Borges: Sanogo could see "limited minutes"; AJax calf issue; Diggins unlikely to see the floor

[uconngb]

I get his position on the Freshman, I don’t necessarily agree with it though. My whole issue is if Gaff continuously struggles and is a net negative, why not just give Diggins a little run to see what he can do, if not just for like a 3 minute stretch in the middle of halves? Then if he is worse than Gaff so be it. But why not just try? Maybe he becomes a sparkplug and develops from there, maybe the moment is too much. But not changing anything or trying anything new just seems

I think this is clearly what is most frustrating to everyone watching. It's really not possible that Diggins can be worse. If he comes in and sucks for a couple minutes, take him out. What have we lost in the process?? We already know that Gaffney can't cut it. Give the kid a chance.

 

[Storrs South]

I was thinking the same thing. Why come to uconn as a freshman, coach said your not gonna play

Except as others have noted that isn't what happens. If you're ready, particularly at the defensive end, you play.

This is the first season under Hurley multiple freshmen haven't gotten minutes.

His first year Sid Wilson and Brendan Adams both played (and played more than Whaley!). This was more because team had zero depth, but he still played them over older players.

Year 2: A freshman Akok was in the starting lineup at game 1 until his injury. Bouknight averaged 26 minutes a game. Gaffney averaged 20 minutes a game.

Year 3: Adama averaged 17 minutes a game, Andre averaged 16 minutes a game while dealing with a wrist injury that limited his development and court time

Year 4: Hawkins is averaging 17 minutes a game despite extremely uneven play.

The trend is less freshmen get significant minutes each season since the overall talent level of the program has been elevated from where it was 4 years ago, that the 7th best player on the team isn't Sid Wilson or Brendan Adams now it's Akok or Polley. That's a massive step forward. Yet he still plays those freshmen that he feels are ready and capable to be contributors.

Hurley says every year his priority is defense. If you can play defense you see the court. That should tell you everything you need to know.

I do have some quibbles with rotations and minute allocation mostly for Akok but from the limited run we have seen, nothing has really shown me Diggins and Johnson are ready. There were opportunities in November to get them some more run than what they got but there has not been an opportunity for that in 3 weeks as they have been in nail biters basically every game.

The next spot where they could get a chance is New Year's Day v. Butler. We will see, but the claim freshmen do not play under Hurley flies in the face of reality.

EDIT: And I will also add that Hurley consistently tells recruits that minutes will be earned, not given. Multiple players have said that to the press. Recruits seem to like that, so no it won't be effective as a technique for opposition to recruit against him.

 

[uconngb]

Except as others have noted that isn't what happens. If you're ready, particularly at the defensive end, you play.

This is the first season under Hurley multiple freshmen haven't gotten minutes.

His first year Sid Wilson and Brendan Adams both played (and played more than Whaley!). This was more because team had zero depth, but he still played them over older players.

Year 2: A freshman Akok was in the starting lineup at game 1 until his injury. Bouknight averaged 26 minutes a game. Gaffney averaged 20 minutes a game.

Year 3: Adama averaged 17 minutes a game, Andre averaged 16 minutes a game while dealing with a wrist injury that limited his development and court time

Year 4: Hawkins is averaging 17 minutes a game despite extremely uneven play.

The trend is less freshmen get significant minutes each season since the overall talent level of the program has been elevated from where it was 4 years ago, that the 7th best player on the team isn't Sid Wilson or Brendan Adams now it's Akok or Polley. That's a massive step forward. Yet he still plays those freshmen that he feels are ready and capable to be contributors.

Hurley says every year his priority is defense. If you can play defense you see the court. That should tell you everything you need to know.

I do have some quibbles with rotations and minute allocation mostly for Akok but from the limited run we have seen, nothing has really shown me Diggins and Johnson are ready. There were opportunities in November to get them some more run than what they got but there has not been an opportunity for that in 3 weeks as they have been in nail biters basically every game.

The next spot where they could get a chance is New Year's Day v. Butler. We will see, but the claim freshmen do not play under Hurley flies in the face of reality.

How about from the EXTENDED time that Polley and Gaffney have shown you.......that they are definitely not ready?? So let's just keep on playing them, why? Because they are older? That makes a lot of sense.

 

[superjohn]

With the 2011 roster do you think Hurley would've been giving Bazz, Roscoe, Lamb, Giffey major minutes early in the season or would he go with Olander, Beverly, and Okwandu?

 

[bendm]

I find it frustrating that bouk and adama are the only 2 of Hurley’s recruits that have outperformed their high school rankings. Hawk has the next best chance but No one else has even come close.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

sum of youse are wackadoodles.
three losses, by total points less than eggs in a carton.
all due to starter injuries. das it.
stuff happens. deal with it.

 

[uconngb]

I find it frustrating that bouk and adama are the only 2 of Hurley’s recruits that have outperformed their high school rankings. Hawk has the next best chance but No one else has even come close.

Exactly. So what does that tell you?? It's still early and I'm not giving up on the guy. But he has to start showing something. Recruiting ain't everything. Just ask Kentucky fans.

 

[imno1]

I find it frustrating that bouk and adama are the only 2 of Hurley’s recruits that have outperformed their high school rankings. Hawk has the next best chance but No one else has even come close.

Hot take alert

 

[Horatio]

Is there anything in that article regarding the difficulty of adjusting to Shaka Smart with hair?!?!?

 

[UConnSwag11]

Playing at a faster pace, changes coming to the rotation if players continue to underperform, more minutes for Samson Johnson

It should happen regardless of what us degenerates think.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I find it frustrating that bouk and adama are the only 2 of Hurley’s recruits that have outperformed their high school rankings. Hawk has the next best chance but No one else has even come close.

Bouk only got his time when Polley got hurt.

 

[Rocktheworld]

First off, it’s been three close losses to decent teams. We aren’t a final four team that’ll have less than 5 losses going into the post season; get used to losing, people. It’s on you for setting silly expectations.

Secondly, I don’t know who you people think you are or what you think you’re privy to regarding the roster and how the freshmen perform in practice. Some of you coming up with this idea that Hurley refuses to play freshman based solely on their being freshmen is ridiculous. Is the idea that he’s watching everyone play in practice, sees the freshmen stand out, yet refuse to play them anyway? That’s coaching malpractice and forgive me for being skeptical; especially given how much run Hawkins has had

 

[Sonova]

I just don't think it's realistic to expect an 11 man rotation, someone has to be the odd man out. My only point has been that we're not in practice every day, and based on what we've seen from Dan Hurley, every freshman who's earned minutes has gotten them. Maybe they get 18 instead of 25 like the Boneyard wants, but nobody has been getting 0 minutes when they've deserved big minutes

And saying ignore December to play the freshman through their mistakes sounds good in theory. But is everyone here gonna have the patience to deal with losses as we work through freshman mistakes? That seems unlikely. We're in year 4 and need to win games, I trust the staff to develop guys like Diggins and Johnson in practice so when an injury pops up they're ready to step in

One might think that playing an early season slate of ridiculous cupcakes is actually the perfect strategy to give our freshman meaningful (time wise) minutes.

However, I’m not sure that the BY issue is freshmen vs upperclassmen…it’s Dan Hurley’s resistance to change things up when they’re not working. If those aren’t options now b/c he didn’t give the Freshman less risky opportunities earlier, well, that’s on him.

 

[Storrs South]

How about from the EXTENDED time that Polley and Gaffney have shown you.......that they are definitely not ready?? So let's just keep on playing them, why? Because they are older? That makes a lot of sense.

We have seen the worst versions of them offensively in a Husky uniform. However, both defensively have been OK to pretty good (Polley OK, Gaffney pretty good by Defensive rating). Hurley has stated defense determines how much play you get.

I am optimistic the shots will start falling for Polley and that Gaffney will regain some form offensively once Adama returns.

We aren't there in practice so I'm just going off of what Hurley tells the press.

 

[BigFanCT]

Hurley sounding very Boeheim-esque Re: Comments about freshman.

 

[Waquoit]

His fascination with older guys will be his demise.

Like how not running guys off was going to be his demise?

 

[DrZzzz]

Jackson has a calf issue? Calf = Achilles. Not good.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Coming into a player's freshman season, the 4-star recruit has to generally earn their PT while 5 -stars are expected to take right over. By earning their PT it is almost always by contributing on both sides of the ball (or at least by being so strong on one that their liabilities on the other can be tolerated). We have a bunch of 4-stars and while they aren't taking right over we'd expect them to do so by the end of their freshman seasons and in some cases not until they're sophomores. I trust the coaching staff, who sees these freshman everyday in practice, has a far better line of sight than everyone on this board. For anyone here to second guess the situation, you're simply armchair quarterbacking. I'll be patient and see what happens in the next few weeks/months.

 

[imno1]

Jackson has a calf issue? Calf = Achilles. Not good.

Most times no It doesn’t. Your username has DR In it. I’m sure you took anatomy

 

[UConnSean]

We have seen the worst versions of them offensively in a Husky uniform. However, both defensively have been OK to pretty good (Polley OK, Gaffney pretty good by Defensive rating). Hurley has stated defense determines how much play you get.

I am optimistic the shots will start falling for Polley and that Gaffney will regain some form offensively once Adama returns.

We aren't there in practice so I'm just going off of what Hurley tells the press.

We have no idea what is going on in practice! I think this Dan Hurley quote from after the Xavier loss down in Charleston applies to all the 'coaches' on the BY ... "you don’t even know what you’re watching. You flip on a game, you watch 30 games a year and you watch the NBA, you don’t know shi* about what we do. You don’t know a thing about it. Not a thing.”

 

[BlueMAB]

Most times no It doesn’t. Your username has DR In it. I’m sure you took anatomy

Thigh issue equals knee issue. They’re connected right?

Next time someone gets a deep tissue bruise I hope the BY docs don’t diagnose a torn ACL.

 

[Vancat]

Is there anything in that article regarding the difficulty of adjusting to Shaka Smart with hair?!?!?

My reaction also

 

[bendm]

Bouk only got his time when Polley got hurt.

Even so that argument can now only be used to excuse Digg and Samson’s performance or lack thereof. However, Hurley’s statement that we’d have lost these 3 games by even more if they had played moots the point for me. They simply aren’t living up to expectations as top 50 and 75 recruits.

More significantly, gaff, aj, and Akok have gotten plenty of PT over their careers and have collectively been disappointing as well.

As a reclass redshirt ranked around the top 150 I give springs a pass but Floyd has the same pedigree which makes me worry about him too.

 

[dennismenace]

We have no idea what is going on in practice! I think this Dan Hurley quote from after the Xavier loss down in Charleston applies to all the 'coaches' on the BY ... "you don’t even know what you’re watching. You flip on a game, you watch 30 games a year and you watch the NBA, you don’t know shi* about what we do. You don’t know a thing about it. Not a thing.”

Who did he address those remarks to?

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Jackson has a calf issue? Calf = Achilles. Not good.

turn in ur license. active ballers learn to deal with the sometimes common, and phenotype dependent, little tears that can happen in the gastrocs.
if so, pro tip: stick a big foam wedge in the heel of the shoe for that leg. it shortens the drop. duh.
here, have a pic.

if that's the issue, which it often is. if he needs rest, rest him.
or, given the smarmy and dehydrating clime at the last game, he too could have suffered a hard calf cramp, which even after straightening out, could leave him sore for a few days.
those hurt like a mug. let's just hope for the best.

 

[pj]

I find it frustrating that bouk and adama are the only 2 of Hurley’s recruits that have outperformed their high school rankings. Hawk has the next best chance but No one else has even come close.

Andre Jackson is on track for it. #53 recruit would be expected to be undrafted (with international players that's about #80-90 to the NBA), he looks like an NBA draft pick.

 

[Kolumbo]

 

[UConnDad]

We do know that Gaffney burns something like 10 seconds off of every possession in non-productive dribbling in place. A lot of our shooting woes are due to people checking up the ball as the shot clock is winding down. He’s not in significant portion of that is due to Gaffney burning clock and letting the defense settle into position because he’s not swinging the ball.

Plus dribbling with his back to the basket. Can’t even see an open teammate. It’s such an invitation to jump his weak side but I guess why bother

 

[Fatroony5]

We have no idea what is going on in practice! I think this Dan Hurley quote from after the Xavier loss down in Charleston applies to all the 'coaches' on the BY ... "you don’t even know what you’re watching. You flip on a game, you watch 30 games a year and you watch the NBA, you don’t know shi* about what we do. You don’t know a thing about it. Not a thing.”

I remember these remarks, it was after Gilbert had an awful game and people were asking him to play AG less minutes. We may not be watching practice but you can know what’s going on in the games. Plenty of people on this board have or currently coach and understand the sets and defensive philosophy that he instills.

You can be a huge supporter of Hurley while also criticizing some of the moves he’s made. They aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m very much in the camp of: very happy to have Hurley, he’s done a great job of elevating the program, but he isn’t perfect. I mean people question Bill freakin Belichick. It’s okay to question some of the things Hurley does while fully supporting him and being happy he’s the coach.

 

[auror]

@Hungryhusky99 addressed what forced Dan Hurley's hand regarding Bouknight, and if I recall Sanogo only after he expressed serious discontent with his role (plus the wailing from fans).

Bouk missed the first 3 games for suspension and then played 25 minutes right away in his 2nd game ever. He averaged more minutes after the injury to Polley, but he was seeing rotational minutes right away from day 1 and his minutes were already increasing before the Polley injury gave him the start (he had earned 20+ minutes in 5 straight games before the injury). He got 33 minutes in Polley's first missed game, then back down to the 20-30 minutes he'd been averaging again for 3 more games, before getting pretty consistently 30+ minutes to close out the season. It was more a progression than a dramatic shift due solely to the Polley injury.

Sanogo was in the starting lineup by game #3. He wasn't in condition to play many more minutes than what he was playing, and was in a 3-man center rotiation with 2 other seniors (Carlton, Whaley). It's unreasonable to expect much more. He had a very slight uptick in minutes after the St Johns game, but it wasn't a dramatic shift at all (from 10-20 minutes to 15-25 minutes).