2020 Starting 5 & Bench

[gtcam]

Red shirting Brown Ferguson, with AS on board, is a complete no-brainer.
If allowed, Martin will play. DH has said so.

 

[Lamble]

It would not surprise me to see Carlton on the bench, but I think Hurley gives him the nod as the stater and more minutes to others

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Lefty2one]

So, Akok out for the year in your rotations?

With an Achilles, yeah. I'd be surprised if he played at all. Bringing him back in late Feb seems like a bad idea. He'll barely have time to shake off any rust and you could blow a year's eligible for a handful of games.

 

[Psolo12]

You’re right I’m just stupid and thought he did for some reason

 

[JimHurley]

Hearing Javonte Brown Ferguson will likely redshirt, and Martin will sit out like RJ Cole did. Fluid situation due to injuries and COVID, but that was initial plan.

If Martin is sitting I’m not sure we want to redshirt Javonte. That’ll leave us with 12 guys, one being Polley returning from an ACL and one being Akok returning from an Achilles. So essentially 10 healthy guys. One or two injuries and we’re back to where we’ve been the past 2 years...can never have enough healthy bodies.

 

[Bigflip12]

Whaley is a high energy role player. He started out of necessity, he has the right attitude to be a bench player. Carlton will start for sure.

 

[nashusky109]

Cole
Bouk
Jackson
Whaley
Carlton

Sanogo gets more minutes than Carlton but Carlton will start beginning of the season. Not saying Sanogo won't be better than Carlton but i don't see how a Senior Carlton will be worse than a Freshmen Sanogo especially to start off the year. From what his coach said he'll also pick up some bad fouls so im sure he's gonna have to learn to adjust and thats gonna come from game experience.

Have a feeling Carlton is gonna be much better than we think.

 

[husky429]

Whaley is a high energy role player. He started out of necessity, he has the right attitude to be a bench player. Carlton will start for sure.

The last half of the season, Whaley blew Carlton out of the water. He was efficient on offense and defense, and did just about everything we needed. If Carlton drops some weight and plays smarter, I think he can get back to form, but let's not kid ourselves and think Whaley is a starter.

With the newfound depth at the 5, I wouldn't be surprised if we started both (or Whaley/Sanogo), and based on matchups switched to a smaller lineup (Polley/Martin at the 4) when needed.

Whaley:
9.8 PPG
7.6 REB
0.9 AST
1.3 TO
2.1 BLK
1.0 STL
2.8 PF
19.1 minutes per
60% FG
77% FT (3.4 attempts)

Carlton:
5.1 PTS
5.2 REB
0.7 AST
1.5 TO
0.7 BLK
0.4 STL
3.1 PF
18.4 mpg
51% FG
47% FT (1.1 attempts per)

 

[Lefty2one]

The last half of the season, Whaley blew Carlton out of the water. He was efficient on offense and defense, and did just about everything we needed. If Carlton drops some weight and plays smarter, I think he can get back to form, but let's not kid ourselves and think Whaley is a starter.

The numbers are even more in Whaley's favor when you look at the last seven games, starting with Akok's injury when more minutes opened up.

Once Akok went down: 12.6 & 8.4 plus 3 blocks per game. .552 from the floor. His passing skills don't translate to the box score either. Kind of ironic that he was a much better version of what we'd hoped to get out of Akok and he was buried on the bench all season.

This stretch was admittedly against pretty bleh competition outside of Memphis and Houston (which is why I mentioned that I don't it's a lock that we'll play a ton of smallball with Whaley at the five this coming season). The kid was really friggin good.

 

[phillionaire]

I thought they changed the rule for redshirting where you could play a certain percentage of games, or was that only for football? Or did I just make that up?

 

[B1GEast]

With an Achilles, yeah. I'd be surprised if he played at all. Bringing him back in late Feb seems like a bad idea. He'll barely have time to shake off any rust and you could blow a year's eligible for a handful of games.

That's my sentiment as well. I hope he proves me wrong, but that is a devistating injury to come back from. He'll probably play, but to get back to where he was will be a grind.

 

[RichZ]

Brown-Ferguson gonna be averaging like 8 mpg this year lol. I would love if this starting 5 materialized at some point prior to big east play

1- Cole
2 - Bouk
3 - Jackson
4 - Whaley
5 - Sanogo

I like that 5. Until I remind myself that Martin and Polley will be very important as scorers. Especially against zones.
It looks like a front court logjam. But then I remember the 2nd championship team, where 5 front court guys 6'8" or better (Mek, CharlieV, JoshB, Hilton & Marcus White) coexisted quite nicely, all contributed and 4 went in the first round of their respective drafts.

 

[auror]

That's my sentiment as well. I hope he proves me wrong, but that is a devistating injury to come back from. He'll probably play, but to get back to where he was will be a grind.

And we're looking for skill improvement on top of the physical rehabilitation. This will be a lost year for him, but I do think he should play in the 2nd half to start gaining game confidence in his body.

 

[bendm]

Cole
Bouk
Jackson
Sanogo
Carlton starts, but Ferguson gets more minutes

lets all just put the notion that sanogo will be the starting PF to rest now before it gains any traction
edit- and that brown will get more minutes than whaley

 

[UconnU]

There are so many pieces I don't know where to begin. Bouk and Jackson are penciled in as starters IMO.

Cole
Bouk
Jackson
Sanogo
Carlton starts, but Ferguson gets more minutes

This line up can win the Big East

Sanogo is a center. I think our starting lineup looks something like.

Cole
Bouk
Jackson or Martin
Whaley or Jackson
Sanogo

With Gaffney backing up Cole and getting minutes at the 2. Adams backing up Bouk and getting minutes at the 3. Springs backing up Whaley. Carlton backing up Sanogo. Polley and Akok TBD. Javonte Brown Ferguson redshirting. This team is super deep Hurley is going to have some upset kids and maybe a transfer of two for sure.

One thing that we’re lacking a little bit of is big game experience. We’ll have 3 or 4 new starters, 5 completely new starters from last years first game, none of whom have played in meaningful games in March against quality opponents. I think the experience aspect of the team is a little overrated. That will come.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We are going to be playing big boy basketball next season, and a league like the Big East will chew up frosh centers in the beginning of the season. Any of the inexperienced bigs will have trouble staying on the court, as will Carlton.

We can't play any more 4 guard lineups in the Big East. If we try 30 minutes of small ball, the opponent will get every rebound and score at will on us.

I do expect one of the young bigs to emerge and take over the center spot by season's end. Not sure who though.

I was afraid next season might be a rebuilding year, but I am feeling better about UConn's ability to compete next season.

 

[superjohn]

Whaley is a high energy role player. He started out of necessity, he has the right attitude to be a bench player. Carlton will start for sure.

Did you watch this past season? Whaley was way better than Carlton. There were a couple games Whaley was the best player on the court.

 

[Captbluefin]

Gaff gets no respect. But he will be the one the floor after the under 4 timeout.

 

[ucawn]

Gaff gets no respect. But he will be the one the floor after the under 4 timeout.

As Hurley said, we haven’t even seen Gaff. His offensive game is gonna blossom and really make us a hard team to guard.

 

[scotty0330]

Absolutely. For some reason I was crucified a few weeks back for suggesting this if we added a big. Perfect scenario. It sounds like Sanogo wants to get to the league quickly but imagine this depth at center in 2022:
Junior Sanogo
RS Sophomore Javonte Brown Ferguson
Freshman Clingan

If sanogo is still here as a junior something has gone terribly wrong. He wants to get to league quickly and for a big man that’s one or two years max on campus.