Thoughts on Big East title game | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Thoughts on Big East title game

Candyman said:
Can’t tell me Mullins is NBA ready. 6-35 from three the last 5 games.
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He's not. But many fans wanna tout the Mullins and McNeeley's as "lo ttery picks" and usher them out the door like recruiting jackpots. Dybastia, Peat, Boozer, etc are lottery picks. So were Flagg and Knipple last year. UConn recruits players that need 2 or 3 years to be draft ready - save for Castle (and even then, who knew he could be an offensive force while he was here). Mullins needs one or two more years.
 
TouchdownHusky said:
He's not. But many fans wanna tout the Mullins and McNeeley's as "lo ttery picks" and usher them out the door like recruiting jackpots. Dybastia, Peat, Boozer, etc are lottery picks. So were Flagg and Knipple last year. UConn recruits players that need 2 or 3 years to be draft ready - save for Castle (and even then, who knew he could be an offensive force while he was here). Mullins needs one or two more years.
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One more would do it for him with a lot of time on the weight room.
 
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superjohn said:
I'm hoping to see more Silas and Malachi on the court together in all games but especially this one, it takes a lot of the burden off of Silas and he can play off ball. We can't have another turnover fest from him and this should help a great deal. Solo and Braylon start together but basically all their minutes after that should be staggered with one of them playing with Jayden.

Joson Sanon after struggling all season is playing his best ball and hitting his threes, he makes St. John's much more formidable. Jayden should be tasked with shutting him down.

Tarris and Zuby make their teams go. Whoever stays out of foul trouble will be a major factor in determining who wins.

I don't see either team running away from the other in this one. I expect a close game which likely comes down to the wire.
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Smith really isn't the answer even with Demary out there. He was a big miss in the Transfer Portal.
 
No one is going to say it but i will and that is Hurley was a fool to try to build a team around an unathletic, streaky shooter who is a mid at best defender. I dont want to hear it from anyone Dan Hurley for sure tried to build last year and this years team around AK and it showed. This team looked slow, out of sink offensively and a step slow on defense. Dan Hurley had to go out and recruit a stud or two not a bunch of role players. AK was suupposed to become the guy. He was not. Feel free to disagree but youre wrong.
 
TheChamps990411 said:
No one is going to say it but i will and that is Hurley was a fool to try to build a team around an unathletic, streaky shooter who is a mid at best defender. I dont want to hear it from anyone Dan Hurley for sure tried to build last year and this years team around AK and it showed. This team looked slow, out of sink offensively and a step slow on defense. Dan Hurley had to go out and recruit a stud or two not a bunch of role players. AK was suupposed to become the guy. He was not. Feel free to disagree but youre wrong.
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Had similar thoughts regarding Solo Ball in the dying moments of the BET title game. If the coaching staff and fanbase assigned the same expectations of Ball as they/we do for Jayden Ross and Jaylin Stewart I believe the season would’ve gone much better. Same goes for Karaban. Iconic glue guy, record holder, multiple national championships, but he’s not a title favorite’s go-to guy — Solo Ball isn’t either. Best shot in the tournament is Demary + Reed Jr two man game to get momentum in the Huskies favor, then hope for hot streak from Mullins and pray Karaban an Solo hit their open shots. Everyone play hard, hit the boards, limit turnovers and fouls. Let Silas and Tarris be our go-to guys with Mullins 3rd option/release valve.

Karaban and Ball hustling like the floor spacing glue guys they are with JRoss JStew bringing that same energy off the bench and hope Reibe and Smith show up as there best selves in short stretches.

If all that happens, we have some hope to make a run. Hope they all play their asses off and make me look like a whiny POS fan. So frustrated with Solo and all the hype expectations that were so loud at the start of the year.
 
TouchdownHusky said:
He's not. But many fans wanna tout the Mullins and McNeeley's as "lo ttery picks" and usher them out the door like recruiting jackpots. Dybastia, Peat, Boozer, etc are lottery picks. So were Flagg and Knipple last year. UConn recruits players that need 2 or 3 years to be draft ready - save for Castle (and even then, who knew he could be an offensive force while he was here). Mullins needs one or two more years.
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Yes but he's going. NBA doesn't care he is not ready right now because he will be. He will have more freedom of movement in NBA and will shine
 
3rdbass said:
Smith really isn't the answer even with Demary out there. He was a big miss in the Transfer Portal.
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Trying to find some ways we can win the big games with what we have.

The past two seasons have been a big whiff for Hurley and the staff. We start three guys who are set shooters/need to catch and shoot off of screens and set plays. It's really impressive what we did out of conference and the record we compiled. We maxed out back then but kept the record up because the big east is so weak this season.

Tarris is a legit big boy center who has an advantage over almost everybody else he plays against, we're pretty much at a disadvantage everywhere else athletically. We're relying on Jayden Ross to be our Andre Jackson Steph Castle type of elite athlete game changer. I like him a lot and he's improved but what are we talking about? He's not in the same realm as them. This is a uniquely unathelitic UConn team. The carelessness/unforced errors compound everything but our margin of error is razor thin because we're so incredibly unathletic and we're not physical, we don't have the horses.

We steamrolled everyone for two straight tournaments and I get the sense Hurley thought he could win with his system regardless of how strong and athletic the players are. Turns out you need some elite athletes. He needs to hit the portal hard and they there needs to be some elite athletes and some guys who can take their man off the dribble.
 
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superjohn said:
Trying to find some ways we can win the big games with what we have.

The past two seasons have been a big whiff for Hurley and the staff. We start three guys who are set shooters/need to catch and shoot off of screens and set plays. It's really impressive what we did out of conference and the record we compiled. We maxed out back then but kept the record up because the big east is so weak this season.

Tarris is a legit big boy center who has an advantage over almost everybody else he plays against, we're pretty much at a disadvantage everywhere else athletically. We're relying on Jayden Ross to be our Andre Jackson Steph Castle type of elite athlete game changer. I like him a lot and he's improved but what are we talking about? He's not in the same realm as them. This is a uniquely unathelitic UConn team. The carelessness/unforced errors compound everything but our margin of error is razor thin because we're so incredibly unathletic and we're not physical, we don't have the horses.

We steamrolled everyone for two straight tournaments and I get the sense Hurley thought he could win with his system regardless of how strong and athletic the players are. Turns out you need some elite athletes. He needs to hit the portal hard and they there needs to be some elite athletes and some guys who can take their man off the dribble.
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From February 1st through today we haven’t strung 3 good games together. Any time we look like it might be clicking, we toss in a clunker.

To expect 6 good to great games in a row from here is not realistic. It’s possible and we certainly have the talent for it, but the engine just isn’t there right now.
 
3rdbass said:
Smith really isn't the answer even with Demary out there. He was a big miss in the Transfer Portal.
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He's a whirling dervish out there on the perimeter dribbling with his back turned to the unfolding play half the time.
 
superjohn said:
We steamrolled everyone for two straight tournaments and I get the sense Hurley thought he could win with his system regardless of how strong and athletic the players are. Turns out you need some elite athletes. He needs to hit the portal hard and they there needs to be some elite athletes and some guys who can take their man off the dribble.
Expand ...
This is it. Hurley and staff have pontificated about the “UConn player” and how we “recruit the mom and dad” and our system and “culture” and whatever else is in the speech. It’s an incredible flex that for the second straight year sounds ridiculous when you watch us look absolutely terrible against physicality.

We do run great stuff. But we literally have zero players, zero, who can take a St. John’s esque physical defender off the dribble or handle that pressure. Not one guy. And going into next year, it’s exactly the same. You needs guys who if need be can iso and make a play. We had that with Newton, Cam, Castle, AJax, and Hawkins. All of them could create space and do something with the ball.

It’s a major flaw in roster construction and the lack of development of a couple of key players to add some other dimension to their game. And what’s so frustrating is that the staff noted all of this last year and didn’t do enough to correct it.
 
boog204 said:
This is it. Hurley and staff have pontificated about the “UConn player” and how we “recruit the mom and dad” and our system and “culture” and whatever else is in the speech. It’s an incredible flex that for the second straight year sounds ridiculous when you watch us look absolutely terrible against physicality.

We do run great stuff. But we literally have zero players, zero, who can take a St. John’s esque physical defender off the dribble or handle that pressure. Not one guy. And going into next year, it’s exactly the same. You needs guys who if need be can iso and make a play. We had that with Newton, Cam, Castle, AJax, and Hawkins. All of them could create space and do something with the ball.

It’s a major flaw in roster construction and the lack of development of a couple of key players to add some other dimension to their game. And what’s so frustrating is that the staff noted all of this last year and didn’t do enough to correct it.
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You don't necessarily need to iso. You can create space using the midrange shot, but we didn't last night. Two or three times Silas got to the middle where a floater would have been perfect but he was determined to get the ball to Reed. If he missed the floater we still had Reed for the putback (we did outrebound them last night). Rick said it when interviewed during the first half we've got to continue taking away the three point line. Same with Braylon either side step or get to your midrange where you've been money
 
Edward Sargent said:
You don't necessarily need to iso. You can create space using the midrange shot, but we didn't last night. Two or three times Silas got to the middle where a floater would have been perfect but he was determined to get the ball to Reed. If he missed the floater we still had Reed for the putback (we did outrebound them last night). Rick said it when interviewed during the first half we've got to continue taking away the three point line. Same with Braylon either side step or get to your midrange where you've been money
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I’m saying that have the skillset to get the ball and be a true triple threat. Who can put the ball on the floor and create something. More or less, 4/5 of our starting lineup needs to be set up to be effective and the fifth guy has had games of 10 and 9 turnovers against St John’s the last two years. Pitino is a brilliant x and o guy. He knows to run us off the line and exploit our average at best ball handling at the 2, 3, 4 and lack of athleticism. Braylon does have an excellent midrange game, but matched against Mitchell or Hopkins he’s going to have a difficult time getting to that spot off the bounce because of their physicality.

St. John’s starts at minimum four guys who can take someone off the dribble and create something. We, maybe, have one on the whole team who has that skill consistently and as you noted he shies away from the pull up and constantly overpentrates.
 
boog204 said:
This is it. Hurley and staff have pontificated about the “UConn player” and how we “recruit the mom and dad” and our system and “culture” and whatever else is in the speech. It’s an incredible flex that for the second straight year sounds ridiculous when you watch us look absolutely terrible against physicality.

We do run great stuff. But we literally have zero players, zero, who can take a St. John’s esque physical defender off the dribble or handle that pressure. Not one guy. And going into next year, it’s exactly the same. You needs guys who if need be can iso and make a play. We had that with Newton, Cam, Castle, AJax, and Hawkins. All of them could create space and do something with the ball.

It’s a major flaw in roster construction and the lack of development of a couple of key players to add some other dimension to their game. And what’s so frustrating is that the staff noted all of this last year and didn’t do enough to correct it.
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Pitino bought these high motor physical athletes. Now on certain nights they can’t make shots just like us last night. It wasn’t a difference maker but we needed Stewart’s physicality yesterday.
 
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boog204 said:
This is it. Hurley and staff have pontificated about the “UConn player” and how we “recruit the mom and dad” and our system and “culture” and whatever else is in the speech. It’s an incredible flex that for the second straight year sounds ridiculous when you watch us look absolutely terrible against physicality.

We do run great stuff. But we literally have zero players, zero, who can take a St. John’s esque physical defender off the dribble or handle that pressure. Not one guy. And going into next year, it’s exactly the same. You needs guys who if need be can iso and make a play. We had that with Newton, Cam, Castle, AJax, and Hawkins. All of them could create space and do something with the ball.

It’s a major flaw in roster construction and the lack of development of a couple of key players to add some other dimension to their game. And what’s so frustrating is that the staff noted all of this last year and didn’t do enough to correct it.
Expand ...

Just to be clear, Cam Jackson and Hawkins were not doing stuff to create shots off the dribble.
 
boog204 said:
This is it. Hurley and staff have pontificated about the “UConn player” and how we “recruit the mom and dad” and our system and “culture” and whatever else is in the speech. It’s an incredible flex that for the second straight year sounds ridiculous when you watch us look absolutely terrible against physicality.

We do run great stuff. But we literally have zero players, zero, who can take a St. John’s esque physical defender off the dribble or handle that pressure. Not one guy. And going into next year, it’s exactly the same. You needs guys who if need be can iso and make a play. We had that with Newton, Cam, Castle, AJax, and Hawkins. All of them could create space and do something with the ball.

It’s a major flaw in roster construction and the lack of development of a couple of key players to add some other dimension to their game. And what’s so frustrating is that the staff noted all of this last year and didn’t do enough to correct it.
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Dude, you are taking this way too far. Neither AJ nor Hawkins could take anyone off the dribble. Hawkins was a motion, off the ball shooter and AJ was a well below average offensive player. You keep trying to jam square pegs in round holes.
 
BFieldHusky said:
For those who were in the building, what was the crowd like? It sounded like 50/50 at some points.
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I was there in the 200s and my section was 85/15 UConn fans. We had more fans there just less to cheer about. I'd guess 60/40 overall, if not higher. UConn nation showed up and tried to will the team to win. Kinda tough when you get buried in a 0-10 hole within the first 3 minutes. Gotta thank Solo for fouling a 3pt shooter. Smh
 
BFieldHusky said:
For those who were in the building, what was the crowd like? It sounded like 50/50 at some points.
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We were outnumbered and I felt it everywhere. Not as many UConn fans on the train as usual. Legends had no line and had tables available and open all afternoon. SJU is back and they have reclaimed MSG, at least when we play each other.
 
boog204 said:
I’m saying that have the skillset to get the ball and be a true triple threat. Who can put the ball on the floor and create something. More or less, 4/5 of our starting lineup needs to be set up to be effective and the fifth guy has had games of 10 and 9 turnovers against St John’s the last two years. Pitino is a brilliant x and o guy. He knows to run us off the line and exploit our average at best ball handling at the 2, 3, 4 and lack of athleticism. Braylon does have an excellent midrange game, but matched against Mitchell or Hopkins he’s going to have a difficult time getting to that spot off the bounce because of their physicality.

St. John’s starts at minimum four guys who can take someone off the dribble and create something. We, maybe, have one on the whole team who has that skill consistently and as you noted he shies away from the pull up and constantly overpentrates.
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For all the talk about how St John’s has all these guys who can create off the dribble, they’re not known for running good half court offense. St. John’s relies heavily on scoring in transition off turnovers and their rebounding. And they play very physical defense. That’s what they killed UConn with last night.
 
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BFieldHusky said:
For those who were in the building, what was the crowd like? It sounded like 50/50 at some points.
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Easily 70/30 Johnnies fans but there was nothing to cheer for on the UConn side, so maybe closer to 60/40 or 50/50?

That building is not our home anymore.
 
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