Mullins’ defense

[Gurleyman]

Nitpick much for a freshman playing 4,5 college games?

Not sure why you’re having the sads. I’ve been probably one of the biggest Mullins fan boys on the board. When everyone was saying he was weak and would get exposed, I’ve said from day one that was BS. He looks a little thin and weak, but he competes on that end and isn’t just going to get bullied around. Darryn Peterson went right at him in an iso situation in the McDs game and Mullins forced him into a fadeaway brick. He also picked Dybantsa clean and Dybantsa tried to bully ball him the next time down and Mullins held his ground (he made a tough jump hook - but still good D). I felt like he would be a plus defender for us and not somebody we would have to hide.

But yeah - he’s not perfect on that end and I’ve noticed a couple things he can get better at. There have been about 5 times I’ve thought “cmon Braylon, you had him locked up, why’d you let him out?” I think two of them resulted in fouls on Reed helping or being out of position and fouling getting the rebound. Those little mistakes can put yourself or a teammate in foul trouble.

 

[Donyell 360]

AND he had a pseudo roll the ball over the rim dunk vs the Hall.
I don't believe he's had an actual dunk yet. LOL

I thought I remembered a baseline drive that he finished with two hands in one game. He definitely had a two handed fast break dunk in the exhibition game against BC if you want to count that. But he doesn't seem to be particularly concerned with style points. Very business like approach. Just get buckets.

 

[HailUConn]

Not sure why you’re having the sads. I’ve been probably one of the biggest Mullins fan boys on the board. When everyone was saying he was weak and would get exposed, I’ve said from day one that was BS. He looks a little thin and weak, but he competes on that end and isn’t just going to get bullied around. Darryn Peterson went right at him in an iso situation in the McDs game and Mullins forced him into a fadeaway brick. He also picked Dybantsa clean and Dybantsa tried to bully ball him the next time down and Mullins held his ground (he made a tough jump hook - but still good D). I felt like he would be a plus defender for us and not somebody we would have to hide.

But yeah - he’s not perfect on that end and I’ve noticed a couple things he can get better at. There have been about 5 times I’ve thought “cmon Braylon, you had him locked up, why’d you let him out?” I think two of them resulted in fouls on Reed helping or being out of position and fouling getting the rebound. Those little mistakes can put yourself or a teammate in foul trouble.

I can see why you posted what you did.

Not sure why you’re having the sads. I’ve been probably one of the biggest Mullins fan boys on the board. When everyone was saying he was weak and would get exposed, I’ve said from day one that was BS. He looks a little thin and weak, but he competes on that end and isn’t just going to get bullied around. Darryn Peterson went right at him in an iso situation in the McDs game and Mullins forced him into a fadeaway brick. He also picked Dybantsa clean and Dybantsa tried to bully ball him the next time down and Mullins held his ground (he made a tough jump hook - but still good D). I felt like he would be a plus defender for us and not somebody we would have to hide.

But yeah - he’s not perfect on that end and I’ve noticed a couple things he can get better at. There have been about 5 times I’ve thought “cmon Braylon, you had him locked up, why’d you let him out?” I think two of them resulted in fouls on Reed helping or being out of position and fouling getting the rebound. Those little mistakes can put yourself or a teammate in foul trouble.

a non casual fan, now I see why you posted what you did. It’s all good

 

[Gurleyman]

I can see why you posted what you did.

a non casual fan, now I see why you posted what you did. It’s all good

Yeah - all good. You were the original poster and might have thought I was pushing back - when actually I was in full agreement and was pointing out little areas of improvement where he can get even better at the defensive end.

 

[HailUConn]

Yeah - all good. You were the original poster and might have thought I was pushing back - when actually I was in full agreement and was pointing out little areas of improvement when he can get even better at the defensive end.

Quite the contrary, Never in disagreement.
I said in jest if he already did what you pointed out, he wouldn’t have been a freshman, or at least he would be no.1 recruit. And it’s not be fair to whoever else plays basketball.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

I’ll just come out and say it: I did not expect Mullins can play Hurley’s level of defense coming out of HS with the deceptively thin build.


Oh boy did he surprise us all? His footwork is like his shot release, lightning quick always beat the opponent to the spot, constantly fight the screen, and mastery at steals (3 steals in a couple of games already) with super anticipatory senses.

The kid is the real deal, and the whole package!

Mullins reminds me of Spencer. Their physical and mental toughness, shooting ability, and shot creation are a lot a like.

 

[SaeHusky]

I’ve watched him on that end pretty closely since I was impressed with him in limited minutes at the McDs game and wanted to see how it translated for us. He’s honestly been pretty good with a couple correctable flaws. He’s reaching less these days, which is one. And he can sometimes anticipate and lean in the wrong direction and get caught flat flooted - most of the time he stops the initial move when people go at him, and often the counter moves too, but every now and then he’s victim to just a straight blowby when he’s caught off guard. Happened twice yesterday - once when he was leaning towards the screener and once when a SHU guy sort of took a jumping hop step for momentum and took off on a straight drive and he was glued to the floor.

But a recurring issue I’ve seen is that he has a way of not finishing the defensive possession after his guy picks up the dribble. He’ll have a guy locked up essentially and then get out of his defensive stance, make himself small and give up an angle to the basket. He sort of unlocks the guy he locked up. Happened on the Clark up and under - he did all the hard work keeping Clark in front of him and forcing him to pick up his dribble - but instead of forcing him to take a tough shot, he got out of position on the fake (no longer between Clark and the basket), and made the shot easy. Sometimes it happens with just his man pivoting - he’ll cede inside position when he has the upper hand. Just has to be better at finishing those possessions and staying in good position.

Impressive analysis. You have to be a current or former coach.

 

[AllHusky]

Wasn't Hurley's description of Mullins after he signed that he's "sneaky athletic"???

If that is the case, he is on the money. Almost like he does this for a living.

 

[Leebo]

AND he had a pseudo roll the ball over the rim dunk vs the Hall.
I don't believe he's had an actual dunk yet. LOL

Not sure if you're just not counting it because it was the exhibition game, but he did this against BC (6:04 of the video)

 

[Spaceman213J]

His progression on defense reminds me a bit of Cam. Cam's first half dozen or games at UConn had people really questioning if he had what it takes on the defensive end to deserve large minutes. He was getting beat consistently. By the end, he was really good on that end and we all saw we he could do on the offensive end. I would argue that his best defense was probably in the Final Four.

Mullins is progressing. Only Mullins will ever know how much the ankle sprain set him back. I think the kid is just going to keep getting better on both ends. When he came, I remember reading an article on him saying he wasn't Castle, but he was extremely coachable and 'bulldogish' on the defensive end and it was going to be about how quickly he adjusted to the speed of the college game.

Kind of hearing the same thing about County for next year.

 

[superjohn]

It’s a shame bc outsiders just see some of Danny’s antics in short clips and highlights (lowlights) on various shows and judge him on that stuff, but then you listen to these types of interviews and realize he’s just an emotional guy who loves his players and is all in all the time.

He's a seriously awesome guy and far more interesting than any other coaches out there.

We're so lucky to have him.