This team is in trouble

[GlastonTim]

And I have no clue why. With all the upperclassmen and experience you'd think they would be running like a fine tuned machine but it's the opposite. What happened to Shabazz and Boat being one of the best set of guards in the country? They're not playing together, they're not running a recognizable offense, they dribble way too much with no result, guys standing around looking stupid. It looks like this team was put together yesterday and they've never played as a unit. How has it devolved to this? I don't know how the chemistry is on the team right now is, but something is broken. Bazz has played himself out of POY conversation completely. Boat has done a good job making some things happen but where is something called "team"play with these guys? Our bigs play at the top of the key for most of the game, is it a surprise we don't get offensive rebounds. Whatever you call the offense we're playing, it's time to scrap it because it BLOWS! Whose fault is this? No idea, but it sure needs to be fixed. ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Rico444]

Our entire half court offense is Shabazz and Boatright, and other teams know it. They're each getting doubled on every ball screen as a result. Hell, I noticed at one point tonight - - and it probably happened more than once, but I saw this late in the game - - that everyone on offense was outside of the 3 point line. We're not even pretending to have a low post threat anymore. Offense is going to suffer until that changes.

 

[Stinger92860]

When we stand around we are not very good, when we move and pass we are better. I don't understand why the staff allows the team to stand outside and watch. I used to cringe at calhouns weave, but that would be an improvement.

Omar, Neil's, and dd stand around.

 

[GlastonTim]

When we stand around we are not very good, when we move and pass we are better. I don't understand why the staff allows the team to stand outside and watch. I used to cringe at calhouns weave, but that would be an improvement.

Omar, Neil's, and dd stand around.

Bring back the weave

 

[djct1999]

Like a good baseball player caught in an 0-20 slump, who then gets a lucky, broken bat bloop single, and then goes 8 for his next 10, this team just needed a win. Doesn't matter how ugly, but hopefully this eases things at least in their minds. Two positives from last nights game. 1) seems that they played with more energy throughout the game 2) with omar on bench, i felt the shot selection was better than the past few games.......lets hope this gets things back on track and this team recaptures what they had. kromah is a big energy guy. olander brings more offensively, brimah more defensively. olander is a decent passer from the low block. When brimah is in the game, offensively its 4 on 5.

 

[upstater]

Daniels needs to go down low and pass out to the perimeter.

 

[GlastonTim]

The whole offense needs to be revamped. Take a page from Harvards playbook, they had nice motion, nice passing, little one on one. Our players coached in Amaker's system would have blown our guys out last night. Every player on their team had a purpose it seemed, not our guys.

 

[UChusky916]

We've been doing a very poor job of moving the basketball. Yesterday Harvard killed us by moving the basketball from side to side, passing on the perimeter and probing our defense. It resulted in a lot of open looks from 3 for them and easier drives.

Our offense is too much ball screening and not enough passing and moving. It's too deliberate and its putting our shooters out of rhythm and forces us to rely on Bazz and Boat isolation far too much.

 

[Marat]

Agreed. Look for Giffey on the wing (or one of the guards) and pass out or go in. As he starts to take it low, the double comes and that's when he should find the open perimeter player. It could even be a two man game - kick out to napier and in the mean time move in closer to the basket and get the pass back for a layup.

Daniels needs to go down low and pass out to the perimeter.

 

[GlastonTim]

We've been doing a very poor job of moving the basketball. Yesterday Harvard killed us by moving the basketball from side to side, passing on the perimeter and probing our defense. It resulted in a lot of open looks from 3 for them and easier drives.

Our offense is too much ball screening and not enough passing and moving. It's too deliberate and its putting our shooters out of rhythm and forces us to rely on Bazz and Boat isolation far too much.

Why is that? They seem to be doing it every game so i have to assume this is their offense.

 

[upstater]

If you watch the G'town game last year, you see Daniels doing things he hasn't done at all this year. Like shooting over Porter from 15 feet out.

 

[GlastonTim]

Something is clearly broken and it needs fixing. Time for the coaching staff to step it up, the talent is there.

 

[Marat]

This frustrates many of us. The offense was flowing better (at least it seemed) earlier in the season. Some adjustments need to be made by the coaching staff. Need some purpose with the penetration and pass outs.

We've been doing a very poor job of moving the basketball. Yesterday Harvard killed us by moving the basketball from side to side, passing on the perimeter and probing our defense. It resulted in a lot of open looks from 3 for them and easier drives.

Our offense is too much ball screening and not enough passing and moving. It's too deliberate and its putting our shooters out of rhythm and forces us to rely on Bazz and Boat isolation far too much.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Everyone's hitting on good, observable points.

To me the common theme is trust and knowing roles.

Brimah is foul prone and a poor rebounder but he blocks and alters shots. So why is it when one of the perimeter players gets beaten a second defender feels the need to come off of his player to help stop penetration when Brimah is back there? What ends up happening is the first player gets beat, the second player tries to help and the ball is kicked out to the man the second player is guarding for an open three. They need to trust that Brimah is going to do his job.

Same thing with the half court offense. It seems clear that they don't have mutual trust on offense. They over pass and under pass consistently. Why? Clear offensive roles haven't been established. For example, Calhoun (for whatever reason) isn't going to put the ball on the floor and blow by anyone this year. He is a spot up shooter. But even spot up shooters have to move and adjust to the defense. Spot up and stand still are two different concepts. Shading two steps from the wing to the baseline makes all the difference in the world when you are trying to get an open look.

Look at how horrible the fast breaks have been this season. Wrong person with the ball making wrong decisions. Consistently. And the right person who can make the right decision is in the play but doesn't have the ball. Result? Poor spacing, poor passing and missed shots.

Playing amateur psychologist but this team is playing with too many players thinking they are trying out for the NBA and not enough players trying to be their best for this team this year. And, oh by the way, NBA scouts take very good notes on players who don't understand and play to their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

 

[GlastonTim]

Everyone's hitting on good, observable points.

To me the common theme is trust and knowing roles.

Brimah is foul prone and a poor rebounder but he blocks and alters shots. So why is it when one of the perimeter players gets beaten a second defender feels the need to come off of his player to help stop penetration when Brimah is back there? What ends up happening is the first player gets beat, the second player tries to help and the ball is kicked out to the man the second player is guarding for an open three. They need to trust that Brimah is going to do his job.

Same thing with the half court offense. It seems clear that they don't have mutual trust on offense. They over pass and under pass consistently. Why? Clear offensive roles haven't been established. For example, Calhoun (for whatever reason) isn't going to put the ball on the floor and blow by anyone this year. He is a spot up shooter. But even spot up shooters have to move and adjust to the defense. Spot up and stand still are two different concepts. Shading two steps from the wing to the baseline makes all the difference in the world when you are trying to get an open look.

Look at how horrible the fast breaks have been this season. Wrong person with the ball making wrong decisions. Consistently. And the right person who can make the right decision is in the play but doesn't have the ball. Result? Poor spacing, poor passing and missed shots.

Playing amateur psychologist but this team is playing with too many players thinking they are trying out for the NBA and not enough players trying to be their best for this team this year. And, oh by the way, NBA scouts take very good notes on players who don't understand and play to their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

Isn't it the coaches job to define those roles and put them in positions to succeed? There are no set plays that I can see that do that.

 

[upstater]

The whole offense needs to be revamped. Take a page from Harvards playbook, they had nice motion, nice passing, little one on one. Our players coached in Amaker's system would have blown our guys out last night. Every player on their team had a purpose it seemed, not our guys.

Do they need to adopt Amaker's system? We've seen a lot more movement in Ollie's system in the past. They are in a funk. There's also a reason Amaker is coaching his system at Harvard and not at Michigan.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Isn't it the coaches job to define those roles and put them in positions to succeed? There are no set plays that I can see that do that.

Yes and that's my point. For a team as experienced as UConn they shouldn't look like this. It's glorified YMCA pick up ball. At this point it doesn't appear as if anyone on the staff can get the X's and O's off the chalkboard and in to the games. And that does fall on Ollie and his ability to manage his coaches.

 

[upstater]

Isn't it the coaches job to define those roles and put them in positions to succeed? There are no set plays that I can see that do that.

We saw good plays out of timeouts and stoppages once again last night. including the opening basket by Olander from Kromah. Chin Diesel hit the nail on the head. You see Napier and Boatright abandoning plays very very early in the shot clock, right after 20 seconds are left.

 

[zls44]

DD has decided every shot is going to be a fadeaway. That's a problem.

 

[freescooter]

Hard to complain too much after a win, but we are just not an intelligent basketball team sometimes. With a 7 point lead and under 30 seconds to play, how do you foul the 3-point shooter? On what planet do they teach that? then the next time down up by 6 you foul a guy who is shooting a 2. Jeez, let him score. Even if he makes it, we're still up 4. Its still a 2 score game and you've got the ball. I would think you'd learn that in middle school. I think we were lucky Harvard was missing its best scorer. But I'll take the W.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Hard to complain too much after a win, but we are just not an intelligent basketball team sometimes. With a 7 point lead and under 30 seconds to play, how do you foul the 3-point shooter? On what planet do they teach that? then the next time down up by 6 you foul a guy who is shooting a 2. Jeez, let him score. Even if he makes it, we're still up 4. Its still a 2 score game and you've got the ball. I would think you'd learn that in middle school. I think we were lucky Harvard was missing its best scorer. But I'll take the W.

And we have seen that multiple times this year with big leads late in 2nd half. Not managing game clock, launching fade away shots early in shot clock, not driving and drawing fouls especially when you are in the double bonus with 11 minutes to go and then don't shoot a foul shot again until the 3 minute mark.

 

[8893]

Hard to complain too much after a win, but we are just not an intelligent basketball team sometimes. With a 7 point lead and under 30 seconds to play, how do you foul the 3-point shooter? On what planet do they teach that? then the next time down up by 6 you foul a guy who is shooting a 2. Jeez, let him score. Even if he makes it, we're still up 4. Its still a 2 score game and you've got the ball. I would think you'd learn that in middle school. I think we were lucky Harvard was missing its best scorer. But I'll take the W.

The final minute was maddening as hell, but it was a combination and compounding of errors that kept it closer than it should have been, starting with Bazz's foul on the 3-pointer and then the foul again the next time down. The dude Bazz fouled apparently leads the country in 4-pt plays, but still, that was not smart by Bazz. I think Ollie overreacted to those two defensive sequences and then told them to play way off, which is understandable, but there's a difference between "no fouls" and allowing them an open lane down the court for uncontested layups in 5 seconds or less, which is what happened the next two sequences.

It was a clusterduck, but I'll take the W and move on.

 

[GlastonTim]

They make freshman mistakes for such an experienced team, why?

 

[Waquoit]

Brimah is foul prone and a poor rebounder but he blocks and alters shots. So why is it when one of the perimeter players gets beaten a second defender feels the need to come off of his player to help stop penetration when Brimah is back there? What ends up happening is the first player gets beat, the second player tries to help and the ball is kicked out to the man the second player is guarding for an open three. They need to trust that Brimah is going to do his job.

That kills me. Late in the game, Kromah leaves their best shooter open for swishing three to help. To help where, to double who?

 

[Gurleyman]

That kills me. Late in the game, Kromah leaves their best shooter open for swishing three to help. To help where, to double who?

Kromah left Stiggers alone on Houston's tying 3 to chase their big guy (Thomas) outside the three-point line, even though Olander had him defended. He over helps. He's been a good on the ball defender, but he makes a lot of mistakes off the ball.