Pros, Cons, Conclusions vs. UNC Wilmington

[coachn]

Too much going under the screen. Defense is not ther yet.

 

[444JR]

The biggest CON that I can see at this early moment is the potential for people transferring out. Looks like lots of players who add value. May not be minutes for everyone. In the transfer Era many players aren't gunna hang around if the minutes are not there.

I know I'm getting ahead of things

There may not be minutes for everyone but I expect high character guys who see the bigger picture will stick around to earn their shot. Obviously time will tell but the environment this staff has created feels like a pressure cooker for nba and high level pro development. Real ballers with an eye on the next level will want to prove themselves worthy of this program. If guys end up transferring out just to play then so be it. They probably weren’t up to the task of upholding UConn’s standard for competition. Like coach Siddle mentioned, this UConn team has several NBA caliber talents and we could be bringing in another 5 NBA level talents next year(at least 3). The younger reserves at the end of the bench will get better just by competing against studs everyday in practice and seeing the kind of gym rat mentality, from leaders like Adama and Andre, it takes to fundamentally improve your game to get to the next level.

 

[ucp990411]

The biggest CON that I can see at this early moment is the potential for people transferring out. Looks like lots of players who add value. May not be minutes for everyone. In the transfer Era many players aren't gunna hang around if the minutes are not there.

I know I'm getting ahead of things

Debbie Downer

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

The offense looks so much better this year than last. I know its been a few "cupcakes" but having more guards who can handle ball and getting upperclass men transfers has made a big difference. Last year i felt like we relied too much on RJ Cole to bail us out especially if nothing was happening. Multiple guys on this team can penetrate and kick it out and pass to an open shooter or provide space for Sanogo to do his thing.

 

[storrsroars]

In 19 minutes.

 

[storrsroars]

The biggest CON that I can see at this early moment is the potential for people transferring out. Looks like lots of players who add value. May not be minutes for everyone. In the transfer Era many players aren't gunna hang around if the minutes are not there.

I know I'm getting ahead of things

Newton, Alleyene, and California are all seniors. They'll be leaving. Probably Hawkins to NBA and maybe Sanogo and AJax too. There will be plenty of minutes next year.

 

[yungdowork]

We are soooo much harder to play against with Hawkins and Andre out there. They both just make us so much more dynamic. This roster has a blend of skill and athleticism that I don't think we've had in a long time. I was also really impressed with Karaban's passing, he's so quick to make decisions and always seems to know where his teammates are.

Not that it would have changed the outcome, but I did think it was pretty strange that Trazarien White only played 16 minutes and took 3 shots. Was there any specific reason that I missed? Shykeim Phillips played 32 minutes so I don't think they were trying to protect anyone.

 

[Excalibur]

Too much going under the screen. Defense is not ther yet.

I guess we weren’t worried about them shooting over us, but we gave up some easy looks off of the high ball screen. People hate the hard hedge but I’d rather do something disruptive.

 

[Get a Job]

There may not be minutes for everyone but I expect high character guys who see the bigger picture will stick around to earn their shot. Obviously time will tell but the environment this staff has created feels like a pressure cooker for nba and high level pro development. Real ballers with an eye on the next level will want to prove themselves worthy of this program. If guys end up transferring out just to play then so be it. They probably weren’t up to the task of upholding UConn’s standard for competition. Like coach Siddle mentioned, this UConn team has several NBA caliber talents and we could be bringing in another 5 NBA level talents next year(at least 3). The younger reserves at the end of the bench will get better just by competing against studs everyday in practice and seeing the kind of gym rat mentality, from leaders like Adama and Andre, it takes to fundamentally improve your game to get to the next level.

I agree with everything in this post except for the implication that someone who transfers has deficient "character" compared to someone who doesn't transfer.

 

[WNConn]

Interesting that their coach says we're the best team they've faced when they played Chapel Hill a couple weeks back

 

[husky429]

Newton, Alleyene, and California are all seniors. They'll be leaving. Probably Hawkins to NBA and maybe Sanogo and AJax too. There will be plenty of minutes next year.

I suspect we'll lose 2/3 of Sanogo/Ajax/Hawkins as well as the seniors. With top 5 coming in + Karaban and Clingan, we are going to be VERY young next year compared to this one.

Diarra and Johnson may be the only returning upperclassmen getting minutes right now. Next year might be a rebuilding year to get all these freshman and sophomores pushing themselves to get better. I see a top-25 team but maybe not the top-10 team we could be capable of this season.

Our maturity and depth this year (with size, shooting, and athleticism!) makes it feel like this year is our year to really get back onto the national stage. Winning the Big East and maybe getting to the elite 8 isn't out of the question if we get more consistent shooting it and all these pieces continue to gel.

 

[444JR]

I agree with everything in this post except for the implication that someone who transfers has deficient "character" compared to someone who doesn't transfer.

Good point.

 

[superjohn]

I suspect we'll lose 2/3 of Sanogo/Ajax/Hawkins as well as the seniors. With top 5 coming in + Karaban and Clingan, we are going to be VERY young next year compared to this one.

Diarra and Johnson may be the only returning upperclassmen getting minutes right now. Next year might be a rebuilding year to get all these freshman and sophomores pushing themselves to get better. I see a top-25 team but maybe not the top-10 team we could be capable of this season.

Our maturity and depth this year (with size, shooting, and athleticism!) makes it feel like this year is our year to really get back onto the national stage. Winning the Big East and maybe getting to the elite 8 isn't out of the question if we get more consistent shooting it and all these pieces continue to gel.

I don't see any way next season is a rebuilding year. We're going to be nasty next season.

 

[Umami Zen]

FWIW..Would not automatically assume all seniors are leaving.. Newton/Alleyne still have a year of eligibility if they want to use it.. A lot of BB to be played before those decisions need to be made. .Lets enjoy the ride.

 

[David 76]

3 Pros:
1. Adama Sanogo! He showed a great offensive game. UNCW decided to play him straight up and he punished them for it. 24pts on 8-12 shooting. Destroyed everyone 1v1, had a few plays in the high post to get a good shot, and even threw a beautiful pass to a cutting Alleyne for a backdoor dunk from the three point line. Looked comfortable shooting threes (even though they didn't go down) and shot great from the FT line. Hell, he even fought his way through double teams to get a few scores

2. Hawkins is money. He hit his shots and played great defense. He'll only get better as the year goes on (hopefully). The corner was money, the fast break pullup was money, I felt great every time he pulled up. Career high 20pts on 7-13 shooting, 5-8 from 3P. He's going to add an entirely new dimension to our offense. Play of the game is snapping a dude's ankles and then hitting a stepback 3. Great game, even if he missed that open dunk

3. It's been said before, but Alex Karaban has such great BBIQ. He seems to always know where to be and what to do, and he's just a freshman. His shot went down tonight, and he was a very dangerous player because of it. He'll be a great zone buster - I remember one specific play where he got the ball at the FT line vs. the zone and immediately found Sanogo for an and1 alley oop. No hesitation, just production.

HM. Andre Jackson. I've never seen a more impactful 2 points in my life. He completely controls tempo and energy for this team. Literally diving on people for loose balls while up 30 (plz don't re-injure yourself doing that)

3 Cons - btw, very hard to come up with 3 tonight.
1. We got outworked and outhustled for most of the first half. Sanogo and Clingan were somehow getting outrebounded and straight up bullied on the boards for a good 16 minutes, and UNCW seemingly got every loose ball. I'd say that single handedly kept them in the game in the first half. We tightened it up near the end of the half, and unsurprisingly went on a run to make it a double digit game when we did. Completely put the clamps on in the second half and destroyed them as a result (46-22 2nd half scoring)

2. They were bringing Sanogo onto the perimeter to guard P&R's early, and he did look pretty uncomfortable out there. They didn't punish us too much for it, but I can seeing that be a problem if we face a 5 that can shoot. For some reason they stopped doing this near the end of the first half. Really not sure why, it was the only thing working for them other than hero ball from #0, who hit some really tough shots tonight

3. 0 bench points until 12:55 in the 2nd half. 14 bench points in total, 4 of which came from Richie in like 2 minutes of garbage time. Doesn't really matter when your starters score 72, and should be fixed when we can bring Alleyne and Samson off the bench when we're healthy. Yes, I am officially Team Start Karaban

HM. Diarra was just....there. Dribbled a lot, ran a lot but didn't really feel like he impacted the game, even defensively. I feel like some games he'll be an offensive spark plug off the bench and some games he'll be completely invisible. Not ideal, and Calcaterra will be gunning for those minutes

Conclusion:
It's hard to say negative things after that game, but I'll try in the name of unbiasedness. We are a top 25 team and we should be running teams like UNC Wilmington out of the gym as soon as the game starts. The first half was VERY competitive up until the last few minutes, which wasn't great to see. Especially confusing to see Clingan play so sloppy after 3 very strong games. However.... Andre gives 110% every play, Hawkins was automatic, Sanogo was unstoppable, we shot great from three (10-22), and we tore them to shreds. This game was the first example of what this team should look like. Pick your poison - focus your defense on Sanogo and give up open shots, or let him roll you. We managed to do both this game while holding their 18PPG scorer to 2 points on 1-3 shooting. Our starting PG and #2 scorer was nearly invisible, and we won by 36. This was a 40 point game before last-minute garbage time shots against our walk ons. Go Huskies, 4-0!

Nice job!

 

[auror]

Too much going under the screen. Defense is not ther yet.

Wilmington is a bad shooting team. It was the plan.

 

[bigknight3]

Newton, Alleyene, and California are all seniors. They'll be leaving. Probably Hawkins to NBA and maybe Sanogo and AJax too. There will be plenty of minutes next year.

The only thing 100% guaranteed in your post is that Joey California is a senior and will be leaving after his extra Covid year. Let's give everything else a chance to play out natural and we'll see what happens.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't see any way next season is a rebuilding year. We're going to be nasty next season.

There's a legitimate chance that Sanogo, Jackson, Hawkins are all back, Karaban and Clingan too, with Diarra and Johnson as well, and Castle headlining a strong freshman class.