McNeely is a very talented player with a superb handle but I noticed he is sometimes overconfident in it, and will sometimes get it stolen or deflected against good athletic defenders. However I am extremely impressed by the multifaceted game he brings to the team. He is the team's 2nd leading rebounder, is a good passer and I don't think we have seen his best shooting. He is also very strong driving the ball and maintains his body control through contact so that he can make the AND 1's. So sad we only have him for 1 year.

Coach English discusses the loss.....teling it like it is (the audio on the Hurley/Reed PGPC is really awful and I am embarrassed to post it):
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Reed is definitely a better rebounder and scorer than Samson is. But I note that Hurley spent a lot of his post game presser talking about Reed and suggested that he has an on and off switch on his motor and energy and that he will always get 28 minutes when the switch was turned on as it was last night for the better part of the game. I hope he starts Reed against PC Saturday to see if this production will continue. They can certainly use a lift for this game which I suspect isn't going to be easy.

In last night's game Nowell got all of the backup PG minutes and Mahaney did not get off the bench at all, which I think tells us all what Mahaney's future is at UConn. I do not believe he has one. Back in the portal and probably back to the west coast to a mid major program.

100% correct with your post Blades. This is one of the weaker defensive teams UConn has had in quite some time. The bad D isn't highlighted as much as it probably should be because the team is offensively pretty good. But it's what will likely make them a candidate for a 1st or 2 round NCAA exit. If this team makes it to the Sweet 16 that will be solid achievement.

I think Tarris Reed has been a solid addition although he isn't a good enough interior defender, as was Clingan, to clean up the results of the bad D as much as is needed. As for Aidan Mahaney, the staff just missed with him. In that regard I go back to the August 4 scrimmage at which it was obvious when I saw him in person that his body needed work. He didn't look good at that scrimmage and I and many fans thought so. I think he probably needs to move on because I think he is overmatched at this level as far as playing the PG position and they don't need another SG on the roster next year.

Meanwhile there is nothing wrong with Ahmad Nowell's body other than it was injured and he was never seemingly able to play or practice enough to become a contributor. I think he could make a jump next year.

Stewart and Ross were disappointments. I don't know if they will be replaced or not. Their rate of development has been pretty slow. I see nothing wrong with Stewart's body- he has a good one. He just doesn't have a sustained impact on games. And he doesn't always play smart especially on D. He looks like a backup small and power forward.

The entire roster needs to be re-evaluated at season's end. I think they really need to figure out what the plan is at both forward positions. I like the idea of playing Reed at power forward if the freshman center is ready to start. Stewart is a backup. Jury is out on starting small forward and maybe PF.

Just too many guys not producing or developing as hoped has caught up to them. They don't have enough good ball-handlers. Mahaney has become increasingly unplayable with the live TOs he makes bringing the ball up against moderate pressure. The team is soft defensively and has been most of the year, prone to high numbers of fouls and rim attacks. These issues make the team unlikely to make a deep NCAA tournament run, assuming they do make the tournament, which isn't looking like a lock at the moment. They need to do a roster re-evaluation at the end of this season. They need more ballhandlers and guys who can really defend. Other than Reed, the UConn bench hasn't been very productive. It has to be bolstered with proven players. I know they thought Mahaney was proven, but he has been miscast as a PG and is undersized as a SG. They just blew it with him, and have to move on. He is a mid major player.

The truth is that other than against Creighton which applied ZERO defensive pressure against them, UConn has looked brutal handling the ball against any type of defensive pressure for weeks now, and the TOs are all coming in bunches in critical game situations. When they used it, PG-by-committee did not look so good today, and other than from the hobbled Diarra, UConn got absolutely nothing off the bench today. Too many guys are nonfactors- Mahaney, Reed, Stewart and Ross all were complete NFs today. At the end of the year they need to do a major roster re-assessment because I do not know if they have enough ballhandlers or defenders on the roster.

I read 2 different NBA Mock Drafts which had McNeeley going #11 to the Spurs where he joins Steph Castle: