What we learned from Rhody Game

[mauconnfan]

I too am praying that Tarris sees the light.
Warning: The Sleepers know him well, being U of M fans, and swear after watching the URI scrimmage that this is as good as it gets,
that he will only break our hearts, that he always gives you five tantalizingly good minutes followed by spacing out and looking totally lost for the next twenty. But I think they have PTSD from the Juwan Howard Experience.
I refuse to believe that with his physical skills this staff won't be able to train and focus him. I agree it is essential for real success.

Well if you watched the 2nd half you already know Dan is helping him improve. 1st half mostly looked like a nervous kid but after that a player showed up who can be very good. The sleepers are butt hurt!

 

[willie99]

I learned it was an exhibition game being played before first night, and they still looked good

I like this team, they will compete and they will be in the mix for their first national title

Let's not forget, it's college basketball, and the chemistry of every team changes every year. Nothing at all to be concerned about. Enjoy the ride and count your blessings

 

[Son of Robert]

I thought Javonte Brown had a good game against us. Strong in the post, rebounded well, scored some points as a veteran 5 man who is a legit 6'11-7'0. I was watching Tarris Reed defending him, and he did a good job keeping him out of the low post with his strength, size, and footwork. He has better ups than Adama has and pretty sure he blocked a couple of shots. Although his offense did not look as good as that Michigan highlight reel, once he gets coached up, confident, and comfortable, he should be a force to reckon with as the season progresses. He's going to be a very strong rebounder for us as well and that's big.

 

[bmayuc]

Or defense.. I exprect us to be top 10 by the end of the year. It wont look like last year but we'll be good. Ball pressure, roster depth, and more activity on the perimeter. Could employ a modified pack line defense a la Tony Bennet. We know those two have exchanged notes the past two years during the secret scrimmages.

You should lower your expectations on Defense. I think unless Tarris really elevates his game in a dramatic way, and everyone else takes a major step forward it will be difficult to break the top 30 defense. We are smaller this year across the board, and lose 2 of the top defenders we have ever had at the program.

 

[jibsey]

Coaches have not worked on rebounding much yet in practice. Expect that to improve.

How is this known?

 

[awy]

How is this known?

they keep saying it

 

[navery12]

You should lower your expectations on Defense. I think unless Tarris really elevates his game in a dramatic way, and everyone else takes a major step forward it will be difficult to break the top 30 defense. We are smaller this year across the board, and lose 2 of the top defenders we have ever had at the program.

That seems incredibly unlikely given the number of really good defenders that are expected to be major pieces in the rotation and who we have as head coach

 

[awy]

the defensive numbers should be good, but it'll be less 'bulletproof' to use a hurley concept in the sense that they'll be better at certain game regimes than others. I think the half court set defense will be more vulnerable last year because of lack of elite rim protection, but they'll get more turnovers and wear people down more. really depends on the opponent and matchups. the half court stuff might be better than I expected if they can successfully shut down 3 point shooting and amount of 3s taken, which I think is even more of a top defensive priority this year.

 

[Drame]

How is this known?

Tom Moore said it most recently in that video. They practiced 95% on offense. No rebounding or defense yet.

 

[bmayuc]

That seems incredibly unlikely given the number of really good defenders that are expected to be major pieces in the rotation and who we have as head coach

I think you need to just be realistic. Dan Hurley has never cracked a top 30 defense without Donovan Clingan on the team. At Rhody they kinda hovered around 100 and peaked at 50th best one year. At UConn he was between 30 and 60 his first couple years. When Donovan was out hurt we operated last year as the 100th+ best defense.

I'm not being negative just think people need to understand that what we had the last couple years defensively is rare and not really in line with historical averages for Hurley teams.

I hope I'm wrong and they keep the standard but I think statistically its unlikely given who they lost and the historical numbers

 

[navery12]

I think you need to just be realistic. Dan Hurley has never cracked a top 30 defense without Donovan Clingan on the team. At Rhody they kinda hovered around 100 and peaked at 50th best one year. At UConn he was between 30 and 60 his first couple years. When Donovan was out hurt we operated last year as the 100th+ best defense.

I'm not being negative just think people need to understand that what we had the last couple years defensively is rare and not really in line with historical averages for Hurley teams.

I hope I'm wrong and they keep the standard but I think statistically its unlikely given who they lost and the historical numbers

First off, that's wrong. I'll ignore the arbitrary cutoff you made so that being exactly number 30 doesn't count. But he was 27th at URI in 2017 and 13th in 2015 on the BartTorvik site you quoted

 

[FlippinCrazy!]

I’m not at all worried about rebounding. As is often said, rebounding is about effort. No one will be giving more effort than a Hurley lead team.

On the same note, I think we’ll be able to cover up some of the defensive deficiencies by being better conditioned (and deeper) than the other team. How many times last 2 years did we play close first halves, only to run the opponent out of the gym in the second half. Only period of time we struggled was Big East play 2 years ago, when the refs called a bajillion fouls and stopped the games relentlessly.

 

[bmayuc]

First off, that's wrong. I'll ignore the arbitrary cutoff you made so that being exactly number 30 doesn't count. But he was 27th at URI in 2017 and 13th in 2015 on the BartTorvik site you quoted

ok I set the "30th" best not arbitrarily but because I think from what I've seen to win natty's you need to be top 20 or 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency - every champ has basically checked those boxes on torvik/kenpom, whatever.

Fair point about a couple years at rhody where they were in that range I didn't go all the way back. Here's Hurley's Rhody Defenses:

Rhody

2013 - 147th
2014 - 69th
2015 - 13th - I checked this as the major outlier and holy moly - the entire conference season was an epic string of rockfights. There's a stretch where neither team cracks 100ppp offensively or defensively for 10 strait conference games. Otherwise nothign really stood out(like a huge shotblocker on the roster or anything) that lined up with Donovans reign at uconn.
2016 - 71st
2017 - 27th
2018 - 54th
_____

UConn

2019 - 126th
2020 - 65th
2021 - 30th
2022 - 52nd
2023 - 9th (clingan)
2024 - 4th(clingan)

I think despite missing a few years, my point holds up - the evidence suggests that both in Rhody days and UConn teams, there's sort of good but not great defense that vacillates up and down depending on the year and personnel - and then there are the clingan years as outliers.

I think it is questionable if we will be able to keep that standard up, and more likely we slip back down to somewhere in the 30-50 range that is kinda the median for Hurley teams, and need to understand that is likely so we all don't flip out when our defense struggles given the personnel differences.

 

[auror]

ok I set the "30th" best not arbitrarily but because I think from what I've seen to win natty's you need to be top 20 or 30 in both offensive and defensive efficiency - every champ has basically checked those boxes on torvik/kenpom, whatever.

Fair point about a couple years at rhody where they were in that range I didn't go all the way back. Here's Hurley's Rhody Defenses:

Rhody

2013 - 147th
2014 - 69th
2015 - 13th - I checked this as the major outlier and holy moly - the entire conference season was an epic string of rockfights. There's a stretch where neither team cracks 100ppp offensively or defensively for 10 strait conference games. Otherwise nothign really stood out(like a huge shotblocker on the roster or anything) that lined up with Donovans reign at uconn.
2016 - 71st
2017 - 27th
2018 - 54th
_____

UConn

2019 - 126th
2020 - 65th
2021 - 30th
2022 - 52nd
2023 - 9th (clingan)
2024 - 4th(clingan)

I think despite missing a few years, my point holds up - the evidence suggests that both in Rhody days and UConn teams, there's sort of good but not great defense that vacillates up and down depending on the year and personnel - and then there are the clingan years as outliers.

I think it is questionable if we will be able to keep that standard up, and more likely we slip back down to somewhere in the 30-50 range that is kinda the median for Hurley teams, and need to understand that is likely so we all don't flip out when our defense struggles given the personnel differences.

When we ranked 9th in 2023, Clingan played 32% of minutes. That's not enough to make it a top 10 defense by himself. We'd have ranked still in the top 20 with just minutes where he was off the court (93.6 adj D rating via Hoop-Explorer on/off).

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Statistical analysis aside, this year DH can be much more aggressive with his defensive schemes because his team is so darn deep. I would be shocked if we don't see more press this year.

 

[bmayuc]

Statistical analysis aside, this year DH can be much more aggressive with his defensive schemes because his team is so darn deep. I would be shocked if we don't see more press this year.

"The Press" is not a thing in major college basketball anymore with some very specific time/situational stuff. Skill levels are too high.

I feel like the preseason "fan calling for UConn to Press more this year" is a meme of similar regard to "When will X/Y happen? Oh, 20 minutes" in boneyard lore.


"The Press" will not be our defensive savior. We'll need to earn it possession by possession. Hope ya'll are right but watching Javonte Brown stuff Samson into a locker was a red flag for sure.

Need Tarris to be an anchor.

 

[jibsey]

"The Press" is not a thing in major college basketball anymore with some very specific time/situational stuff. Skill levels are too high.

I feel like the preseason "fan calling for UConn to Press more this year" is a meme of similar regard to "When will X/Y happen? Oh, 20 minutes" in boneyard lore.


"The Press" will not be our defensive savior. We'll need to earn it possession by possession. Hope ya'll are right but watching Javonte Brown stuff Samson into a locker was a red flag for sure.

Need Tarris to be an anchor.

Javonte Brown looked amazing. Is he that good or…,,?

 

[Ewekon]

In a real switcharoo for a DH team, the offense may be the best defense. This group is going to score...a lot.