Kansas Post Game Thread

[hookshot]

Karaban drives me crazy with those 30 foot shots. But when he finally hit one and brought us to within three. It did change the game.

From that point on he was brilliant.

He needs to be out at 30 to get the space he needs to get his awkward shot off but he can literally make it from outer space

 

[uconn_jack]

…we’ve said about every UConn center ever

Except Johnson.

 

[uconn_jack]

Kudos play of the game was Solo's drop down to Reibe for the easy two in the lane. Pass of the game, at a very key spot.

Made up for the two passes Solo made to Kansas players.....

 

[ec33]

 

[pick6s]

UConn is one of the better teams out there, but the offensive system has taken a large step back. They don't have nearly as much movement right now. Hurley mentioned planning some changes in the offseason, leading me to think this may be intentional, but they should go back to their old offense. It's what made them elite, differentiated them from every other team, and made watching them so easy on the eyes.

 

[B1GEast]

Mullins is legit. Every shot off his hands looked good and when they fell it felt like daggers. He also just has very natural basketball instincts to find the ball in his hands. Whether it’s a rebound, steal, loose ball, whatever the case may be. It’s a skill to know how to find the ball in your hands and he has it.

Also showed the ability to get to the rim and make layups. Effortless scorer. Could be the best freshman scorer we’ve had under Hurley.

The coaching staff is once again doing a great job of developing a center. Reibe is growing game by game and could be our best offensive center yet. He came and soft and you can see him getting tougher and tougher every game.

Wish Smith would focus more on being a playmaking guard than scoring. The team needs him to make plays for others.

Solo with another great plays bad plays game. He’s the guy for better or worse right now.

Karaban continues to be great when we don’t ask him to do too much. Let him get his in the flow and he’s probably the best role player in UConn history.

Ross seems to have found his flow. Loved the decisions he was making tonight offensively and actively wanted the ball in his hands to make those decision. Out of our wings he’s the best at finding others. Now that he’s actually looking to attack and be aggressive the skill can actually be useful to go along with his great defense. Nice to see him pull down a couple of boards too. Game is finally slowing down for him.

Mullins is going to start. I still love lineups with him and Mullins or him and Ball on the floor together as he is the wing defender that gives them less pressure defensively and on offense he knows how to create for these guys in ways that Stew can’t.

Mullins is just so fun the watch. He looks younger than he is, almost like a high schooler out there with a mop haircut.

You realize that he really is just a kid. Big fan

 

[EnochRoot]

UConn is one of the better teams out there, but the offensive system has taken a large step back. They don't have nearly as much movement right now. Hurley mentioned planning some changes in the offseason, leading me to think this may be intentional, but they should go back to their old offense. It's what made them elite, differentiated them from every other team, and made watching them so easy on the eyes.

I mean, I get what you're saying, but it's early. Give the guards time to facilitate the rotation you're alluding to.

 

[EnochRoot]

Mullins is just so fun the watch. He looks younger than he is, almost like a high schooler out there with a mop haircut.

You realize that he really is just a kid. Big fan

LOL he looks like he's in the Stone Roses or Blur. He's a mod Brit-pop star from 30 years ago.

 

[uconn_jack]

Only because he was significantly bigger and a steady, reliable plodder. He had / has no touch comparable to Reibe, who is more like the two recent Big East great touch posts

I think "plodder" is a bit ridiculous, and he wasn't just big, He was quite athletic for his size. But yes, Reibe is more skilled offensively. If he can manage even 3/4 of Clingan's defensive instincts and timing, then we can start debating who was better.

 

[uconn_jack]

Sweet troll.

 

[Gurleyman]

I mean, I get what you're saying, but it's early. Give the guards time to facilitate the rotation you're alluding to.

Kansas bogged us down last time too - our offense was mostly Tristen putting stuff up at the end of the shot clock. Self is a really good coach and his players are well drilled, and effective switching is a good way to neutralize a lot of what we do. But you have to be good at it and have the right personnel so not every team is able to follow that blueprint.

With Tarris we might have been able to exploit more switches on the low block. Reibe isn’t quite there yet - he tried, but wasn’t able to carve out the space for passing angles.

 

[HW611]

I just don't know what you do with the kid - Alex plays a lot of minutes. We will have plenty at the 3 with Mullins there and Stew is not a 3, at all. If he did something super well where if we were short on it we could look to him, then I'd say let's bring him in. He feels like odd man out. I literally have no idea what he is other than a breather for AK.

It’s why I’ve been pushing Ross to start with Mullins out because now Stew is going to flip from a starter to.. almost no minutes? Which will be weird.

All that time and experience could’ve went to getting Ross even more comfortable on the court. Even today the rotation felt weird trying to split time between Ross and Mullins backups minutes even though both clearly played better than Stew.

But we just spent a lot of time and minutes on a player who may not have a big impact for us this year.

 

[bendm]

UConn is one of the better teams out there, but the offensive system has taken a large step back. They don't have nearly as much movement right now. Hurley mentioned planning some changes in the offseason, leading me to think this may be intentional, but they should go back to their old offense. It's what made them elite, differentiated them from every other team, and made watching them so easy on the eyes.

C’mon Dan! Why can’t we have the greatest college team ever every year??

 

[uconn_jack]

UConn is one of the better teams out there, but the offensive system has taken a large step back. They don't have nearly as much movement right now. Hurley mentioned planning some changes in the offseason, leading me to think this may be intentional, but they should go back to their old offense. It's what made them elite, differentiated them from every other team, and made watching them so easy on the eyes.

I said it on a previous thread, our offense wasn't what you remember this early in the season before either, especially '23. Yes, Hurley said he wants to let his players create more offense themselves this year, but I think our offense will get more fluid and intricate as our 2 PGs (who are new to our system) continue to settle in. And having Mullins with his high IQ out there now will only speed that along.

 

[Ricker]

This is what I hoped for from Mullins. Reibe is contributing far beyond what I ever envisioned for this year. I am thrilled with his play and with Reed out it has been rock solid and clutch.

Posting this next point without completely reading the thread, but I haven't seen the mention that I think we went into half time down 5 and returned to the court down 4, correct? I assume Solo's 2 pointer was deemed a 3 at halftime but I didn't hear any mention of the change or did I just miss it, or am I wrong about being up 5? Would we have had to appeal for that review, or did the refs give some kind of an indication of review?

 

[Mike Honcho]

This is what I hoped for from Mullins. Reibe is contributing far beyond what I ever envisioned for this year. I am thrilled with his play and with Reed out it has been rock solid and clutch.

Posting this next point without completely reading the thread, but I haven't seen the mention that I think we went into half time down 5 and returned to the court down 4, correct? I assume Solo's 2 pointer was deemed a 3 at halftime but I didn't hear any mention of the change or did I just miss it, or am I wrong about being up 5? Would we have had to appeal for that review, or did the refs give some kind of an indication of review?

That is what happened, and I do not believe the commentators made any mention of it.

 

[AllHusky]

Haven’t been able to watch as much as I’d like this season, but got a good look tonite.

Silas and Malachi are a long way from what they are going to be and need to be. A lot of responsibility for them, hard to play free until it becomes instinctual. Mid to late February watch out. Newton analogies are perfect.

Stew can help keep Karaban fresh, and if he can play within himself will be really important in big games.

Ross and Ball are developing a little bit at a time. Ball suffers from expectation pressure, and Ross almost wants it too bad. Similar to Stew, play within their considerable talent levels and they’ll be scary. Doing great.

Tarris takes as much time as he needs and Karaban keeps having fun. Kind of like Donny Baseball(Mattingly) he’s Alex Hoops. Let’s play some ball.

Mullins and Reibe?? Fugeddaboutit!! Too F-n good!!

Thanks for listening. Go Huskies!!