Seton Hall Post Game Thread

[connVA]

I'll state the obvious, if you can't win on the road in the Big East you are done.

Done with having a shot at the regular season title? Yup. Done with having a shot at winning the BE tourney or making the Big Dance? No way.

 

[freescooter]

I wonder how much of a leash the coaches had tonight to go with their own game plan? I'm guessing not much based on the rotations and lack of DC in the final moments as a rim protector.

I think there is something to that. Luke Murray is no George Blaney that’s for sure. George had been a head coach and was viewed by Calhoun as a colleague not a subordinate. If he took over from Calhoun for illness or other reason he had the authority and the gravitas to make decisions he thought made sense. It generally worked out pretty well. Ask Texas.

 

[Icehawk]

“I thought I did a poor job coaching the guys in the second half, offensively in particular,” Murray said. “We talked about it at halftime. We knew that Seton Hall was gonna pick up the pressure in the second half, and we didn’t do a good job of handling it.” - Luke Murray

Seton Hall defeats No. 15 UConn on Ndefo’s last-second layup

During St. Peter’s run to the Elite Eight last year, KC Ndefo gained a reputation as a tenacious rebounder and a hard-nosed defender who led the nation in blocks at 6-foot-7.

www.wfsb.com

 

[PAHusky]

We are 1-4 on the road. (W vs BU and L’s to X, MU, PC, SH)

Xavier = 3-1 (W’s vs GT, SJ, VU & L to DP)
Marquette = 2-2 (W’s vs VU, SJ and L’s to PC, X)
Providence = 3-2 (W’s vs SH, BU, DP and L’s to CU, MU)
Creighton = 1-3 (W vs BU and L’s to MU, UConn, X)
Seton Hall = 2-3 (W’s vs GT, DP and L’s to X, MU, CU)
St. John’s = 1-3 (W vs UConn and L’s to VU, PC, SH)
Villanova = 1-3 (W vs GT and L’s to UConn, DP, BU)
Butler = 1-3 (W vs GT and L’s to CU, SH, SJ)
DePaul = 0-2 (L’s to CU, BU)
Georgetown = no wins

So, are you saying that it is obvious that everyone in the Big East is done? Or do you see someone who has already shown they can win on the road in this league?

Actually the place where you really need to win in this league is MSG.

Pretty obvious that yes, Xavier, Marquette and Providence have shown that they can win on the road, but beating teams like SJ (who beat us at home) or SH (who we lost to last night).

No one expected to go undefeated on the road, but GoUConn is correct in saying that our inability to even stay .500 on the road (which, if we held serve at home, would put us in contention) means that we're done in terms of winning the regular season BE title.

Does the season ultimately run through MSG first? Yep, but it's a whole lot tougher with a high seed and DH, outside of the PK85, doesn't have an amazing tournament record at UConn.

 

[MTBingNinja]

I lost my mind when Sanogo had his back to five defenders and then tried to plow through them instead of kicking it out. Jackson needs to score more when he’s close to the hoop after getting an offensive rebound, and drive to the hoop more period.

I’ve given up on waiting to see Clingan and Sanogo on the floor together, I don’t think Sanogo can power to the hoop with his back to the basket as a #4.

Samuel Johnson decent playing time? Don’t hold your breath. Said that in November. Hope he can help us out though.

I feel like this team has made me bipolar, was on a high after the start and now on a terrible low

 

[Billy Jack]

Pretty obvious that yes, Xavier, Marquette and Providence have shown that they can win on the road, but beating teams like SJ (who beat us at home) or SH (who we lost to last night).

No one expected to go undefeated on the road, but GoUConn is correct in saying that our inability to even stay .500 on the road (which, if we held serve at home, would put us in contention) means that we're done in terms of winning the regular season BE title.

Does the season ultimately run through MSG first? Yep, but it's a whole lot tougher with a high seed and DH, outside of the PK85, doesn't have an amazing tournament record at UConn.

After looking at the road records I posted, you can’t be serious claiming that these other teams have proven that they can go through a Big East schedule winning in the road any better than we have. None of them have played the schedule that we have. None of the others in the top 5 have beaten a top 5 team on the road. Xavier’s road loss to DePaul is a much worse loss than our 1-point loss to Seton Hall and should create doubts in anyone’s mind about their ability to consistently win on the road.

I’m stunned beyond belief that you think that road wins over Georgetown, DePaul, Butler, or Villanova prove anything about a team’s ability to win on the road in this league. And I certainly don’t think that our road losses to Xavier, Marquette, and PC, the top 3 teams in the league so far, say that we’re any worse than anyone else on the road. Let’s wait until the schedules even out before we make those kinds of claims.

 

[bendm]

This board is freaking out because UConn is not dominating the Big East. UConn just isn’t good enough to dominate the league

i gotta disagree with both points. even 1st place xavier isnt "dominating" the league anymore, they just lost to depaul, so it's ok that we're not dominating.

but i'm freaking out because the team has been playing like garbage for 5 of the last 6, we have fallen below .500 in conference, and are no longer favored to even secure a top 4 seed bye in the first round of the BET.

this is com is that our roster should be good enough to win the league. the only roster i would trade ours for is xavier's. we should be better than marquette and pc. kolek and ighodaro are the only 2 guys on marquette that would start here. same with bynum and hopkins on pc.

 

[navery12]

and are no longer favored to even secure a top 4 seed bye in the first round of the BET.

This is correct, but we do at least control our own destiny now with the Xavier loss last night. If we win out and all the favorites win (unlikely on both counts) we'd now project as a 3 seed and a bye. Obviously still very early so a ton of scenarios could play out

 

[Griggs]

Looked like over the back on SH on that last foul shot.
Anybody able to get a replay of that ?

I thought that as well.

 

[uconnfan68]

“I thought I did a poor job coaching the guys in the second half, offensively in particular,” Murray said. “We talked about it at halftime. We knew that Seton Hall was gonna pick up the pressure in the second half, and we didn’t do a good job of handling it.” - Luke Murray

Seton Hall defeats No. 15 UConn on Ndefo’s last-second layup

During St. Peter’s run to the Elite Eight last year, KC Ndefo gained a reputation as a tenacious rebounder and a hard-nosed defender who led the nation in blocks at 6-foot-7.

www.wfsb.com

Glad he stepped up.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Good points, Nelson. We play in a league like this precisely so we can run a gauntlet of tough games. A stretch like the one we’ve just been through is what prepares a team for the tournament. A team like ours can just as easily turn it around and win 5 out of the next 6 as quickly as they lost 5 out of 6.

With regard to your comment about guarding the 3 tightly against a team that doesn’t shoot the 3 well, I think this team does that because it’s a matter of going to their strength to exploit an opponent’s weakness. Seton Hall came into this game, hitting 31% of their 3’s, which is bad. But our D held them to an even worse 19%. If they had shot the 3 at their normal rate, they would have hit 3 more from the arc. That would have been 9 more points and it wouldn’t have been a close game. So, guarding the 3 tightly instead of laying off those perimeter shooters, paid off.

You're hitting your stride.

I think there is something to that. Luke Murray is no George Blaney that’s for sure. George had been a head coach and was viewed by Calhoun as a colleague not a subordinate. If he took over from Calhoun for illness or other reason he had the authority and the gravitas to make decisions he thought made sense. It generally worked out pretty well. Ask Texas.

Is this a warm up for when you get through your resistance to telling the board about the 50 better coaches for UConn's future?

Definitely doesn't sound like a profile of Luke Murray.