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AntG168 said:
Final four talent and final four ready are worlds apart
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I was generalizing in my satire. We have neither though to be crystal clear. Could it happen? Anything is possible, but not likely.
 
ClifSpliffy said:
please don't mention any words from those broadcasters. they were turrible. turned it down with 15 minutes to go. one guy could absolutely not shut up, and the other guy, well, forget him too.
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I was getting more and more annoyed at the broadcasters as the game went on. I used to listen to Joe D on WTIC while watching game on TV. Should have tuned into FM 97.9 Fox spports. That so called interview of Hurley Senior da first while I am trying to folllw the game really inhaled vigorously e.g. it sucked. That broadcaster Wojohowitsski ruined the game broadcast and made a mockery out of the interview. Those guys were talking turds with a microphone.
 
AntG168 said:
You think our ceiling is only first weekend?
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Anything can happen, but roughly yes. Maybe 2nd weekend.

Edit: if we win the first game, the second game will be against someone roughly as good as us. That second game will be a coin flip.
 
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7774 said:
We’re not a good shooting team, so we’ll go as far as we can make 3s. Need to find someone who can become a consistent 3 point shooter beyond Cole. If Akok and Hawkins can get there we will be in great shape. Hopefully Polley can end his year around last year‘s 36-37%, which would mean he shoots very well the rest of the season.
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We have several good shooters, yet we aren’t a good shooting team. As we’ve seen in the past, shooting can really heat up when the offense starts clicking. Between Akok, Cole, Polley, Gaff and Hawkins, we should be a good shooting team. I’m hopeful it comes along as we get in rhythm and peaks later in the season.
 
My goal hasn’t changed, I still think we should make the sweet sixteen. Elite 8 is a possibility.
 
There are two parts of being a championship level team (and remember the 1990s — being a championship level team doesn’t mean you’ll even get to the Final Four). First, the individual players need to reach their individual potentials. We saw signs of that yesterday from Akok and AJ, and for 5 minutes from Hawkins, but still have a long way to go. But then second, the coach needs to take the pieces of the puzzle and put them together in the best way possible. That’s the art of coaching, and far less formulaic and more creative than in game coaching. And while I am a huge fan of what Hurley is accomplishing here, he really has yet to show he is this type of an artist. In his what, fourth year here, the only time I thought are whole was much better than the sum of the parts was right before COVID his.
 
I can see our ceiling as a sweet 16 run. I think even when everyone is playing optimally we have a ball handling depth issue. If something like the concussion last year happened to Cole we’d be toast. Gaff plays his best when he’s on the court with Cole. As much as we like AJaxs ability to be a playmaker, his handles are not there and his BBIQ isn’t there to run point for 30min. Diggins can help out with 15-20min but I find it hard to side Dan Hurley giving him more than that (even if cole was out). I think if we got an experienced ball handler on the transfer market Id have much more confidence in Sweet16 and probably even further.
 
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F101Voodoo said:
I was getting more and more annoyed at the broadcasters as the game went on. I used to listen to Joe D on WTIC while watching game on TV. Should have tuned into FM 97.9 Fox spports. That so called interview of Hurley Senior da first while I am trying to folllw the game really inhaled vigorously e.g. it sucked. That broadcaster Wojohowitsski ruined the game broadcast and made a mockery out of the interview. Those guys were talking turds with a microphone.
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See I totally disagree

Crispin - whom I had never heard before - was intelligent and insightful as the analyst. He had the bad calls - UCONN bias of me - all right on. He has the momentum feel. Knew the strategy of ball screens into drive. Had depth and detail on players on both teams. He is good. And I would love to see him more often. The play by play guy is pretty generic. I can't tell him from 20 others.

Woj? Annoyance
 
superjohn said:
There's no way this team isn't making the tournament and the Big East is going to get a bunch of teams in the tournament.
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Given how bad our injury luck has been I feel like this is just tempting fate to see how bad this team would be if RJ missed significant time.
 
I think our ceiling is higher than where we are now. That is an exciting thing by itself. Gimme the second weekend and see where it goes. A BE final would be nice too.
 
AntG168 said:
Final four talent and final four ready are worlds apart
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True, but there is no way the Napier-Boatright team looked like anyone NC during the season.

FWIW, I find the Hurley critiques hilarious. We lost 2 close games against 2 decent teams, arguably got ref screwed in the last minutes of the MSU game. Unlike the Ollie teams when effort came and went within a game and from game to game, Hurley’s teams doesn’t particularly drop off in effort. Calhoun’s teams often with great talent would have some terrible stretches and losses and drive fans nuts with his quick hook. Hurley has us going down the right path. The team adjusted pretty well to having a big chunk of scoring and rebounding sidelined the last few games. The internet makes everyone smarter than the coach. Only I can make that claim. :cool:
 
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Pudge said:
See I totally disagree

Crispin - whom I had never heard before - was intelligent and insightful as the analyst. He had the bad calls - UCONN bias of me - all right on. He has the momentum feel. Knew the strategy of ball screens into drive. Had depth and detail on players on both teams. He is good. And I would love to see him more often. The play by play guy is pretty generic. I can't tell him from 20 others.

Woj? Annoyance
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Wojanowski was the one who was interrupting the game with the interview of Hurley Sr. I would have liked to hear the interview on Hurley Sr. But doing that while the game was on live cause me to miss both that part of the game and the interview. Interview would have been great during half time. As for the announcers there just too many esoteric and out of context conversations. Maybe I am not used to the announcers since over the years as I mentioned I would get the audio from WTIC. Abiet sometimes a bit out of sync with the action. Sadly Joe D was slowly losing it towards the end.
 
If...

  • RJ can continue to perform at this level against high major talent trying to take him away
  • AJ does more rebounding and pushing tempo and less forcing passes that aren’t there and takes the shots the defense gives him.
  • Adama learns to read a double team early and find the open man
  • Akok becomes more aggressive with his offense while on the floor.
  • Gaffney plays tougher with the ball in his hands and stops turning the ball over.
  • Polley can be more 37% nightly and less 10%, 50%, 10%, 50%.
  • Hawk starts playing like an almost sophomore and with confidence.
  • Martin can eliminate his yips around the rim.
  • Zay can stay out of foul trouble while staying aggressive and making the open 3.
Then...this can be a final four team. Watching the IFs is what makes it fun.
 
JMick said:
I think we have final four talent but I don't know if I'd say we have final four potential
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Huh?

It's still mid-December. I see us as Elite 8 potential.
 
I'd be extremely happy if we made the BE Final, OK with the semis. Should make the Tourney. If we are 6 seed or better 2 wins would seem to be the limit at this point. Above that probably 1 win. But it's way too early. Our limitations of outside shooting and guard play beyond RJ are obvious limiters.
 
AntG168 said:
Today’s performance from a couple of guys got me thinking. If everything falls into place(which is rare), what is this teams ceiling. I mean if Polley returns to Junior year Polley and is an automatic bucket when open, if Hawkins becomes a legit 15 ppg threat every night, if Cole continues on his trajectory, Adama continues to be an all big East big, Tyrese continues to be a bully and a dog, Akok returns to Indiana MSG Akok, Gaffney plays to his potential, Whaley does dpoy Whaley things, and AJax channels his inner Draymond Green. My lord. I’ll preface this by saying, all of this coming to fruition is slim to none. But what if just most of it does. Where can we go?
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Polley has a problem all shooters go through
First they think they can make every shot they throw up there.
It kinda of gets confirmed by a crazy game
Shot selection is thrown out the window
After a couple of bad games confidence is crushed an even open shots seem difficult
Dr AZ’s cure
Don’t stop shooting but become more disaplined at your selection ability
You have a great shot and they will fall
When they do stay disaplined in selection unless your forced
That’s advice for Hawkins also.
PS stay aggressive in your floor game especially going to the boards and offensive rebounds .
We want you to get to the line as many times as possible. Your 26-29 from the line a tad under 90%.
You can win as many games from the line as you can with the 3.
 
It's all about having the resume to get into the tourney and then having the hot hand. The team needs to avoid the shooting slumps, but hopefully with Sanogo, Cole, Polley and a somewhat developed Hawkins, they can avoid long droughts. If they continue to improve on defense, no team will feel comfortable matching this team.
 
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How could we have final four potential if Dan Hurley is the worst in game coach to ever grace a top 15 job in college basketball? It was just last weak we couldn't overcome his horrid coaching, I doubt he improves that much over the course of 1 season.
 
AntG168 said:
Today’s performance from a couple of guys got me thinking. If everything falls into place(which is rare), what is this teams ceiling. I mean if Polley returns to Junior year Polley and is an automatic bucket when open, if Hawkins becomes a legit 15 ppg threat every night, if Cole continues on his trajectory, Adama continues to be an all big East big, Tyrese continues to be a bully and a dog, Akok returns to Indiana MSG Akok, Gaffney plays to his potential, Whaley does dpoy Whaley things, and AJax channels his inner Draymond Green. My lord. I’ll preface this by saying, all of this coming to fruition is slim to none. But what if just most of it does. Where can we go?
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2011 and 2014 taught me a lesson. Ill NEVER doubt this programs ability to cut down the nets in April. If they are in the field then our ceiling is championship.
 
Protect the basketball and that begins with guard play. We have some good and tough upperclassmen but we have many young very talented guys. Need to stay calm but play very hard. That's not easy, especially for under experienced guys. I think the best bet is to use our depth and pressure/transition ball. We are not made (yet) for half court offense. it is going to be great watching them grow up this year. I haven't seen this much effort in many years. We're going in the right direction; stay with it. They can be very exciting when they are running on all cylinders.
 
I love you all but you're all mad hatters.

The tournament is all about guard play, teams that are great at situational play and closing out half/games, and teams that play with confidence.

Those are precisely our 3 biggest weaknesses. We play inefficiently and leave a lot of points in the board. We STRUGGLE big-time defending without fouling and getting stops, especially against good guards.

On talent, we can get to sweet 16 on talent alone, but we are just as likely to lose in Rd 1 cuz we lose our nerve and a 13 seed hits a bunch of 3s.
 
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