This was the UConn I was worried about 6 weeks ago

[JakeBarnes]

MUGrad

If I were Shaka, I would have a lot of tape to show Oso, Omax and Co. on the poor effort on the rebounding front. Oso and Omax were not good last night and time for them to step up. In addition, both Chase and Joplin had moments of not sharing the ball. Gold was wide open, and I mean wide open, in the second half and he did not touch the ball.

Good news, I think Gold showed glimpses of what he will ultimately be at MU. I would not be surprised to see increased minutes for minutes moving forward. If he gains confidence in his shoot, he can be a game changer.

Agree on Gold, Goose. He's been moving a lot better and the shot looks really good lately. I thought they should have been abusing that matchup once it started to work--probably would have opened the lane up for Tyler and the team if he hit a few more (especially if it drew Clingan or Sanogo to the perimeter). Really excited for him to realize his ceiling.

[Goose]

Shooter

I have no idea on this, but it appears the guys like Ben and it is not a personality issue. I think you are correct on not earning their trust or just a habit of missing him. To be fair, I would have missed him for 95% of the season if I was playing with him. IMO, last night gave a lot of tape for the guys to learn from.

That being said, I have sensed a touch of selfish offense the past couple of games and hope it is not a trend. Chase last night made several questionable plays and Joplin is Joplin. Time to clean some things up. One last point, I have also noticed Kolek getting frustrated with some of the guys on the court. The team has faced zero adversity this season and let's see how they respond.

[ATL MU Warrior]

MUGrad

If I were Shaka, I would have a lot of tape to show Oso, Omax and Co. on the poor effort on the rebounding front. Oso and Omax were not good last night and time for them to step up. In addition, both Chase and Joplin had moments of not sharing the ball. Gold was wide open, and I mean wide open, in the second half and he did not touch the ball.

Good news, I think Gold showed glimpses of what he will ultimately be at MU. I would not be surprised to see increased minutes for minutes moving forward. If he gains confidence in his shoot, he can be a game changer.

Lost is the butt-kicking we received last night was a great adjustment by Shaka. As soon as Clingan came in the game, so did Ben. One drive for a layup and two made threes were the immediate result, and as others mentioned there could have been multiple other attempts where Ben was wide open. Really smart to take advantage defensively of the guy who really dominated us the last game. Of course, Sanogo had his way with us last night, as did pretty much the rest of UConn’s lineup so all for naught.

[Goose]

Jake,

As you know I am a big believer in Gold, but one thing I really like about him is a bit chippy out there. Aside from Kolek, there really is no chippy type guys on the team and I think it is needed. I watch Gold closely and he likes to get his jabs in when given a chance. IMO, the team needs a bit more of that.

[MuggsyB]

MUGrad

If I were Shaka, I would have a lot of tape to show Oso, Omax and Co. on the poor effort on the rebounding front. Oso and Omax were not good last night and time for them to step up. In addition, both Chase and Joplin had moments of not sharing the ball. Gold was wide open, and I mean wide open, in the second half and he did not touch the ball.

Good news, I think Gold showed glimpses of what he will ultimately be at MU. I would not be surprised to see increased minutes for minutes moving forward. If he gains confidence in his shoot, he can be a game changer.

Excellent points Goose. 

[brewcity77]

If I were Shaka, I would have a lot of tape to show Oso, Omax and Co. on the poor effort on the rebounding front. Oso and Omax were not good last night and time for them to step up. In addition, both Chase and Joplin had moments of not sharing the ball. Gold was wide open, and I mean wide open, in the second half and he did not touch the ball.

Agree with all of this, but this part in particular. Heard lots of "burn the tape" comments after last night, but I think it was a really good game from a learning perspective. Show the team where the extra effort is needed as motivation, but also show them where some of the bounces went poorly so they don't get too dejected from what ended up a bad result. You always learn the most from failure, and I think this team can learn a lot and get better from the failed effort of last night.

[21Jumpstreet]

Jake,

As you know I am a big believer in Gold, but one thing I really like about him is a bit chippy out there. Aside from Kolek, there really is no chippy type guys on the team and I think it is needed. I watch Gold closely and he likes to get his jabs in when given a chance. IMO, the team needs a bit more of that.

Spot on, he has a bit of an edge.

[Herman Cain]

Jake,

As you know I am a big believer in Gold, but one thing I really like about him is a bit chippy out there. Aside from Kolek, there really is no chippy type guys on the team and I think it is needed. I watch Gold closely and he likes to get his jabs in when given a chance. IMO, the team needs a bit more of that.

I agree with this analysis

[tower912]

OMax was getting visibly frustrated, particularly in the defensive end and the rebounding.   Shaka put on the press and put OMax at the point of it and suddenly OMax was flinging himself around with reckless abandon even with 4 fouls.   I hope that serves as a brain cleanser for OMax.

[JakeBarnes]

Shooter

I have no idea on this, but it appears the guys like Ben and it is not a personality issue. I think you are correct on not earning their trust or just a habit of missing him. To be fair, I would have missed him for 95% of the season if I was playing with him. IMO, last night gave a lot of tape for the guys to learn from.

That being said, I have sensed a touch of selfish offense the past couple of games and hope it is not a trend. Chase last night made several questionable plays and Joplin is Joplin. Time to clean some things up. One last point, I have also noticed Kolek getting frustrated with some of the guys on the court. The team has faced zero adversity this season and let's see how they respond.

Goose--you were not alone in the above observation. That is probably my only "chicken little" moment: I felt like the team started to move towards that last year around this time as well. The ball isn't moving as well since the mid 2H of the Butler game. It seems like the dribble is getting picked up too early and guys are too frustrated to look for an outlet. A lot of attempts at iso ball, rather than finding the open guy and crisp passing. It's a bit like an over-correction to the time when Shaka told Kolek to find his shot sometimes. Now everyone is driving into the lane into 3 people trying to force a layup. That said, Sean and Stevie were mostly good at picking their spots and recognizing what the defense gave them when it was there. And Ben as well with that really nice drive on Clingan. O-Max, Jop, Oso, and Tyler forgot about the guys rotating behind them. i'd actually like to see that as an emphasis more--Kam or a shooter making a nice cut on the line when Oso or Tyler are backing down a player in the lane. 

[Scoop Snoop]

Agree with all of this, but this part in particular. Heard lots of "burn the tape" comments after last night, but I think it was a really good game from a learning perspective. Show the team where the extra effort is needed as motivation, but also show them where some of the bounces went poorly so they don't get too dejected from what ended up a bad result. You always learn the most from failure, and I think this team can learn a lot and get better from the failed effort of last night.

Same mentality as book burners.

Learn, dammit! The old cliche' of history repeating itself is valid only when the lessons of history are ignored or brushed aside.

[UWW2MU]

Agree with all of this, but this part in particular. Heard lots of "burn the tape" comments after last night, but I think it was a really good game from a learning perspective. Show the team where the extra effort is needed as motivation, but also show them where some of the bounces went poorly so they don't get too dejected from what ended up a bad result. You always learn the most from failure, and I think this team can learn a lot and get better from the failed effort of last night.

Exactly!  The burn the tape sentiment confuses me and goes against Shaka's principles.  This is the type of thing you learn from.  I think it'll be both technically constructive AND give them an opportunity to build the long term mindset needed to sustain their edge.


One specific area I'm wondering about, is if Oso is specifically coached in rebounding situations to always try to tip it out because he may be physically outmatched or is it instinctual for him?  It seems like he never tries to pull down a rebound himself in heavy traffic.  Seems like low hanging fruit to help improve rebounding, but happy to be educated if people disagree.

[Goose]

Jake


Last year two guys fell into a hero ball mindset, and I was OK with it because without them there would not have been a run and they were playing for the next year's payday. This year, I would sit ANY guy that goes hero, even if that means going on 4 on 5. IMO, it has not been hero ball, more of trying to make something happen out of frustration. The last two games were a struggle on offense, and I am going with guys trying to make something happen.

Going back to last year for one second, once I saw the hero ball become a trend it was obvious it was not a winning formula. I was far less disappointed because last year's team played way over their head and gave us some excitement. This team creates excitement by playing team ball.

[brewcity77]

Did they peak at #2 behind Purdue? I thought they had #1 for a week. 

Well, crap.   

Beer before or after the game next Wednesday?

Leaning toward after. 6:00 tips are tough for me to make without any extra stops

[Viper]

Shooter

I have no idea on this, but it appears the guys like Ben and it is not a personality issue. I think you are correct on not earning their trust or just a habit of missing him. To be fair, I would have missed him for 95% of the season if I was playing with him. IMO, last night gave a lot of tape for the guys to learn from.

That being said, I have sensed a touch of selfish offense the past couple of games and hope it is not a trend. Chase last night made several questionable plays and Joplin is Joplin. Time to clean some things up. One last point, I have also noticed Kolek getting frustrated with some of the guys on the court. The team has faced zero adversity this season and let's see how they respond.

100%. And, I’ve noticed some hesitancy. Oso doesn’t have a face-up game at this point, and has seemed to be reluctant at times to go to his go-to jump hooks around the rim. Passing-up east looks. Omax just a little ragged of late, and Mitchell and Ross have tended to dribble into no man’s land too often. Kind of a oh….now what? But, all easy to clean-up. Get it done on Saturday in prep for X next week!

[Galway Eagle]

Anyone notice omax started the season having this face up erratic style that worked especially from the wings, but has moved to slow back them down and it's just not working?

[Newsdreams]

I was disappointed .

We will come back and hopefully have a strong game against Georgetown

When I saw the game was out of control early, I decided to do some long over do cleaning, got me some good will with The Missus. So not a totally bad evening .

Very weak fan

[Newsdreams]

UConn had insanely uncharacteristic shot making. Per Synergy, their expected points per shot was 0.95 and their actual was 1.19 which is UConn's biggest overperformance of the year. Marquette's expected was 0.94 and actual was 0.93, which is fine.

UConn couldn't miss early, got out to a 24-8 lead, and we played them even the rest of the way, but because we couldn't string enough stops to get it close to single digits, it was never close enough to feel at all comfortable. But seriously, some of the open looks we missed, some of the crazy, well-guarded prayers they made, sometimes it's just not your night.

This was first half Wisconsin with Hawkins playing the Chucky Hepburn role and no second half run to force overtime. It happens. On to Georgetown.

Look at game again, way too many late closeouts defending the three.