Borges: For UConn’s Adama Sanogo, the future is bright — and outside the paint

[ZenConn]

I love Sanogo's strides he made as a freshman. He does need to expand his game to be more effective and needs to keep himself on the court.

The question is how he's going to come along defensively. The game has evolved so guys with his height and taller can score on all 3 levels and he needs to match up against those guys on the defensive end.

 

[Griggs]

I think Sanogo can add the 15 footer to his game coming out from the post. He has the best footwork post moves I’ve seen at UCONN for a freshman or beyond that. Keeping him out of foul trouble is the challenge going over the back but he can learn to be smart about it.

If you like his post moves, why do you want him 15 away from the rim? Keep him on the low blocks where he draws the defensive's attention.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hurley acknowledged this in his post-game or post-season press conference -- he knows that playing two traditional bigs, or playing a lot of guys who aren't threats from the perimeters, seriously bogs down offense in this era of basketball. You're not going to see the Ewing/Oakley/Smith/Mason Knicks anytime soon.

He's still getting his personnel in here. I think his ideal lineup would be something like:

Sanogo
Akok (pre-injury)
Jackson
Hawkins
Diggins/Gaffney

That's 3-4 shooters, athletes at every position, and only 1 traditional big. We may even see that lineup for stretches next year, and that will be the dominant lineup the year after.

Guys like Cole and Martin were stop-gaps brought in to fill strategic needs and to be leaders for the young guys.

Cole was easily a more consistent scorer and defender than Gaffney. Let’s not get blown away by a couple good games by Gaff because he has a long way to go still. Martin was our best rebounder and played solid D all year just needs the be stronger in finishing and less pretty.

Having said that one more experienced guard that can shoot it and has some size is a must.