Sad Arizona ThoughtZ™

[August_West]

Statistically, and vs. the eye test, the defense is better this year than last year.

LOL the "eye test" had me pulling my hair out yesterday.

there were multiple dunks where we had no one within 12 feet of the Zona guy under the hoop.

Multiple 3's where the same was true. Our defensive breakdowns, when they happen, are epic. I mean unbelievably epic.

Could you imagine Calhoun even standing for ONE of those plays without calling a timeout, pulling someone off the court by the shirt and correcting it? I dont expect Hurley to be Calhoun in that manner at all. I DO expect him to correct glaring errors as they happened in his own way. It took far too long for him to make adjustments against simple high screens. It was embarrassing how open Zona was at times in that 1st half. Absolutely embarrassing. How easily they got uncontested dunks and 3's. And by uncontested I mean shoot around style. Those need to be called out and corrected immediately in the same way he calls out and corrects poor shot selection.

Do we even hold teams under 70 anymore? Ever?

I just had to look it up. Our lowest Defensive point total is 66 (twice - UMKC and UNH), so I guess we do occasionally, but not by much.

Such offensive juggernauts as Morehead St (70) Cornell (74) Umass Lowell (75!) have all hung over 70 on us. Hell, so did SCSU in the exhibition (70).

Cuse put 76 on us without a PG and they suck offensively.

Iowa dropped 91 on us.

Now I realize that the tempo we play is going to lead to higher scoring games. Thats fine. But man the switching/hedging/overplay stuff is really going to hurt us until our players get it.

 

[Huskybass]

LOL the "eye test" had me pulling my hair out yesterday.

there were multiple dunks where we had no one within 12 feet of the Zona guy under the hoop.

Multiple 3's where the same was true. Our defensive breakdowns, when they happen, are epic. I mean unbelievably epic.

Could you imagine Calhoun even standing for ONE of those plays without calling a timeout, pulling someone off the court by the shirt and correcting it? I dont expect Hurley to be Calhoun in that manner at all. I DO expect him to correct glaring errors as they happened in his own way. It took far too long for him to make adjustments against simple high screens. It was embarrassing how open Zona was at times in that 1st half. Absolutely embarrassing. How easily they got uncontested dunks and 3's. And by uncontested I mean shoot around style. Those need to be called out and corrected immediately in the same way he calls out and corrects poor shot selection.

Do we even hold teams under 70 anymore? Ever?

I just had to look it up. Our lowest Defensive point total is 66 (twice - UMKC and UNH), so I guess we do occasionally, but not by much.

Such offensive juggernauts as Morehead St (70) Cornell (74) Umass Lowell (75!) have all hung over 70 on us. Hell, so did SCSU in the exhibition (70).

Cuse put 76 on us without a PG and they suck offensively.

Iowa dropped 91 on us.

Now I realize that the tempo we play is going to lead to higher scoring games. Thats fine. But man the switching/hedging/overplay stuff is really going to hurt us until our players get it.

The breakdowns on D yesterday (especially in the first half) were alarming. Guys either overly help and cannot recover quickly enough, or simply drift too far from their man. I guarantee this will be a point of emphasis at practice this week and that the issue will become far less glaring over the next 2 to 3 games.

 

[Excalibur]

I'll take a handful of easy layups, which require a contested pass, over sagging back and failing to close on shooters. Last year, we gave up both.

 

[UConnDad]

Good grief. I can't believe the reacting from people here is so negative. Get your heads our of your collective asses.

Our guards were sloppy and tried to do too much. Arizona played really well, especially on the defensive end, and we had numerous break-downs, leading to poor decisions with the ball. The officiating was inconsistent, with many early touch fouls on UConn and a bunch of questionable charge-block calls. I think that took away some of our defensive intensity. We were lousy shooting from 3, but so was Arizona. Call that a wash. We fouled a jump shooter, what, 3 times in the second half? I appreciate the close-out effort but just get a hand up, don't try to block it when you are running at the shooter.

So with all that, we lost to the team that will probably win the Pac 10, by 4. Now, unless I'm wrong, this is still the team that people said didn't have enough talent to win. So that team, playing poorly, facing uneven officiating and an Arizona team that did play well, lost by 4. And we somehow think this bodes ill for our chances this season? This team is in good shape. We got a nice contribution from Sid for the first time and that will give us needed flexibility when Vital and Smith both lay eggs. Once Diarra is back, and we can put him alongside Cobb or Carlton with Sid on the wing, we can begin to do some real damage inside and take the pressure off the guards.

The negativity stems from the fact that Arizona did not play well and the game was winnable.

 

[August_West]

I'll take a handful of easy layups, which require a contested pass, over sagging back and failing to close on shooters. Last year, we gave up both.

Its a work in progress.

But if we play 11 minutes of even mediocre 2-3 zone yesterday in the first half we probably go into the half with the lead.
Takes our difficulty with the high screens right out the equation and makes life tougher for Jeter

Im not advocating using it. Im glad hes not at this point. He needs to instill his primary defensive wants right now come hell or high water. Its a painful transitional proposition though. And we will feel it again.

Remember that Jim Calhoun as much as he hated it, would use a Zone when warranted to combat an opposition exploitation. We were being exploited yesterday defensively.

Hurley cant do that now. Shouldnt. But a couple years down the road its a nice thing to have in your pocket on occasion.


Our problem is that we arent getting turnover>run out rewards at the rate needed against high level competition (Arizona and Iowa is our sample size right now) to offset the breakdowns that are a by product of such an aggressive Man scheme.

 

[ThabeetDown]

I'm lot more concerned about whether Hurley's the right guy for the job than I am about how far this imperfect team is going to go this March. And as to the former, I continue to like what I see.

How are you even remotely concerned Hurley isn't the right guy for the job? Is this KO's burner account?

 

[Huskybass]

How are you even remotely concerned Hurley isn't the right guy for the job? Is this KO's burner account?

I think you misinterpreted his post. He was saying that Hurley being the right fit long term is much more important than a disappointing early season loss to a good opponent or not doing much this post season.

Hurley basically inherited this roster, then made whatever late additions he could. I think we will have a much truer sense of what Hurley can accomplish once he brings in his own recruits for a couple of years. I think thats what Nomar meant.

 

[HuskyHawk]

The negativity stems from the fact that Arizona did not play well and the game was winnable.

Except that Arizona played well. They really stepped up the defense in the second half, and while we made a lot of unforced errors, they forced quite a few of those turnovers as well. Then they were incredible at the line. 19-22.

 

[UConnDad]

Except that Arizona played well. They really stepped up the defense in the second half, and while we made a lot of unforced errors, they forced quite a few of those turnovers as well. Then they were incredible at the line. 19-22.

17% from 3, 14 TO, same rebounds as us. We were missing shots and offensive fouls to help them. I'm sorry. They played enough to win, but well?

 

[yukonfan4]

i was proud to there sitting in my $200 pair of seats even though i coulda got em for $60 last week!

akok committing was awesome. the crowd was awesome. we played a top 30 team down to the final possession!

everyone take a minute to smell the roses!

 

[ThabeetDown]

I think you misinterpreted his post. He was saying that Hurley being the right fit long term is much more important than a disappointing early season loss to a good opponent or not doing much this post season.

Hurley basically inherited this roster, then made whatever late additions he could. I think we will have a much truer sense of what Hurley can accomplish once he brings in his own recruits for a couple of years. I think thats what Nomar meant.

Understood, just a weird way of saying it...

 

[browndog319]

I think you misinterpreted his post. He was saying that Hurley being the right fit long term is much more important than a disappointing early season loss to a good opponent or not doing much this post season.

Hurley basically inherited this roster, then made whatever late additions he could. I think we will have a much truer sense of what Hurley can accomplish once he brings in his own recruits for a couple of years. I think thats what Nomar meant.

I agree. And he’s created a real change in the culture. We’re 6-2. We’ve had a great start and I’m excited again. By this time last year I would think about whether I would turn on the game and then get pissed when I did because it was just so sad...