Mahaney In A Different Role?

[jibsey]

Let’s see what happens. Perhaps I could have added some qualifiers other than the one I did regarding injury. But if Hurley was inclined to change the starting line up why would he not have tried it during these buy games.

I agree that Mahaney is not one of the best five right now and yet he is still starting. So that tells me Hurley has him on a very long leash because he feels by February heading it to March he will hold up best under the pressure.

And I am on record as saying I do not think he(Mahaney) should be starting but clearly the coaching staff still thinks that is the best option.

We seem to have some form of this discussion every year and four games into his UConn career anyone on this board who claims they saw what Newton was going to become at that point, I would question their memory.

Then all of a sudden thinks started to click and we went in to win our first 14 games or so and yet if I recall there was still some of us wondering if Newton was the right choice at point. And it definitely started up again when we went through that January early February funk…..

The biggest difference on this team is that we certainly appear to have more options. From what we have see so far I would be fine with AM turning into a Joey C role but if that happens do we keep him after this year. Look at who we have coming in and with Nowell being a year into the program who does hit fit next year.

My reasoning is Hurley has to consider everything, of course the focus is on this team and winning this year but when you build something like this every move has a reason and protecting the image that has now allowed us to keep very good players out of the portal and recruit 3 5* high school seniors is like walking the a tight rope.

So the sum it up. I agree with your thought but it seems to me that Hurley does not and he will need a really good reason to change what he thinks.

Don’t you think that his defense will be a big factor in this? If he can defend at the highest level I think he retains a lead role. Hurley= Defense wins championships.

 

[NJHusky]

Don’t you think that his defense will be a big factor in this? If he can defend at the highest level I think he retains a lead role. Hurley= Defense wins championships.

If defense matters that much Hass should be playing 30 min. In 4 games against cupcakes Am Has 4 reb and 1 steal. Hass has 5 stl. 3 block and 10 reb

 

[willie99]

We've played 4 games, it's November, he'll find his grove

I don't worry about no chemistry and lack of gelling until February

Damn, some 21 short months ago "Hurley couldn't win in the post season" and "Hurley can't win a close game". We were arrogant and spoiled

The "yard" has been critical in 2023, 2014, 2011, 2004, 2003, 2002, every year we don't win it all, and as far back as I can remember.

I remember fans in the 90s saying that if we ever want to win a title, Calhoun has to go. He's taken us as far as he was capable of taking us

Enjoy the ride boys, we're blessed. We have had great coaches who happen to be very loyal, we have a great basketball family and we have more titles than any fan base is entitled to.

As for Aiden, he'll have his breakout game just like Joey C did, and we're all going to fall in love with him too

 

[Hunt for 7]

Don’t you think that his defense will be a big factor in this? If he can defend at the highest level I think he retains a lead role. Hurley= Defense wins championships.

Yes of course I do. But Hurley kind of changed that way of thinking when we lost in the ncaa tourney in 22. I just think he really believes in this kid and he is going to give him a long run at starting.

What I like is Diarra coming off the bench and instantly elevating the defensive intensity so if we don’t start Mahaney or Diarra do we really start a back court of Ball and Ross.

I am also on record as being a big Ross fan and he might get there by the end of the year as he still appears to be rushing at times and then after getting all day to set up and make the first corner three he decided to just take his time on that three giving the defender time to recover and get back to him when he took his time to get that three off that got blocked.

I just don’t think there is enough of a sample size. I remember we were kind of doubting that 22-23 team until we went out and dominated the PK tourney.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Let’s see what happens. Perhaps I could have added some qualifiers other than the one I did regarding injury. But if Hurley was inclined to change the starting line up why would he not have tried it during these buy games.

I agree that Mahaney is not one of the best five right now and yet he is still starting. So that tells me Hurley has him on a very long leash because he feels by February heading it to March he will hold up best under the pressure.

And I am on record as saying I do not think he(Mahaney) should be starting but clearly the coaching staff still thinks that is the best option.

We seem to have some form of this discussion every year and four games into his UConn career anyone on this board who claims they saw what Newton was going to become at that point, I would question their memory.

Then all of a sudden thinks started to click and we went in to win our first 14 games or so and yet if I recall there was still some of us wondering if Newton was the right choice at point. And it definitely started up again when we went through that January early February funk…..

The biggest difference on this team is that we certainly appear to have more options. From what we have see so far I would be fine with AM turning into a Joey C role but if that happens do we keep him after this year. Look at who we have coming in and with Nowell being a year into the program who does hit fit next year.

My reasoning is Hurley has to consider everything, of course the focus is on this team and winning this year but when you build something like this every move has a reason and protecting the image that has now allowed us to keep very good players out of the portal and recruit 3 5* high school seniors is like walking the a tight rope.

So the sum it up. I agree with your thought but it seems to me that Hurley does not and he will need a really good reason to change what he thinks.

I will say I don’t agree with the notion that we have to give Mahaney every chance or else we ruin are portal reputation.

This board has spent years saying people earn every minute of playing time and that’s our pitch but now we have to give out playing time in this situation to worry about to not scare away future transfers?

This isn’t even directly at you Hunt, just have seen both notions multiple times.

It would also not make sense to only apply that rule to our talented NBA potential HS recruits and give the transfers who don’t have likely NBA futures every chance on the other end of the stick.

 

[Fan1978]

Mahaney will have a major role as the lead guard or playing off-ball. As of now, he’s too good of a player to not be playing major minutes. Nowell might push for more time but I think he has a ways to go before starting.

If the lineup is to change, I think it should be
Ball, Ross, McNeeley, Karaban, Reed.

You need someone who can dribble the ball in your 5. Solo is great with his between the legs dribbling going no where. At this point, he is a 3 point shooter and has zero ability to break even low level competition off the dribble and get to the rack or create for others. Frankly, this is the teams major weakness. mahaney and diarra can take people off the dribble but its not their strength. Nowell will be the best so hopefully he progresses quickly.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I will say I don’t agree with the notion that we have to give Mahaney every chance or else we ruin are portal reputation.

This board has spent years saying people earn every minute of playing time and that’s our pitch but now we have to give out playing time in this situation to worry about to not scare away future transfers?

This isn’t even directly at you Hunt, just have seen both notions multiple times.

It would also not make sense to only apply that rule to our talented NBA potential HS recruits and give the transfers who don’t have likely NBA futures every chance on the other end of the stick.

This will be interesting to watch run its course. One thing for sure now that he has built this monster program, with 10 players that could probably play 25+ minutes at all but maybe 5-7 other schools it becomes harder and harder to manage.

One image I will take away from the ET A&M game was when they zoomed in on him toward the end of the game he was shown rubbing his downward turned head deep in thought, no way to know what he was thinking about but the poker player in me thinks it was rotations and which ones give us the best chance to execute the offense the way he wants it to run and also hold up on defense.

My reasoning is he suddenly snaps out of it and calls out Singare to get in the game. I think Singare has been lost in the shuffle as right now, the only for sure things I have seen are:

1) Thank goodness Alex came back
2) Liam is dog and is already an elite CBB player
3) The center rotation is set.

Hurley clearly has a lot on his mind.

 

[Deleted at users request]

This will be interesting to watch run its course. One thing for sure now that he has built this monster program, with 10 players that could probably play 25+ minutes at all but maybe 5-7 other schools it becomes harder and harder to manage.

One image I will take away from the ET A&M game was when they zoomed in on him toward the end of the game he was shown rubbing his downward turned head deep in thought, no way to know what he was thinking about but the poker player in me thinks it was rotations and which ones give us the best chance to execute the offense the way he wants it to run and also hold up on defense.

My reasoning is he suddenly snaps out of it and calls out Singare to get in the game. I think Singare has been lost in the shuffle as right now, the only for sure things I have seen are:

1) Thank goodness Alex came back
2) Liam is dog and is already an elite CBB player
3) The center rotation is set.

Hurley clearly has a lot on his mind.

I agree with all your observations. This team would be lost with Alex right now. I wonder if Hurley wishes he brought in more of a pure PG right now.

I don’t know if his plan was to always play Mahaney there or if Solo just played so well that he moved Mahaney there to fulfill his commitment to him with Solo breaking out.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Maybe folks see the conversation is more important that appeasing the Boneyard spelling nazis . You and Hooper an alliance walking around her with your patrol sticks? Maybe this calls for a Boneyard spelling bee!!!

Some stuff from the StM board on Mahaney:

God is a Gael-Mahaney

Interesting take on Mahaney at UConn from ESPN after this writer visited practices (of 4 schools) and spoke with those involved: https://www.espn.com

www.tapatalk.com

One poster noted an ESPN article talking through watching a practice wondering who was going to create offense in the half court. I expect this team to struggle often in the half court and some bumps coming.

That was exactly what I was saying. I have never once before commented on a spelling error, but it is a BY thing.

 

[t8per]

I want to start this off by saying I am not claiming to undermine the thinkings of a back to back national champion head coach...

But my eyes are telling me that our best 5 are:

Diarra
Solo
McNeeley
Karaban
Tarris Reed

With a second unit of:
Nowell
Mahaney
Ross
Stewie
Samson

With the first unit, Diarra wouldn't be asked to do too much, just facilitate and defend. I think this could help reduce turnovers.
With the second unit, Mahaney would be asked to score more and facilitate less, which I think suits his game better.

It'll be interesting to see what our starting lineup looks like for the start of conference play

 

[RuffRuff]

I want to start this off by saying I am not claiming to undermine the thinkings of a back to back national champion head coach...

But my eyes are telling me that our best 5 are:

Diarra
Solo
McNeeley
Karaban
Tarris Reed

With a second unit of:
Nowell
Mahaney
Ross
Stewie
Samson

With the first unit, Diarra wouldn't be asked to do too much, just facilitate and defend. I think this could help reduce turnovers.
With the second unit, Mahaney would be asked to score more and facilitate less, which I think suits his game better.

It'll be interesting to see what our starting lineup looks like for the start of conference play

One interesting note on AM is that the other option, Kobe Brea, is lighting it up from 3 at a historical level for UK. Currently 15-19 from three on the year and 79%.

 

[JerseyAlum]

I want to start this off by saying I am not claiming to undermine the thinkings of a back to back national champion head coach...

But my eyes are telling me that our best 5 are:

Diarra
Solo
McNeeley
Karaban
Tarris Reed

With a second unit of:
Nowell
Mahaney
Ross
Stewie
Samson

With the first unit, Diarra wouldn't be asked to do too much, just facilitate and defend. I think this could help reduce turnovers.
With the second unit, Mahaney would be asked to score more and facilitate less, which I think suits his game better.

It'll be interesting to see what our starting lineup looks like for the start of conference play

Diarra is leading in 4 games in assists, but has the benefit of playing in Hurley's system for a lot longer than Maheney has.

I think if Mahaney "gets it" like Newton did (e.g., takes a few months) then we will be fine with Mahaney. He is no Tristen, but even Tristen struggled for a few months under Hurley's system.

Otherwise I am with you on projected starters.

Re: Tarris starting, yes, per minute has dominated Johnson's game and starters should be the ones with better stats per minute in general.

And while there won't be a hockey lineup swap, the second unit is balanced g/g/f/f/c to give any starter a breather and be confident in contribution. Add Abraham to that squad after a few more games.

 

[TheShot1990]

It may be a conditional lineup by Hurley this year. Would I put A.M. on Mark Sears? NO. But on slower guards, sure.

 

[ctchamps]

This thread reminds me of the "We need a point guard" thread from 2 years ago. That turned out just fine so I'll put my faith in Hurley figuring this out again.

We need a point guard

I am stunned that someone built a team without a point guard and thought it would work. And that he thinks he can do it again next year. If Seton Hall doesn’t lose KR in the first half, we’re 0-2 against Seton Hall this year - we can only score against them in spurts and when they start to...

www.the-boneyard.com

There is a similar concern with the point guard position on the Boneyard two years ago and now. Big difference is with Hurley. He wasn't continuously expressing concerns about the point guard position two years ago like we are hearing from him this year. It's a potential problem.

At this point in time I'm in a wait and see mode. I can't proclaim one way or the other if the problem is fixable or not.

 

[mauconnfan]

It seems like the major reason for Mahaney is lack of TOs. But his passing seems poor (did he feed any lobs, cuts to the hoop?) and the offense is stagnant when he is initiating. I think Hass was trying to force some passes last night..hence the TOs. I’d like to keep seeing Nowell getting real reps. Give Hass 25min and split the rest

Well turnovers count and Hass is leading the way among the guards very careless as of late quite honestly. Mahaney is and will be fine and we need our 6th man of the year coming off the bench doing what he did last year not trying to do more than he’s capable of on O. Ball at PG is a big no his handle just isn’t that good and he doesn’t have those instincts all and if he did you would see more of it. Nowell will eventually earn some more minutes he’s good, not sure on his instincts but maybe eventually he can man the point.

Remember with Newton Spencer and Castle we had 3 solid ball handlers, passers and size. It’s a different world now!

 

[ctchamps]

I want to start this off by saying I am not claiming to undermine the thinkings of a back to back national champion head coach...

But my eyes are telling me that our best 5 are:

Diarra
Solo
McNeeley
Karaban
Tarris Reed

With a second unit of:
Nowell
Mahaney
Ross
Stewie
Samson

With the first unit, Diarra wouldn't be asked to do too much, just facilitate and defend. I think this could help reduce turnovers.
With the second unit, Mahaney would be asked to score more and facilitate less, which I think suits his game better.

It'll be interesting to see what our starting lineup looks like for the start of conference play

Before we run Samson out of the starting lineup I'd like to see how he plays with Diarra replacing Mahaney in the starting line up. The current starting five has been the worst configuration to surround Samson both on offense and defense in these four games.

Mahaney , Ball and McNeeley are unable to see the flow of other players on our team on the offensive end. On the defensive end Mahaney and Ball struggle containing their players and do not set up for rebounding when Samson goes up for a block.

They have improved in this game versus the first three in finding the cutters when Samson goes out for the high hedge but are still weak at that.

At this early stage of the season and from my observation of players the line up I think would be best from a defensive stand point would be:

Diarra
Ross
McNeeley
Karaban
Samson*

*But not against a big mobile center who could easily back him down.

The line up I think would be best from an offensive stand point would be:

Diarra
Ball
McNeeley
Karaban
*Samson or Reed

Samson if the guards can figure out how to lob accurately. He is as close to unstoppable as it gets and because of this teams have to cheat off their players to play for his dunks opening up our perimeter offense.

Reed because he's an easier target to get the ball to. But interestingly against a big mobile center his advantage over Samson on the defensive end would possibly be less favorable on the offensive end.

 

[bendm]

One interesting note on AM is that the other option, Kobe Brea, is lighting it up from 3 at a historical level for UK. Currently 15-19 from three on the year and 79%.

I will only rue taking Mahaney instead of Brea if these three things all happen: Diarra becomes the starting PG, Nowell becomes the full time backup PG, and Mahaney becomes the backup SG (which would have been Brea’s role).

I could see Diarra starting but I don’t think Hurley will employ a full 10 man rotation with Nowell getting 10-15mpg. So That means Mahaney would be the backup CG which is a role Brea couldn’t fulfill as he’s strictly a shooter.

 

[jibsey]

I want to start this off by saying I am not claiming to undermine the thinkings of a back to back national champion head coach...

But my eyes are telling me that our best 5 are:

Diarra
Solo
McNeeley
Karaban
Tarris Reed

With a second unit of:
Nowell
Mahaney
Ross
Stewie
Samson

With the first unit, Diarra wouldn't be asked to do too much, just facilitate and defend. I think this could help reduce turnovers.
With the second unit, Mahaney would be asked to score more and facilitate less, which I think suits his game better.

It'll be interesting to see what our starting lineup looks like for the start of conference play

These are certainly our 5 best players now. I guess the question becomes who gets the most minutes? Hurley and staff are very intelligent and if they get kicked in the balls they will make changes and shorten the rotation to the best players. They hate losing worse than the players.

 

[uconn_jack]

Watch the game again. His defense was next nevel. He had several assists and a nice dribble penetration In traffic. But overall, he looks fast. Simple eye ball test.

Yes, I think he passes the eyeball test as a talented freshman who will be a good to great player for us, that doesn't mean if he is ready to take the reins of a top 10 team against high level competition. If he was, or gets to that point, Hurley will play him.

 

[Conndog]

I like Mahaney and think he might have a higher ceiling than Diarra, but they do have different strengths. Hassan is quicker and a better defender, but there are times when I think Mahaney is pretty quick on defense too. Aidan I think is the better shooter. Whichever point guard is in the game, they need to penetrate inside more and open up things.

 

[pj]

There is a similar concern with the point guard position on the Boneyard two years ago and now. Big difference is with Hurley. He wasn't continuously expressing concerns about the point guard position two years ago like we are hearing from him this year. It's a potential problem.

It's a potential problem, but it's almost the only problem. The other positions look pretty solid.

The good news is that we have Hassan Diarra as a high-floor if limited-ceiling PG. Things can't go too badly as long as he's healthy.

Then we'll just say how Mahaney and Nowell progress. I think Mahaney will be playing well by March. Nowell has a bright future, but probably post-Diarra.

 

[NJHusky]

There is a similar concern with the point guard position on the Boneyard two years ago and now. Big difference is with Hurley. He wasn't continuously expressing concerns about the point guard position two years ago like we are hearing from him this year. It's a potential problem.

At this point in time I'm in a wait and see mode. I can't proclaim one way or the other if the problem is fixable or not.

Didn’t we start 2022 undefeated OOC? We struggled in BE play until Danny put Ajax at the dunker spot

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Let’s see what happens. Perhaps I could have added some qualifiers other than the one I did regarding injury. But if Hurley was inclined to change the starting line up why would he not have tried it during these buy games.

I agree that Mahaney is not one of the best five right now and yet he is still starting. So that tells me Hurley has him on a very long leash because he feels by February heading it to March he will hold up best under the pressure.

And I am on record as saying I do not think he (Mahaney) should be starting but clearly the coaching staff still thinks that is the best option.

We seem to have some form of this discussion every year and four games into his UConn career anyone on this board who claims they saw what Newton was going to become at that point, I would question their memory.

Then all of a sudden things started to click and we went in to win our first 14 games or so and yet if I recall there was still some of us wondering if Newton was the right choice at point. And it definitely started up again when we went through that January early February funk…..

The biggest difference on this team is that we certainly appear to have more options. From what we have see so far I would be fine with AM turning into a Joey C role but if that happens do we keep him after this year. Look at who we have coming in and with Nowell being a year into the program how does he fit next year.

My reasoning is Hurley has to consider everything, of course the focus is on this team and winning this year but when you build something like this every move has a reason and protecting the image that has now allowed us to keep very good players out of the portal and recruit 3 5* high school seniors is like walking a tight rope.

So the sum it up. I agree with your thought but it seems to me that Hurley does not and he will need a really good reason to change what he thinks.

Let’s see what happens. Perhaps I could have added some qualifiers other than the one I did regarding injury. But if Hurley was inclined to change the starting line up why would he not have tried it during these buy games.

Because he was giving him 4 different chances to look decent against inferior competition? Listen, I am still rooting for the kid. We just have to be fair: Diarra and Nowell look better at this time.

 

[Huskyforlife]

This thread reminds me of the "We need a point guard" thread from 2 years ago. That turned out just fine so I'll put my faith in Hurley figuring this out again.

We need a point guard

I am stunned that someone built a team without a point guard and thought it would work. And that he thinks he can do it again next year. If Seton Hall doesn’t lose KR in the first half, we’re 0-2 against Seton Hall this year - we can only score against them in spurts and when they start to...

www.the-boneyard.com

I love going back in these threads and seeing myself being right.

 

[HooperScooper]

I love going back in these threads and seeing myself being right.

 

[Palatine]

Watch the game again. His defense was next nevel. He had several assists and a nice dribble penetration In traffic. But overall, he looks fast. Simple eye ball test.

Next level? Nope.