Memphis Post Game Thread

[TheShot1990]

Some positives from this game, in no particular order:

-I think we have 3 guys who are ready and willing to take & make big shots, maybe even 4: Alex, Solo, Liam, and Hass

-All of Hass's 3s looked pure...even the crunch time ones. His 9/10 FTs and perfect during crunch time can't be discounted. We don't even have a chance to tie or win that game without his performance in crunch time

-We saw some of the past 2 years' beautiful offense here-n-there. It was mostly with Alex finding cutters or drive/kicking, but its there. Even Samson had a great high/low dish to a cutter.

-Reed needs to be our starter. Guy is just a force on offense and had some ridiculous post moves against a quality 5. What a felonious coaching job Howard did at Michigan

-Stewart looked absolutely fabulous in the 1st half in a long run forced by most of the starters getting into foul trouble. I need to rewatch the 2nd to really try and figure it out but he should have gotten more minutes.

-Our press was very very effective and disruptive. Hopefully we throw it at a team every now and then as a different look and not just when we are behind and desperate.


Some general observations:

-Memphis definitely played like a team of dudes with dozens (for some, hundreds) of CBB games of experience. Even though they don't have a lot of team experience, their gameplan/offense (lots of iso-driving, iso-creating 3's) didn't demand a lot of cohesiveness

-I thought Bilas did a real nice job announcing and commenting on players and refs. He thought the Tarris offensive foul was lame and should've been a play-on, the Liam OTB was a trash call, didn't like the foul calls on Solo (when his face got in the way of a Memphis elbow), and Liam's strip-steal at the end of the game (but understood why the called it). He likes us and gives us a pretty fair shake. Rightly pointed out how Memphis was just absolutely abusing Mahaney as the weak link on the defense whenever he was on the floor.

-The Memphis Centers (Cisse in particular, I think) were really chippy & chirpy. They were constantly slapping away Reeds/Samson's hands, trying to instigate sheisse, talking tons of trash. On more than one occasion, it drew the refs over, who every time seemed to let them continue their antics and gave warnings to our dudes. It's gamesmanship, I know, but still kinda lame, and it finally culminated in Samson's T. Thankfully, it got bailed out by the dumb Memphis dude running over and bumping Samson after he pushed Cisse (?), who, although he couldn't be budged by Samson Johnson all game in the paint, reacted as if Samson hit him with a classic Street Fighter Hadouken blast...

I woke up this morning and was about to throw myself out the bedroom window (it's only on the 2nd floor) till I read these comments. All outstanding observations. Agree, face-in-the-cylinder is not a foul.

I would like to read JustbrewitMan's Brief's more often.

 

[Hankster]

That call was embarrassing. Clean rebound by McNeeley and then Solo got popped in the jaw by a swinging elbow just standing there. And was called for a foul. Sad!

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.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

to those that say the T wasn't justified, they don't understand actual basketball. You cannot flop around on the floor and show up three officials with whistles, doesnt matter how bad the call was or what point in the game it is. If you cross a line and show them up like that, you will get T'd. Especially after berating them for 2 hours. Try to think of all the other times you saw a coach rolling around on the floor after a bad call, and didnt get a T. I'll wait

wasn't a fan of his postgame comments, but he's instilling the season long chip

 

[CT2SC]

Dumbfounds me that Jaylin Stewart does not receive the same level of love and benefit of the doubt as Solo Ball and Jayden Ross. Makes no sense.

Agree 110%. Stew was the best of the three by far yesterday but still sees the fewest minutes. Ross literally did nothing yesterday. Stew needs to get more minutes and should be the first wing off the bench.

 

[RuffRuff]

With 3 minutes to go in game-Down 11- Thought they had just given up. Were being out-played. Glad they gutted it out and made it a game. Got punched in the head. Got off the mat. Kept playing. A good sign.

Memphis guards are experienced-Tough-Street smart-And know how to "read the refs" and get their calls. Were shooting lights out and getting to the FT line.

Reed is the real deal. This season -After 5 games-Samson has more fouls than rebounds. Can't defend in the post.

If you want Jaylin to play. One of Karaban/McNeeley/Reed has to be on the bench. Or we'll get torched by the opposition's guards. Foul trouble changes that dynamic like the first half today.

Mahaney needs to improve but had 1 TO in 24 minutes. The team has to present themselves-get open-not have their backs to the PG -create space from the defender to accept a pass when initiating offensive sets. Didn't happen.

Dan has to accept his part of the responsibility for the L. IMO-Thought the last trap/last play of the game with 3 or 4 seconds on the clock was a steal by Stewart but refs were not going to let that happen.

Lots to work on in the film room. Let's get a W on Tuesday.

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.

 

[upstater]

Agree 110%. Stew was the best of the three by far yesterday but still sees the fewest minutes. Ross literally did nothing yesterday. Stew needs to get more minutes and should be the first wing off the bench.

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 DH) 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 DH 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.