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Mahaney
- Thread starter Huskydog45
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What the hell is “play strength”? I can just imagine Bill Murray asking Luke what play strength is.
He's in the chat sometimes. Was there for the last game.
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I'd love to get his honest take on why Mahaney hasn't worked out as well as planned.
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Joey C had a simple role and he played it well. He was a gunslinger. He played one speed - he ran around hard off of screens trying to get a sliver of daylight to let it fly. He didn’t need any time to process anything (“I can see the rim? You’ve made a big mistake”).
And he also developed a little bit of a two-man game connection with Clingan so he had his plan B as well. You’ve rushed out on me to take away the three? Now I’ll get by you and shoot a runner or throw a lob to DC if his man helps.
Mahaney has all the tools. He can shoot, he can attack the rim, he can create his own shot, he can pass. But he over-processes everything and has turned into sort of a jack of all trades, master of none. He doesn’t come off screens ready to shoot. Or even wanting to shoot. And then if the ball sticks to his hands, he’s not attacking the defense with much of a plan. After all this time of watching him - I really don’t know what his Plan A is. What’s his “thing” that the other team is trying to take away?
The unicorn-ness of Spencer was he could really do both things equally well - he was as good of a gunslinger as Joey C, but then he could take the ball and patiently carve you up with his Plan C or Plan D. You’ve shut all my options down? Oh well. Time to just do an unblockable fadeaway and you’ll have to hope I miss. Just about every possession when he had the ball played out on his terms.
I hope Mahaney can treat this as a new season and just play. Feel like a gunslinger a bit more and hunt a few shots and just not try to over-think things. He’s not managing a game for 40 minutes - he can take some risks.
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I think he didn’t have experience with ball handling against tough physical ball pressure, which lead to a bunch of mistakes (turnovers) and a loss of confidence. Everyone on this board and social meeting blasted him repeatedly after every mistake and bad game which further eroded confidence.
On the defensive side, UConn’s team defense and help and rotations were just a complete disaster which made everyone on UConn look bad.
Self doubt can really impact a player’s performance.
Hopefully now he has gotten more comfortable and hopefully the team as a whole is better as a team on defense which puts less pressure on each individual.
Alleyne a couple of years ago went through a similar thing, but finally broke out of the funk towards the end of the season. Calcaterra also has a horrible extended slump in the middle of the season.
Also Mahaney comes from Moraga, CA where it is 70 degrees and sunny 3/4 of the year and never colder than 40. He goes to Storrs where it is freezing and everyone has the flu off and on all winter.
Mr. Wonderful
Whistleblower
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Hang him! Get the noose! Skip the trial. It's straight to the gallows with this one.
Chin Diesel
The timing could not possibly be worse
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agree about Mahaney going through the motions on the court rather than moving with a purpose. That characteristic is what surprises me the most.
For a shooter or a scorer, he doesn't have that immediate threat to the defense when he touches the ball. He gives the defense time to adjust to him and reset away from the ball. It kills momentum for offensive flow.
I'd rather him catch and shoot and clang the shot than catch and stagnate.
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In defense of Mahaney he started out trying to be starting PG and now his best role is backup PG, he can't or shouldn't have a shoot first mentality in the PG role especially with UConn's offense. So we are asking him to bring the ball up, initiate offense (hard if physical defenders) AND if/when he gets the ball back THEN transform his mentality to a shooter or driver. It has been harder than expected to be a PG in the BE. He struggles dealing with pressure and isn't quick enough to get by most defenders off the dribble. Those difficulties have also hamstrung his ability to morph into a SG creating offense off the catch. He should be more effective given his shooting prowess/threat yet I think its understandable that its hard to play both roles and toggle between being a 'game manager' run the offense PG and a scorer.
The Joey C role is the one Mahaney appears best suited for, but there aren't minutes for that role unless McNeeley is playing PG while Diarra rests. Competent don't make any mistakes backup PG to keep Diarra fresh is what UConn needs out of him in the postseason - I'd rather he just focus on that as trying to be both has paralyzed his play.
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There’s some truth to that - although in our offense, the point guard can become an off the ball cutter pretty often too. Newton would give it up and be one of the cogs in motion and shoot coming off screens as much as anyone. But on last years team, all five starters were really good passers for their positions - whereas this year Solo and Samson/Tarris are probably below average in that regard (although they’ve improved as the year has gone on).
I kinda don’t want Mahaney to think about what his role is - just want him to use his minutes and just play. If openings come to take good shots, take them. He could change a game if he knocks a few down and becomes a player the other team has to adjust to - the entire scouting report on him right now is just one line: “get up in his shirt and rattle him”
This times 100. Just give us 10 mins of serviceable play and no turnovers.
Understanding that we now know Mahaney's role is off the bench with spot minutes- And he has his strengths and weaknesses backing up Hass. I look around the BE and the guard play. Who does Aidan closely resemble size-wise and play style wise? Different teams/roster construction/roles. I keep coming back to Ashworth-Creighton.About the same size and smaller than most of the defenders they go up against. How can Ashworth consistently break the press (frequently on his own) and Aidan appears to be challenged? Is it handle-foot speed- change of pace dribbling rhythm-using screens better to get into the front court? Ashworth clearly a classic PG?
Still expect him to be productive in the minutes he gets this post season. Just a head scratcher for me re: his floor game. Maybe its just as simple as he's a combo guard who has been asked to play out of position-Square peg-round hole.
Still expect him to be productive in the minutes he gets this post season. Just a head scratcher for me re: his floor game. Maybe its just as simple as he's a combo guard who has been asked to play out of position-Square peg-round hole.
Agree with lots written above. It seems to me he hasn’t adjusted to pace of play. He’s getting better but still waaay too methodical. Seems like he can’t shed the St Mary’s style.
At least he hasn’t gotten a 10 sec violation recently
At least he hasn’t gotten a 10 sec violation recently
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......sure
Mahaney has the potential to score double digits off the bench. He has done that multiple time. We don’t need that every night. We just need him to be solid ball handler and backup PG on the other nights and he is exactly what we need.
Jaylen Stewart is very similar. Has the potential to explode for some points off bench, and on the other nights we just need solid play, some rebounds and no turnovers and again we have what we need.
Jaylen Stewart is very similar. Has the potential to explode for some points off bench, and on the other nights we just need solid play, some rebounds and no turnovers and again we have what we need.
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It seems like the crowd is always extra loud when Mahaney hits a shot. Almost as if they all know how important he is, and that he can get there but just needs confidence. That’s at least my read, the biggest issue with him is confidence, he needs to get his swagger back. Let’s hope he’s gotten it back for good after last game.
He is a little different than either of those players IMO.
The exact skills Mahaney has at the top of his game, can elevate us to make a deep run in the tournament,
We're missing the player than can drive, distribute, Handle the ball under "face guarding" D and score 10-12 points per game. One added skill needed DEFENSE. He can't get burned on D time after time in the single elimination games we've got coming up from here on out.
I don't think we need him draining 3's, we've got Ball and Alex for that.
We just need Mahany to be the Mahaney we recruited and I think we've seen shades of that in the last 2 games.
This whole idea of him needing to chuck up shots, I'm not quite there. The idea of him not turning the ball over, playing Defense, driving.dishing lane and taking shots he feels comfortable taking, I'm okay with that.
We looked better with him on the floor the last couple of games. He's finding his way and I'm good with that.
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We’ll need him - I take the battled tested junior who still looks very engaged over the checked out Freshmen all day.
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I agree he's looked much better of late. But when you say we need Mahaney to be Mahaney -- that necessarily involves him shooting the ball more. He took 7 threes a game last year. Of course we don't want him shooting at that frequency -- but he's passing up open threes (and he passed up one especially egregious open mid-range jumper recently). He should have the confidence to knock down those open shots. He's more than capable.
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Funny, I met a guy while boarding a plane last week who was a huge UConn fan and said he worked with Mahaney's dad, who was loaded. Sounds about right.
UconnU
If he blocks 100, he blocks 100
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When you’re guarding a guy and he uses his shoulder to create space for a layup or floater in the lane, do you get pushed back and give up an easy bucket or are you able to hold your ground and contest?What the hell is “play strength”? I can just imagine Bill Murray asking Luke what play strength is.
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So his family is rich and (probably) religious. Wouldn't have expected that.
On defense hopefully Mahaney isn’t the only one guarding the hoop. On offense, I don’t know what games you’ve been watching but I’ve seen him weasel his way in and score under the basket or get fouled on the attempt, many times.
He can get to the hoop but I’d posit his success rate isn’t as high as it should be from that range. He misses a bunch