We should’ve won but overall it’s not terrible.

[CardiacAndre7]

Yea we aren’t a great shooting team. I wouldn’t go as far as to say bad. Say we went 6-21? We win. Polley and Hawkins(2 very good shooters) missed multiple wide open shots. That won’t keep happening

Yeah but what if they shot 65% from the line.

 

[AntG168]

Don’t know where you saw us run the offense well. I can probably count on one hand the amount of times we actually got into and ran a set. And that was only in the first half, I didn’t see anything run well in the second half. We did defend pretty well for stretches but still got beat off the dribble too often and as the game wore on they scored a lot in the paint, where they really shouldn’t against us.

The first half we defended really well in my opinion. They got A LOT of tough shots. Also we can’t on one hand say they missed a lot of open shots and then on the other hand not credit the offense for generating open shots. It’s a contradiction. Had they made the WIDE open shots, your view on how they “ran” the offense would be different

 

[Doctor Hoop]

The shooting isn’t on Hurley, but my god do we look like a rec team when it comes to
calling plays to get a decent look at critical times. Also our inbounds plays suck, we’re Always just content to get the ball in.

I think there's a tendency in Hurley, and to be fair a large number of coaches at other schools, to coach these college players like an NBA coach might coach their players. That is, give them freedom to create. The problem is that these aren't NBA players, although some may eventually develop that level of skill. It's not reasonable expect that getting the ball inbounds, or creating a shot as the clock runs down is something that happens organically, especially down the stretch. Create some structure that they can rely on when the game is tense.

 

[AntG168]

Yeah but what if they shot 65% from the line.

They never make they’re free throws. Most of the guys who were missing for them aren’t good free throw shooters. Polley and Hawkins had abnormal nights

 

[Hi-Low]

If the season ended today I'd agree, on its own tonight was a step back. But progression isn't always linear, especially when so much of our ceiling is tied into young guys. If it gets to be March and Hawkins and Jackson are still making this many mistakes then I can say we're not a great team

Hawkins better be better and I think he will be. Jackson not so sure, he needs to integrate some discipline asap.

This team could be a 2 or 3 seed if things break right but I also think a bubble team isn't out of the question. Need the win on Sat & a good start to BE season.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

The first half we defended really well in my opinion. They got A LOT of tough shots. Also we can’t on one hand say they missed a lot of open shots and then on the other hand not credit the offense for generating open shots. It’s a contradiction. Had they made the WIDE open shots, your view on how they “ran” the offense would be different

That’s a cop out though. What ifs are dumb. We missed the shots, and it’s not like we’re a good shooting team in the first place. Also got a lot of those open looks in transition or off of offensive boards, not a well run offense. I think you’ll struggle to find posters on this board that thought we ran the offense well.

 

[Waquoit]

That means absolutely nothing. Everyone watched what happen. You can gaslight all you want. We should have won that game.

I nominate you as the leader of the Fellowship.

 

[ASweet3781]

I nominate you as the leader of the Fellowship.

Good.

This loss pissed me off. We should have won it. Just like the Michigan St. game. We'd be top 10 now with only loss being to Baylor.

 

[fatlucy]

I thought Whaley played very well, and plays world's better when Sanogo isn't in the lineup. While Sanogo is the "best" player on the team on paper, I fear that the black hole that he is once he catches the ball is holding other players back.

Ball movement and motion on offense has been much better without him. He's a huge plus when he's shooting above the team shooting %, but if he's off and he's not passing then he's a net negative as he's only a decent rebounder and defender.

Not sure if his unwillingness to pass is on the player or the coaches - probably both - but I don't think him coming back is the silver bullet. He needs to come back with more of a willingness to pass, and the coaching staff needs to integrate him into the offense as more than just a back to the basket threat. Think getting Martin back is more of the difference maker at this point IMO

How do you spend an entire post criticizing a guy who didn’t even play?

 

[Salty Dog]

Absolutely pissed off. To the people trying to sugar coat the loss I'll say this... its not that we lost its HOW we lost. Barley scoring in the last 4 minutes? Check. Fouling 35 feet from the basket to put them at the line? Check. Giving up crucial OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS off of missed free throws? Check. Shot clock violations in the last 3 minutes? Check. We should have won this game without two of our starters, not to mention shooting absolutely god awful from three, and that goes to show just how good this team can be. But its them not living up to the potential we all know they can achieve that really is the worst feeling.

As one side-note, RJ Cole is elite. His play has been great as of late. I also want to note that I think Hurley did a good job. It seemed like he had a quick hook tonight with some of the upperclassman and thats something that absolutely has to happen.

 

[Rocktheworld]

AJ was brutal any time he was on or in control of the ball

Akok got nothing going

Polley was a no-show

Moment too big for Hawk?

No Martin or Sanogo

Refs sucked

In their house

It is what it is

 

[ConnEd]

As a long time fan (Tony Hanson, Joey Whelan era), I've seen this team grow from a small, regional team to a national power as many of us have. I think the negative takes here are just the airing of the disappointment and frustration in losing a winnable game.

Is it terrible losing your first road game by 3 without two of your best players while in a hostile environment with some home cooking from the refs (20 fouls on us vs 13 on WV?) against a P5 opponent while shooting 14% from 3? No. Do those facts make it any easier to accept the loss in the moments right after it when we all know they could've won with a little better coaching or execution? No. Still sucks.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That’s a cop out though. What ifs are dumb. We missed the shots, and it’s not like we’re a good shooting team in the first place. Also got a lot of those open looks in transition or off of offensive boards, not a well run offense. I think you’ll struggle to find posters on this board that thought we ran the offense well.

I get that. And I think it’s true. But we created almost endless wide open looks in the first half and missed them all. Guys with no defender anywhere near them. I’m not sure what more could be done than that. We missed every single one of those shots.

 

[auror]

That’s a cop out though. What ifs are dumb. We missed the shots, and it’s not like we’re a good shooting team in the first place. Also got a lot of those open looks in transition or off of offensive boards, not a well run offense. I think you’ll struggle to find posters on this board that thought we ran the offense well.

We ran nice offense in the first 30 minutes. We had several half court dunks on PnR, including 1 ATO, a couple nice Cole lobs for easy tip-ins. Some nice skip passes to wide open shooters. We punished their overplays with penetration a few times. WVU's defense is designed to take you out of your offense by pressuring the facilitators, and I thought Hurley put our guys in the right mindset and spots to capitalize on their defense for much of the game. We got a lot of easy looks compared to the shots that WVU was getting.

But WVU ramped up the D in the last 10 minutes boosted by the home crowd and we started hunting shots for some reason. We also turned the ball over a few times in crazy, frustrating fashion, so I may be attributing some of those to my recollection of the offense, That and a few guys who were open didn't shoot when they needed to and led to some shot clock violations (Akok, Jackson). That's on the players, not the sets.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I get that. And I think it’s true. But we created almost endless wide open looks in the first half and missed them all. Guys with no defender anywhere near them. I’m not sure what more could be done than that. We missed every single one of those shots.

Yeah but we know we miss shots often. Obviously not to that degree, but we aren’t a good shooting team. My problem is we don’t adjust when we aren’t shooting well. No one pump fakes on our team. I mean, how many times in the last few games have our players fallen for pump fakes? Why the hell can’t we do that. And we just literally don’t drive to the hopp at all. I watched 5 minutes of the KSU-Marquette game and saw more drives than we had our entire game. It’s so frustrating.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We ran nice offense in the first 30 minutes. We had several half court dunks on PnR, including 1 ATO, a couple nice Cole lobs for easy tip-ins. Some nice skip passes to wide open shooters. We punished their overplays with penetration a few times. WVU's defense is designed to take you out of your offense by pressuring the facilitators, and I thought Hurley put our guys in the right mindset and spots to capitalize on their defense for much of the game. We got a lot of easy looks compared to the shots that WVU was getting.

But WVU ramped up the D in the last 10 minutes boosted by the home crowd and we started hunting shots for some reason. We also turned the ball over a few times in crazy, frustrating fashion, so I may be attributing some of those to my recollection of the offense, That and a few guys who were open didn't shoot when they needed to and led to some shot clock violations (Akok, Jackson). That's on the players, not the sets.

I would bet that most of those looks came with under 10 seconds on the shotclock after Cole dribbled without any help, then pulled magic out to get to the rim. What i’m saying is our offense is so hard to watch because we don’t do anythinf for the first 15-20 seconds then we decide it’s time. That’s not what good teams do.

 

[storrsroars]

Maybe a minor point, but one thing common to both losses: Cole never got to the FT line in either. Maybe that's by design due to MSU/WVU defenses or its major conference refs, but then he also went 7/8 vs Auburn. Whatever, I just find that interesting.

 

[auror]

I would bet that most of those looks came with under 10 seconds on the shotclock after Cole dribbled without any help, then pulled magic out to get to the rim. What i’m saying is our offense is so hard to watch because we don’t do anythinf for the first 15-20 seconds then we decide it’s time. That’s not what good teams do.

Our offense was also designed to feed Sanogo in the post as the first option. We lost a huge chunk of the playbook.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Our offense was also designed to feed Sanogo in the post as the first option. We lost a huge chunk of the playbook.

Oh 100%. But a great X’s and O’s coach then gets back to the drawing board and find new ways to score. I’ve stated this in chats and other threads, but we never get our guards going downhill. That’s why Cole and Gaff and AJ don’t get to the rim much. Tyrese does because he’s a very aggressive player. We need more of that. We have too many guys that are either too slow or scared of contact. Great teams get drives to the rim pretty much whenever we want. We can’t in like any situation.

 

[Rocktheworld]

Maybe a minor point, but one thing common to both losses: Cole never got to the FT line in either. Maybe that's by design due to MSU/WVU defenses or its major conference refs, but then he also went 7/8 vs Auburn. Whatever, I just find that interesting.

Yeah I think cole being able to attack the rim freely would be a decent brokered of this team’s success

 

[auror]

Oh 100%. But a great X’s and O’s coach then gets back to the drawing board and find new ways to score. I’ve stated this in chats and other threads, but we never get our guards going downhill. That’s why Cole and Gaff and AJ don’t get to the rim much. Tyrese does because he’s a very aggressive player. We need more of that. We have too many guys that are either too slow or scared of contact. Great teams get drives to the rim pretty much whenever we want. We can’t in like any situation.

It's been literally a week since Sanogo got hurt. There's only so much drawing you can do, and like I said I thought the offense was largely pretty good today minus the shot making and dumb turnovers. I bet our shot quality metric was actually quite high.

Neither Gaff or Cole are 1st step exploders that can really get downhill or turn the corner in general. Neither is great at finishing at the rim either over their career. I'm not sure designing your offense to maximize that is the right approach, but obviously hard to say either way without seeing it in action.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

It's been literally a week since Sanogo got hurt. There's only so much drawing you can do, and like I said I thought the offense was largely pretty good today minus the shot making and dumb turnovers. I bet our shot quality metric was actually quite high.

Neither Gaff or Cole are 1st step exploders that can really get downhill or turn the corner in general. Neither is great at finishing at the rim either over their career. I'm not sure designing your offense to maximize that is the right approach, but obviously hard to say either way without seeing it in action.

Well putting all the eggs in the Sanogo basket, which it seems we have, is a recipe for large stretches of no production and more aggravation like we had tonight

 

[uconnfan68]

Years ago I was working on a feature that would list # of posts after a win, vs after a loss. I couldn't get it to work well enough, but the results I did generate were predictable. Some people only showed up after a loss.

Imagine being upset enough to post after a loss! What kind of fan does that?

 

[bendm]

That means absolutely nothing. Everyone watched what happen. You can gaslight all you want. We should have won that game.

Pointing out that we were accurately pegged as underdogs is not gaslighting. It is in fact the reality of the situation.

 

[uconnfan68]

Maybe a minor point, but one thing common to both losses: Cole never got to the FT line in either. Maybe that's by design due to MSU/WVU defenses or its major conference refs, but then he also went 7/8 vs Auburn. Whatever, I just find that interesting.

And he got fouled a lot in both games. Definitely called 1 way.