Well

[WhereistheDove?]

Diarra is fine. It’s the rest of the team that’s not fine.

Diarra is fine but he is not capable of the role Hurley and staff clearly envisioned for him. My comment is not a knock on Diarra, it’s a knock on the staff for thinking he and Mahaney could run the point.

 

[3rdbass]

Hard to correct the issues with no practice time between these three games, but roster construction is something that will plauge this team all season.

Nowell is the most important, if he can run the offense AND provide the boat/bazz level of D, cutting off the opposing point guard - then the team will look much better. If not, it is going to be a long year - Mahaney is a shooting guard and Hass ( who I will always love) is a 6th man.

Yeah Diarra has to be the backup PG and not the starter. I was hoping he would make a jump this year but he looks the same as last year. Hustle guy who plays good D and can score at times. At least he drives. Maybe they need to have Diarra teaching "How to Drive the ball to the basket" as our team falls too in love with taking 3's.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Some good Uconn news: Tyrese Martin scored 30 against Durant and the Suns

 

[Fishy]

And he wasnt even playing his natural position

The great thing about Stephon is that he has like 3.5 natural positions.

 

[tuvent08]

Mahaney looks like he could be the most important miss of Hurley’s tenure because he was so integral to our vision of success and he is simply unplayable on defense. I hope he proves me wrong but it’s hard to be optimistic right now.

 

[AntG168]

Some good Uconn news: Tyrese Martin scored 30 against Durant and the Suns

We could use Tyrese Martin

 

[Mike Honcho]

He wasn't wrong about Diarra. He was supposed to be 6th man off the bench but unfortunately that all changed when he missed on Mahaney being a PG. I never though he was a PG and still baffled Dan thought he was.

The "wall potential" talk of SJ from a couple years ago hasn't stood the test of time. It was ridiculous to say then and is even more of a head scratcher now. Samson is so frustrating. He's an A+ lob threat that puts great pressure on defenses in the pick and roll game but he cannot corral a rebound even if he gets both of his mitts on it.

And in four years he hasn't figured out how to defend his own man without fouling -- he is purely a weak side help defender who sells out on every shot attempt. Dayton got their first 4 points on easy putbacks because of this.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Dan decided to roll with his guys coming off ultimate success. It was a bad move, but I think most people make the same decisions in his shoes. Nobody was criticizing it before the season.

I hope he can make something of this season, even if we don’t win another championship.

 

[Gurleyman]

He wasn't wrong about Diarra. He was supposed to be 6th man off the bench but unfortunately that all changed when he missed on Mahaney being a PG. I never thought he was a PG and still baffled Dan thought he was.

Hell, if Mahaney could be a halfway decent 2, we could at least work with that. We’d have 4 shooters to rotate at 2-4 (plus Ross/Stewart). If we have to go with Diarra-Nowell at point, so be it. But we are riding with McNeeley on an 0-9 night because we’re short a rotation guy. Maybe we need to just get him some shots off screens and see if he can be a dude.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We are talented!!!!

God if anything comes out of this I legitimately love @superjohn getting his nuts kicked in.

 

[superjohn]

We are talented!!!!

God if anything comes out of this I legitimately love @superjohn getting his nuts kicked in.

Yes.

9 top 100 kids, 4 top 50 kids. Several future NBA players.

You think Colorado and Dayton have more talent than we do?

 

[That Guy]

Mahaney looks like he could be the most important miss of Hurley’s tenure because he was so integral to our vision of success and he is simply unplayable on defense. I hope he proves me wrong but it’s hard to be optimistic right now.

It does seem like Hurley is either hit or miss on PGs. Missed on Gaffney, Diggins, and Mahaney. Hit massively on Newton and Diarra.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

They missed big on Mahaney, and that caused a domino effect.

They will improve, the coaching staff is too good to stay this bad. I don't recall a UConn that was this poor on defense.

 

[eastern14]

The first two games in Maui they had a lot go against them, and then they collapsed in the second half against Dayton. They’re far from being one of the best teams in the country, but it will get better as the young guys gain experience and everyone learns how to play better defense. The lack of shot creation is very concerning though, over to Hurley to see what he can figure out.

 

[Connecticut13]

The alarming this is that I don’t think DH saw this coming. It’s one thing to have a rebuilding year after two straight championships. It’s another thing to be parading around talking about 3-peats and then present the pile of trash we’ve seen the last three days.

I trust that we’ll resolve some of these issues in the coming weeks - but man oh man, this is rough right now.