Reasons to be optimistic for next year

[AntG168]

Back to reasons for optimism

Dan Hurley coached programs have only gotten worse once in his entire coaching career. He has literally never had his winning percentage go down year to year except one season at URI

Sanogo has a chance to be the best big in the country

If Jackson can improve as much next year as he did this year, he can be a 10/8/4 guy every night.

Hawkins is just as talented as anyone in college basketball. If the light switch turns on, he can be what Bouk was for us last year come post-season play.

All we’re missing are high level ball handlers and penetration. Next season can be special if we plug a couple holes

 

[navery12]

If he didnt have enough shooting around him (which is accurate) why play him with Whaley? So he is aware but not entirely aware.

Because he valued a better defense with those 2 over a better offense. Next year we'll have a roster that fits together instead of a bunch of talented players that don't fit

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

you think we were better this year than last year? Why? Curious.

And actually let me extrapolate that. You think we were better this year than CV's last season where we ended the season as a buzzsaw right before covid killed the conference and AAC tournament?

In hindsight that team that ended the year with senior CV was Hurleys best team at UConn. Such a shame that we didnt get to explore that.

We were 9-3 with 3 OT losses once Gaffney took the reigns as PG fyi... He wasn't a great scorer throughout that time either. He just did an amazing job facilitating. Something Cole wasn't the best at and another reason I personally look forward to next year fit wise.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

I hated the big lineup all season. They both played better with the other off the court imo

They were both 2 of the best players on the team though so a tough situation I actually won't knock Hurley for. Hopefully this will be corrected moving forward with a guy like Karaban.

 

[JMick]

All we’re missing are high level ball handlers and penetration. Next season can be special if we plug a couple holes

I just hope Floyd and Karaban are ready from day one. We need to be able to hit threes much more consistently.

 

[shizzle787]

With the transfer portal, there is no such thing as a rebuilding year. You can rebuild a squad over a summer (see Iowa State, Creighton, Marquette, etc.). If this is truly a rebuilding year, we will have a new coach in 2023.

 

[JMick]

They both played better with the other off the court imo

100%. Whaley especially.

 

[shizzle787]

I'd be very content to have a rebuilding year. Play Diggins and Hawkins. Play additional freshman guards. Rebuilding years can be fun too.

Edit: I'm a bit warry of transfer portal when it comes to PGs. If they are going to be around at least 2 or more years, sure. But I don't want to be in a position where we need to get a new transfer portal guard (especially pg) every year. But maybe that's what DH thought last off-season. Maybe this is part of the new normal.

Absolutely not. We have not won an NCAA tournament game in 7 years. We haven’t been to the second weekend going on nine years. No more rebuilding years. Only reloading years.

 

[Tenspro2002]

If he didnt have enough shooting around him (which is accurate) why play him with Whaley? So he is aware but not entirely aware.

Prioritized defense.

 

[August_West]

Prioritized defense.

Didnt work.

We wouldnt have sacrificed as much defense keeping whaley and Sanogo apart as much as possible (in lieu of Polley or Hawkins or Akok Gaffney mixing an matching with other starters) as much as we sacrificed offense.

 

[HuskyHawk]

If he didnt have enough shooting around him (which is accurate) why play him with Whaley? So he is aware but not entirely aware.

Exactly. Said all year Akok was a better fit with Sanogo than Whaley. People bitched about his D, but it was fine. Vastly better than Polley's. He rebounded very well. And he was a great help defender blocking shots, which you need if you hedge with your 5. Hopefully we will see next year.

Hurley has some absurd loyalty issues with certain guys, and Whaley is one of them, Polley another. Both were valuable players, and we all love the hard nosed lunch pail things Whaley does. But he's a limited player and was used poorly.

Let's see what else he figures out, because that wasn't the only issue on offense. They were often over scripted and telegraphed what they wanted, whether it was to get it to Sanogo, to Polley off a screen or to Cole to drive or shoot. They didn't take what was there and forced it far too often.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

If he didnt have enough shooting around him (which is accurate) why play him with Whaley? So he is aware but not entirely aware.

What options did he have? Polley & Hawkins were the only "shooters" on the bench.

 

[August_West]

100%. Whaley especially.

Some of us had been saying that all year. Its crazy that our best offense was with the Big East first team pick on the bench.


That wasn't saying "don't play Sanogo" or "dont play Whaley" , just that both were better without the other.

 

[August_West]

What options did he have? Polley & Hawkins were the only "shooters" on the bench.

Its not just about "shooters" its about floor balance. Even Akok and Gaff gave better floor balance with with Whaley or Sanogo than either did with each other.

 

[elmcityboy]

The Memphis game which was the last game that season (game which Akok was injured) was just as impressive if not better than the Houston game. No way this years team wins that game

the memphis game was the seventh-to-last game of that season. the last game was a pretty bizarre 80-76 win at tulane.

also, that was a memphis team that went 10-8 in a so-so aac. they weren't exactly world beaters. i would like our 2021-22 team's chances against them.

again, i loved vital and that 19-20 team, but they weren't better than this year's team. would you have made the same argument the day after we beat nova? or after the big east tournament game against seton hall??

 

[Colin G]

I think Gaff, Akok and Sanogo will have something to prove next year, Hawkins will be hungry, Andre Jackson Can take a step, then we have Samson, Sool, Karaban, Floyd and Clingan off the bench. While we saw little of them this season there is reason to be optimistic they can make a jump, it'll be a young team, but roles will be way more defined on this team and hopefully this can be a building year before castle gets here in 2023. More spacing this year hopefully, Akok plays better as a stretch 4 and I wholeheartedly expect andre jackson's shooting % to increase from 3 and overall. I also think that we'll be better defensively, Thought that tyrese martin was not a very good defender, look at his performance against Kadary Richmond, Ryan Hawkins, and Teddy Allen, we'll also have room to grow for those guys. Praying for a solid year from gaff so he can be a bridge guy with an upgrade in stephon castle in the following year.

 

[AntG168]

Exactly. Said all year Akok was a better fit with Sanogo than Whaley. People bitched about his D, but it was fine. Vastly better than Polley's. He rebounded very well. And he was a great help defender blocking shots, which you need if you hedge with your 5. Hopefully we will see next year.

Hurley has some absurd loyalty issues with certain guys, and Whaley is one of them, Polley another. Both were valuable players, and we all love the hard nosed lunch pail things Whaley does. But he's a limited player and was used poorly.

Let's see what else he figures out, because that wasn't the only issue on offense. They were often over scripted and telegraphed what they wanted, whether it was to get it to Sanogo, to Polley off a screen or to Cole to drive or shoot. They didn't take what was there and forced it far too often.

Because they didn’t have enough shot creators

 

[August_West]

would you have made the same argument the day after we beat nova? or after the big east tournament game against seton hall??

Nova? OK great win.

that BET game against Seton Hall. I didnt get to talk about that game here much because I was busy tearing up NYC. Our D was terrific that game, but Seton Hall was just worse. They played a REAL bad game. They were much worse that game than UConn was against NMST.

 

[dogpause]

We have gotten better every year since Hurley got here. This year's team had flaws and we ran into a buzz saw. I expect next year to be better.

Very good post. Hurley has gotten as much as he could out of the talent pool he had, and yes we have improved every year. I don't get all the hate that coaches get when in such a situation. Hurley is a program builder, his record proves it.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

We know Sanogo will be a force on the interior offensively and on the glass. I wonder if his poor performance in the tourney games, particularly finishing around the hoop, was due to any lingering affects from when he hurt his finger in the Creighton game?

Jackson will be a terror on D and the boards, and given his leap from year 1 to year 2 offensively it's not crazy to think he'll contribute even more on that end.

Hawkins showed some flashes and I think his injury was a bigger blow than maybe expected. I think he should grow into our 2nd option on offense behind Sanogo.

I also think that Karaban and Floyd Jr by virtue of enrolling early may be able to have a more prominent role as RS freshman than they would have otherwise.

The other guy I look to take a step up is Samson.. he didn't look completely overmatched in a small sample and has the pedigree to make you think he'll develop into a bigger contributor.

With this being said we cannot expect to head into next year relying on Gaffney, Akok, or Diggins to be major contributors which is why I think it's vital to add a PG and another scorer to compliment the pieces in place.

A lineup featuring Sanogo, Karaban (if as advertised), Jackson, Hawkins, and a transfer PG that's isn't totally offensively inept gives us better spacing, shooting and helps unclog the interior for Sanogo.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Because they didn’t have enough shot creators

Sort of true, but Hurley admitted mid season he over scripts things, especially the start of each half. You can see it in how they play at times. When somebody spends 12 seconds trying to hand the ball to Cole, that's over-scripted. You don't see Nova doing that. We did the same thing over and over trying to feed Sanogo when he's doubled. If he is doubled, somebody is open. Now Hurley's job is to make sure that everybody who isn't Sango is in a position on the floor where they can score, but they weren't, which allowed the doubles. He can say "not enough shooters" because he played 4 out. But you can solve that by not playing 4 out. Play however many out as you have shooters. If 2, then 2. If 3 then 3.

There were moments when the offense looked great. Ball movement, off the ball movement, very free flowing. But too often they forced the play to particular guys. When we needed an outside shot we'd run Polley off 3 screens and because he's not very quick he still didn't get open looks from that. But they never took advantage of the chasing to get it to somebody else. Often they ignored wide open guys who were not the guy designated to take the shot. It was bizarre how restricted the offense felt at times. It made them so easy to defend.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Sort of true, but Hurley admitted mid season he over scripts things, especially the start of each half. You can see it in how they play at times. When somebody spends 12 seconds trying to hand the ball to Cole, that's over-scripted. You don't see Nova doing that. We did the same thing over and over trying to feed Sanogo when he's doubled. If he is doubled, somebody is open. Now Hurley's job is to make sure that everybody who isn't Sango is in a position on the floor where they can score, but they weren't, which allowed the doubles. He can say "not enough shooters" because he played 4 out. But you can solve that by not playing 4 out. Play however many out as you have shooters. If 2, then 2. If 3 then 3.

There were moments when the offense looked great. Ball movement, off the ball movement, very free flowing. But too often they forced the play to particular guys. When we needed an outside shot we'd run Polley off 3 screens and because he's not very quick he still didn't get open looks from that. But they never took advantage of the chasing to get it to somebody else. Often they ignored wide open guys who were not the guy designated to take the shot. It was bizarre how restricted the offense felt at times. It made them so easy to defend.

We didn't have enough multi-threat guys as primary options.

Sanogo back-to-the-basket shot only.
Polley catch-and-shoot only.
Jackson penetrate and dish only.
Cole penetrate and layup/floater only.
Martin drive/bully to the basket only.

We didn't have enough guys who could catch a ball at the 3 point line, credibly fake a shot, blow by a defender, and either finish at the rim or pass to a weak-side cutter.

 

[aburks41]

I just hope Floyd and Karaban are ready from day one. We need to be able to hit threes much more consistently.

I think they will be. The staff needs to keep pushing this spring enrollment on campus (or reclass + redshirt) to get guys into the system early. It's going to pay big dividends for these two

 

[mauconnfan]

We were 9-3 with 3 OT losses once Gaffney took the reigns as PG fyi... He wasn't a great scorer throughout that time either. He just did an amazing job facilitating. Something Cole wasn't the best at and another reason I personally look forward to next year fit wise.

Timing is everything and I was amazed at people who actually thought the east west game of Gaffney was better than anything at all. It was if only because he did very little with the ball and made less mistakes than those playing more than him, plus CV got out of his funk and hot lights out finally.

But unfortunately we saw his impact this year in the league games, very little and his shooting became worse. Not sure what to think of him his last year and if he can improve at this point? If he's our PG next year we are in huge trouble in the league as there are so many good guards now.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Its not just about "shooters" its about floor balance. Even Akok and Gaff gave better floor balance with with Whaley or Sanogo than either did with each other.

Your comment makes sense, but the Borges tweet talked about shooters spacing for Sanogo and that's what you commented on, hence my use of shooters in my reply.
I don't necessarily agree on Gaff. My lasting impression of him, which he didn't do as much at the end of the season, is dribbling away the shot clock and then trying to create himself. For most of the season I thought things stagnated when he was the PG. Balance is irrelevant when the ball isn't moving. His end of season play gives me reason for optimism next year.
Akok seems lost to me. Good 3 point shooter, but a 1 trick pony in that he doesn't really move off the ball outside of setting screens and seemed to primarily score from 3. He did spread things out given that he rarely went inside. On D he looked a little lost too. I'm hopeful he comes back next year ready to meet his potential.