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Our veteran backcourt

UConnSwag11

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My tendency is to be defensive of CV because of his hustle, nose for the ball, and free throw reliability.

Hurley flinched at 58-55, and CV didn't have the Senior leadership maturity to say, "No, coach, Badams is 3-6 from 3 today. Don't put me in. Wait until the lead is more secure and the clock is lower, and then maybe put me in only for rebounds or steals when they get desperate, and free throws thereafter to hold the lead or ice the game. I promise not to shoot."

Okay, maybe Moore, Hunter, and Young could have said that.
Vitals defense, rebounding and FTs are enough for him to get decent minutes. Gilbert idk what’s going on with him and Carlton just has no competition. Depending on the team I think Akok should play the 5 and put sid at the 4
 

Hans Sprungfeld

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@BNich @DaveHuskiesFan @Stainmaster I just don’t get how you guys can crown a player with results like this our best player. I don’t care what else he does and I’m not going to be play nice anymore. He’s our senior leader, yes. Mentally strong, yes. But SO very limited. When him and AG leave we will instantly be a better team before even adding anyone new.
OK, listen up.

You already acknowledged that you shouldn't have posted in a thread where you rejected the premise. And now you're at it one day later in a different thread. That's the piece specifically for you.

To continue...

We just witnessed the youngsters doing what many have been begging for, and it looked pretty good. Stay with me.

Preseason comments included (I'm paraphrasing), "If CV is our high scorer, then we're not a very good team," and "We will only go as far as Carlton & Gilbert take us." As of today, those two statements are ever more true. They also mean something different in the case of the second one.

Before today, the claim would be, "Who else do we have?" implying that the Hurley recruits and (Top 100) Sid were not ready. Today, we saw the 12-0 run , with 3 freshmen and two sophomores.

Polley is out. We're down a scholarship. And we've got 2 red shirts. That's nine players left. We need them all.

Whaley was sitting with 4 fouls, but wasn't repeating his Houston game. Vital, Gilbert, and Carlton had, I think, 3 points at the time. We needed more from them.

Vital, with rebounds, steals, and free throws, did much of his part, BUT Hurley didn't do his part to get the ball out of his (I can't stop myself from) shooting hands. Carlton's defense when Akok needed a rest and then after Akok returned had the announcers screaming that Akok should have remained on Igbanu. Gilbert sat to the extent that Hurley felt the ball would not turnover horribly. It didn't. We won that statistical battle today.

If you imagine that today was no less than a partially successful preview of the 'changing of the guard,' and those two preseason quotes above are more important than ever...just not what people may have expected they meant. We may finally have players now who can score more and balance out CV, and Gilbert & Carlton (& Whaley) have clear roles they can play, including true full-game performances, as Whaley did in Houston, and we have seen from the other three, just not consistently enough (by a long shot).

The guy whose answer to the best player SO FAR was "Vital, and that's the problem" was "chicken dinner" right, but that need not be reason for anymore internal battles about overrating and delusional thinking. New track got laid down today.

Everybody pulls together from here on out. Listen to Hurley's pregame interview in another post. It's in there. Time for all of us to grow up. Time for me to listen to his post-game interview.

Let's go Huskies!
 
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If I was Hurley I would put a limit on Vital chucking 3's and missing. If you miss the first three -no more, up fake and drive or shoot a pullup. Better yet pass to someone else and go help rebound. I would start Gaffney and Sid over Gilbert and Carlton. It is time. We are in last place.
 
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My favorite Vital sequence was later in the game today where he almost skied a pass to Adams into the crowd, got the ball back, took a contested three four feet from the three point line, went back on defense and lost his man who promptly buried a three. This all happened in like 15 seconds.

He's just something.

I know everyone gets real mad about it, I just laugh.
 

Hans Sprungfeld

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My favorite Vital sequence was later in the game today where he almost skied a pass to Adams into the crowd, got the ball back, took a contested three four feet from the three point line, went back on defense and lost his man who promptly buried a three. This all happened in like 15 seconds.

He's just something.

I know everyone gets real mad about it, I just laugh.
That was when 58-55 became 58-58, right?

Never regained the lead. Story of the season. Funny-ish.

Usually, the idea is for players to keep the other team's guy from getting the ball, so he can't take the shot.

Here, the coaching staff needed to keep our team's guy from getting the ball so he couldn't take the shot. Weird.

At that moment, btw, Badams was 3-6 from 3, had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, no turnovers, and no fouls. Oh well...
 
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I can't even really speak on this smh... Well I have in the past already, I'm over it! I hope Hurley is finally figuring it out.
 
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IMO, DH is now giving Gaffney minutes in crunch time because he wants to know whether he needs to recruit a PG (or center) with the spring scholarship.

I don’t think Gaffney has shown enuf yet for DH to feel good about next years starting PG position.
He needs both. And a shooter.
 

Psolo12

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My tendency is to be defensive of CV because of his hustle, nose for the ball, and free throw reliability.

Hurley flinched at 58-55, and CV didn't have the Senior leadership maturity to say, "No, coach, Badams is 3-6 from 3 today. Don't put me in. Wait until the lead is more secure and the clock is lower, and then maybe put me in only for rebounds or steals when they get desperate, and free throws thereafter to hold the lead or ice the game. I promise not to shoot."

Okay, maybe Moore, Hunter, and Young could have said that.
A competitive player like Vital would never say that
 
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If I was Hurley I would put a limit on Vital chucking 3's and missing. If you miss the first three -no more, up fake and drive or shoot a pullup. Better yet pass to someone else and go help rebound. I would start Gaffney and Sid over Gilbert and Carlton. It is time. We are in last place.
What is odd is he is money on his pull-up from the elbow. That should be his go to in half-court sets all day. Believe it or not we could have a real old fashioned mid range game.
 

Hans Sprungfeld

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A competitive player like Vital would never say that
I am strongly inclined to agree with you, only drawing back to, perhaps, "would be pretty unlikely" rather than "would never." In practical terms, no argument between us.

The fantastic script that I offered would be expecting too much of anyone but a most mature & special 22 year old player with a strong track record of successful high-pressure decision-making and performance. This is why I added that the head coach might better have received such counsel from any of the 3 other coaches on his staff.

I'm only wishing that all parties bring forth their best and continue to grow and do better as the season progresses.
 

UConn_Top_Dog

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Alterique is ballin tonight! Please please please keep it going...
 

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