Adama Sanogo

[mauconnfan]

Sanogo is a really good player for a soph big. I mean we’re lucky to have a big the opponents are very concerned with. He’s not lucky enough to be surrounded by a bunch of guys who can make a 3. Throw him at the 5 for Villanova in place of Dixon they’re a 1 seed.

Now having said that he has to absolutely learn to pass out of the post. He can’t try to pass the ball only when he realizes he can’t get a clean shot off he needs to feel the double coming, realize where it’s coming from and find open people. Even when he does pass it’s rarely crisp more of a toss. He needs to become a good passer to be more effective. Coaches realize for now he’s a black hole and is going to turn it over or take a bad shot more often than pass it to an open teammate. This needs to get better, his reads need to get better.

Now having now said that, glad he’s ours!

 

[yungdowork]

Sanogo missing some easy layups was definitely an issue with our performance in both BET games, but it's far from the only issue. It seems pretty obvious that our starting lineup in particular makes it much easier for teams to double or even triple Sanogo at times. As has been harped on all year, Jackson and Whaley don't provide any spacing due to lack of consistent shooting, and teams would rather dare them to hit shots than let our all-conference center dominate them.

I do think having Hawkins back will give us a lot of opportunities to switch the lineups around. Playing small ball with Polley out there is tough because he really doesn't want to be near the paint on either side of the floor, and teams target him if he's tasked with defending a quicker guard.

 

[UConnSwag11]

What's missing is the kickout from the post. I don't know if it's because he hasn't learned how or because his teammates are just watching him instead of getting into postion. All the better teams free up threes and long twos that way. The defenders know that they can converge on Adamo, because he rarely passes out once he gets the ball down low.

He has no one to pass to as the entire team goes to the opposite side of the court and the defense doubles and triples him. He has no one to pass to. It’s always Whaley feeding him the ball instead of Martin or Polley. That would keep the defense honest. If they left Martin or Polley they leave open our three point shooters.

It comes down to skill set around Sanogo and offensive strategy. Same thing with Jackson. Jackson’s ceiling is capped due to the skill set of others around him

 

[Chasm64]

The other part of the equation is when Sanogo gets the ball are the other players cutting or getting to a spot where he has a clear view of them to make the pass ?

 

[UConnSwag11]

Sanogo missing some easy layups was definitely an issue with our performance in both BET games, but it's far from the only issue. It seems pretty obvious that our starting lineup in particular makes it much easier for teams to double or even triple Sanogo at times. As has been harped on all year, Jackson and Whaley don't provide any spacing due to lack of consistent shooting, and teams would rather dare them to hit shots than let our all-conference center dominate them.

I do think having Hawkins back will give us a lot of opportunities to switch the lineups around. Playing small ball with Polley out there is tough because he really doesn't want to be near the paint on either side of the floor, and teams target him if he's tasked with defending a quicker guard.

Agreed. Hawkins will be big next year IF he develops like Sanogo and Jackson have.

But again, it’s easy to blame Sanogo for the misses because he got the ball more and got the ball closer to the rim. But he got a double double, again. He gets no help from Whaley on the offensive end at all. Whaley got 0 points Friday. Sanogo also gets very limited scoring help from Jackson. Sanogo also gets no help from Gaffney. I want Polley to play more because he has been playing well but like Hawkins, you don’t know what you’re getting every night from them. Sanogo, Martin, and Cole are our only legitimate offensive threats right now. It’s hard to just blame Sanogo when the pieces around him don’t help him or the team.

 

[jibsey]

It’s tough because you already have Jackson playing 30+ Mins as a non-shooter. Have to have shooters at the 2 and 4.

Yes, yes and yes. Having that other shooter changes all of our dynamics night and day.

 

[yungdowork]

Agreed. Hawkins will be big next year IF he develops like Sanogo and Jackson have.

But again, it’s easy to blame Sanogo for the misses because he got the ball more and got the ball closer to the rim. But he got a double double, again. He gets no help from Whaley on the offensive end at all. Whaley got 0 points Friday. Sanogo also gets very limited scoring help from Jackson. Sanogo also gets no help from Gaffney. I want Polley to play more because he has been playing well but like Hawkins, you don’t know what you’re getting every night from them. Sanogo, Martin, and Cole are our only legitimate offensive threats right now. It’s hard to just blame Sanogo when the pieces around him don’t help him or the team.

Yeah, any time you see missed layups, it feels disappointing regardless of the very valid reasons for him missing them. I actually think one of Sanogo's issues right now is that he is trying too hard to shoulder the burden. He knows that there are very few guys in college basketball who can stop him 1-on-1 and I think he can get carried away trying to exploit that.

Unfortunately, especially since he's one of my favorite UConn players ever, Whaley has been a bit of an issue lately. He's the 4th best rebounder in our starting lineup, only beating out RJ, and hasn't had more than 7 rebounds in a game since January despite playing 30+ minutes almost every game (for the record, Cole has had games with 8, 9 rebounds respectively in that stretch). Couple that with the fact that he's not a scorer, and I think it becomes even more problematic. It's been said all season, but I really think utilizing him as more of backup 5 would be beneficial for him, but without him out there, the 4 is a huge question mark. Polley isn't physical enough, and obviously Akok and Samson just aren't valid options right now.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Another thing about Whaley is he’s so bad with the ball anywhere besides under the basket. He really spazzes when he gets it up top. And I don’t know how many times Hurley has to watch Whaley try to force an entry pass from up top and turn it over, but he should change it up.

 

[mauconnfan]

Another thing about Whaley is he’s so bad with the ball anywhere besides under the basket. He really spazzes when he gets it up top. And I don’t know how many times Hurley has to watch Whaley try to force an entry pass from up top and turn it over, but he should change it up.

Problem is can’t single him out on that. We actually don’t have any “great” interior passes they all scare me. Martin has thrown some horrific passes as has Andre and RJ as well. Oddly enough we don’t have a great passing team, andre has improved though and RJ is ok.

What makes it even tougher is our opponents know the focus so the pass has to perfect too often and Sanogo needs to bury his guy away from the ball.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This team is Whaley being able to hit a 3 point shot away from a final 4 contender. If he could just keep defenses honest it would open up the paint so much for AS. Since he’s completely useless on the offensive end it makes the doubles and triples easy. Can’t believe after 5 years he never developed an outside shot.

This isn't a fair criticism.

In fact, developing an outside shot is the one area where he did improve from last year to this year, after everyone identified it as an area he needed to develop in order to play the 4 alongside Sanogo.

The problem for Whaley is the rest of his offensive game completely disintegrated. I feel like 2-3 years ago he was able to occasionally beat a guy off a quick dribble in the mid-post or use some rudimentary post moves in a back-to-the-basket scenario. He can't do any of that now.

 

[Candyman]

15 points 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots let his teammates down? I wish we had a few mor guys letting us down like that! We would have won by 20 points!

He took 16 shots to score 15 that’s awful. Yes he grabbed rebounds but missed easy shots. He hits those we win. Plus the 5 free throws he missed. Someone saying he has three defenders on him and think it’s okay that he didn’t pass out of it?

Not his fault alone but he plays better on O we win. I’m not talking about any other game or this year. This game we needed him to dominate and he didn’t.

He wasn’t alone. The fact we don’t use our bench is a major reason we lost. Cole expanded so much energy on Gillespie didn’t have it in O down the stretch. Played every minute of 2nd half. Whaley didn’t score and played 30 plus minutes. There is blame to share.

 

[jibsey]

We talk about how we need to have better outside shooting on our roster as in a 2 guard and I agree but last night in the championship game those 2 teams went 11-61 from 3. With Creighton only making 3 of them they were in the game right to the end.

 

[Waquoit]

Entry passes to Sanogo wasn't the problem Friday. They were hitting him right in the mitts.

 

[mauconnfan]

We talk about how we need to have better outside shooting on our roster as in a 2 guard and I agree but last night in the championship game those 2 teams went 11-61 from 3. With Creighton only making 3 of them they were in the game right to the end.

Creighton had plenty of great looks late in the game and just bricked them all.

 

[coachn]

Pass the ball out of the post. Find the open shooter. Open shooter...make yourself available to receive the Pass. Can someone forward this to the coaching staff or @Chief00. They have a week to figure it out before the next game.

We don't have a Bll Bradley on this team. Rashad Anderson.
Might help if we made our free throws consistantly. Adama be more selective. Was he sick?
Every time Villanova passed out of the post to open man they knocked down the shot.Worked for the shot better. Live by the 3 die by the 3.

 

[coachn]

We have to do a better job at getting him space next year. I’d like to see us bring in another shooter.

Grifiths

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

He can certainly get to 60% by dunking

Fwiw, I've seen Josh Carlton go up and emphatically slam the ball down through the rim 3 times in Houston's AAC final against Memphis.

 

[Coach J]

Fwiw, I've seen Josh Carlton go up and emphatically slam the ball down through the rim 3 times in Houston's AAC final against Memphis.

Me too, I am happy for him. He played great in this game and he got himself a ring, also he made 1st Team All-AAC. Boy it makes you wonder how much he could have helped vs Kalkbrenner last week.