Uconn has alot of work to do. Opponent 3% needs to be fixed

[meyers7]

So here's the thing, IMHO.....
We're not doomed or anything. It's not the end of the world, either. But the team's three-point defense is not up to UConn's usual standards even for this time of year. I don't believe that it's coincidence that UConn has made a number of teams look like champion three-point shooters. This is the kind of thing if left unchecked, will come back to haunt the team. I am not an Xs and Os kind of guy to suggest a solution, but they have toi get better at this one part of the game. The rest of it will come along as the year progresses.

How so? In the future we'll play a highly ranked team and allow them to hit 65% of their 3's? But, but we already did that, and we won. What team out there are you afraid of?

 

[Roundball fan]

The basketball Gods are helping the other teams, shoot 3's they will go in.

 

[Scud49]

We haven't looked that sharp since the Ohio State game even though the scores don't tell it. Alot of 3s is being jacked up by other teams and their dropping. What can we do to stop this problem??

And speaking of 3s KLS is no KML I miss her crossing half court and launching one from deep with that funky release. Loved lady RAY

Ah, what "problem"? They win the games by a healthy margin, no?

Your logic is like saying the Patriots better stop giving up 100 yard rushing games to opponents, even though they win the vast majority of those games.

 

[Bgillon]

I watched last night's game and two things struck me: we give up a lot of 3 pt baskets and more importantly, we are not an outstanding shooting team. The only consistent jump shooter I believe is Stewie. Ekmark is still struggling to be a consistent shooter, whether 3 pt of 2 pt. Hopefully KLS gets confident in when and where to shoot. That would help tremendously. And I also think we should stop assuming we will roll over everyone. This team needs time to develop its chemistry and rhythm.

 

[UcMiami]

I think this is all pretty silly - and especially in relation to last night. Geno against Colgate did not want to embarrass his gracious hosts, on what was really more of a celebration party at which a basketball game broke out, than a competitive game. He started the game playing a half court non-aggressive zone defense as opposed to a full court pressure defense. That allowed Colgate to get a little confidence and stay in the game early. It wasn't until about half way through the half that he had the team play a more aggressive style of man defense.

As for the rest of it - Uconn is still finding their legs in terms of 3 point shooting. And they are facing teams desperate enough to shoot a lot of threes from beyond NBA range who for the past week have been hitting them at a rate that cannot be sustained. Will the defense on the arc tighten up as the season progresses - yes. Will Uconn guard players tightly 25 feet from the basket, probably not. Will the torrid streak from opponents continue - no.

And as for looking at three point percentage defense in comparison to other teams - lets wait for a little larger sample size, and even then, the best defenses will typically be the team that plays the worst offensive teams. Look at top defensive stats for any full year and they are filled with pretty terrible teams who have played even worse competition, with a few top teams scattered in.

At this point in the season, Uconn has played three of the top 12 offenses in the country (ND #5, DePaul #10, Ohio St #12), throw in Nebraska at #23 and that is a 'murders' row' of offenses. And just in anticipation of Friday and another moan, FSU is #10 in field goal percentage though their offense is a not shabby #34.

 

[hoophuskee]

I watched last night's game and two things struck me: we give up a lot of 3 pt baskets and more importantly, we are not an outstanding shooting team. The only consistent jump shooter I believe is Stewie. Ekmark is still struggling to be a consistent shooter, whether 3 pt of 2 pt. Hopefully KLS gets confident in when and where to shoot. That would help tremendously. And I also think we should stop assuming we will roll over everyone. This team needs time to develop its chemistry and rhythm.

I don't agree with much of what you have to say other than we aren't shooting from 3 as well as we can and that teams are shooting the 3 well vs UCONN at the moment. .

1-- While we are giving up 3's we still won comfortably all the games.

2--- I expect MoJeff, Nurse, Chong and KLS to shoot well from 3 this year. And CE too depending on her minutes. SO the concern is not there because I believe it will get better and better.

3-- We have rolled over everyone so I don't agree that "we should stop expecting it."

 

[Huskies Rule]

Offense with this team isn't an issue. I don't think anyone is going to stop UConn from putting up solid offensive numbers. It's our defense that gives me pause because the starters are virtually the same as last year (Gabby for Kaleena is pretty much a wash on 'D'). We have Moriah and Kia back and up top, where most of the threes having been flying from, and those two kids are undeniably great defenders, so what's up with our opponents' success from three? While I haven't gone back and watched every game replay, my recollection is that we've started most games in a zone. And played much more zone than I remember seeing in past years.

I like our aggressive man-to-man defense, and I'm surprised it's not used wayyy more than it is. I always thought that teams that lacked size, great skills and athleticism - teams that simply cannot physically match up against an opponent and who would get killed trying to play man, well those are the teams that play all sorts of zone schemes on 'D.' (Or against teams you don't think can toss a three in the ocean). If we had a really short bench or personal fouls were an issue, I get the zone. The zone we play needs lots of work.

When it comes to opponents' threes, I'm inclined to fault the overall defensive game plan rather than the players. Play the man, stay the man.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Since when does "best defense against the 3 pointer" have anything to do with a teams SOS. Apples and Oranges to me.

Uconn is the perfect example, probably the best SOS last season and this season, yet this season they are ranked 318 vs last season 22.

Its quite obvious that UConn has a problem so far, this season, in defending the 3 pointer. The statistics, and everyones observations seem to bear it out.

Um, well they had the same problem last year at this time of the season with exactly the same 3pt FG% and about the same ranking, but things did indeed get worked out and the Huskies ended up with one of the best perimeter defenses. No need to have a cow, unless you need the milk.

 

[HuskiesDogs]

You do understand, if you compare KML at this point in her freshman year to KLS, their stats are very similar, don't you?

You do understand I wasn't talking about their 3 point % right?? [mod edit; personal attack] When I say she's no KML I'm talking about her form, her perfect flick of the wrist, that duck goose follow threw and shooting from almost half court.

 

[HuskiesDogs]

Overall for this early in the season and new rotations I think we look really good. I don't believe the team has peaked as of yet and will get better and better.

They will get better especially when we can get Boykins and Butler on the floor

 

[pinotbear]

You do understand I wasn't talking about their 3 point % right?? * * * When I say she's no KML I'm talking about her form, her perfect flick of the wrist, that duck goose follow threw and shooting from almost half court.

ah, so form trumps actual performance: gotcha

 

[Bgillon]

I don't agree with much of what you have to say other than we aren't shooting from 3 as well as we can and that teams are shooting the 3 well vs UCONN at the moment. .

1-- While we are giving up 3's we still won comfortably all the games.

2--- I expect MoJeff, Nurse, Chong and KLS to shoot well from 3 this year. And CE too depending on her minutes. SO the concern is not there because I believe it will get better and better.

3-- We have rolled over everyone so I don't agree that "we should stop expecting it."

We did not roll over DePaul or ND.

 

[DobbsRover2]

ah, so form trumps actual performance: gotcha

Well of course. What matters in this world is not how well you do but how good you look when doing it. [mod edit; politics]

 

[DobbsRover2]

We did not roll over DePaul or ND.

Most teams would say beating all top-flight competition by double-digit totals puts them on a bit of a roll, but for UConn I guess you need to plaster them by 30 or your wheels are stuck in the mud.

 

[Fiftyish]

On the postgame show, CD confirmed that there is an issue with opponent 3-ball shooting. She also said that opponents are going to shoot threes like mad, because they can't typically beat the Huskies by getting two each trip. She said that the defensive strategy should be to force opponents to shoot twos, not threes.

So CD agrees with me? The world must be coming to an end...

 

[JRRRJ]

Offense with this team isn't an issue. I don't think anyone is going to stop UConn from putting up solid offensive numbers. It's our defense that gives me pause because the starters are virtually the same as last year (Gabby for Kaleena is pretty much a wash on 'D'). We have Moriah and Kia back and up top, where most of the threes having been flying from, and those two kids are undeniably great defenders, so what's up with our opponents' success from three? While I haven't gone back and watched every game replay, my recollection is that we've started most games in a zone. And played much more zone than I remember seeing in past years.

I like our aggressive man-to-man defense, and I'm surprised it's not used wayyy more than it is. I always thought that teams that lacked size, great skills and athleticism - teams that simply cannot physically match up against an opponent and who would get killed trying to play man, well those are the teams that play all sorts of zone schemes on 'D.' (Or against teams you don't think can toss a three in the ocean). If we had a really short bench or personal fouls were an issue, I get the zone. The zone we play needs lots of work.

When it comes to opponents' threes, I'm inclined to fault the overall defensive game plan rather than the players. Play the man, stay the man.

With a lot of the team down with colds/flu, I'm not surprised Geno starts out in zone, which is less demanding on those struggling to breathe.

 

[Geno-ista]

I watched last night's game and two things struck me: we give up a lot of 3 pt baskets and more importantly, we are not an outstanding shooting team. The only consistent jump shooter I believe is Stewie. Ekmark is still struggling to be a consistent shooter, whether 3 pt of 2 pt. Hopefully KLS gets confident in when and where to shoot. That would help tremendously. And I also think we should stop assuming we will roll over everyone. This team needs time to develop its chemistry and rhythm.

We are averaging 85-90 pts vs the top teams in the country. How go we fix our offense??? Chemistry and rhythm??? Anyone seen our ball movement??? Wow?

 

[Geno-ista]

Offense with this team isn't an issue. I don't think anyone is going to stop UConn from putting up solid offensive numbers. It's our defense that gives me pause because the starters are virtually the same as last year (Gabby for Kaleena is pretty much a wash on 'D'). We have Moriah and Kia back and up top, where most of the threes having been flying from, and those two kids are undeniably great defenders, so what's up with our opponents' success from three? While I haven't gone back and watched every game replay, my recollection is that we've started most games in a zone. And played much more zone than I remember seeing in past years.

I like our aggressive man-to-man defense, and I'm surprised it's not used wayyy more than it is. I always thought that teams that lacked size, great skills and athleticism - teams that simply cannot physically match up against an opponent and who would get killed trying to play man, well those are the teams that play all sorts of zone schemes on 'D.' (Or against teams you don't think can toss a three in the ocean). If we had a really short bench or personal fouls were an issue, I get the zone. The zone we play needs lots of work.

When it comes to opponents' threes, I'm inclined to fault the overall defensive game plan rather than the players. Play the man, stay the man.

You make good points. I remember someone asked Geno why he didn't press more last yr or yr prior. He said he wasn't sure the gains outweighed losing our starters legs and ultimately losing more offense than we would have otherwise. I think Geno knows that if we can score 80/85/90, it's almost impossible to beat us. Just my thoughts. We shouldn't forget, they have literally tied the hands of the defenses to allow more freedom of movement. We may well be seeing this play out.

 

[hoophuskee]

We did not roll over DePaul or ND.

Yes we did. We had an over 20 point lead vs ND in the 3rd quarter. They never broke 10. The game was NEVER in doubt.

For DePaul- DePaul NEVER was a threat to win that game. NEVER.

 

[hoophuskee]

So CD agrees with me? The world must be coming to an end...

Since when does a coach NOT WORRY?

Geno benched Stewie and Tuck last year before USC. DO you think he was completely without worry?

We don't have to be the coach. Geno has been known big time to worry about body language. DO we all have to worry about that too?

The coach demands near perfection. Dive on the floor for loose balls. Worries his team won't do that. You have these same worries game in and game out?

 

[Alydar]

The two teams that led the country in defensive 3pt% were TAMU (24%) & Miss St (24.8%). Does anyone think that it's because of their astounding perimeter defense or is it because the SEC is so bad at shooting 3's? Tennessee was 13th of the 14 teams at 23.9% while S Car was 11th at 27%. Nearly 1/2 the conference shot less than 29%.

I've been watching basketball for over 50 years and I've seen a lot of great outside shooting in the first halves of games only to see it go bad in the last 5 minutes of the game. As the legs tire and the shots have greater importance, accuracy goes down. There have been exceptions, Villanova's stunning upset of Georgetown being perhaps the most famous, but almost all of the time the hot shooting/shooters cool off in crunchtime.

 

[TitleTown]

How so? In the future we'll play a highly ranked team and allow them to hit 65% of their 3's? But, but we already did that, and we won. What team out there are you afraid of?

We did that to a Notre Dame without their Best overall player and their 2 best post players. If Turner and Raimer were there that could have been a different game.

 

[UcMiami]

We did that to a Notre Dame without their Best overall player and their 2 best post players. If Turner and Raimer were there that could have been a different game.

It certainly would have been a very different game. I doubt the scoring margin would have been different, but the game would have played out in a very different way.

 

[Icebear]

We did that to a Notre Dame without their Best overall player and their 2 best post players. If Turner and Raimer were there that could have been a different game.

And quite likely an easier game because the match ups and ND game plan favored us more than an unknown and unaccounted for freshman scoring 21 points in the first half. Accounted for we pushed out to 20 points.

 

[meyers7]

We did that to a Notre Dame without their Best overall player and their 2 best post players. If Turner and Reimer were there that could have been a different game.

It certainly would have been a very different game. I doubt the scoring margin would have been different, but the game would have played out in a very different way.

And quite likely an easier game because the match ups and ND game plan favored us more than an unknown and unaccounted for freshman scoring 21 points in the first half. Accounted for we pushed out to 20 points.

I think they pretty much covered it.