PG Play - Innocent Question | The Boneyard

PG Play - Innocent Question

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bazz4A

Joined
Oct 25, 2018
Messages
235
Reaction Score
1,094
The team looks incredible. One of if not the best in the country. Love how they play.

Now with all that being said, question for the group. Come March, we have seen how PG play can destroy good teams and how we have benefitted from it. Anyone a little worried we could be Florida from 2014 or Arizona from 2011 and have an opposing backcourt kill ours? I’m not even saying this will happen, I just know we’ve seen Kemba and Shabazz take apart great teams and wonder a bit.

Finish with a resounding “this team is awesome” just asking the question.
 
Last edited:
All of the guards need to clean up their ball security/decision making except for maybe Joey C, but damn if this team isn’t relentless. We crash into our opponents like wave after wave. Newton, Hawkins, and Diarra specifically can clean up their ball security/decision making. Lots of time to improve.
 
Big plus in the backcourt is Andre Jackson being there if anyone gets in trouble.
Andre is every where. No press problems when Andre is available for bail out.
He answers my issue regarding point guard. One man press break.
Newton has been adaquit on all counts as long as Jackson et al are there to help out.
Backcourt by commitee.
 
WideRight! said:
All of the guards need to clean up their ball security/decision making except for maybe Joey C, but damn if this team isn’t relentless. We crash into our opponents like wave after wave. Newton, Hawkins, and Diarra specifically can clean up their ball security/decision making. Lots of time to improve.
Expand ...
Amen. I am not sure who the PG will be during the closing minutes. Newton and Diarra were both bad tonight.
 
coachn said:
Big plus in the backcourt is Andre Jackson being there if anyone gets in trouble.
Andre is every where. No press problems when Andre is available for bail out.
He answers my issue regarding point guard. One man press break.
Newton has been adaquit on all counts as long as Jackson et al are there to help out.
Backcourt by commitee.
Expand ...
Bingo.

He keeps this from being a major weakness for us.

If he were to get in foul trouble while we played a team with intense ball pressure, I could see us having major problems (especially since Hawkins doesn’t seem to have a strong handle).
 
.-.
Bazz4A said:
The team looks incredible. One of if not the best in the country. Love how they play.

Now with all that being said, question for the group. Come March, we have seen how PG play can destroy good teams and how we have benefitted from it. Anyone a little worried we could be Florida from 2014 or Arizona from 2011 and have an opposing backcourt kill ours? I’m not even saying this will happen, I just know we’ve seen Kemba and Shabazz take apart great teams and wonder a bit.

Finish with a resounding “this team is awesome” just asking the question.
Expand ...
I actually like our guards. Newton forces action all the time... and can't be left open either. Even when he's not putting up good numbers I like his style of play. Diarra is a very adequate backup. You could even say good backup.

As to your other point. I see some 99 Duke in us. Not necessarily in style of play. But in the consistemt margin of victory.

So is there a 99 UCONN team out there. A team with the best combination of guards who all want and can make the big shot. Combined with bigs that can't be pushed around.... I'm not seeing a 99 UCONN squad that can beat us. But it's still early.
 
IMO Newton proved lsst night why he wound going to ECU out of high school. He is an AAC level guard. I hope he can improve his handle and passing decisions sooner than later.
 
Bazz4A said:
The team looks incredible. One of if not the best in the country. Love how they play.

Now with all that being said, question for the group. Come March, we have seen how PG play can destroy good teams and how we have benefitted from it. Anyone a little worried we could be Florida from 2014 or Arizona from 2011 and have an opposing backcourt kill ours? I’m not even saying this will happen, I just know we’ve seen Kemba and Shabazz take apart great teams and wonder a bit.

Finish with a resounding “this team is awesome” just asking the question.
Expand ...
I think we’ll be fine. Agree though that a team with a guard tandem just as good as Kemba and Bazz could beat us, but the only teams right now that have backcourts that talented are in the NBA.
 
Bazz4A said:
The team looks incredible. One of if not the best in the country. Love how they play.

Now with all that being said, question for the group. Come March, we have seen how PG play can destroy good teams and how we have benefitted from it. Anyone a little worried we could be Florida from 2014 or Arizona from 2011 and have an opposing backcourt kill ours? I’m not even saying this will happen, I just know we’ve seen Kemba and Shabazz take apart great teams and wonder a bit.

Finish with a resounding “this team is awesome” just asking the question.
Expand ...
Great question and for me, that's my biggest concern with this team. Long story shortened, Newton, Diarra and Alleyne has to shoot better and cut down on TO's. Neither of those 3 have given us back to back good ganes
 
.-.
UconnFanDC said:
Great question and for me, that's my biggest concern with this team. Long story shortened, Newton, Diarra and Alleyne has to shoot better and cut down on TO's. Neither of those 3 have given us back to back good ganes
Expand ...

One of those three is not like the others.
 
Nope, not worried, enjoying the ride.

We have a very good team, we're in the mix, we have a lot of talent and we could win a lot of different ways.

On any given night, somebody can soar and we can be beaten. It happens. Nothing to worry about
 
HuskyHoosier said:
FL in 2014 was final 4 and AZ in 2011 was elite 8 - not bad places to end the year.
Expand ...
Didn’t mean to like your comment. Losing in the national semis or elite 8 are not good places to end our season. I dream about being the last team standing
 
Yup, bad night for Newton, Alleyne, and Diarra. Alleyne and Diarra should be able to get a lot of minutes on Saturday to try and help get their games right.
 
I know this is a PG thread but re: Alleyne I’ve still got faith in him. Last night, after a missed shot, he hustled back in transition and beat Florida to a loose ball in the corner, thus starting our own break. He also looked great on defense and seemed to be feeding off Jackson on that end when they were both in.

The hustle is still there, the mentality is still there. As long as he keeps that attitude up, I have no doubt he’ll get through this funk, carve out his role on O, and put up some 15+ point games in BE play.

Would be nice to see him swish a couple 3s against LIU just to get the oven heating.
 
.-.
Need more consistency from Newton he hasn't been good for a couple games leading into last night and was awful last night. He needs to make up his mind on either getting to the rim or passing it out. Too many in flight change of plans and awful turnovers last night, got bailed by Jackson on a couple others. He's too good to be playing like this, focus. Diarra, sorry like the kid but he can't play the point he's not great with the ball at all need him as the 3rd PG and combo at all times. The one thing we thought was solid for him defense was awful last night. I mean got beat off the dribble and the worst was that back door. He was so asleep he was still staring at the corner when his guy was scoring the ball.

I mean amazing to think of how the guards played and how easy we beat a decent team. But they are only decent, let's not get too high need to play much better against much of the Big East moving forward.
 
UConNick said:
I know this is a PG thread but re: Alleyne I’ve still got faith in him. Last night, after a missed shot, he hustled back in transition and beat Florida to a loose ball in the corner, thus starting our own break. He also looked great on defense and seemed to be feeding off Jackson on that end when they were both in.

The hustle is still there, the mentality is still there. As long as he keeps that attitude up, I have no doubt he’ll get through this funk, carve out his role on O, and put up some 15+ point games in BE play.

Would be nice to see him swish a couple 3s against LIU just to get the oven heating.
Expand ...

Yep Nick spot on. That was a great play by him getting back after missing that dunk (which was a nice move) and making that steal. He needs to become who he is, we will be so much better with him playing with confidence, key piece.
 
I am now in the camp that Andre can play point for this team for long stretches, as long as the other 3 on the floor are 3 point shooters. Either center in there works. PG by committee can get it done.

If the guards that left were not told it would be best for them to move on, then they really f ’ d up.
 
You can be a great team with no flaws and still fall short of a Final Four, much less a national championship. This team is playing incredibly well and has a lot of ways to beat you. But could weakness at the point and/or too many turnovers cost us a game in the Tournament? Absolutely. If Newton and Diarra aren’t going to score, which we can live with, they will need to be much cleaner with the ball come March.
 
The real "problem" with our PG situation is that outside of Andre our major ball handlers are prone to getting their pockets picked by pesky lockdown type smaller PGs, so we sometimes have trouble initiating offense. For all of Tristan Newton's skills, effectively getting to a spot under intense pressure is not one. The nightmare would be like UConn/Kentucky in 2014, when Bazz/Boat absolutely made Kentucky's big guards night miserable and disrupted their entire offensive flow the entire 40 minutes. That's the template.

So if we are looking for solutions, I think really the model is to identify that as the gameplan, and then just switch roles and have Andre as PG. He's the only guy with the energy and confidence and handle to break that down consistently coming up the floor. Plus with his speed the teams will know if he gets past the ball pressure its going to be a dunk or a lob on the back end to Sanogo/Clingan or kickout to open shooter. It should relax the ball pressure a bit like we saw with Alabama.

Diarra - is wayyyyyy too turnover prone and got his pocket picked last night as well as gets really out of control when he gets sped up.
Tristan Newton can draw fouls but if the refs are letting them play like last night and he doesn't get his customary "head bob" whistle, he's going to struggle as main facilitator
Joey California - just not his strength, will take away from other skills/role
 
.-.
UConNick said:
I know this is a PG thread but re: Alleyne I’ve still got faith in him. Last night, after a missed shot, he hustled back in transition and beat Florida to a loose ball in the corner, thus starting our own break. He also looked great on defense and seemed to be feeding off Jackson on that end when they were both in.

The hustle is still there, the mentality is still there. As long as he keeps that attitude up, I have no doubt he’ll get through this funk, carve out his role on O, and put up some 15+ point games in BE play.

Would be nice to see him swish a couple 3s against LIU just to get the oven heating.
Expand ...
100% agreed. The bottom line is we'll eventually need one of Alleyne, Diarra, or Newton to consistently take their game to a higher level (I know Newton has had some individually excellent games). But the great thing is we're playing so well we can allow them to work through things, get feedback from the coaching staff, and continue to mature and adjust their games. I think they'll be ready when we need them.
 
mauconnfan said:
I mean amazing to think of how the guards played and how easy we beat a decent team. But they are only decent, let's not get too high need to play much better against much of the Big East moving forward.
Expand ...
This! If Newton, Diarra and Alleyne play as badly as they did last night against Creighton, the usual result will probably occur.
 
Last edited:
I’m not too concerned about Newton yet, other than that he’s been a little loose with the ball against tight pressure, especially up at the point where turnovers lead to breakaways. He got going downhill a lot yesterday, which is good, but it felt like he was trying too hard to be a facilitator. He did come up with a couple impressive passes in small windows that showed some PG vision, except that by the time Sanogo or Clingan pulled it in, the defense had recovered because he didn’t sell that he was a scoring threat well enough. I’d rather he establish his scoring going downhill - or look to draw contact, or suck the shot blocker in and let Sanogo and Clingan attack the boards. Sometimes that means you go 0-1 statistically but it’s a good possession for the team. Then once the defense feels they need to take your shot away, those passes are more likely to result in assists. If he finds the right balance between supplemental scorer and facilitator as the season goes on, he might evolve into what we need for that position. I feel like the skillset is there, but there’s certainly room to grow.
 
Gurleyman said:
I’m not too concerned about Newton yet, other than that he’s been a little loose with the ball against tight pressure, especially up at the point where turnovers lead to breakaways. He got going downhill a lot yesterday, which is good, but it felt like he was trying too hard to be a facilitator. He did come up with a couple impressive passes in small windows that showed some PG vision, except that by the time Sanogo or Clingan pulled it in, the defense had recovered because he didn’t sell that he was a scoring threat well enough. I’d rather he establish his scoring going downhill - or look to draw contact, or suck the shot blocker in and let Sanogo and Clingan attack the boards. Sometimes that means you go 0-1 statistically but it’s a good possession for the team. Then once the defense feels they need to take your shot away, those passes are more likely to result in assists. If he finds the right balance between supplemental scorer and facilitator as the season goes on, he might evolve into what we need for that position. I feel like the skillset is there, but there’s certainly room to grow.
Expand ...

I agree, that was the main issue yesterday for Newton. He was only looking to pass on his drives, and eventually everyone on the court knew it. He passed up wide open 5 footers and did not seek contact the way we've seen him do before. We're at our best when he's doing his Peyton Siva lead guard impression and wreaking havoc in the lane several times a game.

Not worried. The coaches will help him get it calibrated, and with this team I'd rather he err on the side of over-passing than being a ballhog. He (with Sanogo) basically won the Alabama game for us in the second half. That gave me a lot of confidence that he will be there when the lights are bright.
 
ClifSpliffy said:
tris is fine.
10-0 as the floor leader, thus far.
that's pretty good, no?
Expand ...
Yes. But he’s not the floor leader, and that,s fine he’s not. It makes us even harder to plan for. But this isn’t Taliek running 2004. This is a different team. Different needs and pieces. Newton seemed caught in the “ in between” last night, and honestly the last few games. Nyhuskyfan as usual has it right. ( if you know you know ;-) )
 
.-.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,608
Messages
4,585,388
Members
10,496
Latest member
rONIn


Top Bottom