What Do We Do In Practice?

[gsmooth]

Hurley is the cooler, he's done this over and over. Cole is on fire, he yanks him. Hawkins is on fire, he yanks him. Sanogo is feasting, he yanks him. It's like he has these set times to take players out and pays no attention to what's happening on the court.

Maybe he learned that from Calhoun. Calhoun is the GOAT when it comes to building a program from nothing to a blue blood elite, but Calhoun used to do that as well and it infuriated me.

 

[Conndog]

Wish some one, maybe assistant coach cause Hurley isn't doing it, could teach team to set picks up top. All game long, if someone was in position to set a pick, they left too soon looking for a pass and didn't block ballhandler's defender, so no pick was made. Also, why couldn't someone help RC as he brought the ball up court by setting pick against RJ's defender?

 

[Husky Alien]

I just told you. At the point he subbed him out we had built a 5 point lead and we’re humming with momentum. You ride that momentum out. Simple. Was he got cold, or the momentum seemed to have slowed, then you give him a rest. You never know where that momentum could have taken us. We could’ve stretched it to 10. Then you have a greater cushion while he’s resting. You don’t sit the hot hand

I hear you on that but he is the only consistent offensive player we have so far. He plays such tough defense also and in this game I would not be so sure we would of made a run to 10 without Tyrese and Sanogo. There really was no good time for subbing him imo. If we had better options for him without losing the leadership, steadiness of Cole I would agree with you.

 

[RayRay19]

We should have won.

Team was playing way faster than it felt comfortable playing. Alot of the threes were open but rushed, not set. Need to get used to playing fast but under control and take time where they can, especially when shooting wide open shots. That will come with playing at this pace. I didn't like the rebounding one bit.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Obviously we can't make threes, ball handling is shaky, no offensive sets, miss free throws, like to get trapped on inbound plays....seriously what do they do? This game was so frustrating to watch.

The Hokie Pokie. Or so it seems. Foxtrot? Waltz? Badminton?

 

[uconngb]

There's a lot more to it than that I'm afraid. My confidence is totally shot in any type of close game where we have the lead. Not able to extend the lead, not able to hold onto the lead, not able to run anything for easy scores, taking the hot hand out...

People can talk about 3/23 all they want. If you can’t see that we are deer in the headlights in EVERY close game we are in, you are blind.

That is coaching and preparation. And for the dopes bringing up Nova last night, they found a way to win by 14.

 

[UCfor3]

I just told you. At the point he subbed him out we had built a 5 point lead and we’re humming with momentum. You ride that momentum out. Simple. Was he got cold, or the momentum seemed to have slowed, then you give him a rest. You never know where that momentum could have taken us. We could’ve stretched it to 10. Then you have a greater cushion while he’s resting. You don’t sit the hot hand

You do realize keeping Cole in the game in no way guarantees thay we extend the lead. We got a little lead for once and Hurley tried to steal some minutes. You want to bench him when the other team has momentum which by your logic we would most likely lose more ground and momentum and create a bigger deficit for us. So if they are up 5, then it can become 10. He could have not sat him at all and seen if he had the gas to finish but if that came back to bite us he would be second guessed for that. It's a gamble any way you slice it. Easy to look at these decisions in hindsight and play the blame game when they don't work out. Our backcourt is such that there is no good time

 

[uconngb]

Jesus people, this team has two losses, one to a very good Michigan St team without Whaley and one to a pretty decent WV without Martin and Sanogo. The fact there are people questioning the coaching and effort of the team is laughable. Those two games are played at full strength and UConn is currently 10-0, without a doubt, and these same people would be arguing why we aren’t #1 in the country and be mad at the AP voters. There are just some people that always have to find something to complain about. You are all a joke.

Omg….you must have taken a shot for every missed 3

 

[ConnEd]

You do realize keeping Cole in the game in no way guarantees thay we extend the lead. We got a little lead for once and Hurley tried to steal some minutes.

I don't think Cole had been out yet at all at that point, about 33 mins into the game. He had to sit at some point so he wouldn't be gassed down the stretch. There wasn't a good time to sit him really in the 2nd half.

I just would like to see Hurley have Gaff AND Diggins on the floor when Cole goes out. I've only seen a few minutes of Diggins playing, but he looks like a good ball handler who knows how to work a D to find seams. Gaffney is just too slow at changing direction and gets loose with the ball. He's okay if moving at a medium pace. But when he has to speed up, he doesn't anticipate what's coming fast enough to avoid trouble.

 

[CTBasketball]

Probably would’ve benefitted if we gave Hawkin’s minutes to Diggins.

Man Hawkins has talent but wow he is raw. He needs some serious refinement.

 

[Horatio]

We have a couple of guys that have zero offensive game. Cant shoot, limited handle and one of them won’t even look at the basket most of the time. And yet, they get a ton of minutes.

 

[Platt81]

Omg….you must have taken a shot for every missed 3

Nope, I just don’t act like Chicken Little everytime they lose. There have been two losses by a combined 7 points, both down starters for against 1 loss teams. Frankly the ramblings and finger pointing in these circumstances come off far more like the ramblings of a drunk than my fair and accurate assessments.

For these two losses, there were two impressive wins over Auburn and VCU, but I’m sure you’d have some critique as to how those games could have went better too, bc again, some people are just simply negative about life.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Probably would’ve benefitted if we gave Hawkin’s minutes to Diggins.

Why? Hawkins was bad today but he's a much, much better shooter than Diggins. What problem would Diggins have solved?

 

[T-Squared]

Sadly, it is apparent that this squad is very limited offensively. The Huskies are gonna need better shooters (read as: create their own shot, hit open shots) before they take the next step. Interestingly, both Tyrese and Adama are not shy when it comes to putting a shot up - their absence hurt a lot tonight.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The only thing nobody can seem to answer is, how Hurleys coaching could've forced the shots to go in? It's not like the shots weren't open? What was he supposed to do? The defense was great, isn't that mostly coaching? Do yall even realize Andre was second on the team in made 3s today? Seems like coaching only gets brought up when things go wrong. Jim Calhoun didn't have some magic voo doo that made his players shots go in, the players did their part in executing open looks. Blame Hurley for not recruiting a transfer shooter if you need to blame him for that disaster. Even if his rotations are head scratching, not one player was making anything, so why does that matter in this case? Better sets and rotations weren't gonna solve our problems tonight.

39% FG, 3/21 14.3% from deep, 6/11 from the Free throw line, 55%. Never gonna win when players play this poorly.

 

[Huskyforlife]

People can talk about 3/23 all they want. If you can’t see that we are deer in the headlights in EVERY close game we are in, you are blind.

That is coaching and preparation. And for the dopes bringing up Nova last night, they found a way to win by 14.

They held cuse to 53 and made enough 3s to put up 67 even when shooting 27%. The math isn't that hard my guy. If we hit 27% of our 3s, wed also walk home the victor, and that's a terrible number as well. 27% is the kind of shooting game good teams have when they're off. You get it now?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I've just resigned myself to the fact that right now, it isn't possible for Hurley to be the coach that has creative solutions to problems late in games. He isn't going to throw in a 2-2-1 press to throw off the other team's rhythm for a possession, or think 2 steps ahead and be prepared for adjustments other coaches make like Calhoun did. He just doesn't have it in him.

Some coaches can't recruit, but are brilliant in games. Some coaches have transfers out the wazoo. Hurley is really, really good at everything except game day. We're a really, really good team at full strength. Our recruiting kicks ass. We've got enough to beat all but probably 5 teams in America on any given night. We're entertaining as hell to watch.

He's still not there yet.It remains his growing edge.

I'm not going to look it up, but I am wondering what are his best true road wins against opposing fans up until now, particularly since he's come to UConn. Did he beat Sampson in Houston once?

During the last 7 minutes, I had a sense that a victory would have been his best such win ever. He's new to this, and not very good at it yet.

I was amazed by how much leash he gave to the frenetic play, and how much variety we saw. I'd have liked some additional Johnson, and even a chance to see if Diggins could have brought some calm.

McClure & Sherman made at least 3 well-defended shots during the first half. The refs missed a goal-tending and a clean block. Cole had a shot bounce up to the top of the backboard in addition to the wedged ball. Jackson ran out of shot clock, the second time he took forever agonizing on a 3-point look. The first went in.

Huggins got bailouts, though Whaley definitely made plays that covered for others and made them look good.

Could have been a double digit win, but also could have been a fall-apart road loss. Whether there's visible growth from this is the pending question. MANY games this year could be like this.

Again, the excruciating loss syndrome. 28 points & 14 rebounds in street clothing. We have the pieces, and the pipeline is building.

 

[pj]

Maybe he learned that from Calhoun. Calhoun is the GOAT when it comes to building a program from nothing to a blue blood elite, but Calhoun used to do that as well and it infuriated me.

Calhoun was training guys to be on 100% of the time. Bench guys had to be ready to go in and perform, starters too.

I don't have a problem with Hurley using his judgment about when to give Cole a rest. What matters is March and he has to get the team ready, which means in part putting the bench into situations where they have to perform. I'd fault him more for not playing Diggins during Cole's 4 minutes on the bench. We'll need Diggins to be able to play end of game with a lead - he needs time on the court to get ready. Two minutes of film each game to study afterward would do him good. The Gaffney-Diggins tandem when Cole rests makes more sense to me than CG Gaffney playing with a bunch of wings.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Nobody wanted to shoot, and when they took wide open shots they missed. Not much more to it than that

But the whole nobody wanting to shoot is coaching and practicing plays to pihtnwhere players are comfortable shooting the ball in the right spots.
Too often isnthe wrong player with the ball in the wrong spot as shot clock winds down. That is all coaching from play designs, to practicing to identifying which players are successful in which spots. Last night was a constant square peg and round hole.

 

[Husky Alien]

But the whole nobody wanting to shoot is coaching and practicing plays to pihtnwhere players are comfortable shooting the ball in the right spots.
Too often isnthe wrong player with the ball in the wrong spot as shot clock winds down. That is all coaching from play designs, to practicing to identifying which players are successful in which spots. Last night was a constant square peg and round hole.

And you went a bit @ClifSpliffy on us there, did a double take when reading this.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

Probably would’ve benefitted if we gave Hawkin’s minutes to Diggins.

Man Hawkins has talent but wow he is raw. He needs some serious refinement.

I think it's probably a confidence thing with Hawkins, that and he probably got by with his handles in highschool but needs to tighten them at this level.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And you went a bit @ClifSpliffy on us there, did a double take when reading this.

Couple of typos. New cell phone and still getting used to keyboard.

 

[LBird33]

The problem is that we rarely draw fouls when going to the hoop.

Last night they overly relied on shooting threes. They were clearly cold would have liked to see more high percentage shots closer to the hoop

 

[LBird33]

Amazing how many turn on Hurley. The team was missing 2 starters playing at a tough WV home court with young players that will continue to improve. They lost by 3.

Used to happen with Calhoun too. I can remember after a loss someone would criticize him for pulling players too fast etc etc lol

 

[LBird33]

Don’t underestimate Huggins as a coach. When he was at Cincy he had less talented teams overachieving year after year.