Rhode Island Post Game Thread

[bendm]

We have the best 8 man rotation 1-4 in the country but The 5 could be our Achilles heel. Specifically rebounding and rim protection.

 

[UCLJ0211]

I feel a lot better about the prospect of putting Singare on the floor if the first two bigs get in foul trouble. Singare looks a lot t bigger and better!

Cash App!

 

[Son of Robert]

I went to the game. Good crowd, plenty of Rhode Islanders too. Exhibition game, UConn is still putting it together, but still managed to put up 102 points on a reasonable team. A few players stood out more than some others, but it's just one game, and all of them look ready to contribute as the season rolls on. We ran some big lineups with only one smaller guard out there, Diarra or Mahaney, the other 4 all 6'7 and up and that was effective. Diarra and Mahaney ran the point most of the game and did a standup job of it. The one thing I will say is that the team needs an on the floor leader like Tristen Newton was to this team last year, because right now we don't have that. That magnetic force that stabilizes and pulls the whole team together, a player who, especially with the ball in his hands, directs traffic and controls the game. Hopefully Hassan or Aidan grow into it.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Assuming stew is 6th man then youre saying that Ross is coming off the bench before all of Reed/Mahaney/Nowell?

I am saying he is not playing like a man who expects to be deep on the bench. The open practices, recent coach's comments, and tonight say he isn't expecting to be out of the top 7. That is all I said.

With rotational needs, he would need to jump several people, which I doubt. But he isn't playing like a man just happy to be on the team.

 

[ju6381]

Cash App!

I promise to yell Cash App every time he scores this season.

 

[Lambeau]

Yes, The 5 is the question, and SJ has had years of coaching; so my hope is the staff has five months to work on TR.

 

[AllHusky]

Love Samson, but Tarris is going to be the man and watch out for Singare sneaking through the weeds! By second half the 5’s will be a strength.

 

[uconnever]

Love Samson, but Tarris is going to be the man and watch out for Singare sneaking through the weeds! By second half the 5’s will be a strength.

I agree, Reed looked nervous in the first half and like a stud in the second. If he’s more the guy in the second half, he should start and keep Samson In The role he had last year because he’s still getting pushed around underneath. Just one game and I am rooting for Samson but that position looked like it will lose us games this year.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I won't be shocked if Ross is starting game 1. His defense was noticeably a level above everyone else, and he can shoot.

I think Ross will get more minutes than most are thinking he will get. I could see him and Diarra lock down another teams backcourt.

Ross size was an issue for whatever URI guard he covered.

 

[caw]

Here is the box score

Javonte Brown? Didn't realize he was at URI.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Hurley be saying anything lol

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Love Samson, but Tarris is going to be the man and watch out for Singare sneaking through the weeds! By second half the 5’s will be a strength.

I need to see a full game of second half Tarris. That said, while he isn’t exactly a rim protector, he really steadied the rebounding issues in the second half, which was a big part of the first half problem.

In fairness to Samson, Brown is a big dude, but he kinda manhandled Samson down low. Samson has to figure that, and the resulting fouls, out for this team to reach its potential. Still think the most likely result is a roughly even split in PT between the two of them.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I don’t know. That team looked as good as you are gonna see offensively.

They will probably win the damn thing again.

Again. Senior PG, senior center, junior leading scorer. Mahaney old too. Team is veteran.

This team is loaded.

 

[superjohn]

I don’t know. That team looked as good as you are gonna see offensively.

They will probably win the damn thing again.

Again. Senior PG, senior center, junior leading scorer. Mahaney old too. Team is veteran.

This team is loaded.

The only question is if the center position will be good enough and Hurley seems to think they will be. This is the best collection of forwards and guards top to bottom we've ever had. They should be preseason #1 but Hurley will use it as bulletin board material again.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I think Ross will get more minutes than most are thinking he will get. I could see him and Diarra lock down another teams backcourt.

Ross size was an issue for whatever URI guard he covered.

A perimeter lineup of Diarra, Ball, and Ross would be hell for opposing teams defensively.

Ross also moves really well on offense. The Tatum camp seemed to have given him an extra gear of confidence. Think with more time he can put it together and be that first rounder some have talked about him being.

 

[my2cents]

I thought our guard play was exceptional. Diarra/Mahaney and Ball will be exceptional if tonight was indicative.
Karaban was way more aggressive going to the basket. He gets held and hacked a lot.
Ross and Stewart can get anywhere they want to on the floor. If they start making shots, hoo boy.
Defense and rebounding was more than off-set by fantastic shooting.

 

[Sphinx]

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 to saw today.

I think it's inevitable that we'll have to sacrifice a little offense in order to shore up our defense. Offensively, we'd love to have Liam, Aidan and Alex on the floor at the same time but, defensively, it's a nightmare. I agree that Liam is the one most likely to lose minutes, even to the extent of being relegated to the role of "instant offense" off the bench. He's going to have to work very hard to keep Ross and Stewart from stealing his minutes and as Mahaney becomes a fixture in the backcourt, as I think he will, Solo Ball may also be logging minutes at the 3.

 

[sdglast]

Really impressed with McNeeley tonight. Moves extremely well, really good handle and court vision, and just a pure stroke. He is going to be a stud.

 

[bendm]

the number of "liam off the bench" takes is...surprising. he's going to be our next lotto pick.

 

[uh-no]

the number of "liam off the bench" takes is...surprising. he's going to be our next lotto pick.

he's gotta play defense.

 

[shizzle787]

Was there. Decent crowd. I think this should be a yearly charity exhibition game between the two schools. It just makes sense.

 

[DogMania]

I really enjoyed reading all the great observations and analysis. No need for me to rehash many of the individual performances which were well described.

Samson definitely struggled on the defense end. Found himself pushed to far under the basket, and far too often out of rebounding position when trying to contest or block shots.

Now I don't think he needs to rack up a lot of rebounds, but like last season's bigs, whoever is at the 5 and 4 just needs to block out and let the 3s, 2s and 1s come in and clean up the defensive glass. Last season Newton, Cam, Castle and even Diarra would swoop down on snatch their share of rebounds. (Hum...I wonder if it's worth the staff digging up some tape on Dennis Rodman for Sampson to study to improve his D and rebounding. Their probably around the same size and level of athleticism.)

UConn is not going to be an eye popping big's rebounding team, but we need Samson, Reed and whoever is playing the 4 to keep the other teams bigs from collapsing the pocket around the basket to keep our team rebounding from giving up many second chance opportunities.

The other observation was I'd like to see them maintain their motion offense longer. They seemed to bail out a tad early with players trying to take their man off the dribble and/or drive into traffic a tad too soon with a lot of time on the shot clock. Most of the roster are new to their roles, and some new to the system, so it will take time, which is completely understandable.

It's so early in the season, and team oriented stuff (multi-action motion offense, team defense/rebounding) will simple improve as the season goes on, where they will be a title contender by the end of the BE regular season, if not sooner.

IIt's great to be a Husky fan.

 

[Umami Zen]

Depth that can score- Liked seeing Alex and Tarris mixing it up on the boards-Aidan playing like he belongs-Solo gonna make the second year jump-Freshmen not backing down- Decent game for mid-October.

 

[RuffRuff]

The only question is if the center position will be good enough and Hurley seems to think they will be. This is the best collection of forwards and guards top to bottom we've ever had. They should be preseason #1 but Hurley will use it as bulletin board material again.

It will if Reed can play into the majority minutes. Samson just isn’t the guy, unfortunately. He can’t even do basic 5 things consistently, like defensive rebound. Just doesn’t have the body type to hip check with solid bigs, lacks leverage in his lower half. Given the strength of the 1-4 offensively, we just need a guy that can anchor the paint, swallow up rebounds and make it challenging for the opposing team to take it to the rim. The offense would be gravy.

 

[huskyharry]

The end of the game was quite impressive, garbage time or not. Singare balled. Seemed he knew exactly where he needed to be. Nowell could be an offensive spark. Looked like a deadeye shooter. Ross reminded me of a frosh AJax - has the ability to come out of nowhere to make a play. The touted frosh looked like they deserved to be touted.

I was one who was not sold on Ball last year as I didn't think he was playing firmly within the system until tourney time. Glad to be wrong. He'll work his way up mocks with play like this.

AK and Diarra did their thing.

Not much to dislike here. Bring on the season.

Singare looks like he belongs. We may be better served with a three-headed center model, particularly if SJ struggles with wet-paper-towel post defense and the penchant for fouling