Report Card vs CCSU

[Report Card]

A. Sanogo- 9.0: Please don't get it twisted; he made it look easy thanks to his skill, not just because his opponents were poor. This is proven when comparing his stats to any of our bigs in this same game last year. His defense also looked significantly better. He scored some hooks even when doubled (which btw left Whaley wide open for an easy putback if Sanogo doinked it). "I've seen enough, he's special" -Dan Hurley. I'd say we got a pretty good glimpse of it.
Rj. Cole- 9.0: A real maestro out there. Played a sound, near perfect game. His shot looked fantastic. This kid is zoned in. Interesting dynamic to have our two best players be the PG and Center. Cole will be invaluable to us this season, absolutely irreplaceable. (Can't get a 10.0 vs CCSU, btw)
T. Martin- 9.0: Looked fantastic out there. Very very pleased here. Another year under the right system.
A. Akok- 8.5: Well hello there. Led the team in rebounds and blocks. I think he'll benefit the most from playing these first four cupcake games. It's clear he's the player we're rooting for the hardest. Love this kid, and he loves this team.
A. Jackson- 7.5: Loved the 6 rebounds and 4/5 free throws. The green light looks great on him. His defense also saw a much needed jump. And I could talk about his passing all day; from the simple ones to the no-lookers. He's going to be instrumental in Sanogo's success this year as he finds creative ways to get him the rock down low.
I. Whaley- 7.5: Yes please I'll have another. Seems to have picked up right where he left off. Now let's see that 3ball fly.
T. Polley- 7.5: Loved his iso 3ball. A wonderful role player that this team is lucky to have.
J. Gaffney- 7.0: Did his 3pt shot take another step up? Could prove very important for this team.
R. Diggins- Freshman. He's got the bag though
S. Johnson- Freshman. It's uncanny how much more comfortable these two seemed in open practice vs the bright lights. You figure the same will happen for Jordan Hawkins? Hopefully he gets back sooner than later, these early games are like gold for these young'ins.
R. Springs- Not ready just yet.

Player of The Match- A. Sanogo: When was the last time we saw a big handle himself that way wearing a UConn jersey.
Some notes- The coaches looked hot in their fits. I think the kids call it drip drip; with the best dressed going to Luke Murray imo. I thought our team just looked overall one year better, coaches included. Let's not get too too too excited, but I mean, we're going dancing this year. I thought the commentators were great. I'm a fool for not taking the spread.
Personal note- My apologies for being afk last season with my reports; I was pretty tied up in building a house with my girlfriend during the pandemic. Btw the girlfriend is a solid 7.0: she's a 10.0 in personality but a 3.5 in looks. A real dog in the face.

Over and Out
RC

 

[Chin Diesel]

I'm going to leave the report cards to everyone else. It was a very positive performance. But despite our depth and physical advantages I need to see a partner for Cole that has chemistry and can be the guy that ignites runs, makes steals and hits 3's. Not all the time but enough of the time to give good teams second thoughts about packing it in on defense. That guy may exist or may develop into the role, but he hasn't emerged yet. But overall we're going to impose ourselves on a lot of weaker teams. We just want to beat most of the good ones we have on our schedule.

@Jimdish255 , taking this clip from another thread. Watch from about the 2:30-3:10 mark with Cole and Gaff on floor together. Great offensive sets with pass in to Sanogo and pass out to Gaff for a 3, Gaff and Cole applying full court pressure leading to a steal by Gaff/Akok and then a pass to Cole for 3. Final play in that series was a block, pass to Cole to start the break which ends up with Gaff getting the basket after Martin's fumble. That was a real crisp group on the floor.

 

[husky429]

Johnson entered the game pretty early. 9 minutes in. I think he's in the rotation unless he blew it yesterday.

It went:
Gaffney in, Cole out
Polley in, Martin out (this will likely be Jackson or Hawkins in the future)
Akok in, Sanogo out
Cole back in, Jackson out (double PG)
Johnson in, Whaley out

So he was the first sub for Whaley, indicating to me that he's in the rotation.

Fair enough. He might be in that 4th big role. We'll get a better idea by our 3rd or 4th game.

 

[Psolo12]

Fair enough. He might be in that 4th big role. We'll get a better idea by our 3rd or 4th game.

In Hurley's post game he said that Springs had earned that 4th big spot over Johnson and he made a mistake putting Johnson in before Richie. Guess we'll see if he meant that but thought it was interesting.

 

[KingAG]

This game gave me the confidence that we'll start off strong given our schedule early on. I'm not going to give us bad mojo by penciling in wins, but we SHOULD expect this team to at least start 5-0 and avoid any bad losses.

What gives me this confidence is our defense and us not relying on the 3 pointer. We can and should beat inferior teams pretty easily with that approach. We have an advantage inside against 90% of the country, we need to continue to play to that strength. The defense I saw last night.....my lord.....that'll work against anyone. I'm not sure of our ceiling quite yet, as i'm still waiting on someone to show me they can be that late game bucket(cole is the one with the most realistic potential). BUT our floor is REALLY high.

 

[husky429]

In Hurley's post game he said that Springs had earned that 4th big spot over Johnson and he made a mistake putting Johnson in before Richie. Guess we'll see if he meant that but thought it was interesting.

My guess is both play essentially negligible minutes either way. Sanogo/Whaley/Akok will all play minutes at the 5. Whaley/Akok/Reese (maybe even Polley in a pinch or certain matchups) can all play minutes at 4. Unless we're in deep foul trouble, I don't think we'll see them much.

 

[Bonk]

I think the only question mark is how we play in games that we are forced to shoot more 3's. Teams that pack it inside might give us some trouble.
With that said our defensive intensity looked incredible and we looked almost too unselfish at points. Rebounding was incredible.

 

[UCfor3]

I'm not sure that's so true. It seems pretty obvious that we had 8 guys in the rotation last night. And from what we've heard, Hawkins will be in there as well. The jury is probably still out on how much Johnson and Diggins will contribute this year.

Guys evolve and improve. Things happen. It's a long season and nothing is set in stone after one game against Central no less.

 

[husky429]

Guys evolve and improve. Things happen. It's a long season and nothing is set in stone after one game against Central no less.

Yup. I think Samson has the easiest path to PT. Our frontcourt is stacked, but he has all the tools to play physicall. Not sure if Diggins is quite fast and strong enough yet. His IQ will help him adjust eventually, but that's a tough task as a freshman.

 

[Psolo12]

Yup. I think Samson has the easiest path to PT. Our frontcourt is stacked, but he has all the tools to play physicall. Not sure if Diggins is quite fast and strong enough yet. His IQ will help him adjust eventually, but that's a tough task as a freshman.

His handle impressed me

 

[husky429]

His handle impressed me

He's got a solid handle. His game sense and leadership were excellent as a HS player. His team won at every level he's played at. His issue was athleticism, size/strength, and his shooting inconsistency.

The leadership and game sense is why I think he'll have a great college career... it just takes longer to develop because you just need reps and practice and experience to have it translate to D1.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I think the only question mark is how we play in games that we are forced to shoot more 3's. Teams that pack it inside might give us some trouble.
With that said our defensive intensity looked incredible and we looked almost too unselfish at points. Rebounding was incredible.

I mean we shot 8-13 from 3pt. Is that not good and encouraging? Sheesh

 

[Husky Alien]

I think the only question mark is how we play in games that we are forced to shoot more 3's.

Beware of the Zone D. That might give us issues.

 

[UCLJ0211]

A. Sanogo- 9.0: Please don't get it twisted; he made it look easy thanks to his skill, not just because his opponents were poor. This is proven when comparing his stats to any of our bigs in this same game last year. His defense also looked significantly better. He scored some hooks even when doubled (which btw left Whaley wide open for an easy putback if Sanogo doinked it). "I've seen enough, he's special" -Dan Hurley. I'd say we got a pretty good glimpse of it.
Rj. Cole- 9.0: A real maestro out there. Played a sound, near perfect game. His shot looked fantastic. This kid is zoned in. Interesting dynamic to have our two best players be the PG and Center. Cole will be invaluable to us this season, absolutely irreplaceable. (Can't get a 10.0 vs CCSU, btw)
T. Martin- 9.0: Looked fantastic out there. Very very pleased here. Another year under the right system.
A. Akok- 8.5: Well hello there. Led the team in rebounds and blocks. I think he'll benefit the most from playing these first four cupcake games. It's clear he's the player we're rooting for the hardest. Love this kid, and he loves this team.
A. Jackson- 7.5: Loved the 6 rebounds and 4/5 free throws. The green light looks great on him. His defense also saw a much needed jump. And I could talk about his passing all day; from the simple ones to the no-lookers. He's going to be instrumental in Sanogo's success this year as he finds creative ways to get him the rock down low.
I. Whaley- 7.5: Yes please I'll have another. Seems to have picked up right where he left off. Now let's see that 3ball fly.
T. Polley- 7.5: Loved his iso 3ball. A wonderful role player that this team is lucky to have.
J. Gaffney- 7.0: Did his 3pt shot take another step up? Could prove very important for this team.
R. Diggins- Freshman. He's got the bag though
S. Johnson- Freshman. It's uncanny how much more comfortable these two seemed in open practice vs the bright lights. You figure the same will happen for Jordan Hawkins? Hopefully he gets back sooner than later, these early games are like gold for these young'ins.
R. Springs- Not ready just yet.

Player of The Match- A. Sanogo: When was the last time we saw a big handle himself that way wearing a UConn jersey.
Some notes- The coaches looked hot in their fits. I think the kids call it drip drip; with the best dressed going to Luke Murray imo. I thought our team just looked overall one year better, coaches included. Let's not get too too too excited, but I mean, we're going dancing this year. I thought the commentators were great. I'm a fool for not taking the spread.
Personal note- My apologies for being afk last season with my reports; I was pretty tied up in building a house with my girlfriend during the pandemic. Btw the girlfriend is a solid 7.0: she's a 10.0 in personality but a 3.5 in looks. A real dog in the face.

Over and Out
RC

Cole drops to a 7.0 because his favorite band is the Jonas Brothers.

 

[NJHusky]

I think the only question mark is how we play in games that we are forced to shoot more 3's. Teams that pack it inside might give us some trouble.

Don't forget about Hawkins....he didn't play so we have a good (rumored) 3pt shooter to add to the mix

 

[navery12]

I mean we shot 8-13 from 3pt. Is that not good and encouraging? Sheesh

It's encouraging but a bit misleading because the 3 guys we were counting on to shoot were 6/8. I'm glad Martin and Akok hit the 3 they each took, but I can't say last night alleviated the concern. 2/5 from the non-shooters is a great percentage, but not good volume.

It's 1 game and a blowout game at that, so I'm not going to overreact, but I'd like to see Whaley/Jackson/Martin/Akok putting up more 3's before I can say shooting isn't a potential issue

 

[ClifSpliffy]

@Jimdish255 , taking this clip from another thread. Watch from about the 2:30-3:10 mark with Cole and Gaff on floor together. Great offensive sets with pass in to Sanogo and pass out to Gaff for a 3, Gaff and Cole applying full court pressure leading to a steal by Gaff/Akok and then a pass to Cole for 3. Final play in that series was a block, pass to Cole to start the break which ends up with Gaff getting the basket after Martin's fumble. That was a real crisp group on the floor.

u mentioned jmoney five times here.
watching the game, he seemed to have his mitts involved in soo many plays.
imma a patient sort. lotsa jmoney goodness coming in the season ahead.
coach said 'james will be back in 4-6 weeks.' james came back 4-6 weeks later.
coach said 'the offense will run thru adama.' first play? adama gets it for the bunny.
logic says adama, rj, and tyrese will be the returning offense big three. adama, rj, and tyrese, were the scoring big three.
our passing ability might be even better than our superior rebounding ability.
old school 'celtic' basketball? i hear that they won a lot. a real lot.

 

[Stinger92860]

I think it will be 9. With Diggins being the 10th and getting some run if Cole or Gaffney are in foul trouble. Johnson could push for playing time as well. Floyd will redshirt

I think it’s too early in the season to make this statement. Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game and we have some really good freshmen who are going to get better as the season progresses. Regardless, we are deep with talent.

 

[gtcam]

Sanogo is a BEAST offensively and causes some problems on defense but he should never come out high on defense. It causes him issues and fouls.
Central players were absolutely terrified with AJax's long reach
Pork Chop has the quickest hand on defense I have seen on a big guy - wanted to see him put up more 3 balls.
Cole is so much improved when he tries not to force things - he has improved on his pace this year when running the O
Martin is a physical specimen and showed a nice outside touch - love the kids game
Was hoping a lot more out of Johnson, especially after Dan Hurley's consistent gushing over the young man - it was his 1st game so I will discard this one, he does show unbelievable energy
A slimmer, lighter Gaff looks faster. Gaff is Gaff - never will be a star but he does do things well in spurts. I like him off the bench
Akok showed he has a long way to go to get back to that pre injury level - I want him to be so good
Polley is Polley is Polley
Diggins - I can see glimpses of brilliance and floor vision - a work in process
Hawk - PLEASE get on that court, I can not wait

It was Central but it was refreshing - good to be back in the seat again

 

[bendm]

I do like to see that we have seemed to have 8 guys in the rotation + likely Hawkins. That number will probably get cut down to more like 7 or 8 by tournament time.

i hope it stays at 9. that way cole and martin have clear backups, aj/hawk split minutes, and akok gets all the leftover PF/C mins:

Cole-Gaff
AJ---Hawk
Martin-Polley
Whaley-Akok
Sanogo-Akok

hard to foresee gaff and/or polley getting any DNPs

Johnson entered the game pretty early. 9 minutes in. I think he's in the rotation unless he blew it yesterday.

It went:
Gaffney in, Cole out
Polley Hawk in, Martin out
Akok in, Sanogo out
Cole back in, Jackson out
Johnson Polley in, Whaley out

lets say hawk was also on the bench- could mean johnson doesnt get in. that would have given us a very small lineup of gaff/cole/hawk/polley/akok but also our best shooting lineup

 

[Bonk]

I mean we shot 8-13 from 3pt. Is that not good and encouraging? Sheesh

Right, not saying it wasn't encouraging, but when we meet a team that doesn't let us feast inside I'm curious to see how well we shoot. I think we can all agree shooting is our biggest question mark, will take a few games to see where we stand. Other than that all other boxes were checked

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

It was good to maul a team in November. I'm not sure how much predictive value it has as I get the sense that Central is really bad. Did I hear correctly that they have a walk on in their rotation? I liked the kid Hinkle McCringleberry playing point guard.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Sanogo is a BEAST offensively and causes some problems on defense but he should never come out high on defense. It causes him issues and fouls.
Central players were absolutely terrified with AJax's long reach
Pork Chop has the quickest hand on defense I have seen on a big guy - wanted to see him put up more 3 balls.
Cole is so much improved when he tries not to force things - he has improved on his pace this year when running the O
Martin is a physical specimen and showed a nice outside touch - love the kids game
Was hoping a lot more out of Johnson, especially after Dan Hurley's consistent gushing over the young man - it was his 1st game so I will discard this one, he does show unbelievable energy
A slimmer, lighter Gaff looks faster. Gaff is Gaff - never will be a star but he does do things well in spurts. I like him off the bench
Akok showed he has a long way to go to get back to that pre injury level - I want him to be so good
Polley is Polley is Polley
Diggins - I can see glimpses of brilliance and floor vision - a work in process
Hawk - PLEASE get on that court, I can not wait

It was Central but it was refreshing - good to be back in the seat again

Akok played 17 minutes.

8 points
7 rebounds
3 blocks
2 steals
1 assist

That's a helluva lot of activity for his minutes played. Whaley, Sanogo and Akok are taking the lion's share of the 80 minutes a PF and C this year. That's about 27 mpg. Most games Akok is going to get 17-25 minutes.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

A couple of other observations from last night that I don't think have been mentioned (or not mentioned too much yet):

-Gaff got called for an offensive foul and I think probably forced the issue a little too much on at least one iso drive to the hoop. BUT, I will take that any game (especially vs. early-season cupcakes) over him being too passive. He needs to test his limits early season to get tuned for BE play

-The cheers from the crowd (and especially the student section) Akok got when he entered the game for the 1st time made my eyes tear up a little bit (I'm turning into an old softie, it appears)

-Similarly, the chants from the student section for Matt Garry to enter the game near the end were heartwarming.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

A couple of other observations from last night that I don't think have been mentioned (or not mentioned too much yet):

-Gaff got called for an offensive foul and I think probably forced the issue a little too much on at least one iso drive to the hoop. BUT, I will take that any game (especially vs. early-season cupcakes) over him being too passive. He needs to test his limits early season to get tuned for BE play

-The cheers from the crowd (and especially the student section) Akok got when he entered the game for the 1st time made my eyes tear up a little bit (I'm turning into an old softie, it appears)

-Similarly, the chants from the student section for Matt Garry to enter the game near the end were heartwarming.

jmoney gonna tear it up this season. other than that,

jk, lol.
i wanted to post the hopsin (hoopin?) with eminem version, but i don't think it'll make it past the mods. still good tho.
just win, baby.
my minimal interest in soap operas is just aboot over, a victim of the crunchiness too common at the other board.

 

[auror]

lets say hawk was also on the bench- could mean johnson doesnt get in

Yeah it'll be interesting.

I'm not sure we'd play Cole-Gaffney-Hawkins-Polley-Akok if you make strictly just those rotation changes you outlined, but I do think that's illustrative of a problem with the distribution of our best players. Our 2 best big men (the starters) are the biggest physically also, so we probably want to keep at least 1 of them in to play center for most of the time. So then you're ending up with a logjam at the 4 between the Whaley/Sanogo 2nd when both in, Akok, Johnson, Springs, and "small" (or maybe better coined versatile) options Jackson, Martin, or Polley, all of whom could hold their own defensively against some teams and some lineups. 7 players could reasonably play the 4 and only 2 can shown they can play the 5. If Akok can prove he's strong/tough enough to give us minutes at the 5, that'll help ease the minutes crunch somewhat.

The rotation is impossible. There's going to be a lot of hot hand decisions between Gaffney/Hawkins/Jackson/Polley.

 

[cap10dingus]

Maybe I missed this already mentioned but two main takeaways from last night:

1. It's been a while since we were a team that was flirting with 100 against inferior opponents including also a team that would dominate inferior opponents essentially from start to finish. That's what I was looking for last night and that was achieved, wish we hit that 3 digit mark though. Overall from the opening tip there was no question we were winning by 25+, nice to be reintroduced to that.

2. Man are we terrible at the lob pass for having so many great athletes. Hopefully that was just opening night jitters but most of those passes were not even close in situations where it was a good play if delivered properly. I don't think I've seen a team be that bad at something so simple for a D1 athlete.

This team is likely, not to be negative, to dominate inferior opponents all year and have some hiccups when the competition is strong as a team of players that have never really succeeded in big games. But after one game I think this feels like the season we have been hoping for as the "we're back." With the potential and higher probability of doing very very special things in 12 months.

Either way ignoring the Huskies for a Champions Tournament in the Garden is likely soon to be a thing of the past. We are the bluest of bloods and it's time to demand that respect again!

boys.....

 

[MTBingNinja]

Johnson looked like he was 8’ tall out there.

Was wonderful to see Akok out there, seemed like he wasn’t mentally handicapped by his injury.

Looks like Gaffney will battle Diggins for minutes.

Wish AJ shot those threes more, but he made the extra pass to the open man.

What an electrifying game. Woke up this morning early like a kid on Christmas to watch the game.

Is it Saturday yet!?!?!?!?!

 

[Husky25]

Thank god someone is doing this now that chief has become a life coach.

 

[Peacefrog]

It's been a while since we were a team that was flirting with 100 against inferior opponents

I think we scored 102 against CCSU just last season. But I get your point.

 

[cap10dingus]

I think we scored 102 against CCSU just last season. But I get your point.

and we gave up 80ish? lmao