Team lacks on court leadership

[Kitaman]

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but this team lacks a clear leader, especially during opponents comebacks and late game situations. No one calming the troops, organizing them or leading them. It's not Bouk, Cole, our seniors, or anyone. When they huddle up they look lost and direction-less with no lead vocal authority.

Man we could have used one tonight.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I think it is Cole. Not having him down the stretch hurt.

Bouknight is our go-to player, but he's not a leader. His body language is often terrible.

 

[uconngb]

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but this team lacks a clear leader, especially during opponents comebacks and late game situations. No one calming the troops, organizing them or leading them. It's not Bouk, Cole, our seniors, or anyone. When they huddle up they look lost and direction-less with no lead vocal authority.

Man we could have used one tonight.

Agree with this. And it’s why I’ve bee on DH to use the timeouts more strategically. If its not gonna come from someone on the court, then at least try and regroup on the sidelines. It was maddening to watch that sequence under 8 minutes to go when we were up and could have extended a lead but had our B team in there with no idea what they were doing and you could see he was just waiting for the TV timeout. I mean AJ launching from 22 feet? Really??

 

[tentoes4rings]

I think it is Cole. Not having him down the stretch hurt.

Bouknight is our go-to player, but he's not a leader. His body language is often terrible.

Completely agree. Losing Cole killed them down the stretch. And where the hell was Martin tonight? Talked a big game last night and then disappeared today.

 

[uconNYC]

This group also lacks big game experience.

 

[BlueDogs]

Agree with this. And it’s why I’ve bee on DH to use the timeouts more strategically. If its not gonna come from someone on the court, then at least try and regroup on the sidelines. It was maddening to watch that sequence under 8 minutes to go when we were up and could have extended a lead but had our B team in there with no idea what they were doing and you could see he was just waiting for the TV timeout. I mean AJ launching from 22 feet? Really??

Why he had the B team out there was inexplicable. You can’t leave Sanogo on the bench until 2 minutes are left and then not use him inside. Offense was in disarray the last 8 minutes, and Danny had no plan to adjust and just closed his eyes and let them play it out. Terrible job extending the clock. Just not ready to manage the big games.

 

[UCTitleTown]

This group also lacks big game experience.

Every BE game should be treated like a big game, but they didn't. It seems like years ago every game meant something. I long for a dominant regular season. We haven't finished first in a conference in what 12+ years? Maybe longer.

 

[Jumpman62114]

Ultimately this comes down to PG play. It was night/day noticeable how Creighton was more organized getting into their sets and matchups in crunch time compared to us. I agree that Diggins/RJ will be sharing duties next year and Gaff playing off ball. He just can't create well...

 

[Marat]

CV would have been the perfect leader this season if he were available to play. Too bad they didn't grant an extra year to last year's seniors due to Covid .

 

[navery12]

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but this team lacks a clear leader, especially during opponents comebacks and late game situations. No one calming the troops, organizing them or leading them. It's not Bouk, Cole, our seniors, or anyone. When they huddle up they look lost and direction-less with no lead vocal authority.

Man we could have used one tonight.

It's Cole. You saw it in the first half when Creighton took the lead and he came down to stop their run with his first basket. And you saw it in the 2nd half when he got hurt and the offense somehow got worse than it already was

 

[Billxon]

Agree with previous comments;
at this time we do not have a true reliable stopper. In order to win tight games, team needs a player to make shot to break opponents momentum.
Tonight, we had 2 wide open looks to make at games end and could not make.
Good teams make the shot; I believe we have good chance to win first
NCAA game. After that it becomes a crap shoot.
When one flys in combat, you count on your wingman; I would probably not be writing this post if my wingman was like this years edition of Uconn MBB. The bad stuff over Hanoi left no room for error. The consistency is just not there.
Hopefully new recruits can fill some of these shortcomings.
And Hurley, hire a shooting guru to teach and help develop Jackson's
offensive game. When he's on court,
merely protect against occasional drive and now Uconn playing offense with at best 4 players and depending whose on court can be as few as 2 reliable offensive players.
Ciao