UCLA Post Game Thread | Page 15 | The Boneyard

UCLA Post Game Thread

Scottobot said:
Changing to starting lineup would torpedo Ball’s confidence.
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It cannot go any lower. Maybe sitting at the start gives him a chance to see the flow, though I doubt that’s works for him. I also doubt Danny does this, but its obvious he has Solo on a very short leash. Solo was minus 10 in a game we won by 16. I believe thats an unusual stat. Right now he would be my #8 option for minutes. Maybe a few mid-range hits helps his head, but on D he is deficient and unless he is scoring 10 to 15 with solid shot management he is a liability.

The better news, is we have other folks stepping up and filling the gap. You have to play the guys who give you the best chance to win at this point. If they have a bad game you can live with that. Reibe gave us good minutes yesterday, Malachi solid, Ross huge, and the core is getting it done so far.

Managing Solo’s minutes is fair and needs to be done. If lightning hits you go with it, but his trend this season does not warrant taking an extended chance with him otherwise.
 
Lots of good in this one. Rather than rehash the obvious, what also impressed me is the following:
1. Tarris Reed. After a career performance, I think it’s human nature to go out and try to replicate it. Tarris did the opposite. He played within himself the entire game, never forced the issue, and took what UCLA gave him. The energy was the same, the effort was the same, and even though the stats weren’t, the performance to me was equally impressive.
2. Silas Demery. Another consummate team first player. Gave it his all, played tremendous lockdown defense, and did exactly what this team needed from him. Never forced the issue and had a very quiet but huge impact.
3. Team chemistry. Overall, just a a really balanced and tremendous effort from so many. The effort in the second half defensively was incredible. AK showed what Captain America means. Malachi stepped up in ways I wasn’t sure he was capable of. Braylon is automatic in midrange—- start there young fella and then step out. Jaylen- my god!!!!! Said it in the chat, he has earned himself some nice nil money next season and well deserved. Tarris- opened things up for everyone else!!!!!! Let’s go!!!!!!
 
aceboon said:
AK has taken 32 shots through 2 tournament games, going off the top of my head I doubt he's ever taken that many shot attempts in a 2 game stretch. He needs to keep firing, no more games with less than dbl digit attempts.
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He has been playing so well in the tourney. Down the stretch of the season I felt like he and Mullins were taking super tough 3s, they’d always be curling aggressively around a screen and take really deep shots with barely any time to aim… and they’d miss, a lot!

Even though Mullins has struggled, I feel like he is catching and taking his time a bit more, and with Karaban is obvious to see. Fewer deep ones and you can see him take a second to aim and focus when he has the time.

Let’s get Silas back close to 100% and let it ride baby!
 
Sure he has stunk at times this year and clearly his shot is off. The thing is though, people have written off Tarris Reed after a bad game and say good riddance AK have fun trying to make the NBA.

This team is really good, but not as dominant as our last tournament teams… who were some of the most dominant teams in a long time!

Game 1 was the Tarris show
Game 2 UCLA obsessed over Tarris Reed and we played the Alex Karaban game and won.

Who knows what game 3 holds, but if any of you don’t believe that Solomon Ball can come out on Friday night and score 20 to lead us to the elite 8, take a long walk and go start rooting for Providence. Believe in your Huskies, it’s worked out for us pretty well in the past!
 
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mauconnfan said:
Won’t happen for 2 reasons, and shouldn’t. We’d be even better if Solo can find himself, and you can’t shatter the kid this late in the year with a move like that. The leash will be short, that works fine. Reason 2 is Ross is comfortable coming off the bench, bringing energy. Imagine starting him, gets 2 quick fouls and is sitting for more minutes than playing? Now you need Solo to man up, but he’s never done it coming off the bench this could turn into a tragedy.

No reason to change at all. Minutes are more important than who starts.
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Perfectly said.

Move Ball to the bench and you're basically taking him out it mentally for the year. Only downside.

And it's not like Ross needs a confidence boost by starting.

Start Ball, keep him on a short leash. If he misses a few early, gets burned on defense, commits dumb fouls, put in Ross and give Ross starter's minutes in reserve.
 
Some people like to dog on him when he doesn’t play well, but we are truly lucky to have Karaban. He clearly wants his season to go on.

Aside from that almost everyone else had a good game past the first few minutes. Great seeing Smith return more to his early season form and Silas was indeed critical. Ross again was excellent, needs to keep himself on the court as long as possible.
 
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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.
 
Tenspro2002 said:
Perfectly said.

Move Ball to the bench and you're basically taking him out it mentally for the year. Only downside.
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This keeps being an argument but I’m not sure I buy it. I think you have to try something and maybe he responds well to coming off the bench. I’m sure his confidence is not sky high right now. Maybe a bench role takes some of the pressure off mentally.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
This keeps being an argument but I’m not sure I buy it. I think you have to try something and maybe he responds well to coming off the bench. I’m sure his confidence is not sky high right now. Maybe a bench role takes some of the pressure off mentally.
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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.
 
tzznandrew said:
who else should have gotten a bid? The fourth place team, Seton Hall, beat nobody and every team behind them was .500 or worse on the season.

It was a bad year for the Big East. UConn and St. John's doesn't change that.
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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.
 
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uconngb said:
That’s because they have a very overrated coach who rarely does well with the supreme talent he always has
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So rarely that we're not even a year removed from them winning a title. Incredible.
 
UCTitleTown said:
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.
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He doesn't have functional athleticism driving into the lane, he's never been a guy who can get on the rim while in college. His best bet at finding a way to contribute is to get back to the 2-3 dribble middy that he was excellent at earlier in the season when his 3ball was still terrible, but he's pretty much abandoned it.
 
Scrutineer said:
Solo's a mess right now. We all know that. But he can still help the team and we need him to return to form.

Solo grew from year one to two and had a great shooting year last year so I'd rather see us run a couple scripted plays for him to get a dunk or short jumper to try to make his mindset more positive.

Dan Hurley knows where Solo's head is and I trust he'll do and say the things that are needed to get him to relax and help the team. He can still turn it around and help the team reach its goal.
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It is crunch time. Play your best five. Ross brings energy and has made plays on both ends of the floor that Solo hasn’t shown he can do and there is no more slack in the rope. Ross’s defense and not Solo’s slump is the reason why he should start. Ross brings us an adequate outside threat and he has been passing well. Solo coming in for Mullins makes more sense to me.

For the record, I doubt very much Hurley will make the change. I just felt after razzing posters for suggesting Ross or Stewart start that I should come out and admit I think they were right.
 
housekeys said:
That's how it works. You go to him if the opponent can't stop or slow him down. You make sure he passes out when the opponent makes it difficult by doubling with mid major players. He did great. It opened up the outside with some manageable shots.
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That Furman game was an awesome setup for the rest of the tournament, IF we can shoot it somewhat decent. Tarris put such a target on his back that it will give the rest of the team more open looks, if we can capitalize on that, we will be in good shape.
 
jibsey said:
Have we ever seen a quieter 17 points from a player than Braylon Mullins tonight? He was essential in the win but oh those 5 turnovers. He does so many things well but his loose handle needs major work. I hope tonight gives him a confidence boost. One question, why doesn’t he drive inside the 3 line and pull up? He doesn’t miss from there.
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Glad to see him have some shots go down of course, but he felt like a liability out there at times. Hopefully he can clean that up while maintaining the scoring. Does anyone know what his +/- was that game?
 
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