The Athletic: Anonymous Coach on UConn | The Boneyard

The Athletic: Anonymous Coach on UConn

Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
2,649
Reaction Score
15,208
One of my favorite articles each year in The Athletic. Seth Davis gets anonymous feedback from coaches on different teams.

Article: 'They’re gonna get up in your ass': Anonymous coaches on AAC, ACC, Big East and Big 12

UConn: “They’re very, very physical. R.J. Cole plays the point but he’s more of a scoring guard. He’s a streaky shooter. He has to figure out how to distribute. Adama Sanogo has a great presence on the block. You’ve gotta make shots to open up the floor and bring those bigger guys out. They’re bigger than some NBA teams, so you’re not gonna score in the paint on them. They’ve got Danny Hurley’s personality. Scoring is obviously harder without James Bouknight. Tyler Polley is helping out, but if he’s not hitting those 3s, where are they gonna go? Tyrese Martin is their best player now. He’s scoring inside and he offensive rebounds.”

Favorite line from the piece on Syracuse: "They’re like lunchtime YMCA players"
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
12,242
Reaction Score
91,218
As someone reminded me on Twitter in one of these towards the end of the KO era the comment was that we were the easiest team to scout

I mean, other than Bouk we're probably just as easy to scout now. Executing your game plan is just exponentially harder versus our team now. Everybody knows we're going to play pressure defense and blitz ball screens and handoffs. Knowing what we're going to do and running your offense is a completely different story.

As far as our player offense... Carlton/Whaley/Sanogo are all basically the same as far as the scout. They won't do much outside, you can make them turn it over when we have them hold it on top of the key and have to pass, but they're not good enough yet to warrant a double team inside (Sanogo is getting there though).

Polley can only shoot or 1 dribble pull-up outside of the days he decides to be Lebron at the rim.

Gaffney and Adams, you don't need to worry about scoring at all basically. RJ you force to drive if he's shooting well and remember he's a southpaw.

The biggest challenge right now is Tyrese because he can actually score it inside and out when he's feeling it.

Xs and Os-wise, we don't run too many set plays and struggle in the half-court, but also don't play fast enough to utilize transition easy buckets. You need to practice against the weave we run sometimes and know the fake handoff trigger we use for the baseline cut to hit a corner shooter. The biggest thing you have to scout for is offensive rebounding IMO.
 
Joined
Dec 8, 2015
Messages
12,242
Reaction Score
91,218
He’s gotta learn how to not travel 4x a game before he learns to pass

Sanogo can string together 3-4 counters in the post and doesn't lift his pivot. As soon as you ask him to catch it on the run he looks like the fat kid with -10 coordination that seems to make the 12th-man spot on every hs basketball team because his dad is friends with the coach.
 
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Messages
6,882
Reaction Score
55,006
He’s gotta learn how to not travel 4x a game before he learns to pass
If you take out the 2nd Creighton game (Five TOs in that one), Sanogo averages exactly 1 TO/game at a 12 mpg clip: not good, but not awful.
 

UKemba15

Some flies are too awesome for the wall.
Joined
Apr 2, 2018
Messages
630
Reaction Score
5,071
If you take out the 2nd Creighton game (Five TOs in that one), Sanogo averages exactly 1 TO/game at a 12 mpg clip: not good, but not awful.
Numbers aside, every time Sanogo gets the ball up top on our weave he looks like he’s a nanosecond away from traveling (especially early on in games). Granted they aren’t being called, but it makes my heart stop for a beat.
 

UconnU

Demolish the XL center.
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
7,583
Reaction Score
30,772
Chances the anonymous coach is friend of the Hurley’s Jay Wright?
 

HuskyHawk

The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
31,862
Reaction Score
81,493
I mean, other than Bouk we're probably just as easy to scout now. Executing your game plan is just exponentially harder versus our team now. Everybody knows we're going to play pressure defense and blitz ball screens and handoffs. Knowing what we're going to do and running your offense is a completely different story.

As far as our player offense... Carlton/Whaley/Sanogo are all basically the same as far as the scout. They won't do much outside, you can make them turn it over when we have them hold it on top of the key and have to pass, but they're not good enough yet to warrant a double team inside (Sanogo is getting there though).

Polley can only shoot or 1 dribble pull-up outside of the days he decides to be Lebron at the rim.

Gaffney and Adams, you don't need to worry about scoring at all basically. RJ you force to drive if he's shooting well and remember he's a southpaw.

The biggest challenge right now is Tyrese because he can actually score it inside and out when he's feeling it.

Xs and Os-wise, we don't run too many set plays and struggle in the half-court, but also don't play fast enough to utilize transition easy buckets. You need to practice against the weave we run sometimes and know the fake handoff trigger we use for the baseline cut to hit a corner shooter. The biggest thing you have to scout for is offensive rebounding IMO.

I think Gaffney is going to start scoring a bit. I don't know why, it feels like he's made some incremental improvements. He has a nice looking stroke, he is just hesitant. He does a better job than Cole of getting the ball inside to bigs.

Whaley hitting jumpers, even if just from the foul line, makes him a little different than Sanogo or Josh. He's also less capable receiving the ball down low.

On defense I know we agree that a wrinkle in our man defense now and then would make us harder to prepare for. As this coach says about us being bigger than some NBA teams, we can be. But Dan tends to avoid those lineups. It's an advantage I wish we'd exploit more often.

If we get Bouk back, and Jackson, I really think we will see a much improved team based on the way we've played without them. I know people don't expect much from Jackson, but a distributor with length can change this team.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
2,580
Reaction Score
7,042
If we get Bouk back, and Jackson, I really think we will see a much improved team based on the way we've played without them. I know people don't expect much from Jackson, but a distributor with length can change this team.

I hope you are correct. But how much can we expect from Jax with the limited minutes he got against the OOC? hope the injury TO was spent learning the offense
 

nelsonmuntz

Point Center
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
43,953
Reaction Score
32,129
One of my favorite articles each year in The Athletic. Seth Davis gets anonymous feedback from coaches on different teams.

Article: 'They’re gonna get up in your ass': Anonymous coaches on AAC, ACC, Big East and Big 12

UConn: “They’re very, very physical. R.J. Cole plays the point but he’s more of a scoring guard. He’s a streaky shooter. He has to figure out how to distribute. Adama Sanogo has a great presence on the block. You’ve gotta make shots to open up the floor and bring those bigger guys out. They’re bigger than some NBA teams, so you’re not gonna score in the paint on them. They’ve got Danny Hurley’s personality. Scoring is obviously harder without James Bouknight. Tyler Polley is helping out, but if he’s not hitting those 3s, where are they gonna go? Tyrese Martin is their best player now. He’s scoring inside and he offensive rebounds.”

Favorite line from the piece on Syracuse: "They’re like lunchtime YMCA players"

So the scouting report is that we are big and have good interior defenders. Why don't we play those big interior defenders more?
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
Messages
3,923
Reaction Score
7,775
It will be quite surprising if AJ can have a big impact on offense after all this time off especially being a freshman. Just hope he can fit in and do his best without trying to do too much. Be a helper as he does not have to lead yet.
 

HuskyHawk

The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
31,862
Reaction Score
81,493
So the scouting report is that we are big and have good interior defenders. Why don't we play those big interior defenders more?

I don’t care is he scores 4 points a game. The kid is disruptive. He’s impactful. He was when he played. Steals, fast breaks, he is somebody you have to account for. I think the leash was way too short.
 

Online statistics

Members online
223
Guests online
3,103
Total visitors
3,326

Forum statistics

Threads
155,802
Messages
4,032,093
Members
9,865
Latest member
Sad Tiger


Top Bottom