Nova Post Game Thread

[Conndog]

Yes, foul trouble limited us, but why did they get in foul trouble? 1) too many touch fouls 30 feet from basket, 2) they always go for Nova's shot fakes and jump in the air, I guess trying to make a spectacular block. This is on coaching and needs to be fixed.

The lazy passes that were intercepted, this too can be fixed. Maybe coach can implement some drills where they practice bounce passes?

Why is it so hard to AJ to get into the lane and take a jump shot? He tried the runner once from just inside the foul line, too far. He had other chances and passed out. He has to try shooting there.

Not a good shooting night to say the least, and other teams will just pack it in if we can't keep them honest by hitting shots. There must be some strategies to get better shots. Why is Nova able to get so many 1-on-1 shots?

 

[alphasigko]

They shot 61%, ouch

Not hard to do when most of the buckets were in the paint, up close and personal to the hoop. How many easy layups and dunks did they have? Plenty.....

 

[Kolumbo]

Dom Amore: Not there yet, UConn men fall short against Villanova one more time

It was in this arena, in this very room, where Dan Hurley served his famous notice to the basketball world. “Get us now,” he said, on Jan. 22, 2020, “because it’s coming.&#8…

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[Lefty2one]

If you didn't see this game coming, you haven't been paying attention.

1. Wright is going to outcoach Hurley. He's the best coach in America and he's been at Nova 20+ seasons. His teams execute phenomenally. They are always greater than the sum of their parts. Right now, we are the antithesis of that.
2. Until Hurley stops building rosters like it's 1992, Nova will be a bad match-up for us and we'll struggle to beat them. Having two traditional bigs on the floor is playing right into their hands but we don't have the personnel to go small. Polley at the four does not work for long stretches. We don't have enough guards to put Martin there.
3. Broken record #1: Roster construction is a disaster.
4. Broken record #2: Not addressing backup PG/having a contingency plan if Diggins wasn't ready is probably the biggest black eye on Hurley's tenure so far. A gross oversight.
5. Broken record #3: this team is largely reliant on Ollie 3-star recruits and a low-major and a mid-major transfer. We need better talent.

Separately, don't forget that Wright had a slow start his first few years at Nova. Hell, Nova was six games under .500 in conference play over the final three seasons of the real Big East. For nearly 15 years they were largely a disappointment in March. There is hope for Hurley, but he needs to start showing development and proving that he's learning from his mistakes.

With COVID, what's the eligibility impact for Cole and Martin? Was it only last year's seniors who were given an extra year or was it every player? Those two are definitely done after this season, correct?

 

[ucp990411]

Game was over after 4 minutes with both Sanogo and Whaley on the bench with 2 fouls. That’s when Hurley should have been T’d up.

Can't wait to watch the replay, looked to me that all 4 calls were touch fouls. They have not been making those calls all year and today they do. Those fouls took our gameplan away. And then AJ goes up for a dunk, gets blocked but lots of body contact and no call.

 

[Lefty2one]

They were ticky-tack fouls, but I don't think those early fouls made a difference. Nova was going to run us regardless.

 

[VAHuskyFan]

All in favor of playing Hawkins more. We need more shooting and he’s the most likely place to see improvement between now and the end of the season. If he can find his handle and settle down a bit, defenses will need to account for him which will help open things up for other guys.

Whaley had a bad game playing with early foul trouble. But he had a truly great game against Creighton. If he had gotten just a little help from anyone else, we win that game. I don’t think playing him less is the answer.

Not sure what Polley gives us besides reasonable on-man defense. Our issue is offense and it’s basically 4-on-5 for us when he’s on the court. He doesn’t shoot the three well enough to fill that specialist role. (He’s 6th on the team in 3PT% for players with 30+ attempts.) He contributes nothing in terms of rebounds or assists and doesn’t attack the basket to get to the line. He was a good shooter earlier in his career. That was supposed to be his role on this team, but it hasn’t been working for two years now and I’m not sure hope is a plan at this point.

Jackson can be frustrating but he has the ability to create and is the second-best rebounder on the team. You live with his mistakes and keep playing him.

 

[WlfdHusky]

This team will never make it the next level with Hurley. No improvement at all throughout this season. Hallmark of a poorly coached team. Same pattern year after year.

The year after year pattern prior to this year was - get better each year. We seem to have hit a plateau. Improvement isn't linear. We are what we are right now. A bubble team. If RJ comes back next year we will likely be a bubble team next year too. If he doesn't we will be a .500 team. 2-3 years from now , from a talent perspective we might have a breakthrough. We will need coach to also grow and improve. If so, 2-3 years from now we could be anywhere from sweet 16 to champion.

 

[navery12]

They were ticky-tack fouls, but I don't think those early fouls made a difference. Nova was going to run us regardless.

Yeah it didn't make a difference, we were in the game while Samson played. Maybe Sanogo and Whaley play more aggressive defense without the 2 fouls, but we were not winning today without divine intervention

 

[AdamaNation]

We really didn’t play that bad and Nova was down a key player then lost Gillepsie. Played tough but this team isn’t a contender come March unless we have favorable matchups.

We have one ball handler and minimal spacing and are not as sound fundamentally as a team like Villanova - not much we can do this year.

Play the freshmen, let them grow.

Until Hawkins proves he can stand still and not drop the ball I’m going to be suspect. At least polley the only somewhat similar player isn’t a turnover machine. Every single possession. All if his other pluses aren’t going to show until he proves he can handle the ball. It’s hard to watch now. I think the last 2 games were the trap games a said they were. We win them in good fashion we would have had a real shot at this one. Our guys played hard all the way but a bit timid. Hurley got outcoached by the best coach in basketball. Who’d a thunk it?! Beat Marquette. Remember 2011 and the mighty slump? Let’s see. Pieces are here confidence needs to rediscovered and a plan should be brewing from the likes of our elite assistants.

 

[AdamaNation]

No, I think Hurley did an awful job today and got massively outcoached. I also just think you're incredibly dumb so that's why I keep disliking your posts

By the best coach in college.

 

[AdamaNation]

Yeah it didn't make a difference, we were in the game while Samson played. Maybe Sanogo and Whaley play more aggressive defense without the 2 fouls, but we were not winning today without divine intervention

As soon as sooon as Sampson came in I said jayboy is gonna ram it down the lane on us…..end story. Congrats to mr Dixon the 1000th member of the no mame role player to have an unstoppable career game against ANY UConn team. They need their own wall of fame.

 

[tentoes4rings]

“They better get us now, because it’s coming”

When is it coming, Dan?

Great question. He also said when fully healthy this team can be a monster. When he says this things, and after four years, it’s not unrealistic for fans to expect what he forecasts.

 

[Stinger92860]

Why is it so hard to AJ to get into the lane and take a jump shot? He tried the runner once from just inside the foul line, too far. He had other chances and passed out. He has to try shooting there.

His mechanics don’t allow for a jump shot off the dribble. Forget a turn around or step back also. They need to fix this, its criminal.

 

[3rdbass]

Until Hawkins proves he can stand still and not drop the ball I’m going to be suspect. At least polley the only somewhat similar player isn’t a turnover machine. Every single possession. All if his other pluses aren’t going to show until he proves he can handle the ball. It’s hard to watch now. I think the last 2 games were the trap games a said they were. We win them in good fashion we would have had a real shot at this one. Our guys played hard all the way but a bit timid. Hurley got outcoached by the best coach in basketball. Who’d a thunk it?! Beat Marquette. Remember 2011 and the mighty slump? Let’s see. Pieces are here confidence needs to rediscovered and a plan should be brewing from the likes of our elite assistants.

The problem is that Polley is what he is now and that is streaky shooter who gives you next to nothing else. At least with Hawkins he is a Freshman and will develop. He did have a nice drive and dish to Whaley in the game besides his 3 3s. He needs to play more and allowed to play through our mistakes if we want to be a better team.

 

[AdamaNation]

The problem is that Polley is what he is now and that is streaky shooter who gives you next to nothing else. At least with Hawkins he is a Freshman and will develop. He did have a nice drive and dish to Whaley in the game besides his 3 3s. He needs to play more and allowed to play through our mistakes if we want to be a better team.

As one of the older posters here it is good to get your thoughts. It damn. Hawk has the absolute worst hands and feel. Yes the strike is nice. But Tyler Phommachanh as well. Remember how Oleg had this weird stat that pretty much showed he didn’t make bad decisions. He never turns it over. Right now hawk is a zero contribution. But like him and want to believe in him but at what cost. Shool clearly isn’t ready. Sam just needs some meat. That’s all.

 

[ucp990411]

They were ticky-tack fouls, but I don't think those early fouls made a difference. Nova was going to run us regardless.

Those fouls took our game plan away from us

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We rarely put a game together. One night we can’t hit the broad side of a barn, but we hound them defensively and block everything at the rim. The next, we leak buckets at the rim like its nothing, and eventually hit some shots. I don’t remember the last time we put a full game together.

We say guys need to work in the offseason. AJ needs to learn how to shoot a basketball, whoever taught him growing up should have a stern talking to. Adama needs to be more versatile on offense, needs to learn how to establish position better and pass out of tough situations more. Hawk needs to dribble a basketball wherever he goes, preferably mainly left handed. But, Hurley should look into getting some training and advice from an offensive guru. I know scoring wasn’t the main issue, and people will point to high scoring output games like they aren’t outliers, but this offense is just so remedial. There is no creativity, no free flow, no experimentation. We don’t move much besides Polley, we don’t double screen, back screen, inside out. It just seems like it needs to be scrapped and upgraded somehow. Personnel will help with that, but unless we get at least 1 guard grad transfer/addition, it’s going to be same old.

 

[USNavyDog]

Makes valid sense. To me there is a giant void between being upset at a loss and saying the program and coach is garbage like some folks keep saying.

I'm in the camp that believes Hurley is the right guy for this program. We aren't quite there yet, but are getting closer to being an elite championship team. It doesn't always happen over night. Since he arrived, we went from 16-17, to 19-12, to 15-8 and back to ncaa tourney.

This year in my opinion will go down as just an ok-ish...year. We won't be a final 4...but I think we'll be either 2nd or possibly sweet 16....but not better than that. Even Jim Calhoun had his fair share of not so good seasons.

I think Uconn will wrap the regular season with a record of 21-9 overall and top 5 in big east. They'll go no further than the 2nd round of the big east tournament and finish 22-10. They'll be a 8 seed in the big dance and lose to any 1 seed that they play against. A 23-11 finish for the season to me sounds like realistic finish. They can build on that for next years team, but the area they need a serious upgrade is it the point guard position.

 

[ASweet3781]

Great question. He also said when fully healthy this team can be a monster. When he says this things, and after four years, it’s not unrealistic for fans to expect what he forecasts.

Exactly. People telling us to tamp down our expectations apparently are not listening to what came out of Hurley's mouth as recently as the Georgetown beatdown.

 

[USNavyDog]

I thought our schedule was fine for what the team is but Hurley decided we had to beat those teams by 60 playing our 23 year olds vs developing the young guys.

We did schedule good, and glad we got the opportunity to beat Auburn. And we did.

It would've been nice if West Virginia, VCU and St. Bonnie's could turn things around from being borderline NIT teams (maybe at least one of them will wake up)...but those 3 teams were good to schedule as they were predicted to be very good teams.

 

[Giddyup5]

We did schedule good, and glad we got the opportunity to beat Auburn. And we did.

It would've been nice if West Virginia, VCU and St. Bonnie's could turn things around from being borderline NIT teams (maybe at least one of them will wake up)...but those 3 teams were good to schedule as they were predicted to be very good teams.

We scheduled terrible. It’s been brought up in previous threads. Our cupcakes were all kenpom 250+. With a “veteran” team we needed more games early against quality teams to improve. So Hurley would talking about experimenting with rotations in December not February.

 

[August_West]

We played terribly

No excuse for bus ride? Or how providence is lucky team? You’re maturing , paduan .

 

[AntG168]

No excuse for bus ride? Or how providence is lucky team? You’re maturing , paduan .

Who is this guy?

 

[August_West]

Who is this guy?

Before creighton “ 3 out of next 4 minimum”