Memphis Post Game Thread

[Hans Sprungfeld]

After reading the first page I'm not sure I want to read the next 17. These overreactions are crazy

Yeah, it's one game that exposed flaws, showed character, and fell short.

I wish it had been better. I'd like to see improvements. I don't think there would be much value, or that things would get better if I wrote that some posters stink and need to get better.

Fwiw, I read the first 5 pages before jumping to the final 2.

I've seen people call the game and the head coach "an embarrassment." Others said Hurley should be "ashamed & embarrassed."

My observation is that people will go to great lengths to avoid expressing their own feelings, and I stead take the convenient & easy dodge of saying how others should feel. Or just label something.

Who are they to say what's so for others? They don't speak for me.

What gives them the sense that they get to make the call?

I might be angry or frustrated or sad about a loss, a poor call, a technical foul that made things much more difficult for the team at a crucial moment.

If I can't own my own feelings, what gives me the platform to insist on what other people's feelings ought to be?

I expect nobody to answer these questions.

Why do people post that others need to take a hard look at themselves rather than that they need to take a hard look at themselves?

I imagine DH, the other coaches, and the players feel lousy about losing, want to improve, and are working toward improving.

They probably aren't talking or even thinking about how we ought to be better or different. That's ours to do.

 

[husky429]

The problem is I'm just not sure Mahaney is going to turn into a very good point guard and it makes us a lot less athletic because it's keeping one of Liam, Solo, Jaylin off the floor and it's keeping Hass off the floor when he's in there.

People bring up Tristen but Tristen was a point guard coming in. He had a 22 point triple double with 5 steals in his fourth game at UConn against Buffalo. He's just a lot bigger/more physical than Mahaney and he wasn't getting targeted all the time on defense. Mahaney has a couple things working against him. He's trying to learn the toughest position for the most advanced offensive team in the country as someone who isn't a natural point guard. At the same time he's getting targeted on defense because he's the slightest and least athletic guy on the court.

I just worry they may be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. The team and Mahaney are too talented to have the whole season depend on something that may not be a fit. I trust the staff because they've been right about basically everything but we're really going to have to start seeing it work and 6 of the next 7 games are against big time teams.

This is what I mean when people say "don't worry, Tristen took time too"

Tristen's talent was apparent all along. He had early moments that made you say "oh, that's the guy we recruited."

We aren't seeing that with Mahaney. He looks like a deer in the headlights.

He will get better. He may end up starter material. But we have to prepare to play without him IMO

 

[Scottobot]

Amen! Our guards were passive until late in regulation, that is why we didn't shoot may foul shots. Memphis pushed inside the whole game.

McNeeley drove to the hoop a bunch early in the game and had a defender riding him the whole way and they didn’t call jack. Memphis defenders had hands on players all game long and should have been called for a lot more fouls, given how tight they called it on UConn. All that said I give credit to Memphis on winning this game. Hunter shot 7-10 from three and was pretty amazing today.

 

[Excalibur]

So there’s a ton of blame to Hurley for the tech and I’m not absolving him. But…if that behavior is unacceptable then call it when he did it early and often all game. Why wait until there’s 40 seconds left to decide it’s over the line?

This. 1000 times this.

And they're making up the "#&(ing R@t@r|>" excuse. The whistle for the T came almost immediately after the call. Hurley didn't call him anything.

 

[jibsey]

Hurley is focusing on effort from the presser and players not defending drives 1 on 1. But to me it was more inability to be able to defend them. They were better guards than ours. Now Hurley will never admit that but it happens.

 

[huskyharry]

That one hurts. So many things to pick apart but unfortunately Dan Hurley lost us that game by making it a 2 possession game with 40 seconds left

The good:

1. Amazing first half from Tarris and Stewart, it was really fun to watch them bring us back
2. Solo Ball INSANE shot to sent it to OT
3. Liam had a rough game but two huge shots to help us come back late in the game

The (consolidated) bad:

1. Memphis switched 1-5 and for most of the game, nobody except Tarris punished them. You need somebody that can punish bad switches in the starting 5
2. Memphis absolutely dogged us on defense. We got Aidan to be the scorer when the sets break down, and he wasn’t able to today. We need that from him moving forward
3. Samson Johnson has to give us SOMETHING. ANYTHING

Tyrese Hunter was unbelievable tonight, fantastic game from him. Not the result we wanted but we still get 1 more game in Hawaii. Let’s come home with a W. Let’s go Huskies!

Two more games

 

[NJHusky]

Got nothing from Johnson, nothing from Mahaney, nothing from Diarra until the very end and OT and Hurley ignoring time and score to put on a show.

We are going to need someone to step up at PG and Reed has to start if only to limit Johnson's fouls.

Our best 5 is Reed, AK, McNeeley, Ball and Stewart. Other guys have yet to show they can defend and run the offense.

The ball spent way too much time in the hands of Diarra and Mahaney. They are nowhere near enough of a threat to score in the half court.

Who handles the ball in that lineup?

 

[NJHusky]

The reality is that many teams RIGHT NOW are pretty much equal to us, especially after losing NBAer's Cam, Clingan and Castle and our All American Newton. We are still under construction with freshman, new starters with our All American Karaban.

Memphis was ready and we seemed rusty and out of synch. Typical of new players learning to play with each other facing a talented D1 team. I did not see failure, just uncertainty and executional mistakes (both fixable).

Just saying, this is not our February Team. I just hope fans didn't miss the preview late in the game. Championship DNA was still on display tonight.

The entire Memphis team are transfers. They looked ok

 

[Gurleyman]

Mahaney needs a grace period, folks. It took Tristen almost a full season to really get comfortable - he looked like a whiff in February and then was able to turn the corner. Cam was in a great situation being able to function off the ball and be a second facilitator. That would probably be a better role for Mahaney to start out with, being able to run off the ball and be a triple threat. But Newton isn’t here, and Diarra and Mahaney is a small backcourt that would involve taking Solo or Liam off the floor. We’ve won with small backcourts a lot before (Kemba-Bazz, Bazz-Boat, Taliek-Ben, Ricky-Khalid) but one of the two was always a go to scorer.

So with our current personnel, Aidan is running a complicated offense with players who aren’t used to playing with each other. And he’s trying to do it with frankly much worse screeners than Tristen and Cam had. Sanogo and Clingan were A+ screeners. Big wide guys who knew how to use their bodies and give Newton space and get the defense scrambling (and be lob targets). Reed may get there as a screener, but it’ll take him some time too.

Maybe AK needs to be put in more passing situations until Mahaney settles in, but we’ll need a confident Mahaney to get where we need to go.

 

[bendm]

So this is a quad 1 loss then right? Neutral court loss to a team with that rating.

Memphis is 29 in Kenpom right now but Quads are based on NET

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Pouty face was on all day. Dude, you got more talent on the bench than other top 25 teams have, period. Coach 'em. Seeing him on the sidelines thought I accidentally taped a game from early '21. "You're only mad at the pouty face and tech cause we lost". No. We lost because the pouty face and the tech. That's incredibly dumb. Fixed it for you.

This place must do crazy numbers after a loss - some of these names are never around.

 

[Excalibur]

I don’t understand that cylinder rule they called SJ on it when he had his elbow up but didn’t give it to Solo when he took one to the chops! McNeeley 4th foul was not over the back. I think Hurley wanted to light a fire under this team and maybe was coaching for later in the season. I don’t like Mahanney or Samson on either side of the ball.

They mis-applied the cylinder rule. Swinging an elbow makes the cylinder irrelevant. If you pivot, then you're fine.

Apparently they called Ball for hitting him before the elbow contact. It shouldn't matter.

 

[navery12]

The reality is 2-1 in Maui is a successful trip, and that's very much on the table still. Beat Colorado and there's a likely top 5 matchup waiting on Wednesday

 

[Leebo]

It's a shame we don't get to relish the regulation comeback, because it would have been an all-time early showcase event story.

 

[superjohn]

Who handles the ball in that lineup?

Do you not think Ball, McNeeley, and Jaylin can bring the ball up the court?

We're not really getting any halfcourt penetration from Mahaney and Diarra.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The reality is 2-1 in Maui is a successful trip, and that's very much on the table still. Beat Colorado and there's a likely top 5 matchup waiting on Wednesday

We need to play a bunch of levels better to beat one of those top 5 matchups.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Mahaney and Johnson have no business starting. Diarra was utterly atrocious for the first 20 of his 29 minutes played tonight. The defense by the guards was awful especially Mahaney. Hurley shouldve put Ross on Hunter.

 

[superjohn]

Mahaney and Johnson have no business starting. Diarra was utterly atrocious for the first 20 of his 29 minutes played tonight. The defense by the guards was awful especially Mahaney. Hurley shouldve put Ross on Hunter.

Ross couldn't guard dribble penetration either.

 

[UCTitleTown]

It's a shame we don't get to relish the regulation comeback, because it would have been an all-time early showcase event story.

That SJ foul and review delay completely killed our momentum. I really think we'd have won without that. Memphis was flustered. That and the DH technical spoiled a great comeback, one of the best in my life as a Huskies fan. A real shame.

 

[controlfade]

AK may have to play the point forward role while Mahaney learns the system. His defense or lack of is more disturbing.

 

[AntG168]

This team was always gonna have a different journey than last years. We aren’t head and shoulders above the pack this year. There’s going to be losses. Let’s just keep getting better. And we’ll be there in the end. Enjoy the journey.

 

[NJHusky]

Do you not think Ball, McNeeley, and Jaylin can bring the ball up the court?

We're not really getting any halfcourt penetration from Mahaney and Diarra.

Not against any pressure.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

don't blame the refs.

I didn't say it.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Ross couldn't guard dribble penetration either.

Yup. But he was still better than Mahaney.

 

[RuffRuff]

Good news is we will likely get the loser of the Auburn/ISU game for a fun game 3.

This is one of those seasons where we have to enjoy the ride. See what the staff can figure out and see who steps up. It’s unlikely this team is NC quality, but if they make a run it’s all gravy. Going to sit back and enjoy and try not to be spoiled.

Wasn’t at all surprised by this one. This team is a work in progress. If they do win it it’s going to have to be in ways unlike we saw the last two years.