Well

[Fishy]

Aside from the offense - which is awful - and the defense - which is worse - and the roster construction - which is abysmal - I think we’re doing pretty well.

I am kind of puzzled as to which team Danny Hurley was watching when he got offended that we were not the preseason #1. The team he’s brought to Hawaii was the eighth-best team there and currently looks like an NIT hopeful.

What a debacle. Maybe more complaints about not getting calls at the post-game presser will fix things.

 

[Hi-Low]

You think Clingan, Castle, Newton & Spencer were any good....this is an absolute shell of a team, so many holes and DH didn't come close to filling them. They'll win some games but middle of the road team at best.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Donovan Clingan might’ve saved his reputation. Kind of crazy to think he took all the credit and thought his offense was the reason for all his success.

 

[ctbro1999]

I am legit worried now. Like forget 3-peat, can this team even make the NCAAT?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

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

 

[Askgreek]

To have more talent than each opponent and lose each is not a good look for the players or coaches. Time for some soul searching for these guys. The coaches made the choices on these players and this roster. They had the pick of the litter on whomever they wanted to bring in. Well, they need to figure out how to make it work or they will have crazy egg on there face. Just some ugly basketball.

 

[Fishy]

I am legit worried now. Like forget 3-peat, can this team even make the NCAAT?

We just got smoked by a bubble team. Not promising.

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

Amen.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

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

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

 

[upstater]

You think Clingan, Castle, Newton & Spencer were any good....this is an absolute shell of a team, so many holes and DH didn't come close to filling them. They'll win some games but middle of the road team at best.

Or, you shouldn't be expected to have an NCAA championship capable team every year.

People might step back and think about who Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson, etc. were 3 years ago.

Players need seasoning. Sanogo and Jackson took awhile to become their Junior year selves.

People were calling for Andre to be BENCHED and not play at all his junior year.

 

[BrassBonanza]

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.

 

[HuskyFich]

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

Samson Johnson is gonna end up at 10-15 min a game. Dude still doesn’t know he can raise both hands at the same time for the ball, watching guys jump over him for boards.

Diarra is having to do WAY too much right now, and Mahaney hasn’t shown anything, but we haven’t given him an opportunity to show anything.

In all honesty, the ball penetration is atrocious. We move it a ton, and can’t get an inch inside the 3 point line.

I don’t envy these guys during practice the next week.

 

[cohenzone]

Yeah, but one or two one and dones will attract more one and dones which I am told is great for a program, so we will be fine.

 

[UCFan1513]

I don’t know how you go from being a good enough staff to construct and coach two rosters that win national championships, to putting together a team that gets smoked by a bubble team and loses to an NIT squad. Like it’s a bit baffling at this point how badly they fudged this up after seemingly having their pick of the litter in the portal

I know they lost a lot of talent, but in the portal era you can at least replace enough to beat Colorado and Dayton…

 

[AntG168]

Yeah, but one or two one and dones will attract more one and dones which I am told is great for a program, so we will be fine.

You think that’s are problem? lol

 

[Fishy]

You think that’s are problem? lol

That Castle kid worked out pretty well.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

That Castle kid worked out pretty well.

And he wasnt even playing his natural position

 

[tuvent08]

It’s like they’ve been watching tape of the 1982 Denver Nuggets all offseason.

“Wait, wait. Hold up. You meant we were supposed to watch the offense?”

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Samson Johnson is gonna end up at 10-15 min a game. Dude still doesn’t know he can raise both hands at the same time for the ball, watching guys jump over him for boards.

I have yet to see any indication from Hurley that he knows how bad it is. Reed was no superstar, especially on D, but Samson played 11 more minutes than him. Absolutely boggles my mind. At a minimum, Reed at least brings a rebounding and low post game presence, and the ability to so much as make contact with he opposing player on the screen. For sure can count on one hand the amount of times Samson Johnson actually made contact with the defender on screens he set today. It’s almost unimaginable how bad he is at setting screens.

 

[ctbro1999]

After MD Eastern Shore, we have Baylor, Texas, and Gonzaga back to back to back. This season could be off the rails before BE play even starts.

 

[tuvent08]

I have yet to see any indication from Hurley that he knows how bad it is. Reed was no superstar, especially on D, but Samson played 11 more minutes than him. Absolutely boggles my mind. At a minimum, Reed at least brings a rebounding and low post game presence, and the ability to so much as make contact with he opposing player on the screen. For sure can count on one hand the amount of times Samson Johnson actually made contact with the defender on screens he set today. It’s almost unimaginable how bad he is at setting screens.

I have a theory that Samson thinks a foul is better than a rebound and I can’t be convinced otherwise.

 

[HuskyFich]

I have yet to see any indication from Hurley that he knows how bad it is. Reed was no superstar, especially on D, but Samson played 11 more minutes than him. Absolutely boggles my mind. At a minimum, Reed at least brings a rebounding and low post game presence, and the ability to so much as make contact with he opposing player on the screen. For sure can count on one hand the amount of times Samson Johnson actually made contact with the defender on screens he set today. It’s almost unimaginable how bad he is at setting screens.

This game was built for Samson Johnson. Up and down the court, and once we were down, we needed to up the pace…

It’s a bad outcome either way.

Tarris needs to start so we can control the pace of the game more, like we would with Adama.

We didn’t control the pace for one minute of this tournament outside the Memphis crawl back, which doesn’t even count because that’s desperation.

 

[Horatio]

My one concern was not getting a seven footer and big guard. They went with Reed and Mahaney. We needed Reed, Goldin and a big guard. Hurley was loyal to his guys. He earned that.

 

[3rdbass]

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

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.

 

[housekeys]

You think Clingan, Castle, Newton & Spencer were any good....this is an absolute shell of a team, so many holes and DH didn't come close to filling them. They'll win some games but middle of the road team at best.

Basically agree, except as fans we need to compare to the pre-2023/2024 teams. Last year's team will go down as one of the best ever, for example. Clingan was the common denominator. Not surprising that even in the NBA, Clingan's defensive presence is notable.

We have won championships with lesser teams than the 2023, 24 teams. However, unlike this year's team, defense was always elite.

 

[UofCT]

My one concern was not getting a seven footer and big guard. They went with Reed and Mahaney. We needed Reed, Goldin and a big guard. Hurley was loyal to his guys. He earned that.

No problem with us staying loyal and leaning on player development that we know works. I want to chalk this up as a bad week like several weeks in Jan of 2023 but we all know there are much larger issues here…