Now that the roster is in place, where’s the team’s weakness(es)?

[Jbirdp5]

Wing defense. Many here who have guessed that castle is probably going to guard the 3 on other teams because he has the best size over Newton and Spencer. That concerns me a bit with him being a freshman and having the toughest defensive assignment on most nights.

 

[HooperScooper]

I think getting 30 minutes or more from Clingan if we can get it is going to make us more dangerous than last year. He’s so disruptive in defense that if he can stay out of foul trouble we are going to be really really good. Backup 5 is our weakness. What will make or break our season is ultimately how quickly Hurley can get the freshman to buy into his system. If there’s even one bad apple in that stellar recruiting class in terms of attitude it could be our Achilles. Trusting the staff can mesh the young guys in with our experience.

Hurley said he wants to limit Clingan to 26-28 minutes.

“Donovan’s not going to be able to be a 32 to 34 minutes a game player, nor do we want him to be,” Hurley said. “We want Donovan to be able to be in that 26-to-28-minute range I think in a perfect world and there’s gonna be more frontcourt minutes there.”

 

[Husky68]

Hard to again hold opponents under 40% overall shooting and under 30% from 3's and just 5 makes per game. Three NBA hopefuls and Nika's main squeeze could all get up in your face and replacing their defense will be a challenge.

 

[Fishy]

Not a single eight-footer on the team.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Hard to again hold opponents under 40% overall shooting and under 30% from 3's and just 5 makes per game. Three NBA hopefuls and Nika's main squeeze could all get up in your face and replacing their defense will be a challenge.

16th in opponent FG%, 10th in opponent 2P%, 3rd in opponent 3 pointers made, 14th in opponent 3P %, 5th in opponent DRB, and 8th in opponent RBs.

4th in assists and 12th in offensive rebounds. Those were all the stats we were top 20 in the country that contributed to our success. Our defense was by far the biggest reason we won. And Andre was the biggest reason for a lot of those numbers if not all.

 

[HuskyHawk]

A clear weakness is that our fanbase can’t just enjoy nice things and keeps looking for negatives instead of just enjoying the summer and the great opportunities the season to come presents.

 

[EBonz30]

Our inexperience coming off the bench- think it’s pretty obvious at this point at least….

 

[mauconnfan]

Certainly going to be difficult to mirror the impact Sanogo/Clingan had. And many are concerned with what DC will do on offense to improve his back to the basket game, I feel he will get better but hard to match Sanogos year. But double his minutes and our rebounds will be better from the middle and our defense in the lane will be as well. There’s 2 sides to the court and while AS was ok on D his help defense was not very good most of the year. Whether it was to stay out of foul trouble or whatever he was invisible often off his man. DCs size will crest havoc in the middle if he can consistently play 25-28 minutes.

 

[boog204]

On paper, we are going to be relying on at least 2-3 guards who have never played here (Castle, Ball, Spencer) and another (Diarra) who was inconsistent at best. It's unclear if we have a true "facilitator" with AJ gone in the half court and both Castle/Newton are more combo guards it seems. Frontcourt depth could also be an issue behind DC and AK as none of our options have played much if at all. Now, I think all of these "issues" are overblown and we will still be quite good.

 

[jibsey]

Clingan foul trouble. It will happen and how does our bench hold up?

 

[HuskylnSC]

The biggest weakness is they haven't practiced enough to know what their weaknesses are

 

[Umami Zen]

A clear weakness is that our fanbase can’t just enjoy nice things and keeps looking for negatives instead of just enjoying the summer and the great opportunities the season to come presents.

Most are responding to the OP

 

[jibsey]

A clear weakness is that our fanbase can’t just enjoy nice things and keeps looking for negatives instead of just enjoying the summer and the great opportunities the season to come presents.

We’ve tried watching the Yankees, the Mets and the Red Sox. What else are we supposed to do? We’re lying in bed with smiles on our faces, smoking a cigarette, and looking at the ceiling for Chrissakes.

 

[MuchoDogYears]

Experienced, proven depth.

The starting 5 are light years ahead in experience and proven talent in comparison to the players coming in off the bench. Diarra is our most proven, experienced bench player…think about that.

I look for DH to use the Nov-Dec games to try to build the bench. By March of last year he could go 10 deep without losing effectiveness. This year he’ll be fortunate if he can go 8 deep.

 

[aburks41]

I’m not really concerned with Singare being inexperienced. He’s a 7ft-er; the only thing we need him to do is disrupt shots at the rim, run the floor, and be a lob threat. That’s pretty much all we asked Clingan to do this past season. If he can be a freshman year Brimah, that would be excellent depth to protect Clingan.

I really don’t know how this team isn’t getting top 5 (at least) hype from the national media. Defending national champions, #4 recruiting class, and 2 lottery picks including a 7’3” unicorn who will likely be an all-american. Put DUKE on the front of our jersey and we are unanimously preseason #1.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Most are responding to the OP

I just don't like looking for a negative on a team we haven't seen play. So many new guys. Last year we did this and it was mostly "we don't have a PG" or "we don't have enough ball handlers" or similar. How'd that work out?

There are certainly some unknowns, because we have 5 freshmen and are relying on 2-3 of them to have an impact, one to step up as a starter. Weaknesses? No idea.

 

[tennmike]

I do not know if it is a weakness, but my biggest concern is whether Clingan will be able to stay on the floor long enough. It is not a conditioning issue, but more so that it becomes an opposing coach's strategy get him in foul trouble. He'll need to show some real discipline. On the surface, the drop off can be quite large without Clingan in the game.

 

[Umami Zen]

I just don't like looking for a negative on a team we haven't seen play. So many new guys. Last year we did this and it was mostly "we don't have a PG" or "we don't have enough ball handlers" or similar. How'd that work out?

There are certainly some unknowns, because we have 5 freshmen and are relying on 2-3 of them to have an impact, one to step up as a starter. Weaknesses? No idea.

I don't disagree with your sentiment.. More questions than answers except for projected starting five at this point. I usually prefer to see some footage/input from staff/game situations/scrimmages from newcomers-inexperienced guys before making any preliminary judgments.. I happen to be optimistic about this group of young guys and a bump from HD/SJ.. Gut feeling- not based on their ratings- but on their mentalities.

In a moment of weakness and disorientation from the Canadian haze .I bit on the OP question.

 

[UConnRock]

Agree on depth in the front court. Clingan averaged 2 fouls in him his 13+ minutes of playing time. There will certainly be games where he will see early bench time due to fouls.

 

[Palatine]

Krytonite.

 

[k-walk]

I just don't like looking for a negative on a team we haven't seen play. So many new guys. Last year we did this and it was mostly "we don't have a PG" or "we don't have enough ball handlers" or similar. How'd that work out?

There are certainly some unknowns, because we have 5 freshmen and are relying on 2-3 of them to have an impact, one to step up as a starter. Weaknesses? No idea.

I feel like some people just want this board to be inactive during dead periods in basketball news. There isn’t that much other stuff to talk about rn

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Backup at the 5. Samson has shown nothing in 2 years and Singare is very raw. I'm sure one of them will step up, but right now that's the only weakness I see. We're 2-3 deep at every other spot, and have lots of guys with complementary skill sets

Sampson as much or more than anyone is the most unknown possible solution to a problem I can recall . He could be anywhere from the second coming of Cliff Robinson at Portland playing 3-4-5 off the bench on a finalist , simply a garbage time player , or something in between. .
We really don’t even know Clingan’s effective minutes. Let’s assume they are probably about 22-23 . Those were Carlton ‘s minutes as a sophomore his best year . That leaves 17-18 minutes of ?????.
I don’t suspect the 5 will be the two headed monster of last year but how close we get to that will go a long way in determining our success.
The only player averaging close to 35 minutes a game should be Newton . Getting him off the ball is key to his effectiveness. If multiple players are playing those minutes it means trouble .

 

[Horatio]

Back up 5’s

 

[willie99]

Experience and chemistry, which will be fixed by February

So chill people

 

[3rdbass]

On paper, we are going to be relying on at least 2-3 guards who have never played here (Castle, Ball, Spencer) and another (Diarra) who was inconsistent at best. It's unclear if we have a true "facilitator" with AJ gone in the half court and both Castle/Newton are more combo guards it seems. Frontcourt depth could also be an issue behind DC and AK as none of our options have played much if at all. Now, I think all of these "issues" are overblown and we will still be quite good.

While AJ facilitated the offense he wasn't a PG either. WIth Castle and Newton who was effective in creating offense for others we are in good hands.