Villanova Post Game Thread

[uconngb]

He’s where Solo was earlier this season. Solo has reduced this tendency. BTW as bad as Ross was Solo was worse in the first half.

That’s why Ross got minutes. But Solo turned things around second half. The more these guys play the better their going to get.

That first drive by Ross was bad. The second was not. We’re criticizing Ball and Alex for not driving to the basket enough. They can’t improve their game without attempting it. Same goes for Ross.

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

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Ross would be a better defender if he didn't jump at every ball fake.

He simply needs discipline on that end. Absolutely no reason he needs to go for every ball fake. Staying on his feet would help his defense tremendously or learning how to jump stop

 

[Ctedgeman]

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?"

 

[ctchamps]

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

He played 11 minutes had 3 rebounds, one turnover, albeit an important one, and one drive that actually was decent.

But for a player that was given the second least minutes (Nowell had that honor with 8) people are writing as if he was the major problem for this loss. Reed Jr. and Alex each had 3 turnovers. Ross had as many rebounds as Alex, Stewart and Reed.

Ross came in for Solo only after Solo got beat several times by players driving to the basket in the first half. Immediately after Ross had that turnover Mahaney was put into the game in his place. Ross had the shortest leash in this game and yet the narrative persists he’s treated as a favorite of Hurley.

That one drive that people are focusing on followed a sequence where there was little ball movement and Nowell was struggling to create.

The best thing about Ross is that this forum has moved on from making Samson their negative focus.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

Ross progressed? He was a non-entity.

Ross must be doing alchemy in practice or something because I just cannot see what Hurley sees in him right now and apparently doesn’t see in Stewart

 

[ctchamps]

Ross must be doing alchemy in practice or something because I just cannot see what Hurley sees in him right now and apparently doesn’t see in Stewart

Stewart played 32 minutes to Ross’s 11. Not sure what your point is when Stewart clearly got more playing time.

 

[superjohn]

Stewart played 32 minutes to Ross’s 11. Not sure what your point is when Stewart clearly got more playing time.

They're splitting minutes this season, Ross was named the starter when Liam went down and Hurley talks up Ross a lot while never really mentioning Stewart. It's a little confusing to a lot of us because Stewart is a significantly better basketball player than Ross.

 

[uconngb]

He played 11 minutes had 3 rebounds, one turnover, albeit an important one, and one drive that actually was decent.

But for a player that was given the second least minutes (Nowell had that honor with 8) people are writing as if he was the major problem for this loss. Reed Jr. and Alex each had 3 turnovers. Ross had as many rebounds as Alex, Stewart and Reed.

Ross came in for Solo only after Solo got beat several times by players driving to the basket in the first half. Immediately after Ross had that turnover Mahaney was put into the game in his place. Ross had the shortest leash in this game and yet the narrative persists he’s treated as a favorite of Hurley.

That one drive that people are focusing on followed a sequence where there was little ball movement and Nowell was struggling to create.

The best thing about Ross is that this forum has moved on from making Samson their negative focus.

Usually when one person is saying one thing and a hundred people are saying another, the one is typically wrong. Ross is objectively awful. He does nothing well and that certainly didn’t change tonight. Was he the reason we lost? I don’t know. But give Stewart his minutes and I think everyone on this board (except for you) would probably be much happier.

 

[TheChamps990411]

N

AK looks great as a 3rd or 4th option. #1 he is not. Hes a role player. This team will go as far as Liam, Diarra and Solo will take them.

 

[ctchamps]

Usually when one person is saying one thing and a hundred people are saying another, the one is typically wrong. Ross is objectively awful. He does nothing well and that certainly didn’t change tonight. Was he the reason we lost? I don’t know. But give Stewart his minutes and I think everyone on this board (except for you) would probably be much happier.

I’ve never argued Ross is better than Stewart.

Stewart can’t guard quicker 2s and 3s. He’s better at guarding 4s and in this game Alex guarded the three while Stewart guarded the 4. Stewart doesn’t get more playing time because he’s behind Liam and Alex.

Ross gets time against quick twos and threes. I don’t enjoy watching him making mistakes. I enjoyed every moment of Stewart’s game today. He was the only player who played well the entire game.

The difference between you and me is you feel those 11 minutes were useless. I don’t. If this was a good defensive team I’d agree with the majority and reduce his minutes. But this team is weak defensively and I’m for trying to get Ross comfortable because he’s the X factor for how deep our run will be post season.

IMO Hurley is utilizing him properly.

 

[uconngb]

They're splitting minutes this season, Ross was named the starter when Liam went down and Hurley talks up Ross a lot while never really mentioning Stewart. It's a little confusing to a lot of us because Stewart is a significantly better basketball player than Ross.

And that is blatantly obvious

 

[superjohn]

I’ve never argued Ross is better than Stewart.

Stewart can’t guard quicker 2s and 3s. He’s better at guarding 4s and in this game Alex guarded the three while Stewart guarded the 4. Stewart doesn’t get more playing time because he’s behind Liam and Alex.

Ross gets time against quick twos and threes. I don’t enjoy watching him making mistakes. I enjoyed every moment of Stewart’s game today. He was the only player who played well the entire game.

The difference between you and me is you feel those 11 minutes were useless. I don’t. If this was a good defensive team I’d agree with the majority and reduce his minutes. But this team is weak defensively and I’m for trying to get Ross comfortable because he’s the X factor for how deep our run will be post season.

IMO Hurley is utilizing him properly.

If we're depending on Ross to go far this postseason something has gone really wrong. He's the 9th best player on the team.

 

[ctchamps]

They're splitting minutes this season, Ross was named the starter when Liam went down and Hurley talks up Ross a lot while never really mentioning Stewart. It's a little confusing to a lot of us because Stewart is a significantly better basketball player than Ross.

Stewart’s minutes are reduced because he’s playing behind Liam, Alex and our two centers. Ross is not taking his positional minutes.

We are struggling to come up with good options for the 1 and 2.

If Ball or Aidan can demonstrate they can play defense at the level Cam did last season Ross’s minutes will come down significantly. If not we have to hope Ross figures things out.

As to why Hurley talks up Ross more you’ll have to ask him. My guess is he recognizes that Ross needs more encouragement than Stewart. But that treatment is no reason for this forum to dump on Ross.

 

[ctchamps]

If we're depending on Ross to go far this postseason something has gone really wrong. He's the 9th best player on the team.

Bingo. We have really bad defensive options at the 1 and 2 after Hass. That’s the reason for our bad defensive metrics. I’m hoping we can figure this out and I’m not invested in that solution being Ross. It’s not looking good so I’m not joining the bandwagon to dismiss him at this time. I’d be very happy if other options work. But you’re not going to have Stewart guard quick 2s.

 

[cp176]

Tough loss for sure but Stewart outside of one bad turnover really played well at both ends. We are athletic enough to be much better defensively. I believe in man to man but I don’t Know what their defensive philosophy is. Playing good defense means more than just getting up on your man which we aren’t too bad at. What we seem to do continually is to allow opponents to cut across our faces. Also we open the door and allow people to attack the basket continually. We are quick enough I think to not drop step and open up. Good defense means making the offense do things that they don’t want to do. You can’t win consistently if you continually at a high level if you let them kind of go wherever they want to. I go nuts every time we give up the baseline and don’t get decent help to stop the driver. It happens over and over again. So much for my little rant. Playing just decent defense last night we win by 10 and Karaban never is in the position he was in.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I can't believe we didn't post up Tarris Reed Jr. in that final stretch.

I usually hate armchair quarterbacks, but damn Donny! There's so many better options there!

 

[Umami Zen]

Almost stole an away game with an excellent second half comeback. Had the guy at the FT line you would want. Shots didn't go down. Game over.

Thought Stewie grew up tonight-esp. defensively vs Dixon. Dixon really had to work hard for his points vs him. I wish our guys would stop trying to draw offensive fouls at away games during crunch time. Refs are going to call a blocking foul or swallow the whistle. Dixon is going to get everyone of those calls on his home court. Samson continues to get "suckered" into low BBIQ fouls by experienced Bigs. A few wasted fouls by him.

Was encouraged by the fight and grit of our effort. Keep grinding and keep improving. Solo and Stewie are emerging as solid and reliable contributors.

 

[djct1999]

He played 11 minutes had 3 rebounds, one turnover, albeit an important one, and one drive that actually was decent.

But for a player that was given the second least minutes (Nowell had that honor with 8) people are writing as if he was the major problem for this loss. Reed Jr. and Alex each had 3 turnovers. Ross had as many rebounds as Alex, Stewart and Reed.

Ross came in for Solo only after Solo got beat several times by players driving to the basket in the first half. Immediately after Ross had that turnover Mahaney was put into the game in his place. Ross had the shortest leash in this game and yet the narrative persists he’s treated as a favorite of Hurley.

That one drive that people are focusing on followed a sequence where there was little ball movement and Nowell was struggling to create.

The best thing about Ross is that this forum has moved on from making Samson their negative focus.

Watching Jayden on the floor, what he brings, and how the team then plays, it’s one of two things. 1. He is not ready or 2. He is a not a high major player. Nothing against Jayden, but Danny is trying to force something here that’s just not there. In just five minutes, Nowell seemed more comfortable and quite frankly, had more of an impact. Even in small amounts of time in each game, the negatives far outweigh the positives. No other player is like that.

 

[WiseWillie]

Dixon really has changed up his game over his 11 years at Villanova

Need more Stewart from now on

Yes, Dixon working on a post-PhD in P&S (Push and Shove) without getting called for fouls. Masterful.

 

[alphasigko]

No. Game was lost when DH brain spasmed and put AM and JR when we had just taken the lead and had all the momentum with about 7 min to go and within 2 awful possessions we were immediately down 2. That was one of the worst lineups we’ve thrown out on the floor in the last 4 years.

Coupled with totally ignoring Reed and Stewart in the 2nd half which were considerable advantages we had.

THEN the awful sequence at the end just to seal the worst coached game of the last three years.

For gods sake, it was Kyle Neptune on the other bench. Nova was just waiting to fold.

I would LIKE this post 10x if I could!

 

[WiseWillie]

Ross hit 1 three and got beat a few times. One time he didn’t wait to run a set instead drove to the hoop got his shot blocked and then was pulled.

Hurley playing Ross, Mahaney, Nowell, and Stew together absolutely killed us in the first half. He can’t be doing that.

That lineup in first half took the mo and wind out from us. Can't understand that lineup at that time. Would have been lot more appropriate in 4th to get some players some playing time if we were up by 20 but at that time? Puzzling.

 

[freshler40]

I'm with ya

Dixon sold that foul.

 

[Mr. French]

He played 11 minutes had 3 rebounds, one turnover, albeit an important one, and one drive that actually was decent.

But for a player that was given the second least minutes (Nowell had that honor with 8) people are writing as if he was the major problem for this loss. Reed Jr. and Alex each had 3 turnovers. Ross had as many rebounds as Alex, Stewart and Reed.

Ross came in for Solo only after Solo got beat several times by players driving to the basket in the first half. Immediately after Ross had that turnover Mahaney was put into the game in his place. Ross had the shortest leash in this game and yet the narrative persists he’s treated as a favorite of Hurley.

That one drive that people are focusing on followed a sequence where there was little ball movement and Nowell was struggling to create.

The best thing about Ross is that this forum has moved on from making Samson their negative focus.

Ross has not looked good, he was lost a few times on O and D, and he’s not playing confidently or consistently.

He’s not the major reason we lost of course, but him filling in for an important piece and somewhat regressing, rather than “stepping up” is worthy of discussion.

Ross is clearly showing talent and skill set to be excited about, but everything I see is simple as a kid not being fully confident and ready yet. He’s a bit all over rather than just playing.

 

[TheShot1990]

It seemed to be an off night for Hurley and he made some key mistakes:

• Going to a player who was having an off night 3 times in a row at the end
• Playing Ross in critical situations is not a way to build his confidence. He's just not ready yet
• What happened to Luke's Euro-style offense? In the first half, the plan seemed to be have Hass dribble the ball around for 15 seconds, then pick up his dribble (which drives me crazy) then pass it behind him to a circling player only to start all over again but even further away from the hoop
• Stewie was all over Dixon - stick with that...more

What happened to "chucking cutters?"