There's a team here

[LBird33]

We got beat by one really good player on the Villanova team. Sometimes that happens. We had a chance at the end. 9 out of 10 times Karaban nails it.

 

[RuffRuff]

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.

Only way to do it. And the great thing is this team does have potential, so we just sit back and see how it plays out come March. Hurley will make it fun as he is a teacher and adjuster. This was never a team that was going to run through the regular season.

I’m pretty confident this stretch, figuring out the bench, getting guys better, will only help in March. Last night wasn’t a bad loss on any level, it was one to learn from. We responded well off Maui, no reason we can’t do again, and again.

Look at Bama last year - that is the model for this year. We shot 54% last night and lost! There are a few exceptional teams this year but no juggernaut, so if the brackets fall right, pieces harmonize and we peak at the right time, watch out! Almost all of the high ranked defensive KP teams last year got bumped prematurely. Bama, Purdue, Illinois were top 4 in OKP. We have offense. The refs let you play in March.

Ideally would have liked to grab a 3 in the East to avoid the 1 seeds as would prefer setting up to avoid a Duke or Auburn in the S16 (if we get there), but may not be in the cards. Losses in the missing Liam stretch would likely mean we have to knock off a couple wins against top BE teams on the road to maintain that seeding.

 

[giddyup]

There’s a team that can be very good but certainly not going to dominate every game. Still lacks cohesive character and the killer swagger. Nobody is your Alpha. Proof is the finish with at least 3 opportunities to put it away and failing. AK foul shot misses were only the culminating failure. Our D is not good. End of story. If we don’t mix in zone for spells, we will continue to have trouble.

Hassan is closest to being the go to leader with Solo trying to assert but lacking a full complement of tools to be a present threat on every possession (he disappears and reappears). This is a real coaching challenge for Danny. I honestly don’t see us returning to the promised land this year unless a lot of balls and luck bounce our way. But, we can enjoy watching how this team matures and who knows where it goes… especially if we have Liam on the floor.

 

[boog204]

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.

Just want to address this... Yes, Aidan has fallen way short of expectations. I legit thought he'd be Cam 2.0 and be one of our best players. That's obviously not happened. However, he has two or three games where his scoring has legit turned the tides. And, his +/- on the year is positive as compared to several other board faves. Lastly, the "stall out" concept is actually untrue. While Aidan didn't do anything particularly noteworthy last night, we did come back and take the lead when he was on the court. I think defenses are aware of him when he's on the court. I still have hope that he's going to find his role as an off the bench scorer that this team desperately needs.

 

[RuffRuff]

Just want to address this... Yes, Aidan has fallen way short of expectations. I legit thought he'd be Cam 2.0 and be one of our best players. That's obviously not happened. However, he has two or three games where his scoring has legit turned the tides. And, his +/- on the year is positive as compared to several other board faves. Lastly, the "stall out" concept is actually untrue. While Aidan didn't do anything particularly noteworthy last night, we did come back and take the lead when he was on the court. I think defenses are aware of him when he's on the court. I still have hope that he's going to find his role as an off the bench scorer that this team desperately needs.

Good take. One thing you notice with him is he’s a very slow decision maker. He feels almost too careful. So while overly deliberate he does tend to take care of the basketball and settle things downs, albeit at the sake of being much of a catalyst.

And yeah he continues to be Net+ more often that not. Last night he was second to Samson at +5.

 

[Gutter King]

Just want to address this... Yes, Aidan has fallen way short of expectations. I legit thought he'd be Cam 2.0 and be one of our best players. That's obviously not happened. However, he has two or three games where his scoring has legit turned the tides. And, his +/- on the year is positive as compared to several other board faves. Lastly, the "stall out" concept is actually untrue. While Aidan didn't do anything particularly noteworthy last night, we did come back and take the lead when he was on the court. I think defenses are aware of him when he's on the court. I still have hope that he's going to find his role as an off the bench scorer that this team desperately needs.

I was speaking to the point that our team needs him to back up the point and run the offense. It doesn't need to be as flawless as Hass, but we can't be leaving points on the floor when our offense works. This is a recurring theme. We aren't going to routinely shut people down on defense, so we need to squeeze everything we can out of our offense.

He would have been + even more if he would play with more anticipation and trust the offense. There is a world that he can be a serviceable PG AND be a bench scoring option.

 

[Horatio]

Amazing how people jump out the window over a close lose, to a strong Big East team, in the first week of January. As if we’ve never seen this before. Hilarious. We have a Final Four team, relax.

 

[boog204]

I was speaking to the point that our team needs him to back up the point and run the offense. It doesn't need to be as flawless as Hass, but we can't be leaving points on the floor when our offense works. This is a recurring theme. We aren't going to routinely shut people down on defense, so we need to squeeze everything we can out of our offense.

He would have been + even more if he would play with more anticipation and trust the offense. There is a world that he can be a serviceable PG AND be a bench scoring option.

Yes, agreed, he needs to play with more anticipation and confidence to see plays like this develop. I did like what he did during our run to take the lead. Pretty sure he had two assists to Solo in that run. Maybe I'm crazy or hoping for something that isn't there, but I just have the hardest time thinking he's not going to get it. This was a big-time player out west on a really good team. I understand that conference isn't as competitive as ours, but he was the lead guard on two NCAA tourney teams including one that could have beaten us in 23 if they didn't lose their best player.

 

[bendm]

can't remember the last time i was really looking forward to a game against Gtown. big game for the BE and a huge game for us. we need more reed/stew/nowell and less samson/ross/mahaney. the PT for mahaney/ross should be capped at 5mpg unless theyre hitting 3s. this is the rotation i wanna see get us to 6-1 without Liam:

Diarra 35 / Nowell 5
Ball 25 / Nowell 10 / Mahaney 5
Stew 25 / Ball 10 / Ross 5
Alex 35 / Stew 5
Reed 25 / Samson 15

35: Diarra / Ball / Alex
30: Stew
25: Reed
15: Nowell / Samson
5: Mahaney / Ross

 

[Inyatkin]

can't remember the last time i was really looking forward to a game against Gtown. big game for the BE and a huge game for us. we need more reed/stew/nowell and less samson/ross/mahaney. the PT for mahaney/ross should be capped at 5mpg unless theyre hitting 3s. this is the rotation i wanna see get us to 6-1 without Liam:

Diarra 35 / Nowell 5
Ball 25 / Nowell 10 / Mahaney 5
Stew 25 / Ball 10 / Ross 5
Alex 35 / Stew 5
Reed 25 / Samson 15

35: Diarra / Ball / Alex
30: Stew
25: Reed
15: Nowell / Samson
5: Mahaney / Ross

Lumping Mahaney and Ross together is weird. One has played a key part in some wins, the other has not.

 

[DRBackup]

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.

Agreed, they're still coming together, but at times you can see the finished product shine through.

Like you say, defense is a bigger issue. Diarra is a plus defender and even he is getting burned one on one. Ball is solid about 50% of the time. Ross has tremendous tools, but goes for every fake to an extent I wouldn't have thought possible. He literally jumps out of the gym on fakes leaving his man so open its amazing.

 

[DRBackup]

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.

Both Ball and Stew are suffering from youth - inconsistency. Stewart with 12 of his 14 pts in the first half, Ball with all 16 of his in the second half. Mahaney, same thing - a solid game against PC with 15, did not score against Nova. Have to get these guys going consistently

 

[bendm]

Lumping Mahaney and Ross together is weird. One has played a key part in some wins, the other has not.

They’re averaging the exact same amount of PT, Ross a fraction more actually, it makes perfect sense to lump them together. But The point was I want less Mahaney in comparison to Nowell not in comparison to Ross.

 

[IndyLives]

On paper, this UConn team has exceptional depth - from talented Freshman to Seniors - each with unique skillsets. However, to mesh this together to form a consistently winning team has been very challenging as we're seeing.

The analogy that comes to mind is The Clash's "Sandinista!" album - the band at the height of their powers released a very brilliant but scattered triple album that left as many confused as impressed. The best reviewer quote is : "There's a great album in here somewhere, buried under all this stuff.".

Danny is the Producer. Make it work!

 

[AllHusky]

These kids do not give up. That alone will bring them as far as they are capable of going.

 

[pj]

It's becoming clear what the rotation is:

• Guards: Diarra, Ball, Mahaney as the backup
• Forwards: Karaban, McNeeley, Stewart as the backup
• Center: Johnson and Reed

Nowell probably can't make up the time from his injury and Ross hasn't stepped up to the level of Mahaney or Stewart. They have to cut the rotation to 8 by end of January to develop the chemistry they need in March. So Nowell and Ross have only a few weeks to earn a rotation spot.

 

[gsmooth]

It's becoming clear what the rotation is:

• Guards: Diarra, Ball, Mahaney as the backup
• Forwards: Karaban, McNeeley, Stewart as the backup
• Center: Johnson and Reed

Nowell probably can't make up the time from his injury and Ross hasn't stepped up to the level of Mahaney or Stewart. They have to cut the rotation to 8 by end of January to develop the chemistry they need in March. So Nowell and Ross have only a few weeks to earn a rotation spot.

Nowell is going to have to get some backup PG minutes-it's a necessity. Diarra will get worn down playing 35+ minutes/game, especially considering these will be close games, which means high stress minutes. High stress minutes are more energy consuming than minutes of a blowout. Add on top of that, the end of February to end March he will be fasting for Ramadan, he will be dealing with 2 factors that make it tougher to play 35+ minutes/game, 1) the aforementioned fasting and the 2) cumulation of minutes to the end of the season.

 

[pj]

Nowell is going to have to get some backup PG minutes-it's a necessity. Diarra will get worn down playing 35+ minutes/game, especially considering these will be close games, which means high stress minutes. High stress minutes are more energy consuming than minutes of a blowout. Add on top of that, the end of February to end March he will be fasting for Ramadan, he will be dealing with 2 factors that make it tougher to play 35+ minutes/game, 1) the aforementioned fasting and the 2) cumulation of minutes to the end of the season.

OK, I wasn't aware that Ramadan was in March this year, and that Hassan would honor it. Thanks. I still think it is an open question whether Nowell or Mahaney will be getting the backup PG minutes in March.

 

[RuffRuff]

OK, I wasn't aware that Ramadan was in March this year, and that Hassan would honor it. Thanks. I still think it is an open question whether Nowell or Mahaney will be getting the backup PG minutes in March.

Could the argument be made that he’ll he even lighter and quicker in March?

 

[pj]

Could the argument be made that he’ll he even lighter and quicker in March?

Maybe Ahmad will be lighter and quicker too, if he's fasting also.

On the other hand, if the games are at night, they might be feasting just before the game, and sluggish due to digestion.

 

[3rdbass]

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.

It would of been better if Diarra had taken that open 3 first we wouldn't even been talking about this. Diarra has to have more faith in his outside shot that is coming around. I definitely don't want Karaban driving to win a gam for us.

 

[bendm]

OK, I wasn't aware that Ramadan was in March this year, and that Hassan would honor it. Thanks. I still think it is an open question whether Nowell or Mahaney will be getting the backup PG minutes in March.

it's just depressing that we cant count on mahaney to be the backup PG for 10mpg when he was brought in to be the starting PG.

 

[HooperScooper]

Maybe Ahmad will be lighter and quicker too, if he's fasting also.

Is Ahmad Muslim also?

2 years ago we had Sanogo, Johnson and Diarra (latter 2 didn't play much) fasting for Ramdan during the NCAA Tournament. Didn't seem to have much effect on Sanogo.

Last year we had Diarra and Johnson fasting during the NCAA Tournament. Didn't seem to be an issue.

This year Ramadan is over on March 29. So just get to the Final Four and it won't be an issue anyway.

Or if they're in the South or Midwest Regional they only need to win 3 games (Regional Finals are on March 30).