get this argument, how does losing a big game on the road pay off over time? Did losing at creighton or at Marquette prepare us for the tournament last year? We won cuz we got on a roll and got out of the BE BS

Yes, pretty sure Dan Hurley specifically said it after the championship at some point. And Geno says it all the time

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Of course, last game there was a literal 6’7” mid-major guy guarding Clingan. An all-American candidate 7’ guy last night. Maybe there’s a difference there?

no kidding, of course there is a difference...but you take it to Dickinson, and force him to defend at times rather than limit Clingan to screen setting at 3pt circle alone...you think him getting 8 shots is good when we are struggling from perimeter other than newton???...what an arsehat response

 

[uconnever]

Clingan simply doesn’t seem ready for the lime light and all that comes with it.

It sucks to all the DC truthers out there, but he was fully out of his element. He needs a ton of work.

I actually think this may have been what he needed to move further in the right direction. He’ll get there. I think he’s on the normal UConn stud path. Lottery pick junior year.

 

[Excalibur]

That didn’t stop him all game….,the REALITY is that Tristen made shots all game and Cam didn’t. So you want the guy shooting that DIDNT make them?

Smart

You don’t get to draw up a play off a missed FT with no timeouts. They were smart enough to run at Newton with multiple defenders, and there was no way he was going to get a look at the basket.

 

[husky429]

no kidding, of course there is a difference...but you take it to Dickinson, and force him to defend at times rather than limit Clingan to screen setting at 3pt circle alone...you think him getting 8 shots is good when we are struggling from perimeter other than newton???...what an arsehat response

Setting a screen IS an offense and it DOES force Dickinson to defend. By the end of the game, Dickinson was exhausted from having to defend screens. It was the timely late 3s that beat us, not Dickinson's interior skill on either end.

Clingan can't post up effectively against a 7'2 beast of a man. He's not that good yet. His feet aren't coordinated enough unless he has exactly the right spacing, and he has meatloaf hands. You screen and roll hard and get Clingan the ball moving towards the hoop or give him an off-ball screen to get him to his strong hand. This worked twice with Clingan and once with Johnson IIRC.

This is exactly what the NBA wants from Clingan anyway. I doubt he spent last summer learning to post up like Sanogo. If he wants a paycheck, he needs to defend like a madman, rebound, be excellent in the screen and roll, and show some propensity for shooting from distance.

Dickinson is a darn good defender and with limited spacing last night because our shooting was so off, we didn't get as many opportunities as we would like putting Clingan in those positions he's comfortable in. It's unlikely we face a 5 as big, strong, and talented as him again unless we play Edey.

What we CAN'T have Clingan doing is banging for position in the low-post and making a post-move with 1-2-3 fakes to get a tough layup in. He's not Sanogo, and that's simply not part of Clingan's arsenal. We need to find him for a quick catch and turn or 1-dribble for a dunk, lay-in, or up and under. Otherwise, kick to it to a shooter. The longer he has the ball, the worse he looks.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Clingan can't post up effectively against a 7'2 beast of a man. He's not that good yet. His feet aren't coordinated enough unless he has exactly the right spacing, and he has meatloaf hands. You screen and roll hard and get Clingan the ball moving towards the hoop or give him an off-ball screen to get him to his strong hand.

I guess other than the spin move, lefty mikan move that bilas complemented him about his footwork lol...

Dan Hurley needs to give him more of a chance on low block, full stop...the lack of inside out game has us doing dribble handoff weave 25 feet from hoop against excellent D like last night....dickinson has much more chance to get in foul trouble by taking it at him...i do agree DC hands seem to be meatloaf like though

 

[Icehawk]

That was a damn good game. To go in and get hammered by defense for the first 10-12mins, get down by a dozen and not give up? I've never heard such a loud game on TV, I can only imagine how hard that is for the players. I mean this is the Fieldhouse, Kansas has a 94.8% win record - it's never going to be easy.

No one thing lost the game, there were lots of little things that stacked up: Cam's foot, the noise, lack of foul calls (omg, poor Tristen must be bruised from head to toe; that "poke" OOB near the end that was clearly Diarra having his arm yanked), Karaban's continued shooting slump. There was a lot of good too though I think? DC met Dickinson and held his own, our team didn't fold under pressure, etc. This is definitely part of the forging process that will payoff later.

Tristen is one of the best guards playing the game today, screw anyone who says otherwise.

Props to Cam for grit but I honestly wish he had sat, the problem is that we don't have shooting off the bench really so I guess Dan Hurley thought letting him play on was the best option. I hope the additional gametime doesn't worsen or lengthen the injury. Would have loved him to have passed back to Tristen for the final shot since he was shooting poorly but I don't blame him for the loss or taking the shot.

I have faith in AK, his shot was so off the last two games it's gotta be "something" and he'll get through it.


On to the next one, GO HUSKIES!

 

[husky429]

I guess other than the spin move, lefty mikan move that bilas complemented him about his footwork lol...need to give him more of a chance on low block, full stop...the lack of inside out game has us doing dribble handoff weave 25 feet from hoop against excellent D....dickinson has chance to get in foul trouble by taking it at him...i do agree his hands seem to be meatloaf like though

Clingan is not an effecient low-post scorer. Get used to it. We have plenty.of inside out game, it just isn't a traditional post-up because neither of our bigs can do that.

Screen and roll, cuts, transition and putbacks. Kicks outs. Mid-post runner.

Also your use of ellipses is anmoying. Cut it out or you're getting put on ignore.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Such a fun game. Hope everyone enjoyed the atmosphere. It truly is the best in the country and it’s not particularly close.

The only thing that really matters as a take away from this game is that I hope Cam is okay. That foot injury is scary given his history.

Other than that, I would love for Dan to beat a ranked team on the road, but lucky for us the tournament in March is on all neutral floors.

Not only Cam, Clingan injured his forearm it looked like and the side line reporter said he had a foot issue too

 

[husky429]

Can we talk about Sue Bird? Didn't bother to wear anything related to UConn and hamming it up with Lasso.

She's dead to me

 

[UConnSwag11]

The game felt like an Old School Big East game

 

[UConnSwag11]

Can we talk about Sue Bird? Didn't bother to wear anything related to UConn and hamming it up with Lasso.

She's dead to me

Lol and seemed embarrassed to cheer for UCONN

 

[FreeKlaiber]

Clingan is not an effecient low-post scorer. Get used to it.

Screen and roll, cuts, transition and putbacks.

Also your use of ellipses is anmoying. Cut it out or you're getting put on ignore.

yes you are obviously correct lol.... shown by your previous comments comparing samson to springs. and saying Tristan has no nba hopes...i guess we will see lol

 

[UconnU]

We all love DC but he’s not 100% right now, the foot, the conditioning. We‘re a better team with Samson at the 5 for the time being.

 

[HuskyHawk]

 

[Magic32]

Tough to watch early on but we were still within reach. I kept saying if we can keep it within 8 at half we will have a chance. We certainly did have a chance so I can't complain. Kansas looked much better than they have this season and that is a credit to them. The fact that we had a shot to win while not playing our best (Newton excluded) is a credit to us.
I thought Cam getting hurt really messed up our spacing and his timing but I love his heart. Kid was in pain but kept on.
Thought the atmosphere was electric and student section was fun to watch.
Looking forward to a neutral court rematch.

 

[ctchamps]

Huh?

Dan Hurley admitted it in the presser. Take if fwiw. I think it's plausible for Hurley to say this in public for several reasons but the primary one for me was to help our intense players. Cam Spencer in particular who can't make excuses for himself for missing the last shot even though he has the valid excuse of pain shooting through his foot as he lifts to shoot. Or Donovan or Alex who didn't necessarily have horrible games but my take is they expect nothing but perfection from themselves and take losses personally.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Did someone mention Lasso?

 

[ctchamps]

Honestly, I think most of the looks are for Clingan. Dickinson may never get out of the g-league.

There was a time I thought Dickinson looked dejected even when Kansas was winning. Probably projection on my part but Donovan demonstrated Dickinson can be neutralized easily by physically strong tall players. Donovan otoh showed moves that won't easily be contained by big strong players. Of course you have to project the age factor and Donovan will continue to progress.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Que sera, sera.

Team was flat at the start. Fought back and took the lead. Final result was doomed when some doofus in the chat room wondered allowed at 54-50 UConn if UConn could keep it's 10 point win streak alive. Dooomed from that point on.

Karaban looked small out there. His one weakness is average athleticism and Adams exposed him on both sides last night. I'm not worried about Alex. He showed last year he could learn on the fly against bigger, stronger 4's and I think by March/April he'll be fine.

Game had so many "what if's". What if Newtown and Spencer didn't go 3-8 from the FT line over first 30 minutes of the game? What if UConn doesn't hit three separate contested buzzer beater 3's? What if Spencer didn't hurt his foot early in the game? What if? What if? What if?

I liked the refs letting Clingan and Dickinson be physical with each other all game. For all the pregame sniping here on the board over Dickinson's previous flops, he took some big hits from DC and didn't drop.

I never worry if Newton can play big in big games. Doesn't mean he will every game but we've now seen enough of him to know he won't wilt in the moment. With all the new players coming in and many of the players, including returnees, still learning roles, this may have been the turning point where Newton becomes the definitive leader of this season's team.

I had no problem with Spencer taking the last shot. He was open and he's a shooter. Shooters gotta shoot.

I'd love to see some splits on DC at the FT line when he goes 1-2. Seems like he misses the first and makes the second way more than he makes the first and misses the second.

IU, Texas, Kansas, UNC, Gonzaga. Go 4-1 against that group and it's all good from a big picture perspective.

 

[Chin Diesel]

View attachment 93612

What is that guy doing behind Murray?

 

[usedtoberats]

Karaban had 10 pts, 6 rebounds, a steal and a block. No complaints here.

there is one here, hes done much more in the past ( expectations) and less today that equals a complaint

 

[JesusAllen11]

Those issues need fixing ,but Kansas got nothing around the hoop for a reason , Not sure Samson brings that presence. A tired and hurt clingan still owned the paint on defense. Clingan should demanded some more post touches too, he was getting good positioning on HD.

We all love DC but he’s not 100% right now, the foot, the conditioning. We‘re a better team with Samson at the 5 for the time being.

 

[KingAG]

This loss was more beneficial to this group than any win we’ve had all season

 

[JustbrewitMan]

no kidding, of course there is a difference...but you take it to Dickinson, and force him to defend at times rather than limit Clingan to screen setting at 3pt circle alone...you think him getting 8 shots is good when we are struggling from perimeter other than newton???...what an arsehat response

lol your response?

I agree that we didn’t try hard enough to get Don looks in the first 5-10min. Part of it was great D from 4&5* athletes.

If you’ve been paying attention, many of our sets start with Clingan (our big man) at the top of the key. As the play flows, he gets options to get into the paint or PnR. Kansas was defending and preventing that really well.

We did find more touches for Don down low in the 2nd half as we figured things out better.

If you think we deliberately were gameplanning to get Don fewer shots, I’m not sure what to say.

 

[ctchamps]

My biggest concern is injuries. We have all the pieces to repeat and this game proved not only this but why everyone being healthy and getting experience playing together is critical for that to happen.

Tristen: Proved to us and the entire college basketball world that he has a lot of Kemba in him. He can carry the team if necessary. He's showed it with his triple doubles. He showed it in the NCAA tournament final game. But he does it "quietly". I hope this game finally gives him the recognition he deserves.

Cam: I hope his injury is minor. That kid might be the only individual who is more intense than Hurley. Heroic gutting out the game playing through pain. Reminded me of KFree when he cramped badly but wouldn't come out of the game, Taliek playing through turf toe and the murder of his best friend, and Dyson after his tooth got knocked out. The obvious pain he had when he put pressure on his foot/ankle impacted his shooting. It also limited his movement in the half court offense which aided Kansas in their defense of Tristen and Alex. For those thinking it was the reason freshman should have been given some playing time they did not watch Cam on defense. He sacrificed his mobility on offense but never on defense. It was remarkable imo.

Clingan: I hope he did not reinjure the foot. He still isn't back to the same shape he was at the end of last season but he more than held his own. Cost Dickinson money with his play. We ran schemes for him as if we had a fully healthy starting lineup playing. It might have cost us in this game but he needs reps to understand the play we need from him to win NC six. We played him as if we had a mobile as opposed to gimpy Cam, as if Alex was out of his slump, as if Castle with his playmaking ability was playing instead of Solo, and as if Tristen is still being Tristen. The plays we ran for Donovan in this game will pay dividends down the road.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

We did find more touches for Don down low in the 2nd half as we figured things out better.

If you think we deliberately were gameplanning to get Don fewer shots, I’m not sure what to say.

Of course not. But the majority of the sets we run our ones with him at 3 pt line. The 5 man out dribble handoff. As well as the high 2-3 Pete Carrill Princeton set where the center is distributor at 3 point line with backdoor cuts. I like these sets. Glad we are using them. I ran that same Princeton motion for 20 yrs when I was coaching.

MY POINT is that we need more of an inside out game, so that putting DC on low block would be something that I would run alot more often, especially when playing against smothering D on perimeter, if we arent going to look for the backdoor cut. Adama was as good as they come on low block in 4 man out offense.

Opinions obviously vary on this board about DC's low block proficiency, but I think he has excellent footwork/body positioning, he just rushes too much, hasn't shown good hands yet. I think time will tell that he is an excellent low block threat, maybe not Adama, but is much more than rim runner/screener IMO

Clearly against New Hampshire we just lobbed it into him like Chief in One Flew Over the Cuckoo nest. We had big time height advantage obviously. But by NOT gameplanning alot of low block sets for him against Kansas, we instead were hoping our ballhandlers would be able to go by their 4/5* athletes since lane would be open?

But they switched on our screens, our spacing was weak, and we got pushed further and further from hoop. I was just saying we should ALWAYS game plan to try and get DC the ball down low POSTING UP ,especially early in game, whether its New Hampshire or Purdue. Put the other big in foul jeopardy trying to defend DC. Need more inside looks for him, which I bet we see as the season goes. Dannys an excellent coach