The Ross Enigma

[ctchamps]

I'm scratching my head because I've seen several posters that I consider basketball savvy scratch their heads as to why Hurley keeps touting Ross and chose him to start over Mahaney and Stewart now that Liam is out.

The obvious reason has to be what Ross is doing in practice. If you listen to the Providence post game pressor Hurley stated Ross just needs a game where he makes a couple of threes and scores in other ways to be the player coach sees him in practice. Currently the only thing Ross has consistently shown is effort and athleticism. He's made some spectacular blocks, had some put backs and goes for rebounds. But beyond that he's demonstrated very little. So it comes down to this. Can Ross demonstrate in a game what he obviously has shown Hurley in practice? Hurley believes he can. Will it happen? That remains to be seen.

But it can't happen unless he's given every opportunity to try.

If this forum's overwhelming point of view is correct it won't happen and he shouldn't be given that opportunity. I have a different position, I think it can happen. And I believe he (and Stewart) are the x factors to how far this team can go tournament time.

 

[Waquoit]

I thought this was a Ludlum novel.

 

[husky429]

There are plenty of practice all-stars in this world. I was one of them. But at the end of the day, you've gotta produce in games or see the bench.

The problem, IMO, is that none of the 3 really deserve to start. Every one of them is a decent bench option with not enough skill on either end to start for a final-4 team right now. That's why we recruited McNeeley in the first place.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

It’s make or break time for him with Liam out. He has to be aggressive and at least fail forward though. He didn’t take many shot attempts on Saturday.

Seems like a confidence and mental thing at the moment.

 

[RuffRuff]

Exactly why (have a source ) - he's an all star in practice and hustles his butt off, sets the bar on effort.

 

[pj]

Exactly why (have a source ) - he's an all star in practice and hustles his butt off, sets the bar on effort.

That's a good reason to give him the start, not necessarily a reason to give him big minutes. It earns him enough minutes to get film and see what he has to work on.

 

[Inyatkin]

Seems like Stewart is an even bigger enigma, because he showed last year he really could do some things, and a lot of people predicted a breakout. He's taken a step back.

Would be nice to see one (or both) go off at some point.

 

[businesslawyer]

I thought this was a Ludlum novel.

Can't be. I made it to the end of the OP's post without losing interest.

 

[RuffRuff]

Seems like Stewart is an even bigger enigma, because he showed last year he really could do some things, and a lot of people predicted a breakout. He's taken a step back.

Would be nice to see one (or both) go off at some point.

He's even shown this year he can do really good things (Memphis & Zags).

 

[Jaydumo20]

I stand by the statement that I make in regards to Dan Hurley and this staff: nobody on the yard comes even close to the coaching knowledge of our staff.

Would you trust the majority of yarders to make personnel decisions for this team?

 

[Deepster]

I remember when the 1999 team was practicing in the Final Four and Billy Packer stated the best player on the practice floor that week was Ajou Ajou Deng. Vitale even proclaimed Deng may end up as the best player ever to wear a UConn uniform.

I don't doubt Ross is doing something electric in practice....but he's not doing it during games and is not consistent enough. Same can probably be said for Nowell and Abraham.

 

[jdb50]

There is not going to be any flipping the light switch type moment from Ross and Stewart. Both players can get the job done and just have to keep bearing down and bring everything they have when they are on the court in the team concept. Near the end of yesterday's game I looked at the scoreboard and we had 5 players in double figures on the court and the Friars had two. Last season Stewart went off and sealed the BE championship game for us. Both players should keep trending upward and start to fill up the stat sheet more often.

 

[Gurleyman]

The issue with him in the starting unit is that our offense has three role players and two guys who are weapons but probably more supplemental scorers in an ideal world (AK, Solo). Feel like our offense needs 3 weapons to hum or else defenses can load up on our 2 primary guys too easily. With Liam out, Reed or Mahaney (hopefully) - or both as we saw in the second half - allows us to run our stuff a little better. Just hard to run AK or Solo off screens when you can help off so many places.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I'm scratching my head because I've seen several posters that I consider basketball savvy scratch their heads as to why Hurley keeps touting Ross and chose him to start over Mahaney and Stewart now that Liam is out.

The obvious reason has to be what Ross is doing in practice. If you listen to the Providence post game pressor Hurley stated Ross just needs a game where he makes a couple of threes and scores in other ways to be the player coach sees him in practice. Currently the only thing Ross has consistently shown is effort and athleticism. He's made some spectacular blocks, had some put backs and goes for rebounds. But beyond that he's demonstrated very little. So it comes down to this. Can Ross demonstrate in a game what he obviously has shown Hurley in practice? Hurley believes he can. Will it happen? That remains to be seen.

But it can't happen unless he's given every opportunity to try.

If this forum's overwhelming point of view is correct it won't happen and he shouldn't be given that opportunity. I have a different position, I think it can happen. And I believe he (and Stewart) are the x factors to how far this team can go tournament time.

I’m not claiming to be an expert but I have been around the game since the Dark Ages and Ross is a head scratcher. . To me Stewart ot MaHaney are well ahead of him offensively and in Stewarts case not much if any daylight on Defense.
Coaches are human and posdibly he either likes Ross ‘s effort or he is using him to motivate a player who he feels could be much better.
As Bobby Knight use to say the best motivation is your butt on then bench .
An effort guy like Ross usually pays dividends but probably not for 3 or 4 years
This team can’t afford a player coming up empty with Liam out .

 

[ctchamps]

The issue with him in the starting unit is that our offense has three role players and two guys who are weapons but probably more supplemental scorers in an ideal world (AK, Solo). Feel like our offense needs 3 weapons to hum or else defenses can load up on our 2 primary guys too easily. With Liam out, Reed or Mahaney (hopefully) - or both as we saw in the second half - allows us to run our stuff a little better. Just hard to run AK or Solo off screens when you can help off so many places.

One thing I consider is that for defense, as things stand now, a lineup can not have Samson Mahaney and Solo in at the same time for long minutes.

Hurley believes Ross is a scorer. If it doesn't happen he'll have to alter who he starts. The problem in yesterday's game was not on the offense in those first five minutes Ross played. It was his defense that let the team down. We exploited their defensive weakness with Samson. But you are correct. If Ross can't start hitting threes other teams will play off him and negate Samson.

 

[dannyHAM]

Stewart needs to play over him. It's just that simple.

 

[ctchamps]

I’m not claiming to be an expert but I have been around the game since the Dark Ages and Ross is a head scratcher. . To me Stewart ot MaHaney are well ahead of him offensively and in Stewarts case not much if any daylight on Defense.
Coaches are human and posdibly he either likes Ross ‘s effort or he is using him to motivate a player who he feels could be much better.
As Bobby Knight use to say the best motivation is your butt on then bench .
An effort guy like Ross usually pays dividends but probably not for 3 or 4 years
This team can’t afford a player coming up empty with Liam out .

I've considered the bolded statement as a possibility. However other people who've observed Ross in practice including NBA scouts have made statements about Ross's potential as well. Therefore I don't think this is just a psychological play.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Seems like Stewart is an even bigger enigma, because he showed last year he really could do some things, and a lot of people predicted a breakout. He's taken a step back.

Would be nice to see one (or both) go off at some point.

This offense moves the ball slower and has less movement overall than last years, and I think that hurts JStew’s game most. He needs space as he isn’t a GREAT shooter, and the ball movement lastbyear played to his strengths of getting on a shoulder and going downhill. We don’t have a ton of those opportunities this year as we don’t have the drive threats we did.

 

[gioff2323]

I thought this was a Ludlum novel.

Give it the rest of the day and wait for the cast of characters yet to weigh in.

 

[RuffRuff]

I’m not claiming to be an expert but I have been around the game since the Dark Ages and Ross is a head scratcher. . To me Stewart ot MaHaney are well ahead of him offensively and in Stewarts case not much if any daylight on Defense.
Coaches are human and posdibly he either likes Ross ‘s effort or he is using him to motivate a player who he feels could be much better.
As Bobby Knight use to say the best motivation is your butt on then bench .
An effort guy like Ross usually pays dividends but probably not for 3 or 4 years
This team can’t afford a player coming up empty with Liam out .

Jayden feels like the wrong solution to fill the Liam gap given his limited offensive game - it's like going from 5th gear to reverse on offense. Get AM his due run, use Tarris' post game more often to fill in the gaps. If there is a particular guard matchup that presents a defensive problem, rotate Jayden in. Viola!!

 

[Umami Zen]

Ross and Stewie need to see a few shots go down . Start playing with the next one is goin' in vibe

 

[superjohn]

This offense moves the ball slower and has less movement overall than last years, and I think that hurts JStew’s game most. He needs space as he isn’t a GREAT shooter, and the ball movement lastbyear played to his strengths of getting on a shoulder and going downhill. We don’t have a ton of those opportunities this year as we don’t have the drive threats we did.

Jaylin Stewart averaged 2.5 ppg last season.

 

[ctchamps]

Seems like Stewart is an even bigger enigma, because he showed last year he really could do some things, and a lot of people predicted a breakout. He's taken a step back.

Would be nice to see one (or both) go off at some point.

Stewart needs to play over him. It's just that simple.

From what we've seen on the court that's my impression as well. However I think Hurley is using the tough love approach with Stewart and Reed because he's come to the conclusion that they develop better from this approach. Neither of them appear to be upset with how Hurley is approaching them. Reed has gone on record saying that's what he wants from Hurley. His improvement from Michigan has shown it works. Stewart will get his minutes.

Instead of this being a competition of who deserves more playing time (Ross/Mahaney/Stewart or Samson/Johnson) it would be refreshing if a few more posters would isolate players and focus on their incremental improvements without the need to prove their smarter than Hurley. That doesn't mean that several observations are wrong. It just means we end up with a myopic perspective about our team and players.

 

[RuffRuff]

Jaylin Stewart averaged 2.5 ppg last season.

The Jaylin Stewart 2023-24 body of work has magically become something it never was in part due to how awesome that team was and a few highlight moments. It amplified spontaneously in the minds and souls of all Huskymaniacs.

JStew Memphis - 17 minutes, 16 pts (7-9 shooting), 5 rebounds
JStew Gonzaga - 19 minutes, 10 pts (4-5 shooting), 3 rebounds, 1 block

Now those are games to build off of and the JStew we need.