Merrimack Post Game Thoughts

[Huskymagic]

Isaiah Whaley is impressing me. One guy I didn't expect much from and he is outplaying the rest of the big men pretty handily. Very active, good hands, athletic, and good instincts on defense and rebounding. Carlton is also playing solid ball.

Tyler Polley as I said needs to be our starting 3 man, while Larrier is better suited as a 4 man ala Daniels in our team. The team needs both in the game to provide size, length, and skill at the same time. Tyler second most talented player on this team. High IQ player makes the right read.

Jalen Adams is playing way too much off the ball. He needs to be the main ball handler with Vital and Alterique playing good defense and scoring off the ball. They can alternate but it should be 80/20 in Jalen's favor for this team to reach its peak. He is not exerting his will on the team.

Anderson should not play more than 5 minutes a game. He does nothing well and fouls relentlessly. Alterique and Vital were OK today.

Starting Lineup: Jalen, CV, Polley,Larrier, Whaley
Bench: Alterique, Carlton, Cobb

 

[kansashusky]

4 free throws total.

Shot 7 percent from behind the arc.

If that continues, we have another losing season.

Every single team in the nation should zone us.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Diarra played very well offensively in the short time he was in. Not sure how you could leave him off for that.

 

[Milo65]

Two preseason games and I have serious concerns about:

3 pt shooting
Defense
Post Offense
Larrier- rust

 

[shizzle787]

Disagree on Alterique. He did well at getting by the first level of the zone and made some floaters and good passes as a a result. Anderson was really the only guy who basically played himself out of minutes. Nothing really there from him.
I still like the three guard lineup going forward:
Adams, Gilbert, Vital, Larrier, Diarra
Bench: Cobb, Whaley, Williams, Polley, Carlton, Anderson

 

[shizzle787]

Two preseason games and I have serious concerns about:

3 pt shooting
Defense
Post Offense
Larrier- rust

Larrier had about five steal and dunk buckets. He looked pretty good.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Nobody got injured. Beyond that it was an exhibition.

 

[3rdbass]

Isaiah Whaley is impressing me. One guy I didn't expect much from and he is outplaying the rest of the big men pretty handily. Very active, good hands, athletic, and good instincts on defense and rebounding. Carlton is also playing solid ball.

Tyler Polley as I said needs to be our starting 3 man, while Larrier is better suited as a 4 man ala Daniels in our team. The team needs both in the game to provide size, length, and skill at the same time. Tyler second most talented player on this team. High IQ player makes the right read.

Jalen Adams is playing way too much off the ball. He needs to be the main ball handler with Vital and Alterique playing good defense and scoring off the ball. They can alternate but it should be 80/20 in Jalen's favor for this team to reach its peak. He is not exerting his will on the team.

Anderson should not play more than 5 minutes a game. He does nothing well and fouls relentlessly. Alterique and Vital were OK today.

Starting Lineup: Jalen, CV, Polley,Larrier, Whaley
Bench: Alterique, Carlton, Cobb

Like I said in the another thread this team should look a lot better at the end of the season. Right now they just don't fit and it looks ugly. We will have a lot of losses going into the American season for sure. It is whether we can rebound and play better later that is going to define this season. Roles haven't been defined. Definitely agree Polly and Larrier combo at forwards is our best look going forward.

 

[Milo65]

Larrier had about five steal and dunk buckets. He looked pretty good.

Better than the first game, but still rust on his outside game and I’m sure he’s still not 100% especially mentally coming back from a knee injury.

 

[TheDude]

Better than the first game, but still rust on his outside game and I’m sure he’s still not 100% especially mentally coming back from a knee injury.

Its hard to judge chemistry, in pre season you play everybody, but in the heat of the season I doubt more than 9 guys play

 

[80shusky]

I saw a few good things. We created a mess of turnovers. Jalen was taking a back seat today I wouldn't worry about that much. He should have the ball in his hands when the games count. Those of you extolling the virtues of Larrier at the 4 might want to consider the competition. I liked Whaley. I did not like our 3 point shooting or rotations on the perimeter on defense. Nice to see Diarra get a little run and be productive and Kwintin get some minutes. I'd still like the team to make a concerted effort to go inside more to Cobb and Carlton. Carlton looks like he has an idea of what he is doing but just isn't confident enough yet to do it consistently. Larrier looked better and less out of control. This team is inexperienced and they are going to look really bad sometimes. We can only hope Jalen, Vital, Alterique and Larrier can have some really great games and carry us to some wins. I think we are all going to have less hair at the end of the season. Still loves me some Husky basketball though!

 

[shizzle787]

Its hard to judge chemistry, in pre season you play everybody, but in the heat of the season I doubt more than 9 guys play

I was thinking we would only have 9 guys play until I saw Whaley, Williams, and Carlton all do pretty well in the second half. Ultimately, I don't think Carlton will get much playing time this year.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I saw a few good things. We created a mess of turnovers. Jalen was taking a back seat today I wouldn't worry about that much. He should have the ball in his hands when the games count. Those of you extolling the virtues of Larrier at the 4 might want to consider the competition. I liked Whaley. I did not like our 3 point shooting or rotations on the perimeter on defense. Nice to see Diarra get a little run and be productive and Kwintin get some minutes. I'd still like the team to make a concerted effort to go inside more to Cobb and Carlton. Carlton looks like he has an idea of what he is doing but just isn't confident enough yet to do it consistently. Larrier looked better and less out of control. This team is inexperienced and they are going to look really bad sometimes. We can only hope Jalen, Vital, Alterique and Larrier can have some really great games and carry us to some wins. I think we are all going to have less hair at the end of the season. Still loves me some Husky basketball though!

Carlton looked like the rawest player put there today. Just looks awkward with the bal a lot of the time.

 

[3rdbass]

Carlton looked like the rawest player put there today. Just looks awkward with the bal a lot of the time.

Actually I think he holds his position quite well and never brings the ball down. He hasn't looked half bad in the two exhibition games I have seen.

 

[HooperScooper]

I just got home and didn't see the game. The box score says 70 of their 79 points were scored in the paint. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing to see in an exhibition against a D2 team that I'm sure UConn had a big size advantage against (they won't have that same size advantage against D1 opponents). Thoughts from those that saw the game?

1-14 from three? Ugh.

 

[upstater]

Carlton looked like the rawest player put there today. Just looks awkward with the bal a lot of the time.

Really? I'm impressed by him. He seems to have a good idea what to do with the ball when he gets it.

 

[3rdbass]

I just got home and didn't see the game. The box score says 70 of their 79 points were scored in the paint. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing to see in an exhibition against a D2 team that I'm sure UConn had a big size advantage against (they won't have that same size advantage against D1 opponents). Thoughts from those that saw the game?

1-14 from three? Ugh.

Yes, it looked like they won the game solely on height and athletic difference. Basketball skills were lacking in this game including exterior defense and outside shooting.

 

[shizzle787]

Yes, it looked like they won the game solely on height and athletic difference. Basketball skills were lacking in this game including exterior defense and outside shooting.

If we win via height and athletic difference alone, Northeastern and Wagner won't happen again this year.

 

[3rdbass]

If we win via height and athletic difference alone, Northeastern and Wagner won't happen again this year.

Well if Merrimack could shoot from outside at a better clip the game would have been tighter. Or if that white guy on their team didn't have 5 or 6 travels. We won this game solely by physical talent. We have a long way to go before we can call ourselves a good basketball team skill wise.

 

[3rdbass]

If we win via height and athletic difference alone, Northeastern and Wagner won't happen again this year.

Those teams outskilled us last year. Merrimack couldn't do it today.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Actually I think he holds his position quite well and never brings the ball down. He hasn't looked half bad in the two exhibition games I have seen.

I think he's looked good too, has some good moves but just looks awkward to me.

 

[Kenny11]

I don’t like making conclusions good or bad from exhibition games but these are my thoughts:

1. Whaley is better than we could’ve hoped.
2. This team is more athletic than last year’s team.
3. Shooting sucks.

 

[David 76]

Only saw the second half, but Merrimack looked terrible. If we didn't keep fouling them, they would hardly have scored. We made Northeastern and Wagner look strong last year. This and our bigs were positives. Outside of shot-blocking, you could say we have 4 bigs that could do things our former bigs could not do.

 

[UConnJim]

It was an exhibition game and Ollie threw all kinds of combinations out there that we won't see once the real games start. I think that is one reason we are seeing team defensive lapses is we are playing man to man defense and the players are new to each other and the scheme. UConn could play zone and look better, but it wouldn't prepare them for the season.

There were plenty of positives tonight, but clearly UConn won because we were taller, stronger, and more athletic. And, the 3 point shooting did not look good and we need to figure out who are shooters are.

As for players, the bigs have better hands and higher bball IQs than we have had in a while, but they are young. Carlton, Polley, and Diarra are going to be good players. Still too early to tell how good Williams could be and I think Whaley needs more strength to be a factor at this level. Larrier looked so much better tonight than last game. Anderson was a liability on the court and fouled foolishly. It could be he is trying too hard on defense to get a role on this team.

 

[Austin316]

I feel like we’re playing a little soft... only 4 FT attempts? How does that even happen?