Sorry. Anyone who has averaged nearly 10 rpg is not soft. Adrien averaged .1 rpg more his sophomore year than did AO (9.6 as a sophomore for AO, 9.7 for JA). The issue is his struggle on offense.
FWIW, I thought Jeff Adrien had soft hands too...but he was a different player than Oriakhi in many aspects. Plus, physically, his hands were much smaller. I thought that Adrien played above his ability for his bodily characteristics. On the other hand, I don't think Oriakhi is. I didn't watch the whole game (traveling back from the Cincy/UConn football game) but the second half, I just saw us get dominanted on the offensive board.
Yes, some of the offensive boards were from ridiculous bounces off the rim, but there were a few series where UConn as a team just did not box out. I'm really not sure how 2-3 Arkansas players were able to get under the rim with position for some of those rebounds. It doesn't make sense.
As far as AO getting angry - that typically leads to technicals. And regardless of how soft he is, we don't really have much depth at the post - so I'd rather him not get T'd up if it puts him on the bench or renders him even more useless in the game (playing it safe.)
I'm not sure that it's about AO being soft anymore. I just think his basketball IQ is pretty low. Maybe not in terms of what we've seen from him in his best games - but in a lot of these games, he has problems with boxing out, or learning when (not) to take the shot. Some games he's been brilliant, but I think more often than not, we are underwhelmed by his performances. We know he's extremely talented - but can he effectively turn that talent into results?
As of right now, Alex Oriakhi will not make it into the NBA. He may get picked up by a D-league team or get a late 2nd round pick his senior year based on his physical attributes - but at this point, it appears he may go the Stix route.
