What is the #1 on the court shortcoming...

[Improviser]

I think we stop point guards from driving into a crowd under the basket without having a clue about what is going to happen next.

Newton's drives yesterday reminded me of Alterique Gilbert's drives and even those of Christian Vital in his next to last season. From both, coughed up balls, stripped balls ,bad drives into a packed paint and even when the shots went up, they were blocked or off the mark.

Vital's last season or the second half of it, was a complete reversal with star studded performances.

 

[SubbaBub]

Well, im pretty concerned that Sanogo is a weak defender in the post 1v1 against any big that has any type of scoring ability or size. DH is still getting outcoached in the final minutes of close games and the T was inexcuseable and pretty much sealed our fate. we dont have a floor general. Hawk needs to come up bigger than what he was today.

AS is an outstanding one on one defender, what he isn't is a plus defensive rebounder. Opponents are targeting Karaban, Newton, and Hawkins.

 

[Cobra 1]

I agree with almost all previous posts; it behooves our coaching staff to utilize practice to help players develop better techniques when driving to basket, either making layups or getting fouls.
Same practice time to develop and improve skills to stop opponents dribble penetrations.
This team will not achieve its true potential unless these glaring deficiencies are corrected.
It’s up to our coaches to work with key players to achieve both of above noted goals.
We will not win even Big East Championship if our offense consists of pass into Sanogo and three point shot.
And another must is for our coach to show and demonstrate discipline controlling their emotions to eliminate technical fouls.
This future success of this program is in hands of our coaches to correct above noted program deficiencies.
Ciao

 

[HuskyHawk]

A wing or gaurd who penetrate and finish at the rim.

This is a big one. Strength is another. We get outmuscled 1-4, it shows up on the boards and in those points at the rim. We can use a rim protector at the 4, and hopefully will get one soon. PG play is fine except we need Newton to be that guy who gets in the paint and scores. Clingan is going to play more, but not against mobile bigs who can shoot, where he’s a defensive liability.

I was astonished that people thought Sanogo was bad defensively against Xavier. He was often guarding two guys and disrupted a ton of scoring chances. The scoring came because nobody else could keep their man from getting to the rim. Even the Nunge P&R points came because Adama was out on Fremantle. Hurley asked him to do too much.

 

[dennismenace]

In the early season cupcake games, Newton did a lot of driving to the basket.

Maybe better competition and /or losing the ball on his drives, stifled his initiative.

AJ rarely drives to the basket and shoots when he gets there.

When they pack in the paint they are waiting for you. They plan to take away the inside game for drivers and Sanogo. I think, as has been suggested, that we need an inside game., Whether Hurley likes it or not Clingan needs to be part of that inside game either with Adama or while he rests. That's a one-two combination punch but it will not work with Clingan sitting on the bench and getting seven minutes again while our outside shooters put up increasingly more shots and Sanogo gets worn down at the latter part of the game. The last 10 minutes should be the part of the game we really dominate. Take a look at the minutes their players put up. Our pressure in the last 10 minutes seemed to rattle them. Maybe we should have done more of that earlier in the game; especially with Diarra who is very quick and gives us that breakaway speed going the other way. The last 10 minutes is supposed to be OUR STRENGTH. We played right into the opponent's strategy. Players that can get the ball safely to Clingan inside is the other piece to this scenario. Their outside shooting is better than ours, especially on the road. DH has to use a strategy that will impose our will against them with whatever will work and if we can get Clingan going it will really demoralize the opponent and keep Adama more rested which will make him more effective.

 

[willie99]

Avoid playing really good teams in their building

 

[Kitaman]

Sanogo needs to learn how to pass out of double teams better.

 

[mauconnfan]

Certainly not the number 1 issue but a glaring weakness is that we have four important rotation players that aren’t much of an offensive threat. If anyone told me before the season started that on a lot of nights we would get almost no offense out of the combination of Newton, Alleyne, and Diarra I would have said this team is in big trouble. Luckily the offensive contributions from Clingan, Cali, and Karaban have helped make up for that. Unfortunately when Clingan and Cali’s minutes are down rim protection, rebounding, and scoring points is even tougher. Imagine how good we could be with just a bit of consistent offense from Newton and Alleyne. I don’t mind Diarra not being an offensive guy if he can continue doing the things he’s doing, but it would be nice if the other two (or at least one of them) could bring some offense to the table fairly consistently.

Side note: Adama had 1 rebound against Nova ALL GAME! (And 7 points). Hurley has to give Clingan more minutes when Sanogo is overmatched. It’s not rocket science. We have the best freshman big in the country. Clingan will make freshman mistakes but he’s already a better rebounder, shot blocker, pick and roll player, and passer out of the double team than Adama is (And probably a better overall defender). You can also just throw the ball up to him in the post over everyone else. He has skills (and height) that no one else on the team has. When he’s on the court he has a big effect on the game. He makes things happen on both ends that no one else can.

^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^

I will add in Alleynes defense he can score and hasn’t had enough minutes or rope to do that, as it was in the 2nd half Saturday!

 

[navery12]

We have a clear number 1 option to be the PG on offense and initiating the offense, surprised by how many people are saying that's an issue

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We have a clear number 1 option to be the PG on offense and initiating the offense, surprised by how many people are saying that's an issue

Well we shoulda fully buy into AJ as PG and have Newton off the ball more, because what we’re doing now obviously isn’t playing to his strengths. He averaged 18ppg last year. Since the Bama game he’s averaging about 5 shots per game. He needs to be more of an option.

 

[HooperScooper]

We have a clear number 1 option to be the PG on offense and initiating the offense, surprised by how many people are saying that's an issue

That and UConn's assist to made baskets ratio and assists to turnover ratio are both in the top tier in the country. So that's not a problem. I think some people are just saying the guards and wings need to drive to the basket more. I think there's merit in that argument.

 

[tennmike]

That and UConn's assist to made baskets ratio and assists to turnover ratio are both in the top tier in the country. So that's not a problem. I think some people are just saying the guards and wings need to drive to the basket more. I think there's merit in that argument.

...or we need to get the opponents to foul our players more. Need more drills.

 

[alphasigko]

AS is an outstanding one on one defender, what he isn't is a plus defensive rebounder. Opponents are targeting Karaban, Newton, and Hawkins.

And he is struggling w/the High Hedge as demonstrated against X

 

[PAHusky]

We have a clear number 1 option to be the PG on offense and initiating the offense, surprised by how many people are saying that's an issue

Agree that AJax is probably the number one option/PG on the team, but that's part of the problem. He can break down his man but he can't shoot or finish. When you need a bucket, the go-to guy is Hawkins, who has trouble breaking down defenders off the dribble sometimes, and Newton, who similarly struggles.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Dribble penetration, or the lack thereof. It’s not correctable with this roster, so it needs to be overcome.

I think your wrong
this team could slash with the best if you encouraged it.
Give me one reason why a player with Jackson’s skills or Hawkins’ can’t get to the hoop.
Even Karaban can get to the hoop

 

[alphasigko]

I think your wrong
this team could slash with the best if you encouraged it.
Give me one reason why a player with Jackson’s skills or Hawkins’ can’t get to the hoop.
Even Karaban can get to the hoop

Add to that the fact that Newton did it successfully against most of the Out-of-Conference opponents, but has been reluctant to go to the hoop with the purpose of scoring, or getting fouled while scoring or while trying to get there.

 

[UConnSwag11]

...........we need to correct to challenge for the national championship. I have my opinion. What is yours?

Guard play and defending the rim

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

big east refs

 

[DW1361]

I originally thought the topic was complaints with the Gampel floor. I now see that not all things are great right now having nothing to do with the court. We lost a game and we are embarrassed over threads about how we should be #1. Had we beat Xavier by three points the arguments for why we should be #1 would have only intensified. Alas, we lost . So what is our problem??? I believe the talent and abilities on this team are just fine. Was it 2011 when we lost 9 Big East games only to become BE champs and National Champions? I believe why we have struggled the last couple games is because for reasons unknown, we went from a 10-11 deep team to a 6 deep team. Many of the runs we had earlier in the season can be credited to the second team with Clingan and Joey C providing a spark that ignited the run while also given our starters a rest, I don’t know, I guess I have been seeing it all wrong, because I don’t see any other short comings.

 

[imno1]

Over the last three games teams are shooting over 47% against us. We have been great with our 3 pt defense but it’s way too easy for our opponents to get to the rim. To me this is our biggest shortcoming.

 

[drayenob]

‘Humbling’ loss forces UConn men to fix cracks in identity as No. 4 Huskies prepare for hostile Providence environment

Backdoor

Huskies planning Jackson adjustment: In the Huskies’ last few games since Big East play began, opponents have left Jackson, UConn’s dynamic captain and an elite defender, wide open on the offensive end, turning extra focus onto Adama Sanogo in the paint.
Shooting isn’t one of the many strengths in Jackson’s game, though it is improving, and he seemed to take the space as a personal slight, earning technical fouls for chatting at the Georgetown and Villanova benches. Against Xavier, he just kept shooting – and he made four of his first nine -- and was two assists shy of a triple-double.
“The way he was playing, he was on his way to a fabulous game,” Hurley said. “There are some things that we’re gonna try to take advantage of when people play off him that we’ve had two days to practice, beyond him just shooting 3s... We need him to be aggressive, I think, trying to score at the rim more. He’s such a great athlete and he’s got such great size that we get enough 3s from our 3-point shooters, we don’t need to take the ball when we have it at the rim and throw it back out to the 3-point line. When we’ve got a chance to put pressure on the rim, we’ve got to do it so we can get to the foul line or finish.”

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I love all the couch coaches in this thread suggesting practice drills for improving skills like our team is a bunch of 10-year old rec league kids.

JFC they are doing all these things and other drills 10x more valuable and complex than what you chuckleheads are suggesting.

High comedy!

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

‘Humbling’ loss forces UConn men to fix cracks in identity as No. 4 Huskies prepare for hostile Providence environment

Backdoor

Huskies planning Jackson adjustment: In the Huskies’ last few games since Big East play began, opponents have left Jackson, UConn’s dynamic captain and an elite defender, wide open on the offensive end, turning extra focus onto Adama Sanogo in the paint.
Shooting isn’t one of the many strengths in Jackson’s game, though it is improving, and he seemed to take the space as a personal slight, earning technical fouls for chatting at the Georgetown and Villanova benches. Against Xavier, he just kept shooting – and he made four of his first nine -- and was two assists shy of a triple-double.
“The way he was playing, he was on his way to a fabulous game,” Hurley said. “There are some things that we’re gonna try to take advantage of when people play off him that we’ve had two days to practice, beyond him just shooting 3s... We need him to be aggressive, I think, trying to score at the rim more. He’s such a great athlete and he’s got such great size that we get enough 3s from our 3-point shooters, we don’t need to take the ball when we have it at the rim and throw it back out to the 3-point line. When we’ve got a chance to put pressure on the rim, we’ve got to do it so we can get to the foul line or finish.”

Hallelujah. Great job boneyard!

 

[jdb50]

At least we gave Providence a heads up on what we are going to try to do. That I do not get.

 

[Giddyup5]

Over the last three games teams are shooting over 47% against us. We have been great with our 3 pt defense but it’s way too easy for our opponents to get to the rim. To me this is our biggest shortcoming.

This