Resetting expectations

[USNavyDog]

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.

Well, it'll be a long 2 - 4 weeks while Samogo is out but we can survive because we do have some easy games as well during Sango and Martin's absense. Fir example, we have Grambling State today and if i recall correctly our first few Big East games are not the among the hardest teams to play. The only tough games in their absence are St. Bonny's and road game against West Virginia. Maybe we might be pleasantly surprised by how Johnson, Diggins and Springs step up if they contribute in those games? We shall see.

 

[UCfor3]

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

3-1 would be a good outcome and I hope you are prophetic, but it's a little presumptuous to be so certain about it. 3 of those 4 games will be difficult. I do not consider Providence to be easy without Martin and Sanogo.

 

[navery12]

I'm honestly surprised by how down on this team so many posters are. Maybe it's just because the injuries are so recent but I really don't get it

 

[Ricker]

I expect mistakes, but I think both Diggins & Johnson will show they bring something to the table, and I expect one of the St B/WV games to be an offensive show by Hawkins, and that Polley will come up big in the other. I'd be satisfied with a split at this point, but we could win both. Not having Sanogo to match up with Watson concerns me vs PC, and I have had my doubts vs Marquette's pressure on their home court even with our full lineup.

 

[8893]

I'm honestly surprised by how down on this team so many posters are. Maybe it's just because the injuries are so recent but I really don't get it

It may be premature but it’s certainly not hard to understand.

We can weather the loss of Martin for a few weeks; the uncertainty about Adama’s condition and timetable is concerning though. Losing him for a significant part of the season would be a very big setback.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I hope all this optimism holds up the next three weeks.

 

[UofCT]

3-1 would be a good outcome and I hope you are prophetic, but it's a little presumptuous to be so certain about it. 3 of those 4 games will be difficult. I do not consider Providence to be easy without Martin and Sanogo.

None of the teams we are playing are that good. It’s not like we have Nova, Gonzaga and Duke coming up.

WVA has beaten nobody all season.
The Bonnies best player is out
Providence actually has some decent wins and might be more difficult than I thought.

 

[Husky Alien]

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.

Agree it's not season ending injuries, the beginning of our season too. Gives our new guys time to play as people have been wanting. It only makes us a better team at the end of the season barring no major injuries.

 

[UCfor3]

I'm honestly surprised by how down on this team so many posters are. Maybe it's just because the injuries are so recent but I really don't get it

It's not that I'm so down. I'm just wondering where the points are gonna come from against the teams after Grambling St. 2 of our 3 best scorers/players are injured and we already had trouble scoring the ball with them in the lineup. I hope Hawkins steps up, Polley catches fire, etc...I think it's natural for people to be concerned until they see it on the court. There may be a "here we go again" mantra happening. I honestly don't know what to expect. I'm ready to be pleasantly surprised but am guarded on the pie in the sky optimism.

 

[navery12]

It may be premature but it’s certainly not hard to understand.

We can weather the loss of Martin for a few weeks; the uncertainty about Adama’s condition and timetable is concerning though. Losing him for a significant part of the season would be a very big setback.

No it's hard to understand, especially when it's the same people who have been calling for Diggins and Johnson to get more minutes for the last 3 weeks. Obviously we're worse but the panic is not warranted

 

[8893]

No it's hard to understand, especially when it's the same people who have been calling for Diggins and Johnson to get more minutes for the last 3 weeks. Obviously we're worse but the panic is not warranted

No one was calling for Adama to sit for several weeks. I don’t see panic as much as concern. And concern is warranted until we have more information imo.

I’m not worried but I can certainly understand how some are.

 

[navery12]

No one was calling for Adama to sit for several weeks. I don’t see panic as much as concern. And concern is warranted until we have more information imo.

I’m not worried but I can certainly understand how some are.

But my point is if Johnson and Diggins were ready to contribute and get minutes then there's no reason to be concerned, especially with our upcoming schedule

 

[jibsey]

Gaffney will score a lot of points. You heard it here first.

 

[UCfor3]

No it's hard to understand, especially when it's the same people who have been calling for Diggins and Johnson to get more minutes for the last 3 weeks. Obviously we're worse but the panic is not warranted

I don't think most people wanted Diggins and Samson to assume big roles. They just wanted them to get their feet wet and get a few minutes here and there as part of their development that could possibly pay off down the road if some of the guys in the rotation continued to struggle in their roles or were injured. Admittedly that became more difficult in the last 4 games because of the close contests, but they could have gotten a few non garbage time minutes against Binghamton or LIU.

 

[businesslawyer]

Do we have to take a stand on this today? Can't we focus on winning today, trying to get at least one of the two games next week and then seeing how Martin's wrist is?

Without both of them yes, it will be really tough. But we have a lot of bodies with potential to give us much more than they've been giving us, and when Martin comes back I'm not at all sure we can't be fine without Sanogo. Even if Johnson isn't ready, it still leaves a big rotation of Whalley, Polley and Akok, which isn't going to be terrible, and Martin can certainly give us minutes at the four. It means changing our offense on the fly, but as my son pointed out to me we did that during the 19-20 season when we lost Polley and Akok and our offense got much better.

So I'm going to try to find a realistic middle ground between this won't matter and we now suck, and to enjoy the games as they are played one by one.

 

[navery12]

I don't think most people wanted Diggins and Samson to assume big roles. They just wanted them to get their feet wet and get a few minutes here and there as part of their development that could possibly pay off down the road if some of the guys in the rotation continued to struggle in their roles or were injured. Admittedly that became more difficult in the last 4 games because of the close contests, but they could have gotten a few non garbage time minutes against Binghamton or LIU.

That's fair but it's not like they're being thrust into big roles right now either. I guess my overall point is that a lineup of Cole, Hawkins, Jackson, Akok, Whaley with Diggins, Gaffney, Polley, Johnson off the bench is good enough to stay middle of the pack in the Big East. And they don't have to because Martin will be back for the majority of the BE games

 

[8893]

But my point is if Johnson and Diggins were ready to contribute and get minutes then there's no reason to be concerned, especially with our upcoming schedule

You appear to be intentionally ignoring the point that Sanogo's injury may very well keep him out long past our upcoming schedule. That is concerning.

And no one here really knows if Johnson and Diggins are ready to contribute and play major minutes because we haven't seen them play. It was a question in many people's minds, and yes it is a good thing that that question will now be answered.

But I don't recall anyone suggesting that they replace Sanogo and Cole. That's crazy talk.

The bottom line is that we don't know Sanogo's status and won't for at least a few days, but listening to Hurley it sounds like he could be out for a few months or more. They just don't know.

Like I said, maybe premature, but definitely a cause for concern if we have to play without him into January and February.

 

[shizzle787]

Sanogo being out might be a positive. When he gets the ball he never passes. Moral of the story: we need to find 15 ppg on the extra posessions that would normally go to him. I think that is doable.

 

[navery12]

You appear to be intentionally ignoring the point that Sanogo's injury may very well keep him out long past our upcoming schedule. That is concerning.

And no one here really knows if Johnson and Diggins are ready to contribute and play major minutes because we haven't seen them play. It was a question in many people's minds, and yes it is a good thing that that question will now be answered.

But I don't recall anyone suggesting that they replace Sanogo and Cole. That's crazy talk.

The bottom line is that we don't know Sanogo's status and won't for at least a few days, but listening to Hurley it sounds like he could be out for a few months or more. They just don't know.

Like I said, maybe premature, but definitely a cause for concern if we have to play without him into January and February.

I'm not ignoring that Sanogo might miss multiple months, this entire conversation started with me saying I'm not worried if Sanogo doesn't play a game the rest of the season because with the players on the roster we have enough talent to finish in the middle of the Big East and get a tournament berth. Obviously would significantly lower our ceiling if that happens though.

I don't know where this idea came from that I'm suggesting to replace Sanogo and Cole though, have I said anything close to that?

 

[Waquoit]

Gaffney will score a lot of points. You heard it here first.

I can't see a scenario where Gaff scores a lot of points and we win. You're talking a lot of ball stopping along the way.

 

[8893]

I'm not ignoring that Sanogo might miss multiple months, this entire conversation started with me saying I'm not worried if Sanogo doesn't play a game the rest of the season because with the players on the roster we have enough talent to finish in the middle of the Big East and get a tournament berth. Obviously would significantly lower our ceiling if that happens though.

I don't know where this idea came from that I'm suggesting to replace Sanogo and Cole though, have I said anything close to that?

I honestly don't know what you're saying then. The point of the thread is resetting expectations with these injuries. You seem to be at once in disbelief at those who have lowered expectations, while now admitting that you have lowered yours.

If you don't care if Sanogo doesn't play again this season, what else could that mean except replacing him?

I don't get the point, but I guess I don't need to. Gonna go get a Christmas tree instead.

 

[navery12]

I honestly don't know what you're saying then. The point of the thread is resetting expectations with these injuries. You seem to be at once in disbelief at those who have lowered expectations, while now admitting that you have lowered yours.

If you don't care if Sanogo doesn't play again this season, what else could that mean except replacing him?

I don't get the point, but I guess I don't need to. Gonna go get a Christmas tree instead.

I'm saying I don't understand the people who have lowered expectations to the point that we're a bad team and one of the worst teams in the Big East. That seems overly reactionary.

I didn't say I don't care if Sanogo plays this season, I'm saying if we take the worst case scenario and assume this injury is months long so we won't see him again this year. In that scenario I still think this team has the talent to compete in the Big East. But hopefully Sanogo's injury isn't that serious

 

[Ewekon]

Hope Springs eternal.
Samson sees no Delilah
Hair of the dog wins!

I know. I know. It's a haiku. Still fits this thread.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

That seems overly reactionary.

Pin this statement in every thread.

 

[CTBasketball]