Why don't we run?

[ucp990411]

For the life of me I don't understand why we don't run at every opportunity. When I had my most offensively challenged teams I would ask the kids what is the easiest shot in basketball? The layup of course, and what is the easiest way to get a layup? By running faster than your opponent! Push the ball every possession,

 

[RayRay]

I have been asking myself this question since the beginning of the season. The only answer I can come up with, is that Dan preaches defense first and doesn’t want to tire them out by running for his ferocious style of defense, which by the way, has been nonexistent lately!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We don’t run because RJ Cole is a turtle

 

[tzznandrew]

We don't have the athletes or finishers to run yet.

Will they run next year? Who knows. But the athleticism on the team is going to be way higher provided health. Once again the best players will be freshmen and sophomores, but the depth of athleticism and talent across the board will be addition by subtraction.

 

[SportsFan88]

No true PG on the roster? No one who can consistently finish at the rim and through contact? And with Dre Jack just gettin back and no akok or bouk we aren’t exactly the most athletic or fastest team either.. gotta play to ur strengths

 

[ucp990411]

And what are our strengths? Running the shot clock down to 3 every possession than throwing up a prayer? Please. And you need to be the most athletic team to run, you need to want to force the action.

 

[ucp990411]

Meant to say you don't need to be the most athletic team to run.

 

[uconngb]

You don’t necessarily have to be the most athletic team to run. 40% of our starting lineup in 94/95 were below average athletically and that was our best running team ever.

however, you do need high IQ, above avg passers, and we clearly don’t have that right now. Nor do we have the finishers as previously noted.

 

[tzznandrew]

You don’t necessarily have to be the most athletic team to run. 40% of our starting lineup in 94/95 were below average athletically and that was our best running team ever.

however, you do need high IQ, above avg passers, and we clearly don’t have that right now. Nor do we have the finishers as previously noted.

We had Ray Allen and Donny Marshall. And Doron Sheffer is probably the second best passer we've ever had—and an excellent outlet passer (probably our best). Knight and Ollie played in the NBA. And Brian Fair was a better shooter than anyone on this team.

I get your point, but we had athletes. The highlights of that team almost always involve some combination of Sheffer-Marshall-Allen for a reason.

 

[SportsFan88]

We had Ray Allen and Donny Marshall. And Doron Sheffer is probably the second best passer we've ever had—and an excellent outlet passer (probably our best). Knight and Ollie played in the NBA. And Brian Fair was a better shooter than anyone on this team.

I get your point, but we had athletes. The highlights of that team almost always involve some combination of Sheffer-Marshall-Allen for a reason.

Yea that was a bad reference

 

[tzznandrew]

Yea that was a bad reference

Playing in the AAC for so many years has us thinking that losing to PC is like losing to East Carolina. Even this year it's like losing Wichita. Which we did. Healthy. Repeatedly.

And we're not healthy.

 

[SportsFan88]

And what are our strengths? Running the shot clock down to 3 every possession than throwing up a prayer? Please. And you need to be the most athletic team to run, you need to want to force the action.

Our strengths sure isn’t strong PG play and finishing inside or on the break for that matter which is obviously essential to what your post was about in the first place

 

[SportsFan88]

Playing in the AAC for so many years has us thinking that losing to PC is like losing to East Carolina. Even this year it's like losing Wichita. Which we did. Healthy. Repeatedly.

And we're not healthy.

Exactly.. in my opinion the fact that we have been in these games and had our chances in each of them is a testament in itself.. I guess people are forgetting where we were at as a program not even 3-4 years ago

 

[navery12]

I thought we'd run this year given the athletes we have on our team (even if almost all of them have missed the majority of the season). But just scroll through Hurley's teams and none of them ever play with a fast tempo, this is his system

 

[superjohn]

For the life of me I don't understand why we don't run at every opportunity. When I had my most offensively challenged teams I would ask the kids what is the easiest shot in basketball? The layup of course, and what is the easiest way to get a layup? By running faster than your opponent! Push the ball every possession,

It makes no sense, especially against a weak press like Providence ran the whole game.

 

[Huskymagic]

For the life of me I don't understand why we don't run at every opportunity. When I had my most offensively challenged teams I would ask the kids what is the easiest shot in basketball? The layup of course, and what is the easiest way to get a layup? By running faster than your opponent! Push the ball every possession,

Your overall point is valid. We suck at half-court offense and defense right now. Our defense is overrated at best.

What made UCONN great was Calhoun recruiting guys and his coaching philosophy which emphasized pushing tempo and running at every opportunity. That is UCONN basketball and that is what made us fun, exciting, great, and big time winners.

We have slow turtles at guard positions. We don't have dynamic guards to play in half court sets against good teams. We also have no team leader, which hurts big time as well.

Ty Polley is great in uptempo and fast games. Look at the Marquette game, he changed the game because we pushed tempo and played fast in the second half.

#SayNoToJerseyGuards

 

[superjohn]

I thought we'd run this year given the athletes we have on our team (even if almost all of them have missed the majority of the season). But just scroll through Hurley's teams and none of them ever play with a fast tempo, this is his system

He needs to be more open to adapting, we're going to be crazy athletic next year and most likely not a great shooting team.

 

[ucp990411]

Our strengths sure isn’t strong PG play and finishing inside or on the break for that matter which is obviously essential to what your post was about in the first place

My post was not about strong PG play, it was about maybe running a primary fast break or a secondary fast break. It is about have all 5 players running. This would also be the best way to get Polley some open looks as a trailer or running to a spot on the 3 pt line. I am talking about getting some easy baskets rather than struggling to score every trip.

 

[tzznandrew]

He needs to be more open to adapting, we're going to be crazy athletic next year and most likely not a great shooting team.

If the athletes we have next year are healthy and we don't run...well, then I'm open to the criticism.

 

[navery12]

He needs to be more open to adapting, we're going to be crazy athletic next year and most likely not a great shooting team.

Hopefully having a real PG like Diggins running the team lets us do that. Gaffney and Cole are important but both need to be playing off ball more, let Diggins and Jackson push the ball and break the press

 

[CardiacAndre7]

We don't have the athletes or finishers to run yet.

Will they run next year? Who knows. But the athleticism on the team is going to be way higher provided health. Once again the best players will be freshmen and sophomores, but the depth of athleticism and talent across the board will be addition by subtraction.

Every year we say next year

 

[uconngb]

We had Ray Allen and Donny Marshall. And Doron Sheffer is probably the second best passer we've ever had—and an excellent outlet passer (probably our best). Knight and Ollie played in the NBA. And Brian Fair was a better shooter than anyone on this team.

I get your point, but we had athletes. The highlights of that team almost always involve some combination of Sheffer-Marshall-Allen for a reason.

You didn’t respond to the point. Sheffer and Knight were most clearly below average high D1 college basketball athletes. I referenced the above average passing skills of Sheffer. THAT is what contributed to that team being our best running team ever. NOT having 5 great athletes on the floor at a time. Our current team is obviously limited. But it is not lack of athleticism alone that makes this a non running team. That was my point. And the 94/95 team is a PERFECT example that you don’t need to be crazy athletic to be a great running team.

Not sure what the relevance of bringing Fair into the equation is. We weren’t talking about shooting.

 

[Palatine]

We don’t run because RJ Cole is a turtle

Wrong, we don't run because our bigs do not throw outlet passes.

 

[tzznandrew]

Hopefully having a real PG like Diggins running the team lets us do that. Gaffney and Cole are important but both need to be playing off ball more, let Diggins and Jackson push the ball and break the press

Replacing Whaley-Polley-Carlton on this team—sans Bouknight—with Hawkins, Diggins, and Samson is going to make a world of difference in terms of athleticism. And they have at least two more scholarships to add kids. Then you add that Gaff, Sanogo, and Jackson will be a year better. Hopefully Akok is closer to who he could be. And Cole and Martin get their roles better. That team is way better than what we're currently putting on the floor. The ceiling there is Jackson. We may still be a year away from regular BE title contention (and therefore Final Fours), but next year's team will have gracefully flushed out the weaker talent, plugged most of the holes, and have forgotten what it's like to expect lose games.

 

[ucp990411]

Wrong, we don't run because our bigs do not throw outlet passes.

Bingo! They need to taught how to throw an outlet pass