Point Guard Situaton

[AntG168]

Hurley recruited him. He visited UConn and mentioned us a bunch, but we ended up going with Nowell

We pivoted to Nowell.

 

[jibsey]

Our only chance at second point is Nowell. You gotta put him in for 20 minutes a game and hope the light goes on and he’s healthy enough.

 

[RuffRuff]

Were there any good PG in the transfer portal last year? Why didn’t we just get a good pg, instead of trying to change a Sg into a PG?

Jeremy Roach
PJ Haggerty
Canaan Carlyle
Lamont Butler
Kadari Richmond
Javon Small
Dug McDaniel
JP Pegues
Deveion Smith
Kylan Boswell

Small would have been a land. The list goes on. There were a ton of options. Mahaney was the 70th ranked transfer according to On3, these lists are obviously very subjective. Net net lots of options and almost all here would have brought a different level of athleticism to the table, at minimum.

Aidan lists as 6’3” and I know most kids plump up the height with sneakers but his disparity seems even more extreme, can’t be more than 6’1”. He’s small, and it stands out. It jumped out immediately at open practice.

Between AM and this last HS class it seems DHs pendulum has swung a bit too far to the “shooter” who can process vs the “athlete”. If there is arrogance it may be because they felt the system could win as long as you followed script and could shoot. Likely needs to strike the balance with some athleticism and doggedness.

It’s been stated by DH himself many times early in the year he brought in AM to play PG not Solos role. Furthermore wanting Hassan off the bench in the 6th man role, which only alludes to the one alternative of AM there. Experiment gone bad, happens, just can’t happen often.

 

[NJHusky]

I think Mahaney was originally recruited to play over Solo. Once Solo started killing it over the summer we tried using Mahaney at PG it seems.

Pretty much a wasted summer that could’ve went to developing our younger guys like Ball more and Nowell.

If that was the case, who was the backup, an untested frosh? I don’t buy that. They tried to force Mahaney as a PG in the early part of the season even though it didn’t work…even in buy games. If Mahaney was playing with Newton and Castle he would be fine for 10-15 min a game….but he’s not playing with them

 

[Gurleyman]

If that was the case, who was the backup, an untested frosh? I don’t buy that. They tried to force Mahaney as a PG in the early part of the season even though it didn’t work…even in buy games. If Mahaney was playing with Newton and Castle he would be fine for 10-15 min a game….but he’s not playing with them

Having a top rated freshman as a backup is sort of a normal progression. Kemba backed up Price. Napier backed up Kemba. Adams backed up Gibbs. Marcus Williams backed up Taliek Brown. Ben Gordon backed up Tony Robertson.

The Covid era has maybe made things more difficult for freshmen to make an impact. You can get fifth year grown men for those same roles - but I think it was reasonable to expect Nowell to play 15 mpg and cut his teeth before maybe starting as a sophomore. Be a spark - have some games where you get it going and play more. But show flashes and contribute.

He’s been injured so it’s hard to know what his progression might have been. I didn’t see much from him when he was out there. He looked like a too-small non-shooter/non-scorer who didn’t bring much to the table other than perhaps being a scrappy defender. I thought he wouldn’t help this year and was a year away - but I can be wrong. I didn’t see it from Castle (offensively) when he came back from injury last year. He looked kind of inept for a while, air balling 3 footers, throwing confusing ill timed passes, etc. - and Castle is putting up 30 burgers in the NBA this year. He had a tough role mentally trying to blend in on a veteran team that was clicking without him, so Nowell maybe has had some of the same issues and has more to bring to the table more quickly than I think. But if not, we may have whiffed on both Mahaney and Nowell … and that’s two big strikes. We may not know until next year - but some help this year would have been ideal. We aren’t that far from making a run at this thing. And a guy who can take the ball and create something when the offense bogs down is pretty much No. 1 on that list.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Having a top rated freshman as a backup is sort of a normal progression. Kemba backed up Price. Napier backed up Kemba. Adams backed up Gibbs. Marcus Williams backed up Taliek Brown. Ben Gordon backed up Tony Robertson.

Yup. It’s not unreasonable that a top 30 guy that the coaches continually talked up through the recruiting process was thought to be able to do just that too.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

It's water under the bridge now but too bad Diggins or Floyd did not stick around.

Diggins is currently shooting under 38% with just above a 1-to-1 assist to turnover ratio in the A-10. I assure you he would not have been the answer to this team’s woes, totally ignoring the fact that he would have gotten no PT to develop the last couple seasons.

 

[Hoophound]

I want to make an investment in Nowell asap. I’m not sure it’s going to happen since we have more tough games ahead. It was a mistake not to give him a lot more minutes early on. Oh well, water under the bridge now. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it all comes together.

I want to see more out of Nowell, not just for this post season, but so that we have a read on needs for next season.

 

[bendm]

I want to make an investment in Nowell asap. I’m not sure it’s going to happen since we have more tough games ahead. It was a mistake not to give him a lot more minutes early on. Oh well, water under the bridge now. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it all come together.

I want to see more out of Nowell, not just for this post season, but so that we have a read on needs for next season.

Amen. any/all of Mahaneys PT should be going to Nowell. But I’ve been saying that since December.

Nowell is going to be our backup PG next year while Mahaney is going to be the 14th man.

Transfer / Nowell
Ball / Adams
Mullins / Ross
Karaban / Stew
Reed / Reibe

Bench: Mahaney / Furphy / Abe / Singare

 

[NJHusky]

Having a top rated freshman as a backup is sort of a normal progression. Kemba backed up Price. Napier backed up Kemba. Adams backed up Gibbs. Marcus Williams backed up Taliek Brown. Ben Gordon backed up Tony Robertson.

The Covid era has maybe made things more difficult for freshmen to make an impact. You can get fifth year grown men for those same roles - but I think it was reasonable to expect Nowell to play 15 mpg and cut his teeth before maybe starting as a sophomore. Be a spark - have some games where you get it going and play more. But show flashes and contribute.

He’s been injured so it’s hard to know what his progression might have been. I didn’t see much from him when he was out there. He looked like a too-small non-shooter/non-scorer who didn’t bring much to the table other than perhaps being a scrappy defender. I thought he wouldn’t help this year and was a year away - but I can be wrong. I didn’t see it from Castle (offensively) when he came back from injury last year. He looked kind of inept for a while, air balling 3 footers, throwing confusing ill timed passes, etc. - and Castle is putting up 30 burgers in the NBA this year. He had a tough role mentally trying to blend in on a veteran team that was clicking without him, so Nowell maybe has had some of the same issues and has more to bring to the table more quickly than I think. But if not, we may have whiffed on both Mahaney and Nowell … and that’s two big strikes. We may not know until next year - but some help this year would have been ideal. We aren’t that far from making a run at this thing. And a guy who can take the ball and create something when the offense bogs down is pretty much No. 1 on that list.

If Hass was Kemba & Nowell was Bazz, all would be good....but they aren't. Hass gives all he can, but even healthy, he's not close to kemba.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

If Hass was Kemba & Nowell was Bazz, all would be good....but they aren't. Hass gives all he can, but even healthy, he's not close to kemba.

Just pick out the best of the examples and ignore all the other ones I guess

 

[RuffRuff]

If Hass was Kemba & Nowell was Bazz, all would be good....but they aren't. Hass gives all he can, but even healthy, he's not close to kemba.

Interesting with Hass is I recall he took his time deciding to come back. Wonder what the considerations were outside of NIL.

One of the downsides to Mahaney not working is taking development minutes away from AN. Likely moot given injuries, but one of those things that make you further wonder about the roster strategy.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If that was the case, who was the backup, an untested frosh? I don’t buy that. They tried to force Mahaney as a PG in the early part of the season even though it didn’t work…even in buy games. If Mahaney was playing with Newton and Castle he would be fine for 10-15 min a game….but he’s not playing with them

Yes, Nowell was the backup. Untested frosh? Like Shabazz was when Kemba led us to a championship? Like Castle last year. Come on. There is nothing unusual about relying on freshmen. Especially as reserves. Shabazz was ranked about #85 I think, Nowell #35.

Mahaney was clearly expected to be a SG. Ball won the job, Hurley tried to find a way to get the better shooter and more gifted offensive player (vs Diarra) in the lineup. It didn’t work and probably cost us games in Maui. It also cost Nowell development time. It was a huge error.

 

[superjohn]

I want to make an investment in Nowell asap. I’m not sure it’s going to happen since we have more tough games ahead. It was a mistake not to give him a lot more minutes early on. Oh well, water under the bridge now. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it all come together.

I want to see more out of Nowell, not just for this post season, but so that we have a read on needs for next season.

It honestly hasn't been the best offseason and season for the staff as it pertains to this team.

Misjudged the point guard position, Ahmad didn't really get the early minutes he should have, trying to make AK into the go to guy with McNeeley out, and I feel like they haven't used Tarris enough.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I think Mahaney was originally recruited to play over Solo. Once Solo started killing it over the summer we tried using Mahaney at PG it seems.

Pretty much a wasted summer that could’ve went to developing our younger guys like Ball more and Nowell.

I could be wrong but I believe that Mahaney was recruited to be our starting PG, but also see some time at the two, with us basically playing two point guards together.

They miscalculated, badly on this and we are facing a far lower ceiling on this season than any of us expected last summer/early fall.

I'm guessing that they saw the round two game two years ago as something similar to when Newton torched us at ECU, and figured he could be basically a plug and play combo guard. Clearly that isn't the case.

One thing that baffles me is how Ashworth (who was a two guard at Utah St and was almost exclusively a two guard last season for Creighton) has been able to handle point guard duties so easily in the physical BE when he is clearly shorter and lighter than Mahaney.

 

[superjohn]

I could be wrong but I believe that Mahaney was recruited to be our starting PG, but also see some time at the two, with us basically playing two point guards together.

They miscalculated, badly on this and we are facing a far lower ceiling on this season than any of us expected last summer/early fall.

I'm guessing that they saw the round two game two years ago as something similar to when Newton torched us at ECU, and figured he could be basically a plug and play combo guard. Clearly that isn't the case.

One thing that baffles me is how Ashworth (who was a two guard at Utah St and was almost exclusively a two guard last season for Creighton) has been able to handle point guard duties so easily in the physical BE when he is clearly shorter and lighter than Mahaney.

Mahaney didn't torch us in the tournament, I don't know why this keeps getting repeated here. I wanted the kid here but he shot 4-13 fg's and had 9 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 2 turnovers against us.

 

[RuffRuff]

Mahaney didn't torch us in the tournament, I don't know why this keeps getting repeated here. I wanted the kid here but he shot 4-13 fg's and had 9 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, and 2 turnovers against us.

And in their one and done last year he was 5-21 from the field against Grand Canyon and was run by like a road cone. Don’t let the totals deceive, he is low efficiency volume.

 

[superjohn]

And in their one and done last year he was 5-21 from the field against Grand Canyon and was run by like a road cone. Don’t let the totals deceive, he is low efficiency volume.

I wanted him at UConn because I saw him as a creative scorer, I thought he would be more efficient playing on a better team. The whole turn him into a point guard thing was just a bad evaluation by Hurley and the staff. He played some point at St. Mary's but was really bad at it.

 

[RuffRuff]

It honestly hasn't been the best offseason and season for the staff as it pertains to this team.

Misjudged the point guard position, Ahmad didn't really get the early minutes he should have, trying to make AK into the go to guy with McNeeley out, and I feel like they haven't used Tarris enough.

Nope it hasn’t. Smart staff and they’ll adjust now that egos have been checked back. B2Bs can do funny things, overconfidence one of them. Part of why it’s so hard to repeat. The psychology of sports is so interesting that way. Handling extreme success can be challenging.

This year has been muttered with so many inbounds gaffs, shot clocks run out, desperation heaves by the wrong people, lack of adjustments, the ridiculously high recent turnovers, the lack of utilization of the most physically talented player on the team(Tarris). All it takes is standing next to that guy to see how different he is. It feels more and more like a hangover season, but this staff kinda deserves one.

 

[Stinger92860]

not buying that he can’t take minute away from a hobbled Diarra

I’m a buyer

 

[RuffRuff]

I wanted him at UConn because I saw him as a creative scorer, I thought he would be more efficient playing on a better team. The whole turn him into a point guard thing was just a bad evaluation by Hurley and the staff. He played some point at St. Mary's but was really bad at it.

Same, and the euphoric belief post B2B that this staff has an eagle eye, could turn rock into gold, “Cam 2.0”. It wasn’t until we saw him in open practice and then watched some film, looked deeper into his #s, that I started questioning. It just happens they’re not magicians and mortal, and that really great selection, and some luck, trump.

 

[Gurleyman]

I wanted him at UConn because I saw him as a creative scorer, I thought he would be more efficient playing on a better team. The whole turn him into a point guard thing was just a bad evaluation by Hurley and the staff. He played some point at St. Mary's but was really bad at it.

Cam was a unicorn - but I thought even a Cam Lite would be perfect … and he’s not at all Cammish. Doesn’t look to shoot coming off screens, which is a huge minus because when you maybe don’t match up in quickness or physicality, everything else is easier once you get the D rushing out at you. He can sometimes get to the rim deceptively with changes of direction and a quick burst - but he doesn’t have nearly the bag that I thought he had on film. Cam would explore his options and make something happen on his 4th or 5th choice/read. I haven’t seen Aidan show anything like that. At best he has one counter and then he’s done.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get extended minutes against Creighton. Ashworth isn’t a physical matchup problem (but he does demand being mentally sharp). Just take the shackles off and chuck, make plays. See what you can do. Not like he’s going to cost us the game. He and McNeeley can take turns being the “go make something happen” guy when we can’t get Solo shots.

For someone like AK in a shooting slump, sometimes you get in one of those situations where you have to shoot with the shot clock winding down and you make it … because there’s no pressure in the shot. You can shed your mental block for a moment and let instinct take over. This is a case at Creighton where we’ve never won - and got smacked silly last year (with Spencer getting dogged by Ashworh randomly) - so Mahaney has a chance to just get the ball and go do something without the weight of expectations.

 

[Scrappy3]

My personal opinion

Use a combination of liam ball and Ross as pg get diarra two weeks off

 

[superjohn]

Cam was a unicorn - but I thought even a Cam Lite would be perfect … and he’s not at all Cammish. Doesn’t look to shoot coming off screens, which is a huge minus because when you maybe don’t match up in quickness or physicality, everything else is easier once you get the D rushing out at you. He can sometimes get to the rim deceptively with changes of direction and a quick burst - but he doesn’t have nearly the bag that I thought he had on film. Cam would explore his options and make something happen on his 4th or 5th choice/read. I haven’t seen Aidan show anything like that. At best he has one counter and then he’s done.

To be honest, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get extended minutes against Creighton. Ashworth isn’t a physical matchup problem (but he does demand being mentally sharp). Just take the shackles off and chuck, make plays. See what you can do. Not like he’s going to cost us the game. He and McNeeley can take turns being the “go make something happen” guy when we can’t get Solo shots.

For someone like AK in a shooting slump, sometimes you get in one of those situations where you have to shoot with the shot clock winding down and you make it … because there’s no pressure in the shot. You can shed your mental block for a moment and let instinct take over. This is a case at Creighton where we’ve never won - and got smacked silly last year (with Spencer getting dogged by Ashworh randomly) - so Mahaney has a chance to just get the ball and go do something without the weight of expectations.

Mahaney has had plenty of chances. I don't see it happening for him here.