We're okay. This game means nothing.

[bendm]

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.

Staff brought in Mahaney to be the starting PG so technically Diarra was recruited over, it just didn’t work out as staff envisioned. But As bad as the Mahaney move has been it would have been an even bigger disaster if Diarra wasn’t up to it. Diarra has been better than anyone could have expected, nagging injury not withstanding.

I firmly believe that if Mahaney were playable as our backup PG for 10mpg we’d be in a much different spot right now and have a much brighter outlook but even that was/is too much to ask. He’s the new Rahsool Diggins.

 

[jibsey]

Staff brought in Mahaney to be the starting PG so technically Diarra was recruited over, it just didn’t work out as staff envisioned. But As bad as the Mahaney move has been it would have been an even bigger disaster if Diarra wasn’t up to it. Diarra has been better than anyone could have expected, nagging injury not withstanding.

I firmly believe that if Mahaney were playable as our backup PG for 10mpg we’d be in a much different spot right now and have a much brighter outlook but even that was/is too much to ask. He’s the new Rahsool Diggins.

Nowell was a 4 star point guard. By this time of first year he should have been Contributing…,, a lot. For injury or whatever reason we’ve gotten zero. I certainly don’t blame all our troubles on his position but with an injury and miss on Mahaney it’s catastrophic especially with turnovers.

 

[bendm]

Nowell was a 4 star point guard. By this time of first year he should have been Contributing…,, a lot. For injury or whatever reason we’ve gotten zero. I certainly don’t blame all our troubles on his position but with an injury and miss on Mahaney it’s catastrophic especially with turnovers.

Sure I’d be ecstatic with 10mpg COMBINED from Mahaney and Nowell backing up Diarra. So sad.

 

[Rico444]

We beat Marquette on the road without Liam and with Diarra hobbled. We had a real chance to beat St Johns with Diarra hobbled and Liam's first game back

Once Liam is fully back up to speed (which seems like it's going to happen quickly), and Diarra is healthy, I don't see why we can't make a BET run even if we start in the 4/5 game

I think our defense prevents us from being a real title contender right now, but there's a lot of season left to be played. Let's enjoy the ride while we have it, let's go Huskies!

The problem is Diarra may not get any healthier than he already is. With him like this we have practically zero dribble penetration, which leads to no open shots, which leads to shot clock violations and forced shots. It's going to be really hard for us to have success against good defenses with Diarra limited like this.

 

[Marat]

The problem is Diarra may not get any healthier than he already is. With him like this we have practically zero dribble penetration, which leads to no open shots, which leads to shot clock violations and forced shots. It's going to be really hard for us to have success against good defenses with Diarra limited like this.

Sad, but true.

 

[gsmooth]

The problem is Diarra may not get any healthier than he already is. With him like this we have practically zero dribble penetration, which leads to no open shots, which leads to shot clock violations and forced shots. It's going to be really hard for us to have success against good defenses with Diarra limited like this.

winner, winner, chicken dinner with this post. That is the much bigger concern. Before he was hobbled, Diarra was playing really well. However, he played all the high leverage/high stress impactful PG minutes in the games and we all knew there was a chance he could get worn out. If we knew he could be close to 100% by March we wouldn't sweat it as much, but from what Hurely said, it sounds like they have to make the best of Diarra being hobbled for the rest of the year. Diarra and McNeeley are UConn's most indispensable players on this year's team.

That's why we are all lamenting the fact there is not another pure PG on this roster that can play as Nowell is injured and Mahaney just isn't a PG, which IMO, the staff miscalculated their ability to convert Mahaney into a PG.