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Uconn at Creighton - Sat- 12 p.m.

the Blades

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Jan 20, 2003
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Uconn at Creighton - Jan 23 (Sat) 12 p.m. TV: FOX

Another terrible small ball match-up for Hurley again, especially with Bouk out. DH needs to figure out how to keep his effective bigs on the court and not be outcoached, like last game with Sanogo. Maybe he needs to take a page from Geno by playing zone so his guys don't keep getting beat off the dribble vs. these guard heavy line-ups. Or better yet learn how to play a match-up zone like Pitino did vs. Uconn, which most BE teams figured out was a way to shut down Kemba and company at the end of the regular season in his NC year.

It does 2 things, you stop getting killed off the dribble and it can help keep your bigs in the game and under the basket for shot blocking. Something that would help Whaley, Sanogo, Carlton and even Akok or Polley, though the last is not a shot blocker. Because other than Whaley none of them can guard out on the perimeter. If DH isn't smart enough to make this adjustment then he's just being stubborn with his team that's to undermanned to match-up vs. small ball and to in love with his man to man D that can't handle it. As mentioned in the other thread Creighton has lost 2 in a row ( even with Zegs back from injury last game )

BE-2-Creighton-20-21-Roster-Stats-jan-22.jpg
 
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Blades I watched most of the Providence-Creighton game Wednesday and PC won that game because PC senior big man Nate Watson (who is similar to Sanogo in size and girth) bullied Creighton inside for a career high 29 points. He went off and couldn't be defended. Apart from not giving in to small ball matchups, there was one other critical decision that won the game for PC. PC had 4 players with 4 fouls called against them with 6 minutes left in the game. Some of those calls were very fishy against PC, and I could actually hear Dave Duke yelling at the ref, when he was called for his 4th, "ref that was offensive!!!!!" And Duke may have been right. However Eddie Cooley didn't panic, left his players out there and NOBODY fouled out, which was nothing short of a miracle. PC led the whole game up to that point and effectively protected the lead and closed the game out. Unlike UConn, they made critical FTs to close out the game, including 2 big ones at the end by Duke.
 
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Blades I watched most of the Providence-Creighton game Wednesday and PC won that game because PC senior big man Nate Watson (who is similar to Sanogo in size and girth) bullied Creighton inside for a career high 29 points. He went off and couldn't be defended. Apart from not giving in to small ball matchups, there was one other critical decision that won the game for PC. PC had 4 players with 4 fouls called against them with 6 minutes left in the game.
That's another reason it's insanity for DH to try to guard Creighton man to man. Half of his roster can't guard these small ball guards outside because they'll pick up foul trouble. I swear DH recruited, and by injuries, is stuck with a roster that would be perfect to be playing for Boeheim in his zone, with the height and length they have. But instead of that DH wants to keep half his roster and any inside offensive advantage glued to the bench because they can't chase 6-5 guards around.
 
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That first half was not exactly an offensive masterpiece but UConn finished the half strong. UConn outrebounded Creighton 26-12 first half. Rebounding keeps you in games when shooting goes south (29%) and you just hope they find a way to steal the game.

You fight back against small ball on the boards. It's the only way to fight back.
 
The result was so predictable. One coach exploiting ever Uconn match-up off the dribble and the other one convinced that his sieve man to man is gonna stop them,. While they pile up the fouls, because of the mis-matches. At the other end Uconn runs around passing the ball to its bigs 20 feet from the basket and running out the shot clock , and there isn't a guy on the team that can beat Creighton off the dribble.

on the plus side they did do better at the foul line:
Box Score 74 - 66
 
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That was a very surly postgame presser by Coach Hurley. It's probably the surliest presser I have seen him give. He was not happy.

In the presser he made it sound like Akok may be a lost cause for this season.
 
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That was a very surly postgame presser by Coach Hurley. It's probably the surliest presser I have seen him give. He was not happy.
In the presser he made it sound like Akok may be a lost cause for this season.
I just listened to DH opening lines saying we can't cover them off the dribble. Well hello Dan.... WTFU ! Youre undermanned with with lack of perimeter defenders at every position but keep playing man to man, because you think that's your identity. It's called adjustments coach, adjust to what you have available with your roster .....I watched Geno today he soft pressured full court to waste clock then dropped back to a trapping zone....It's right out of Pitino's signature defense. And you know what you don't see vs. a zone ????? GUYS GETTING CONSTANTLY BEATEN OF THE DRIBBLE BY THE OTHER TEAM THAT'S GOOD AT IT !!!
 
if I was coaching, I’d MIx in some 1-3-1 and also falsify covid tests until Bouk was ready to go.

mostly the second one. :)
 
I just went back and re-listened to that testy exchange between DH and Dave Borges and my read on it (I could be wrong) is that DH has a beef with Dave Borges. The question Borges asked was what happened between Hurley and the ref that led to the T. DH's response was, "That's none of your business, Dave, it's between me and the ref.......and put the full quote in." It sounds like from the end of that sentence that he did not like being snippet quoted by Borges on something........
 
Springs is on the team, but according to Hurley he is a "developmental player", which means he is not ready for prime time yet.
 
I just want Gaffney to be more aggressive. I believe he's way better than what he has shown thus far.
 
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