Practice Tonight

[Vancat]

Still favoring the foot, Clingan didn’t participate in team stretches and stood off to the side like a coach during the first series of drills.

Did anyone else observe the above? Are we too optimistic about the big fellow?

True, he did not participate. Why risk? No boot is a good sign.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Tenspro2002]

Some jackhole sitting next to me called DC soft, in reference to his play last year. Then kept saying “it’s gonna be a long year” every time a shot rimmed out. I switched seats.

There is valid criticism and question marks about Clingan, but "soft" is not one of them. lol

 

[McLovin]

You'd have to ask his oral surgeon.

I'm sure a contact sport like basketball is different from work and an individual workout. I remember being groggy for the rest of the day and having puffy cheeks for at least a couple days. Plus I remember the oral surgeon telling me no workouts for a period of time (don't remember how long).

From the below article:

• avoid strenuous activity and exercise for a few days

Wisdom tooth removal - Recovery

Find out how long it usually takes to recover from surgery for having your wisdom teeth removed.

www.nhs.uk

I got my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday of the Big East tournament in March 2011 (I was a freshman at UConn). I definitely popped a few stitches when I jumped up and yelled after Kemba hit his shot against Pitt haha

 

[Ricker]

Thanks to all that are posting their thoughts, and to @husky429 for specifically addressing my questions so thoroughly.

Donovan is just the factor that takes this team to championship caliber. Interior defense becomes elite, power players are negated, the need to double team him opens up shooters, offensive rebounds result in less empty trips off a first miss, inbounding always has a safety valve high, and, I would think all the other players play with more confidence with such a force on their side at both ends.

I find it interesting that Samson scrimmage tidbits seem to always indicate he shows great, yet in an extended practice against his freshman counterpart he only scores 4pts, and nothing reported significant in rim protection. Obviously he must have never had interior post passes during the scrimmage.

 

[husky429]

There is valid criticism and question marks about Clingan, but "soft" is not one of them. lol

He ONLY lost 1 tooth in a game Tens. You're not tough until you lose 2 or more.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Ball security: Overall? Good. I would say ball security from our primary ballhandlers was solid. Cam, Castle, and Newton all looked good as we'd expect. Karaban did Karaban things. Ross had a couple of live ball TOs. I like getting him the reps now though. I doubt we see him handling it much on game day. Stewart played more of a Karaban role until late when things broke down, so not much to report on ballhandling.

Johnson and Singare Defense: I think it's fair to say we have concerns about their backup defense. Neither will be doing much outside of lobs and dunks, but IMO all we really need is serviceable defense... and I am not sure it's there. A lot of fouling, not much in the way of blocks. To be fair, our whole team was pretty sloppy on defense (expected this time of year), so I have a feeling they'll both show a lot of growth in our early games.

Ross/Stewart Defense: Ross goes at 100% on defense all the time. His conditioning is really good. Stewart didn't stick out on defense one way or the other to me. Hopkins or Carter is going to be a tough guard for either. Just much stronger and more physical... you're talking about literal men vs. a couple of 17-year-olds. Makes me wonder if we might push Castle to the 4 at times for his size on defense (while still being lead ballhandler on offense).

Frontcourt rebounding: Karaban was off his game, but that's expected... he's probably in pain right now. I think we know what we'll get from him and Clingan. Singare and Johnson both look fine, but will probably struggle versus those big, strong dudes that box hard like Soriano. Luckily we have Clingan to eat them. I was actually more impressed with our guards rebounding. Castle when locked in was battling with the bigs and winning at times, Newton did Newton things, and Cam is scrappy as hell. I expect more of a "rebounding by committee" situation when Clingan is sitting, but we'll get the job done.

Shooting: Spencer, Karaban will be elite. Newton will do his thing around 35% or whatever it was last year... I would imagine teams will be ALL OVER him as primary ballhandler, so his attempts will be tough. Solo looked okay off the catch and bad in his 2 attempts off the dribble. He's inconsistent now, but will improve with time. He needs to tighten up his footwork--sometimes he gets square and sometimes he staggers more. Castle and Ross didn't look great tonight, but I'm not particularly concerned with Ross. Ross is going to be good with time. Castle needs to shoot 30+%, and I'm worried he won't. Some of his attempts were BAD. He was way, way off tonight--even at the FT line. That won't last, but our team will be better if he can get into the 30s.

Did Johnson try a 3? No. He really only played the 5. I don't know if that's because of Clingan's injury or because we expect to only use him as a backup 5.

Did we play much zone? We practiced 2-3 in the half-court and a 1-2-2 full-court press. Maybe some 1-3-1 in the half-court? I'm forgetting. But it looked to me like the 2-3 wasn't something we expect to run much again, more just for practice against when teams zone us. Our 1-2-2 was something we'll run--the coaches were all over the guys on the front line. Solo looked great trapping.

Nice write-up/analysis.


WRT Johnson/Singare Defense: There just didn't seem to be a lot of opportunities for blocks (weakside coverage sliding over to swat a drive, etc. It seemed like he & Singare just did a lot of 1-on-1 in the paint D on each other. Maybe there was a lot more going that I I missed or forgot, as there was a lot I was trying to pay attention to.,,

General Thought/Question: Is what they're doing on offense/defense in the open practice just a watered down version of what comes out in real games? My gut feeling is "yes", but I'm not savvy enough with play/scheme identification.

I agree about the frontcourt rebounding. Newton, Castle both go battle HARD with the trees for boards. I think dominant frontcourt rebounding will be a big plus for us this year.

Castle shooting: Started out rough. Seemed like when he got a midrange to go, he settled in and got at least couple more from the elbows. Even if they sag off him for 3s (Andre-D), they are gonna get BURNED off that...unlike Andre, he'll just use that space to muscle to the foul line and either drain a 15ft jumper, dish to Clingan/Samson/Ball/etc for alley-oops, or kick back out to Cam/Tristen/Alex for a quality 3. Of course, if Castle can show in the early games he can shoot 30%+, then dang, it'll be an even bigger problem!

 

[auror]

Thanks to all that are posting their thoughts, and to @husky429 for specifically addressing my questions so thoroughly.

Donovan is just the factor that takes this team to championship caliber. Interior defense becomes elite, power players are negated, the need to double team him opens up shooters, offensive rebounds result in less empty trips off a first miss, inbounding always has a safety valve high, and, I would think all the other players play with more confidence with such a force on their side at both ends.

I find it interesting that Samson scrimmage tidbits seem to always indicate he shows great, yet in an extended practice against his freshman counterpart he only scores 4pts, and nothing reported significant in rim protection. Obviously he must have never had interior post passes during the scrimmage.

Not to mention that forcing misses on defense leads to more transition opportunities, which fuels our 3pt transition barrage. We shot significantly more 3s last season with Donovan on the court compared to Sanogo, despite Donovan not attempting them and Sanogo did.

Also you mentioned orebs leading to more points, but specifically it's rim attempts by a 7'3" guy or oreb kickouts for high expectation catch and shoot 3s from our snipers.

 

[husky429]

Nice write-up/analysis.


WRT Johnson/Singare Defense: There just didn't seem to be a lot of opportunities for blocks (weakside coverage sliding over to swat a drive, etc. It seemed like he & Singare just did a lot of 1-on-1 in the paint D on each other. Maybe there was a lot more going that I I missed or forgot, as there was a lot I was trying to pay attention to.,,

General Thought/Question: Is what they're doing on offense/defense in the open practice just a watered down version of what comes out in real games? My gut feeling is "yes", but I'm not savvy enough with play/scheme identification.

I agree about the frontcourt rebounding. Newton, Castle both go battle HARD with the trees for boards. I think dominant frontcourt rebounding will be a big plus for us this year.

Castle shooting: Started out rough. Seemed like when he got a midrange to go, he settled in and got at least couple more from the elbows. Even if they sag off him for 3s (Andre-D), they are gonna get BURNED off that...unlike Andre, he'll just use that space to muscle to the foul line and either drain a 15ft jumper, dish to Clingan/Samson/Ball/etc for alley-oops, or kick back out to Cam/Tristen/Alex for a quality 3. Of course, if Castle can show in the early games he can shoot 30%+, then dang, it'll be an even bigger problem!

Fwiw it didn't look like they ran a lot of set plays tonight, more actions.You could see them running the same wing ball screen 3-4-5x in a row and practicing the reads, but I didn't see much in the way of off-ball movement and screens the way you will with our set plays.

Agree on Johnson/Singare in a way. It kind of felt like they were both in their own world on both ends. Probably part of what Hurley means when he says they are ready for a different opponent.

 

[KeyWestUC]

I got my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday of the Big East tournament in March 2011 (I was a freshman at UConn). I definitely popped a few stitches when I jumped up and yelled after Kemba hit his shot against Pitt haha

I was on a conference call with my boss and team and just jumped and shouted so much during the meeting - did not mute LOL!

 

[husky429]

Not to mention that forcing misses on defense leads to more transition opportunities, which fuels our 3pt transition barrage. We shot significantly more 3s last season with Donovan on the court compared to Sanogo, despite Donovan not attempting them and Sanogo did.

Also you mentioned orebs leading to more points, but specifically it's rim attempts by a 7'3" guy or oreb kickouts for high expectation catch and shoot 3s from our snipers.

Between Donovan and having maybe even more shooters than last year, we should be near the top in the country in 3 pt attempts and % if things go right for us. Karaban, Castle, Newton, Spencer, Ross, Solo should all be letting it fly at will. What a luxury.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Is there any way to watch the game online?

 

[superjohn]

Not to mention that forcing misses on defense leads to more transition opportunities, which fuels our 3pt transition barrage. We shot significantly more 3s last season with Donovan on the court compared to Sanogo, despite Donovan not attempting them and Sanogo did.

Also you mentioned orebs leading to more points, but specifically it's rim attempts by a 7'3" guy or oreb kickouts for high expectation catch and shoot 3s from our snipers.

That's a great point about how we shot more threes with Donovan on the court. We should be great from three this season.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Between Donovan and having maybe even more shooters than last year, we should be near the top in the country in 3 pt attempts and % if things go right for us. Karaban, Castle, Newton, Spencer, Ross, Solo should all be letting it fly at will. What a luxury.

I think there's a reasonable chance that the group of our highest-volume 3pt shooters (maybe 75-80% of all shots attempted) end up making them at a 40%+ clip. I expect them to be getting a LOT of really good unforced looks.

 

[Chief00]

Favorite stat of the night for me… Diarra going a perfect 5-5 from the line. Here’s to hoping he and DC improve their free throw shooting this season.

I agree that’s great to see Diarra going 5-5. He will be in there for defense and uptempo. The better C

Watched Tristen a lot, don’t think anyone on the team has more fun than him. Always talking to his defender or guy he was covering. Capable of turning on the afterburners. Expect a great year from him!

I like Tristen too.
It will be interesting who the 4th shooter will be besides Karaban, Spencer and Newton. Maybe Ball? We need 4 to have 3 in the game a lot.
Did Spencer replace Joey or the Hawkins?
Defense minus Andre and Adama has a big hill to climb to get at last year’s level. We have to hope for pressure on the ball and Donovan cleaning things up without fouling. Extended defense and uptempo are Diarra’s tickets to get on the court. Making his foul shots should help to.
Don’t underestimate Castle’s rebounding.

 

[Stinger92860]

Spencer is automatic when open, but got beat a few times on D.

If Cam progresses like Joey C, we are going to be very happy.

 

[superjohn]

If Cam progresses like Joey C, we are going to be very happy.

He's better than Joey C.

 

[Stinger92860]

He's better than Joey C.

I know, but I was talking about progress from now to March.

 

[AntG168]

That's a great point about how we shot more threes with Donovan on the court. We should be great from three this season.

And when teams run us off the 3 point line Castle and Newton will feast on open lanes

 

[Samoo]

And when teams run us off the 3 point line Castle and Newton will feast on open lanes

It'll be whack-a-mole for their opponents. D up in one area and they'll just move the ball to another. They like to say a player is a three level scorer, but this whole team is three level.

 

[Sibeerian]

Lots of good reports. Small things:

At one point our freshman point guard switched on defense and defended a seven footer under the basket and it was fine. Castle is very tall.

During the drills hurley picked up a ball and pounded himself seven times in the forehead with it, real quick. Love that lunatic.

 

[yungdowork]

I think something interesting to watch will be FT% next year. Diarra and Clingan could both make big strides in FT% and I wouldn't be surprised. I had a hard time finding much info on Castle's FT%, (shot 62.5% in 16 attempts at FIBA and 2/3 at the McD's AA game) but he'll get to the line a ton I'm sure. Newton, Spencer, and Karaban will likely all be above 80%

We should be substantially better at getting to the basket this year so it could play a big role.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

And when teams run us off the 3 point line Castle and Newton will feast on open lanes

Spencer is also a 3 level guy which is so good. And can make good plays in the lane it seems.

The players in general this year just seem so well rounded offensively. There’s not a lot of things they lack. Which is crazy because we won an NC last year. Lol

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Post practice hype video. Hass with the nice block on Castle!

 

[Huskyforlife]

The turnaround and1 from Stew is the type of shot not all guys can make.