Nova ThoughtZ™

[RichZ]

1. Samson draws first blood, and Stewart hit his first attempt from 3!
2. Stewart scored 10 of our first 14 pts.
3. Nowell got some minutes early, and then again in the 2nd half.
4. Mahaney two 3 point attempts in his 1st 3 minutes. Missed both badly. Ended up playing 13 minutes and other than 0 of 2 from the field, his contribution was limited to 2 dimes.
5. In our big man comparison, Samson ended up with 21 minutes to Reed's 19. They each scored 6 points, and Samson had 2 TOs to Reed's 3. Reed had 2 blocks, Samson none, but he had 4 boards to Reed's 3, and Samson did have a dime and one fewer TOs than Tarris. They broke down pretty evenly last night, but going forward, I think we really need to get more than 12 points and 7 boards from the center position.
6. Late in the first half, Nova scored 7 pts in a row while we went from 5:11 to 1:57 without a score. Diarras missed layup at 1:57 was his first shot attempt of the game. But it drew a foul, and his 2 FTs were UConn's only points in the last 5:11 of the half, while Nova scored 11, to go from 2 down to 9 up.
7. Our guards -- Diarra, Ball, Mahaney and Nowell were 0 for 10 from the field in the 1st half.
8. Then Diarra scores our first 4 points of the 2nd half.
9. Midway through the 2nd half, we made a valiant comeback from double digits down to trailing by one, but right in the middle of it the refs decided that anyone guarding Dixon is fouling him. Three consecutive drives to the rim, three trips to the foul line.
10. Diarra and Ball really came alive in the 2nd half.
11. Following a truly great comeback from a 34-46 deficit to 66-67 at 1:20, we just ran out of steam.
12. Down one. 23 seconds left, our ball.
13. Never thought I'd see Alex miss both FTs in a situation like that.
14. Negatives from the game -- We lost. The scoring drought at the end of the first half, and the one early in the 2nd half. Or was that one scoring drought that spanned half time?
15. Positives from the game -- the abovementioned comeback, even thought it fell short. Also 32 boards to nova's 23, and 23 dimes to nova's 11.

 

[Inyatkin]

Negatives: Donny Marshall continually talking about "Villanova basketball"

 

[AllHusky]

Explained to my wife that Donny has a Benedict Arnold streak in him

 

[jibsey]

Donny loves his Huskies but that broadcast is national and also to the Nova fan base. 1- He has to compliment both sides. 2- He has to fill up air space with verbiage.
Don’t understand how this gets missed. He and Sims are a likable team.

 

[RichZ]

Negatives: Donny Marshall continually talking about "Villanova basketball"

I actually had a similar thought during the game and wrote it down, but decided against including it.

 

[RuffRuff]

Donny loves his Huskies but that broadcast is national and also to the Nova fan base. 1- He has to compliment both sides. 2- He has to fill up air space with verbiage.
Don’t understand how this gets missed. He and Sims are a likable team.

Or you can tune him out and focus on the game, barely hear the guy. Maybe that’s a talent you develop after being married for so long . Who cares what he says.

 

[SwingDog]

Our guards -- Diarra, Ball, Mahaney and Nowell were 0 for 10 from the field in the 1st half.

This has to change. There is a disturbing pattern developing over the past couple of games that reminds of teams of old, even in the Ollie era, where we dig ourselves a hole and then fight with all our might to get out of it. The guards need to contribute offensively in order for us to have a balanced attack and keep teams guessing. On Saturday against the Hoyas I would sure like us to assert ourselves out of the gate and dictate the tempo of the game with great ball movement and shot selection. We shot 54% against 'Nova so I can't complain too much but we need to be more physical offensively so we can get to the free throw line more often, and this is largely the responsibility of the guards.

 

[Kitaman]

Donny loves his Huskies but that broadcast is national and also to the Nova fan base. 1- He has to compliment both sides. 2- He has to fill up air space with verbiage.
Don’t understand how this gets missed. He and Sims are a likable team.

He won't get promoted or more national exposure being a partial Husky announcer. Every major announcer/broadcaster former player who has a college allegiance goes through this. Just listen to Donny talk about 'all things UConn' then hold back his excitement. He also getting noticed, hence the NBC gig!

I wish him success and he needs to keep on doing what he is doing, and ignore UConn fans. He's being elevated in front of our very own eyes, and we are complaining not cheering.


He is acting and some of our fans can't see it. I see you Donny!

 

[UConniki]

Donny is an incredibly nice guy. Once during his last year at UConn we were working on his car late one night at one of my CAR TOY’S stores in Wethersfield on the Berlin Tpke and he came into my office with a few wet spots on his pants laughing, and I said what happened to you and he said I should’ve listened to you, I forgot to lock the bathroom door and Justin ( my autistic son ) walked in and said “ have to pee” and proceeded to pee on Donny. Donny wasn’t mad at all or upset. We laughed , Justin walked in and said “ I peed on you “ and Donny replied “ yes you did “ and then Donny picked him up and held him and hugged him for a few minutes and Donny said “ Justin buddy you have good aim “ and Justin smiled and hugged him back ( which was very rare for Justin to do because he wasn’t very affectionate at 6 years old) and I will remember that interaction forever. Donny Marshall is an absolutely wonderful man who we had the pleasure of having him and Spider Ursery and Kirk King and a few other UConn players stop by our house on New Year’s Eve a few times and I’m proud to say they were all incredibly nice guys. Ultra polite a little shy, and a great addition to the party with the stories they had to tell us about JC and other things. Donny bleeds blue as much as any former UConn player if not more and he loved JC like a father as I believe he was raised by a single mom.

 

[bendm]

Donny is an incredibly nice guy. Once during his last year at UConn we were working on his car late one night at one of my CAR TOY’S stores in Wethersfield on the Berlin Tpke and he came into my office with a few wet spots on his pants laughing, and I said what happened to you and he said I should’ve listened to you, I forgot to lock the bathroom door and Justin ( my autistic son ) walked in and said “ have to pee” and proceeded to pee on Donny. Donny wasn’t mad at all or upset. We laughed , Justin walked in and said “ I peed on you “ and Donny replied “ yes you did “ and then Donny picked him up and held him and hugged him for a few minutes and Donny said “ Justin buddy you have good aim “ and Justin smiled and hugged him back ( which was very rare for Justin to do because he wasn’t very affectionate at 6 years old) and I will remember that interaction forever. Donny Marshall is an absolutely wonderful man who we had the pleasure of having him and Spider Ursery and Kirk King and a few other UConn players stop by our house on New Year’s Eve a few times and I’m proud to say they were all incredibly nice guys. Ultra polite a little shy, and a great addition to the party with the stories they had to tell us about JC and other things. Donny bleeds blue as much as any former UConn player if not more and he loved JC like a father as I believe he was raised by a single mom.

really nice story thanks for sharing

 

[HCCForever]

Donny is an incredibly nice guy. Once during his last year at UConn we were working on his car late one night at one of my CAR TOY’S stores in Wethersfield on the Berlin Tpke and he came into my office with a few wet spots on his pants laughing, and I said what happened to you and he said I should’ve listened to you, I forgot to lock the bathroom door and Justin ( my autistic son ) walked in and said “ have to pee” and proceeded to pee on Donny. Donny wasn’t mad at all or upset. We laughed , Justin walked in and said “ I peed on you “ and Donny replied “ yes you did “ and then Donny picked him up and held him and hugged him for a few minutes and Donny said “ Justin buddy you have good aim “ and Justin smiled and hugged him back ( which was very rare for Justin to do because he wasn’t very affectionate at 6 years old) and I will remember that interaction forever. Donny Marshall is an absolutely wonderful man who we had the pleasure of having him and Spider Ursery and Kirk King and a few other UConn players stop by our house on New Year’s Eve a few times and I’m proud to say they were all incredibly nice guys. Ultra polite a little shy, and a great addition to the party with the stories they had to tell us about JC and other things. Donny bleeds blue as much as any former UConn player if not more and he loved JC like a father as I believe he was raised by a single mom.

Nice story. I always liked Donny and used to see him in Coventry CT years ago when we both lived in town. Always a pleasant and friendly guy. He used to tool around in his Cam-Am or some other three wheeled motorcycle.

I'll never forget when he was announced to the UConn all-century team at the Civic Center and he bowed down and kissed the Husky logo on the court. It did not seem to be anything other than genuine.

But if he gets a bit chatty on the broadcast, I do what others suggest and ignore or mute.

 

[jibsey]

Donny is an incredibly nice guy. Once during his last year at UConn we were working on his car late one night at one of my CAR TOY’S stores in Wethersfield on the Berlin Tpke and he came into my office with a few wet spots on his pants laughing, and I said what happened to you and he said I should’ve listened to you, I forgot to lock the bathroom door and Justin ( my autistic son ) walked in and said “ have to pee” and proceeded to pee on Donny. Donny wasn’t mad at all or upset. We laughed , Justin walked in and said “ I peed on you “ and Donny replied “ yes you did “ and then Donny picked him up and held him and hugged him for a few minutes and Donny said “ Justin buddy you have good aim “ and Justin smiled and hugged him back ( which was very rare for Justin to do because he wasn’t very affectionate at 6 years old) and I will remember that interaction forever. Donny Marshall is an absolutely wonderful man who we had the pleasure of having him and Spider Ursery and Kirk King and a few other UConn players stop by our house on New Year’s Eve a few times and I’m proud to say they were all incredibly nice guys. Ultra polite a little shy, and a great addition to the party with the stories they had to tell us about JC and other things. Donny bleeds blue as much as any former UConn player if not more and he loved JC like a father as I believe he was raised by a single mom.

Wow, we don’t that kind of personal story here that much. Just terrific and it tells us all we need to know about Donny the person, a really good person. Maybe some folks here will stop attacking his broadcasting and stop accusing him of being some kind of UConn hater. I’m happy for his success. Thank you for this.

 

[mauconnfan]

Or you can tune him out and focus on the game, barely hear the guy. Maybe that’s a talent you develop after being married for so long . Who cares what he says.

Amazing I read about Donnie and others from everyone here I don’t ever really hear what these guys are saying. When I’m watching I’m focused on what everyone is doing, whats being called and not called, the flow of the offense and defense and without even knowing these guys don’t impact my view.

 

[imno1]

Watch Nova lose to St John’s tonight by15

 

[jibsey]

Watch Nova lose to St John’s tonight by15

St. John’s won their last 2 games going 3-40 something from 3.

 

[RuffRuff]

St. John’s won their last 2 games going 3-40 something from 3.

StJ lives off two things: turning ball over and offensive rebounds. If Nova can take care of the basketball and not allow them to swarm glass, they can play here. Nova has 6th best turnover rate in country but generally suck at rebounding. I think this one will play out close, as I can see Dixon having a bounce back game shooting on the MSG rims. StJ doesn’t have a clear matchup defensively for him. StJ shooting doesn’t allow them to run away with much.

Creighton at Butler could be interesting as well, -2.5.