My troubling thought

[Watchdog]

Where’s the defense?

Coach built this team to win low scoring games. 55-53, 65-60 etc. That’s what our hopes and hat were hung on going in. We lost our singular offensive talent ( bouk), but we thought that we were elite defensively and could make up for the offensive hit.

We are decent rim protectors, better than average, but I don’t think anyone foresaw how woeful we are one on one guarding. It’s not any single player. We have a team full of players, all of them, who can’t guard their positions in ISO. It’s our biggest but most unspoken issue. And it is a killer. We came out finally running great stuff at beginning of 2nd half today getting good looks for Sanogo and Cole and scoring points and after 4 minutes of that we actually lost slight ground because we can’t get a stop. And it’s not just nova. Pretty much every loss ( notably seton hall, but creighton too) are from exploited isos .

I hate it. And I’m afraid we don’t have an answer at the flip of a switch, and opposing coaches watching tape will only compound the exploitation.


Easy to point at our woeful offense. It’s bad, but our D stops are not on point.

And blah blah blah come in and say “ we are 12th in Merlin the math magicians defensive efficiency”

My answer to that is “ not when it counts”

Just like we have some wonderful offensive stats, but again not when they count.

There are key possessions every game that determine wins and losses. We miss a ton on both ends. The dagger shots don’t drop and the key stops don’t happen.

But, but, but, coach said with all our depth we'd be pressing and stealing and getting runout dunks............didn't he?
Maybe they're just like the football team under RE. They just don't execute..........

 

[DaveHuskiesFan]

Ajax is dreadful on defense. Whaley has regressed bigtime from last year. Cole is 5-11. Martin is halfway decent and Sanogo’s defense is way behind his offensive abilities at this point.

Andre is second in the big east in defensive win shares and 4th is defensive box +/-

Really really really dreadful. Oh wait, those are good stats!

 

[UncleSpliff]

Andre is second in the big east in defensive win shares and 4th is defensive box +/-

Really really really dreadful. Oh wait, those are good stats!

I don’t know what games you watch but he can’t keep his man in front of him. Consistently getting beat off the dribble.

 

[HuskyFich]

That was my initial thought too, but it didn't make a difference. They both played right around their season averages in minutes, and were put back in the game with 11 minutes left in the first half trailing 16-12. They were in the game playing in their normal roles when we got the doors blown off by Nova

I would agree, but they had to play soft because of the 2 fouls for the remainder of the 1st half. Adama and Whaley were essentially enigmas on the floor, just bodies to keep rebounding close.

Both of them had at least one play where they just let Dixon dominate them over fear of fouling…
That’s unacceptable in my book, especially if you’re playing both of them at the same time. Even if 1 of them gets 3 fouls but both were playing with full intensity might have kept the first half deficit under 8-10 points.

EDIT: I LOVE that “As F…” now autocorrects into Azzi Fudd lol

 

[SubbaBub]

We are more built to win games 70-65. Ours is a bit of a high wire act. We need everyone working together to win. There is no one star to bail us out against top teams. Play is streaky at both ends of the floor. A team that can adapt will always give us trouble as we rarely have mulitple positions going off at the same time and our D can be exploited. AJ, Hawk, and Polley are sadly easy to get past.

We will see if other teams follow Nova's blueprint for attacking the paint. If our guards keep getting our bigs in foul trouble or shooting over the block, we are in for some problems. I don't think every team can do what Nova did.

 

[Lefty2one]

Hurley has this weird stubbornness and almost arrogance about his defensive adjustments. He did nothing when Richmond killed us @ Seton Hall. He did little when Dixon had a career game on Saturday. It was like watching the same game: we never helped on Richmond and he took his time, pounding the rock and even pulling the ball out and starting over until he got a look he wanted. Dixon's performance was fueled by similar defensive shortcomings that gave him tons of time and space. There are enough D1 players who are going to be tough to stop if you give them a ton of space, a ton of time to operate, and never send help.

Hurley wants to stay glued to shooters, which is admirable, especially against Villanova. Still, if another player is giving you the business you can't sit by and do nothing. To never (or rarely) try anything differently is maddening. Sure, we went into zone for a few possessions but Nova figured that out quickly. The reality of Saturday is that we were going to lose regardless of which defensive strategy was employed, not that that exonerates Hurley.

Our bigs aren't amazing rim protectors. Sanago is an okay help defender. Whaley, I don't know if COVID did a number on him or what but he's not the player he was the last two seasons. Akok will never be his old self. Johnson isn't ready. Polley can't guard anyone. Jackson is very undisciplined, as is Gaffney. Martin is average. Cole is small and slow for a BE point guard. This roster needs to be a good defensive team. We do not have the personnel to constantly put perimeter guys in space 1 on 1.

 

[Get a Job]

I would agree, but they had to play soft Azzi Fudd because of the 2 fouls for the remainder of the 1st half. Adama and Whaley were essentially enigmas on the floor, just bodies to keep rebounding close.

Both of them had at least one play where they just let Dixon dominate them over fear of fouling…
That’s unacceptable in my book, especially if you’re playing both of them at the same time. Even if 1 of them gets 3 fouls but both were playing with full intensity might have kept the first half deficit under 8-10 points.

EDIT: I LOVE that “As F…” now autocorrects into Azzi Fudd lol

This is hilarious and, although it's a bit of typing, should become a thing. It would be funny Azzi Fudd!

 

[Kolumbo]

This is hilarious and, although it's a bit of typing, should become a thing. It would be funny Azzi Fudd!

It would be great if the guys started playing lights out Azzi Fudd!

Fudd Beats Up Tennessee; Hurley Refocuses - The UConn Daily

A Good Old-Fashioned Butt Whoopin’ The Story: It was a classic performance in the throwback uniforms for the women’s basketball team, which made […]

uconndaily.com

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Like I said In another thread —why does it seem like every single team in the country has a shooter but us—- I don’t get it -weird

It’s not that they all have a “shooter” as much as they have guys who seem to be able to knock down shots at a high rate if you leave them open. Watching the games it feels like, for us no matter who is shooting, the shot doesn’t have a better chance of going in even when we are wide open.

 

[cohenzone]

Like I said In another thread —why does it seem like every single team in the country has a shooter but us—- I don’t get it -weird

He went pro.

 

[HooperScooper]

He went pro.

Think he's talking about a 3 point shooter. Bouknight did a lot of things well but shooting threes last season was not one of them. Unless you consider 29% good.

 

[cohenzone]

Think he's talking about a 3 point shooter. Bouknight did a lot of things well but shooting threes last season was not one of them. Unless you consider 29% good.

I consider someone who is a threat to go for 20 plus every game and is the focus of a defense drawing attention away from the other guys a big missing piece from this team. But he’s not there. I was responding to the idea we don’t recruit shooters. Polley, who predates Hurley is supposedly a shooter. Hawkins supposedly a shooter. Bouknight was not a fabulous shooter, more of a scorer, but could get crazy hot from deep. I don’t mind Martin shooting the 3, ditto Cole. Not recruits out of hs, but they are on the roster false that we don’t recruit shooters. The kids we have have been erratic.

And yes the interior D has been pretty poor. But Villanova ain’t half bad and Gillespie , no superior athlete, is a superior basketball player. If your great athlete isn’t also a superior basketball player who do you want on your team? Hawkins for Creighton abused our D. Half our problem is guys leaving their feet, we are shot blocking crazy which I wouldn’t totally give up, but lots of going for up fakes. And guards who aren’t keeping the ball from finding the low post guy.

On the other hand, you’d think we were constantly being run off the floor. Villanova was our biggest margin of loss, built in a very short stretch where we were rushed out of our minds on both ends of the floor. And I think Hurley did call at least one time out to try and settle things down. It’s true we beat a few good teams that were missing a key player but I think, don’t remember, we lost at least one with Sanogo out.