UCONN Postgame Thread

[Lurker]

2 hours ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Also, coming from Butler, MSG was nothing new for him

But winning there was.  Actually, I don't know how many games they've played there, I just know they've always stunk it up in the BE tournament.

[BGleas]

20 minutes ago, kyhoosier29 said:

I’ll counter Bruno’s last 8-9 minutes with how bad he was in the first 8-9 minutes. 😂 How about we call it a wash?

Last night I felt JS was just okay. But okay Justin is way better than last year Justin. He seems to be playing within himself this year.

i can’t disagree with your assessment of JH and DA. DA’s defense is MUCH improved this year. I just want more from them on offense. 

Agree. Especially agree with you on JH and DA. As presently constituted, this is probably a bubble team, probably on the right side of the bubble. With that said, if Phinisee can get to 100% healthy and all the rust shaken off, and if one or both of JH and DA can find themselves and gain confidence offensively, then this is a completely different team. It will be a struggle if IU goes all year with JH and DA just hitting a shot here and there. We need at least one of them to establish themselves offensively. 

I'm not saying they need to average 15ppg or anything, but we need one or both to gain confidence to where IU can count of them to hit open shots and provide reliable, consistent scoring off the bench, especially when Green and some of the other guys are off. 

[OLDIUFAN]

I didn’t see the first half. I understand Brunk didn’t have a good first half. I did watch the second half an we don’t win without Brunks playinthe second half. I also thought DeRon, played terrible in the second half. Haven’t heard how he played in first half are if he did at all. One of those two really need to show up every game to help this team! 
I understand DeRon is coming off a horrible injury, but he played much stronger last year. 

[Lurker]

1 hour ago, BGleas said:

Agree. Especially agree with you on JH and DA. As presently constituted, this is probably a bubble team, probably on the right side of the bubble. With that said, if Phinisee can get to 100% healthy and all the rust shaken off, and if one or both of JH and DA can find themselves and gain confidence offensively, then this is a completely different team. It will be a struggle if IU goes all year with JH and DA just hitting a shot here and there. We need at least one of them to establish themselves offensively. 

I'm not saying they need to average 15ppg or anything, but we need one or both to gain confidence to where IU can count of them to hit open shots and provide reliable, consistent scoring off the bench, especially when Green and some of the other guys are off. 

So true.  I was hoping to see some rapid progress from Hunter to where he could have a Jordan Nwora (Louisville) type impact eventually. I can't see this team moving to the next level until they get some offensive punch from one of those two.

[Seeking6]

5 hours ago, milehiiu said:

My first post in the UCONN post game thread.  Many of you may be surprised by that. Some, not many may be upset that I have chosen to opine. Regardless.

Here's my take.  No one knows his team better than Coach Miller.  I saw a lot of carping about Joey starting out the second half, in the game thread. Based on his first half performance. And I just had to say.  When the going got tough in the second half, both Joey and Al got going. And kept us in the game.  Without Joey's limited, but critical point contribution, we may have lost that game in New York City. 

 

Guilty!! I was banging Brunk the first 20. I apologized and he proceeded to save the game for us. Won't make that mistake again with him this year. 

[Proud2BAHoosier]

1 hour ago, Seeking6 said:

Guilty!! I was banging Brunk the first 20. I apologized and he proceeded to save the game for us. Won't make that mistake again with him this year. 

Brunk says he forgives you...…   😉

[Seeking6]

1 minute ago, Proud2BAHoosier said:

Brunk says he forgives you...…   😉

Haha. Yep. In the heat of the game emotions go so many directions. Most are unhealthy but to me last night is going to look like a good win come March.

[Hoosier83]

I’ll take the win. The goal imo is to make the tournament and wins like that get you in. Anything more then that is icing on the cake right now. We aren’t the IU of old but I still believe Archie can get us there. 

[Fiveoutofsix]

23 minutes ago, Hoosier83 said:

I’ll take the win. The goal imo is to make the tournament and wins like that get you in. Anything more then that is icing on the cake right now. We aren’t the IU of old but I still believe Archie can get us there. 

Still lacking a lockdown shooter to extend the floor.  Everyone is packed in.  Maybe Rob can be that?  Green is a scorer, but streaky.  Teams leave Smith, Al open often.  

[Hoosier83]

4 minutes ago, Fiveoutofsix said:

Still lacking a lockdown shooter to extend the floor.  Everyone is packed in.  Maybe Rob can be that?  Green is a scorer, but streaky.  Teams leave Smith, Al open often.  

Not saying we don’t have weaknesses, just saying making the tournament is the goal right now. We are going to lose are fair share of road games because of what you mentioned 

[13th&Jackson]

8 minutes ago, Hoosier83 said:

We are going to lose are fair share of road games because of what you mentioned 

For road games this season - opponent 3 pt shooting: <30%= win, > = loss

[Muddy River]

7 hours ago, BGleas said:

The bottom line is, and you're a coach, right, so you know this, if you're defending IU you're telling guys to sag off Smith and let him shoot all day long and prove he can make a few. What you don't want is Smith getting into the paint for dunks and drawing fouls. 

Tom Izzo strongly disagrees with your strategy  😋

[dgambill]

7 hours ago, Zlinedavid said:

Last year, absolutely. Let him shoot until his arm falls off.

This year so far, yes, you might sag off of him, but maybe half a step less than last year.

A half step less than last year would still be 5.5 feet away from him at the 3pt line fwiw.

[dgambill]

22 minutes ago, Muddy River said:

Tom Izzo strongly disagrees with your strategy  😋

A blind squirrel still finds acorns.

[dgambill]

3 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Guilty!! I was banging Brunk the first 20. I apologized and he proceeded to save the game for us. Won't make that mistake again with him this year. 

You weren’t the only one. Now...he also lost his man a couple times giving up buckets during his offensive stretch too. People are willing to forgive when you put the ball in the basket when no one else is. He had a good matchup when their center was in because he wasn’t as athletic and another traditional banger...however there was long stretches they had smaller bigs and he was not helping us and we went to Trayce at the 5 and it worked well.

[dgambill]

4 hours ago, Bob said:

I didn’t see the first half. I understand Brunk didn’t have a good first half. I did watch the second half an we don’t win without Brunks playinthe second half. I also thought DeRon, played terrible in the second half. Haven’t heard how he played in first half are if he did at all. One of those two really need to show up every game to help this team! 
I understand DeRon is coming off a horrible injury, but he played much stronger last year. 

Funny enough Davis had a couple good mins in the first. Essentially both was up and down...had their share of good and bad stretches. It was a team win...no ones play stood out as exceptional but everyone contributed to the win.

[13th&Jackson]

7 minutes ago, dgambill said:

A blind squirrel still finds acorns.

Has anyone actually confirmed that?

[dgambill]

We were fortunate...DA and JH was guarding a 3pt specialist. I think they said like 60% of his points or shots were 3 pointers. The guy didn’t stress their defense. Hopefully though they do keep improving and also knock down a few shots each...like someone else said...we don’t need one to avg 15...but if they both can avg 7-8 pts a game that would be huge and essentially a 15 pt player.

[dgambill]

2 minutes ago, 13th&Jackson said:

Has anyone actually confirmed that?

Hmm. I’ve seen an albino squirrel finding them. While I was hunting...does that count lol!

[Bugsmall]

This was a ugly win no doubt. But the effort was there and I thought it was a great team win. A lot of different players made big plays on both ends of court. Team has long way to go but I can see hope for a lot of improvements.

[milehiiu]

1 hour ago, Bugsmall said:

This was a ugly win no doubt. But the effort was there and I thought it was a great team win. A lot of different players made big plays on both ends of court. Team has long way to go but I can see hope for a lot of improvements.

A ton of learning cues for Archie to work on.  Iron them out now. And pick up an NCAAT bid at the end of the season.

[IU Scott]

15 hours ago, Seeking6 said:

Haha. Yep. In the heat of the game emotions go so many directions. Most are unhealthy but to me last night is going to look like a good win come March.

That is why I try not to post in the game threads because we say dumb things in the heat of the moment

[IUFLA]

Finally got to watch the whole game last night and have 2 observations...

We played a tough, physical game against a decent team. Winning that one, no matter how ugly, was great to see.

And if De'Ron had been out there instead of Joey when Al got horse-collared, there would have definitely been words if not more...

[Zlinedavid]

27 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

That is why I try not to post in the game threads because we say dub things I the heat of the moment

Speling tends to go to hel too.

[Zlinedavid]

17 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

And if De'Ron had been out there instead of Joey when Al got horse-collared, there would have definitely been words if not more...

I know he's naturally a good natured kid, but I like mean De'Ron.  Reminds me a little of Dale/Antonio Davis from the '90s Pacers.  Not going to be the aggressor, but it takes about a half-second to realize this isn't a guy you mess with either.