There's a team here

[Gutter King]

Diarra - He is fully capable of PGing this team to the promised land. He has moxy and onions and is a complete dog. He's improved so much every year, and we are in ride or die mode with him. I'm 100% in on that.

Ball and McNeeley - Ball seems to be figuring some things out in the mid-range, and had some success at the rim tonight. He's got to be a three level threat for us to get there. McNeeley IS a three level threat already and everything looks so much nicer when he is in there.

Karaban - Throwing tonight out, he has built his resume on winning plays, being an elite connector, and nailing three's that naturally come from the offenses flow. We shouldn't be shoehorning him in as an alpha scorer. It's not him, and we don't need to. Just use him like we did the last two years...if the NBA doesn't want that, so be it.

Reed and Johnson - Reed needs to be involved early and often, probably should be starting. Samson Johnson has done some curbing of his fouls and that has been important during the win streak. I think the five is relatively stable and can even carry some nights.

JStew and Ross - JStew seems to have more tools and an above average BBIQ. When he gets the ball at the free throw line, we score. He just has a knack at putting pressure on a D...and that is an uncomfortable spot to be pressures. He's also better defensively than Ross...Dixon got every whistle tonight but was guarded well by JStew. Thats the conference player of thw year...
I like Ross too, but just seems more raw.

Mahaney - He would be so much more impactful if he wasn't hesitant on offense. His inability to pull the trigger to the cut man is really unfortunate. This is why it feels like we stall out when he's in. Just lacks the confidence for our offensive scheme at the moment.

This Villanova game was a stinker on multiple fronts. We (uncharacteristically!) did not take care of the ball, played behind the whistle the entire game, and took too long to get Ball his shots....and unfortunately Reed never got going either. This game shouldn't have been close.

What I do like is that through each one of these games, we can see an [offensive] juggernaut coming. I don't know if we will ever get there on defense. I can say, however, that we aren't bad as a team with McNeeley...and Ball and Mahaney have improved to the point where they aren't candidates for worst defenders in the country.

TL,DR. The firepower is there. Defense needs to keep trending. Top seeds will pucker when they see us in their bracket.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I like the optimism. It's in short supply after tonight.

I agree for the most part. Problem is we were spoiled by steamrolling all opposition to national titles the last 2 years. That doesn't happen ... hardly ever. This is much more like most teams. When we're good we're very good. But there are blemishes that sometimes can't be hidden. and this is a league that has some players that are hard to handle. Dixon. Kalkbrenner, Kam Jones, etc. They're going to make ordinary defense look weak and good defense look ordinary.

I'm in the crowd that thinks Stewart can be a missing link, making the squad very deep when McNeeley comes back. The bulk of the work needs to happen on defense, primarily on lateral movement. There have been improvements, but not the level we are used to. Keep at it, Danny.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

There’s a team here if we focus development in few key areas and trim the fat in a few others.

To reach our end of season ceiling, I would focus my efforts on developing:
Ball into 3 level wing scorer
Stewart into 3 level wing scorer
Reed into starting center
Nowell into backup pg, starter next year
McNeeley into offensive focal point

Positive contributors, but have reached their ceiling:
Karaban - Set 3s, off ball cutting
Diarra - Starting pg, facilitate offense, hound on defense
Johnson - backup Center

Cut back on:
Mahaney (narrow his focus to being a bench scorer)
Ross (give spot minutes to develop for next year)

 

[AntG168]

I like the optimism. It's in short supply after tonight.

I agree for the most part. Problem is we were spoiled by steamrolling all opposition to national titles the last 2 years. That doesn't happen ... hardly ever. This is much more like most teams. When we're good we're very good. But there are blemishes that sometimes can't be hidden. and this is a league that has some players that are hard to handle. Dixon. Kalkbrenner, Kam Jones, etc. They're going to make ordinary defense look weak and good defense look ordinary.

I'm in the crowd that thinks Stewart can be a missing link, making the squad very deep when McNeeley comes back. The bulk of the work needs to happen on defense, primarily on lateral movement. There have been improvements, but not the level we are used to. Keep at it, Danny.

And we didn’t recruit much lateral quickness for next season. We need serious development in that area or we need to import it through the portal. Hopefully Ahmad, Abraham and Ross and provide that next season. I’ve heard Mullins isn’t a stiff on that end either.

Idk how it improves much this season though

 

[Gutter King]

There’s a team here if we focus development in few key areas and trim the fat in a few others.

To reach our end of season ceiling, I would focus my efforts on developing:
Ball into 3 level wing scorer
Stewart into 3 level wing scorer
Reed into starting center
Nowell into backup pg, starter next year
McNeeley into offensive focal point

Positive contributors, but have reached their ceiling:
Karaban - Set 3s, off ball cutting
Diarra - Starting pg, facilitate offense, hound on defense
Johnson - backup Center

Cut back on:
Mahaney (narrow his focus to being a bench scorer)
Ross (give spot minutes to develop for next year)

Seems perfect. Especially the part about approaching every game like Reed is going to get a min 28 mins. That feels like a must.

At least it feels like there is a clear picture moving forward. Early in the season we had so many unknowns, and Maui showed how difficult that is to figire out on the fly.

 

[Hi-Low]

There's a team here, but really only 1 true stud in McNeeley. Not diminishing AK at all, but Liam is the closest to a Kemba presence this team has and they can't win consistently without him. Kemba also had a better supporting cast with Bazz, Lamb, Giff, Oriakhi, etc.

Liam is indispensable to this team and really the one player we couldn't afford to lose for an extended period other than maybe Hass. Let's hope Liam heals quick and gets back no later than a game before Marquette...DePaul on Jan 29, would be 4 weeks.

 

[bendm]

i think this was our hardest away game in january and we should have won it. we can still go 5-1 until Liam hopefully returns for marquette. just two things i'd like to see: more stew less ross and more nowell less mahaney. i dont care if we play a 7 man rotation until Liam returns.

 

[AdamaNation]

i think this was our hardest away game in january and we should have won it. we can still go 5-1 until Liam hopefully returns for marquette. just two things i'd like to see: more stew less ross and more nowell less mahaney. i dont care if we play a 7 man rotation until Liam returns.

And less diarra taking every last second shot. My only question is why not go to our bull to win the game. Dixon wasn’t having any of that down there.

 

[Mike Honcho]

There's a team here, but really only 1 true stud in McNeeley. Not diminishing AK at all, but Liam is the closest to a Kemba presence this team has and they can't win consistently without him. Kemba also had a better supporting cast with Bazz, Lamb, Giff, Oriakhi, etc.

Liam is indispensable to this team and really the one player we couldn't afford to lose for an extended period other than maybe Hass. Let's hope Liam heals quick and gets back no later than a game before Marquette...DePaul on Jan 29, would be 4 weeks.

Diarra is far more indispensable than Liam. We don't have a competent backup at the 1. That's why it was good Ahmad got a little PT today. He needs to continue to get minutes so he can develop.

We're deepest at the wing and even though this team probably only goes as far as Liam takes it, we have pieces that can partially make up his contributions. I loved what I saw of JStew today and hope he continues to build on these solid performances. He blocked Dixon twice 1v1. As long as we come out the other side relatively unscathed, the development of our wings in conference play is going to pay off big time, IMO.

 

[Gutter King]

There's a team here, but really only 1 true stud in McNeeley. Not diminishing AK at all, but Liam is the closest to a Kemba presence this team has and they can't win consistently without him. Kemba also had a better supporting cast with Bazz, Lamb, Giff, Oriakhi, etc.

Liam is indispensable to this team and really the one player we couldn't afford to lose for an extended period other than maybe Hass. Let's hope Liam heals quick and gets back no later than a game before Marquette...DePaul on Jan 29, would be 4 weeks.

Solo has a 46.5/44.9/77.1 line going for him. Those are spectacular numbers, and they don't feel flukish. Plus over the last three he's averaging 5 boards and dishing more without turning it over. Starting to diversify his game. He is certainly trending in the right direction, and is becoming a stud.

 

[homunculus]

I like the optimism. It's in short supply after tonight.

I agree for the most part. Problem is we were spoiled by steamrolling all opposition to national titles the last 2 years. That doesn't happen ... hardly ever.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we lost at Seton Hall early in the Big East slate last year, and we all know what happened in January 2023, and many of the comments were the similar afterward. Granted it doesn’t feel like we’re quite as good as the past two years but the truth is it wasn’t always as clear in January as it became in March. But this coaching staff is great and I actually have tons of optimism. Diarra, Ball, McNeeley, Karaban, Reed with Johnson, Stewart and the Mahaney that played against PC is a heck of a team. Maybe not 30-0-run-against-a-top-10-kenpom-team but still a heck of a team.

 

[Chasm64]

Despite the painful loss to Nova I’m feeling better about this team now than I have all season.

 

[Methalius]

Diarra is far more indispensable than Liam. We don't have a competent backup at the 1. That's why it was good Ahmad got a little PT today. He needs to continue to get minutes so he can develop.

We're deepest at the wing and even though this team probably only goes as far as Liam takes it, we have pieces that can partially make up his contributions. I loved what I saw of JStew today and hope he continues to build on these solid performances. He blocked Dixon twice 1v1. As long as we come out the other side relatively unscathed, the development of our wings in conference play is going to pay off big time, IMO.

Great take. I love Diarra but he will be gone after this season. I have loved what I have seen of Ahmad when he has played. I hope we continue to see him off the bench too because his defense and his ability to stay in front of his man is what UConn needs from a back-up PG. Mahaney isn't a true PG. I think he is at best an undersized SG and I'd question his shooting at this point and his defense, don't even get me started. I loved seeing Jaylin get the start and seeing him D-up one of the best players in the country all game long. Stewart does not get enough credit for his passing. I see him make 2 or 3 INCREDIBLE passes a game. They aren't always finished but his court vision is super impressive to me. I love his game.

Karaban had a bad game. He will be fine.

 

[CTBasketball]

Solo has a 46.5/44.9/77.1 line going for him. Those are spectacular numbers, and they don't feel flukish. Plus over the last three he's averaging 5 boards and dishing more without turning it over. Starting to diversify his game. He is certainly trending in the right direction, and is becoming a stud.

He’s nowhere near a stud until he starts playing defense. No doubt he can fill it up, but when he’s out there we’re trading baskets.

 

[Deepster]

I don’t think we collectively understand just how much we lost with Newton not on the roster. He controlled pace. Created offense. Hit big shots. Made every free throw. Had ice in his veins.

We have so much talent right now but no one to bring it all together. Diarra is trying his best. Alex is Alex. Newton was an indefensible matchup that really made the engine go.

 

[dtrumpet]

Appreciative of the timing of this thread, definitely needed. We've been lucky on the injury front. Aside from Clingan missing a few weeks with the foot last year, I can't think of any injuries as impactful as Liam's in the last 2 seasons. When we were down 12, I wasn't sure we had it in us to come back, especially without LM. That comeback, all the way to a realistic chance at beating a hot team at their place, is worth focusing on. But those last few possessions, yikes.

 

[Conndog]

And we didn’t recruit much lateral quickness for next season. We need serious development in that area or we need to import it through the portal. Hopefully Ahmad, Abraham and Ross and provide that next season. I’ve heard Mullins isn’t a stiff on that end either.

Idk how it improves much this season though

I’d love to see a penetrating point guard with size come from portal- another Tristen would be perfect!

 

[pj]

Diarra - He is fully capable of PGing this team to the promised land. He has moxy and onions and is a complete dog. He's improved so much every year, and we are in ride or die mode with him. I'm 100% in on that.

Ball and McNeeley - Ball seems to be figuring some things out in the mid-range, and had some success at the rim tonight. He's got to be a three level threat for us to get there. McNeeley IS a three level threat already and everything looks so much nicer when he is in there.

Karaban - Throwing tonight out, he has built his resume on winning plays, being an elite connector, and nailing three's that naturally come from the offenses flow. We shouldn't be shoehorning him in as an alpha scorer. It's not him, and we don't need to. Just use him like we did the last two years...if the NBA doesn't want that, so be it.

Reed and Johnson - Reed needs to be involved early and often, probably should be starting. Samson Johnson has done some curbing of his fouls and that has been important during the win streak. I think the five is relatively stable and can even carry some nights.

JStew and Ross - JStew seems to have more tools and an above average BBIQ. When he gets the ball at the free throw line, we score. He just has a knack at putting pressure on a D...and that is an uncomfortable spot to be pressures. He's also better defensively than Ross...Dixon got every whistle tonight but was guarded well by JStew. Thats the conference player of thw year...
I like Ross too, but just seems more raw.

Mahaney - He would be so much more impactful if he wasn't hesitant on offense. His inability to pull the trigger to the cut man is really unfortunate. This is why it feels like we stall out when he's in. Just lacks the confidence for our offensive scheme at the moment.

This Villanova game was a stinker on multiple fronts. We (uncharacteristically!) did not take care of the ball, played behind the whistle the entire game, and took too long to get Ball his shots....and unfortunately Reed never got going either. This game shouldn't have been close.

What I do like is that through each one of these games, we can see an [offensive] juggernaut coming. I don't know if we will ever get there on defense. I can say, however, that we aren't bad as a team with McNeeley...and Ball and Mahaney have improved to the point where they aren't candidates for worst defenders in the country.

TL,DR. The firepower is there. Defense needs to keep trending. Top seeds will pucker when they see us in their bracket.

I like these thoughts. Seems like we need to narrow the rotation soon by picking one of Stewart or Ross, probably Stewart, and giving him more minutes to build the chemistry for March. Mahaney needs to keep progressing. "His inability to pull the trigger to the cut man" -- great point, it feels like the shift of mind-set to the distributor/passer mentality from shooter is tough for him, but it's the kind of thing that can be a "light bulb turning on" rapid acquisition once it starts to get comfortable. I still think he will be very valuable for us in March, and needs to be if we are to make a deep run. If Mahaney can be the combo guard backup and Stewart cover the 3/4, we've got all the backup spots covered and a good 8 man rotation. It feels like Ross isn't quite ready and Nowell has missed too much time with the injury to make up.

 

[uchusky32]

Problem with this team is only LM can create for himself. Without him when the clock gets short we are in trouble. Diarra, yesterday, had a big switch to him. He create space but didn’t pull up for the mid-range jumper.

 

[Matrim55]

Problem with this team is only LM can create for himself. Without him when the clock gets short we are in trouble. Diarra, yesterday, had a big switched to him. He create space but didn’t pull up for the mid-range jumper.

Yup. This is our limiting factor.

I'm going to sit back and enjoy the rest of this year with limited expectations, especially since the staff did such a great job of adding shot creators in the recruiting class. The current kids play hard and most are improving, and a sweet 16 appearance seems like a realistic hope. Maybe even elite 8.

After two title seasons, that's good enough for me.

 

[dtrumpet]

Problem with this team is only LM can create for himself. Without him when the clock gets short we are in trouble. Diarra, yesterday, had a big switched to him. He create space but didn’t pull up for the mid-range jumper.

Diarra's hesitancy to shoot has been more of an issue with Liam out. Last night, after a shot clock violation, it sure looked like Hurley shouted "Hass, shoot the (usual expletive) ball!"

 

[Get a Job]

And less diarra taking every last second shot. My only question is why not go to our bull to win the game. Dixon wasn’t having any of that down there.

He's a grizzly bear, not a bull.

 

[JT-55]

And less diarra taking every last second shot.

It’s frustrating but we really don’t have anyone else to give the ball to in those situations. With McNeeley out Diarra is the only one who can (or atleast has shown) the ability to take his man off the dribble and win a one on one situation.