Clingan max out minutes prob 26-28

[Palatine]

Adama was probably the best back to the basket scorer we had in our program's history. If Donovan ever gets that good he is going to be fantastic in the NBA for a long time.

Clinton isn't as clever around the basket as Adama was. But he doesn't need to be. He will have way more dunks that Adama ever did. He can just turn and flush. And don't sell Clingon's footwork short. It's is very, very good. He will be a good NBA player for day one.

 

[mauconnfan]

Well to his credit Hurley moved from High Hedge to drop coverage when Clingan was in and was incredibly effective. like historically effective.

He is now experimenting with keeping Clingan in the middle of a 131 but holy cow that looked terrible. It takes away our biggest strength (length) and lets little guys get into the seams off the dribble and carve us up and makes CLingan move wayyyy to much. Just... no. Stop. Drop coverage Man. It was literally the most efficient D in the country by miles when Clingan was in the game.

Agree 100% on DC in the 1-3-1 it looked horrific and good teams will eat up all the space available in it while keeping the big guy out of the lane. Please either tighten that up or when in zone just a 2-3 please. That will kill us.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Hurley's a good coach. When Sanogo was in, they blitzed the PnR and had a high hedge and allowed Sanogo to get back on D and cover the roll man.

Clingan is playing drop coverage. Drop coverage works when you can cover as much ground as Clingan and can really protect the rim. He might get exploited by elite NBA 3-point shooters at next level, but that isn't gonna happen in college.

Clingan doesn't play a deep drop either. He is able to play away from basket and still protect the rim on the drop. It's good defense.

That said, Clingan looks to be at most 30 minute player. They ask him to do a lot. In fact, big men in modern basketball are asked to do way more running than in the old days.

Clingan plays drop coverage on D and has to cover a ton of ground on the backline. He then is expected tp rebound and run the floor as a trailor.

Think of modern NBA big men as pitchers in modern baseball. They don't pace themselves anymore. It's max effort every time. The days of Shaq catching a breath walking up the floor are over.

And, on offense, instead of a post-up ISO player, he is put in PnR action where he is a roll man. He moves way more than your traditional 1980s BIg Man used to move.

 

[bmayuc]

I actually think this affects him on offense just as much or maybe even more. It seems like he's got a habit of rushing when he thinks he has a good look. I think he probably wants to avoid giving the defense time to bring the double team, but sometimes it seems like its coming at the expense of taking that half second to get his feet set and find the rim.

yea - he needs to embrace that its ok to be doubled or for a little guy to shoot over him. Doesn't have to dunk everything or block everything.

The very best pivot men know that just their presence demands reactions - which opens things up for others on offense (shooters/cutters) and defense( harder hedge/closeouts knowing he's waiting to erase stuff)

Final note on this - the one absolute NBA Veteran skill that Sanogo possessed was poise. He would get the ball on the block and torture defenders by just standing htere with the ball for 2-3 seconds, let the cutters clear and the defense to have to commit/clarify/rotate its coverage. Then if they were gonna leave him 1:1 he'd go to work. If they doubled, he'd kick and we'd get a good shot (think all the tourney Andre dunks, karaban threes, etc. Poise was his superpower, and DC needs to watch some tape and embrace that. Watch Sanogo last year. Watch Tim Duncan from 2005-2010. Watch Shaq 1999-2005. Just get the ball. Stand there for a couple ticks and take it all in. Be still. Figure out the coverage, then go to town.

 

[CL82]

Donovan will not be as good a back to the basket scorer as Adama was, but he doesn't have to be. He's a different type of player. He is so disruptive and so huge in the paint that he can overwhelm defenders with his size. He should also catch approximately 10,000 alley-oops this year.

Assuming he's like say 50% on converting them, that would give him at 10,000 point season, more if he's fouled. I feel pretty good about our chances this year if that turns out to be correct.

 

[Excalibur]

Part of that is Hurley’s high hedge defense and despite the success last season - don’t get me started - cuz I would sound silly given the final result - LOL

You’d look even sillier seeing as we rarely hard hedge with Clingan.

 

[Chief00]

You’d look even sillier seeing as we rarely hard hedge with Clingan.

Donovan only averaged 13 of the 40 minutes game last season, so that’s a good start towards rarely but Adama hedged a lot.

 

[freshler40]

my number one question coming out of these first two games: what's going to happen if (when?) samson gets into foul trouble against a legit team?

are we going to ride donovan? go small with karaban? trust singare?

We did go small recently with Karaban at center against weak competition. With Big East top teams that might not work but could against the DePauls of the world. Don't underestimate the backups to Samson!

 

[Fan1978]

I think Indiana will be a good test for him. Overall they suck but they do have a bit talented frontline with Ware and Mgbako. Seeing how he matches up with them will be interesting. If nothing else those 2 both have NBA bodies

Ware looked very good against army. Mgbako has been a complete non factor so far. Looks more like a 1 and disgruntled transfer than 1 and done. Army gave indiana real test. Uconn should trounce indiana as long as clingan avoids dumb fouls chasing ware

 

[Gurleyman]

An observation on Clingan - he needs to be more still/calm. He does a lot of jumping for upfakes, trying to move his feet and stay with smaller guys. He needs to settle in and just be confident his size will smother their movement(narrator voice: it will) or let them shoot over him (good luck). This will not only lower his risk of injury/foul trouble by being on balance more, but also help him rest. Much easier to float/stand around in paint than try and move your feet and mirror little guys.

I know this is sacrilege - but its one area where Kaulkbrenner really does a great job. His body positioning and off-ball movement is very quiet/efficient.

I haven’t seen much this year (some of NAU, none of Stonehill), but I thought this was a great strength of Clingan’s during last year’s run. He wouldn’t just block shots - he’d keep his feet and sometimes get steals by threatening to block shots and then reading the pass and sagging. And then he would time his shot blocks just right and block/contest even difficult fadeaways by not getting off balance. He got in Arkansas‘ head, and made Timme’s shot selection difficult. I was really impressed by his defensive savviness as a freshman, and thought his offensive savviness had a ways to go to catch up.

Not saying you’re wrong - now that he’s starting and maybe anxious to take the next step, he could be getting more eager to make plays and getting outside of himself a bit. And there were times last year he didn’t stay vertical and picked up fouls he could have avoided, which didn’t matter so much with Sanogo to go back to.

 

[Rico444]

I actually think this affects him on offense just as much or maybe even more. It seems like he's got a habit of rushing when he thinks he has a good look. I think he probably wants to avoid giving the defense time to bring the double team, but sometimes it seems like its coming at the expense of taking that half second to get his feet set and find the rim.

Let's not forget that he just came back from a foot injury where he basically didn't practice for a month. I'd be willing to bet once he knocks off the rust this will be less of an issue.

Donovan only averaged 13 of the 40 minutes game last season, so that’s a good start towards rarely but Adama hedged a lot.

And yet somehow, with all of that hedging and a lack of the double big, we managed to dominate on our way to a national title.

 

[bmayuc]

I haven’t seen much this year (some of NAU, none of Stonehill), but I thought this was a great strength of Clingan’s during last year’s run. He wouldn’t just block shots - he’d keep his feet and sometimes get steals by threatening to block shots and then reading the pass and sagging. And then he would time his shot blocks just right and block/contest even difficult fadeaways by not getting off balance. He got in Arkansas‘ head, and made Timme’s shot selection difficult. I was really impressed by his defensive savviness as a freshman, and thought his offensive savviness had a ways to go to catch up.

Not saying you’re wrong - now that he’s starting and maybe anxious to take the next step, he could be getting more eager to make plays and getting outside of himself a bit. And there were times last year he didn’t stay vertical and picked up fouls he could have avoided, which didn’t matter so much with Sanogo to go back to.

He's really struggled the first couple games with false steps, pump fakes, basically gimmick stuff to get him off balance.

I do think there is a combo of he's stepping into the role as THE DUDE and he wants to prove he's up for it - combined with missing some practice time and just being overexcited to be on the court and wants to demolish and embarrass guys. Its a good problem born of energy and effort. He needs to take a breath, relax, and slow the game down a touch. He'll be fine, but its just been evident he's amped up.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Clinton isn't as clever around the basket as Adama was. But he doesn't need to be. He will have way more dunks that Adama ever did. He can just turn and flush. And don't sell Clingon's footwork short. It's is very, very good. He will be a good NBA player for day one.

I get why you say that. I think he has the potential to be that guy. What I do see right now is a guy who dunks only when he is open. I dont see a guy imposing his will under the basket. I am gonna get hate for this, but that's what's happening. Watch the game.

 

[Rico444]

I get why you say that. I think he has the potential to be that guy. What I do see right now is a guy who dunks only when he is open. I dont see a guy imposing his will under the basket. I am gonna get hate for this, but that's what's happening. Watch the game.

He had a couple of nice post moves in the last game for buckets. His bread and butter will be on pick and rolls but he's so big that he should also be able to have some success with post ups. Not to mention he's a good passer and should be able to pick up some assists when teams inevitably double on him down low.

 

[navery12]

I get why you say that. I think he has the potential to be that guy. What I do see right now is a guy who dunks only when he is open. I dont see a guy imposing his will under the basket. I am gonna get hate for this, but that's what's happening. Watch the game.

You've made very clear from your posts the last few days that you're not great at seeing just about anything

 

[Iluvsuebird]

You've made very clear from your posts the last few days that you're not great at seeing just about anything

I can admit that I am really hoping to be wrong. I would LOVE to be wrong about this team.