Providence Post Game Thread

[Mr. French]

He says “immediately bench them” as though 3+ years is immediate.

 

[alphasigko]

Ross had 1 turnover today. And it got him benched for the whole half.

And rightly so.

 

[Inyatkin]

When you can hop a bus and be there in less than a couple hours, it's a home game.

Sweet, home games at Providence, St Johns and Seton Hall every year, that should help us

 

[superjohn]

I don't even know how you would do it because Hurley never does it and I typically really don't like the idea of double bigs but I kind of wish we would see Reibe out there with Reed for a few minutes in these games against lesser opponents when we're stuggling. Eric is a starting level player and his style of play isn't redundant with Reed's.

 

[HW611]

RuffRuff & HW611 are in a constant battle for some of the biggest delusional and flat-out wrong posts of the 'Yard. In this thread, they're probably neck-and-neck. A nailbiter, like last night's game.

I love predictive posts in the summer because it doesn’t allow you all to get these “flat out wrong” posts lies off.

Like the yard telling me 2 summers ago Mahaney was going to be an All American starter.

Or how this summer Furphy was going to be impactful for us.

Then wants to bring up PG Solo stuff not realizing the actual discussion there was, if he wants to be an NBA player it’ll be at that position and what do you know.

He became the 3 point shooter everyone wanted him to be and didn’t sniff a draft board. He’s rounded out his game now and he’s still not Donovan Mitchell.

It’s sick watching what was suppose to be a very talented 2023 recruiting class have their future careers nerfed like this.

 

[boog204]

You might be getting dementia then. And you know I can pull up stats, clips, whatever the case may be to back up what I’m saying. Just for you to go quiet afterwards.

Please stop with these peanut gallery posts rooted in nothing but your failing memory apparently.

Wait, are you saying that JC had a long leash with his players? I mean, with all due respect, but were you alive during this time? JC legit benched the entire starting five one minute into the game for a mistake. He benched Ray Allen early in the snowstorm 'Nova game b/c he was pressing. I think he benched Antric for not running to the scorers' table once. Freaking Chris Smith, our all-time leading scorer, was benched in his final game against Ohio State. You mentioned Charlie V. He got only 26/mpg b/c he was lazy and loafed far too much and was pulled for it often. I'm sorry, but I seriously questioned if you actually watched JCs tenure live.

If you’re referring to things like drills or how a motion offenses work it doesn’t take a basketball genius. Just someone that actually played in this kind of stuff which is a very low bar to clear. But one that can be high on this board and consider you a genius apparently if many others never had that opportunity.

Here is where this board annoys me. They see a player making mistakes and instead of being able to understand how to fix it, the thought is immediately to bench and give up on them.

Ross defensive mistakes were so easy to fix. He simply was playing up way too far out on defense. Like guarding guys at half court leaving them plenty of space to drive to the rim. It was Andre Jackson issue as well when he kind of let guys beat him so he can try and get a highlight block that was a foul instead. There was no reason to guard guys all the way out to Newport outside of being a try hard.

I’m not arguing anyone needs more minutes. I’m arguing you have to let guys play through mistakes and instead of benching them, coach them through it.

Stew especially sucked yesterday so I can’t say much for him. But in general I think he needs to be showcased more in the offense is his issue. He is not a 3 and D player. He always had the reputation as a scorer and he’s been bidding his time in this program with the hope he can be showcased in this very beautiful offense we have. He will not be able to play to his potential until that happens.

Ross literally made two bad offensive plays while being the most aggressive I’ve probably seen him all year. That’s incredibly frustrating to me that after his second offensive mistake he gets completely benched like he didn’t make other great offensive plays before that one. If he starts running away from the ball again afraid to get it and be aggressive, that’ll be why.

The point is that Jayden has made that same defensive mistake for two years now. He has his moments, but he's overly aggressive and gets beaten. You don't think this has been spoken of or "coached"? In a tight game, you get burned on D and are offering nothing on the other side, you should sit. AK was getting roasted by Jones. It's a terrible matchup for him. But, he's earned the trust that he's going to be integral on the other side. You know there's more to playing offense than just scoring, right? AK is one of our primary screeners. He's probably our second-best rebounder. He's THE connector on offense. Until Stew or Ross brings that on the other side, they should sit if they're making the same mistake over and over.

The "afraid" aspect is on him. Go and play. If he tends to shy away from the ball and float and be passive, then that's on him. I'd rather have Solo miss 14 jumpers off the dribble or AK overpenetrate because they want the ball than have Ross and Stew be statues and afraid standing at the three-point line. It's been three years now.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Granted we didn't have Mullins, and we've yet to really see him play at a peak level consistently as of yet, but Wagler and Burries were not nearly what they are right now back in the first month.

Pretty crazy when you see how many high draft picks we saw early in between AJD, Burries/Peat, Wagler, Haugh and what would have been DP.

For Illinois, Mullins & Reed were on minutes restrictions coming off injuries. Both had only 2pts. But because it was at MSG, it was a home game so Illinois had agreed that they would play to lose the game.

For Kansas, let's ignore the facts that we had to fly out to Corn Country to play a game 4 days after playing that tomato can team, Illinois. Also ignore that Tarris didn't play, and that we had to play at the Phog, one of the toughest places to get a win. Most important was that Peterson didn't play...but let's ignore the fact that Kansas' performance has been fairly inconsistent when he plays. Somehow, we won that game. Oh, by the way, Silas only had 2pts. But it doesn't matter because something something DP.

For Arizona, We started a green Freshman center after our starter got injured 4 days prior playing against that creampuff BYU team during a glorified home scrimmage at TDGarden. We didn't play our starting center and 5* guard. Our 3rd-string 6'7" "center" Koroma logged 12 minutes. But, all that's irrelevant because poor 5* Burries "hadn't yet figured out how to play yet", and also, poor AZ had to fly ALL THE WAY across the country (boo hoo, I bet they all had cramped legs and DVTs from that long flight)., and of course, they had to play an away game.

I could go on, but I think that's enough.

 

[HW611]

Wait, are you saying that JC had a long leash with his players? I mean, with all due respect, but were you alive during this time? JC legit benched the entire starting five one minute into the game for a mistake. He benched Ray Allen early in the snowstorm 'Nova game b/c he was pressing. I think he benched Antric for not running to the scorers' table once. Freaking Chris Smith, our all-time leading scorer, was benched in his final game against Ohio State. You mentioned Charlie V. He got only 26/mpg b/c he was lazy and loafed far too much and was pulled for it often. I'm sorry, but I seriously questioned if you actually watched JCs tenure live.

JC trusted all of his players in a way Hurley clearled didn’t. Look at the names of these players you using. They’re some of our best players ever. You think Hurley has ever benched Karaban, Newton, or other of his top players when they’re playing bad? The reason JC was able to do that was because he trusted EVERYONE in a way Hurley clearly does not.

And when you got benched by JC, you were going back in later. You just had to be held accountable for your mistakes. And again, EVERYONE was held to that standard. From Ray Allen to Chris Smith. Hurley only does that with marginal players and when he does it, you’re not getting back in the game as we saw last night.

I was alive and watched JC’s tenure just fine. You all are just not understanding the nuance of these two situations because of a “quick hook”. I’d much rather get a quick hook and go back in the game 8-10 minutes later knowing I have to do better than to get pulled and treated like I can’t get trusted to play again.

The "afraid" aspect is on him. Go and play. If he tends to shy away from the ball and float and be passive, then that's on him. I'd rather have Solo miss 14 jumpers off the dribble or AK overpenetrate because they want the ball than have Ross and Stew be statues and afraid standing at the three-point line. It's been three years now.

If you want to ignore the psychological affects of knowing you can get away with missing 14 shots compared and keep playing compared to miss you can make one mistake being aggressive and get pulled. Thats on you man.

 

[Inyatkin]

For Illinois, Mullins & Reed were on minutes restrictions coming off injuries. Both had only 2pts. But because it was at MSG, it was a home game so Illinois had agreed that they would play to lose the game.

For Kansas, let's ignore the facts that we had to fly out to Corn Country to play a game 4 days after playing that tomato can team, Illinois. Also ignore that Tarris didn't play, and that we had to play at the Phog, one of the toughest places to get a win. Most important was that Peterson didn't play...but let's ignore the fact that Kansas' performance has been fairly inconsistent when he plays. Somehow, we won that game. Oh, by the way, Silas only had 2pts. But it doesn't matter because something something DP.

For Arizona, We started a green Freshman center after our starter got injured 4 days prior playing against that creampuff BYU team during a glorified home scrimmage at TDGarden. We didn't play our starting center and 5* guard. Our 3rd-string 6'7" "center" Koroma logged 12 minutes. But, all that's irrelevant because poor 5* Burries "hadn't yet figured out how to play yet", and also, poor AZ had to fly ALL THE WAY across the country (boo hoo, I bet they all had cramped legs and DVTs from that long flight)., and of course, they had to play an away game.

I could go on, but I think that's enough.

If your baseline thinking is that early season games don't matter, you'll use any excuse to get there.

And it's true, we don't look as good lately as we did then. Those games still happened.

 

[HW611]

Remember when Calhoun called a TO :30 seconds into the game against Kentucky to take out his best player in senior Jerome Dyson for… Darnell Beverly?

Don’t worry guys. He got back in 3:00 minutes later. For those not remembering how this usually went.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Remember when Calhoun called a TO :30 seconds into the game against Kentucky to take out his best player in senior Jerome Dyson for… Darnell Beverly?

Don’t worry guys. He got back in 3:00 minutes later. For those not remembering how this usually went.

I often wonder what kind of player Dyson might have become if he didn't get pulled for that 2:30 stretch and had been allowed to just play through his mistakes instead...

 

[Inyatkin]

Darnell Beverly the new CFU

 

[RuffRuff]

If you're baseline thinking is that early season games don't matter, you'll use any excuse to get there.

And it's true, we don't look as good lately as we did then. Those games still happened.

I'm not throwing them out completely, but I'd prefer to lean on games in the current and how teams have evolved over half the season, alongside the metrics. This UConn team is going to have to be a pretty drastic exception to a KP rule that has been really consistent. That early season schedule was very favorable to UConn as we had a lot of returners, and most on neutral sites that were essentially home games.

For instance, I was a lot higher on Purdue back then when they obliterated Texas Tech. Now, I think TT would win on a neutral court and the much better team, while Purdue has been exposed. TT had a variety of new players to work in, while Purdue had a large core of returners. A lot can change in two months. In our case, while we're winning, the quality of hoops as it comes to a title contender has not looked great, for awhile (40 OKP). It's unlikely you'll find many in the media that don't see it similarly, because they're not using their favorable imagination to assess.

 

[HW611]

I often wonder what kind of player Dyson might have become if he didn't get pulled for that 2:30 stretch and had been allowed to just play through his mistakes instead...

Come on Brew. We usually agree on topics but this comment either makes me think you can’t read or you’re being disingenuous.

I’ll give you credit by saying the latter.

 

[Mr. French]

Wait, are you saying that JC had a long leash with his players? I mean, with all due respect, but were you alive during this time? JC legit benched the entire starting five one minute into the game for a mistake. He benched Ray Allen early in the snowstorm 'Nova game b/c he was pressing. I think he benched Antric for not running to the scorers' table once. Freaking Chris Smith, our all-time leading scorer, was benched in his final game against Ohio State. You mentioned Charlie V. He got only 26/mpg b/c he was lazy and loafed far too much and was pulled for it often. I'm sorry, but I seriously questioned if you actually watched JCs tenure live.



The point is that Jayden has made that same defensive mistake for two years now. He has his moments, but he's overly aggressive and gets beaten. You don't think this has been spoken of or "coached"? In a tight game, you get burned on D and are offering nothing on the other side, you should sit. AK was getting roasted by Jones. It's a terrible matchup for him. But, he's earned the trust that he's going to be integral on the other side. You know there's more to playing offense than just scoring, right? AK is one of our primary screeners. He's probably our second-best rebounder. He's THE connector on offense. Until Stew or Ross brings that on the other side, they should sit if they're making the same mistake over and over.

The "afraid" aspect is on him. Go and play. If he tends to shy away from the ball and float and be passive, then that's on him. I'd rather have Solo miss 14 jumpers off the dribble or AK overpenetrate because they want the ball than have Ross and Stew be statues and afraid standing at the three-point line. It's been three years now.

He will or already has had a snarky response to this that indicates he's smarter than everyone, but this is a good post and summarizes everything quite nicely.

He just so badly wants Ross to be something he isn't, and if he is going to turn into that, he hasn't shown the capabilities consistently. UConn develops guys while playing the guys that give us a chance to win. If he doesn't do that, he won't play. Case closed (shout out Bobo).

JC trusted all of his players in a way Hurley clearled didn’t. Look at the names of these players you using. They’re some of our best players ever. You think Hurley has ever benched Karaban, Newton, or other of his top players when they’re playing bad? The reason JC was able to do that was because he trusted EVERYONE in a way Hurley clearly does not.

And when you got benched by JC, you were going back in later. You just had to be held accountable for your mistakes. And again, EVERYONE was held to that standard. From Ray Allen to Chris Smith. Hurley only does that with marginal players and when he does it, you’re not getting back in the game as we saw last night.

I was alive and watched JC’s tenure just fine. You all are just not understanding the nuance of these two situations because of a “quick hook”. I’d much rather get a quick hook and go back in the game 8-10 minutes later knowing I have to do better than to get pulled and treated like I can’t get trusted to play again.



If you want to ignore the psychological affects of knowing you can get away with missing 14 shots compared and keep playing compared to miss you can make one mistake being aggressive and get pulled. Thats on you man.

Yeah, it's always on us to figure it out, none of us "understand" anything about these deep nuances of basketball, meanwhile everyone has it figured out but you it appears. Your credentials in basketball playing and coaching must be impeccable, your resume pristine.

Also, JC did put those guys back in BECAUSE THEY WERE HIS BEST PLAYERS AND HE TRUSTED THEM!! I bet any money there's 50 players who got benched by JC and never touched the floor again their whole careers.

In fact, my comparison of the 2 coaches would tell me Hurley has been way more positive and forgiving of Ross/Stewart/etc. mistakes and game play than JC would have been. Ross probably would have been nailed to the bench and never touched the floor again.

 

[RuffRuff]

He will or already has had a snarky response to this that indicates he's smarter than everyone, but this is a good post and summarizes everything quite nicely.

He just so badly wants Ross to be something he isn't, and if he is going to turn into that, he hasn't shown the capabilities consistently. UConn develops guys while playing the guys that give us a chance to win. If he doesn't do that, he won't play. Case closed (shout out Bobo).



Yeah, it's always on us to figure it out, none of us "understand" anything about these deep nuances of basketball, meanwhile everyone has it figured out but you it appears. Your credentials in basketball playing and coaching must be impeccable, your resume pristine.

Also, JC did put those guys back in BECAUSE THEY WERE HIS BEST PLAYERS AND HE TRUSTED THEM!! I bet any money there's 50 players who got benched by JC and never touched the floor again their whole careers.

In fact, my comparison of the 2 coaches would tell me Hurley has been way more positive and forgiving of Ross/Stewart/etc. mistakes and game play than JC would have been. Ross probably would have been nailed to the bench and never touched the floor again.

I honestly wonder if it has anything to do with Ross the kid/player/team, and more that he wants his prediction to be right to there is more meat to being a guru. It's Hurley's fault he isn't right.

Ross is what he is. I don't expect the delta on him to vary much. At time he looks like a kid that just started playing basketball a year ago.

 

[Peacefrog]

BYU in Boston, Florida and Illinois at MSG? Ok, believe what you want. When you can hop a bus and be there in less than a couple hours, it's a home game.

The inability of some on this board to admist when they're wrong when it is clearly and inarguably demonstrated is astounding. I even predicted what your fallback position would be.

 

[3rdbass]

RuffRuff & HW611 are in a constant battle for some of the biggest delusional and flat-out wrong posts of the 'Yard. In this thread, they're probably neck-and-neck. A nailbiter, like last night's game.

Yeah they both have "gone off the reservation" so to speak. I kind of pass their comments as gibberish. LOL!

 

[HW611]

Also, JC did put those guys back in BECAUSE THEY WERE HIS BEST PLAYERS AND HE TRUSTED THEM!! I bet any money there's 50 players who got benched by JC and never touched the floor again their whole careers.

In fact, my comparison of the 2 coaches would tell me Hurley has been way more positive and forgiving of Ross/Stewart/etc. mistakes and game play than JC would have been. Ross probably would have been nailed to the bench and never touched the floor again.

This is based on nothing but wanting your hopes and narrative to be true.

UConn develops guys while playing the guys that give us a chance to win. .

A poster tried to lead you all to the water about how true this is or not. But yall mostly ignored him and he’s a lot smarter than me to continue harping on it.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Come on Brew. We usually agree on topics but this comment either makes me think you can’t read or you’re being disingenuous.

I’ll give you credit by saying the latter.

A little sarcastic humor, is all. Should have put a wink at the end of my post.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

There’s a Mount Rushmore of awful BY takes in this single thread from a single poster.

 

[Mr. French]

This is based on nothing but wanting your hopes and narrative to be true.


A poster tried to lead you all to the water about how true this is or not. But yall mostly ignored him and he’s a lot smarter than me to continue harping on it.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have any hopes or narrative about Ross, I simply watch the games and follow the team and observe your odd behavior surrounding his failure to live up to YOUR hopes and narratives.

Every accusation is a confession, it appears.

 

[Lafayette]

We are in the thick of Big East play with the hardest 10 games left (Xavier the easiest but we face mostly top BE teams)

If you don’t like the team’s performance as its not championship worthy —- they aren’t playing in it yet. What’s our record in Natty’s again?

We are still working on plays and the team has to execute. It’s all a rehearsal until March Madness where we tend to outperform our BE and early season games (eg Maui vs how we played Florida).

‘23 natty team lost their 11th BE game at Gampel to Xavier 79-82. 2 games earlier they lost at Seton Hall 66-77. We had lost to St. John’s and Marquette already. Season turned out fine!

‘24 natty team was 18-2 in the end of BE and lost to Creighton and Seton Hall. But beat Villanova by 1 and Xavier by 5 and Butler by 7. Season turned out fine!

We are 20-1 now and 10-0 in BE play. Lose 2 and we are 18-2 again.

Not yet time to pump the brakes and not until we take an L.

 

[alphasigko]

Sellers, Jones, and Vaaks got to the rim early, often, and at will. Our defense on dribble drives was not good at all.

It has not been good for the last several.games. The word out there has to be to drive to the hoop for a pretty much guaranteed 2 Pts and probably get fouled while driving or shooting. Most of the successful drivers were being guarded by AK, Solo, Stewart and Ross. None of them can beat the driver to the lane to block the lane to the hoop.

 

[RuffRuff]

Yeah they both have "gone off the reservation" so to speak. I kind of pass their comments as gibberish. LOL!

Storrs South & Storrs North are something we brag about, until its' seen as a home game in qualifying wins. If we can bus in with a large amount of fans following, and the other team has to fly multiple time zones, that's as good as a home game to me.