No Doubt that Rese and RJ were the stars of the Marquette Game, but AJAX is quietly getting more minutes and playing pretty well with a TON of room to grow as a player, he scored 10 minutes in like the first 10 or so of the half. I feel a breakout game coming for him soon. Even though he doesn't shoot many 3's hard to call him a non factor from behind the arc, he picks his spots well when scoring and will be pivotal to the fast break going forward, also getting more comfortable bringing the ball up against the press. Not to mention his defense. 60% from field and 100% from 3 (small sample size) 9.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg 2.5 ast had 3 steals last night. Mediocre play from the team has nothing to do with AJAX. Also worth noting he seems to find Sanogo better than anyone, and that they are undefeated when he gets more than 1 assist (sabremetric but still). Gimme a triple double or a 20 point performance, he can be "that guy" easily.
AJAX is quietly getting more minutes...
- Thread starter Colin G
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I like all of our players but AJ is my favorite team player. He does a bunch of everything with a highlight clip possible at any moment. My family is from the Capitol District in NY and he's an easy kid to root for. Can we please have him for 4 years?
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AJ had a "good Gaffney" game. He wasn't consistently involved throughout the game, disappearing at times, but played good feet-moving defense (outside of 1 or 2 miscommunications), hit an outside shot, had a couple transition drives, got to 10 points with 3 assists and no turnovers. With the addition of excellent rebounding.
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Hate this comparison because even when not scoring it seems like Andre is at least bringing 1+ skill to the table minimum. (Always a +rebounder)
I find myself questioning what Gaff is bringing to the game when he isn’t being aggressive and scoring
I think calling it a "good gaffney" game is a disservice "with the addition of excellent rebounding" underscores how good he is on the boards and how he helps push the pace. Also His defense is head and shoulders better than gaff's. He had 10 points and you're right, he wasn't consistently involved, you realize that AJ being more consistently involved looks like a near triple double threat night in and night out?
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Yes if something happened other than what happened, the analogy wouldn't make sense, sure. Was talking specifically about the game last night. I'd take a Good Gaff game from him every night. It's not a slight, it's just an apt comparison. 7 boards in 37 minutes is good, which is why I mentioned it as a bonus on top of the comparison, but it's not incredibly game altering. We had 15 fast break points as a team, again, nothing extraordinary (Marquette had 17). Good Gaff scores in transition when he's playing well also. As to the defense, Ajax is definitely better (and has better tools), but Gaff is a fine defender whose mistakes are very obvious,, while Ajax's mental lapses even out his great man to man at times (I have to watch the replay to confirm but I think they got 2 layups when he got lost on or miscommunicated on screens last night and in general he gets beat back door constantly).
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Without Andre, we are probably a .500 team. Everyone is waiting for him to breakout in the scoring column, unfortunately that’s not his strong point. He’s a tenacious rebounder. He grabs rebounds that no one else can. He grabs them with authority. He makes some stupid turnovers but I think that’s because he’s seeing the court better than the people he’s passing to. He is the toughness and grit that this team needs. He never gives up on a play. My one knock on him is that I wish he would fix that push/floater that he puts up, you just know it’s not going in.
The push/floater you mentioned is because he doesn’t know to stop for a jump shot. He’s athletic enough to learn it but it may take a while.
If Gaffney is a fine defender than I am Lyman DePriest and I am 66 years old.
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He practices that floater a ton, and practices it the same way he takes it in a game
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UConnSwag11
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A good gaff game is 2-2 from the line 1 assist and three turnovers with 3 fouls.
Jackson is a monster and is getting better with every game. He’s out second best point guard
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Jackson is gaining confidence that much is evident. Confidence in ball handling, defense, passing and rebounding (mixing it up). As soon as confidence reaches his point production, he will then be on a All BE team, and possibly make one of the National teams.
He's simply getting better with each game and is where he should be as a sophomore.
He's simply getting better with each game and is where he should be as a sophomore.
Coppin St - 11 pts, 8 ast, 0 TO, 5 reb, 4-7 from field, 2 steals. That's "Good Gaff".
Maryland NCAAT - 12 pts, 1 ast, 3 TO, 3 reb, 4-6 from field, 3-4 FT, 3 steals.
Jackson yesterday - 10 pts, 3 ast, 0 TO, 7 reb, 4-5 from field, 3 steals.
I agree Jackson is getting better, but he took 1 shot the entire 2nd half and it was the abysmal floater. He's got a long way to go, but 5 TOs in last 5 games shows he's painting in the lines more as Hurley would say.
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He may have not taken shots in the second half, but the first part of that UConn built an 11-pt lead. Then Sanogo, who I love, came in and clearly was not ready. The offense changed for the worse when he came in and the team fell in love with the 3pt shot for a while. However, he did seem very composed with the ball on offense.
Did notice as they were headed to commercial, Cole was barking at him for not calling screens. He's not a vocal guy but has to communicate on defense better.
Still, considering the injuries freshmen year, he's coming along nicely.
Did notice as they were headed to commercial, Cole was barking at him for not calling screens. He's not a vocal guy but has to communicate on defense better.
Still, considering the injuries freshmen year, he's coming along nicely.
Huskyforlife
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One day he needs to remember he can punch it anyone's head if he gets a running a start. At the very least use that 100th percentile athleticism to draw fouls and get high on layups. But it's shocking how long it took this board to see Andres contributions. Yesterday was his best game. But the rebounding/defense/passing have been there since game 1.
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Yes, the 15 foot floater is cute but he can also jump out from that far and be at the rim.
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He has all the tools to be great. He really just needs to be aggressive. He doesn't look for his shot or try to attack the rim enough. Even on fastbreaks he always looks to pass when if he went up strong he'd probably be the best finisher on the team. He and Hurly needs to realize him being the #1 guy is beneficial for everyone. Especially because he is probably our best playmaker on the team.
Kudos to him developing a reliable 3 point shot over the summer as well.
Kudos to him developing a reliable 3 point shot over the summer as well.
UConnSwag11
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The fact that you had to search for stats against the worst team in Division 1 and a game that we got absolutely smacked in proves the point
UConnSwag11
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Agreed. It seems as if the talent around him won't allow him to play up to his capabilities. He likes to push the tempo and pass. We need players/shooters or a system to be built around him for that.
Over the last month, he has been more and more aggressive attacking the basket. We need to find a way for him to get involved in the halfcourt more
You said he never has good games. I showed you good games. Now you say "Well he never has good games against good teams that we win". If I argued that, your point might have been proven. It wasn't Gaffney's fault that the team played like ass against Maryland. Either way, my point stands that Jackson's last game looked like his good games.
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In the first half it looked like someone had a talk with him. He was aggressive and looking to score, running the open floor, driving the rim. Then, from a scoring perspective, he kind of disappeared. He fills the stat sheet up so many other ways and pushes the ball hard in transition. He's a handful. He gets himself a better than average jump shot he will be very dangerous. I'm a huge fan of his.
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I can see that too. Definitely a lot of alpha dogs on the team who want to be the guy between Cole and Martin. They are legit scorers too, it’s just AJ is the most talent regardless. Martin can be a black hole at times too even though his scoring is so much better this year.