Resetting expectations

[nelsonmuntz]

These two losses are devastating for UConn’s prospects for this season. Martin and Sanogo are UConn’s two most effective and efficient 1-on-1 players. Hawkins has the next highest shooting percentage on the team at 45.9, and the rest of the shooting percentages are in the low 40’s or worse.

We rely heavily on 1-on-1 offense, so it will be hard to plug and play new players. Polley and Cole are much better shooters off the catch, and Cole is going to struggle to score as the focus of the defense.

I think Hawkins can step up to be a 15 ppg scorer for a while, but I am not sure who else can step up their scoring or create for Polley.

Martin and Sanogo are also big for UConn on defense and on the boards. Rebounding is going to be a big problem.

UConn is one of the worst teams in the Big East with those two out. Only Georgetown is clearly worse if we are being honest. This could be a long season.

 

[8893]

 

[navery12]

This changes almost nothing for me, Martin missing the first 4 BE games on the long end of his timetable isn't a big deal. We can beat Providence, Marquette, Xavier, Butler without him. TBD on Sanogo but even if he never played another game this season I'd expect a top 4 finish in the Big East and comfortably in the tournament

 

[HooperScooper]

Where's @Scrappy3 when we need him to cheer us up after this post?

 

[BlueandOG]

We'll be ok. I agree that they are great players, but we're deep.

 

[SeattleHoop]

This changes almost nothing for me, Martin missing the first 4 BE games on the long end of his timetable isn't a big deal. We can beat Providence, Marquette, Xavier, Butler without him. TBD on Sanogo but even if he never played another game this season I'd expect a top 4 finish in the Big East and comfortably in the tournament

I like your optimism but I think your underestimating the impact this will have. I hope your right

 

[Umami Zen]

Thought for the day. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity.. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Don't worry . Be happy.. We'll be fine Nelson

 

[Chasm64]

Not worried

 

[Apollo]

 

[ucp990411]

Nothing has changed for me except the way we may play. I still expect to win every game we play.

 

[auror]

I agree with a lot, but not the last line. Maybe we lose to some other teams on the road than we would have, but on a neutral court other than Gtown we're still better than Depaul and probably Creighton and Butler.

 

[Sphinx]

What a pessimist sees as a snowball's chance in hell, the optimist sees as a snowball's opportunity in hell. Or as the optimist's obituary said, "In lieu of flowers, send smelling salts."

 

[ClifSpliffy]

as a fan, im certainly going to enjoy the mix-up-the-mess fives that we'll be throwing out there. our best? no, but fun nonetheless. watching and listening to coach and his now famous 'produce!' quote, it felt very much like he didn't think the injuries to be 'end of the world' stuff, moar like yeah, they're broken for now, but if it was bigtime time, tmart could strap on a cast and lace them up, and adama just needs some down time to sort that one out.
other than congenital causation, which i can't know, im bettin on acute trauma for each, which can usually be fixed, or heal up in a month or so.
there is no rush.
yeppers, gonna be fun to see the new look dawgs. win or lose.

 

[UCfor3]

Thought for the day. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity.. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

Don't worry . Be happy.. We'll be fine Nelson

The realist understands being without two of our best players will sting. Regardless, you are right. It is an opportunity for others to step. I hope we play our butts off, win enough, and are better for it in the long run.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

Definitely big losses, but the sky is not falling yet. Grambling will be good to get everybody's feet wet in what will be their new roles. Guys who have been here need to step it up and take pressure off Cole so he can be the scorer we need.

 

[shazzketball]

This isn't the Ollie era anymore, we aren't replacing Alterique Gilbert with Antwon Anderson. Hurley touted this team's depth all offseason, and most credible media pundits consider us to have one of the deepest front courts in the country. We have top 50 guys on our bench now instead of borderline AAC players. Cole has shown that he's taken a step up and can be the alpha pg and scorer that we need. Hawkins has flashed NBA scoring potential, and Tyrese being out will allow him to have more of a feature role on offense and hopefully get him to that freshman Bouknight impact level by March. Whaley has proven that he's an efficient scorer when he's given more shots, and that's in addition to being one of the best defenders in the country. This isn't season ending stuff and we haven't even been playing for a month. Lots of games left to be played and lot's of time for guys to step up and get healthy. We're good.

 

[Husky Alien]

 

[UConnSwag11]

We have three games before our first conference opener. Two of them are against good teams with neither of them being at home. Our first road game is in Morgantown which will be a rock fight. They aren't that good but they'll be one of the tougher OOC opponents we'll play. The Bonnies are going to be one of the better teams we'll face in our OOC schedule.

We should get by PC, but Marquette has wins over #10 Illinois at the time, Ole Miss, West Va, and are playing #23 Wisconsin right now. They lost to the Bonnies by 16.

Two of our best players, with one of them being our best player, are out for multiple weeks and we have no one who has shown they can step up offenively besides Cole.

We can win the games but you can't brush off these injuries as not being a big deal

Bumping this thread in 2-3 weeks. The board should be entertaining by then

 

[UConnSwag11]

The realist understands being without two of our best players will sting. Regardless, you are right. It is an opportunity for others to step. I hope we play our butts off, win enough, and are better for it in the long run.

this

 

[87Xfer]

This changes almost nothing for me, Martin missing the first 4 BE games on the long end of his timetable isn't a big deal. We can beat Providence, Marquette, Xavier, Butler without him. TBD on Sanogo but even if he never played another game this season I'd expect a top 4 finish in the Big East and comfortably in the tournament

Wait, wut? Martin missing the first 4 BE games? I didn't think he was expected to be out that long?

 

[navery12]

Wait, wut? Martin missing the first 4 BE games? I didn't think he was expected to be out that long?

2-4 weeks, 4 weeks would mean the first 4 BE games

 

[Waquoit]

UConn is one of the worst teams in the Big East with those two out. Only Georgetown is clearly worse if we are being honest.

I'm not buying this. I'm thinking we can survive on pluck and grit until we get the band back together in time for March Madness.

 

[UofCT]

These are not season ending injuries, they are out for a few weeks and we actually have entire week between Bonnies (missing their best player too) and Providence where we don’t have a game.

Not a big deal at all. Haven’t lost any sleep over it. We will go 3-1 in the next four and hope we get them both back by Marquette

 

[Umami Zen]

We have three games before our first conference opener. Two of them are against good teams with neither of them being at home. Our first road game is in Morgantown which will be a rock fight. They aren't that good but they'll be one of the tougher OOC opponents we'll play. The Bonnies are going to be one of the better teams we'll face in our OOC schedule.

We should get by PC, but Marquette has wins over #10 Illinois at the time, Ole Miss, West Va, and are playing #23 Wisconsin right now. They lost to the Bonnies by 16.

Two of our best players, with one of them being our best player, are out for multiple weeks and we have no one who has shown they can step up offenively besides Cole.

We can win the games but you can't brush off these injuries as not being a big deal

Bumping this thread in 2-3 weeks. The board should be entertaining by then

Agree with your points. These injuries are concerning but glad they are not season-ending. In the meantime-- Looking forward to seeing the team evolve in their absence to the best of their abilities. DH/staff were excited recruiting these younger guys.. It may be early. Let's see what they've got.

 

[UCfor3]

Wait, wut? Martin missing the first 4 BE games? I didn't think he was expected to be out that long?

It's impossible to know with any degree of accuracy how long it will be for either. Our staff is like the pentagon when it comes to injury time frames. Not a complaint. We don't really know the true nature of Sanogo's injury. We know about Martin's but a couple weeks were initially floated but it seemed liked some alluded to the fact it could be considerably longer than that. Maybe they just don't know how how fast it will heal. Anyone's guess at this point.