Miscalculations by DH

[Chin Diesel]

That portal should be locked into a black hole until the last game of the tournament is over.

Some would say the same about college football and the portal being open during bowl season and the college football playoffs.
College basketball has yet to have players on a Final Four team opt out of the FF because they are transferring to a new school.

 

[temery]

College basketball has yet to have players on a Final Four team opt out of the FF because they are transferring to a new school.

'So?

 

[jibsey]

Mostly worried about the fact that when it comes to ballhandling, Mahaney seems to be the second best handler on the team!

If you are correct about that then it shows why we have been so screwed this year. He is by no means secure with the ball.

 

[UCfor3]

That portal should be locked into a black hole until the last game of the tournament is over.

Agree totally but programs will cheat and contact players in the portal early anyway and the NCAA will do nothing but make an example out of some random mid major like Ball St or Texas Southern.

 

[boog204]

If you are correct about that then it shows why we have been so screwed this year. He is by no means secure with the ball.

Honestly, the only guy who I'm not worried about getting randomly stripped 30 feet from the hoop is Liam. Everyone else on the team is mediocre for their respective positions.

 

[freescooter]

You know what else we are missing this year? An off the bench scorer. Joey California was the guy in 2023. Diarra played that role last year and to some extent in 2023. This team would really benefit from a microwave type off the bench when shots aren’t falling. Who is that guy on this team?

 

[Com'rGordon]

You know what else we are missing this year? An off the bench scorer. Joey California was the guy in 2023. Diarra played that role last year and to some extent in 2023. This team would really benefit from a microwave type off the bench when shots aren’t falling. Who is that guy on this team?

Has to be Stewart

 

[boog204]

You know what else we are missing this year? An off the bench scorer. Joey California was the guy in 2023. Diarra played that role last year and to some extent in 2023. This team would really benefit from a microwave type off the bench when shots aren’t falling. Who is that guy on this team?

For sure... We had Joey C, Naheim, AND DC coming off the bench to give us 5-7 a game each. Last year Hass was good for 6 and Samson would get two dunks a game.

Aside from Tarris (and sometimes even him), our bench generally gives us absolutely nothing offensively or defensively. Crazy how we went from being 10-11 deep in the preseason to really having six players who you could somewhat depend on.

 

[Kolumbo]

BJ Freeman - Guard - 6'6" 200 lbs

Arizona State's leading scorer has been dismissed. Can he transfer today? A few discipline issues, no biggie.

BJ Freeman College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

BJ Freeman - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

BJ Freeman no longer with ASU due to detrimental conduct

BJ Freeman is no longer with the Arizona State men's basketball team due to conduct detrimental to the team, a team spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.

arizonasports.com

 

[husky429]

BJ Freeman - Guard - 6'6" 200 lbs

Arizona State's leading scorer has been dismissed. Can he transfer today? A few discipline issues, no biggie.

BJ Freeman College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

BJ Freeman - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

BJ Freeman no longer with ASU due to detrimental conduct

BJ Freeman is no longer with the Arizona State men's basketball team due to conduct detrimental to the team, a team spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.

arizonasports.com

We are not recruiting a kid who was kicked off our coaches brother's team. No friggen' way.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

What guy?
AM or DH?
If it's AM, I agree
If it's DH - you are so wrong

The first post lights up AM. The guy barely played yesterday.

 

[Agent0]

After the 2nd round of the NCAAs, so the Monday 8 days after Selection Sunday.

But guys are already "in the portal". Trilly Donovan has a list of 70 guys already.

Care to share the list?

 

[PAHusky]

You know what else we are missing this year? An off the bench scorer. Joey California was the guy in 2023. Diarra played that role last year and to some extent in 2023. This team would really benefit from a microwave type off the bench when shots aren’t falling. Who is that guy on this team?

We don’t really even have one in the starting lineup, let alone coming off the bench

 

[Martin84]

Each of the last three years has come with major assumptions going into the year

Could Andre/Hawkins/Sanogo make star leaps in development, with the 4 transfers and 2 freshmen making immediate impacts? Took some time but we ended up hitting on those assumptions

Could Newton make the superstar leap, could those freshmen make a sophomore leap, could Diarra/Samson go from benchwarmer to key pieces, could Cam and Castle adjust immediately to the BE? Less unknowns here but obviously hits on them all

This year, could the sophomore class make a jump, could Karaban make the superstar leap, could Samson make a leap, could the transfers fix their issues under a Hurley system, will McNeeley be ready? Tarris, Solo, Liam hit. Karaban, Samson, Stewart, Ross, Mahaney missed

I’m sure those mistakes won’t be repeated again going into next year

I like everything you said until the last sentence. We could have a few down years to set up a few good years.

 

[Gutter King]

This is chess, not checkers. And we all know - sometimes you make a move and you are boxed in and there isn't anything you can do about it. He missed on roster construction - let's fight like hell the rest of the way and see what happens. I trust they will get it right going forward.

The coach takes the glory and should burden the failures, but the amount of anti-Hurley stuff is rather shocking. This season is just another data point. He didn't have the players he thought he had. Look at Kansas...I haven't watched a minute of KU, but obviously Self is going through something similar over there.

Honestly, we miss a lot of simple plays that previous teams made. A lot. We almost never pull the trigger on anticipatory passes, and when we do we've had a lot of what happened on our first offensive posession yesterday....Diarra anticipating Samson Johnson (Senior to Senior even) to continue to the basket but he just stops. TO. That's a dunk to Adama and DC. There are about 4 or 5 examples like that in a game. I never saw Aiden do it once, Ball did it in the last Nova game but really no other time, etc. Accountability needs to be shifted to the players more.

We also do not execute cuts with any sort of tenacity, it really is going through the motions 80% and when something actually pops open....we don't make the play. We are simply way too easy to guard. What made Cam and AK effective is you absolutely had to stop their cut AND the 3pt, and those players knew when the D screwed up to exploit it, and they had the PGs in TNew and Diarra that were a half a step ahead of the D as well. I mean afterall, that is the point of a good offense...to be 1/2 step ahead of the D rather than be a 1/2 step behind.

If we made the plays that were (wide) open we are probably sitting with 4 losses.

 

[auror]

Care to share the list?

It would violate the rules on this site. But they're not definite anyways, I think he says his early portal list has like an 80% accuracy. Guys change their mind sometimes (or their school/collective comes back with a good offer).

 

[3rdbass]

Each of the last three years has come with major assumptions going into the year

Could Andre/Hawkins/Sanogo make star leaps in development, with the 4 transfers and 2 freshmen making immediate impacts? Took some time but we ended up hitting on those assumptions

Could Newton make the superstar leap, could those freshmen make a sophomore leap, could Diarra/Samson go from benchwarmer to key pieces, could Cam and Castle adjust immediately to the BE? Less unknowns here but obviously hits on them all

This year, could the sophomore class make a jump, could Karaban make the superstar leap, could Samson make a leap, could the transfers fix their issues under a Hurley system, will McNeeley be ready? Tarris, Solo, Liam hit. Karaban, Samson, Stewart, Ross, Mahaney missed

I’m sure those mistakes won’t be repeated again going into next year

Samson I wouldn't call a miss. He is what he is and he is acctually a better rebounder this year and he did show some jump hook moves close to the basket which he never showed before. He is still a good change of pace player compared to Tarris. I think he has been pretty good. His defense has actually improved compared to last year. The others I agree have been dissappointing to say the least. Especially a player with obvious Talent in Stewart has been a headcase in consistency. He seems to take more time off then he plays when in which then points a little bit to bad coaching/mentoring.

 

[3rdbass]

Honestly, the only guy who I'm not worried about getting randomly stripped 30 feet from the hoop is Liam. Everyone else on the team is mediocre for their respective positions.

Funny you mentioned that but that is exactly what happened in the game yesterday. LOL!

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I have a question for the Boneyarders who have been griping about DH's preseason threepeat talk:

Do you believe that the reason we are in our current situation is because DH said threepeat was the goal?

Do you believe that teams are playing us harder than the would have if DH said " We're replacing a lot and we may not be able to make a run like we had the past two years."?

Are you upset because that talk got your hope's up and now you're facing a possibility that you haven't had to deal with in nearly three years?

I'm pretty confident that whatever it is that you're upset about is on you, not DH as the team was going to be what it will end up being regardless.

 

[Kolumbo]

We are not recruiting a kid who was kicked off our coaches brother's team. No friggen' way.

It was said mostly in jest, obvie.

That said, that would be the ultimate brotherly move! Turn the kid around and he leads UConn to another championship playing for the Hurley who coaches and wins Natties.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Our success the last two years was do to a large degree because of portal success , development and Incoming freshman , The results on all three are mixed to say the least
The 5 was a concern but we’re getting 16-10 from that position not bad . we went to the portal and although Reed wasn’t the home run transfer going in he has exceeded expectations.
The big problem area we have and it was supposed to be solved by combination of the Portal and a top 30 recruit is ball control with both Newton and Castle moving on it was a huge priority . Instead it’s become a huge hole in both to date as we’re only getting 6 pts in 19 minutes . Thats a huge fail
In player development.we made an effort to retain pretty much the entirety of last years freshman less Castle in the hopes that they would lake huge leaps
Ball has probably exceeded expectations offensively, 14.7 PPG
Getting only a combined 7 PPG from Stewart and Ross in 30 minutes has created a black hole that puts undue pressure on your shooters
As for a pretty highly regarded freshman class
McNeeley has typical been as advertised but Nowell and Abraham not so much
If our weakness are this obvious to this old nearly blind man . Opposition coaches know these weakness and preparation against our other players becomes a lot easier .

 

[djct1999]

I have a question for the Boneyarders who have been griping about DH's preseason threepeat talk:

Do you believe that the reason we are in our current situation is because DH said threepeat was the goal?

Do you believe that teams are playing us harder than the would have if DH said " We're replacing a lot and we may not be able to make a run like we had the past two years."?

Are you upset because that talk got your hope's up and now you're facing a possibility that you haven't had to deal with in nearly three years?

I'm pretty confident that whatever it is that you're upset about is on you, not DH as the team was going to be what it will end up being regardless.

I think you are dismissing how so many on here actually know more than DH and are better coaches. Surely, I can name many posters who apparently would do a better job.

 

[SubbaBub]

We don't have an All-American. This was always going to be a problem.
We don't have enough defenders. We hoped the new rotation would pick it up.
We don't have enough ball handlers. Diara has done well, but he never had to lead the team, can't play 40 minutes picking up fouls defending the other teams best guard, and none of the other PG options have elevated to championship level Big East play.
We are not nearly as versatile as we have been offense. We have two centers, one PF, one SG, one PG, and a couple of tweeners. None scare our opponents and we don't play with the same cohesiveness.

Less talent, less cohesiveness, less defending, more reliance on individual performances means fewer wins.

Still haven't lost a game where we've played well or even played OK. The variance is what makes this season truly aggravating. Instead of one or two WTH performances, we've had over 10 if you include some of the unnecessarily close wins.

 

[uconngb]

There has been a standard set and reestablished by Hurley himself. When it's not met after 26 games the critique from UCONN Nation is more than warranted.

It has nothing to do with doom and gloom or fair weather fans. The current team has underperformed in the aggregate based on their actual talent level.

As the highest paid State employee in the State of Connecticut critique and criticism starts at the top. You can't have it both ways. There is something off about this team and for some reason they haven't taken on the personality of their coach. Hurley has acknowledged this along with Karaban.

As Hurley said himself....sometimes you have to eat ish. That is what we are doing as UCONN Nation right now. There are lessons to be learned by these mistakes and strategic errors. I'm sure Hurley and staff will be looking for some Pit Bulls, real Alpha Dogs this off season. Hurley has the formula and for some reason he deviated from it and they made some bad bets.

Thank you for posting this. The Hurley defenders don’t realize that criticizing him for bad coaching, being stubborn, etc does NOT necessarily mean people want him fired or are running him out of town. We have every right to criticize just as much as we had every right to praise the last two years.

If people don’t want to concede that he’s done a pretty bad job this year, I don’t know what to say. That has no bearing on how good a job he did the previous two years. They can both be true.

 

[superjohn]

I have a question for the Boneyarders who have been griping about DH's preseason threepeat talk:

Do you believe that the reason we are in our current situation is because DH said threepeat was the goal?

Do you believe that teams are playing us harder than the would have if DH said " We're replacing a lot and we may not be able to make a run like we had the past two years."?

Are you upset because that talk got your hope's up and now you're facing a possibility that you haven't had to deal with in nearly three years?

I'm pretty confident that whatever it is that you're upset about is on you, not DH as the team was going to be what it will end up being regardless.

I don't care about a season that doesn't look anything like the season Hurley and the national media envisioned for the Huskies. We've had plenty of disappointing seasons after high expectations were thrust upon us in the preseason, it happens.

I think we're in our current situation because coach badly misjudged in the portal on the biggest position of need, I think he either thought too highly of a couple of our sophomores and or was blinded by loyalty, and I think he started the wrong center all season.

My read on it is he was feeling himself too much after the dominant back to back and kind of thought he could turn anyone into serious national championship contenders. This season humbled him and he now must make the necessary changes for the roster we'll have next season....Hurley and the team/program will be better for it next season.