Reasons to be optimistic for next year

[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 Dan Hurley 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.

 

[KingAG]

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.

 

[Fatroony5]

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.

I like both kids but if UConn is relying on Gaff and Akok for major contributions next season, they’re in trouble.

 

[Deleted at users request]

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.

What do you mean East West game?

That was the whole thing with Gaff that was such a great fit that year. He didn’t do too much. He ran offense, didn’t turn it over, and took what was given to him. Craig Austrie with more athleticism.

Gaffney isn’t a scorer though, he’s a facilitator. Hard to ask a guy like that to make an impact off the bench if he’s expected to come in and score consistently IMO.

 

[Jholla2183]

I feel next year will be better than most expect simply because Jordan Hawkins/Sanogo/Karaban are going to be unreal, however other factors need to happen to pull the whole puzzle together:
1) Dan Hurley employs a mentor to help him with the issues that have become apparent and will not improve on it's own.
2) All the young guys get appreciable playing time beyond end of game minutes vs the early season cupcakes. Why worry about the rankings early in the season when injuries and fatigue come to haunt you later in the season. I would rather be unranked through December than fizzle in February and March - especially in March.
3) Sanogo has to become a basketball player. He needs to work on a midrange game, he needs to hone his on floor recognition/passing skills and needs to learn when to dunk and that he needs to see the rim with every shot and that the backboard is his friend.
4) Clingan has to see the floor immediately and everyone has to overlook any early season hiccups. You cannot coach 7'2" and he can only improve. Sanogo is not a 5 and will never play 5 in the NBA if he gets that far.
5) AJ cannot be the PG, neither can Gaffney. Sool is the only true PG on the roster and he was damn good coming in to UConn but all he did was hold Andrew Hurley's hand on the bench. I've seen him in practice and see what he can do, Hurley has spoken to his abilities yet he doesn't play - yeah he has had a few rough minutes in actual game - I will bet my house that if this kid was at Houston he would be playing and giving productive minutes. I don't think, from what I have seen, Floyd is really a PG. He is a very solid player and he loves to mix it up. I see him in the mold of a Ben Gordon - a solid scorer and would spell Hawk at the 2 and slip Hawk to the 3 when UConn goes small.
6) Alex Karaban is a talent that UConn hasn't seen in quite a while if ever - he has size 6'8" (needs a bit of muscle) yet can play nearly any position on the floor - he came this winter with a great midrange shooting game and has over the time improved his 3 pt shooting greatly. His biggest weakness is that he is not the quickest and needs to hit the boards with better positioning. He is too good not to play. He should be the 4 or 3 depending who else is on the court.
7) No way do you go xfer portal for a PG - why recruit and do this? As far as I am concerned, the portal is to overcome issues not addressed in recruitment. Dan Hurley can recruit and has done so, he needs to develop players.

I would like to see a lineup in December of:

1) Sool/Floyd/Gaff
2) Hawkins/Floyd/Gaff
3) Karaban/AJ 50/50 PT
4)Sanogo/Karaban/Johnson
5)Clingan/Johnson/Sanogo

Clingan is getting Samson Johnson minutes next year. He has a huge adjustment period coming his way. He hasn’t played anyone nearly his size or strength in awhile. He needs to get into shape, and adjust to the speed of the game.

 

[TheChamps990411]

I saw a couple of posts thinking about next year being a rebuilding year and wanted to give some thoughts.

I'm really hopeful about next year's team being able to surprise folks. Very excited to see how our talent that we have step up from our very good recruiting classes and see how guys step up.

Couple things should be better next year:

• Overall talent

We are replacing super seniors and transfers with guys who were top recruits. Our seniors were tough and played pretty good defense this year but were terrible offensively. This had to be the worst layup shooting team I've seen. Hoping that our guys can be much better here. We have a couple of top recruiting classes filling in for our seniors who will be gone.

• Fit

This past year was a disaster fit wise. We were playing two true centers, two forwards on the perimeter, and had a PG who was not exactly a facilitator but more of a scorer. Next year there should be very defined roles for things guys are good at. Jordan Hawkins should be the clear go to scorer. Andre Jackson the next guy up on the perimeter. Sanogo in the paint and Akok as a stretch guy. If Gaffney is starting he is at his best when he is facilitating the offense. His freshman year was great playing with Bouknight and next year he as a Hawkins. EVERYONE is a better passer than the seniors that left so hopefully our offense can look a lot better in general with more floor spacing.

I think of it being similar to the 2010 season going into the 2011 season. No, there's no Kemba on this team but it could be addition through subtraction fit wise and letting younger talent blossom throughout the year. I'm very excited for the reigns to go from Cole and Martin to Hawkins and Jackson. Two far more talented guys capable of being the best player on the court and actual NBA talent.

I don't think next year is as doom and gloom as a lot are making it out to be.

Youre optimistic because youre a fan.

 

[Tyler2Rings]

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

Are those stats Rebounds-Assists-Points?

In seriousness, I think folks sleep on Jackson and his ability to improve. The most important thing he can do this offseason is work on his finishing at the rim. We’ve seen his blow-by ability- need to capitalize on it

 

[husky429]

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

He's willing to brutalize our offense for the sake of defense. Not my cup of tea, but I also understand why you have to do it as a coach. They're both too good not to play... it's just poor roster construction between them and recruiting a non-shooter in Jackson. Put way too much of a load on Rese and Cole.

 

[August_West]

He's willing to brutalize our offense for the sake of defense. Not my cup of tea, but I also understand why you have to do it as a coach. They're both too good not to play... it's just poor roster construction between them and recruiting a non-shooter in Jackson. Put way too much of a load on Rese and Cole.

The both still could’ve played at least 25 minutes each . Just less overlap together

 

[husky429]

The both still could’ve played at least 25 minutes each . Just less overlap together

yain't wrong. Needs to update his philosophy. Shooting is priority #1, #2, and #3 in the modern game. Even if we're going old school with a traditional big like Sanogo, you cut into his effeciency and productivity if non-shooters allow him to be aggressively doubled without a kickout shooting threat.

 

[Kiddddddd34]

News flash for Hurley; you can find a transfer PG that fits the "culture" (ie. Chris Lykes & Charlie Moore) hopefully his thought process with adapt.

I really think we will be disappointed with the on-court product next yr but somewhat giddy of what's to come. Some on this page can't grasp that there is reason Diggins didn't play and others are expecting way to much from Clingan. The transition from posting up a future D3 player on Northwest Catholic to battling SanoGOD in practice is a HUGE jump in competition level and that will take time. I don't see him being a positive contributor till his Junior yr... I hope I am wrong. Looking forward to sweating it out on Selection Sunday.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I was optimistic this year. Next year is much more pessimistic.

So far, the moment has been bigger than Hurley. Sure, he has time to grow, but he's been a head coach plenty long now and has a wealth of information, experience and success from the coaches around him. This wasn't a great coaching year for him. Two straight first round exits in the NCAA's to lower seeded teams.

Hurley has also shown he coaches to the path of a high floor (shoutout to @Tenspro2002 for that reference) rather than going for the highest ceiling. Plenty of others have noted he truncated development of underclassmen this year, escpecially early on in the season. The little we have seen of Diggins says he is no where close to ready to handle 20+ mpg next year. Gaff has significantly regressed in past 18 months. Johnson? Springs? Who knows. And I don't see any reason to believe Floyd , Karaban or Clingan will get significant minutes.

Can Hurley produce an offense that looks normal in the 2020's?? Who knows? This year he went with multiple two big line ups without having 3 shooters on the floor. In today's game not having at least 3 consistent shooters on the floor at all times is borderline coaching incompetence.

I really hope Benedict has a reality check sit down with Hurley and gives Hurley empirical data points Hurley needs to see and use. Start local with the Big East and compare Nova's numbers to UConn's. Go regional and national and show Hurley the types of numbers the top 8-10 teams in the country produce and tell Hurley he is expected to put out a team that looks similar. Companies do this all the time to measure themselves against peers in their sector or industry.

Point guard situation is a mess as of now. A mess as in there is no proven PG on the roster. What is Hurley willing to do to upgrade this position? Shooting guard has one slasher who has been inconsistent with his creativity (Jackson) and one player who has been injury prone (Hawkins). Is Hurley going to start AJ at the point? IDK. I do know Hurley says Jackson is an NBA PG. What can Floyd do? What does a senior year Gaff look like? Can Diggins produce at all?

PF is also a mess. Johnson showed minimal flashes of competency but nothing suggesting he can contribute against decent competition. Is Akok coming back? Consistently injured and takes a long time to recover and then is rusty. Does Akok come back at all? Karaban? Who knows if he can handle those duties.

Sanogo made great improvements but obviously needs to learn how to move the ball. Better awareness before he catches the ball and quicker decisions after he catches the ball. Putting shooters in good spots ready to catch and shoot when Sanogo touches the ball will go a long way.

At this point I can't see how anyone looks around the Big East and sees UConn in the top 3 next year. More likely 5-6 range. Is there some raw talent on the roster? Absolutely. Has Hurley shown any ability to mold a team and integrate raw talent? No.

Just making the NCAA next year will be an adventure.