@UConn

[jacobkdoyle]

I get what you're saying but why would Cronin recruit an established scoring point guard and tout his offensive abilities the entire past year, only to put him in for d and assist?

He has to score in the flow of the game. He hasn't been able to do that consistently.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I get what you're saying but why would Cronin recruit an established scoring point guard and tout his offensive abilities the entire past year, only to put him in for d and assist?

He is not just putting him in for defense and assist. He is running the offense as well. Cronin isn't telling him to not score he is telling him to execute the game plan. If scoring opportunities present themselves in the flow of the game certainly he should take them. He shouldn't be out their exclusively looking for his shot while the other 4 stand around watching. That isn't needed with this team. He is not the first or only offensive option on this team. Coach also said in the past year he needs to work on his defense and his ball security.

 

[justinhub2003]

I get what you're saying but why would Cronin recruit an established scoring point guard and tout his offensive abilities the entire past year, only to put him in for d and assist?

Because of this particular team we don’t need a ton of scoring from that position, we need the kenpom #1 and now #2 players in the conference, Jake and Gary to take the majority of the shots. I think next year, mick will have to take the reins off cane and let him lead this team.

But this is a team too deep and too old to take away shots from our veterans. Good thing is; chemistry seems to be really good. It takes elite team chemistry to be down 18 and then storm back
Moments later.

Starting a game well is very over rated. We’re built to play 40 minutes. A lot of teams aren’t nearly as deep as us

 

[Emperor Snapper]

Sacred Heart was 12-18 during his sophomore season. Transforming the way the team plays so we can try to emulate what Cane Broome is accustomed to doing doesn't seem like a sound strategy at all.

If he cannot play effectively with the two best players in the league, then he can't play effectively. The solution is not to ask everyone else bend just to accommodate one guy.

That, and he needs to stop hanging his head every time he misses a shot and get back on defense. He has been bad in transition and shockingly easy to beat off the dribble during conference play. The ankle might still be giving him trouble, but he really needs to do a better job of staying in front of his man.

 

[justinhub2003]

Quick scout of UCONN:
Record: 11-11
RPI:#87 (tier 2 if we win)
Kenpom: #166 (gross)
KP Off: #217
KP Def: #121
Best wins: #71 Oregon 71-63, #101 UCF 62-53, #51 SMU
Worst Losses: #122 @Tulsa 2xOT, #154 @Memphis, #101 @UCF
PPG: 67.3
PPG against: 71.6

Offense:
They shoot free throws well.... and thats about it. In all seriousness, UCONN sucks offensively and a huge part of it is Kevin Ollie's fault. Ollie attempts to run a pro style offense which includes a ton of isolation plays where Jalen Adams has a ton of pressure to score for them. This is a very guard oriented team and Ollie doesn't ever seem to know how to develop bigs and also involve them in the offense. They'd rather chuck a contested 3 than to establish the post. That said, while he is not very efficient, I do think Christian Vital has a lot of heart and fight in him. At the end of games, he seems like he is out there trying to will his team to victory even though he just doesn't have the skill to do so. This is a perfect team to run the Matchup zone against. They don't shoot well at all, so clogging the lanes will be a big help and should help keep us out of foul trouble. Great passing teams breakdown our defense and passing is one of the things UCONN is just terrible at.

Defense:
Uconn will play multiple different defenses through the game and most do not work. And the bright side, is if they do by chance force up a bad shot, they defensive rebound at a god aweful rate. Teams against UCONN'd defense are grabbing an 31% of their misses. That doesn't bode well for UCONN with UC snatching up a #2 in the nation 40% of its misses. Usually you can count on UCONN to at least be decent on the defensive end but they have been really poor this season and rank 60 spots worse than last season.


Overall:
Uconn does have pride and teams with pride and familiarity with each other never seem to go down easy. By my count they are 5-0 in Gampel pavilion with wins over UCF and SMU in that gym and they will embrace playing us in their gym. If we contain Jalen Adams and terry Larrier, we really have no worries. But if we let them get hot and it could be a much closer game than expected. It also doesn't help that its a noon tip off and we usually are still sleeping until about 12:30. Need to come out and break their backs early.


65-53 UC



EDIT: One thing I left out; While I did mention that Vital being the guy who seems to hate losing the most, I should also mention that in UCONN"s 2 biggest wins at home, Vital was the kenpom MVP. He poured in 18 points against UCF and had 7 rebounds. And then added 20 points including 5 triples and 4 assists against SMU. He maybe the emotional leader of this team, not Adams or Larrier. Need to guard him on the 3 point line even if the scouting reports shows he is not a great shooter from deep

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Sacred Heart was 12-18 during his sophomore season. Transforming the way the team plays so we can try to emulate what Cane Broome is accustomed to doing doesn't seem like a sound strategy at all.

If he cannot play effectively with the two best players in the league, then he can't play effectively. The solution is not to ask everyone else bend just to accommodate one guy.

That, and he needs to stop hanging his head every time he misses a shot and get back on defense. He has been bad in transition and shockingly easy to beat off the dribble during conference play. The ankle might still be giving him trouble, but he really needs to do a better job of staying in front of his man.

Completely agree.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Sacred Heart was 12-18 during his sophomore season. Transforming the way the team plays so we can try to emulate what Cane Broome is accustomed to doing doesn't seem like a sound strategy at all.

If he cannot play effectively with the two best players in the league, then he can't play effectively. The solution is not to ask everyone else bend just to accommodate one guy.

That, and he needs to stop hanging his head every time he misses a shot and get back on defense. He has been bad in transition and shockingly easy to beat off the dribble during conference play. The ankle might still be giving him trouble, but he really needs to do a better job of staying in front of his man.

I think many people had very different ideas about what he was going to actually bring to the table. Many really didn't consider the adjustment he was going to have to make. He was the anti Caupain. The fact that we are averaging 71 points a game in league play is lost on many. They envisioned him running up and down the floor making lay ups and creating highlight reel dunks. It's what people longed for. He was the missing piece. Now to many the only thing stopping that from happening is Cronin regardless what their eyes see or what our record is. Having him share the spot with JJ has afforded us a very good combination of diverse skills. Very nice Coach has those skills at his disposal. I think it is a asset to the team and one the opposition has to account for.

 

[sedziobs]

Quick scout of UCONN:

Nice write-up, as usual. I'll also point out that UConn is #267 in tempo, which is about the median for our conference. The AAC is slow.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

Nice write-up, as usual. I'll also point out that UConn is #267 in tempo, which is about the median for our conference. The AAC is slow.

It will be interesting to see what strategy we employ. Do you think they can win a grind it out game against our defense? If we push the pace is that to our advantage? I think so. I think you'll see us employ a very similar game as the one we ran against SMU.

 

[sedziobs]

I'd rather play more in the halfcourt against UConn. They don't shoot well from the outside, and they don't rebound well. A halfcourt game exposes those weaknesses.

Also, the tempo statistic can be deceiving. Our strong offensive rebounding is partly to blame for our slow tempo, in addition to great defense. UConn's bad defensive rebounding is probably to blame for theirs, in addition to bad offense. Running up the court faster isn't really going to change that.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

-12.5

You nailed it GarradJ21!

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I'd rather play more in the halfcourt against UConn. They don't shoot well from the outside, and they don't rebound well. A halfcourt game exposes those weaknesses.

Also, the tempo statistic can be deceiving. Our strong offensive rebounding is partly to blame for our slow tempo, in addition to great defense. UConn's bad defensive rebounding is probably to blame for theirs, in addition to bad offense. Running up the court faster isn't really going to change that.

You may be right. My thinking was we are the more talented deeper team and creating more possessions works to our benefit. You certainly gave me something to ponder.

 

[sedziobs]

We can still increase the number of possessions by shooting earlier in the shot clock. But that is different from the average fan's idea of pushing the pace, which is running in transition. To do that you need a quick outlet to a player near midcourt who has support. That means at least two and probably three players abandoning the defensive glass. I just don't think that's necessarily a good strategy against a team like UConn.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I'm just glad Brimah is gone. I really grew to detest him and he became a dirty player late in his career. And the refs let him get away with it.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I'm just glad Brimah is gone. I really grew to detest him and he became a dirty player late in his career. And the refs let him get away with it.

yea he was a game changer defensively for them. I would love to have that kind of rim protector on our back end. Maybe next year with Ellie.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

We can still increase the number of possessions by shooting earlier in the shot clock. But that is different from the average fan's idea of pushing the pace, which is running in transition. To do that you need a quick outlet to a player near midcourt who has support. That means at least two and probably three players abandoning the defensive glass. I just don't think that's necessarily a good strategy against a team like UConn.

I think your right. Evans has shown himself to be very effective one or two times a game hitting the offensive glass and Gary is a monster.

You know the shame is with how good a rebounder Troy was from the point if he would of had the ability to get the board and race up the floor I really believe we could of generated a few more breaks. I think sometimes people forget now good of a rebounder Troy was from the PG spot.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

@Dan_Hoard
Have a minute for @CoachCroninUC? In today's #BearcatsVoice report we look ahead to tomorrow's game at UConn https://t.co/Z2zsP0AwnP

 

[sedziobs]

I actually don't think Troy was the issue. As I said earlier, you need support to run in transition, not a fast point guard. Troy played most of his years with Kevin Johnson or Farad Cobb as the other guard. They were not good transition players. Also, our bigs aren't great outlet passers. So, I think it was the makeup of the rest of the team that limited our transition game, rather than Troy. I saw him in person in the G League last week, and he has adapted very well to the uptempo pace there. He's a good passer and very much under control.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

yea he was a game changer defensively for them. I would love to have that kind of rim protector on our back end. Maybe next year with Ellie.

I think Brooks fits better as the rim protector and Nsoseme the rebounder/dirty work guy.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

I actually don't think Troy was the issue. As I said earlier, you need support to run in transition, not a fast point guard. Troy played most of his years with Kevin Johnson or Farad Cobb as the other guard. They were not good transition players. Also, our bigs aren't great outlet passers. So, I think it was the makeup of the rest of the team that limited our transition game, rather than Troy. I saw him in person in the G League last week, and he has adapted very well to the uptempo pace there. He's a good passer and very much under control.

After watching him do you think he has a shot to play in the NBA? Great kid!!