Top Dog Podcast: The Best I’ve Felt in a Month

[MTBingNinja]

This is the best I've felt about UConn in a month

UConn lost to Xavier on Wednesday night. They've now lost six of the last eight games and are sitting at under .500 in the Big East. So why is Rob Dauster final

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[HooperScooper]

Haven't listened yet but you've got to be some kind of optimist to feel that way! Lol

 

[MTBingNinja]

Haven't listened yet but you've got to be some kind of optimist to feel that way! Lol

Let’s all drink the Kool-Aid

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Was a good episode. Worth the listen

 

[Luna]

That made me feel alot better.. man would i love to see them get back to playing like they did at the beginning of the year…because i am such a big uconn fan..but also to shut a lot of people up!!!

 

[auror]

I was feeling similarly last night, but I'm feeling a little more down today.

 

[Hoophound]

He says that he thinks UConn figured out how to use AJ and run effective offense in the second half. He believes the Big East had us figured out but by using AJ early in the offense to hand the ball off, we forced the D to guard him. He may be right but it’s hard to say. That’s a small sample. We had a dynamic second half but shots were falling. Jordan played like a lottery pick. He doesn’t do that every game.

In the Big East there has always been a need to able to grind games out. High scoring or low scoring, you have to perform late in the second half. I’m not sure that problem has been solved at all.

 

[Hi-Low]

He says that he thinks UConn figured out how to use AJ and run effective offense in the second half. He believes the Big East had us figured out but by using AJ early in the offense to hand the ball off, we forced the D to guard him. He may be right but it’s hard to say. That’s a small sample. We had a dynamic second half but shots were falling. Jordan played like a lottery pick. He doesn’t do that every game.

In the Big East there has always been a need to able to grind games out. High scoring or low scoring, you have to perform late in the second half. I’m not sure that problem has been solved at all.

Let's keep it to ourselves if something was figured out in 2nd half of X game please.

 

[MyDorona]

This is the best I've felt about UConn in a month

UConn lost to Xavier on Wednesday night. They've now lost six of the last eight games and are sitting at under .500 in the Big East. So why is Rob Dauster final

podcasts.apple.com

Excellent insights. Let’s hope “AJ-to-first-handoff-position” is the chess move that will stifle the Big East into mid-March and beyond. The way Hawk is emerging (23 PPG on 52% shooting last 4 games), teams will be hard-pressed to counter.

Newton just needs to continue getting downhill, and Karaban needs to knock down his shots. I want another shot at Xavier.

 

[Billy Jack]

He gets it.

 

[Rico444]

He says that he thinks UConn figured out how to use AJ and run effective offense in the second half. He believes the Big East had us figured out but by using AJ early in the offense to hand the ball off, we forced the D to guard him. He may be right but it’s hard to say. That’s a small sample. We had a dynamic second half but shots were falling. Jordan played like a lottery pick. He doesn’t do that every game.

In the Big East there has always been a need to able to grind games out. High scoring or low scoring, you have to perform late in the second half. I’m not sure that problem has been solved at all.

It makes a lot of sense. He's saying that teams are just ignoring Andre and not defending him out to the 3 point line, staying in the paint instead which cuts off driving lanes for everyone else. If Andre is setting a screen, especially for Jordan, teams can't defend Andre that way or else Jordan will have open 3s all day long. So this forces Andre's defender up to the 3 point line, which opens up driving lanes. That's why Jordan and Newton were able to drive the ball so easily in the 2nd half.

I'm sure there will be other adjustments but it makes a lot of sense why we were able to get to the rack after listening. Hopefully he's right and this opens up our offense moving forward.

 

[willie99]

If Newton drives like he did vs X, we're going to be fine

Learn to adjust, find your strengths, play your best in February and March

Any fan at least 35-40 years old knows what I'm talking about. Experience is the world's greatest teacher, in more ways than one

 

[caw]

I want to join his positivity but IMO it's wait and see right now. The Newton showing was a huge improvement yesterday.

The question is, is Hawkin's play sustainable the rest of the year because he has been playing really well the past four games. I'd argue he has been scoring at a near All American level the last four games. 23 PPG on 52/42/96 splits.

A/TO is a concern, but RPG has been good. It's a shame UConn couldn't close out those two close games because he would be getting a lot more buzz.

He has had such a huge improvement from last year. Just for emphasize how big his improvement has been, taking out the game he was injured in and the game he got T'd up in the first few minutes he's at 17.8 PPG on 43/41/86 in about 31 MPG in those 18 games. After being at 5.8 PPG on 35/33/82 in about 15 MPG last year. If that doesn't show player development, not sure what does.

 

[McLovin]

It makes a lot of sense. He's saying that teams are just ignoring Andre and not defending him out to the 3 point line, staying in the paint instead which cuts off driving lanes for everyone else. If Andre is setting a screen, especially for Jordan, teams can't defend Andre that way or else Jordan will have open 3s all day long. So this forces Andre's defender up to the 3 point line, which opens up driving lanes. That's why Jordan and Newton were able to drive the ball so easily in the 2nd half.

I'm sure there will be other adjustments but it makes a lot of sense why we were able to get to the rack after listening. Hopefully he's right and this opens up our offense moving forward.

The problem he (and many others) continue to ignore is that we had plenty of great looks in the first half that we missed badly, and that is a common thread in all other big games.

Despite adjustments by other teams on Jackson & Sanogo, this team and every Hurley team continues to miss open 3s and easy layups in big games and in crunch time.

If UConn is “fixed” it has nothing to do with a small Xs and Os tweak and more with what was said to get these guys playing like they aren’t deathly afraid of losing.

 

[gsmooth]

It makes a lot of sense. He's saying that teams are just ignoring Andre and not defending him out to the 3 point line, staying in the paint instead which cuts off driving lanes for everyone else. If Andre is setting a screen, especially for Jordan, teams can't defend Andre that way or else Jordan will have open 3s all day long. So this forces Andre's defender up to the 3 point line, which opens up driving lanes. That's why Jordan and Newton were able to drive the ball so easily in the 2nd half.

I'm sure there will be other adjustments but it makes a lot of sense why we were able to get to the rack after listening. Hopefully he's right and this opens up our offense moving forward.

I have not watched the video yet or read this entire thread so forgive me if what I am about to write has already been stated. When teams are not playing certain players out on the perimeter (standing in middle of paint or under basket), I have always said use them as off the ball and on the ball screener because you are basically playing 2 on 1. Voskuhl could occasionally hit the 12 footer and Okafor could shoot from 15 ft and closer, but even if they couldn't shoot outside worth a damn, they were very good at setting screens and picks and rim running.

 

[gsmooth]

The problem he (and many others) continue to ignore is that we had plenty of great looks in the first half that we missed badly, and that is a common thread in all other big games.

Despite adjustments by other teams on Jackson & Sanogo, this team and every Hurley team continues to miss open 3s and easy layups in big games and in crunch time.

If UConn is “fixed” it has nothing to do with a small Xs and Os tweak and more with what was said to get these guys playing like they aren’t deathly afraid of losing.

Correct, IMO. The Villanova game bothered me a bunch. Even though UConn won, they only shot 9-30 (30%) at 3 pointers and most of these shots, let's say at least 23 if not more of them (going off memory), were wide open. That's not good enough considering how wide open they were. I think opposing teams saw that and basically said "we can live with this and it's worth it to collapse on Sanogo and clog the paint, they won't punish us from 3s too bad".

A 4 out 1 in concept isn't all that effective when the outside shooting isn't good. We are not talking about 1-2 games where it was an off day, this is going on 1 month. Joey California has not done anything since the GTown game and Alleyne just looks lost and uncertain on what to do out there.

 

[Rico444]

The problem he (and many others) continue to ignore is that we had plenty of great looks in the first half that we missed badly, and that is a common thread in all other big games.

Despite adjustments by other teams on Jackson & Sanogo, this team and every Hurley team continues to miss open 3s and easy layups in big games and in crunch time.

If UConn is “fixed” it has nothing to do with a small Xs and Os tweak and more with what was said to get these guys playing like they aren’t deathly afraid of losing.

I don't think anyone's ignoring it; he mentioned specifically in the podcast that UConn has melted down at the end of some games and they seem to have a confidence problem. They have to be better at making shots overall but part of that is making things easier on the offensive end so they're getting easier shots. When you're driving to the hoop and getting shots at the rim or foul calls like we were the other night, it opens things up outside so we get more open looks. We have to make them, but we shot 35% overall against X so pretty much right in line with our averages, despite our terrible shooting in the 1st half.

 

[tykurez]

I think this team focuses too much on executing each play to completion and not enough on taking what the defense is giving you. Went back and re-watched the X game since I was there in person (pain), and they had an in the huddle clip where Hurley was telling Newton they’re giving him the driving lanes - finally they listened.

The offenses Hurley puts together are predicated on multiple ball screens, sometimes simultaneous ball screens, and it doesn’t seem like the guys are reacting in real time to what the defense is doing. It’s been obvious for a few games that teams are pressuring the ball and 3pt line against us because we haven’t been driving to the hoop. In some ways I hope that Hurley opens up the possessions a bit more to allowing guys to go to the rim at any time rather than executing each play to perfection. If we start getting teams on their heals the plays we do execute to completion should work even better. Time will tell.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I think this team focuses too much on executing each play to completion and not enough on taking what the defense is giving you. Went back and re-watched the X game since I was there in person (pain), and they had an in the huddle clip where Hurley was telling Newton they’re giving him the driving lanes - finally they listened.

The offenses Hurley puts together are predicated on multiple ball screens, sometimes simultaneous ball screens, and it doesn’t seem like the guys are reacting in real time to what the defense is doing. It’s been obvious for a few games that teams are pressuring the ball and 3pt line against us because we haven’t been driving to the hoop. In some ways I hope that Hurley opens up the possessions a bit more to allowing guys to go to the rim at any time rather than executing each play to perfection. If we start getting teams on their heals the plays we do execute to completion should work even better. Time will tell.

Hurley has said as much. I think it's worse early in each half, which is much too scripted. Hurley has a plan, like "post up Andre" and they keep trying that whether it's there or not. He needs to give them some focus areas, with multiple options every possession, so they guys can take what's there.

But the biggest issue remains on the defensive end. Something is really wrong there and it's not solved by "play Clingan". The problem is on the perimeter.

 

[tykurez]

Hurley has said as much. I think it's worse early in each half, which is much too scripted. Hurley has a plan, like "post up Andre" and they keep trying that whether it's there or not. He needs to give them some focus areas, with multiple options every possession, so they guys can take what's there.

But the biggest issue remains on the defensive end. Something is really wrong there and it's not solved by "play Clingan". The problem is on the perimeter.

Agreed, the defense has been the most disheartening since that’s what has typically either won games or kept them in games on the Hurley led teams.

It seems as though it’s almost the inverse problem - the on ball pressure is opening up driving lanes for opponents and they’re taking advantage of it. The consequences being either an easy floater or layup or, as we’ve seen, lots of fouls. I think that’s why the zone worked so well in the 2nd half, we weren’t overplaying their guys on the perimeter.

I think Hurley’s defense excels when they play a switching man-to-man … we saw a ton of that last year, even though we were smaller than we are this year. Guarding 1 thru 4 is almost interchangeable - and you attack the perimeter on close outs instead of on the ball pressure.