Memphis Post Game Thread

[upstater]

Stew was great, but you're a little rough on Solo.

First, he didn't play much the 1st half because of 2 laughable fouls called against him. But the kid hit big 3s from deep in the final seconds and in OT. Raftery would call that "Onions!"

 

[upstater]

lol I don’t think anyone is worried about Hurley.

I think people are actually worried

 

[temery]

We won every statistic, except one

Except for the fact they shot 55% for fg and 3 pointers.

 

[Devland]

Coaches are in a no win situation. Go biserk when a bad calls against you, you're an out of control maniac. Stay calm and not argue, you don't care, you have no passion. I'll take the maniac any day.

 

[ValleyGuy]

I think people are actually worried

Which ones? The ones who became fans last year?

 

[connVA]

I think people are actually worried

After two championship seasons I thought he was above the temper tantrums. He appeared to have mastered the zen, "killing with kindness" approach when dealing with officials last year and most games seemed to be relatively fairly called. There really weren't many episodes and certainly nothing like what happened yesterday. So did the chicken (calm Dan Hurley) or the egg (maybe not better but at least more balanced officiating) come first?

As we already knew but saw illustrated quite clearly yesterday, we're now every team's National Championship game. So the last thing we need is to also be on the short end of every 50/50 call (or worse) when the Pat Driscolls of the NCAA go into games already keyed up for a rock fight with Dan Hurley on the sidelines.

 

[upstater]

Which ones? The ones who became fans last year?

I've been a fan since the 70s. You?

 

[huskyjawz]

Jim Calhoun would have and did get them. A lot

Tell me a game where Jimmy got a T in overtime that cost his team a chance to win the game.

 

[TheHorde]

The foul on McNeeley for the rebound was a head scratcher. Ref was planning that. When our boys got it close the ref's took it away. And the player for Memphis who was knocking down three's was the game. He gets half of them we win.

I wonder how much the early T allegedly on the UConn trainer really set Hurley off more than usual and set the stage for what happened later and how the game was officiated late. Is there a history with this crew and Hurley, I wonder?

 

[TheHorde]

Tell me a game where Jimmy got a T in overtime that cost his team a chance to win the game.

K deserved one late in the 2004 Final Four game against us, but the refs swallowed their whistles then so as not to ruin an epic game.

 

[ValleyGuy]

I've been a fan since the 70s. You?

Since the 80s. The fact that you’re “worried” is just mind boggling. No wonder he entertained the Lakers job..

 

[UConnSwag11]

Their guards shot the hell out of the ball and took it to the rim with contact. We had no guard driving game, hence fewer foul shots. Wonder if Hurley will let Nowell play? My guess is it’s still Maheney.

No clue why Nowell wasn’t playing over Mahaney. There’s enough scoring around Nowell that he would’ve given a spark on defense.

Stewart only played 16 minutes. Him and Reed are why we were in the game at half

 

[Dove]

How will this team recover? I am beside myself. This coach, man.

 

[huskyjawz]

I will defend our national championship HC anywhere, anyday.

He's the best, but nobody's perfect. If you asked Vince Lombardi and John Wooden if they ever made mistakes , they would tell you what they were.

Danny's the best, but he should own up to his mistakes. He took his team out of the game in OT when they had a chance to win. He should apologize for getting a T in that situation. Regardless of the refs, that is inexcusable.

 

[imno1]

He's the best, but nobody's perfect. If you asked Vince Lombardi and John Wooden if they ever made mistakes , they would tell you what they were.

Danny's the best, but he should own up to his mistakes. He took his team out of the game in OT when they had a chance to win. He should apologize for getting a T in that situation. Regardless of the refs, that is inexcusable.

He should be running stairs today

 

[Drame]

Ross couldn't guard dribble penetration either.

Ross needs reps. He has the tools to be way better than Mahaney at guarding drives. Memphis guards were seeking contact and throwing shots at the rim and getting every call. A lot were fouls, many were no calls.

 

[Drame]

You do stuff like this and wonder why you get hit with a tech when it matters.

This is childish.

That video doesnt show what that tweet says it does. Where are the refs?

 

[2014DualCs]

Samson has hands like two cedar planks. It’s getting to the point where he cannot do little things like catch a ball, and hold onto it. He fumbled multiple feeds where he looked well positioned to get an easy bucket. He can’t hold onto rebounds. He was fine disguised in an all time great roster getting fed lobs, but now exposed. His ceiling is a 15 minute bench guy. If he gets more time than that it’s not because he’s a good basketball player. Everything with him looks amazingly awkward - footwork, catching a ball, the most simple aspects of basketball. Meanwhile Tarrris got a rebound and dribbled it up court yesterday. These two guys aren’t even in the same league, nevermind questioning who should start.

THIS!!!

I was losing my mind all game at the fact that he simply couldn't grab onto the ball on multiple rebounds in BIG spots throughout the game. Not to mention getting fed good looks only to have to dribble out the fumble multiple times.

As everyone on the board has said, it is MORE than clear Reed is our starting 5. Interested to see if Hurley makes that change or uses the "Samson's jersey was ripped and refs were calling fouls unfairly against him & not for him" excuse and shoves him back out there at 3:30pm EST.

 

[Drame]

I think it’s time to retire the “Ross is Reggie Lewis”nonsense. This ain’t Lemoyne.

And then when he has an awesome game we'll bring it back.

 

[Yanksrock615]

“Embarrassment to the program”

Wow. I forgot what the boneyard was like after a loss.

We been winning too much . Some of these clowns hating on Hurley like he hasn’t turned us into a superpower.

 

[ctbro1999]

Love the way they fought back but they need to finish. Yes the call stunk butt thats happens at times.

You know, to have such a mixed bag as far as the starters aside from Karaban having a bad/off game and the opponent shooting 55% overall AND from 3, I still believe this team has the talent to at least make a realistic shot at a 3-peat. We saw stretches where we looked like a team that could 3-peat. But also stretches were we looked like dog butt.
Lots of work needs to be done between now and March, but I still believe the lump of clay we have can be molded into a masterpiece statue by the end of the season.

 

[Kitaman]

Samson has no excuses. He is a 4 year player. To expect a significant improvement is tough. Lobs, blocks, tiring out big men with his energy is the most we can expect.

That's fine for a backup but not a starter. He had his chance. Sad that he played against Sanogo and Clingan daily and this is the result of those matchups with two NBA teammates.

Could make 6th man of the year in the BE if he embraces his role as a bench player (again). That is his ceiling to me. Not a diss but just 4 years of observation.

 

[boog204]

Ok, I've held off to let the smoke clear...

Positives:

Reed was great. Hope all of you that trashed his signing and said we should have gotten Cliff or Ballo can reevaluate. Tarris averaging 14 and 10 on the season in a little over 20mpg. And, he'll be here for one more year.

We had no business being in overtime with a chance to win. Big ups for coming back when we were thoroughly outplayed the majority of the game.

Memphis is a team of experienced, talented, mercenaries. They will win games this year. And lose some head scratchers as well. Haggerty is a stud, Hunter and Rogers are already 1000pt scorers, and their bigs are all seniors who were starters at other places. We have a lot of new faces and the old faces (sans Alex) are trying to take on new/bigger roles. It will come.

Concerns:

Memphis is/was significantly more athletic than us at almost every position. There were times where 1-5 they were quicker, stronger, tougher. They were chippy and honestly, I thought we looked soft for the first 35 minutes of the game. It made things very difficult on both ends. Ross and JStew add some athleticism, but who sits?

Our guards, up until the last 10-15 when Hassan turned it around were not very good. Mahaney, for the first time to me, was a complete liability on the defensive end. We'll be fine, but I think we're seeing the effect of not having three lead guards on the court as we did last year. We still put points in but there were some half court struggles because our guards were picking up their dribble and stagnating.

Goes without saying that both Samson Johnson and Dan Hurley with absolutely idiotic moments at the most inopportune time. This is a senior and HOF-caliber coach having no composure whatsoever. To add onto Samson Johnson, he's got to find a way to stay on the court and be a some sort of a factor. Again, this is a byproduct of having three outstanding triple threat guys last year in the pick and roll game. We just don't have those guys this year.

Officiating was bad both ways. Getting beat off the dribble consistently against athletic guards will yield lots of fouls. We watched Tristen draw fouls for two years on iffy calls. Live with it. But bad officiating isn't to blame for fouling three point shooters and poor execution.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

That video doesnt show what that tweet says it does. Where are the refs?

The quote seems like it comes at the very end. I’m not sure who else would he be talking to. Would it be better if it was said to a player or another coach?

He has got to learn to relax. Thought the meditation he was promoting with Jay Bilas was suppose to help with this.

 

[Conndog]

Ross needs reps. He has the tools to be way better than Mahaney at guarding drives. Memphis guards were seeking contact and throwing shots at the rim and getting every call. A lot were fouls, many were no calls.

Ross did get beat couple of times- not by much, he was a split second slow responding to opponent’s move- but so was every other UConn defender. With more playing time to get seasoned, and maybe set defensive position one foot farther away so he has more of a cushion to respond to the initial drive- I think the players in general stand too close initially. But yesterday, Memphis guards were killing either way with their attacking drives or bombing from outside.

i forgot that Reed had picked up foul #5 before overtime and wasn’t available for OT. If he was in the game instead, the OT would have gone differently. I think he too will improve on defense and not foul so much, like that time he fouled the shooter in the corner.

UConn needs to work on some things, both players and head coach, but that still was a awesome comeback!