Solo Ball is a great player and key part of this team | Page 4 | The Boneyard

Solo Ball is a great player and key part of this team

Solo is gonna be just fine on offense when he defines himself as a secondary ballhandler and slasher with a shot as a backup options instead of a sniper. We need him for the press break and he's looked much better attacking this season than ever before. He's closing the gate well, has a little floater, the pullup is solid.

The ADHD on defense is a whole other issue but we'll get there.
 
husky429 said:
Solo is gonna be just fine on offense when he defines himself as a secondary ballhandler and slasher with a shot as a backup options instead of a sniper. We need him for the press break and he's looked much better attacking this season than ever before. He's closing the gate well, has a little floater, the pullup is solid.
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He needs to give up the rock on those drives when somebody else has a lay-up.
 
Waquoit said:
He needs to give up the rock on those drives when somebody else has a lay-up.
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He’ll always have some defensive lapses and head scratching plays. Sounds like his wrist is impacting this jumper. Playing through it because he’s a trooper.
 
Dunno if he's hurt, but his drives usually have him a bucket and himself on the floor behind the hoop.

He is fine on 2 pt shooting too. But he has always seemed more of a rhythm 3 pt shooter and some looks are too much like how Braylon shoots on the catch.

On defense he is a liability if his guy is heading down the lane. No two ways about it he's good for the first 3 steps but within 4 feet of the hoop he doesn't rotate laterally and guides his opponent right into where they can lay it up.

I think teams are keying on this and getting their big to wall off Reed to make the drives easier.
 
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I'm in favor of reducing Solo's minutes from 29 to 26/g and either give them to Silas or as extended minutes to malachi when we run those sets with our two point guards together. Psychologically, physically, whatever the case may be reduced time seems to help most of the time.
 
boog204 said:
Some quotes -->

“While I think it’s waaaayyyy too early to start insinuating Castle is a bust, he did look absolutely lost out there last night. And frankly, Danny gave him more minutes than he should have."

“ But if you took Balls first chunk of time vs a similar span with Castle, I think Ball has shown more spark and life. I don’t think Castle is overhyped but he’s just not showing fire or guts.”

"I am no NBA scout. Not my area of expertise. Heck, I thought Bouknight would be great, and boy was I wrong! But as I watch Castle, I see a talented 'prospect'. The kid can't shoot. His handle is subpar (for a lead guard), and he has not shown an ability to score off the dribble with any consistency. I am not espousing reasons for all of this. I am just calling a spade a spade. I do not see a lottery pick.”

"I am most surprised at how passive he is."

"Honestly besides the recruiting ranking what has he done to deserve a starting spot? Solo has defended almost as well and even with his shaky shot has been better on offense overall. Solo also doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective."

"Jamal coombs vibes so far. Hopefully that changes."

“Castle will be good eventually but where’s his offensive game? And he got turned over with his passes tonight too. You can go to the NBA with what we’ve seen so far? He needs 2 seasons minimum.”

“Castle – Just simply has not shown he is an NBA pick. A non-shooter who isn’t creating anything off the dribble.”

“I hope Castle realizes this isnt HS or AAU ball anymore.”

“Castle does not have the offensive game right now of a lottery pick. The shooting woes mean Dan Hurley is going to have to scheme to his strengths like he did for Jackson.”

These are from two threads from Nov and Dec of his freshman year. So you’re right that I didn’t see the word overrated, but he was not exactly blowing people away when he got here. And that’s my point, there are tons of great players who got criticized, idiotically, and then turned great. Solo is going to be more than fine.
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I don’t think I posted anything - but I admit I thought some of those same things. He looked lost on offense for a while after he came back. There was a grace period due to missing time, the complexity of our offense, and the fact he was trying to blend back into a veteran team that was doing fine without him, but it took a long time for him to find his niche. There was a game in maybe late January where he dribbled into a couple turnovers, airballed an open 3 footer and missed badly on a 3-pointer or two when I thought “man, this guy was overrated” - but then you saw more of what he could do by season’s end and when the tourney rolled around, he was making some of the same finishes and passes that he’s shown in San Antonio. Alabama didn’t even guard him at first - but he got some paint points in the second half that were high degree of difficulty - and then he went right at Edey in the second half and froze him for a couple key buckets.

He played great defense all along, so he always had value out there. It was just he was a fifth option on offense who’s game didn’t seem to match the hype.
 
Solo has 3 issues now:
1. Injury to his wrist
2. Teams know him as a known quantity based on last year
3. Mullins eats into his own shot numbers

It doesn't help that his on ball defense is mid, and his 3pt shooting is somewhat rushed and with an injured wrist not great. Missed 2 FTs late that were both short vs Gtown too.

I would think as the injury gets better we see a slightly better Solo for shooting, but the coaching staff needs to find plays to get him better looks so teams don't just study film and know how to play him. Have to introduce new plays and try them out.

Good thing he and the team has a week to rest and focus on health, nutrition, studies and new plays.
 
Lafayette said:
Solo has 3 issues now:
1. Injury to his wrist
2. Teams know him as a known quantity based on last year
3. Mullins eats into his own shot numbers

It doesn't help that his on ball defense is mid, and his 3pt shooting is somewhat rushed and with an injured wrist not great. Missed 2 FTs late that were both short vs Gtown too.

I would think as the injury gets better we see a slightly better Solo for shooting, but the coaching staff needs to find plays to get him better looks so teams don't just study film and know how to play him. Have to introduce new plays and try them out.

Good thing he and the team has a week to rest and focus on health, nutrition, studies and new plays.
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My concern is bad mechanics from the injury. If you play through an injury you can compensate, even subconsciously, you can affect your normal motion. If you sit while injured, that doesn't happen
 
NJHusky said:
My concern is bad mechanics from the injury. If you play through an injury you can compensate, even subconsciously, you can affect your normal motion. If you sit while injured, that doesn't happen
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This phenomenon is prevalent in Baseball.
 
I'm rooting for him of course but the biggest problem is he is an awful defender so if he doesn't shoot at a 40% clip he is a below average player. I do think he is underrated at driving to the basket and he should do more of this until he finds his stroke.
 
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To put in perspective how bad Solo is shooting from 3, Alex can miss his next 46 3-point attempts and still have a higher shooting percentage than Solo.

Even saying that, Solo's shooting is vital for us going deep this year in the tournament. It's out of the question to think he'll shoot over 40% going forward but if he can shoot in the 35-38% range than we'll see a much more prolific offensive team the remainder of the year. I think we're only going to get better.
 
noelle said:
He was sort of doing better in december, shooting 38.7%. Then he hurt his wrist in the butler game and has shot 20% since.
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He hasn’t shot good or shall I say, up to last years numbers, all year. This is Dan trying to assist in an excuse. His wrist looks great on short pull ups so again, we need him to find his range again it’s a big piece moving forward.
 
Solo has been an all or nothing player, when he's scoring he plays defense, if he's not scoring he plays zero defense. I think some of the "hate" is holding him accountable to at least play defense and rebound if your shot isn't falling.
 
Foamdome said:
I think some of the "hate" is holding him accountable to at least play defense and rebound if your shot isn't falling.
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There isn't any "hate" here. There just one side saying that Solo isn't playing well enough right now and needs to pick it up. Then there's another side that thinks he's doing fine and everything will get better because.
 
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OceanDoggie said:
This phenomenon is prevalent in Baseball.
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Even more relatable to baseball, confidence has a huge correlation to performance. Solo is struggling right now with his 3 point shot, whether that’s mechanics or confidence, or both, this is a perfect time to play through it and get it right, or at the very least find different ways to contribute if his struggles continue.
 
Robrio89 said:
I guess everyone complained about solo for 72 hours post Georgetown then their minds were wiped clean yesterday
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I am kind of surprised they have not doubled down on wanting him to be our sixth man and start Stew. I feel you either have to stand by your position or eat some crow. I doubt they will let one good game discourage them.

Congrats to UConn Hockey winning back to back tournaments this weekend. Awesome win over Quinnipiac!!!
 
He is like a box of chocolates.

The engine is always running. Yesterday, he was a 5.5L V8.

Sometimes he's a 5.5hp Honda lawnmower engine.

Still happy he's on our team. A total class act and he will lead us to Title 7.

Number 7. Unreal to type.
 
DW1361 said:
I am kind of surprised they have not doubled down on wanting him to be our sixth man and start Stew. I feel you either have to stand by your position or eat some crow. I doubt they will let one good game discourage them.

Congrats to UConn Hockey winning back to back tournaments this weekend. Awesome win over Quinnipiac!!!
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Why would anyone double down in that way? While I think Stew warrants more minutes I would never suggest he take Solos starting spot, nor anyone else for that matter. For us to be any good we need that same guy from yesterday. The Huskies aren’t winning #7 without Solo being at least close to last years player. Yesterday he was and we don’t win without that or Alex waking up either.

It’s funny how some fans react to those who are just throwing out facts about players and how they are impacting certain games. Don’t you dare come back with positive things to say after being honest about a bad outing!!lol
 
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mauconnfan said:
Why would anyone double down in that way? While I think Stew warrants more minutes I would never suggest he take Solos starting spot, nor anyone else for that matter. For us to be any good we need that same guy from yesterday. The Huskies aren’t winning #7 without Solo being at least close to last years player. Yesterday he was and we don’t win with that or Alex waking up either.

It’s funny how some fans react to those who are just throwing out facts about players and how they are impacting certain games. Don’t you dare come back with positive things to say after being honest about a bad outing!!lol
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Great, I was referring to the let’s kick Solo in the cajoles thread and suggesting Stew start over him. I happen to not agree with that. A good game shouldn’t change the opinion of those that feel Solo needs to be demoted. As I read the posts here there is still plenty to criticize Solo for. Just saying be consistent. I don’t try to be critical of a struggling player whether it be Solo, Stew or Ross. That wasn’t the type game by game critique that you are suggesting. It was for a good part posts calling for a talented starting player to be benched in favor of a role player. I could follow the merits of the argument, but I don’t agree with it. After one game I still can’t say Solo has figured it out. I am interested to hear from these posters if they now agree Solo should remain in the starting lineup or better served as the first off the bench?
 
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Stroke and wrist looked much better vs Nova.. FTs -nothing but net. Rest last week had to help. His help D and hustle for 50/50 balls much better. Will need these kinds of games from him with Braylon going through concussion protocol.
 
Umami Zen said:
Stroke and wrist looked much better vs Nova.. FTs -nothing but net. Rest last week had to help. His help D and hustle for 50/50 balls much better. Will need these kinds of games from him with Braylon going through concussion protocol.
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Guessing Mullins misses two games.
 
This really has nothing to do with Mullins and Solo. Has everything to do with Solo time running out for the NBA.

So he’s “pressing” right now. The window is closing and he knows it!!!

Mullins and Solo get along GREAT
 
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