We're okay. This game means nothing. | Page 2 | The Boneyard

We're okay. This game means nothing.

Palatine said:
It's a good loss and we still had moments of brilliance, just not enough of them. Some things need to be fixed. Some of them can't be fixed so we need work arounds.

We need to work on in-bounds plays. And the team needs to keep their heads up when the other team decides to press. We were caught off guard on a number of occasions and it disrupts our offense. Hurley and Murray need to find new ways to get Solo open. He got taken away in the second half. He is going to see more and more attention. Reed needs to stay close to the basket on offense. We are less effective when he goes out to hedge. Samson let his bad habits reappear.

We really crashed the boards last night and it worked. McNeeley needs to keep attacking the glass. Both our PGs need to be more aggressive. When we attacked their defense early in the shot clock we were much more effective. We still haven't figured out our best pace. It needs to be slow enough to limit TOs and fast enough develop rhythm.

No one got hurt. Our chemistry will improve as we get healthy. Just win enough games to go into the BET strong. The only thing that matters is March.
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A conference loss at home is never a good loss for UCONN. We are 23 games into the season and it's February. The leadership from our upper classmen was absent in this game. It was significant missed opportunity for us. This could have been another Quad 1 win, against a top 12 opponent and would have put another conference loss on St. Johns keeping UCONN in the mix for the Big East regular season title. All of these games matter. Tournament seeding matters. 20 plus turnovers in back to back games matters. Lack of execution matters. Lack of consistency matters.

This game was more than winnable for us at home and a significant missed opportunity. This doesn't mean that this team cannot turn the corner. It hasn't happened yet. If they can find a way to solve the turnover issue then this squad has a puncher's chance in March. Our deficit at Point Guard is absolutely stunning and we are paying significantly for it. Hurley knows it. I like the positivity here but we also need to be realistic. This was a failure to seize the moment and hope is not a strategy. We'll see if there were lessons learned that translates into a run through March.
 
Palatine said:
When we attacked their defense early in the shot clock we were much more effective. We still haven't figured out our best pace. It needs to be slow enough to limit TOs and fast enough develop rhythm.
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If you haven't yet watched Pitino's post game, he explains clearly why UConn didn't attack their defense early in the shot clock after getting out to a big lead. Brilliant coaching on Pitino's part. Not sure if other BE teams have the personnel to copy it, although Marquette can press. We should be able to adjust some of the problems before the rematch at MSG.

My biggest concern right now is not falling below a six seed in the NCAAs. We're still talented enough to be very competitive and win against any 3-5 seed, but not most of the top 8 projected 1-2s. However, if we get through to the second weekend with confidence, belief and cohesiveness (and Hass and AK playing at top form), I believe we still have a puncher's chance at the seemingly impossible.
 
Austin316 said:
It means more to Big East, Pitino and St John’s. They are much better than we thought. Kudos to them. They came into a tough environment, forced tons of turnovers, fantastic defense, and played with discipline. Gotta tip your cap…

Unfortunately, we’re facing a lot of adversity with injuries and on court issues. We need to have short term memory on making the wrong play and focus on the next one. Still feels like the players are playing with too much weight on their shoulders at times. Game by game.
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St Johns is better than we thought but their lack of shooting will hurt them eventually
 
This game taught me nothing new about this team and certified Marquette was flukey.

This team has zero killer instinct in them and displays zero consistency, which likely stems from a void in terms of leadership. It was the same issue at Xavier at Villanova home v Creighton.

SJU was begging to give that game away the first ten minutes of the second half.

Despite that, we have veterans leaders running out of control fast breaks and coughing the ball up and not hustling back.

Solo can’t do it himself. Liam can’t do it himself. Alex, Samson, and love you Hassan fighting through injuries but the 3 oldest guys on the team can’t no show. And most of the turnovers were self inflicted. Minimal pressure meant to just soak up shot clock made everyone jittery and scared. Can’t even get the most important rebound of the game!

The team is still tourney good but unless there are serious changes in terms of either health, shooting ability, ball movement, and ball handling, this team will not be seeing the second weekend or Saturday of the BET.
 
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storrsroars said:
If you haven't yet watched Pitino's post game, he explains clearly why UConn didn't attack their defense early in the shot clock after getting out to a big lead. Brilliant coaching on Pitino's part. Not sure if other BE teams have the personnel to copy it, although Marquette can press. We should be able to adjust some of the problems before the rematch at MSG.

My biggest concern right now is not falling below a six seed in the NCAAs. We're still talented enough to be very competitive and win against any 3-5 seed, but not most of the top 8 projected 1-2s. However, if we get through to the second weekend with confidence, belief and cohesiveness (and Hass and AK playing at top form), I believe we still have a puncher's chance at the seemingly impossible.
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We benched the 2 hot shooters after getting that lead. Got nothing from anyone after that until Liam hit a few shots (after a long dry spell). Alex hasn’t been the same since his concussion. Time to play Stewart more.
 
I still don’t understand how Scott (pretty sure it was him) was allowed to literally ride Diarra all game and only finally got called for it in the last 3 minutes. If Diarra had done the same on the other end he would’ve been fouled on in the first half. Both Ball and Diarra were literally just getting held almost the entire game, I was there and it’s infuriating to watch. Usually Diarra would have the quickness to make a defender pay for that type of defense and would be driving for open layups, but he’s definitely a couple steps slow and with his knee injury can’t get past his defender.
 
It sucks that we are no longer a team that gets easy buckets in transition. Tristen was such a huge part of that with his rebounding, vision, and passing. Andre, too. And not to mention, Donovan's outlet passing.
 
nelsonmuntz said:
So the Big East was "terrible" last year when it got 3 bids while it was the #2 KenPom conference?
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Was this the case before or after the tourney? I thought BE was 4th going into it. Did UConn single handedly bump the BE up to 2nd?
 
Fishy said:
I don’t want to see Duke, Houston or Auburn.

We would have 30 turnovers and Samson would foul out in 90s
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Just said that to my brother if we get an 8-9 game don’t want any of those 3. If any of them I’d take Duke.
 
jdb50 said:
Have 8 games left and need to win at least 5. Really gave the game away with all the missed free throws and turnovers. Karaban disappearing as a scorer. One point guard who is playing hurt with an undisclosed injury. Our freshman forward coming off 5 weeks on the injured list was left to try and carry the team in the second half. Every game means something and we are not OK by any means. And we struggle to inbound against anyone that presses us not just the athletic St Johns team. At this point in the season it is maddening.
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Karaban shooting 3’s at the moment is a problem- he just can’t make them- and some are way outside the line. If he’s going to play major minutes with a long distance slump, I’d rather he work on taking more 2-pointers. He can set screens for Solo, work the pick & roll, try to get position inside so he can receive a pass or drive to hoop. Another problem with him jacking up shots from the next zip code is that he’s no where near any rebounds
 
Huskydog45 said:
3 teams? Really? St John’s, Marquette, UConn and Creighton totals 4 based on my math and think Xavier finds their way in…so 5.
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And last year guys were saying The Big East would get 6. How did that work out?
 
mauconnfan said:
Eh not impressed with the Johnnies. The fact we played dreadful basketball (some because of their defense but a lot careless) and even our best player goes 4-15 and we’re still in this game to the end would scare me if I were a Johnnie fan. They’re tough but they can’t shoot a lick. Get away with murder too!
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They erased a 14-15 point deficit in the first half and took the lead? Johnnies picked our guys pocket. Happened even at Marquette. I expect it every game. That is something to worry about. We could be off the T25 after Creighton game.
 
ucp990411 said:
We can only afford 2 more losses to avoid the bubble. The Big East is terrible, don't you guys get that.
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We are limited with little room for error. Too much lost from last year and not replaced.
 
We clearly chose not to recruit over anyone who had been loyal to us during the last two championship runs. That probably has come back to hurt us but was still the right decision. Make the best of this very flawed team and reload next year. We have enough shooters to win a few tourney games if the match ups are right.
 

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