Starting Lineup Change?

[ThabeetDown]

I think it's time to start Cobb and Yakwe and send Polley and Carlton to the bench. Yakwe can pick up the slack from Cobb's lack of defense and vice versa on the offensive -- you don't really need Yakwe on offense with JA/CV/AG. Plus, I don't hate the idea of going with more veteran guys. Obviously, it depends on Yakwe's health, but I'm even fine with the Chuck Okwandu strategy and take him out at the U-16 timeout.

I know Cobb can't play a lick of D, but he is the best big man rebounder and offensive post player currently, so you have to work with what you have. He is also the type of guy that can help set the tone early in a game and get a few easy buckets down low to open things up for the guards -- essentially what they do with Carlton against the cupcakes -- and what Carlton can't do against the real teams since he's essentially soft.

Polley, who has been a pleasant surprise overall this year, can't really do much on defense and if he isn't hitting his shots (like last night) he's essentially useless. I do think by the time he is a senior he will be a key contributor, but for now, I think he'd be better off the bench playing with Tarin and Carlton.

I would gladly swap Diarra in for Yakwe if he comes back, but who knows what shape he'll even be in if he plays this year.

 

[Blaneylover]

I doubt that is going to happen. I think that Coach Hurley understood going in that this year was to establish a culture change. I will concede that part of the culture change is being able to beat inferior opponents on the road, but this coaching change was never about this season. In that the focus this year is on next year and years thereafter, I don't see substituting two seniors in for two sophomores. Time will tell.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

Couple more games like yesterday and it will be time to just play freshmen and underclassmen and get them as much experience as possible for the future.

 

[huskyrob1]

I think it's time to start Cobb and Yakwe and send Polley and Carlton to the bench. Yakwe can pick up the slack from Cobb's lack of defense and vice versa on the offensive -- you don't really need Yakwe on offense with JA/CV/AG. Plus, I don't hate the idea of going with more veteran guys. Obviously, it depends on Yakwe's health, but I'm even fine with the Chuck Okwandu strategy and take him out at the U-16 timeout.

I know Cobb can't play a lick of D, but he is the best big man rebounder and offensive post player currently, so you have to work with what you have. He is also the type of guy that can help set the tone early in a game and get a few easy buckets down low to open things up for the guards -- essentially what they do with Carlton against the cupcakes -- and what Carlton can't do against the real teams since he's essentially soft.

Polley, who has been a pleasant surprise overall this year, can't really do much on defense and if he isn't hitting his shots (like last night) he's essentially useless. I do think by the time he is a senior he will be a key contributor, but for now, I think he'd be better off the bench playing with Tarin and Carlton.

I would gladly swap Diarra in for Yakwe if he comes back, but who knows what shape he'll even be in if he plays this year.

Could not agree more, though I'd be giving Sid Wilson more minutes than Polley and would bench Carlton until he stops looking like he played basketball for the first time yesterday.

 

[superjohn]

I doubt that is going to happen. I think that Coach Hurley understood going in that this year was to establish a culture change. I will concede that part of the culture change is being able to beat inferior opponents on the road, but this coaching change was never about this season. In that the focus this year is on next year and years thereafter, I don't see substituting two seniors in for two sophomores. Time will tell.

If Carlton and Polley are major pieces in our future we are royally screwed.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Can we lock Polley in the gym with Roscoe Smith to teach him how a skinny guy rebounds? I get that he's frail and slow, but what is his major lacking that prevents him from getting any rebounds? Is it positioning? Is he out on the perimeter too much? Lack of desire?

He can't even grab defensive foul shot rebounds. That's incredulous. Those are almost free.

He can become a nice player in the future, but at the 4 he needs to contribute to grab at least a few rebounds, especially with this front court.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

adams, vital, gilbert, wilson, carlton.

 

[crazyUCfan23]

I think Polley has lot of upside but at this point, he would be best served as 3 point specialist off the bench. Unfortunately, we don’t have the other pieces at the moment to make this a reality. But I totally agree and showing Carlton a seat for Cobb or Yak

 

[crazyUCfan23]

adams, vital, gilbert, wilson, carlton.

In theory, Sid should help with rebounding but defending legit 4’s could be an issue

 

[HooperScooper]

Herein lies the problem. There just aren't any good answers on the bench to the frontcourt issues. The team needs an influx of talent and that doesn't happen over night. It's realistically going to take 2-3 years of good recruiting.

After last night's disaster Hurley said the culture needs to change and the team doesn't have a lot of fight (see quotes below). I don't know if that's a major problem (hard for an outsider to see all that) but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and agree it's an issue. And if it is then that takes a lot of time to change as the roster cycles through (current players leave and new ones come in). I think it was probably naive to think this thing could get completely turned around in one year.

“We just exhibit all the symptoms of a team that’s not a good team,” Hurley said. “A disheartening performance, disappointing. We’ve got a long way to go.”

“You would think that we would have tried harder,” Hurley said, “it would have meant more to us to get those 50-50 balls, based on this team’s desire to be better than it’s been the last couple of years. ... That’s the sign of a team that’s not focused, not locked in, maybe a little too cool.”

“When the snowball starts rolling down the hill for us, we cave in,” Hurley said, “we give in. It’s more of a matter of having the toughness and the will to play a full 40 minutes. We’ve got a long way to go as a program to develop the habits that winning programs have.”

 

[Blaneylover]

If Carlton and Polley are major pieces in our future we are royally screwed.

I admit that Carlton's lack of toughness and his inability to avoid the stupid foul are maddening. Polley took all good shots last night. They just didn't go in. His defense could be better, but I had no trouble with his offensive game last night. Sometimes they just don't go in.

 

[CTBasketball]

I’ve seen trees move on offense more than Polley. I’d rather have Enoch Wolf playing the stretch 4.

 

[Hi-Low]

I doubt that is going to happen. I think that Coach Hurley understood going in that this year was to establish a culture change. I will concede that part of the culture change is being able to beat inferior opponents on the road, but this coaching change was never about this season. In that the focus this year is on next year and years thereafter, I don't see substituting two seniors in for two sophomores. Time will tell.

I don't think USF is an inferior opponent unfortunately....maybe ECU & Tulane in AAC are inferior otherwise expect many road losses.

 

[Jay-Bone]

I think it's time to start Cobb and Yakwe and send Polley and Carlton to the bench. Yakwe can pick up the slack from Cobb's lack of defense and vice versa on the offensive -- you don't really need Yakwe on offense with JA/CV/AG. Plus, I don't hate the idea of going with more veteran guys. Obviously, it depends on Yakwe's health, but I'm even fine with the Chuck Okwandu strategy and take him out at the U-16 timeout.

I know Cobb can't play a lick of D, but he is the best big man rebounder and offensive post player currently, so you have to work with what you have. He is also the type of guy that can help set the tone early in a game and get a few easy buckets down low to open things up for the guards -- essentially what they do with Carlton against the cupcakes -- and what Carlton can't do against the real teams since he's essentially soft.

Polley, who has been a pleasant surprise overall this year, can't really do much on defense and if he isn't hitting his shots (like last night) he's essentially useless. I do think by the time he is a senior he will be a key contributor, but for now, I think he'd be better off the bench playing with Tarin and Carlton.

I would gladly swap Diarra in for Yakwe if he comes back, but who knows what shape he'll even be in if he plays this year.

Even if the starting lineup doesn't change, they should be at least splitting time. Neither one should be playing 3x as much as the other two. If Polley is hot, sure let him ride it. I understand you want to narrow the roster, not expand it, but its not working.

Clearly DH is playing for the future, but he just lost his first AAC game to one of the worst teams in the conference. We are not competitive, and this could spiral to get quite ugly.

I guess no great answer, and he's playing with the cards he's dealt, but its really infuriating. Why can't he motivate Polley to rebound? Why can't he motivate Cobb to move into defensive position? I don't know.

 

[Palatine]

If Carlton and Polley are major pieces in our future we are royally screwed.

Carlton is a sophomore. He plays 16 minutes a game. If he is your major problem, you don't have many problems.

Polley is a sophomore. He gets major minutes, 25 a game. He shoots 44% from the field and 36% from the arc. He averages 8 per game with a couple of rebounds. He could be better and he probably will get better over the year. So will Carlton.

Neither is why we lose. We lose because the team is lackadaisical and soft. This is a team without a leader and without a go to clutch player. Our upper classmen have as many bad habits as our sophomores. When the game is free flowing and loose they are fine. Slow the tempo, make the game deliberate and they are uncomfortable and unable to perform.

Carlton and Polley's time will come. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to speed up their progression or consistency. But neither is the problem.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Cobb is a good rebounder and fantastic post passer. We scored a couple backdoor cuts with him at the elbow and a couple more the cutter bricked layups. He is BAD on defense but it’s not like we’d be playing him over Okafor.

 

[superjohn]

Carlton is a sophomore. He plays 16 minutes a game. If he is your major problem, you don't have many problems.

Polley is a sophomore. He gets major minutes, 25 a game. He shoots 44% from the field and 36% from the arc. He averages 8 per game with a couple of rebounds. He could be better and he probably will get better over the year. So will Carlton.

Neither is why we lose. We lose because the team is lackadaisical and soft. This is a team without a leader and without a go to clutch player. Our upper classmen have as many bad habits as our sophomores. When the game is free flowing and loose they are fine. Slow the tempo, make the game deliberate and they are uncomfortable and unable to perform.

Carlton and Polley's time will come. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to speed up their progression or consistency. But neither is the problem.

You can't possibly be watching the games and post something like this. They are averaging a combined 2.6 rebounds in our games against non cupcake opponents. Carlton is averaging 1.5 points.

There isn't a proper word to do justice to how much they've sucked. I dare you to find me a worse frontcourt.

 

[Griffman]

Carlton is a sophomore. He plays 16 minutes a game. If he is your major problem, you don't have many problems.

Polley is a sophomore. He gets major minutes, 25 a game. He shoots 44% from the field and 36% from the arc. He averages 8 per game with a couple of rebounds. He could be better and he probably will get better over the year. So will Carlton.

Neither is why we lose. We lose because the team is lackadaisical and soft. This is a team without a leader and without a go to clutch player. Our upper classmen have as many bad habits as our sophomores. When the game is free flowing and loose they are fine. Slow the tempo, make the game deliberate and they are uncomfortable and unable to perform.

Carlton and Polley's time will come. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to speed up their progression or consistency. But neither is the problem.

I couldn't disagree more. Carlton and Polley are a big part of the problem among many problems. "When the game is free flowing and loose they are fine?" Seriously! Carlton stinks and Polley is just a set shot shooter, otherwise, useless. Polley should have a role off the bench as an upperclassman and that's it. These two are NOT THE FUTURE!

 

[Tenspro2002]

Carlton, Polley, Yakwe, Cobb, they're all deck chairs on the Titanic, it just doesn't matter all that much which of them get PT this year.

None of them are going to be major factors in this program's future if Hurley gets the job done on the recruiting trail.

 

[CTBasketball]

Carlton, Polley, Yakwe, Cobb, they're all deck chairs on the Titanic, it just doesn't matter all that much which of them get PT this year.

None of them are going to be major factors in this program's future if Hurley gets the job done on the recruiting trail.

I think if we’re to make the post-season we need to roll with Cobb, Sid, and Yakwe.

Polley and Carlton do absolutely nothing.

 

[raf46]

Couple more games like yesterday and it will be time to just play freshmen and underclassmen and get them as much experience as possible for the future.

we have only one true freshman. Brendan Adams.

 

[uconngb]

In theory, Sid should help with rebounding but defending legit 4’s could be an issue

Like Polley is doing any better?

 

[uconngb]

I advocate for playing Syd as much as possible. He has plus athleticism with clear upside. He just needs the reps to build confidence. I want to like Polley, but he just doesn't do enough. I think throw Syd in the starting lineup and give him a shot. What do we really lose by doing that, and I think he clearly will contribute more to the future of this team than Polley.

 

[UConnDad]

I admit that Carlton's lack of toughness and his inability to avoid the stupid foul are maddening. Polley took all good shots last night. They just didn't go in. His defense could be better, but I had no trouble with his offensive game last night. Sometimes they just don't go in.

Too many times though.

 

[ThabeetDown]

At this point, Hurley just has to do something different, and that starts with the starting lineup. I don't care who goes in and who goes out, he just HAS to mix it up and send a message to the team. Other than Jalen and CV I don't care who else starts (AG is fine but I have no problem with him coming off the bench).