There's a team here

[homunculus]

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.

Yes. There is a huge difference between a good player who is struggling for various internal reasons (confidence, adjusting to a new role in a new system), and a player who is struggling because they don’t have what it takes. Many people seem to think Mahaney is in the latter bucket. I fully believe it’s the former. I think he will be the missing piece by March. But you never know, maybe it won’t be til next season.

 

[boog204]

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

Ross and Aidan are this year's whipping boys. It doesn't matter what each might do, they are always going to be lumped together.

 

[JT-55]

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.

Yeah I was talking more in general throughout the game let's say we have 7 seconds on the shot who can we give the ball to and say make a move. It is really just Diarra that can do that with McNeeley out. Hopefully Solo progresses in the area and I think he will eventually.

I would also agree in hindsight Diarra should have taken the open 3 off the inbounds. Especially as it ended up, he retreated to half court and then decided to drive it in. Feel like there was probably some set they were trying to run and it ended up not being there, so he decided just to go himself.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Consistency, primarily with our younger players but really for the roster as a whole.

If we took the Villanova game, but with two halves of first half Stewart and two halves of second half Ball, even with the other inconsistencies (both bigs, Alex having for the most part an off game) we can hang with anyone in the country. Add in McNeeley, some improvement from Mahaney and a more standard version of TR, Samson Johnson & AK and we can dream of making a run at San Antonio.

There will be quite a bit of angst from now until the end of the season however.

 

[RuffRuff]

Perspective

 

[NJHusky]

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.

Was he the lead guard or was he a 2? That offense is very deliberate….ours is based on cutting and hitting the open man. Why would we think the player could transfer system’s so easily

What about defense?

 

[Dabutlerdidit]

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.

Totally agree. And sprinkle in some Husky magic and 3 peat is not out of

 

[dennismenace]

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

Agree. We won't get very far at the end of this year even if we don't start utilizing some of this defensive stopping power. I was amazed at how well Stewart played Dixon defensively. For sure we can expect future opponents to monitor our film and see what everyone on here sees.

 

[jibsey]

Yeah I was talking more in general throughout the game let's say we have 7 seconds on the shot who can we give the ball to and say make a move. It is really just Diarra that can do that with McNeeley out. Hopefully Solo progresses in the area and I think he will eventually.

I would also agree in hindsight Diarra should have taken the open 3 off the inbounds. Especially as it ended up, he retreated to half court and then decided to drive it in. Feel like there was probably some set they were trying to run and it ended up not being there, so he decided just to go himself.

Diarra throwing up a prayer will not work often. It can be Liam, Alex, Solo, or Stew, Reed whoever is open. Newton would drive in, pump fake and get a shot or call. Liam is the only player who does that currently, correct? Maybe Hass a bit.

 

[Gutter King]

Diarra throwing up a prayer will not work often. It can be Liam, Alex, Solo, or Stew, Reed whoever is open. Newton would drive in, pump fake and get a shot or call. Liam is the only player who does that currently, correct? Maybe Hass a bit.

Imagine if Tristen got the calls he deserved. We've never had a player with a more unfavorable whistle. We probably would have scored two or three more points a game and have been even more dominant.

 

[boog204]

Was he the lead guard or was he a 2? That offense is very deliberate….ours is based on cutting and hitting the open man. Why would we think the player could transfer system’s so easily

What about defense?

He was the lead guard against us in 23. Two guard, I believe last year. The "system transfer" I think was built off of how supposedly great his visit was with Aidan and the coaches watching tape and analyzing the "system" prior to him even being a part of it.

His defense was heinous to start the year but has actually been pretty solid the last few games. He still looks a step slow offensively with the ball but he has been playing better. He's not going to be as good as I thought he would be, but there's no reason he can't be a 6-8ppg scorer off the bench. I think in a lot of ways his hopefully continued improvement could be the difference between us being a S16 or F4 team, imo. Our bench is tremendously inconsistent and we need someone to give us something dependable. You just never know what to expect from any of them.

 

[AllHusky]

Have great hope for the consistency that we all yearn for. It is only Jan 13. In 2023 we were in the process of losing 6 of 8 ending Jan 25. We only lost 2 the rest of the way, 1 regular season and 1 in the BE Tourney. Don't want to compare teams, just pointing out that alot can happen in a positive way for us in the next 6 weeks. Start with getting Liam healthy, and then stay healthy. I'd take whatever results that nets. Betting they'd be pretty good.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I like this team because it has heart. There is no quit with these guys. They respond to adversity. And they are improving. Are we title contenders? Maybe. We clean up our perimeter defense and with the way we score the rock, we are in most games against anybody. But either way, I am enjoying how hard they play and how together they are. I do not think that we know our ceiling yet. I think Samson and Aidan are improving with each passing game. That Nova loss was a fluke. Alex makes those FT's 99 times out of a 100. Stuff happens. And there has been a Nowell sighting. The kid is going to be heard from this year. We just have to stop comparing them with last year's team. This team gets killed by last year's team.....but there isn't any team this year as good as we were last year, so there's that.

 

[Gutter King]

I like this team because it has heart. There is no quit with these guys. They respond to adversity. And they are improving. Are we title contenders? Maybe. We clean up our perimeter defense and with the way we score the rock, we are in most games against anybody. But either way, I am enjoying how hard they play and how together they are. I do not think that we know our ceiling yet. I think Samson and Aidan are improving with each passing game. That Nova loss was a fluke. Alex makes those FT's 99 times out of a 100. Stuff happens. And there has been a Nowell sighting. The kid is going to be heard from this year. We just have to stop comparing them with last year's team. This team gets killed by last year's team.....but there isn't any team this year as good as we were last year, so there's that.

I agree mostly with your post. I would like to correct the math . 65% he makes both, 81% makes 1.

Duke might be a team that has trajectory, but I think overall the landscape is generally level amongst the top teams. This is exactly the scenario where our coaching staff will shine. Now that the lineup is figured out, the table is set.

 

[El Obrero]

I think seeding in this year’s tournament is going to wind up fairly irrelevant, at least as it relates to this UConn squad. I’d even say, although I don’t want them to lose anymore BE games, that a lower seed might be even better for motivation purposes. Imagine what Hurley would do with these guys heads if they walked into the regionals against #1Auburn as a five seed?! I think they’d play like maniacs.