Point Guard Situaton

[RuffRuff]

Seems to me if he is healthy its time to put Nowell out there and see what he can do. I would prefer to watch Nowell making freshman mistakes than a junior picking up his dribble 25’ from the basket after barely getting it over the half court line in time. Watching Mahaney bringing up the ball is just so stressful. Because it always seems to end the same way.

It would be better to let Nowell occasionally blow past the defender and have him chasing by the time they get to half court. That would change so much about how the defense can set up to guard us in the half court.

Mahaney has no urgency in his movement, always looks protective and careful. It’s spark-less. That energy at the top of your offense turns it into sludge. Give me some conviction, some direction, some leadership. While he’s new he is an upperclassmen, but feels like a freshman.

 

[ctbro1999]

No, the reason we won’t 3peat is we lost 4 starters to the NBA. Danny should have never uttered 3peat just 2 days after last year’s title.

What's he supposed to say? "Oh yeah, no way we can 3-peat, but hope to put together another solid team next year"? After winning back to back nattys (and 6 in total), the goal will always be winning a natty. Some years obviously it is unrealistic or even not possible, but you can't say that out loud. Maybe if you're Syracuse you can say that, but not UConn.

 

[Stinger92860]

This thread is hilarious

It will even more hilarious if we lose tonight. We have no depth at the one And we are turning the ball over at a high rate. Why do you think its funny?

 

[Kenny11]

We are scouted very very well this year. Our whole offense was being praised and dissected on YouTube the entire offseason. Teams are stealing our plays too. One of the things that’s obvious is we have a hard time reversing the ball. The ball gets stuck in Hassan’s hands for much too long. This has been happening all season but now that he’s hobbled and can’t move as well it makes the situation much worse. Mcneeley back and handling the ball will help but even he looked like he wasn’t ready to change directions well coming back from the ankle injury. Sometimes our wings don’t aggressively come to the ball when they are needed

 

[Marat]

Mahaney has no urgency in his movement, always looks protective and careful. It’s spark-less. That energy at the top of your offense turns it into sludge. Give me some conviction, some direction, some leadership. While he’s new he is an upperclassmen, but feels like a freshman.

I would love to hear Dan's thoughts on why he thought AM could successfully transition from shooting guard to the 1. I mean it seems Dan really believed this.

 

[husky429]

I would love to hear Dan's thoughts on why he thought AM could successfully transition from shooting guard to the 1. I mean it seems Dan really believed this.

He played very well at SMU, and was at his best against the toughest competition. I can't blame our coaches for thinking he could be a player for us--there was as much indication as you'll see from a mid-major player.

 

[gsmooth]

He played very well at SMU, and was at his best against the toughest competition. I can't blame our coaches for thinking he could be a player for us--there was as much indication as you'll see from a mid-major player.

And that's why I was excited when he chose UConn. I didn't think Hurley was going to push him to be a full time PG when they recruited him. Aidan did a few PG things, but he wasn't a PG at St. Mary's, Marciulionis was and still is.

However it is worth noting, Aidan struggled in his 2023 first round game against VCU (before he played against UConn) as VCU is a heavy pressure team that full court presses. He also struggled last year shooting 5-21 against Grand Canyon, a team with lots of athleticism and size.

 

[DMIL]

Mahaney has no urgency in his movement, always looks protective and careful. It’s spark-less. That energy at the top of your offense turns it into sludge. Give me some conviction, some direction, some leadership. While he’s new he is an upperclassmen, but feels like a freshman.

He's not really a prototype UCONN shooting or point guard. At least with Joey California he knew his role and how to impact the game playing within himself, he knew how to add value. Mahaney hasn't quite figured out his sweet spot. There is a command that is missing.

 

[boog204]

I would love to hear Dan's thoughts on why he thought AM could successfully transition from shooting guard to the 1. I mean it seems Dan really believed this.

Aidan was the PG in his freshman year at St. Mary's. While he didn't play well against us DH, in his pregame, talked about how dangerous Aidan was a PNR guy. Think DH has been eyeing him since then. Clearly a major miss...

 

[HooperScooper]

If you didn't listen to Hurley's pregame availability. I'm sure he's very frustrated he hasn't gotten Mahaney to play better.

“What (Mahaney) did at St. Mary’s just hasn’t translated to us. As a coach it’s frustrating that I haven’t been able to get that out of him, it’s there. Maybe we see it the last eight games of the Big East regular season and he goes on a run and a roll. We’re gonna keep trying to put him in positions to really help this team,” Hurley said. “Ahmad is another consideration as well now that he’s healthy enough as well to at least practice. And the other option is moving McNeeley over and kind of going a little bit positionless and just playing a bigger lineup. I guess if you’re gonna turn the ball over anyway, maybe it’s better to be taller.”

 

[RuffRuff]

He played very well at SMU, and was at his best against the toughest competition. I can't blame our coaches for thinking he could be a player for us--there was as much indication as you'll see from a mid-major player.

3 NCAA Tourney Games

Grand Canyon - 5-21 for 13 points
Uconn - 4-13 for 9 points
VCU - 0-5 for 0 points

So in 3 NCAA tournament games, this kid is 9-39 from the floor, 23% and 7ppg.

Numbers against any G5 or even good team last year.

2024
SDSt - 3-12, 8 pts
Xavier - 2-13, 7 pts

They didn't play a great schedule last year. StM, given their system of slow pace, grinds you down on offense/defense, used him in a high volume, low efficiency dynamic. It's fine for them given they don't draw the kind of athlete that is going to be a true go to high efficiency type.

Bottom line is that in StM's last 5 most challenging OOC games, Mahaney averaged 7ppg at 21%.

He got all his good numbers in that lousy conference. This was a major leap of faith.

 

[husky429]

3 NCAA Tourney Games

Grand Canyon - 5-21 for 13 points
Uconn - 4-13 for 9 points
VCU - 0-5 for 0 points

So in 3 NCAA tournament games, this kid is 9-39 from the floor, 23% and 7ppg.

Numbers against any G5 or even good team last year.

2024
SDSt - 3-12, 8 pts
Xavier - 2-13, 7 pts

They didn't play a great schedule last year. StM, given their system of slow pace, grind you down offense/defense, used him in a high volume, low efficiency dynamic. It's fine for them given they don't draw the kind of athlete that is going to be a true go to high efficiency type.

He got all his good numbers in that lousy conference. This was a major leap of faith.

I did the stats for his 6 games vs. High-majors (+ the Zags) after he committed:

19.6 PPG
1.8 RPG
2.2 APG

1.8 TO
0.2 BLK
1.2 STL

41% 2FG (7.3 attempts)
39% 3FG (7.3 attempts)
92% FT (2.0 attempts)

I think this was only his sophomore year IIRC, so it didn't include his UConn game.

The numbers certainly don't scream "point guard" but neither do they scream "barely playable at this level." Considering our hit rate on transfers, I can't really fault the staff for this one. RJ, Tyrese, Tristen, Cam, Diarra have all been fantastic for us. Even Joey C ended up being better in his role that we expected.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I did the stats for his 6 games vs. High-majors (+ the Zags) after he committed:

19.6 PPG
1.8 RPG
2.2 APG

1.8 TO
0.2 BLK
1.2 STL

41% 2FG (7.3 attempts)
39% 3FG (7.3 attempts)
92% FT (2.0 attempts)

I think this was only his sophomore year IIRC, so it didn't include his UConn game.

The numbers certainly don't scream "point guard" but neither do they scream "barely playable at this level." Considering our hit rate on transfers, I can't really fault the staff for this one. RJ, Tyrese, Tristen, Cam, Diarra have all been fantastic for us. Even Joey C ended up being better in his role that we expected.

If nothing else I certainly expected better than a 1.2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio

 

[HuskyHawk]

3 NCAA Tourney Games

Grand Canyon - 5-21 for 13 points
Uconn - 4-13 for 9 points
VCU - 0-5 for 0 points

So in 3 NCAA tournament games, this kid is 9-39 from the floor, 23% and 7ppg.

Numbers against any G5 or even good team last year.

2024
SDSt - 3-12, 8 pts
Xavier - 2-13, 7 pts

They didn't play a great schedule last year. StM, given their system of slow pace, grinds you down on offense/defense, used him in a high volume, low efficiency dynamic. It's fine for them given they don't draw the kind of athlete that is going to be a true go to high efficiency type.

Bottom line is that in StM's last 5 most challenging OOC games, Mahaney averaged 7ppg at 21%.

He got all his good numbers in that lousy conference. This was a major leap of faith.

Thank you for not abbreviating StM as SMU. There is already an SMU.

 

[RuffRuff]

I did the stats for his 6 games vs. High-majors (+ the Zags) after he committed:

19.6 PPG
1.8 RPG
2.2 APG

1.8 TO
0.2 BLK
1.2 STL

41% 2FG (7.3 attempts)
39% 3FG (7.3 attempts)
92% FT (2.0 attempts)

I think this was only his sophomore year IIRC, so it didn't include his UConn game.

The numbers certainly don't scream "point guard" but neither do they scream "barely playable at this level." Considering our hit rate on transfers, I can't really fault the staff for this one. RJ, Tyrese, Tristen, Cam, Diarra have all been fantastic for us. Even Joey C ended up being better in his role that we expected.

Yup, he went to town on the WCC, inclusive of Gonzaga. He struggles against athletic teams.

It's too bad our entire schedule wasn't Gonzaga & Nolan Hickman.