Season almost over and no A game yet

[3rdbass]

We play as well as our backcourt guards.

If teams can penetrate and kick, we death spiral.
If teams struggle shooting, we will win by 10+

Our kryptonite all year has been ball penetration and 3-pt defense.

Our A game this year seems to be graded on a curve. It depends how well the other team plays to determine whether or not we get an “A.”

Not valedictorian level grades this year unfortunately.

When you make that statement you are pretty much saying we stink. Since shooting 3s and driving is pretty much how teams score which I think is not totally true of us. I think we have our times we play great D like the Providence home, Villanova home, Marquette away and Creighton away games but we are so inconsistent in that department.

 

[Umami Zen]

The A game for this year's team is outscoring the opposition in a dominant way. Our D just needs to be solid-not spectacular like last year's team. If Reed gives us solid numbers at both ends of the court and our shooters are dropping threes-- with some decent bench support. It gets us closer.

 

[RuffRuff]

Maybe this teams A game has been destined to be in March.

The staff is finally seeing its titanically better with Reed playing more, so it’s all still evolving.

Bama 24 is really a great example of what could be. 21-11 going into tourney, 100kp defense into a really nice run in the dance. It feels like a season we want to be back out West.

 

[RuffRuff]

Think about it if this team showed up:

Liam Creighton Game 2
Solo Marquette
Alex Texas
Tarris PC Game 2
Hass Xavier Game 1

NC here we come

 

[AllHusky]

Hum...A Game. Well to do damage in March, it's stringing together at least B+ games, one after the other, something they haven't done since the Baylor, TX Zags stretch.

With that said my 2024/25 UConn A game would be:

Solid team D where they defend without fouling.

Karaban, McNeeley, Ball, Hass and Stewart (maybe add Ross who showed early promise) collectively knocking down high volume 3s at close to 40% and wide open 3s at around 60%. They should have been capable of this based on their talent, but that's just not been happening.

Alex, Diarra, McNeeley and Ball able to drive the paint, attack the rim or knock down midrange , not turn it over and finish at a high level. We're starting to see thar.

Johnson and Reed protecting the paint and rim without getting into foul trouble and producing to their capabilities around the rim. Reed playing like a Kodiak Bear and Johnson like a nasty Kangaroo.

Getting at least average ball handling, and leading and executing the half court motion offense quickly and efficiently from a healthy Diarra, Nowell and Ball (fill in minutes with this from McNeeley and/or Mahaney).

At least slightly above average perimeter team D, where they're not letting teams blow by them and drive the lane with any consistency.

Solid team rebounding, which seems to be coming around lately.

Of all these things, hitting their 3s at a high clip and demonstrating at least solid D, could yield a deep March run. As capable they are with most of the above, we just haven't seen it with any consistency this season to give me much confidence they can put it all together.

Tall order, save it for the Championship game. We can get there with a series of B+ games, as long as B+ includes team D.

 

[nycscooby]

2024 level “A” game not possible but if we can get better at the below, we would be much better:

Stop reaching in (which argues for the fact that we don’t have the foot speed necessary to play good D consistently), committing unnecessary fouls.

Defend the 3P line.

Rebound on the defensive end

Loving Beast Mode Tarris! Hoping AK and Liam get hot and we can keep Hass on the floor.

Wed night is huge!! Beat Marquette and we don’t have to face Xavier and then SJU

 

[HuskyFich]

When you make that statement you are pretty much saying we stink. Since shooting 3s and driving is pretty much how teams score which I think is not totally true of us. I think we have our times we play great D like the Providence home, Villanova home, Marquette away and Creighton away games but we are so inconsistent in that department.

I am not saying we stink. What I’m saying is we SUCK at 2 things. We foul a ton and can’t guard a 3. Those two things matter a lot. We do plenty of other things very very well. This team is not like the last 2 years where we did everything well. Most college teams are not like that. I’m just being honest in my assessment that we are streaky, and need exceptional offensive performances to make up for our defense.

If Tarris Reed starts playing like this all the time, our foul rate will improve and only strengthens our position.

 

[jdb50]

Avoiding the 4 plus minute scoring droughts. Good defensive rebounding so we don't have to defend 2 or 3 times per possession. For God sakes please stop jumping on upfakes. We pick up so many fouls this way and our scorers such as AK, LM, Solo and Reed can't pick up fouls doing this. They all should know better. Samson is quick enough off the floor to wait till the shooter jumps and then block the shot. Hassan being able to go full effort which means we need someone to take over to get him some rest. Free throws. Hate when we miss 2 in a row. As someone else said this team never quits and the bench stays positive, hopefully it takes them far.