Well

[REB1094]

Can we trade Mahaney for Posh Alexander and a draft pick ?

Last year we banished Posh Alexander to the A10 and this year he looks like Tristen Newton against us

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Right now it looks like we have talented players that don’t maximize their talent, and don’t play offense with a purpose or defense with determination or a team concept.

We played teams with players who get the most out of their ability, don’t wilt under pressure, and understand team ball on both ends.

”Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.”

 

[djct1999]

Reminder to self, never post immediately after a game. Some of the takes on here are god awful.

 

[Dutch Boyd]

I don’t think it’s “are” problem. But it is probably one of “our” problems. Nice grammar.

Glad we cleared that up. Sitting here drinking coffee hungover watching the parade and I as well was confused about his grammar. Thankfully you being the smartest guy in the room saved us.

 

[RuffRuff]

I was hoping to see some adjustments in this one and a plan forming, instead Dan decided Samson was his guy again. If there is one thing I feel good about, it’s that Samson is not a starting 5 on any aspiring college hoops team. I am as confused with the staff at this point as I am discouraged by the play. This is going to be a long season.

Moving into a state of preservation rather than aspiration, concerns being:

- getting AK drafted in the first round. The quality around him is so poor I just hope it doesn’t impact his draft status.

-this not being so miserable a season that some of our talented young kids don’t bolt for the portal. Hurley is going to have to manage that. I was told multiple parents of kids not playing left the game early yesterday. When you’re winning you can validate your rotation decisions, when you suck parents will be asking why their kid isn’t getting run.

- making sure the recruits hold. I’m sure they joined to be part of the systematic machine of an offense and now it looks like a group of drunk people in a conga line. Top that with a coach that is blowing his top. Shouldn’t be a worry but who knows.

- Danny keeps some positivity in the national spotlight this season. He went out of his way to take every interview possible this offseason and with a lot of “confidence”. Now that the kryptonite has been unleashed and he kicked off the season with cartoon like demonstrations, you are seeing how much opposing fanbases detest the guy. Really needs to find his zen.

Such a sharp fall from grace can be tough to swallow and it presents different types of challenges. If this is in fact a bridge year you have to manage it differently as you’re not “bulletproof” in your decision making.

The portal strategy has been mystifying, maybe the delay in getting to it did impact given the glaring mismatch.

 

[Brochacho]

19-21 vs top 100 teams in our Big East era without Clingan on the roster. 45-11 with Clingan on roster. Hurley getting back to his roots but I have confidence he can figure it out.

 

[shizzle787]

Last week was a bad time to buy tickets to four games lol. I could have gotten them 70% today.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

We picked up a lot of bandwagon fans over the last two seasons. They are learning the first lesson of UConn hoop- the highest of highs tends to balanced with deep lows...

 

[auror]

The staff’s offseason evaluations of SJ, Diarra, and Mahaney seem like almost comically bad misses at this point.

Well they brought in people to start over Diarra and SJ, it's just that the replacements started slow in practice (and one of them is also on that list).

 

[cellocgg]

This happened to Arizona in 2017-18. #2 in the poll, lost 3 games in an MTE and dropped out completely

They would climb back into the polls soon after and still made the NCAA tournament at least

 

[Hi-Low]

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

Diarra is not a 30 min starting PG....he's a 15-20 min 6th man

 

[Stinger92860]

Lot’s of problems right now, but in my mind #1 is building a starting 5 and a rotation that will look much better than they do now. For example, Nowell gets to run the offense, Reed starts in the middle, and Diarra and Sampson come off the bench. An additional tweak may be needed (Ball?) but I’d start here.

#2 in my mind is the defense. It’s horrible and the numbers could be ugly if we don’t improve in this area. It’s not going to get fixed, but improvement is mandatory.

#3 rebounding has to be better. When Samson is in the game the guards have to drop and help out. Hoping we don’t get run out of the gym in this scheme. It may make sense to play more up-tempo with SJ in the game.

 

[Husky Alien]

It starts at the point guard. Well, for those who that thought Mahaney was the all mighty, he sure has a lot to prove here. (and there many of you duruing the off-season) He seems a step or too slow on D. He does not facilitate the ball very well at this time. For him to be effective he needs to guard his man better, pass 1st mentality and get into the flow of the game. He can certainly shoot the ball. He was one of the focal points at St Mary's so the offense went to him 1st, not here.

 

[AntG168]

I don’t think it’s “are” problem. But it is probably one of “our” problems. Nice grammar.

So one of OUR problems is we had Stephon Castle? Nice deflection. You’re point is still incredibly idiotic

 

[RuffRuff]

Lot’s of problems right now, but in my mind #1 is building a starting 5 and a rotation that will look much better than they do now. For example, Nowell gets to run the offense, Reed starts in the middle, and Diarra and Sampson come off the bench. An additional tweak may be needed (Ball?) but I’d start here.

#2 in my mind is the defense. It’s horrible and the numbers could be ugly if we don’t improve in this area. It’s not going to get fixed, but improvement is mandatory.

#3 rebounding has to be better. When Samson is in the game the guards have to drop and help out. Hoping we don’t get run out of the gym in this scheme. It may make sense to play more up-tempo with SJ in the game.

This plan was talked out plenty prior to game 3 and then Hurley rolled out Samson again and he played 26 minutes. There is clearly some emotional decision making going on as it’s plain as day that Samson is not a guy you can win with as a starting 5, for too many reasons to relist. He makes this team incredibly soft. I’ve seen better backup 5s on other teams.

Beyond some of the talent imbalances on this roster, many of the players Hurley is seemingly relying on don’t have the intangibles it takes to run his offense or play smart headsy basketball. It’s a hard team to watch. They do one thing well - shoot 3s. Not sure there is one other facet of basketball they do well, and just soft as butter.

 

[Zissou]

You could probably poach Neptune from Nova.

 

[Palatine]

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.

Sorry but if you are pinning your hopes on Nowell we are truly doomed. I don't know what you are watching.

I was hoping to see some adjustments in this one and a plan forming, instead Dan decided Samson was his guy again. If there is one thing I feel good about, it’s that Samson is not a starting 5 on any aspiring college hoops team. I am as confused with the staff at this point as I am discouraged by the play. This is going to be a long season.

Moving into a state of preservation rather than aspiration, concerns being:

- getting AK drafted in the first round. The quality around him is so poor I just hope it doesn’t impact his draft status.

-this not being so miserable a season that some of our talented young kids don’t bolt for the portal. Hurley is going to have to manage that. I was told multiple parents of kids not playing left the game early yesterday. When you’re winning you can validate your rotation decisions, when you suck parents will be asking why their kid isn’t getting run.

- making sure the recruits hold. I’m sure they joined to be part of the systematic machine of an offense and now it looks like a group of drunk people in a conga line. Top that with a coach that is blowing his top. Shouldn’t be a worry but who knows.

- Danny keeps some positivity in the national spotlight this season. He went out of his way to take every interview possible this offseason and with a lot of “confidence”. Now that the kryptonite has been unleashed and he kicked off the season with cartoon like demonstrations, you are seeing how much opposing fanbases detest the guy. Really needs to find his zen.

Such a sharp fall from grace can be tough to swallow and it presents different types of challenges. If this is in fact a bridge year you have to manage it differently as you’re not “bulletproof” in your decision making.

The portal strategy has been mystifying, maybe the delay in getting to it did impact given the glaring mismatch.

Samson was one of the few players who played well versus Dayton.

 

[RuffRuff]

Sorry but if you are pinning your hopes on Nowell we are truly doomed. I don't know what you are watching.


Samson was one of the few players who played well versus Dayton.

It doesn’t take much than the eyeball test and reviewing the full body of work to realize what Samson is. And he has zero upside, he is a fixed talent. Please. I get standing up for him because he’s a good kid, but any reliable evaluation can see he ain’t it.

 

[bluestreak]

Reminder to self, never post immediately after a game. Some of the takes on here are god awful.

It just hurts so much more because we have been spoiled and arrogant.

 

[bendm]

I will never complain about potentially recruiting over returning players again.

 

[RuffRuff]

I will never complain about potentially recruiting over returning players again.

Really interesting topic and something I’m gonna be curious to watch. To keep this train going off the two NCs, if Hurley wants to keep the talent levels high, he can’t be over-loyal when it’s clear as day some kids don’t have it. If anything these three games are an eye opener to the fact talent wins over system every day of the week.

There is a big difference in talent between a top 20 kid and an 80th kid. Sometimes there are outliers but law of averages is that the top 20 yield better results.

 

[Dooch]

19-21 vs top 100 teams in our Big East era without Clingan on the roster. 45-11 with Clingan on roster. Hurley getting back to his roots but I have confidence he can figure it out.

Everyone keeps saying Clingan is the reason we won, but he played 13 MPG his freshman year.........I'm giving the staff that just won B2B in record fashion the benefit of the doubt that they'll be able to fix this by Jan/Feb.

 

[cohenzone]

Glad we cleared that up. Sitting here drinking coffee hungover watching the parade and I as well was confused about his grammar. Thankfully you being the smartest guy in the room saved us.

Glad to be of service, hangovers being what they are. And that you missed the main point. Happy TDay.

So one of OUR problems is we had Stephon Castle? Nice deflection. You’re point is still incredibly idiotic

Okay, sport. You think the program is better with a string of one or two and dones and I think THAT is idiotic. Which is why I decided to make fun of your post since I knew exactly what you meant. And you have plenty of company who are whining about this year’s team. I think we are better with winning with experienced top talent. I think that attracts at least as much talent as does kids seeing that kids can go pro quickly from here. You are entitled to your opinion. Having a very experienced Newton was a big part of both championships and even he needed part of his first year here to get up to speed. If McNeeley goes pro after one season and we fall short, explain to me how that did anything to help the program as opposed to his sticking around. I am open to considering your point.

 

[FlockOfLambs]

Take a step back and realize this is just a transition year. Nothing wrong with it after winning back to back National Championships and sending 7 guys to the NBA. Let the guys who committed to being role players for those championship runs have their swan song this year without being ripped apart for not being NBA caliper players. Allow the sophomores, who had played a combined 200 minutes of competitive game time under their belt coming into the season, time to develop into seasoned players that can lead a championship run as upperclassmen.

There isn’t a fan base in the country that wouldn’t trade a down season (like this one might end up being) for the pair of seasons we just had. We also are likely to be very very good next year with the guys we will return and the talent that’s coming in so just take a step back, reset expectations for this year and enjoy the ride.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Everyone keeps saying Clingan is the reason we won, but he played 13 MPG his freshman year.........I'm giving the staff that just won B2B in record fashion the benefit of the doubt that they'll be able to fix this by Jan/Feb.

And every time he came in for one of his 5-8 min stretches we always went on runs instantly.

He was so good his freshman year that we made Sanogo enter the draft prematurely because we rightly knew we had to free up time for Clingan the next year.