Rhode Island Post Game Thread

[ctchamps]

Samson an offensive weapon? He’s purely a lob dunk guy. He did have one post move that went in, albeit awkward. He certainly presents a “feature” on offense with the lob dunk, although not sure I’d call him a weapon. I can see teams that know us take that totally away as it tends to be predictable and defendable if anticipated.

And yet teams have had three years of observation and haven't been able to stop him. He's elite at that one attribute. Possibly best in the nation. His scoring is impacted not by opposing defenses but by his inability to avoid silly fouls and staying on the floor.

Samson is a 4 asked to play the 5. It's obviously an uncomfortable role for him. He doesn't release from his player to get a rebound because he doesn't have the confidence of boxing out. When Alex was put in that position his foul rate was significantly higher and rebound rate was significantly lower. So the question begs why is an elite coaching staff putting Samson in this role?

The difference between a critique and a desire to destroy an individual runs a fine line. You respond in a negative way in every thread or post related to Samson. That's a desire to hurt him because he's caused you pain. This is not a postulation. You indicated he caused you 95% of your aggravation with last years team. This is a negative behavior. Samson struggles to control his reflexes. You struggle from refraining on reducing the kid. Both are poor forms.

 

[RuffRuff]

And yet teams have had three years of observation and haven't been able to stop him. He's elite at that one attribute. Possibly best in the nation. His scoring is impacted not by opposing defenses but by his inability to avoid silly fouls and staying on the floor.

Samson is a 4 asked to play the 5. It's obviously an uncomfortable role for him. He doesn't release from his player to get a rebound because he doesn't have the confidence of boxing out. When Alex was put in that position his foul rate was significantly higher and rebound rate was significantly lower. So the question begs why is an elite coaching staff putting Samson in this role?

The difference between a critique and a desire to destroy an individual runs a fine line. You respond in a negative way in every thread or post related to Samson. That's a desire to hurt him because he's caused you pain. This is not a postulation. You indicated he caused you 95% of your aggravation with last years team. This is a negative behavior. Samson struggles to control his reflexes. You struggle from refraining on reducing the kid. Both are poor forms.

Good feedback. My frustrations with him playing out of natural position do get the better of me. Let’s see how it optimistically plays out. Will mutter my WTFs into a towel and not onto the Boneyard .

 

[ddent68]

Given that he is a 4 being asked to play the 5 it isn't surprising that he plays just like Alex when Alex is put in the position of having to play the 5. The best they can do is try to box out the opposing 5 which reduces that players chances of getting rebounds. In the second half the guards and wings came back for rebounds which they didn't do in the first half. Hence the 11 offensive rebounds for RI in the first half.

The only problem for me with Samson is his being prone to unnecessary fouls. In this game he didn't get any fouls from the high hedge or for setting screens which was his problem last year. The fouls were for reaching in when RI players got offensive rebounds.

He takes himself out of the game. That takes one of our best offensive weapons off the board. It's a shame this community overemphasizes his lack of rebounding and gives not enough value at how much he contributes on the offensive end.

I wish Samson was a 4. He really doesn't have any of those skills except being tall. He doesn't have a lot of the skills to be a 5 either. He's a very active ultra athletic tall guy that is really sort of homeless on the court. Don't get me wrong I like him and I think he helps the team mostly because the coaches find ways to make him the most productive player he can be. The high hedging and the lobs are his role and he is excellent at both of those things. To me he seems exactly as he was last year and that's fine. Some people around here want him to be something he is not.

 

[Fan1978]

Also, some other things worth noting on my detailed 1st half rewatch:

I'm not dissing on Big Hoss at all but worth noting:
-Tarris got to match up against a smaller 6-9/245# sophomore David Fuchs during his 1st half rotation.
-At 14:45 & 14:29 & 12:40 - Tarris gets 3 easy Reb on nearly identical busted D plays… complete clearouts of the lane when URI guard beats McNeeley 1-on-1 x2 and Mahaney x1. No real battling needed for the rebounds. The 2nd one, URI player reaches over Mahaney’s back and taps the ball left-to-right directly to Big Hoss.
-At 7:32, Big Hoss enters game as Samson Johnson leaves with “foul trouble”. He’s matched up with JB now. Not trying to pick apart Tarris’ play, but of note, at 5:30 mark, he has a fairly soft box-out and lets JB get a rebound over him.


Man, Solo just looked real real real good. All over the court, controlled chaos on D. Very court-aware on offense.

On re-watch, Mahaney’s defense was actually not as bad as I perceived. But still needs work. On the other hand, McNeeley’s D was much worse than I perceived. Needs a lot of work.

I saw the same with tarris. Most of his rebounds were not contested bunnies. He looked slow and took a few ugly shots. Better in the second half but not expecting anything more than serviceable player. All the more reason to get Bundalo. tarris is a role player and might not grow past that. Might be a 3 man center rotation as rhe year progresses.

 

[ctchamps]

Good feedback. My frustrations with him playing out of natural position do get the better of me. Let’s see how it optimistically plays out. Will mutter my WTFs into a towel and not onto the Boneyard .

Woah! This response made my day. More than the Reibe commitment which is saying something.

 

[ddent68]

I saw the same with tarris. Most of his rebounds were not contested bunnies. He looked slow and took a few ugly shots. Better in the second half but not expecting anything more than serviceable player. All the more reason to get Bundalo. tarris is a role player and might not grow past that. Might be a 3 man center rotation as rhe year progresses.

He reminded me of Drummond. Andre was the biggest, strongest and dare I say best athlete on the floor at all times regardless of position. To my eye he had a good one year at UConn and who knows what a sophomore Drummond would have looked like but he never seemed to me to play up to his potential from a shear eye test. Which I know is normal for freshman and makes me really wish we could have seen him as a sophomore.

While I don't think that Tarris is Andre, the size, strength and athleticism is obvious. His problem seems to be mental. Hopefully that's curable but he might just always be limited. Clearly too early to tell but I'm hopeful he can figure it out.

 

[alphasigko]

Don't shoot the messenger here, but using your criteria, you're implying that McNeeley is also bad.

McNeeley is a FRESHMAN and Samson Johnson is a SENIOR! Historically, freshmen commit fouls at a higher rate than upperclassmen simply because they are not yet comfortable with the speed of the college game. Seniors should have learned how not to foul after 2 years in the college game (because Samson Johnson lost his sophomore year) . DC learned how not to foul before his 2nd year and did a commendable job limiting his fouls last year as compared to his fresman year. Samson Johnson has not yet learned to defend without fouling. (Granted, he did not commit a moving screen violation against RI)

 

[NJHusky]

You can't just look at a basic boxscore and say "Brown dominated Samson Johnson"...well you CAN, but its disingenuous.

Look, I don't expect everyone to be so rabid of a fan that you have the time or desire to rewatch games closely and critically. But if you don't do that, maybe you should perhaps put some credibility to observations and stats offered up by those nutcases who did

If you breakdown Brown's stats and look at what he got when (1) Samson and he were on the floor together and (2) Samson and he were actually guarding each other...here's what Javonte's key statline looked like:

-Directly vs. Samson: 4pts/2reb
-The rest (12pts/8reb) were gotten when Samson was either on the bench or when Samson was nowhere near him because of gameflow/switching

Do you still want to say Brown dominated him?

I might say that Samson effectively neutralized Brown while also giving up 2" in height and 30# in weight.

Where did I say Brown dominated him...I sarcastically said Samson Johnson dominated Brown based on your effusive praise. If Samson Johnson was so improved, he should have dominated Brown. Sorry, without breaking it down possession by possession, my gut reaction was that Brown outplayed him...simple as that. Once again...you miss my point...Samson Johnson is going to struggle against real centers...Brown is a 7' center on a mid tier A-10 team. What happens when he plays against a guy 6-11 to 7-2 270 on a top 10 team....

We won going away because of players 1-4, not the 5.

 

[RuffRuff]

He reminded me of Drummond. Andre was the biggest, strongest and dare I say best athlete on the floor at all times regardless of position. To my eye he had a good one year at UConn and who knows what a sophomore Drummond would have looked like but he never seemed to me to play up to his potential from a shear eye test. Which I know is normal for freshman and makes me really wish we could have seen him as a sophomore.

While I don't think that Tarris is Andre, the size, strength and athleticism is obvious. His problem seems to be mental. Hopefully that's curable but he might just always be limited. Clearly too early to tell but I'm hopeful he can figure it out.

Bigs often have a longer learning curve, wouldn’t jump the gun on Tarris. Kid was a top 30ish prospect, played in the Jordan Classic and built like a DL, with a soft touch and nice feet. 95% of his challenge is upstairs and having to break some bad UM habits. He’s mistake prone. How much and how quickly the staff can get him up to speed is TBD, but I feel pretty good that he has plenty of upward arc ahead of him based on attributes alone. Pretty sure the staff went early portal on him because they felt the same, as there were a number of options at C out there (Golden, Wolf, Chuck, Aidoo, etc) at the time they didn’t even take a sniff at. This was at a point that C was the most glaring hole.

 

[7774]

Don't shoot the messenger here, but using your criteria, you're implying that McNeeley is also bad.

Yeah, he was bad, I don't really see anyone on the board saying otherwise when it came to his defense and fouling. He's also played 0 actual college games, and Samson has played 65 (even though I know a decent percentage of this board likes to pretend nothing that happened his first 2 seasons counts), so I don't really put them in the same category. I expect McNeeley's rate of improvement to be much steeper because he's starting from ground zero. If February rolls around and he's still committing a foul every 5-6 minutes then Jayden Ross is probably going to get a lot more time.

 

[ddent68]

Bigs often have a longer learning curve, wouldn’t jump the gun on Tarris. Kid was a top 30ish prospect, played in the Jordan Classic and built like a DL, with a soft touch and nice feet. 95% of his challenge is upstairs and having to break some bad UM habits. He’s mistake prone. How much and how quickly the staff can get him up to speed is TBD, but I feel pretty good that he has plenty of upward arc ahead of him based on attributes alone. Pretty sure the staff went early portal on him because they felt the same, as there were a number of options at C out there (Golden, Wolf, Chuck, Aidoo, etc) at the time they didn’t even take a sniff at. This was at a point that C was the most glaring hole.

I'm a big fan and I agree he has all the tools. Definitely rooting for him to put it together sooner as opposed to later.

 

[HooperScooper]

BTW, Brown is no uncoordinated bum stiff. He's a fairly athletic 7' 255# center. Also recall he had 1 year of coaching by some pretty talented coaches. He's been around awhile and is a redshirt junior.

He actually transferred after 1 semester so didn't get the full year of coaching.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I saw the same with tarris. Most of his rebounds were not contested bunnies. He looked slow and took a few ugly shots. Better in the second half but not expecting anything more than serviceable player. All the more reason to get Bundalo. tarris is a role player and might not grow past that. Might be a 3 man center rotation as rhe year progresses.

I thought 2nd-half Tarris was a completely different player than 1st half. Got much more comfortable, Here's some specific observations I noted:

14:37 – Hoss with a real nice P-n-R. Misses layup from left, but rebound comes right back to him, he makes 2nd layup attempt.
12:58 – JB subs back in as Tarris’ matchup
12:30 – Tarris gets ball on the blocks & backs down JB for a nice layup finish!
10:27 – Tarris gets ball on right block off a nice seal and reverses to left side for layup

He also had a great assist from high post to a cutter for layup (think it was Liam)

Both Tarris & Mahaney really got comfortable with gameflow in 2nd half.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Yeah, he was bad, I don't really see anyone on the board saying otherwise when it came to his defense and fouling. He's also played 0 actual college games, and Samson has played 65 (even though I know a decent percentage of this board likes to pretend nothing that happened his first 2 seasons counts), so I don't really put them in the same category. I expect McNeeley's rate of improvement to be much steeper because he's starting from ground zero. If February rolls around and he's still committing a foul every 5-6 minutes then Jayden Ross is probably going to get a lot more time.

Exactly, I was just poking a little sarcastic fun.

The number of times Liam just got roasted on D was alarming on my rewatch. But it was his 1st college game, and he's a 5* talent that's a hyper-competitive dawg (like Castle), so I expect he'll get significantly better!

 

[JustbrewitMan]

OK here's Samson Johnson's last rotation of the game. Probably his worst one of the game but still had positives:

Samson Johnson re-enters game at 8:52 mark...

O1-Due to offensive set flow, Samson Johnson gets separated from JB. Samson Johnson does a screen handoff for SB; JB sags way off Samson Johnson and stays in the lane. SB shoots a wide open 3 from right side. Samson Johnson goes to crash boards from right, but ball caroms to left side & JB gets the Reb. No RebO.

D2-JB sets high P-n-R. Samson Johnson defends, Hass fouls the dribbler at FT line. Misses FT, it goes towards left block. Samson Johnson has JB sealed, he jumps forward to get rebound. #55 for URI starts left side, goes under hoop, jumps into Samson Johnson. They collide. Refs call a foul on Samson Johnson. Really bad call. This is #4 on Samson Johnson. RebO missed due to a sus foul call. #55 bricks 2nd FT; Samson Johnson has JB sealed, but the ball goes right side deep, so JB is able to reach/grab RB. Tough to really say this was bad rebounding by Samson Johnson if you watch the replay (8:07 mark). AK called for the foul on JB. URI guy misses front end, SB, Samson Johnson, and JB all are tangled up, rebound sails high and behind both JB & Samson Johnson. Samson Johnson gets hand on it, but can’t secure it, but it’s OOB on URI. I’ll be critical and say it was a missed RebO.

O2-Samson Johnson spends 1st part in screening/passing roles up high. He rolls to right block after screening JStew. JStew drives to corner of FT line, shoots a floater. Samson Johnson & JB both go up for rebound, Samson Johnson gets one hand on it, but can’t secure it; it bounces hard off the floor & OOB. FWIW, as they go to TV timeout, Samson Johnson indicates to the ref that his arm was held on the rebound. Camera angle is bad so it was tough for me to see if true or not. I’ll be critical though and say that if he had both hands up on his jump, he probably should have secured the rebound. Missed RebO.

D3-JB sets a high screen. Samson Johnson looks ready to high-hedge on the URI guard, but then JB quickly flashes to hoop. Samson Johnson backs off and drops to cover JB. URI guard is able to get around SB, drives lane. JStew rotates over, layup is missed, ball tipped right to Hass.

O3-Samson Johnson sets a high screen. Ball skips to SB, who drains a 3 from left wing.

D4-JB & Samson Johnson start on left block, JB flashes high, quick screen, Samson Johnson defends it well, ball rotates to right side, URI player hits turnaround fadeaway on right block over JStew. No RebO.

O4-Samson Johnson sets up top of key. Pops out to left side of top of key. SB cuts to hoop. Samson Johnson threads a perfect bounce pass in the lane to SB. SB hits the layup and is fouled for the and-one. Beautiful play!!!

D5-JB gets the ball on left side of lane. JB muscles his way laterally right and drop-steps for a contested layup over Samson Johnson. Tip your cap to JB…Samson Johnson playing with 4 fouls and likely wasn’t going to contest 100%.

O5-Samson Johnson sets a couple screens, there’s a foul to put AK to the line. Samson Johnson leaves the game at 5:53.

TL/DR Summary:

-Samson Johnson gets called for his 4th foul after 17min of action. Two (and maybe 3) were pretty soft/phantom calls. No moving screen foul calls (sorry alphasigko!!!)
-Had couple of missed RebO in this last rotation that you’d like to see your center get.
-Beautiful assist to Solo that resulted in a 3pt play

-Mentioned in another post: If you look at Brown's stats while they were both in and guarding each other, I counted only 4pts/2reb for Brown directly matched up with Samson. The other 12pts/8reb were outside of Samson Johnson's direct control.

Will be interesting to see what Brown does this year vs. A10 competition but he's big, strong, reasonably agile, and has some quick post moves. He was a great 1st-test for 24/25 Samson, IMHO.

Of course, this is just one game, and we need to see these important improvements sustained over multiple games before we get too excited. But it’s clear he’s worked on improving multiple aspects of his game and I’m encouraged to see what happens as the season progresses.


For those of you who took the time to read these posts, I hope you found them interesting and entertaining.

 

[AidanFan20]

I'm one of biggest Aidan fans on the planet (watched him in-person MANY times at Campolindo HS and St. Mary's), but I had no idea whether the kid was gonna be able to handle the high physicality of UConn hoops after a slightly disappointing soph year at SMC, and even said so in my earliest posts here. I said that I just hoped Aidan can help.

I have kinda viewed him as a guy with 5-star skills and mentality in a 3-star body. I didn't know how much he could take physically, but I really, really, really have belief in this guy... He's super-smart and really crafty... and "sneaky athletic" besides.

Of course, the jury is still out on that, but he had himself a FINE 2nd half after being a little tentative in the 1st. I really liked his assertiveness in dead-ball huddles, seemingly running the show.

Position-wise, he's always been a 2-guard with at least some PG skills, but in the little bits of UConn practice footage I've seen, I have gotten the idea he's being groomed to be a PG first, SG 2nd.

Right now, I'm pretty much a "watch that one guy" fan, but will learn more about the others as I see more. Right now, I can only be VERY non-specific and say they just plain look AWESOME.

DH is a truly great coach who can both adjust lineups/talent to fit system/matchups OR adjust system/matchups to fit talent/lineups. Whatever DH wants, Aidan will run thru walls to try and help. And I'm sure the others will do the same.

Any perceived weaknesses with the team's play against URI, DH will find a way to fix. The depth seen at all positions give DH a ton of options, sorta like a rich dude deciding whether to take the Lambo or the Rolls out of the garage...

I'm confident these dudes are poised to make another deep run. Go Huskies!

 

[HooperScooper]

I could see him taking it from McNeeley. Dan cares about defense, Liam looked bad on that end, Ross looks like the best defender. Both of their main roles on offense is floor spacing.

If you wanna say don't overreact, that's fine, but I believe in the Ross we saw today.

This year's recruiting class bolted up to No. 6 in the nation after Liam McNeeley, ironically a prep teammate and close friend of Flagg's, committed to the program last spring after decommitting from Indiana. Like Flagg, McNeeley is viewed as a potential one-and-done lottery pick.

"He's the best freshman we've brought in, in terms of how good he is right now," Hurley noted on Thursday.

Hmmmmm.....

Hurley talks about the team/players at this morning's Middlesex Chamber of Commerce breakfast

An annual event. Anyone go? There's a paragraph on each player in here. “It takes a while to build,” said Hurley, who spoke for about 45 minutes during his annual appearance at the event. “The end product of last year’s team was not how we started. I say it a lot, I know, we were picked closer...

the-boneyard.com

 

[awy]

they are not gonna not play McNeeley. he's gonna be carrying the UConn flag in the NBA. just gotta play better defense