Starting line up

[Scrappy3]

We need to adjust and we will.
With three non shooters in starting line up with under sized pg— it sets the stage for slow starts
Even though we have won big— we have started slow— it’s guard-able by bad teams so good teams even harder.
Whalley to me is the natural 5. The fact that he’s sitting at the three point line is not great. And he’s there for one reason and all teams will know it. Big to big pass down low to adama
But whalley is best as a back up 5 with Akok as the more natural opposite big in unit 1
Whalley brings what we need on unit 2. We can play 4-1 with whalley and we will see great production and better balance
9-10 guys can play
But my theme is the same
Three non shooters and two legit 5 men in unit 1 is not the best we can do.

By the way how Good is Hawkins going to be???!

I dont think Im far off. well have some adjustments to get more of Hawkins throughout the season. BUT there is no doubt that our SL is down a scorer. Puts too much pressure on the unit. Teams are gonna triple down on adama

 

[fatlucy]

Hawk should start

 

[August_West]

Akok is better than Whaley. Hurley knows, Whaley knows and the rest of the team knows it. Whaley has no business starting over Akok. Time to make the change now. I'd also like to see Gaffney starting over Cole but I'll save that for another thread.

I don’t even know that it’s Akok is better than Whaley. That’s really debatable on intangibles. I do know that our mix an match lineups destroy our starting lineup on offensive end ( and that has little bearing on Whaley vs Akok I guess it might) ……. But maybe Hurley is playing “ rope-a-dope” early ? If that’s the case he’s a diabolical genius. Even still I don’t like the first 7 minutes on offensive end, but if we win? Who am I to argue?

 

[fatlucy]

I don’t even know that it’s Akok is better than Whaley. That’s really debatable on intangibles. I do know that our mix an match lineups destroy our starting lineup on offensive end ( and that has little bearing on Whaley vs Akok I guess it might) ……. But maybe Hurley is playing “ rope-a-dope” early ? If that’s the case he’s a diabolical genius. Even still I don’t like the first 7 minutes on offensive end, but if we win? Who am I to argue?

We won. Stop

 

[fatlucy]

I don’t even know that it’s Akok is better than Whaley. That’s really debatable on intangibles. I do know that our mix an match lineups destroy our starting lineup on offensive end ( and that has little bearing on Whaley vs Akok I guess it might) ……. But maybe Hurley is playing “ rope-a-dope” early ? If that’s the case he’s a diabolical genius. Even still I don’t like the first 7 minutes on offensiend, but if we win? Who am I to argue?

We won.

 

[HeGotGame]

Nope, you’re wrong. Not surprised you usually are on this board.

No, you are. It is Cole and it is not remotely close.

 

[August_West]

We won. Stop

No s%it. You’re kidding?!

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Would agree with the folks wanting Akok in the starting lineup. Not because he’s better necessarily but because we need the spacing and Whaley isn’t a 5. Our starting 5 is all very tough, great defenders, and rebounders but they won’t get it done offensively.

Outside of that I’m fine with some of our bench scorers like Hawkins coming off the bench. Don’t see how you bench Reese and I don’t see what Jackson would give us coming off the bench. Cole is the much more steady PG of him and Gaffney as well as today showed.

How great is it that this team can adjust to almost anything a team throws at us? Only thing we may really need is an extra ball handler and Reese and Hawkins to consistently be that perimeter scorer. We are REALLY good this year when we don’t get in our own way like we did today.

 

[ucp990411]

I know they both bring plenty of value to the team but in 44 minutes vs Auburn Whaley took one shot and in 20 minutes Jackson took one shot. That makes us a terribly inefficient offensive team when they play together and very easy to defend.

 

[UofCT]

No, you are. It is Cole and it is not remotely close.

Yeah you are right, I was wrong, like very very wrong. I’ll own it

 

[mauconnfan]

Akok is better than Whaley. Hurley knows, Whaley knows and the rest of the team knows it. Whaley has no business starting over Akok. Time to make the change now. I'd also like to see Gaffney starting over Cole but I'll save that for another thread.

How are you feeling about this post after the last 2 games? Just curious to hear your thoughts now.

 

[Scrappy3]

How are you feeling about this post after the last 2 games? Just curious to hear your thoughts now.

I’m personally surprised by akok’s absence. He just hasn’t got invoked enough
But do u agree with the thought process that we are simply down a shooter in the sl?every game including the cupcakes we have started slow. We have also ended slow the last two games. Whether Polley or Hawkins — we need an additional spacer
Whalley and Jackson are both great players
But in ways somewhat redundant. One or the other could easily be used off the bench. We are missing balance right now.
And Akok needs to step up in his minutes — too good to be literally nothing the last 2 games So my view is this is a great team with high end capabilities that just needs to find a balance in thd rotation and a couple guys will need to step up as season goes along

 

[UofCT]

How are you feeling about this post after the last 2 games? Just curious to hear your thoughts now.

Can you not read? See above

 

[jibsey]

Akok was a weak skinny boy among men yesterday. He’s a finesse player not a banger and on top of that he is not assertive in trying to create his own shot. Is any of that wrong?

 

[mauconnfan]

Can you not read? See above

Yeah I can read missed that.

 

[gtcam]

Akok was a weak skinny boy among men yesterday. He’s a finesse player not a banger and on top of that he is not assertive in trying to create his own shot. Is any of that wrong?

None of it is wrong at this point
Akok has shown so far this year that he cannot physically handle the P5 and P6 big boys.
If anyone says that Akok is better than Whaley, they need their eyes tested and their heads examined,
With Whaley, UConn beats MSU, with Akok - not so much
There is still a chance that Akok will return to freshman Akok - we can only hope so

 

[Conndog]

Just not enough offense when Jackson and Whaley play together. Two players out of five starters that can't score is how you start slowly game after game.

 

[navery12]

I'm not even sure what the answer is, it didn't look any better yesterday after getting the change a lot of people wanted with Whaley in for Akok

 

[7774]

I'm not even sure what the answer is, it didn't look any better yesterday after getting the change a lot of people wanted with Whaley in for Akok

The Akok thing is scary. 0 points in 2 games?

I was looking at some of his freshman year lines.

• 9 boards against Florida
• 5 points, 7 reb, 6 blocks against Miami
• 9 points, 5 reb, 5 blocks against Indiana
• 8 points, 9 reb, 4 blocks at Cincinnati
• 7 points, 4 reb, 3 blocks against Villanova

These are all in the first 17 games of his career, against real teams, and he was really good.

Just sucks, hope he can get all the way back.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

The Akok thing is scary. 0 points in 2 games?

I was looking at some of his freshman year lines.

• 9 boards against Florida
• 5 points, 7 reb, 6 blocks against Miami
• 9 points, 5 reb, 5 blocks against Indiana
• 8 points, 9 reb, 4 blocks at Cincinnati
• 7 points, 4 reb, 3 blocks against Villanova

These are all in the first 17 games of his career, against real teams, and he was really good.

Just sucks, hope he can get all the way back.

Preseason I opined on the BY that Akok will need time to get up to the speed and physicality of actual games against high level D1 competition. I stand by that.

 

[Kitaman]

Preseason I opined on the BY that Akok will need time to get up to the speed and physicality of actual games against high level D1 competition. I stand by that.

Agreed Akok, and AJ (much shorter) are all behind in development and will need more time.