Villanova Post Game Thread

[RuffRuff]

I personally like Stewart to eat all of Ross's minutes when McNeeley is back. I see more upside with Stewart than I do Ross. If we can get Nowell playing more I might even want to see Mahaney taking Ross's minutes that he gets now. I think if Ross is going to play he has to be told to keep his dribbling to a minimum and be a strictly a 3 and D(Which he needs to improve) to even see 5 minutes a game. I never want to see Ross initiating offense again at least this season until he improves his ball handling.

Stews confidence is contagious, and he’s shown to be able to make offense all over the court.

What’s odd is that he always seems to be a net- even when playing well (-6 last night), which shows the flaws in the stat. His two defensive stops/blocks on Dixon were two of the best highlights of the game. We need more of that with so few stoppers out there. Was a thing of beauty. I’d love Ross to find some of that, but he’s constantly getting beat off the bounce or biting on fakes - we need guys that can just stay in front of their man desperately.

 

[ctchamps]

I personally like Stewart to eat all of Ross's minutes when McNeeley is back. I see more upside with Stewart than I do Ross. If we can get Nowell playing more I might even want to see Mahaney taking Ross's minutes that he gets now. I think if Ross is going to play he has to be told to keep his dribbling to a minimum and be a strictly a 3 and D(Which he needs to improve) to even see 5 minutes a game. I never want to see Ross initiating offense again at least this season until he improves his ball handling.

That second drive where he got to the hoop was as good as anything Solo has done in the past three games. So I’ll continue to support it because I believe it was emphasized prior to this game for him to be more assertive.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I was more upset with Alex’s last 2 drives to the hoop than the free throws… He was lucky to get to the line - that was a terrible offensive play.

Good call. That was not a foul in the second drive to the basket.

 

[kobebeanbryant]

I have nothing against Nowell, and I sure hope he is an answer to some of team’s problems, but I didn’t see him do anything except dribble around a bit. I didn’t see him drive inside to open things up, which is an area of need. Probably I’m wrong, but that’s what I saw.

Confident ball handler, unlike Mahaney.

Able to run the offense, unlike Mahaney.

Showed some ability to create for himself (he freed up space for a late shotclock attempt that didn’t fall, but I was impressed with his wiggle to get the separation, nobody else on our team has that).

Overall, for some of his first minutes against top comp, he looked like he belonged, and I would give him some minutes to see if he can develop into a solid backup pg.

Considering we don’t have one and we are riding Diarra into the ground, I think it is a worthwhile investment.

 

[djct1999]

In before @HooperScooper gets you for Jaylen when it’s Jayden.

I feel Nowell is going to be a good player as well.

The mistakes that Ross makes bother me as much as everyone else. And I understand that he may not be the player I believe he can become. Time will sort this out.

Thanks for the heads up. I’d like to say I purposely left the d out because he doesn’t play any, but it was indeed a typo.

 

[Umami Zen]

IMO-Alex is more of a rhythm shooter. Catch and shoot .Don't remember if Longino was on him on that play but Longino-to his credit-was doing a decent job of keeping Alex off balance most of the second half. FWIW-On that particular shot it looked to me like Alex was committed to shooting it but surprised by the unexpected defense mid-shot. Looked out of rhythm

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

We completely abandoned the Two point shot after how incredibly effective it was against PC second half.
PC game we shot 35 two pointers Vs 13 3's. - we were also fouled 25 times against PC.

Against Nova 27 3's. vs 23 Two pointers. Fouled only 9 times v Nova.
Would love to see a bar chart on this for the entire season.

 

[RuffRuff]

Yea that was honestly bewildering.

Alex cannot shoot on the move.

I have to imagine they drew it up thinking he would have time to get set.

No idea why Alex would take that shot while falling away. Very poor decision from him.

Maybe acceptable as a late shot clock prayer, but that was an out of timeout play in a critical situation

Just unacceptable all around.

Funny because didn’t Alex make an off balance corner three to beat the halftime clock at Nova last year?

Alex’s shooting form is not designed to shoot on the move - it’s a square, cock and load kinda thing and his only way of compensating for his corkscrew is to be square. He’s figured out a way to make it work under good conditions but man it’s funky. When you see some of the utter clanks he throws up there you realize how delicate it is. It’s like a sniper with a gun that’s too heavy and a slightly cock eyed scope that’s gotten used to it. Would have thought that would be an area he worked on. Take a look at Liam and you see model form, quick simple high release that doesn’t require much space or perfect conditions to get off.

For a guy coming back to improve his NBA stock, would have hoped we would see something that adds to that. Someone flashed AKs numbers this year as a comparison but it’s 100% due to more volume and being counted on more.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I like the fight of this team. Coming back 12 on the road against a game opponent is impressive. There is nobody I prefer take 2 FT's with the game on the line than Alex. You take enough big shots, that's gonna happen. If this is the final product, then we would have no shot of doing anything in March. But I do not believe that to be the case. I have been critical of Samson, but he has looked better. Aidan has looked better. The Bear is getting better. Stewart had a good game, and Solo bounced back in the second half in impressive form. We lost in a close game without Liam and with Alex being off. I like our ceiling.

 

[HooperScooper]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but I just saw in the Register that Karaban had never missed 2 free throws in a row in his college career until last night. Crazy.

 

[RuffRuff]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but I just saw in the Register that Karaban had never missed 2 free throws in a row in his college career until last night. Crazy.

Saw that last night - crazy stat. Heard some say he bricked his free throws, not bricks. He back rimmed both, which would suggest a bit amped up/nerves. Live and learn.

 

[boog204]

Ross made a 3 pointer. After that he literally did less than nothing. I don’t know what his +/- was, but I’m guessing about -12 in a game we lost by 2

Ross was -3. You know who had the lowest +/- yesterday? Stewart (and Reed) at -6. It's actually kind of baffling because I thought Stew played great. But in our games against "real" opponents, Stewarts plus minus now stands at -52. Ross is -39. For those of you are going to say Stewarts #'s are bad because of Aidan (again), Aidan was +5 yesterday and is a net +12 against "real" teams.

I don't have an answer for why Stewart was in the minus yesterday or ever for that matter. But it's worth noting that we came back and took the lead when Stew was on the bench AND Aidan was on the floor (people in the chat who were roasting Aidan take note.) In no way am I saying Stew shouldn't play, b/c he's got a lot of talent, but he is consistently in the negative.

 

[uconnfan68]

I'm still a little perplexed at the play drawn up for the corner 3. Not the play itself - they ran it well enough and got a fairly open 3 off the inbound pass. What I don't understand is why it was drawn up for Alex to take that shot. I'm not sure I have ever seen him take an in-motion sideways fallaway corner 3 in his entire career at UConn. That's definitely more of a Solo/Hass shot. Maybe they thought he'd break free of his man enough that he'd have time to set his feet and shoot a normal straight set shot, but it sure didn't look like that was the intention of the play.

I was going full-on Ewing in my living room asking Danny "Has he ever shot that shot? Does he work on that shot? When?"

He had time to stop, gather, and then shoot, but didn’t know it.

 

[uconnfan68]

Ross was -3. You know who had the lowest +/- yesterday? Stewart (and Reed) at -6. It's actually kind of baffling because I thought Stew played great. But in our games against "real" opponents, Stewarts plus minus now stands at -52. Ross is -39. For those of you are going to say Stewarts #'s are bad because of Aidan (again), Aidan was +5 yesterday and is a net +12 against "real" teams.

I don't have an answer for why Stewart was in the minus yesterday or ever for that matter. But it's worth noting that we came back and took the lead when Stew was on the bench AND Aidan was on the floor (people in the chat who were roasting Aidan take note.) In no way am I saying Stew shouldn't play, b/c he's got a lot of talent, but he is consistently in the negative.

He was the only one that could guard Dixon. And he was making shots.

 

[bendm]

Someone flashed AKs numbers this year as a comparison but it’s 100% due to more volume and being counted on more.

That was me. My point was His numbers are good across the board but not great. Averaging only 3 more ppg. His FG% is down even though his 3P% is significantly up, which is odd. Assists and blocks are up but steals and FT% way down. All BE 2nd team maybe but we needed an all American.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Go to 3:28, Karaban buzzer beater corner three in the same exact building lol

Slight but important note, he was fading to his left/strong side for this one. On the one last night he was fading right to his weak side.

 

[aceboon]

Yea that was honestly bewildering.

Alex cannot shoot on the move.

I have to imagine they drew it up thinking he would have time to get set.

No idea why Alex would take that shot while falling away. Very poor decision from him.

Maybe acceptable as a late shot clock prayer, but that was an out of timeout play in a critical situation

Just unacceptable all around.

Huh? There are multiple 3s off movement in this clip alone, not all of his 3s come from spot ups/kick outs.

 

[boog204]

He was the only one that could guard Dixon. And he was making shots.

I'm not disagreeing. But the +/- again has him in the negatives as he's been all year. It's perplexing. I thought his defense was miles better than previous games and he obviously shot the ball quite well. At a certain point, though, statistics aren't just random or anomaly. As a whole we fall behind when Stew is on the court. I have no idea why that is.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Huh? There are multiple 3s off movement in this clip alone, not all of his 3s come from spot ups/kick outs.

Every single one of those 3s involved him moving/fading to his left.

 

[cp176]

Stews confidence is contagious, and he’s shown to be able to make offense all over the court.

What’s odd is that he always seems to be a net- even when playing well (-6 last night), which shows the flaws in the stat. His two defensive stops/blocks on Dixon were two of the best highlights of the game. We need more of that with so few stoppers out there. Was a thing of beauty. I’d love Ross to find some of that, but he’s constantly getting beat off the bounce or biting on fakes - we need guys that can just stay in front of their man desperately.

For me, the eye test for Stewart worked just fine last night. His confidence level grew by leaps just last night. I agree with you that we need players who are able to keep the ball in front of them. I’m baffled that we don’t or can’t. I believe that we are quick enough to do it. The matador defense is a proven loser and normally leads to a seat on the bench.

 

[RuffRuff]

That was me. My point was His numbers are good across the board but not great. Averaging only 3 more ppg. His FG% is down even though his 3P% is significantly up, which is odd. Assists and blocks are up but steals and FT% way down. All BE 2nd team maybe but we needed an all American.

Do we? I think this team could be just fine with Alex in a role as a slightly juiced up version of last year, as long as guys like Solo, Liam keep getting better, we tighten up the defense, sort out rotations and explore ball handling options with Nowell, as a fully healthy team. Still a lot to be baked out. We have most of the ingredients, Hurley may just need to find ways of doing a little improv in areas where he’s missing the garnish.

 

[Ricker]

I apologize to the board.

At some point when I was touting him years ago I made a prediction that he could go his career without missing 2 foul shots in a row. Ouch, In a clutch situation. My comment was a jinx and I own it. Bad Ricker. Bad Ricker.

 

[bendm]

Do we? I think this team could be just fine with Alex in a role as a slightly juiced up version of last year, as long as guys like Solo, Liam keep getting better, we tighten up the defense, sort out rotations and explore ball handling options with Nowell, as a fully healthy team. Still a lot to be baked out. We have most of the ingredients, Hurley may just need to find ways of doing a little improv in areas where he’s missing the garnish.

What do you mean by just fine? I thought you just implied somewhere that we’re heading towards a 4/5 seed and probable L against Duke or Auburn in the sweet 16? Maybe if we had an AA stepping up while Liam is out we’d get that 2/3? We can still go 6-1 with Liam out but Alex has to be better

 

[alphasigko]

Agreed. These past few years and bringing ready made transfer players in have spoiled us.

This is a normal process for getting guys developed and ready to play. Ross will be fine and should learn from his mistakes as long as he keeps getting the minutes to learn.

And the offense and defense pays the price for his need to learn.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

And the offense and defense pays the price for his need to learn.

This is the normal process for developing very talented, but raw players.

Most of his issues comes down to he simply plays too fast. This experience will be good for him long term and I don’t mind us dropping a game here and there on the way to us being a deeper, more well rounded team setup for the future.