I think that big line up with Ball, Ross, McNeeley, Alex and Samson or Reed kind of negates their size. I hope Hurley goes to it if we are getting crushed on the boards.
Never heard of him. Cam Spencer wasn’t too bad though.
Yeah, it was wierd. When ot was Ball and Ross in there doing the ball handling, I thought for sure they'd punch any would get ugly quick. Pleasant surprises.
I don't know why our guards don't drive hard right into Mitchell when he closes in hard on them. Especially if he's coming in at any angle, just power dribble right into him and he'll get called for a blocking or reach in foul. Dribbling away from him just allows him to gain the advantage. It's counterintuitive, but important to teach or teams will get in their grill. Newton and Spencer were great at that. Hopeful the staff will teach this hard into them.
This crazy hyperbole about him becoming on of our best defenders needs to stop - thought this board would have learned from earlier in the year. He had a good game last night; he’s been at times flat out awful recently as well.
Actual games are pressure situations, not a goofy 3 point shooting competition. He handle is also fine for his size but let’s not get carried away here. I think Ross is a good kid but for every good play on offense he has another three where he’s indecisive, throwing the ball away, etc. Maybe he does just need game time but he’s had the opportunity to do anything on offense with Liam out and didn’t show much. This is a team desperate for offense that can’t wait around for him to start feeling confident on offense.
The problem is Val is overpaid and uselessI watched the game live and watched half of it again today, and Mitchell gets away with an incredible amount of contact without being called for a foul. Now granted some of his thefts and pressure is legit and impressive, but my gosh! If any of our players pressured like that they'd foul out by halftime.
I can't remember at what point in the first half, I think within the last 5 minutes they finally called on on him that was highly egregious.
And don't get me started about all the grabbing and impedence off the ball against both Karaban and Ball. What the h*ll has happened in the Big East with freedom of movement. Isn't there someway the UConn athletic department can petition the BE commisser and/or office, sending them a slew of tape on all this off the ball contact so that the BE leadership can inform the refs to look for and call fouls on this type of physicality? I think it would be in the best interest for the conference to empower the more skill teams such as UConn to succeed rather than being beaten by lesser teams who are just grabbing all the time.
As for bad noncall incorrectly called fouls last night we certainly had our share. There were quite a few we got away with that I thought were obvious. Though without looking closely and counting all of them for both teams, I'd still think it was tilted in Marquette's favor.
I don't usually complain about getting hosed by the refs, but this season has been a strange one. There's no doubt that this UConn team clearly struggles to defend without fouling. Most occur due to defenders struggling to keep their man front driving right by them, poor help D execution resulting in off the ball defenders scrambling when D gets blown up and a good amount when they fail to secure the defensive rebounds where they give up 2nd and 3rd opportunities. My guess is if you foul a lot, like a dog with Pavlov's law, the refs react in conditionally response and can't stop blowing the whistle. I swear I keep on hearing the whistle blowing even after they go to commercials..
On the positive note on our defense, I thought they improved a lot with switching more than we've seen all season and hedging at the right times as well. Not sure if the frequent switching is a new wrinkle or was due to Marquette not having quality Bigs to worry so much with mismatched. One thing that bodes well for even switching sometimes on screens with our bigs is Johnson is long and pretty quick for a big, and Reed, while bigger and not as long, moves pretty well for a player his size. His problem lies more with recognition and technique than physical ability. Sometimes he's just a fraction too slow in closing out and retreating back to his man or late in recognizing to shade off his man to help stave off dribble penetration when a teammate has lost their angle. He's new to this type of D and seems to be slowly getting better with his help D.
That's a lot in that response but I hope it was worth reading.
Hawkins will always be beloved for the way he played in the tournament, especially with huge shots vs the U and the Aztecs. But he was objectively not good that January. Many on the BY thought he should stay for his Junior year at the end of that January. The reality is how kids play in March and April has a lot to do with defining their legacy.
I was thinking the same. Many times the Marquette guards dive into you trying to steal the ball. The only drawback to your plan is you're relying on the refs to call a foul instead of taking a big chance of losing the ball. And we know how good the refs are.
I think we need to take Mahaney being a junior in context as a first year transfer into the program. I believe he will have a tremendous increase in confidence here next year, which will translate into a massive improvement in his contributions.
He wasn't hurt or in foul trouble?
I’m not so sure. The win at Syracuse in Feb 1995 to secure the first #1 ranking was one of the bigger wins in the last 30 years.
Looked like Jaylin was gassed after the explosive start. Resulted in him playing less intuitively. Gassed and overthinking for an underclassmen will always result in turnovers and subpar defense. There’s a stud there, but he needs to up his S&C imo after watching yesterday’s game
Yes agreed let’s not be positive about our current roster and hope they do not improve. Sounds like a miserable way to look at things.
Both Hawk and Ball get the ball out in a hurry. Hawk had the benefit of having better screeners.
I really admire the touch that Hurley and staff has shown with developing and playing Ball, Ross, Mahaney and Stewart.
Solo has made dagger threes all season and he makes his threes at a significantly higher rate than Hawkins did on the same amount of volume as Hawkins.
We are a loyal bunch. Hawk won a chip. If Ball gets one the comparisons will be more objective. But I agree with your assessment. They are different players and Ball’s shot is more in line with how great shooters now shoot. Hawk had a more traditional jump shot and really was not great off the dribble.
Not a good idea to use BY "thought" as evidence for anything.
I’m REALLY hoping we can have him ready to handle a lead guard role next year. It would be ideal instead of hitting the transfer portal.
That is often the case, though in that instance, there was a lot of merit to that take. Thankfully for Hawkins and that team, the switch flipped as soon as Hanuary wrapped.Not a good idea to use BY "thought" as evidence for anything.
