Thoughts on UConn Auburn | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Thoughts on UConn Auburn

Can we set an effective screen when inbounding under our own hoop? Do NOT, do NOT, inbound the ball into the corner. That is a defender's (or two or three) dream. Why would you want both the baseline and sideline to limit your player's options? Geometry?................................Duh.
 
superjohn said:
UConn is really good, they just need to learn how to step on throats and close teams out. Part of it is Bruce Pearl's teams are relentless but we never adjusted to their pressure. He crushed Hurley on out of bounds plays and UConn never made him pay for the press. We folded because of it but got off the mat, folded again, and got off the mat again for the win.

Sanogo is a beast, he's going to be better in the post than every player he plays. His ability to finish with both hands, his footwork and the time he takes to finish is unlike any big we've had in an incredibly long time, maybe ever. Sometimes he needs to just speed it up and dunk though. His ability to stay on the floor with 4 fouls was a huge growing up moment for him and the difference between a win and a loss. The other difference was Cole playing the whole game and making the big shots when we needed them. And finally Polley, we were down and out 2 or three different times in this game and Polley refused to let us lose. Big shot after big shot to keep them alive and keep them ahead. To top it off he gets a tough in traffic rebound and sank the ft's like he always does.

The not so good, Gaff has to be much stronger with the ball so Cole doesn't have to play the entire game. He simply needs to play better, made the big ft's though and I'm always confident with him at the stripe.

Jackson has to be able to score, he plays too many minutes and is too valuable to not put any points on the board. With him and Whaley on the court right now, it's basically two players who don't score.

Akok, maybe matchups but thought he could've gotten more tick.

Martin made some mistakes on the break but was rock solid.

Hawkins had his freshman moment and the vets bailed him out. He's awesome and may not be here long at all, he needs to play more (needs to play a ton tomorrow) which takes me to Hurley.

Hurley is clearly a really good coach and awesome program builder but he still makes me scratch my head sometimes. Hawkins was getting what he wanted on offense and then he just sits and sits. Coach needs to stop being a cooler and keep the kids in who are feasting. Press break and inbounds plays on both ends need to be much better. This team can be great but they desperately need to learn how to step on throats. It's coming but not there yet. They showed a ton of resiliency though after blowing it several times and with everything going against them.. They grew up today.

Let's take care of business tomorrow.
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Very good post Superjohn... absolutely agree on everything you said. I thought with having athletic wings that can handle the ball (Martin, Ajax, Hawkins) UConn would be able to rip apart a press, but today was eye-opening how much the press and ball pressure exposed UConn... hopefully coaching staff will focus on that.
 
Stinger92860 said:
Obviously Martin is not a primary ball handler but he can be helpful in breaking a press. He is more than adequate in that role.
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Agree he can help break the press, but Hurley needs a shock collar when Martin gets to the top of the key to make him stop right there. He is not a natural after that and can get himself out of control and sometimes up in the air with no place to go.
 
Viet Vet said:
Can we set an effective screen when inbounding under our own hoop? Do NOT, do NOT, inbound the ball into the corner. That is a defender's (or two or three) dream. Why would you want both the baseline and sideline to limit your player's options? Geometry?................................Duh.
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Exactly We put the ball in the corner right away on the press break. The worst thing you can do -a defenses dream.
Their press was good enough without our help.Give them credit they know how to trap. Maybe we could learn to trap like that. You have to be fast and aggressive. They were .
I liked our MMM full court. Relentless. We have the players to wear teams down with it.
 
If I were Hurley, I would make RJ watch this game. He was great for the most part.
When he plays smart and under control, this offense is so much better.
He did get sped up on a couple possessions, and it's not good.

There was much more good/great today with RJ. If he could just tighten up a little more, this team is going to do some damage against some good teams.
 
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Proud to be a UConn fan today and especially jealous of folks who saw this game in person. This was an epic Quad 1 that will carry much weight in March.

We do have a glaring weakness brought up by the announcers which was also evident last season.

Our guards do not have the foot speed to keep up with quick guards like we saw today. The Auburn guards consistently drove and beat our men to the basket especially in the overtimes. We rely on our shot blocking ability to somewhat compensate but that strategy can lead to fouling and excessive over helping. Not sure that this is something the Carpenter can fix other than to play a zone which is not happening.

That being said, the difference between last year and this year is that we have many more offensive weapons and can actually win a scoring fest. Not many UConn teams in the past had that ability.
 
Can’t help but be happy with the resilient performance. Great win huskies!!
Jackson definitely shows a lack of confidence in his offense as does Whaley. I thought gaffney was plenty aggressive offensively which is usually his Achilles heel, his handle just wasn’t tight enough for this game.
Happy Hawkins showed so much in his first “real” game. The kid has “IT”
I’m also hoping this wasn’t a one off from pollen like the Marquette game last year and can continue to be such a deadly shooter in these big situations.
7 turnovers in the first 4 minutes of the game was clearly a sign that we needed to catch up to high major speed after all the cupcakes we’ve been playing.
I’m not as worried about the inbounds plays, this should serve as a wake up call that we need to sharpen up.
 
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I really appreciated the composure is the team in the two OTs (even with the turnovers as they almost choked it away in the 2OT). It seems like they were grasping for air the last 5+ min of the 2H but were able to regroup and refocus when it mattered in the extra periods. I think that just shows what it’s like to have a veteran-laden team which should serve us well this year.
 
Today's game reminded me of the Big East games when UCONN was ascending into big time. Remember the battles with Providence , Georgetown , BC?
Glad I took my blood pressure meds today! I thought it was like watching a Big East tournament at MSG!
 
Jbirdp5 said:
Can’t help but be happy with the resilient performance. Great win huskies!!
Jackson definitely shows a lack of confidence in his offense as does Whaley. I thought gaffney was plenty aggressive offensively which is usually his Achilles heel, his handle just wasn’t tight enough for this game.
Happy Hawkins showed so much in his first “real” game. The kid has “IT”
I’m also hoping this wasn’t a one off from pollen like the Marquette game last year and can continue to be such a deadly shooter in these big situations.
7 turnovers in the first 4 minutes of the game was clearly a sign that we needed to catch up to high major speed after all the cupcakes we’ve been playing.
I’m not as worried about the inbounds plays, this should serve as a wake up call that we need to sharpen up.
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Agree that the 4 games with CupCakes sort of have the Huskies a false sense of how good they thought they were in the first few minutes of today's game with a real team.
 
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Jbirdp5 said:
Can’t help but be happy with the resilient performance. Great win huskies!!
Jackson definitely shows a lack of confidence in his offense as does Whaley. I thought gaffney was plenty aggressive offensively which is usually his Achilles heel, his handle just wasn’t tight enough for this game.
Happy Hawkins showed so much in his first “real” game. The kid has “IT”
I’m also hoping this wasn’t a one off from pollen like the Marquette game last year and can continue to be such a deadly shooter in these big situations.
7 turnovers in the first 4 minutes of the game was clearly a sign that we needed to catch up to high major speed after all the cupcakes we’ve been playing.
I’m not as worried about the inbounds plays, this should serve as a wake up call that we need to sharpen up.
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Does anyone on the squad have a little Ricky Moore in him. We will need a defensive specialist at the guard position.
 
navery12 said:
Not sure if they press like Auburn but Michigan State is currently the #3 defense on KenPom
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Sanogo won’t feast on Bingham I’ll tell you that right now. Bingham is a uconn style low post defender.
 
Most points scored in a Div. 1 college game since our 5 OT loss to Cuse in the Big East Tourney. Jackson had some really top notch entry passes. He was way off balance on a number of rebound chances, never seemed to have his feet under him to be able to get the ball. He had trouble with the shorter guards driving the ball as did the rest of our guards. AJ's 2 first half fouls looked like what Auburns defenders were doing most of the game with no fouls called on them. It is a credit to our 4 guys who did not force shots to get their own shots. Sanogo is the main emphasis of our offense but he needs to make more of his shots. It is interesting how little he uses the glass on his shot attempts. His defense at the end of the 2nd OT was huge. Gaffney was really out of sorts in the first half but came through at the line late as did Cole. If we hit 3's like we did today the sky is the limit. Tyler Polley did a lot more than hit 3's today.
The refs unable to correct the bad out of bounds call at the end of the second OT even after looking at the monitor was inexcusable and incompetent.
 
Kolumbo said:
Does anyone on the squad have a little Ricky Moore in him. We will need a defensive specialist at the guard position.
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Someone else said it but the auburn guards were lightning quick, definitely a tough guard.
I don’t know if we have anyone Ricky like enough on this team. Jackson would have to be that guy if someone can get close to filling those shoes.
 
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Waquoit said:
I feel bad for Yarders who watched it and deemed it a C+.
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That game was a war, a sweet sixteen level battle, and an instant classic. Ye who hates on us in that game needs to get themselves checked out. My non-Yarder friend was the same way. Debbie Downer. Enjoy that epic game, a game we Won and have seen us normally lose in the past years, and enjoy that Thanksgiving week treat of a game!!!
 
bendm said:
After 3 games Hawkins has already had a better frosh year than AJ did
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and Bouknight, and Polley's career. We can say it about a lot of players on this team
 
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navery12 said:
It's early in the season so all you can ask for his improvement on the mistakes players make. Was happy to see Sanogo go up strong and dunk it in 2OT after he got blocked from behind by Kessler in the 2nd half
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His footspeed is so night and day from last year, he flashed and recovered very well while guarding Kessler and the other bigs . Also blocked his shot twice when Kessler didn’t go up strong.
 
UConnSwag11 said:
and Bouknight, and Polley's career. We can say it about a lot of players on this team
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….the same Polley that won us that game yesterday? Your love for Hawkins is great but that’s a clown take on a guy who just dropped 24 on a ranked opponent.
 
My opinion about this team is that they have a deapt that I do not recall since Calhoun days. I do not at this time see a great great player but feel this gang playing as a team will get UCONN far in March. The hole is as someone else said earlier is in the defensive guard position. I am happy to be back in the Big East for BB but sad and resent it as all he11 that UCONN football is hanging to life only because of life support!
 
PAHusky said:
….the same Polley that won us that game yesterday? Your love for Hawkins is great but that’s a clown take on a guy who just dropped 24 on a ranked opponent.
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Clown take? What? Never said Polley didn't play great or he didn't win it for us. Pointing out that if people are going to go after Jackson's play after only 1.5 years, then everyone else is up for criticism. Why not go after the quote I replied to and say it's not needed?
 
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