Villanova Post Game Thread

[Yawin4Heisman]

We can argue otherwise because it's not true

You’re right... The blocking call on Stewart where Brennan barreled into him wasn’t 50/50…. That one was probably 62(charge)/38(block)… that’s a poor job by me… but seriously if you’re not even going to concede that was roughly a 50/50 call (the announcers said as much, along the lines of “I don’t know about that” so I guess they’re clueless as well) you’re not to be taken seriously Mr. Danger. Just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. A “refs are never to blame” absolutist hardo. That was yet another potential 5th foul on Brennan if I’m not mistaken… Felt like very shortly thereafter a 50/50 block/charge call went against Silas on the other end to add insult to injury….

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I don't know if Malachi played at all in the second half. It seemed like Ross got all his minutes.

I'm thinking of rewatching the big OOC games to see if Malachi is playing differently or if it just seems so because nothing good seems to happen when he's been in during the last 8 to 10 games.

Malachi for a while now has pretty much only been playing backup PG minutes (ie he’s not on the floor with Silas). Ross cannot play PG, so he’s not taking the minutes Malachi is currently playing.

 

[prankster]

I don't give a FF about the spread.

Apparently the refs do. Why would anyone suppose that they do that?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I have a feeling we finally put together a full game vs PC and win by 25

 

[RuffRuff]

We have seen the January offensive swoon in year's past. And we have seen this staff figure it out. Unlike last year, this year's tram is winning these close games and won't end up with an 8 seed in the NCAA.

Good or bad, this staff has earned the right to have a long leash figuring out how to get a team to be ready for March and April.

Lots here suggesting the January swoon is an intentional part of the process. Agree on the leash. The big question is whether this team has the pieces to make a title run. It worked in the non conference but it’s looked shakey since.

 

[Dove]

Winners win ! That's all

Damn right, Marat!!

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Fascinating is that our OKP last year was ranked 15th, in what was a much stronger overall field. Our defense was 74. Now we are 37 in O, 4 in D.

Meanwhile we should have a better offensive roster this year. It's hard to figure out why this O is struggling so much.

I’ve said this before, one very simple reason is because we are not shooting as well this year. Just the fact that Solo is struggling from 3 is probably dragging our KP ORtg down by at least 2-3 Pts per 100 possessions.

If you add 2-3 pts to our current KP ORtg, it puts us at ~124.5 which would be top 15.

 

[Palatine]

I would love to see a replay.

But as I remember it. The Nova player hit BM in the head with his shoulder. He then extended his arm, which came across Mullins neck. I thought that smacking your arm into an opponents neck and knocking him down is a flagrant foul.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Another absolutely pathetic home crowd - no energy in the building until the very end.

I was sitting next to two younger guys from SD (Del Mar) who moved to NY and Newington respectively; former took the train out and they both came up. Latter recently started working for P&W, loves basketball, and was actively trying to become an adopted UConn fan, asking me good questions.

He was asking about games being played in Hartford, I mentioned the split between Hartford and Gampel, and did my best to quickly describe the differences in crowds; namely, that on a game to game basis, XL is louder because there are ~7k more seats. I was surprised how quiet the crowd was until the last couple minutes, especially in such a wire-to-wire game against an old rival.

There was, unfortunately, some jackass in front of me loudly shaming the crowd by screaming “WHY ARE YOU HERE? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHAT DID YOU PAY FOR?”. Wish we didn’t have losers like that in the crowd. Don’t be that guy. We’re all fans. We don’t all need to be losing our voices.

 

[uconn_jack]

You would trade Reed for any other center in the country right now??

Okay.

Huh? I said I wouldn't. Would not.

 

[Palatine]

Is this what they mean when they say taking one for the team?

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[prankster]

I would love to see a replay.

But as I remember it. The Nova player hit BM in the head with his shoulder. He then extended his arm, which came across Mullins neck. I thought that smacking your arm into an opponents neck and knocking him down is a flagrant foul.

Some of us thought that that might be the case.

But there is a large number of Boneyarders who feel that drilling your forearm into your opponent's throat is "play on".

 

[Inyatkin]

I’m going to assume you don’t post a long excerpt from the Duke board unless you agree with it, and look, I get we’re not blowing people’s doors off lately, but this is not how you beat the “I hate all our players” allegations

 

[upstater]

Also noticed they omitted the worst double dribble I've ever seen not called (where Ross lept up and got driven past). Killed me that the announcer saw the replay and said "What a move" (as I was screaming at my TV)

And they called one on Malachi a little bit earlier.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Lots here suggesting the January swoon is an intentional part of the process. Agree on the leash. The big question is whether this team has the pieces to make a title run. It worked in the non conference but it’s looked shakey since.

I wouldn't call it intentional part of the process, I'd say it's more a byproduct they don't focus on too much. You learn from the swoon but don't let it jump longer-term development plans.

 

[upstater]

Lots here suggesting the January swoon is an intentional part of the process. Agree on the leash. The big question is whether this team has the pieces to make a title run. It worked in the non conference but it’s looked shakey since.

We didn't even have Solo, Braylon and Tarris playing well at the same time at all this year, and Silas was not Silas.

The pieces are here.

They just haven't been playing together yet.

Solo had a lull, Tarris's swoon is evident, Braylon is still not fully in the swing of things and it seems it's going to take awhile for that to happen, while the bench could be better. Only Karaban and Demary have given us any consistency.

Braylon needs more plays where he's not solely hunting 3s. We need to take advantage of his midrange game more.

 

[upstater]

I think we should take Hurley at face value when he says that this team cannot compete for a title the way they are playing now. We are in late January -- time to wake up.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Huh? I said I wouldn't. Would not.

I edited my response to you and I'll repeat it here for clarity.

You wouldn't trade Reed for any other center? I'd trade him for at least 6-7 other centers in a heartbeat. He's a beast when he's on his game, but there are several other centers playing at a higher level more consistently who would fit in to UConn's schemes. And there's nothing wrong with UConn having a center who is top 10 in the country but also acknowledging there are better options out there.

 

[superjohn]

I’m going to assume you don’t post a long excerpt from the Duke board unless you agree with it, and look, I get we’re not blowing people’s doors off lately, but this is not how you beat the “I hate all our players” allegations

Why is he scouring a Duke message board and Reddit for posts that are trashing the UConn team and then posting it here?

 

[Travelman6]

Still have, arguably the 5 toughest BE games ahead: Creighton x2, St John's x2, and @Nova and Shall is probably top 8 toughest of the 20 games, @Butler too even, possibly. Uconn had to go 9-1 or 10-0 in the first half to have a shot at a BET 1 seed as the schedule is very back loaded. Don't want to overlook Providence considering the OT game (but I think Uconn turns it up a notch or two in game 2 at home) or Xavier (but already crushed them away) but very well could be 11-1 going into game 1 vs St John's, and they are breathing down UConns neck in the standings and will likely be 10-1 themselves, could be a fight for sole possession of first. On the road will be very hard.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[RuffRuff]

Still have, arguably the 5 toughest BE games ahead: Creighton x2, St John's x2, and @Nova and Shall is probably top 8 toughest of the 20 games, @Butler too even, possibly. Uconn had to go 9-1 or 10-0 in the first half to have a shot at a BET 1 seed as the schedule is very back loaded.

Yup - the hard part is coming. Early part was supposed to fine tune us, but now we go into the tough stretch not fine tuned at all. BE1 and 1 seed in play. We do not have much room for error with StJ only having one loss and a group of teams ready to plunge on the 1 seed.

 

[AllHusky]

Why is he scouring a Duke message board and Reddit for posts that are trashing the UConn team and then posting it here?

Permission to enter into evidence as Exhibit 5 Your Honor.

 

[Inyatkin]

Why is he scouring a Duke message board and Reddit for posts that are trashing the UConn team and then posting it here?

He’s just speaking facts, calling balls and strikes, the rest of us just can’t handle his truth telling