That was an all-time performance by Adama Sanogo

[Rocktheworld]

Guards fed him extremely well, had great looks all day

 

[Waquoit]

Guards fed him extremely well, had great looks all day

True, but he also got to the spots. Two to tango and all.

 

[JonnyRI]

That is an amazing factual find. Count me as hands in the air bowing at the waist Mike Meyers "We're Not Worthy"
What a performance.

Me MrsRI and son DannyRI literally did the we’re not worthy at least 3 times during the second half. My sons ten. He did not get it but At least played along.

 

[WrenchFan69]

NBADraft.net (obviously not a perfect source) now has Sanogo as a late second round draft pick

 

[August_West]

That Charles Oakley retired from the NBA 20 years ago. Sanogo will get a chance in the NBA as an undrafted or late 2nd round pick, but the NBA has changed and just doesn't value traditional big men anymore

You know whose fault that is?

I’ll give you one guess.

 

[navery12]

You know whose fault that is?

I’ll give you one guess.

 

[Edward Sargent]

That Charles Oakley retired from the NBA 20 years ago. Sanogo will get a chance in the NBA as an undrafted or late 2nd round pick, but the NBA has changed and just doesn't value traditional big men anymore

Do you think Adama is a "traditional" big man? I don't

 

[Kembacity]

I think the reason he’s so unstoppable is his patience. He gets the ball, starts to make a move, gets a little space between the defender and then takes that space in the blink of an eye. Once he has that space though, he doesn’t settle for the shot, he’s got the presence of mind (or coaching taught him this) to pop a quick brief fake up and then immediately goes up a little to the side. Seems like defenders ALWAYS bite that fake because once they’re rushing to make up ground on Adama they feel for sure he’s going up. He’s like a maestro with his post work, it’s a thing of beauty

 

[jayteeman]

What a stat that is certainly not honorable

 

[UConnJim]

I watch a ton of Celtics games and I think Sanogo can be a similar player to Grant Williams. Tough player, cover bigs, pass, shoot the occasional 3,... Sanogo is actually a better 3 point shooter right now compared to Williams in college. Williams has improved considerably from when he was first drafted by the Celtics in the late 1st round, but look how Sanogo has improved every year at UConn.

 

[superjohn]

You know whose fault that is?

I’ll give you one guess.

 

[ctchamps]

My wife said Adama and Aaliyah Edwards should get married and make beautiful basket ball babies.

This should be the way! She has spoken!

 

[dennismenace]

His touch around the basket is elite this year. The biggest knock on him last year was that he wasn't terribly efficient because his 2pt shooting % was poor. We remember the Nova tournament game and the stretch run where he missed a bunch of bunnies (whether due to fatigue or lingering injury, etc.) and in general he took a bunch of over the shoulder jump hooks.

He went from 51% on 2s to 64% this year on the same amount of attempts. That is a MASSIVE jump. 64% at the rim last year to 75% at the rim this year. And he's not dunking all that much, compared to like Clingan who dunks everything. He shots require touch. He's often sealing and gathering the ball near or under the rim and needing to contort his body or finish across the rim.

I just ran some numbers and according to the data from BartTorvik, Sanogo is shooting 74.87% on non-dunk rim attempts. Out of the 84 guys with more than 300 2-point attempts on the season, he ranks 2nd in the country in that stat. Just absolute elite touch. He's right above Drew Timme, Tubelis, and Jalen Pickett. Ben Krikke from Valpo is #1. Daniss Jenkins from Iona is last lol. Primo is also near the bottom.

Great post. These are the facts that show how he has worked on his game and constantly improves. What never ceases to amaze me is that he came in as a freshman with with all that work established.
Finishes with either hand as a putback or over the shoulder hook shot. All that footwork he walked onto campus with and is now taking it to another level. Most coaches would be happy to have a big with those tools after 4 years. He had them in high school and didn't even start playing basketball until he was 12. When I saw the video of the villages where the men from Mali come from it reminded me of Mariano Rivera videos of the Panama village where he came from where their baseball gloves were milk cartons and they played with rocks. Astounding.

 

[Kembacity]

Great post. These are the facts that show how he has worked on his game and constantly improves. What never ceases to amaze me is that he came in as a freshman with with all that work established.
Finishes with either hand as a putback or over the shoulder hook shot. All that footwork he walked onto campus with and is now taking it to another level. Most coaches would be happy to have a big with those tools after 4 years. He had them in high school and didn't even start playing basketball until he was 12. When I saw the video of the villages where the men from Mali come from it reminded me of Mariano Rivera videos of the Panama village where he came from where their baseball gloves were milk cartons and they played with rocks. Astounding.

And apparently picked the game up at 14 or whatever. Unless he’s also a time traveler, it all makes zero sense how he could have those skills and understanding of his options for movement in the post the way he does so early. The kid must be insanely smart and malleable

 

[tykurez]

I watch a ton of Celtics games and I think Sanogo can be a similar player to Grant Williams. Tough player, cover bigs, pass, shoot the occasional 3,... Sanogo is actually a better 3 point shooter right now compared to Williams in college. Williams has improved considerably from when he was first drafted by the Celtics in the late 1st round, but look how Sanogo has improved every year at UConn.

Yup, I said it last month this is the exact player he should be working his game towards. They are very similar:

Sanogo should be looking at a guy like Grant Williams. Undersized forward who was mostly a post, power player in college. Shot around 32% from beyond the arc - but made most of his impact at the foul line and in. Think he was back-to-back SEC player of the year … I think if Sanogo stays he can continue to work on his outside shot, passing and decision making to increase his stock.

 

[elmcityboy]

My wife said Adama and Aaliyah Edwards should get married and make beautiful basket ball babies.

This should be the way! She has spoken!

off topic, but i actually love seeing mbb and wbb players get together haha. olivia nelson-ododa and wendell carter jr. (duke/orlando) are my current favorite power couple.

 

[Umami Zen]

Adama has worked his butt off getting the proper position in the paint before the entry pass and knows his angles.. Our guards-even our bench guys-- have really improved on the quality/speed/precision of their entry passes.. Gotta believe going up against DC every day in practice has helped his ability and understanding to use his body to get shots off vs taller defenders.. Three years of hard work in the gym and SnC is paying off.

Keep thinking he's making a little bit more NBA money with every Tournament game he plays this year. Adama said his team would win.. They did.

 

[dennismenace]

Adama has worked his butt off getting the proper position in the paint before the entry pass and knows his angles.. Our guards-even our bench guys-- have really improved on the quality/speed/precision of their entry passes.. Gotta believe going up against DC every day in practice has helped his ability and understanding to use his body to get shots off vs taller defenders.. Three years of hard work in the gym and SnC is paying off.

Keep thinking he's making a little bit more NBA money with every Tournament game he plays this year. Adama said his team would win.. They did.

Yes! He wasn't showing off those moves last year but they would be necessary against someone like DC. And DC has to learn how to defend all those shots and footwork that Sanogo is offering up. Every day in practice is a monster battle. Sometimes watching Sanogo reminds me of D. Motumbo who someone once described playing against as like playing against a robot meaning that his strength and endurance never changed; he seemed to never tire and just relentlessly wore you down. Another thing that comes to mind is how he and AJ as captains were the ones always in the gym setting the standard for the others. For the most part the teamwork was great with this team.