Expectations: Adama Sanogo | The Boneyard

Expectations: Adama Sanogo

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Instinct is that unteachable talent that sometimes hides itself until brought out by a teacher even if experience alone is that teacher. Adama Sanogo landed in Storrs with a naturalized low post game unlike possibly any other to tread the boards here. This is a thick and moldable piece of clay that makes teacher Danny glisten inside. Imagine when he learns what to do when he’s doubled. When he has that 8-10-foot jumper to fall back upon. What will the finished product look like? Simply, excitement.


Five Things we have seen:

Footwork. The instinctive swivel, fake, re-take and the touch to finish.​
Inexperience. Only playing ball since he was 16. Came off the floor early at the beginning due to lack of understanding and came off late when he couldn’t guard at 35’ in our system.​
Strength. BE-ready body as a frosh looking as if it was built by the Ford Truck team.​
Fouling machine. It’s the usual stuff for a young big.​
Maximus. Despite playing just 17 mpg he led the team in adjusted shots per game (19.24) and minutes per shot (2.08.) Banged and bagged 5 rpg in those limited minutes.​


Five Things to expect:

Fewer fouls is clearly the hope but do we really expect it? Let’s see what coaching can do to help the kid understand what his limitations should be.​
Other offensive options. He played with the bail-out tiny jumper not with the best of results. That is already in his bag of tricks ready to be refined. The straight face-up also appeared with a decent bit of form to propel it.​
Bruised opponents. Shuck and jive and watch them dive.​
More trips to the line. Being the #1 option, opponents will try to cut the head off the dragon. Combined with shooting 58% at the line he just may see more time there. He has it in his form to tick up to 70% and should get the reps to prove it.​
Facilitation. This may reveal itself as the doubling occurs and he begins to think ahead. It was mostly non-existent last year but we did have glimpses.​


Summary:
Imagine being able to bang like a truck and pirouette like Baryshnikov. His hands work like a steel cage holding a bright delicate orange bird. The de facto offensive leader with a thrilling set of talent and skills downstairs, he needs to be on the first floor much more than 17 mpg. We know it and opponents know it – they will be working at getting him in trouble.​
Aside from exciting, it will be interesting to watch Adama grow into his role. Outside of putting the ball in the hoop, so much will depend on what he can do when options are not there. Individual growth seems more than just potential but it can be special here if he understands the floor outside the paint rather than just wrangling to find an outlet when walled in.​
 
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2nd team All Big East is fair ^. He's showed flashes last year of being able to carry us, hopefully he can be more consistent this year.

I can't see him averaging 25 ppg. I think expectations are a bit too high for him. Not that he can't reach them, but maybe a little lofty following a solid freshman season.
 
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If what Hurley has said about playing through Sanogo comes true there is no reason he shouldn't be around 15 ppg or more.
 
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12 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, more defense like the end of the season than beginning

I was about to write almost the exact same thing.

If he can be a 2apg kind of big by learning how to handle double teams, we get a lot more dangerous.
 
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If what Hurley has said about playing through Sanogo comes true there is no reason he shouldn't be around 15 ppg or more.
I hope he's been working on foul shots too. If he's going to be as effective as we believe/hope, opponents are going to hacking the daylights out of him.
 
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Will need to be smarter about his use of hands on D..Refs seem to have a quick whistle on him because of his size.

Has the eye of the tiger re: motor/attitude/competitiveness. Jump hook with either hand makes him unstoppable in the paint. Would love to see outlet passes to start the break.

14/10 as a floor. If he can make FTs because he's gonna get fouled. Higher upside.
 
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Psolo12

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I feel like 12 points should be the floor for him. If he's as dominant as we hope he will be, he should be scoring in the 14-16 PPG range
Feel like this is partially contingent on his ability to stay out of foul trouble early, which could affect his scoring numbers.
 

Rico444

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I want our offense to run through him. He should get the ball on most possessions and if he's not being doubled, look to get a shot. Otherwise, look for the open man.
 
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I want our offense to run through him. He should get the ball on most possessions and if he's not being doubled, look to get a shot. Otherwise, look for the open man.

Andre was fantastic at feeding him in the post. Problem is unless he can shoot--that's an immediate double team. One of the many reasons why an at least halfway decent shot is so critical for him
 
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2nd team All Big East is fair ^. He's showed flashes last year of being able to carry us, hopefully he can be more consistent this year.

I can't see him averaging 25 ppg. I think expectations are a bit too high for him. Not that he can't reach them, but maybe a little lofty following a solid freshman season.
You say you can't see him averaging 25 ppg and you think expectations are a bit too high for him. Nobody has ever said he'll average 25 ppg, you made up those expectations and then claimed people are expecting too much.
 

Chin Diesel

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Andre was fantastic at feeding him in the post. Problem is unless he can shoot--that's an immediate double team. One of the many reasons why an at least halfway decent shot is so critical for him

One way to mitigate that is the secondary break where AJ pushes the ball over half court and gets it in to Sanogo's hands as soon as he is in position. Don't give defense time to set up and start their doubles and rotations.
 
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2nd team All Big East is fair ^. He's showed flashes last year of being able to carry us, hopefully he can be more consistent this year.

I can't see him averaging 25 ppg. I think expectations are a bit too high for him. Not that he can't reach them, but maybe a little lofty following a solid freshman season.
25 ppg? Where did that come from. I can't remember anyone ever averaging 25 in a UConn uniform.

14 and 8 seems about right.
 

Huskyforlife

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18-8-2blks

Gonna go optimistic on this one. Imo he will be the focus of every half court possession he's in the game. He's not much of a passer, so shots will go up. And after including dump offs and offensive rebounds, I think he makes a significant leap.
 
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I love this team this year because of Sanogo and Akok. I think they are both going to eat this year. I think Sanogo is going to finish very strong. My guess is he averages 16-8-2
 
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Paramount Network Jimmy GIF by Yellowstone
 

Rico444

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Andre was fantastic at feeding him in the post. Problem is unless he can shoot--that's an immediate double team. One of the many reasons why an at least halfway decent shot is so critical for him

That's why I'm hoping to see improved passing from him, and getting him the ball more at the foul line where he has more options (back his man down, pass to either side of the court, mid-range jumper).
 

prankster

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If what Hurley has said about playing through Sanogo comes true there is no reason he shouldn't be around 15 ppg or more.
I would love for him to put up those numbers.

But Coach Hurley said he would play "through" Sanogo.

He did not say he would play "to" Sanogo.

Very excited for this season to begin.
 

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