AJ

[ucp990411]

People on the chat were dissing AJ quite a bit. OK. he's not an outside threat and does get beat off the dribble too much. Guy had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. What game were these Jackson haters watching? That being said I though Akok was player of the game.

 

[3rdbass]

People on the chat were dissing AJ quite a bit. OK. he's not an outside threat and does get beat off the dribble too much. Guy had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. What game were these Jackson haters watching? That being said I though Akok was player of the game.

He also gets beat constantly off the dribble on defense. I do love his tenacity rebounding. He does sky for them with ease. Too bad he has no offensive game to speak about but at least he is contributing in other ways.

 

[BGesus4]

People on the chat were dissing AJ quite a bit. OK. he's not an outside threat and does get beat off the dribble too much. Guy had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. What game were these Jackson haters watching? That being said I though Akok was player of the game.

Well, a good portion of the boneyard thought last year that Martin and Cole were outmatched on this level, so it’s not really clear what a certain group on this board believes is a good college basketball player

 

[Rocktheworld]

He’s got some things to work on; I think he was thrust into a bigger role he may not have been totally ready for when Martin went down

Just don’t say you don’t see it

 

[Waquoit]

Just don’t say you don’t see it

The thing is, it was already visible before today.

 

[jdb50]

Andre is a high school center trying to guard college guards. I am surprised that on plays where he is beat he does not block the shot from behind. Because he has the athleticism to do it. That said Andre could be our best rebounder since John Thomas. And he is 2 inches shorter.

 

[mauconnfan]

People on the chat were dissing AJ quite a bit. OK. he's not an outside threat and does get beat off the dribble too much. Guy had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. What game were these Jackson haters watching? That being said I though Akok was player of the game.

He deserves this post I agree. Today he had less out of control plays on offense, held back on D most times not getting beat back door and was once again solid on the boards. His best game as a Husky and they needed him to do that. Need more of this AJ than the prior version.

Also agree Akok was POG excellent game. Also his best especially this year. Blocked shots at crucial times, rebounded made some shots. If he is that guy more often than not damn we get better fast. Hoping he found himself today!

 

[UConnSwag11]

You can see him working on trying to score getting to the lane or backing his man down. It might not work all the time but he does get fouled when he does

 

[Chasm64]

First time AJ looked more like a basketball player than just an athlete. Did a fine job other than getting beat on d a couple times.

 

[Kenny11]

If he just got down a little bit more he wouldn’t get beat off the dribble. He stands straight up. He’s awesome at chasing guys around and making them uncomfortable though. And he recovers very well.

 

[MexicoHusky]

People on the chat were dissing AJ quite a bit. OK. he's not an outside threat and does get beat off the dribble too much. Guy had 9 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists. What game were these Jackson haters watching? That being said I though Akok was player of the game.

I think the criticism is defense. Which may be moderately true. But he defensive rebounds well and gets tough assignments. So I'm pretty content with his defense.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I think the criticism is defense. Which may be moderately true. But he defensive rebounds well and gets tough assignments. So I'm pretty content with his defense.

I love how aggressive he is getting rebounds and how he pushes tempo after snagging a rebound

 

[OUTATIME]

I think people forget he's only a sophomore.

 

[UCPharma11]

I love how aggressive he is getting rebounds and how he pushes tempo after snagging a rebound

Easy to get on his offensive repertoire as of the moment, but the trained eye of a UCONN fan can definitely see his progress from last year. He's definitely more integrated into the team. He had a nice aggressive move late in todays game where he turned around got fouled on a baseline shot and just barely missed the shot. I know 9 points doesn't seem like a lot but its a start.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Him attacking the rim changes a lot for this team and how teams will guard him

 

[Northbound]

The takes hammering this kid are irrational.

He hasn’t even played a year of cbb - relax, holy hell.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Andre is a godamned menace for the other team. Grabbing boards and going up court fast, it stresses the opponent no matter what happens. We underestimate his impact. The mere threat of him reduces offensive rebounding by the other team. He looked pretty solid around the basket and made let FTs.

 

[Horatio]

I appreciate what he did today and I’ll take that for the rest of the season. My only question is who was responsible for his basketball development before he got to UCONN and what did they actually do with him???

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Defense takes time to learn, and AJ is often checking the other teams best guard/wing. Cut him a little slack.

 

[Northbound]

I appreciate what he did today and I’ll take that for the rest of the season. My only question is who was responsible for his basketball development before he got to UCONN and what did they actually do with him???

Albany Academy and Brian Fruscio - what did he do with him - very good question. Wasn’t close enough to that program to know, much closer to Green Tech.

But a kid with his natural gifts can do a lot of things in hs. He’s going to be a very good player.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I think people forget he's only a sophomore.

He turned 20 last month.

Springs turned 20 a couple months before.

Hawkins, Johnson, Diggins, and even Sanogo are all still teenagers.

 

[MDHuskFan]

The expectation of instantaneous growth while also discouraging 1&done players still baffles me.

AJ is an amazing player with warts. His growth is a testament to his hard work & quality coaching received

 

[Candyman]

Like someone said on a podcast I heard maybe Dausters, if AJ could shoot he wouldn’t be at UConn. He would be a 5 star recruit that would be at Kentucky, Duke or G League etc. If he did still come here he would be gone this year or last, again if he was also decent shooter.

 

[AdamaNation]

First time AJ looked more like a basketball player than just an athlete. Did a fine job other than getting beat on d a couple times.

I think it called learning. Or experience. Whichever…. It’s that.

 

[tcf15]

Points aren’t there yet, but he’s averaging 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 block per game so far this year. The last players we had putting up numbers like that across the board were Rudy Gay (05-06, 15.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.1 apg, 1.8 spg, 1.6 bog) and Scott Burrell (92-93, 16.1 ppg, 6 rpg, 2.1 apg, 2.4 spg, 1.1 bpg).