USF Postgame quotes

[Peacefrog]

Put me squarely in the camp that as a program going forward, Hurley needs to use Jalen for his teaching moments to the rest of the team. It's obvious to all of us fans, coaches and players that Jalen has the most basketball talent. He does stuff throughout a game that clearly shows low BB IQ and can be corrected and coached.

USF has a guard who is leading the country in steals. That is an easy part of the scouting report and should be on the chalk board in the locker room before the game. Every player on UConn needs to account for his presence on every pass. As fans we have seen great on the ball defenders- Ricky and Lyman. We've seen great passing lane defenders- Burrell, Dove and Caronimo. We've seen great rim protectors too.

So what do we see during a game? Slow, telegraphed passes and players standing there waiting to receive the ball rather than coming towards the ball to decrease the length of the pass. When players do that, they need to take a seat. When you pull the player for that mistake, at halftime or back home you go over that moment on film and compare that to the game plan laid out in the locker room.

When Jalen refuses to draw contact at the rim or go to his left hand, you put him on the bench. Use that to communicate to the rest of the team why off season work outs are essential for expanding your game and skill set. The coaches also show that to the rest of the team that opponents scout and learn how to overcome your skills and as players they need to improve.

Yeah, I’d like to see Hurley give this a shot. I used to find myself fretting about some of Calhoun’s quick hooks, thought at times it might be useful to let some of the guys play through a mistake or two. It appears that the current roster is comprised of many players who might have benefited from the Calhoun approach the last few years. Focus on a critical aspect or two and if a guy fails in that regard, pull him to reinforce the message.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Can we afford to bench Jalen for the start of the UCF game?

The time to bench him is when he starts to play loose, sloppy with the ball. Every time. Until he gets the message.
Same with every other player.

 

[auror]

It's a difficult balance to win this year and also try to prepare for the future.

I think Jalen must be frustrating as hell a player to coach. @HuskyHawk mentioned it, but Jalen wasn't just good in the first 15 minutes, he was dominant. He was all over the court. He was seizing his spots. He was finishing moderately tough shots with ease. He wasn't taking tough shots. He was helping rebound and throwing outlet passes to leakers. He was getting steals and finding the ball off deflections. We were up double digits.

And then I don't know if it went to his head or what, but then he started making bonehead plays. He was picking up his dribble and leaving his feet at the free throw line and throwing to literally nobody. He was throwing passes to bigs who weren't even looking at him. He was penetrating, stopping, not even making a move, and going up and getting his shot blocked.

How do you reconcile the two? How do you bench him as some have suggested? He scored 25 points on 50% shooting with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

But he also had 6 turnovers and 4 fouls, and most of them were clearly his fault. Do you quick hook him in the last 5 minutes of the 1H when he made 1 dumb play after the tremendous half? Do you do it after the 2nd one?

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Do you quick hook him in the last 5 minutes of the 1H when he made 1 dumb play after the tremendous half? Do you do it after the 2nd one?

Yell at him after the first, bench him after the second. One sloppy, disinterested, play a game should be the tolerance limit.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

Jalen unraveled after his great showing. I called it when he got "caught in the air" and made a wild over the shoulder pass. He looked a bit defeated after that to me, and his intensity level just seemed to fall off.
We were so spoiled by guys who went four quarters at 100% (Khalid, Kemba, Bazz and many times Boatright) but haven't gotten that from Jalen most nights. Hurley has his work cut out for him.

 

[selles]

It's a difficult balance to win this year and also try to prepare for the future.

I think Jalen must be frustrating as hell a player to coach. @HuskyHawk mentioned it, but Jalen wasn't just good in the first 15 minutes, he was dominant. He was all over the court. He was seizing his spots. He was finishing moderately tough shots with ease. He wasn't taking tough shots. He was helping rebound and throwing outlet passes to leakers. He was getting steals and finding the ball off deflections. We were up double digits.

And then I don't know if it went to his head or what, but then he started making bonehead plays. He was picking up his dribble and leaving his feet at the free throw line and throwing to literally nobody. He was throwing passes to bigs who weren't even looking at him. He was penetrating, stopping, not even making a move, and going up and getting his shot blocked.

How do you reconcile the two? How do you bench him as some have suggested? He scored 25 points on 50% shooting with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.

But he also had 6 turnovers and 4 fouls, and most of them were clearly his fault. Do you quick hook him in the last 5 minutes of the 1H when he made 1 dumb play after the tremendous half? Do you do it after the 2nd one?

And when you hook him, to whom do you turn? Smith has been absolutely awful the last couple games. No one was more responsible for Villanova's run than he was. Gilbert is far from back to form, he is fighting it out there mentally. Vital's playing well, but for all those calling for him to shoot it more - the reason he's playing well is because he's bought into Hurley's directive to avoid the bad shots and sins of over-aggression that made everyone want him to shoot it LESS. Shots 11-15 for Vital are rarely positives for the team.

This team stands and falls with Jalen, and was always going to. Hurley recognizes that, it's why he went on such a public campaign to light a fire under him during the preseason. Unfortunately, even when Jalen's playing wonderfully he inevitably has a spell where his focus dulls and you get boneheaded mistakes like throwing the ball right to the other team, or letting the other team simply grab the ball away from him, or half driving and jumping in the air with no clue what to do. Those unforced errors give the other team momentum, Jalen tightens up, and - especially if the other team is half decent - the rest is history. We've seen it over and over again the last couple years.

As you say, very, very frustrating.

 

[Stainmaster]

It's obvious that Hurley can't wait to get his own guys in here (and no, I don't mean grad transfer stop-gaps and Brendan Adams).

Vital might be the only holdover with the attitude he's looking for.

Keep it in your pants.