Akok or Whaley | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Akok or Whaley

Colin G said:
I really think that Sanogo will be our 5 this year, Hurley seems to like guys at the 5 who are more traditional in a sense, hence recruiting and getting Clingan and Sanogo. But who has a better year this year, Akok or Whaley? I think they both start at points and Akok has a higher ceiling but Whaley is coming off a DPOY appearance. BTW I'm not Colin Gillespie
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But are you related to Kenny G
 
husky429 said:
I think guys are making a lot more of that Xavier game than they should. Sure, he was more aggressive, but Akok was abysmal as a freshman on offense. 41% from the floor, 26% from 3 is really, really bad. I mean he doesn't have much offensive skill at all. If that has changed, watch out, but I don't think you can make that assumption yet.
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What I don't understand is you make that statement about Akok "he doesn't have much offensive skill at all", then we have Whaley who is fluid on offense? Akok in my opinion is the stronger 2 way player between them in limited play. Yes, his injury is going to be a mystery in the beginning of the season. Really love Whaley and how he has exceeded my expectations year in and year out and he is now a major key player on this team. I have been saying that I like Whaley coming off the bench but he will get plenty of minutes. Then we have Springs and Johnson to insert with those two along with Sanogo.
 
navery12 said:
I hope this is happens for Akok but there's very little actual evidence this will be the case, in both the shooting and putting the ball on the floor to dribble. If he's doing what you describe on offense, with his defense and length, then he's a lock for a top 5 pick and one of the best players in college basketball. I think he'll be very good by the end of the year but I think the expectations have to be reigned in a bit
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He has no chance of being a top 5 pick. He's 22 coming off a ruptured ACL. How did you get that I think he'll be one of the best players in college basketball and a top 5 pick from what I said?

I was asked why I think Akok is the better offensive player than Whaley. I'm basing this off of him looking more fluid than Whaley in the limited chances he's had here. I said I think he'll hit the three enough from the wing where it will open up the drive for him. We've seen it in small flashes but we've barely seen him play at UConn because of injury. I didn't say he'll be a 40%+ three point shooter or he'll be one of the best three and D prospects or anything like that.
 
Huskyforlife said:
The thing about a prediction like this, it either means Akok or Whaley or Sanogo has disappointed.

Or we have the best frontcourt in CBB.

It's quite a claim either way.
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We do have one of the best frontcourts in the country and we are going up against one of the best frontcourts in Auburn at the Battle.
 
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Huskyforlife said:
The thing about a prediction like this, it either means Akok or Whaley or Sanogo has disappointed.

Or we have the best frontcourt in CBB.

It's quite a claim either way.
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Samson and Springs are going up against these guys in practice every day.. Have to be improving to get PT.

May be a UConn guy but I know talent when I see it. We have a talented front court..

Case closed.

BTW..I do not expect Sanogo/Whaley/AA to disappoint.
 
Husky Alien said:
What I don't understand is you make that statement about Akok "he doesn't have much offensive skill at all", then we have Whaley who is fluid on offense? Akok in my opinion is the stronger 2 way player between them in limited play. Yes, his injury is going to be a mystery in the beginning of the season. Really love Whaley and how he has exceeded my expectations year in and year out and he is now a major key player on this team. I have been saying that I like Whaley coming off the bench but he will get plenty of minutes. Then we have Springs and Johnson to insert with those two along with Sanogo.
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Whaley's 2020 and 2021 seasons offensively were both better than Akok's season in 2020, and by a significant amount
 
navery12 said:
Whaley's 2020 and 2021 seasons offensively were both better than Akok's season in 2020, and by a significant amount
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That's because Whaley played more minutes and most of his offense are put backs or dunks. I did say (Akok in my opinion is the stronger 2 way player between them in limited play). Skill wise I'm sticking with Akok and that's not to undermine Whaley at all. We will see as long as Akok stays healthy we are a better team.
 
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husky429 said:
Top is Akok as a freshman bottom is Whaley last year.

Akok is the biggest mystery on the team. He could be twice as good of a player or even worse since the injury. No one knows. It's probably hard for the coaches to even know. So much of this is mental
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Agreed, we're going to be a very good team no matter what but Akok and Jackson could take us from very good to a great team.
 
It will all depend on match-ups and what Akok looks like vs game talent, not just practice
It's going to be hard for Dan Hurley to sit Whalley - it has been for better part of 2 seasons and coming off the season he had it speaks for itself
I think Akok better get adjusted to the 5 because I still see Sanogo having a hard time staying out of foul trouble
However, it's a really nice problem to have the 3 of them
 
husky429 said:
Top is Akok as a freshman bottom is Whaley last year.

Akok is the biggest mystery on the team. He could be twice as good of a player or even worse since the injury. No one knows. It's probably hard for the coaches to even know. So much of this is mental
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Exactly... all things be equal, before Akok's injury, Whaley put up better numbers as a starter(last year) than Akok did when got the same PT and starting minutes as a FR as you pointed out. And Whaley was a much better perimeter defender who could handle alot of these teams that play small ball when he needed to match up with their 1 in 4 out. Only thing Whaley regressed on this past season was FT % , which was 73% the last year of the AAC, when he almost took twice as many FT's (60).

But a 3 man minutes rotation (mentioned in a post above) of a pair of Whaley, Sanogo and Akok at the 4-5 in Dan Hurley's bigger line-ups should be a strength of this team. With a solid Akok comeback the key.
 
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superjohn said:
He has no chance of being a top 5 pick. He's 22 coming off a ruptured ACL. How did you get that I think he'll be one of the best players in college basketball and a top 5 pick from what I said?

I was asked why I think Akok is the better offensive player than Whaley. I'm basing this off of him looking more fluid than Whaley in the limited chances he's had here. I said I think he'll hit the three enough from the wing where it will open up the drive for him. We've seen it in small flashes but we've barely seen him play at UConn because of injury. I didn't say he'll be a 40%+ three point shooter or he'll be one of the best three and D prospects or anything like that.
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I'm saying the player you described him being in your post would be a top 5 pick, I agree there's no chance it happens. A player at his size with his defensive ability who can even shoot 30% from 3 is incredibly rare. I think that's semi realistic though mid 20s seems more realistic. The part I especially disagree with is this driving ability, unless something has drastically changed during his rehab that's not something I can remotely see him doing. He's going to be a very good player, I just think expectations for him have gotten wildly out of control
 
Pork Chop.... This will be the best season of his time at UConn....

Also, Akok will get stronger as the season matures and will rival Whaley late in the season (assuming that they both stay healthy)
 
navery12 said:
I'm saying the player you described him being in your post would be a top 5 pick, I agree there's no chance it happens. A player at his size with his defensive ability who can even shoot 30% from 3 is incredibly rare. I think that's semi realistic though mid 20s seems more realistic. The part I especially disagree with is this driving ability, unless something has drastically changed during his rehab that's not something I can remotely see him doing. He's going to be a very good player, I just think expectations for him have gotten wildly out of control
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A 22 year old coming off a ruptured Achilles who is more fluid than Whaley on offense and who can shoot the three well enough on the wing to pump fake and get to the rim is a top 5 pick? I'm not following you at all on this.

As for Akok keeping the defense honest enough from the wing where he pump fakes and gets to the rim we saw Akok do it in the Xavier game this past season before Hurley shut him down and we saw him do it his freshman year before injury...

The list you posted with guys with his block rate who shoot it over 30% from three has one top 5 pick on it Mobley who was a top 5 pick if he left from high school, Whaley, and a bunch of other guys guys nobody has heard of and will go undrafted. You seem to be the only one who may have wildly out of control expectations with this top 5 pick stuff. Nothing I said makes him even close to a top 5 pick.
 
superjohn said:
A 22 year old coming off a ruptured Achilles who is more fluid than Whaley on offense and who can shoot the three well enough on the wing to pump fake and get to the rim is a top 5 pick? I'm not following you at all on this.

As for Akok keeping the defense honest enough from the wing where he pump fakes and gets to the rim we saw Akok do it in the Xavier game this past season before Hurley shut him down and we saw him do it his freshman year before injury...

The list you posted with guys with his block rate who shoot it over 30% from three has one top 5 pick on it Mobley who was a top 5 pick if he left from high school, Whaley, and a bunch of other guys guys nobody has heard of and will go undrafted. You seem to be the only one who may have wildly out of control expectations with this top 5 pick stuff. Nothing I said makes him even close to a top 5 pick.
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Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what your expectations are for him then, if you mean the occasional drive like against Xavier then I agree he can do that. All I'm saying is I don't expect that to be a regular part of his game where we should be putting the ball in his hands and saying get to the rim

I'm also not sure if you keep intentionally misstating my top 5 pick point purposely or I'm not explaining it well. I'm saying he's NOT going to be a top 5 pick. You're right that the chart I posted doesn't have any top 5 picks outside of Mobley, because a player being able to do all those things and also be able to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim is incredibly rare.
 
navery12 said:
Maybe I'm just misunderstanding what your expectations are for him then, if you mean the occasional drive like against Xavier then I agree he can do that. All I'm saying is I don't expect that to be a regular part of his game where we should be putting the ball in his hands and saying get to the rim

I'm also not sure if you keep intentionally misstating my top 5 pick point purposely or I'm not explaining it well. I'm saying he's NOT going to be a top 5 pick. You're right that the chart I posted doesn't have any top 5 picks outside of Mobley, because a player being able to do all those things and also be able to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim is incredibly rare.
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You're thinking stuff that I never said. All I said is I think he's more fluid than Whaley offensively and I expect him to keep the defense honest enough from the wing with the three where he can pump fake and get to the rim. I don't think Whaley can do that, don't think I've ever seen Whaley do that. I have seen Akok do that several times.

You said what I described is a lock top 5 pick. I don't think what I described is anything close to a lock top 5 pick. Not looking to argue.
 
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Through no fault of his own, due to injury, Akok was on a Randy Edsall type season last year. He got bigger, stronger and faster, etc. He also did not contribute much. It’s up to him to translate it into games. I hope he does, he’s a great kid.
 
superjohn said:
UConn should have one of the best frontcourts in the nation. That's not a homer call, media agrees.
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I think we do, but 1 of 1 might be a stretch. It's definitely the strength of our top 25 team.
 
IMO. .If everyone returns healthy to begin the season and stays healthy throughout the season. We have a top 10 frontcourt.
 
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Umami Zen said:
IMO. .If everyone returns healthy to begin the season and stays healthy throughout the season. We have a top 10 frontcourt.
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I will go out on a limb and it’s a little muddy with guys who can play the “2” or the “3”. I think we will get more production out of the backcourt than the front court.
 
I hope they all have a great season but I'm interested to see who will wow us more, Akok or Jackson. Of all the returning players these two are the greatest mysteries. I think a healthy Akok will have a more impactful year but I'd love to hear other's thoughts.
 
imno1 said:
I hope they all have a great season but I'm interested to see who will wow us more, Akok or Jackson. Of all the returning players these two are the greatest mysteries. I think a healthy Akok will have a more impactful year but I'd love to hear other's thoughts.
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Akok higher floor, Jackson higher ceiling.
 
Huskyforlife said:
Akok higher floor, Jackson higher ceiling.
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Right now until we see evidence Jackson can’t shoot. Akok can shoot but is he strong enough to mix it up down low, defend and stay on the floor? Tell me the answer and I’ll tell you how good we are.
 
jibsey said:
Right now until we see evidence Jackson can’t shoot. Akok can shoot but is he strong enough to mix it up down low, defend and stay on the floor? Tell me the answer and I’ll tell you how good we are.
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We dont know if Akok can shoot. He can probably survive anywhere defensively and stay on the floor if his injury doesn't limit him. But we know he will attempt open 3s, and he has potential to make them.

All of Jackson's potential is in his half court and open floor playmaking. Can he take over as the go to shot creator with quality shooters and bigs in support? Or is he awkwardly standing in the corner while Cole and Martin do their best? That's why he raises our ceiling if he hits.
 
I agree with those saying Whaley starts initially. But Whaley is also going to play probably 10-15 minutes a night at the 5. Ultimately Akok may beat him out for the starting spot (we need to hope he does) and will probably play more minutes at the 4 than Whaley does. It's a nice problem to have.
 
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