UCLA Post Game Thread

[uconnever]

Jayden Ross should 100% be starting and getting starter minutes. Take that to mean what you will.

Why?, because he did what bench players are supposed to do? May be him who needs to be picked up next game. Team game. Leave it as is. Whomever isn't playing well, will get substituted out, like always. Why lose Solo mentally when you and I both know, we don't win it all without everyone's help throughout. Let Solo start and hopefully get it going and let Ross keep doing what he is doing. Same as every one else on the team. You hot, you play, you not, you sit. Easy without fracturing the team chemistry you built all season.

 

[RuffRuff]

Why?, because he did what bench players are supposed to do? May be him who needs to be picked up next game. Team game. Leave it as is. Whomever isn't playing well, will get substituted out, like always. Why lose Solo mentally when you and I both know, we don't win it all without everyone's help throughout. Let Solo start and hopefully get it going and let Ross keep doing what he is doing. Same as every one else on the team. You hot, you play, you not, you sit. Easy without fracturing the team chemistry you built all season.

Someone made a good point - may take some pressure of him not starting, waiting to be yanked.

 

[Excalibur]

Someone made a good point - may take some pressure of him not starting, waiting to be yanked.

Just as likely that a player views coming off the bench as “instant offense” as requiring him to jack up shots.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Those two other guys were decent players.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

Has anyone talked about those travel calls? I've never seen so many get called especially when not even moving

I thought they missed a few more travels by Karaban. He's gotta be careful not to move the pivot when he has the ball up top looking for a pass in the flow of our offense

 

[tzznandrew]

They beat NC State who had fewer wins and 13 losses didn't they? Who did NC state beat that makes them more worthy than the Hall? The ACC got 8 teams in and all but 1 are on the couch at home. And the one remaining was getting slapped around by Siena till the end. The committee is enthralled with the ACC for some reason.

Who cares merely about total wins and losses?

NC State was 5-9 in Q1 with wins @ Clemson, @ SMU, and against a healthy UNC.
Seton Hall was 1-6 in Q1 with 0 wins against the Top 3 teams in the Big East (0-7).

If you're going to pick a team, objectively, that gets in, it is 100% NC State. Who also had better metrics across the board in addition to having a better resume.

 

[housekeys]

Concerning Tarris Reed Jr, his free throw shooting has been really good in the tournament, and that is a subtle and important factor in our wins. Nothing kills momentum like poor FT shooting, not to mention how rare it is for UConn to be given attempts. Hope this is not a jinx.

 

[B1GEast]

Ross has been such an X factor

 

[tzznandrew]

Has anyone talked about those travel calls? I've never seen so many get called especially when not even moving

Refs were hyper-vigilant. I'd say excessively so. Some of those calls were like holding in football... you can essentially call them on every play.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Someone made a good point - may take some pressure of him not starting, waiting to be yanked.

If we were fully healthy last night, it may have been a good move to start the game with both Ball and Mullins on the bench, letting both know that they would be substituted in at the first stoppage.

This would have demonstrated that we weren't singling one out for the Furman game, it would have taken pressure off and it may have given each a little chance to see how the opponent was approaching the game.

Regardless, it no longer matters and we're still playing. We don't need to be at our peak immediately. We need to improve at each step until we get to our peak. This tournament could unfold in a manner similar to 2014. If it does, I for one will be thrilled.

 

[TroyHall98]

I thought they missed a few more travels by Karaban. He's gotta be careful not to move the pivot when he has the ball up top looking for a pass in the flow of our offense

It looked like Silas double dribbled but was bailed out by Cronin’s tech.

 

[UCTitleTown]

“Hero Ball” has become a fallback criticism for anyone missing a shot. Player takes an off balance shot at the end of the shot clock, and half of the chat room says it’s “hero ball”. Guy gets past his defender and doesn’t finish — “hero ball”. Player misses open jump shot — “hero ball”.

It’s become one of the phrases that indicates that a poster should be ignored.

I disagree. To me hero ball is when a guy seems to think he's the man and throws up shot after shot without having a feel for the moment, the harm it does to momentum, or recognizing it's not his night. I love players who recognize it and look to do other things like D-up, rebound etc. to help the team.

 

[uconnever]

Someone made a good point - may take some pressure of him not starting, waiting to be yanked.

Not likely, he's a starter and likely or not, has NBA aspirations. He wants it. He's not waiting to be yanked, he is however in a slump that we need him to figure out. If I'm the coach, I stay the course.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't recall a more wide open Sweet 16 field. There are probably 12 teams that could legitimately win it all. During the season, I thought maybe 5 or 6 could. It's going to come down to match-ups to eliminate the pretenders. Pulling for UConn of course, but think Iowa State could win it. They're playing great.

I feel like Arizona has been weirdly under-discussed the last month or two. It's been all Duke and Michigan talk lately. Arizona is my favorite at the moment.

I could also see Houston making a run. Not sure about any of the second-tier Big Ten teams (MSU, Purdue, Illinois).

 

[DRBackup]

He's just a 30% shooter this year. It's not a slump. He is stuck in this rut and needs the offseason to fix it. The team is shooting 28% from 3 in the last 9 games so that magnifies Ball's poor shooting

He's just a 30% shooter this year. It's not a slump. He is stuck in this rut and needs the offseason to fix it. Alex shot 34.7% last year and never really got going. He re-calibrated for this year though.

Also, the team is shooting 28% from 3 in the last nine games so that magnifies Ball's poor shooting.

Right now a 30% shooter would be a VAST improvement over the guys that shot 7% for two games

 

[Waquoit]

If you don’t like my posts or opinions, put me on ignore. Sorry you can’t handle the truth.

I'm doing the Jessup lines in this thread, thank you very much.

 

[BGesus4]

View attachment 118497

This

 

[Umami Zen]

Apparently-per JRoss-he has taken advantage of a sports psychologist this year to help him break through some self-inflicted barriers to allow him to perform better. Clearly it has helped him tremendously.

Might help for Danny to get some help for Solo this week. Not to turn him into an All-American in four days. But to just help the kid get out of his head and provide some productivity for the stretch run. Couldn't hurt.

 

[Inyatkin]

“Hero Ball” has become a fallback criticism for anyone missing a shot. Player takes an off balance shot at the end of the shot clock, and half of the chat room says it’s “hero ball”. Guy gets past his defender and doesn’t finish — “hero ball”. Player misses open jump shot — “hero ball”.

It’s become one of the phrases that indicates that a poster should be ignored.

I think the same thing of the phrase "jack up threes."

We shoot a lot of threes. Most teams do. When they're not falling, people use the word "jack" as a way to mean they're bad shots. We get good shots, nearly always, they just don't always go in.

 

[tzznandrew]

I think the same thing of the phrase "jack up threes."

We shoot a lot of threes. Most teams do. When they're not falling, people use the word "jack" as a way to mean they're bad shots. We get good shots, nearly always, they just don't always go in.

The vast majority of the shots Mullins and Ball missed were open looks generated intentionally by our offense.

Sometimes get good lucks and miss. Players aren't robots with perfect execution. It's what makes the game fun/frustrating.

 

[AllHusky]

Everyone on UConn needs to wear a steel cup just because of Jeremy Fears "accidental" kicks to the groin area.

Watched a fair amount of Michigan St game. Fears always seemed to be involved in some sort of wild arm flailing skidding dramatic fall, with fouls being called both ways. No nut kicks though.

 

[gsmooth]

Agreed. You could see Solo on the bench hurting mentally knowing he was hurting them while others tried consoling him.

There’s no question he’s not getting it done on either end but he’s hustling and cares and has never made excuses.

He is genuinely trying and he cares so it was tough watching him on the bench. We all saw his body language and mannerisms on the bench and he looks like he has lost confidence and was very despondent. It reminded me of Aidan Mahaney last year in Maui when he barely played after the first game. Bringing this back to Ball and Maui, he was confident and strutting after he hit that game tying 3 pointer to sent it to Overtime against Memphis.

 

[UconnU]

This all seems primed for some kind of Solo Ball redemption game, but I don’t want to jinx it…😬

 

[tzznandrew]

Watched a fair amount of Michigan St game. Fears always seemed to be involved in some sort of wild arm flailing skidding dramatic fall, with fouls being called both ways. No nut kicks though.

 

[tzznandrew]

Watched a fair amount of Michigan St game. Fears always seemed to be involved in some sort of wild arm flailing skidding dramatic fall, with fouls being called both ways. No nut kicks though.

 

[RuffRuff]

He is genuinely trying and he cares so it was tough watching him on the bench. We all saw his body language and mannerisms on the bench and he looks like he has lost confidence and was very despondent. It reminded me of Aidan Mahaney last year in Maui when he barely played after the first game. Bringing this back to Ball and Maui, he was confident and strutting after he hit that game tying 3 pointer to sent it to Overtime against Memphis.

Solo has a tendency to gaze at all aspects of the game - leaves his awareness level in a funnel. Even after he shoots, he's stepping back super focused on the outcome rather than being ready for any possible play afterwards. On defense, he'll lose his man gazing at the action away from him. His head space is different.

If you watch tape of him, you see it fairly quickly.

Issue with him at this point is not even so much that he's missing shots, but he doesn't defend and the whole offensive cycle stops on him. We're not in a spot where we can give him a lot of leash to figure it out at this point. Start him, see if he hits. He's not going to all of a sudden be a good defender, that we know.

 

[Travelman6]

Very very cheap player and his hands are up pleading innocence before the ref even reacts. Hope refs are on top of their game Friday.

Strongly dislike these types of players like him or Draymond who, oh wait, what school did he go to...

 

[Mr. French]

I want Ball to focus more on his freaky atheticism and just stop shooting threes. Drive and dunk and focus on doing the little things to help the team. Stop the hero ball. We have better options.

All of his 3s were open, not hero ball. He flat out is mentally off.

 

[Waquoit]

I feel for Solo but you need to produce this time of year. Or at least guard your man.

 

[dennismenace]

I agree with you but I will say that if Solo starts then he's getting up a few 3s at the beginning of the game and will go no better than 1-4. There isn't any finding himself this year. He is shooting 30% on the same attempts per game as last year. He needs a vacation and hypnosis.

I actually think his confidence could get worse if he's starts and wonders when he'll come out and not come back in, opposed to discussing a new role off the bench where he knows where he stands. However, that's something that should have been done about eight games ago and would be difficult to do now.

Like many shooters he is and has been streaky. Just hoping the staff figures out how to help him with his thinking (believing) because we know he has the talent and has done it many times. You could see AK talking to a lot of guys on the floor last night encouraging them to move on when they make mistakes. Turn the page.

Apparently-per JRoss-he has taken advantage of a sports psychologist this year to help him break through some self-inflicted barriers to allow him to perform better. Clearly it has helped him tremendously.

Might help for Danny to get some help for Solo this week. Not to turn him into an All-American in four days. But to just help the kid get out of his head and provide some productivity for the stretch run. Couldn't hurt.

If that is true hats off to JRoss. Cognitive Therapy can help anyone whose thinking might be self defeating. In this article sports applications are discussed.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Sports Psychology

Unlock Your Potential: Harness Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Sports Psychology for Optimal Performance and Mental Well-being."

thebehaviourinstitute.com