Open Practice Saturday 10/20 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Open Practice Saturday 10/20

RayIsTheGOAT said:
Some general observations from the first row-

- Intensity right from the start at 12:30. Everyone came out to the gym floor and immediately started running, diving for loose ball drills, footwork, etc. High intensity, high positivity from the start.
-Hurley cared more about defense than shot making for the entirety of practice it seemed- pointed out little things like shoulder position on D, footwork, ball screen defending, double team
-Hurley seemed to be on Josh more than anyone- not necessarily in a negative light, but because he realizes the importance of Josh being good
-Cobb looks much more explosive than last year-to be expected with weight loss/conditioning
-Most of the big men seemed to have a nice stroke- Whaley, Cobb, Carlton, Kwintin can stretch the floor a little bit with an elbow jumper. Granted, not even a chair was defending them on that drill.
-Rebounding drills seemed to be the biggest struggle. Not terrible, but clearly a lot of work to do.
-Brendan Adams is going to be an integral part of this program for the next few years. Doesn't look out of place, looks very smooth and like he will be a spark plug off the bench
-Jalen seemed to make some faces (as if, "what is he talking about") at some of the things Hurley was pointing out to the team. Could be nothing, just an observation.
-Polley has a very nice stroke from 3 and is taller than I thought. He and Sid are the X factors.
-Sid is very talented and athletic, but it's going to take a little time for him to develop some pieces of his game. But he has all the makings to be a high end player.
-Also, there were three refs at practice? I didn't realize that was something that happened at practice, but it makes sense. The refs called a lot of travels. Lol. Especially on a "rip" drill.
-Some players were unhappy with a couple of the foul calls, but Kimani was quick to shut up the complaining
-Tom Moore is an intense guy. Definitely an extension of Hurley.
-Hurley was clearly restrained during an open practice. At times it didn't seem like everyone was moving at full speed. But overall, the practice is pretty intense.
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How was Cobb on defense?
 
Energized practice. My 6 yr old son got one of the few Hurley autographs after the practice. Genuine leader & thoughtful guy. They were switching over for 3:00 volleyball & he ran 15 mins over. Team couldn’t nail a FT drill as a group after 3 attempts. He said that would continue next door.

They must have stretched at the Champions Center prior to 12:30 because they weren’t 15 steps on the court, and started an aggressive dive to the floor drill. I almost lost consciousness looking to see if Alterique was participating.
 
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superjohn said:
Calhoun's rebounding drills were legendary, I always heard Hurley's dad used them along with a ton of other coaches.
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I used to go to the Field House to watch JCs practices the year before Gampel opened. The rebounding drills were painful to see. Guys like Rod Sellers or Dan Cyrulik used to get beat on. If they couldn’t grab a rebound JC would have two offensive players versus the one defender. The defender would stay on the court until he could get one. Best way I can describe it was the defensive player would sometimes look like a boxer in the tenth round. Totally worn out with JC totally laying into them. When they finally did get a rebound they would just collapse on the sideline. It was soooo intense. I love that Hurley is bringing it back
 
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I too was impressed with Brendan Adams. He looks to play hard on D. Gilbert looks so quick to me. Quintin seems to be a better shooter than I remember. I was not always impressed by their hustle in the three line drill. We worked harder in our lightening drills in an old man hockey league.
 
Impressed with B. Adams. Josh looked a little soft. Got a kick out of seeing Taliek again with his big-ass smile. Hurley's shirt was sweat-soaked. Cobb looks like he could be intimidating. Alterique looks great. Enjoyed it, glad I went.
 
Carlton sounds very much like a Hurley type player here. As players learn, coaches don’t get on guys that can’t get better...

——————
“Once I met Coach Hurley, I didn’t want to leave, I wanted to stay and play for him,” Carlton said. “He emphasized that he wanted me to be here and he thought I could be a big part going forward, and telling me his philosophy and how he wanted to play. You get a lot of mental toughness playing for him, once you understand he’s never going to say anything to hurt you as a player. He’s not going to say anything that’s going to make you worse. So as long as you’re taking what he says the right way, it’s OK.”

Dan Hurley Pushing UConn's Big Men To Start Their Engines
 
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RayIsTheGOAT said:
Some general observations from the first row-

- Intensity right from the start at 12:30. Everyone came out to the gym floor and immediately started running, diving for loose ball drills, footwork, etc. High intensity, high positivity from the start.
-Hurley cared more about defense than shot making for the entirety of practice it seemed- pointed out little things like shoulder position on D, footwork, ball screen defending, double team
-Hurley seemed to be on Josh more than anyone- not necessarily in a negative light, but because he realizes the importance of Josh being good
-Cobb looks much more explosive than last year-to be expected with weight loss/conditioning
-Most of the big men seemed to have a nice stroke- Whaley, Cobb, Carlton, Kwintin can stretch the floor a little bit with an elbow jumper. Granted, not even a chair was defending them on that drill.
-Rebounding drills seemed to be the biggest struggle. Not terrible, but clearly a lot of work to do.
-Brendan Adams is going to be an integral part of this program for the next few years. Doesn't look out of place, looks very smooth and like he will be a spark plug off the bench
-Jalen seemed to make some faces (as if, "what is he talking about") at some of the things Hurley was pointing out to the team. Could be nothing, just an observation.
-Polley has a very nice stroke from 3 and is taller than I thought. He and Sid are the X factors.
-Sid is very talented and athletic, but it's going to take a little time for him to develop some pieces of his game. But he has all the makings to be a high end player.
-Also, there were three refs at practice? I didn't realize that was something that happened at practice, but it makes sense. The refs called a lot of travels. Lol. Especially on a "rip" drill.
-Some players were unhappy with a couple of the foul calls, but Kimani was quick to shut up the complaining
-Tom Moore is an intense guy. Definitely an extension of Hurley.
-Hurley was clearly restrained during an open practice. At times it didn't seem like everyone was moving at full speed. But overall, the practice is pretty intense.
Expand ...

You're the GOAT Ray. Thanks
 
GemParty said:
they weren’t 15 steps on the court, and started an aggressive dive to the floor drill. I almost lost consciousness looking to see if Alterique was participating.
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Was he?
 
husky429 said:
Brendan adams looks very good
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At the time we got him, most thought BA was just a throwaway filler, a la a KO late April hail-mary recruit.

I'm hearing this kid is a player, not just in this thread, but over and over from all sorts of sources. Starting to get psyched on him, especially given he can shoot from day 1.

Might have been a steal. Pair him with Gaffney and Bou and even Polley, and we've FINALLY got a stroking perimeter game once again.
 
intlzncster said:
At the time we got him, most thought BA was just a throwaway filler, a la a KO late April hail-mary recruit.

I'm hearing this kid is a player, not just in this thread, but over and over from all sorts of sources. Starting to get psyched on him, especially given he can shoot from day 1.

Might have been a steal. Pair him with Gaffney and Bou and even Polley, and we've FINALLY got a stroking perimeter game once again.
Expand ...

I'm just gonna repeat myself here, but I can't WAIT to be able to shoot the ball again. Watching shots fall is great.
 
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gwhuskyfan said:
Anything on Kwintin?
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Surprisingly showed his ability to stretch the floor, hit a few threes. Defensively looked lost. He missed a line on a sprint and made everyone do it again
 
RayIsTheGOAT said:
Some general observations from the first row-

- Intensity right from the start at 12:30. Everyone came out to the gym floor and immediately started running, diving for loose ball drills, footwork, etc. High intensity, high positivity from the start.
-Hurley cared more about defense than shot making for the entirety of practice it seemed- pointed out little things like shoulder position on D, footwork, ball screen defending, double team
-Hurley seemed to be on Josh more than anyone- not necessarily in a negative light, but because he realizes the importance of Josh being good
-Cobb looks much more explosive than last year-to be expected with weight loss/conditioning
-Most of the big men seemed to have a nice stroke- Whaley, Cobb, Carlton, Kwintin can stretch the floor a little bit with an elbow jumper. Granted, not even a chair was defending them on that drill.
-Rebounding drills seemed to be the biggest struggle. Not terrible, but clearly a lot of work to do.
-Brendan Adams is going to be an integral part of this program for the next few years. Doesn't look out of place, looks very smooth and like he will be a spark plug off the bench
-Jalen seemed to make some faces (as if, "what is he talking about") at some of the things Hurley was pointing out to the team. Could be nothing, just an observation.
-Polley has a very nice stroke from 3 and is taller than I thought. He and Sid are the X factors.
-Sid is very talented and athletic, but it's going to take a little time for him to develop some pieces of his game. But he has all the makings to be a high end player.
-Also, there were three refs at practice? I didn't realize that was something that happened at practice, but it makes sense. The refs called a lot of travels. Lol. Especially on a "rip" drill.
-Some players were unhappy with a couple of the foul calls, but Kimani was quick to shut up the complaining
-Tom Moore is an intense guy. Definitely an extension of Hurley.
-Hurley was clearly restrained during an open practice. At times it didn't seem like everyone was moving at full speed. But overall, the practice is pretty intense.
Expand ...

Ray were you behind the bench?
 
Yeah kwintin can shoot that stood out to me when they played in the gym after the season ended
 
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goskis2018 said:
Yeah kwintin can shoot that stood out to me when they played in the gym after the season ended
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In all fairness, Alex Oriakhi used to hit threes at a pretty impressive clip when I used to see him shooting around in the gym, wouldn't have ever wanted him jacking them up in games.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
In all fairness, Alex Oriakhi used to hit threes at a pretty impressive clip when I used to see him shooting around in the gym, wouldn't have ever wanted him jacking them up in games.
Expand ...
Yeah but in a team that wasn't blessed for shooters if you hadn't watched the season before hand you would've thought that the guy was the second or third best player on the team. Cobb I remember on the two or three times I saw him at the rec would take 3s withlut hesitation but would make none of them. I'm not saying play kwinten because obviously he's not that guy out there on the floor but I do wonder why it doesn't translate
 
My practice observations... Keep in mind that this is just one practice, so grain of salt all that.

Al Gilbert: Looked really good. Dove on the floor a few times. Didn't take very many shots, even when he was open. Got vocal leading the team a couple of times. Excellent handle as we know. Really bought into the defensive side of the ball.

Jalen: Made some 3 point nice shots and finishes as you'd expect. Still obviously our most talented scorer. Didn't look terrible on the defensive end, but nothing special. I wouldn't expect to see a change on defense. Stayed within the defensive scheme most of the time though. Coach got into him towards the end of practice for goofing off calling out to sid when Sid was shooting free throws.

Adams: I was very impressed by his game. Not that he'll be our best player, but surpassed what I expected. He hustled and worked really hard, defended Jalen almost the entire practice when going live. Had a few good deflections and steals. Kid is totally bought into Hurley and the assistants. Didn't seem to make many drives or dishes that I can recall, but his is a really good shooter in all of the drills. I wouldn't be surprised if he spends a good deal of time in a 3+D type role this year. Runs like his hips are pretty stiff.

CV: Played tough as you'd expect, and didn't take any bad shots. Obviously, he's a good shooter when he's taking the right kind of shots, but he didn't really take many yesterday that I can remember. Didn't stick out much to me.

Sid: Did not look very good at all to me. Missed rotations on defense, didn't look at passers, etc. From that practice, I don't think he's a starter. Hopefully, it's just an off day.

Polley: Fantastic shooter, but doesn't do much else of note.

Whaley: He has 0 offensive skill set, but seems to make the players around him elevate their game a little bit. Kind of a conundrum.

Jumpman: Doubt he plays much at all. No IQ. I would consider him a top-notch walk-on this year.

Cobb: Man he is slimmed down and strong. Didn't try to handle the ball like a guard, phew. He and Carlton had a nice battle going on. Seemed to outrebound Carlton--he's tougher. Look for him to step out for a corner 3 in a pinch, or out of timeouts.

Carlton: Definitely the most skilled big. But soft. Got outrebounded by Cobb and the guards a few times. I wouldn't expect anyone to be going 1 on 1 in the post with any frequency except for Carlton.

Overall:
- Hurley's offense looks very different than at URI. More NBA-looking. Lots of handoffs, ball screens, and slips.
- TONS of movement being trained in the offense. I doubt it looks like that come game day, but it's clear that Hurley is breaking a stand around and watch habit.
- I like that Hurley isn't just teaching sets, but also concepts. In a shell to live drill, he had the guys practice handoffs, then handoffs or staggers, then ball screens, etc. Most scoring in a game is going to come out of broken down plays, so it's smart of him to train players conceptually.
- They have two(?) different calls on defense I think Red vs White maybe? I'm not sure exactly how the defense changes structurally on that call. I didn't pay enough attention to notice.
- Expect a TON of ball pressure, but less gambling off the ball. Kind of like a man/packline hybrid? Hurley wants his guards to turn the ball handler 4x and make him pass. But he got on the guards for gambling for steals. And he definitely wants to force ballhandlers to the baseline. I would picture it kind of like a high ball-pressure on the line/slightly off the line style of defense.
- Practice was intense.
- Kenya seems to be the bigs coach (Whaley, Carlton, Cobb)
- Kimani seems to be the guards/wings coach.
- Moore split his time between the two I think. Hurley was just everywhere all the time, lol.
- Hurley swore a few times and covered his mouth after when he remembered fans were watching. Hysterical stuff, haha.
 
My favorite quote: “Josh sniffed the softness out of em” can’t remember who was guarding Carlton that he got mad at but I was laughing
 
Does seem, from various eyewitness assessments, that rebounding will be an ongoing concern. The word "soft" seems to apply to Carlton and Polley, and Whaley simply hasn't the frame to match a willing spirit. The return of a healthy Mamadou is going to be important, and I suspect, come January, that the 3 and 4 guard rotations will have been sacrificed to establishing some strength upfront.
 
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