Memphis Post Game Thread

[Brochacho]

According to EvanMiya stats, the two lowest rated defenders are Ball and Mahaney and they are the starting backcourt. Today, it showed as they could not stop their guards.

Spencer was rated as a very poor defender at Rutgers, but he improved considerably at UConn so there is still hope for Mahaney. Ball is a sophomore who didn't play a lot last year, so I would expect improvement as well.

I have all the confidence in Ball. He has all the tools - no clue why he struggles. Mahaney? no chance he jumps like Spencer. Spencer had Clingan behind him and got to take the lesser defensive assignment due to Castle and Newton. Diarra coming in helped as well.

There won't be a single game this year where Mahaney is not guarding a player who is one or more of the following attributes: bigger, stronger, quicker, or more athletic. Sometimes all 4 like today. Doesn't have the team defense behind him to make up for his shortcomings.

 

[UConnStats]

Love Hurley, but just move on man. Thats a soft thing to say to the media even if it’s how he really feels.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Love Hurley, but just move on man. Thats a soft thing to say to the media even if it’s how he really feels.

Very bad look.

 

[TheHorde]

Another example of what @superjohn referred to earlier. Hurley has said this so much about being defending/back2back champs and getting calls. First of all, slightly delusional, second of all, we likely don’t get calls sometimes because refs don’t like Hurley. There have been reports of it. I expected him to own up a bit, I am disappointed.

They’re supposed to be professionals. And they’re supposed to be being graded on their officiating which in theory should affect postseason assignments. Honestly they liked like a high school crew in OT. The sport deserves better than petty vendettas. Step up, Commissioner Val. And don’t be useless for a change, NCAA.

 

[uconn_jack]

Sounds like sour grapes. Don’t love the quote. Focus accountability on the poor play outside of the refs

I love it.

 

[AntG168]

I love it.

Me too.

 

[SaeHusky]

He’s stubborn when it comes to his lineups.

No he's superstitious. Now that they lost I will be shocked if it isn't changed

 

[superjohn]

With the way they are playing, we aren’t gonna beat good teams with Mahaney and Samson starting. Maybe they come around, but being cute with the lineups should probably stop now.

It obviously needs to change. I'm a big supporter of Mahaney because I know he's better than what he's shown but when he's on the court with some of these lineups it makes us look fairly unathletic. We play faster with Diarra on the court but I want Hass to remain our disruptor off the bench and Samson clearly needs to join him coming off the bench for the speed lineup. The problem is Mahaney's best role is off the bench as well but as a scorer/shooter.

I'm not sure what the fix is but I want Liam, Solo, and Jaylin on the court together with their length and athleticism. Ross too but he's still raw. Nowell needs a fairly long look at point guard or we need to go more positionless I think. Liam and Jaylin both can handle and pass. Can we do things without a traditional point guard for long stretches?

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

I'm assuming Memphis may end up being a top 20 team and this loss wont affect much long term. We can't give up 55% shooting and ever expect to win.

 

[JMick]

Mahaney will be fine but he needs to be off-ball, he does not initiate and drive the ball like we need him to.

Need someone to drive the ball.

Mahaney can't play defense. The season will go as far as he allows us

 

[jayteeman]

Down 13 at the end and coming back.....thats a scream and out of chair moment.....the ot...meh.....that can be fixed easily.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

They’re supposed to be professionals. And they’re supposed to be being graded on their officiating which in theory should affect postseason assignments. Honestly they liked like a high school crew in OT. The sport deserves better than petty vendettas. Step up, Commissioner Val. And don’t be useless for a change, NCAA.

Well…So is Hurley.

 

[Skiblets]

We suck at close games! too soon? lol

 

[lonsharkin51]

There may be a big difference in quality of opponents on the loser side. Missed opportunity.

Guard play will be our biggest weakness. Mahaney was suppsed to replace Tristen but has looked more like Joey California, unfortunately. I'm not really even seeing the flashes of brilliance you'd hope for from a guard making the transition to a new program. Diarra is a solid 6th-man, no doubt.

The quality won't be too bad. We'll get Colorado or MSU, which is a wash, basically, and then we could get either Auburn or ISU, another wash.

My fear is that this is another 2006, where we have a massively talented team with one unfixable Achilles heel. In 06, it was Marcus being the only ball handler. This year, unless Nowell can be the fix, we're going to have trouble with our perimeter D, and that's just how it's going to be. We're not big enough to guard big guards, and we're not quick enough to guard quick guards. We may be able to overcome this if Mahaney's offense balances out his D, but that's not happening yet.

Start Hassan, Solo, Stewart, AK and Reed tomorrow. Love McNeeley, but show Jaylin how much you appreciate the effort.

 

[Bomber36]

They’re supposed to be professionals. And they’re supposed to be being graded on their officiating which in theory should affect postseason assignments. Honestly they liked like a high school crew in OT. The sport deserves better than petty vendettas. Step up, Commissioner Val. And don’t be useless for a change, NCAA.

What you said makes sense…it’ll never happen.

 

[Hamms30]

I also don't think Hurley cares about losing a game in Maui in exchange for blowing his lid to get the team to realize they were playing slow and disconnected. I just wish the verbal abuse was toned down and he put pressure on the refs instead of verbally assaulting them for two hours.

Behavior today reminds me of when he just started with UConn and said he was going to have to go crazy and to get the team to match his energy until he had a team culture where the the players did it on their won. I think the last two years he had a team that would do it on their own and right now he's going back to being the one to do it. Times have changed though and he's held to a higher degree now because he's not the scrappy up and comer program builder any more.. rather the reigning champ with all the attention on his program.

 

[bendm]

You mean like last year and the year before?

we beat auburn in maui 2 years ago was that in the consolation bracket?

 

[TheHorde]

Well…So is Hurley.

Hurley deserves the benefit of the doubt from us after winning two titles and going through stuff like this before. If he feels that this is playing the long game to get a more fair whistle I’m more than okay with it costing a game in November. We are asking for fairness not a whistle in the Huskies’ favor.

 

[willie99]

Jimmy would have taken a T much earlier in a game like this

 

[temery]

This is a stupid quote.

"I think it was the (expletive) calls," Hurley said. "I would expect to come to play in an event, and I don't know too many back-to-back national championship teams that get that type of a whistle."

https://athlonsports.com/college/uconn-huskies/dan-hurley-heated-reaction-viral-technical-foul-uconn-memphis

 

[TheHorde]

What you said makes sense…it’ll never happen.

Mostly because Val and the NCAA office are incompetent.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I tried to talk myself out of it but knew this game would be tough and potentially a loss.

Lose 4 starters, AK I knew would be fine, SJ and HD are great complementary players but don’t come close to what we lost, sophs stepping in with very little big game experience, newcomers trying to learn the most sophisticated offense in college hoops, playing four early games where we weren’t tested whatsoever, etc. I was nervous about this one but at least we learned that teams aren’t going lay down because of the name on our jersey. Win or learn….back to work.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I have all the confidence in Ball. He has all the tools - no clue why he struggles.

To be fair, he was excellent in the game's final six minutes.

 

[uconn_jack]

That’s not all he said. It’s one excerpt from a whole press conference. The refs were atrocious. He also gave Memphis a lot of credut

I can't find the press conference, does anyone have a link?

 

[Glastonhusky]

It obviously needs to change. I'm a big supporter of Mahaney because I know he's better than what he's shown but when he's on the court with some of these lineups it makes us look fairly unathletic. We play faster with Diarra on the court but I want Hass to remain our disruptor off the bench and Samson clearly needs to join him coming off the bench for the speed lineup. The problem is Mahaney's best role is off the bench as well but as a scorer/shooter.

I'm not sure what the fix is but I want Liam, Solo, and Jaylin on the court together with their length and athleticism. Ross too but he's still raw. Nowell needs a fairly long look at point guard or we need to go more positionless I think. Liam and Jaylin both can handle and pass. Can we do things without a traditional point guard for long stretches?

Agree on Nowell. I'm not sure if it matters who starts at center, today was not a game for SJ. Samson can be effective against smaller quicker teams and we need to protect Reed from fouling out.