The PG situation seems clear going forward

[Kemba'sYogurt]

Do college games keep +/- stats anywhere?

I use bleacher report and they have it.

 

[superjohn]

And they both played pretty solid D all night. So they have one side of the ball covered 4 games in. I think the things people are concerned about like shot selection can be cleaned up with more practice. I also think Gaff will start hitting some of his open shots.

The defensive side of the ball is good and will become great I think. Cole needs to reeled in offensively and Gaffney needs to be pulled out of his shell offensively.

 

[auror]

We definitely need to let Bouk run 15-20 pick-and-rolls a game but Creighton countered Hurley's adjustment after Bouk torched them the first five minutes of the second half and that was that--Bouk was quiet for a long stretch of the second half. We simply need other guys to contribute. It's not hard to contain the PnR game when you don't have to worry about shooters. Nonetheless, Bouk running PnR is by far the best our offense has looked all season.

Bouk running point on our motion sets and whatnot isn't necessary. Keep him off the ball where the system can create stuff for him (I swear that's not tongue-in-cheek after today). Mix it up to show the defense different things--plenty of Bouk PnR and plenty of motion, quick-hitters, etc.

Yeah. Hopefully the next thing that gets installed this week is counters to Bouk PnR adjustments. But we will definitely rise and fall as other guards make or miss wide open 3s. May be where Polley shows his value when he gets back.

I do like Bouk coming off screens and causing panic to the defense, too. We can definitely mix some of those in on motion or set plays. But we're both in agreement that Bouk needs to be attacking the defense with the ball in his hands as much as possible.

 

[lange10]

Martin has no feel whatsoever offensively but I like when he's on the floor. He defends, he rebounds, he's good in the open court, and he has a little but of a bully in him. I'll take the offensive deficiencies for everything else he gives you. Guys that are not bringing anything to the table offensively and don't do any of the above are the issue. Not Martin.

I really like Martin’s game. His minutes are 100% justified. Personally, I just wish he’d be more aggressive because I think he has as good a shot as anyone on our team to be our consistent #2 guy.

 

[uconngb]

Jackson should pick up no minutes. He should be playing less than he already is.

Bouk needs to play the entire game. We had lineups out there today that couldn't score against anyone. And geez- these guys couldn't practice, but could they at least get some 3's up during the down time? No one can shoot!

I agree w this. Not sure I understand the love affair w Jackson. He is a complete non factor on offense. I mean COMPLETE. RJ at least hits a shot once in a while, Gaffney can drive. With Jackson, we are 4 on 5 on offense. And we’re a team that’s already offensively challenged.

 

[lange10]

Ok, I'll give you that.

But if he gets 10 minutes next game, and produces his usual nada, I want you to apologize.

Give him the 27 minutes Adams played today and I guarantee he produces more. 10 minutes with a short leash, getting yanked after 1 mistake won’t prove anything.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

This is a must try. But again, we only have one scoring option here.

Bouk can get looks for the rest of the guys. This team also gets EVERY offensive rebound

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Huh? He all but disappears in conference play.

Averaged 9 ppg the last 9 games last season.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Averaged 9 ppg the last 9 games last season.

Oh ok, he just didnt show for the previous 20 games. Gotcha.

 

[XLCenterFan]

Give him the 27 minutes Adams played today and I guarantee he produces more. 10 minutes with a short leash, getting yanked after 1 mistake won’t prove anything.

OK, you sold me. You're right, if no one else is going to produce, give the kid some run and see what happens.

 

[MexicoHusky]

The defensive side of the ball is good and will become great I think. Cole needs to reeled in offensively and Gaffney needs to be pulled out of his shell offensively.

I think we need a few baby steps. Just running a Solid break would be nice. I don't think thats asking much. That layup Gaff missed late should of been a layup for someone. Getting a well run break out of the pg is a reasonable request which probably wins today's game. Against a solid team.

I think asking Bouk to score most of our points and run the offense is unreasonable. The two pgs need to play better. Not even that much better. That's the plan. Its a good plan. I have faith.

 

[XLCenterFan]

@Kemba'sYogurt thanks for the +/-

Geez Gaff!

 

[JB75]

Gaffney and Adams took inexplicably horrendous shots on consecutive possessions with about 5:30 left to go and Creighton scored both times.

Yeah. I really don’t want to see those two shooting much at all. Can’t wait till Jackson is ready

 

[Okafour rings]

The problem with Gaffney is he literally refuses to look for his own shot. Regardless of if he can make them or not you don't even need to worry about him as an offensive threat if you're game planning against us right now.

Martin was in the same category today. He only looks to score in transition, otherwise he's a flag pole.

Gaffney put up 8 shots (though he only made 1 FG), 3rd most on the team after Bouknight and Cole. Martin is a good athlete and defender, but he was only 1 for 5 from the field and the only made basket was the dunk off the pass from Sanogo. He should not be shooting and some of his 35 minutes played should have gone to Jackson who only played 5.

 

[TheChamps990411]

] I think he has as good a shot as anyone on our team to be our consistent #2 guy.

No. He is a good all round player but hes not a big scorer. Put backs and in the open floor is where he can get his and the occassional open 3 is ok.

 

[MexicoHusky]

I'd also add that Cole and Gaff are not turnover machines. So they don't the ball over much and they both play solid D. That's 2 guys with a solid base of pg skills. Just one of them needs to improve offensively. Not both. The one who does will get the bulk of the minutes. Statistically the odds are favorable for us.

 

[lange10]

Gaffney put up 8 shots (though he only made 1 FG), 3rd most on the team after Bouknight and Cole. Martin is a good athlete and defender, but he was only 1 for 5 from the field and the only made basket was the dunk off the pass from Sanogo. He should not be shooting and soem of his 35 minutes played should have gone to Jackson who only played 5.

Without having looked at the box score that's pretty shocking to me that he took 8 shots. If he's going to be playing 25+ minutes he needs to be attempting 6-7 FG's/game.

Martin rebounded really well and has shown that is a strength of his. Hurley is quite enamored with Adams and I'm not quite sure why. Martin's minutes are justified in my opinion, however, I do not think Adams are.

 

[navery12]

@Kemba'sYogurt thanks for the +/-

Geez Gaff!

Just as another reference this site has +- and a bunch of other advanced stats that are useful as well.

StatMonitr Stat Feed

stats.statbroadcast.com

 

[Okafour rings]

I agree w this. Not sure I understand the love affair w Jackson. He is a complete non factor on offense. I mean COMPLETE. RJ at least hits a shot once in a while, Gaffney can drive. With Jackson, we are 4 on 5 on offense. And we’re a team that’s already offensively challenged.

When given a chance to play some minutes in the opener against CCSU, he had 6 assists in 19 minutes, leading the team. Today we only had NINE assists for the entire team. Jackson needs to play 12-15 minutes a game at this point of the season.

 

[uconngb]

When given a chance to play some minutes in the opener against CCSU, he had 6 assists in 19 minutes, leading the team. Today we only had NINE assists for the entire team. Jackson needs to play 12-15 minutes a game at this point of the season.

That was against CCSU. Against better competition the last two games he has looked like a deer in the headlights. He is not close to ready to contribute on the offensive end at this level.

 

[auror]

You don't want your leading scorer bringing the ball up unless that player is a distributor too, which Bouk really isn't. If the leading scorer is a distributor, like Kemba or Shabazz, and they are as much a threat with the pass as the drive or shot, then you want the ball in their hands as much as possible.

Ray Allen is a first ballot hall of famer, but he always had Ollie or Scheffer bringing the ball up. Hamilton had KEA. Okafor and Gordon had Taliek. I like the scorer off the ball to start the offense rather than with the ball to start the offense. Whereas Chris Smith, who was a great college player, didn't have a point guard his senior year and the offense was kind of a mess.

You do what you need to win. We need Bouk to do more than those other guys did with the ball, because our other guards are not on the Ollie, Sheffer, Taliek, or KEA level this season.

When the ball isn't in Bouk's hands, bad things happen. Late shot clock 3s by Adams or hero ball by Cole. We haven't had a season where our lead playmaker had an assist rate less than 25 (Jalen Adams in '19 had 25.5 which is lowest in KenPom era). Right now Cole is our qualifying assist rate leader at 19. What we're doing is not working. We scored under a point per possession tonight despite Bouk scoring a point per minute and 8 points in 14 mintues in the 2nd half against USC.

I'd love for Bouk to be a more traditional 2. But I want to make the tournament. Bouk has shown flashes of playmaking, and letting him do more will be better than hoping Cole can beat a Big East defender or that Gaffney will make a decisive move. He doesn't need to literally walk the ball up, but he needs to be the one making decisions with the ball for the majority of our possessions.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'd also add that Cole and Gaff are not turnover machines. So they don't the ball over much and they both play solid D. That's 2 guys with a solid base of pg skills. Just one of them needs to improve offensively. Not both. The one who does will get the bulk of the minutes. Statistically the odds are favorable for us.

Gaff is not a solid defender he’s a problem on that end, both for foul issues for our big guys and easy lay ins. He constantly gets beat off the dribble creating havoc. Not sure Cole is a ton better but he was for a lot of the game yesterday but tired also. We have major issues at the PG unless Cole makes shots. Gaff doesn’t turn it over but his lack of offensive ability to get in the paint and make plays will make it easier to guard Bouk for many teams. We aren’t a very capable team on either end when Cole and Gaff share minutes and it still happened way too much again yesterday. His love affair with that is alarming.

 

[MexicoHusky]

Gaff is not a solid defender he’s a problem on that end, both for foul issues for our big guys and easy lay ins. He constantly gets beat off the dribble creating havoc. Not sure Cole is a ton better but he was for a lot of the game yesterday but tired also. We have major issues at the PG unless Cole makes shots. Gaff doesn’t turn it over but his lack of offensive ability to get in the paint and make plays will make it easier to guard Bouk for many teams. We aren’t a very capable team on either end when Cole and Gaff share minutes and it still happened way too much again yesterday. His love affair with that is alarming.

Someone shared the +- stats from yesterday. Gaff was the worst on the team. Maybe you're right. Visually I thought he did ok. But I thought the whole team did ok against their guards. Maybe I missed Gaff's bad D.

 

[mauconnfan]

Someone shared the +- stats from yesterday. Gaff was the worst on the team. Maybe you're right. Visually I thought he did ok. But I thought the whole team did ok against their guards. Maybe I missed Gaff's bad D.

The being right or close sucks, just need him to be a better player. But I'm also aware he shot awfully all last year and is still this year. He doesn't turn it over but he doesn't do much that would enable him to turn it over, although a couple times yesterday he scared the crap out of me handling in tight spots got lucky. He gets beat off the dribble too much, needs to allow more space when going out too far to defend, his feet aren't quick enough. I mean we needed that frosh to soph jump from him as we need our PGs to be better in order to make this team better. Right now it's scary but again, only 4 games in to a weird start. We will see.

 

[MexicoHusky]

The being right or close sucks, just need him to be a better player. But I'm also aware he shot awfully all last year and is still this year. He doesn't turn it over but he doesn't do much that would enable him to turn it over, although a couple times yesterday he scared the crap out of me handling in tight spots got lucky. He gets beat off the dribble too much, needs to allow more space when going out too far to defend, his feet aren't quick enough. I mean we needed that frosh to soph jump from him as we need our PGs to be better in order to make this team better. Right now it's scary but again, only 4 games in to a weird start. We will see.

I certainly agree on the sophomore jump part. We got absolutely zero. Gaff looks like the same player with a rustier shot. Did you think Gaff was so bad last year? I thought he earned a starting role and was improving. I don't keep up in the off season that much, but was a bit surprised to see Gaff get beat out by Cole. Who hasn't exactly lit it up himself.