Open Practice Tuesday

[notthestuff]

For the most part I agree with all the points you made. There are some obvious areas however where the coaching staff falls short from an X’s and O’s standpoint. I think KO’s offense works with more talent, but the lack of inbounds plays and inability to break a press against the trap is coaching and just a couple of the things that drive me nuts when watching games. You don’t need great ball handlers to get out of a trap and break a press. Solid passing and having guys in the right spots on the floor can break even the best press defenses.

Anyway, to your point these are only things that make the team look bad but it’s not why we’re getting blown out. The talent level and constant mental mistakes are the reasons we’re so bad.

I really don't disagree with anything your saying. I'd just add two things. Even though they don't show in bounds plays consistently throughout the game they do actually dedicate practice time to situational in bounds plays based on clock and score. They'll take time where KO draws up plays on the fly and they go try to execute. What they don't seem to have is a catalogue of effective plays to go to in non timeout situations. This may be philosophical based on feeling you don't want your best plays scouted for when you really need them. Though that doesn't really matter much when you are never in a close game....

I also hear your point on the press and the need for better positioning and passing. One thing I think that really hurts this team is how atrocious a ball handling team they are. I've never seen a team of D1 players that, get stripped, dribble off their feet, and just flat out lose control of the ball as often as this group. You need to at least be a threat to use your dribble to keep the defense honest otherwise they can be over aggressive or sag off completely both of which make the passing lanes much tighter. This doesn't help half court offensive execution either.

 

[bmo22]

I really don't disagree with anything your saying. I'd just add two things. Even though they don't show in bounds plays consistently throughout the game they do actually dedicate practice time to situational in bounds plays based on clock and score. They'll take time where KO draws up plays on the fly and they go try to execute. What they don't seem to have is a catalogue of effective plays to go to in non timeout situations. This may be philosophical based on feeling you don't want your best plays scouted for when you really need them. Though that doesn't really matter much when you are never in a close game....

I also hear your point on the press and the need for better positioning and passing. One thing I think that really hurts this team is how atrocious a ball handling team they are. I've never seen a team of D1 players that, get stripped, dribble off their feet, and just flat out lose control of the ball as often as this group. You need to at least be a threat to use your dribble to keep the defense honest otherwise they can be over aggressive or sag off completely both of which make the passing lanes much tighter. This doesn't help half court offensive execution either.

It’s good to hear KO is still teaching situational inbounds plays in practice. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be running something on every inbounds play during games though. Every imaginable inbounds play under the hoop has been run before, so I’m not sure why they’d be worried about their plays being scouted. Most teams run similar breaks from under the basket and they still work at a high clip. It’s difficult for a defense to defend because in most cases the perimeter defenders have their backs to the ball and basket. The offense has the advantage and it’s an opportunity for easy buckets using back screens and basket cuts. For a team that has such difficulty creating offense in half court sets you would think KO would focus on this a little bit more.

All of that said I had a chance to go to an open practice during the 2014-2015 season and I was very impressed with how KO ran practice. It just hasn’t been translating to the games for some reason.

 

[len0322]

It’s good to hear KO is still teaching situational inbounds plays in practice. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be running something on every inbounds play during games though. Every imaginable inbounds play under the hoop has been run before, so I’m not sure why they’d be worried about their plays being scouted. Most teams run similar breaks from under the basket and they still work at a high clip. It’s difficult for a defense to defend because in most cases the perimeter defenders have their backs to the ball and basket. The offense has the advantage and it’s an opportunity for easy buckets using back screens and basket cuts. For a team that has such difficulty creating offense in half court sets you would think KO would focus on this a little bit more.

All of that said I had a chance to go to an open practice during the 2014-2015 season and I was very impressed with how KO ran practice. It just hasn’t been translating to the games for some reason.

I think you point about it not translating to games is spot on.
JT3 made commentary very clear during WSU game Sat nite.
JT3 made a point to talk about how they fell off Shamet after he drained a three.
Seems like KO was preaching to do the exact opposite in practice.

This has been a tough season....hoping we can close out thhe season by playing what was UCONN brand of basketball and build for the future.

 

[HuskyBandDad]

Having been to many practices over the past 8 years (including ones not open to public) I would guess Jalen was getting worked on by James (the trainer) and that's why he was last into the gym

No No. He crashed his scooter again.

 

[gtcam]

I think you point about it not translating to games is spot on.
JT3 made commentary very clear during WSU game Sat nite.
JT3 made a point to talk about how they fell off Shamet after he drained a three.
Seems like KO was preaching to do the exact opposite in practice.

This has been a tough season....hoping we can close out thhe season by playing what was UCONN brand of basketball and build for the future.

I'm not sure I would take what JT3 says as gospel
1. he took a great program and drove it into the ground
2. one of the reasons he was "deciding to go in another direction" was the fact that GU folks complained about his recruiting and game prep as well as his game decision making.
Not saying he can't have merit as an analyst but nobody has accused him of being any sort of basketball scholar.

BTW GU had an issue getting the ball in bounds at least 4 times down the stretch vs Butler last night and had it stolen twice. They said it has happened to GU numerous times this year so I guess P. Ewing is as bad as KO.

I don't think KO is "preaching" the opposite in fact, JT3 did say a few times that UConn's players must not be translating what KO is teaching in practice and said he had the same issue with young players at GU- he made that very clear