Post Game thread

[temery]

I don't know what "birdboxed myself" means, but...
I wrote some low energy haiku,
drove to Bear's new location in New Haven (The Stack),
bought a box of twenty 50¢ wings,
returned home & confirmed I didn't have a way to stream the game,
opened up the IMG feed on TuneIn,
felt relief when my daughter called & the audio was interrupted (UConn up 18-10),
entered Chat during halftime & asked a question on streaming that seemed to go unanswered, and
woke up during the early stages of the post-game show.

There were two wings remaining in the container.

Did I get birdboxed?

Netflix pleads with people to stop doing the ‘Bird Box’ challenge

 

[nychuskyfan]

Ok I quit lmaoo. You keep repeating the same dumb stuff about rankings. When no one is talking about rankings. Carlton was ranked higher than yetna. Who's better? Fit and building a balanced team is more important than collecting a bunch a higher ranked players at random

If you want to avoid examining the coach’s performance, “Fit and balance” are a conveniently subjective explanation for how a far less talented team whips a far more talented team. But if you want to go there, do you really think USF has that much more “fit” and “balance”? They play 3 guards, we play 3 (more talented) guards. They have a bunch of raw bigs (except for Yetna), we have a bunch of raw bigs. So your ridiculous subjective argument, to the extent you even thought about it and aren’t just throwing words around, boils down to the fact that they have Yetna. Nice player but doesn’t nearly make up for the raw talent differences everywhere else on the floor. And btw, we also had a decent big yesterday but he found himself glued to the bench despite 7 rebounds in 15 mins.

So what you saw as “fit and balance” was actually Brian Gregory getting the most out of his less talented (and much younger!) roster. Can’t say the same about us and that’s on the coach. Love Hurley and acknowledge he does have a flawed roster, but he’s not beyond reproach.

 

[Ewekon]

We have one of the worst frontcourts in the country, that will change next season.

UConn frontcourt, meet UConn football defense. You guys are going to get along just fine.

 

[3rdbass]

UCONN doesn’t have the juice to pull 5 star kids right now.

The Ollie/Calhoun transition put a lot of bullets in the program and it’s going to take years to recover from the damage. I say at least three years because he has to re-establish UCONN’s reputation before he can leverage it for recruiting purposes. He’s also going to have to learn to attract ‘one and done’ kids which I don’t think he’s ever recruited. Comes down to do you want to be merely competitive or competitively dominant?

Looooooong way to go.

Not a long way to go in this conference if we get a couple good players. Remember basketball only takes a couple players for a turnaround and we have tradition so it can be done pretty fast. This is a lost year but im expecting a team to challenge for a tournament spot next year and then the following year to be in it. I think those are reasonable goals especially with the conference we are in and hopefully with the coach we have.

 

[ASweet3781]

Not a long way to go in this conference if we get a couple good players. Remember basketball only takes a couple players for a turnaround and we have tradition so it can be done pretty fast. This is a lost year but im expecting a team to challenge for a tournament spot next year and then the following year to be in it. I think those are reasonable goals especially with the conference we are in and hopefully with the coach we have.

They are not challenging for any NCAA spot next year unless 2 more post players are added with Akok.

 

[3rdbass]

They are not challenging for any NCAA spot next year unless 2 more post players are added with Akok.

Why not if we can get two more good players. I don’t see why we can’t challenge for a spot if we get two more decent recruits. We are in the AAC and not the ACC so no excuses to not at least challenge. The goal is to at least make it by year three. I think people are so down on UCONN basketball because of the past 2 and half years of horrible basketball.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Put Sid in for defense and hard drives at the rim. No more shooting for him. Its embarrassing.

Hard drives to the rim? He's built like a twinkie

 

[Edward Sargent]

Brian Gregory cut his teeth with Tom Izzo. Izzo's teams always have a minimum of 4 guys 6' 8" or taller and at least 240lbs. They beat the stuffing out of you. That's what happened tonight. I was happy toward the end of the game when Gregory kept his guys at half court during their free throws. I couldn't bear to watch us give up another O board off a missed free throw. Also, why are we in Rideau's jock 25 feet from the bucket. He can't shoot yet we pressure him and he blows by repeatedly. Also, couldn't they figure out he's right hand dominant and shade him the other way?

We lost an O board when 4 on 1!!!

 

[Edward Sargent]

Lackadaisical, if you prefer. Calhoun might say they lack intensity. They are not crisp. They need a heart transplant.

Watch the lazy passes. The failure to box out. No hard screens. Constantly beaten to the rim.

Riddle me this Batman. Who on this team would you describe as "tough?" Or mentally tough?

Vital

 

[Edward Sargent]

Polley was awful and if we're going to in any way approach our ceiling this year and beyond, Wilson has to play a prominent role.

But I haven't seen anything in Wilson that suggests he's going to be part of a winning team in the near future. Elite athleticism, highlight-reel plays, yes, but nowhere near the requisite consistency and basketball IQ. I said before the season that people have overhyped him and would be disappointed in the production on the court, and nothing we've seen so far disabuses me of that notion.

Wilson wasn't supposed to be this raw project -- what happened?

Sid got blocked by the rim in the layup line - a portent of things to come

 

[3RingsCT]

This team stinks. Period.

So tired of JA turning the ball over. Stupid mistakes all around.

We need to wait until Dan Hurley can get his own guys here.

 

[UConnDad]

Piss poor playing piss poor coaching piss poor effort.

Like you I'm pissed!

 

[UConnDad]

What adjustments would you have made?

Are you jo

What adjustments would you have made?

Stopping Rideau would have been nice. Stay in front of him. He has no outside shot and is a poor free throw shooter. Even putting him at the line is a win. He's not quicker than Gilbert.

 

[Tex-Lager93]

We'll get there, it just ain't happening this year.

Alterique isn't ready to lead, Jalen just isn't a serious basketball player, and Carlton stinks. We will have a major upgrade in talent and a culture change tends to take a bit of time. Things have been seriously broken around here for a while.

This. It takes time to shift culture - definitely more than half a season. The lack of toughness and resilience is painful to watch. The absence of a floor leader is killing us - as is the void in the middle. I want 'Rique to grab the reins - to drive and dish, become the assist man, shoot the 3 - become that leader. Stop deferring to others. Lead.

 

[mrl2016]

Stopping Rideau would have been nice. Stay in front of him. He has no outside shot and is a poor free throw shooter. Even putting him at the line is a win. He's not quicker than Gilbert.[/QUOTE]

Well he shot 13 free throws (most of anyone in the entire game) and I watched him blow past Gilbert & Tarin for 95% of the night so yeah he seemed pretty quick.

 

[6xChamps]

It’s dejavu from the beginning of last year. Big win and hot start to begin the year (Cuse this year, Oregon last year) and take care of business against inferior OOC opponents. Stay tight against some good teams but ultimately lose (Arizona/FSU this year, Arizona/Cuse last year). Get embarrassed by some solid teams (Auburn/Arkansas last year, Nova/Iowa this year). Lose conference opener

 

[Marat]

Overall, just a very depressing game for sure. Starting great, building a double digit lead and then collapsing to USF due to the same issues - very similar to last year. You could see that the lead slipping away and no mental toughness to break the skid. Just disappointing.

 

[Tenspro2002]

It’s dejavu from the beginning of last year. Big win and hot start to begin the year (Cuse this year, Oregon last year) and take care of business against inferior OOC opponents. Stay tight against some good teams but ultimately lose (Arizona/FSU this year, Arizona/Cuse last year). Get embarrassed by some solid teams (Auburn/Arkansas last year, Nova/Iowa this year). Lose conference opener

The only thing we have learned is that Hurley can't win with KO's players. Fortunately, that's not going to be a problem going forward.

 

[tcf15]

 

[tcf15]

 

[mwc22]

I may be in the minority, but Vital is clearly our best player right now and I want him taking close to 15 shots a game.

It also can't be that hard for a player like Cobb do have one role which is to be nothing but an enforcer down low, boxing out hard and grabbing rebounds.

 

[TRest]

the more I see this team play the less I can argue with that. Even USF had a few players that can bury an open 3 when necessary. We haven't had one since Bazz.

 

[UConn_Top_Dog]

How did the USF coach adjust with a far less talented team? Love Hurley, great hire but let’s be honest - he’s not off to a great start on the court. Fortunately his most important job this year (recruiting) is off to a great start.

And some continue to treat Coach Hurley as the second coming of Christ... without even letting him finish out season 1...

 

[Griffman]

Carlton shot an air ball from 6 feet away from the basket. I would rather have the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in the middle.

Polley has received way to much credit on this board this year. If he doesn't hit his 3 point shot, he should not be on the court. He's weak, doesn't rebound, can't play D and does not make his teammates better.

Cobb is better than Carlton and should be playing 25 minutes per game even though he should be a backup.

Jalen Adams is not the reason why we lost last night. He is still our best all-around player but just not the next Shabazz/Kemba like we all hoped. He is not a leader. Let's accept him for what he is.

AG is a solid man on man Defensive guard but has a long way to make a difference on the offensive side of the ball. Out of control and quite honestly, his size is a liability.

Love Vital's heart and desire and his game has improved all 3 years. Something Adams can't say.

This is the softest, weakest team I have ever seen at UConn. These are Ollie's players and not Hurley's. We'll go .500 or a little better in the conference but that is pathetic for UConn basketball. It's not going to happen but I would be happy if next year the only returning players are Gilbert, Vital, Wilson, Polley (off the bench shooter). Everyone else is replaceable. Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting!!!

 

[JMick]

the more I see this team play the less I can argue with that. Even USF had a few players that can bury an open 3 when necessary. We haven't had one since Bazz.

Thank God Bouknight and Gaffney are good shooters. Ollie didn't recruit a single one unless you count Vital