UMES Post Game Thread

[Kemba429]

Im glad we slaughtered them. But like others, I didnt take too much from this. Playing the worst team in.. Maryland. With literally a brand new roster. This month is a gauntlet, Ill always have faith and cheer em on. Only time will tell.

 

[djct1999]

I think the board is toeing the line of becoming overly critical. We won by 50 without Alex. Not perfect and nothing to boast about. But also not much to complain about tonight. Enjoy the win and your evening

It was a buy in game two days after retuning from Hawaii. We were without our leader and best player on the floor. We won by 50. Everyone played, everyone contributed. It’s an absurd overreaction to take to too much positive out of it. It’s even more absurd to be critical.

 

[freshler40]

Not disagreeing. Just repeating what I've heard. Also, that tournament had a day off in between Games 2 and 3.

Need to add in here the time zone difference of going to HI and our weak first half last evening. Perhaps we were still in a zone of sorts until it was sweep aside in the second half.

 

[Robrio89]

This game being another ridiculous low level opponent gives us zero optics into any changes that could have occurred between Maui and now. Baylor will be the true test. Home, ranked opponent. If we lose that game, then who knows what the rest of the season looks like…

One takeaway having attended the game. How often are we moving up court and we hesitate on an open pass. There is so much hesitation and a lack of comfort with passing in those transitions. Particularly when Solo is moving with the ball.

 

[TheShot1990]

Abraham needs more minutes. Team is too slow and not very athletic and it shows, especially on defense. Abraham brings much needed physical play

Baylor game is huge. Fans are running out of patience.

Maybe some fans but I will NEVER run out of patience with the Huskies. I have infinite patience for them. You may be too young to remember the teams from the 80s.... This rough stretch? A minor blip.

 

[upstater]

These tournaments are great. I hope he’s just talking out his butt because he doesn’t look good saying this. They’re great environments for the kids and great preparation for March.

Benedict said the same thing before the tourney. There's a lot more to it

 

[REB1094]

Game was over after 10 minutes so going to focus on behaviors instead of box scores. But a 54 point win as 40 point favorites without our best player is nice

Diarra - had to cut down on TOs and he did, although did foul a lot. 5AST/1TO

Solo - needs to look to pass more. If he’s a designated scorer, he needs 15-18 every game. If not, he has to get others involved

Liam - still hurt? Missed 5+ wide open threes, most days that’s a 25 point game. Needs to add a floater, once he gets to the hoop it is usually just launch himself into the defender and throw up a prayer

Stewart - really good. Played as starting PF, took some threes, made some strong moves to the rim/FT line, and ran fast breaks. Very versatile game.

Samson - showed better judgment on when to chase a block/steal vs when to stay home. With no exceptions we NEED this every single game

Nowell and Mahaney - offensively Nowell looked jittery while Mahaney looked more composed. Defensively Nowell surprisingly got blown by a lot, and Mahaney was..Mahaney. Most important stat though is 9AST/2TO

Tarris - dude is a beast. But I cringed a lot when he lived on the guy’s left shoulder and gave up like 3 layups on an easy post spin. What was that about?

Ross - crashed boards hard and saw some shots go in. Hopefully helps confidence

Abraham - low key a black hole on offense? Lots of fouls too

Singare - got scored on a few times but put his arms straight up and made guys shoot over the top of a 6’10 dude. That’s what we beg our Cs to do this year

Overall - mostly everyone still sucks on defense but UMES didn’t take advantage. I did appreciate the deliberate effort to get the ball to our bigs, forces the defense to respect the threat in the paint. We out-talented them today, which shows the team can be dangerous once the talent catches up to the X’s and O’s. Shoutout #0 Shaw, dude was a bucket

 

[boog204]

What a bizarre collection of takes here. We have ppl simultaneously saying Ross and Stew are both great defenders and terrible defenders. People calling out McNeeley for not being a good shooter when he was shooting 40% from 3. Attacks that Hass needs to play more and play less. That Nowell needs to be our starting PG and another saying he's a 15mpg player. Oh, maybe the best... After back-to-back national championships - including one of the best teams college basketball has seen, fans are losing patience. It's really something.

 

[Deleted at users request]

This is why I wrote they said that BEFORE the tourney.

Oh I mean Hurley not Benedict.

 

[UConnJim]

Can't read too much into this game as UMES is terrible. Johnson didn't get any fouls, but UMES didn't have any physical bigs which is his fouling problem. If you look at the box score, you see the rebounding problem. The top 3 rebounders, Stewart, Reed, and Ross are not starters.

I thought there was some improvement on defense, but hard to tell given the competition. I was encouraged by Mahaney as he looked better both offensively and defensively. Abraham looked encouraging, but 4 fouls in 10 minutes means he has some learning to do.

 

[mauconnfan]

I said Aiden wasn’t as good as some here thought, but I must say, I like it when he drives, he’s actually better than I thought at it he just hasn’t been able to finish yet, but they look good. I think he’s on to something. I feel like he will find his niche on offense but defensively I’m worried. But honestly Cam and Joey looked bad on D when they first got here so who knows.

Our starting 2G is just as bad on D as you can see. They have issues there in the fact that there’s not an answer at the 2 for defense unless you go bigger. Which even then Ross and Stewie aren’t great but at least longer. Abraham may be the closest to a Castle eventually a lock down guy.

 

[yungdowork]

I thought Abraham played well enough, but I am not seeing what other people are in terms of his defense I guess.

I’m surprised how critical some people were of Ross’ defense considering he guarded at least 3 different positions. One particular basket I can think of, he had a great contest at the rim, and somehow was also the only UConn player to challenge for the rebound. Even if there’s a few kinks to work out, I thought he worked his ass off all game, hit the boards hard, and guarded without fouling.

 

[jostar1]

 

[Palatine]

People who thought Ross was bad on defense have a completely different opinion than Hurley. But they are entitled.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Hurley postgame:

’I will never as long as I’m coaching here play another MTE.”

Does that include the NCAA tournament?

 

[auror]

I don't know how he doesn't keep playing MTEs. Every single P5 school played in one this year. Only 16 teams, all mid-majors, did not participate in one.

Duke didn't play in a true MTE. Neither did Kansas. They both played in two one-off neutral games and a few high profile home and homes.

You might realize it's not a coincidence that that is exactly what Hurley described wanting for his non-con going forward.

 

[auror]

Hurley feels they have a huge advantage in scouting and prep. You lose that advantage after your first game in an MTE.

Don't opposing teams have to scout and prep for our offense with no days inbetween? Shouldn't that be an advantage?

 

[Gurleyman]

If this is at all part of the reason they don’t want to do MTEs it’s really weak sauce.

Also love Dan Hurley but don’t remember him complaining about MTEs when we won the Nike thing etc

Yes and no. It’s a different format than you play at any other time during the season. Conference tournament you play in consecutive days, but against teams you’ve already played twice and done full scouting reports on. In the NCAA tournament, there‘s a day off in between for a full practice to implement a game plan and scouting report. A four team tourney with a day off in between simulates an NCAA weekend a lot better.

I’ve always kind of felt that these tourneys are fun for fans, but they don’t necessarily translate to the real world since its a unique environment trying to prep for a team by walking through things in a hotel ballroom instead of in a practice. What they can do is get you a couple extra games for a stronger non conference schedule … certainly beating Alabama was a big one that helped our seed line a couple years ago, as did the Kemba run in Maui. And those things can be confidence boosters too. But if you can accomplish the same thing with home and homes and smaller events, that’s probably a better benefit to getting teams used to the routine they’ll need in the NCAAs. Learning how to execute a game plan is part of the growth process for a reconstructed team.

 

[storrsroars]

Duke didn't play in a true MTE. Neither did Kansas. They both played in two one-off neutral games and a few high profile home and homes.

You might realize it's not a coincidence that that is exactly what Hurley described wanting for his non-con going forward.

There are a few of those that have on-campus games coupled with a neutral site. All the ones that involve P5s feature two decent teams and two patsies. I don't really know what UConn gains by doing that as we've had success in MTEs prior, but if that's what Dan Hurley wants to do fine. Less fun for fans, IMO.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

Hurley postgame:

’I will never as long as I’m coaching here play another MTE.”

what a baby…

Hurley completing his heel turn and going from college basketball darling to villain.

 

[ValleyGuy]

Don’t see any value in games like this I’m sorry

 

[auror]

There are a few of those that have on-campus games coupled with a neutral site. All the ones that involve P5s feature two decent teams and two patsies. I don't really know what UConn gains by doing that as we've had success in MTEs prior, but if that's what Dan Hurley wants to do fine. Less fun for fans, IMO.

I also like the big MTEs. I think it's a prestige/money thing and Dan Hurley is passing it off as a competitive advantage thing, which I don't buy.

 

[uconn_jack]

I thought Abraham played well enough, but I am not seeing what other people are in terms of his defense I guess.

It's not that he's great yet, it's that he seems to be one of the few players on this team that can stay ahead of his defender. He does need to clean his defense up a bit (although two of those "fouls" yesterday were anticipatory BS calls against a freshman), but he seems to have a nose for defending.

 

[uconn_jack]

what a baby…

Hurley completing his heel turn and going from college basketball darling to villain.

I know you're trolling, but I don't totally disagree. I don't mind his antics on the floor, but I haven't liked some of his rather petulant comments and reactions after games lately.

 

[KingAG]

I also like the big MTEs. I think it's a prestige/money thing and Dan Hurley is passing it off as a competitive advantage thing, which I don't buy.

I think they’re fading. And I also think fans for the most part just want big matchups. I could care less if it’s in a island or not

 

[yungdowork]

It's not that he's great yet, it's that he seems to be one of the few players on this team that can stay ahead of his defender. He does need to clean his defense up a bit (although two of those "fouls" yesterday were anticipatory BS calls against a freshman), but he seems to have a nose for defending.

Most of his fouls were literally from not being able to maintain legal guarding position in front of his man. He has the tools to become a better defender and I think he had some nice offensive moves, but it seems like a lot of the talk in this thread is wishful thinking based on his measurables.

 

[Storrs South]

Hurley feels they have a huge advantage in scouting and prep. You lose that advantage after your first game in an MTE.

Staff knows better than any of us but weirdly I feel like opponents do better when they have more time to scout this offense. How can you scout all these actions in 24 hours? Answer: you can’t. Last two tourneys the most difficult games they played were the ones on 5 days rest. The second game of weekend was generally less contested imo.

 

[superjohn]

Staff knows better than any of us but weirdly I feel like opponents do better when they have more time to scout this offense. How can you scout all these actions in 24 hours? Answer: you can’t. Last two tourneys the most difficult games they played were the ones on 5 days rest. The second game of weekend was generally less contested imo.

Yeah but Colorado and Dayton certainly had no problems scouting us on a 24 hour turnaround.

 

[jostar1]

This is the full press conference where he talks about MTE at the end.

 

[Jumpman62114]

Better cohesion on offense against an inferior opponent, but I still feel like the team gambles too much on perimeter defense on steals and deflections. As much as it pains Hurley, I feel like we need to play it more conservative this year and play solid.