Villanova Post Game Thread

[Fan1978]

Alex is being judged against expectations. He's a preseason All-American candidate, and he's not living up to that standard. It's not just this game either...

He scored 8 against Gonzaga on 30% shooting (0 for 7 from three).
He scored 6 against Colorado on 12.5% shooting (1 for 7 from three).

Consistency is the name of the game, and Alex has been pretty streaky his entire career. If he's going to elevate to that AA status, he needs to be more consistent.

FWIW, Eric Dixon had a very poor game by his standards (30% shooting) and still scored 23 and had a huge impact on the game.

Dixon played like crap and exposed as nba failure he will be. Jaylin showed is his nba non future. Refs set him up at line on phantom fouls all night

 

[Connecticut13]

I mean….Fine. But he was a piece on those teams and needs to take a big step forward this year.

I also don’t love this from Hurley, it seems like he does that a lot. It’s not about the past, he didn’t play great, don’t play with your rings, get in the gym and fix the mishaps.

Eh, I'm fine with it. Karaban was a big piece of those teams. Kid had a rough night. He's telling him to hold his chin up and move on - not to dwell over one game when he's already accomplished so much. He'll have his chance again to shine.

 

[husky429]

Wanted to add I do think Nowell showed enough to earn some minutes at Georgetown.

He wasn't great. He was probably a neutral. Made a bad defensive decision and a bad pass to Reed. But he did have a nice assist to Jaylin (I think) and a board.

 

[CTBasketball]

often times in end of game situations if you don't take the first open shot you might not get another one that good again, and unfortunately that was the case tonight. posters have got up in arms over him taking end of clock shots(not me) but that's due to the offense being bogged down and there not being any other options, that wasn't the case with that potential wide open 3.

I thought he was going to pull up. Sort of wished he did. But hindsight is 20/20 we didn’t lose the game on the last possession.

 

[superjohn]

Solo doesn't go to the hoop well enough to demand the ball at end of clock/end of game situations. He gets lost in the air a lot and doesn't finish great. Although I wouldn't have minded him chucking a three since it was better odds than whatever else we were trying to do

I would rather Solo taking a three or pump faking for an elbow jumper than getting it to AK. I would rather throwing it into Tarris. I would rather Hass have the ball.

 

[jibsey]

Dixon played like crap and exposed as nba failure he will be. Jaylin showed is his nba non future. Refs set him up at line on phantom fouls all night

NBA failure? He drives to the rim makes or draws contact and gets fouled and made long range shots. Besides McNeeley for us who has a better shot in the NBA?

 

[puppygenius]

We lost to a Kyle Neptune coached team

What does that mean, or should I say what do YOU mean?

 

[80shusky]

The end was a mess. Forget the free throws. The rest of it was a disaster. Great that the team came back and made it a game they could win. Stewart was awesome hope we see that rewarded. He defended Dixon reasonably well when he was almost unstoppable. Ball did some driving, had a few mid range makes and assists and showed an expanded bag tonight. Diarra had 11, 9 asts and 4 boards. Just too flat in the first half and too many turnovers.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Eh, I'm fine with it. Karaban was a big piece of those teams. Kid had a rough night. He's telling him to hold his chin up and move on - not to dwell over one game when he's already accomplished so much. He'll have his chance again to shine.

Yeah hold your head up abd move on is great. Don’t focus on the past success, that will lead to inherent complacency. I just haven’t loved Dan Hurley’s tendency to try to remind everyone that we are 2x champs.

 

[djct1999]

I can’t imagine what next year will look like w Mullens and Solo on the floor together. I bet Luke is already in the lab coming up w new sets.

 

[djct1999]

It’s 1 game. On the road. A quad 1 opponent. We played as poorly as we can play, we are without one of our best players and alpha on the offense end, our leader missed two consecutive ft’s to ice it, and lost by 2. I think it will be ok.

 

[KingAG]

I mean….Fine. But he was a piece on those teams and needs to take a big step forward this year.

I also don’t love this from Hurley, it seems like he does that a lot. It’s not about the past, he didn’t play great, don’t play with your rings, get in the gym and fix the mishaps.

I mean it’s pretty obvious he does both. Do you think Hurley doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time trying to fix issues with the team?

I think the message he’s portraying is “to not lose confidence, you’ve done this before.”

 

[The Viking]

Pretty standard coaching 101 - not sure why anyone would be annoyed by it.
Karaban will be doing enough self-flagellation over the next few days. A good coach is there to pump confidence in him. Rare is the coach who can do it by talking about multiple rings

 

[Gurleyman]

@aceboon made this point too. I disagree but I see the logic. Had he missed it, he would have incurred the wrath of the BY.

Hass is my favorite player, but the one issue I have with him is that he has taken too many last shots (at the end of both halves). The big outlier was when he found Solo during the Memphis game for the game-tying three.

Down just 1, I was glad we tried to put pressure on their defense and draw a foul (which we did successfully, though I thought it was clean). Without Liam we don't really have that end of clock, go-to dribble drive guy who can make something happen.

Personally I’d have been fine with it. It was a good clean look and if he missed and Nova rebounded, we’d have another possession with enough time (15 seconds) to get another good look.

Trouble is we were coming out of a timeout with a plan in mind and Dan Hurley probably wanted to get into some sort of action. So he’d have to more or less go against the bench instructions, which is hard to do in that spot. If I’m Dan Hurley, I’m ok with going against the play design in that situation, since it isn’t like you’d expect someone to be that open and you couldn’t ask for a better look. (Although Hass missed a winning 3 badly in Maui, so there’s that element too).

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I mean it’s pretty obvious he does both. Do you think Hurley doesn’t spend an inordinate amount of time trying to fix issues with the team?

I think the message he’s portraying is to not lose confidence, you’ve done this before.

Again, i’m very pro-don’t lose confidence. I just don’t think he needs to bring up the 2 champ thing. It isn’t related to now/tonight. I’m confident AK will bounce back.

Also, done what before?

 

[KingAG]

Again, i’m very pro-don’t lose confidence. I just don’t think he needs to bring up the 2 champ thing. It isn’t related to now/tonight. I’m confident AK will bounce back.

Also, done what before?

Won, hit big shots, come up big in big moments, performed on stages much larger than Finerv. Don’t let tonight mess with your confidence. Look at the 2 rings and remember who you are. A champion. I don’t see what’s wrong with that. None of that insinuates that there isn’t work to be done. It’s the DNA he’s referring to.

 

[willie99]

Hopefully Alex just bottomed out

Thank you for everything, you've given us so much joy

We've got your back, I know you're going to finish strong

It's a conference road game in January

 

[Deleted at users request]

Personally I’d have been fine with it. It was a good clean look and if he missed and Nova rebounded, we’d have another possession with enough time (15 seconds) to get another good look.

Trouble is we were coming out of a timeout with a plan in mind and Dan Hurley probably wanted to get into some sort of action. So he’d have to more or less go against the bench instructions, which is hard to do in that spot. If I’m Dan Hurley, I’m ok with going against the play design in that situation, since it isn’t like you’d expect someone to be that open and you couldn’t ask for a better look. (Although Hass missed a winning 3 badly in Maui, so there’s that element too).

sigh

This is when I miss times when players were taught how to play basketball and not how to run plays.

A Kemba, Bazz, Boatright, Price had the right to change plays and improvise as they saw fit because Calhoun trusted how well he coached them to make plays themselves.

We have some great great plays, but we should also keep developing guys to rise above the Xs and Os when necessary.

 

[superjohn]

Meh, I cut slack. Dude came through for two years straight, 2 championships, pretty good this year. Gotta cut him some slack.

He's great he's just not one of the handful of best players in college basketball this season like he was hyped up as. He's a great connector piece on great teams. It's no slight because our starting 5 last season was the best starting 5 I've seen in college basketball but he was our fifth best player.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Won, hit big shots, come up big in big moments, performed on stages much larger than Finerv. Don’t let tonight mess with your confidence. Look at the 2 rings and remember who you are. A champion. I don’t see what’s wrong with that. None of that insinuates that there isn’t work to be done. It’s the DNA he’s referring to.

I don’t mind it too much, and I agree with your larger message. Just prefer keeping that part out of the media, that’s all.

 

[KingAG]

I don’t mind it too much, and I agree with your larger message. Just prefer keeping that part out of the media, that’s all.

I understand that. I think some of it is Hurley playing into his role as heel of CBB. Does he need to be doing it after losses? Probably not. But I’ll take it with the success. If it starts hindering our success I’ll sing a different tune.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I understand that. I think some of it is Hurley playing into his role as heel of CBB. Does he need to be doing it after losses? Probably not. But I’ll take it with the success. If it starts hindering our success I’ll sing a different tune.

It won’t hinder success, he’s not the type to get complacent. I also don’t want him to be the heel though lol.

 

[KingAG]

It won’t hinder success, he’s not the type to get complacent. I also don’t want him to be the heel though lol.

I think it’s too late for that haha. Everyone hates him and he leans into it

 

[uconnever]

My first thought was dump it in to Reed at the end, I hope Alex doesn’t lose confidence over this.

 

[superjohn]

Tarris was 3/3 fg's. How the hell does he only get 3 shots tonight and why weren't we getting the ball into him? The guy is an automatic bucket when we get it to him on the block, the problem is we don't get it into him nearly enough. Guy is shooting 69% this season.

 

[IndyLives]

Pretty standard coaching 101 - not sure why anyone would be annoyed by it.
Karaban will be doing enough self-flagellation over the next few days. A good coach is there to pump confidence in him. Rare is the coach who can do it by talking about multiple rings

I think we forget these are just kids, many with a ton of pressure to make it to the next level and become wealthy, who can lose confidence in a second. Danny does a good job instilling self-confidence. Its why players want to come here.

 

[Mike Honcho]

Yeah man we can’t depend on Diarra to be our end of game shot maker or Karaban for that matter. They do not have the talent to be those guys.

The role should go to Liam when he’s healthy, Solo, and maybe even Stew. Those guys have the talent to score over guys in difficult situations. But Diarra is a super confident guy. Which can be a great thing and can be harmful at times.

Fwiw, Hass had the clutch gene at A&M.

New UConn men’s basketball guard Hassan Diarra has knack for clutch shots: ‘You need that in March’

The Huskies basketball transfer from Texas A&M bring New York confidence to Coach Dan Hurley's squad.

www.ctinsider.com

As a sophomore last season at Texas A&M, Diarra hit not one, not two, but three shots that either tied or won the game for the Aggies with 10 seconds or less left to play.

 

[mauconnfan]

For me it’s all about how they react next game now. Not a huge deal at all if they come out with their hair on fire against the Hoyas. Don’t think this will be easy they are very similar to what we just saw will try to beat our defenders one on one and they are very talented in compared to the last few years.

Very important game, not saying a must but don’t come out first half and stink up the joint again. Get all over them both ends have a real good first 20, let’s stop chasing for the last 20.

 

[lateralous]

I've taken my 75 year old Dad (who we might say is just generally a fan of Big East basketball) to two games this year, tonight and Gonzaga at MSG. He's pretty sure Stewart is a star:<)

I completely see get what Danny is hoping Ross turns into by seasons end because it's a piece the team desperately needs, but man it just doesn't seem to be slowing down for him at all out there. Whoever called him a "spazz" first absolutely nailed it.

 

[Zissou]

You should have fired Hurley and poached Neptune when you had the chance.

Now the pendulum has swung back to Nova.

Winter is coming, UConn.