The Jackson screen

[Palatine]

Jackson affects the game in many small, often invisible, ways. He made a huge invisible play last night.

Trailing by four, Cole inbounded to Jackson, who dribbled to the right side and dribble handed off to Polley behind the arc. Polley's man is followiing but he runs into a complete road block set by Jackson. It's a thing of beauty. Polley gets space. You know the rest.

When watching Huskies, there are just so many valuable things Jackson does that do not end up in the box score. Just pointing one of them out.

 

[Dove]

Its hard to take my eyes off the kid. Never floats. Always doing something.

 

[Umami Zen]

That screen was like a Jake V screen ! Swallowed up the defender so that Polley could get some space. Critical part of the play

 

[Guapo]

Big Jackson fan

 

[husky429]

Jackson does basically everything well EXCEPT score. It's always a huge risk to play him with Whaley because of that... too many non-scorers on the court. They just both make up for it by being ridiculously talented defenders.

I think next year without someone as talented as Whaley defensively at the 4, we need to play our best scorer and shooter. That will maximize Jackson's playmaking abilities and hide his lack of offense.

 

[Phoenixhusky]

8 assists as well

 

[SubbaBub]

Most impressive was how well he stayed in front of Gillespie. Not 100% but well enough to contain him. Also wasn't forcing his shot except on that weird underhanded scoop from the foul line. I kept waiting for him to hoist an ill advised 3 at the wrong time, butnhe never did. All of the guys played within the offense really well the entire game.

Had a huge defensive rebound down the stretch as well. Thought the T was unwarranted if technically accurate.

 

[auror]

He's been pushing the ball after rebounds all year, but he was in another gear last night. Nova defenders were terrified, and he was able to find a couple guys on transition threes or under the basket as a result.

 

[husky429]

He's been pushing the ball after rebounds all year, but he was in another gear last night. Nova defenders were terrified, and he was able to find a couple guys on transition threes or under the basket as a result.

I really like the play where Polley runs to the left corner as Jackson pushes and RJ runs to the right wing... AJ hits ahead to RJ, who drives to his right hand... he either kicks it to Polley for the 3 or has enough space to get a left-hand layup. That play is SUPER effective for us, and only work if we can have AJ rebound and push FAST.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

The team is best when he's running the point and facilitating like he did yesterday. It allows Cole to play off-ball and really stretch the defense and allow him to work on getting open. If he can develop his scoring a bit more, he's going to be absolutely lethal. His defense was also phenomenal last night.

 

[Guapo]

Obviously the final play overshadows all else but Jackson (and Hawkins) were better on Gillespie than Cole most of the night

 

[tzznandrew]

The team is best when he's running the point and facilitating like he did yesterday. It allows Cole to play off-ball and really stretch the defense and allow him to work on getting open. If he can develop his scoring a bit more, he's going to be absolutely lethal. His defense was also phenomenal last night.

If Cole doesn't come back, you have to assume Jackson will be the full time PG next year. And he's going to be killer in that role, provided we have shooters.

 

[JMick]

Obviously the final play overshadows all else but Jackson (and Hawkins) were better on Gillespie than Cole most of the night

Hawkins is really coming along as a defender

 

[Umami Zen]

Obviously the final play overshadows all else but Jackson (and Hawkins) were better on Gillespie than Cole most of the night

Looked like Andre was on Gillespie in back court (on last play) but slipped/stumbled around mid-court as he pivoted to stay with him.. Cole then picked him up in front court and picked up the charge.

Was not at game but it looked like some of the time the guys were playing on ice skates due to condensation/moisture on(underneath) the floor. Glad no one got injured/twisted an ankle. Esp at the speed they play.

 

[CL82]

Jackson does basically everything well EXCEPT score. It's always a huge risk to play him with Whaley because of that... too many non-scorers on the court. They just both make up for it by being ridiculously talented defenders.

I think next year without someone as talented as Whaley defensively at the 4, we need to play our best scorer and shooter. That will maximize Jackson's playmaking abilities and hide his lack of offense.

I fully expect AJ the show the same dedication to his game that he showed over this past summer and I am hopeful that that will translate into some improvement in his offensive game.

We don’t need AJ to be RJ Cole. We just need him to be a serviceable offense of player who the opposing team needs to guard. I think he will get there.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I’ll play devil’s advocate here a little, while prefacing I love AJ’s game, I played a lot like him in my past, obviously minus the other worldy athleticism.

He needs to be stronger at the rim; For a guy who is able to jump over anyone, he avoids contact like the plague and settles for low percentage floaters way too much.

He also plays defense 35 ft from the hoop and often gets beat on the bounce, as most defenders would to be fair. But he doesn’t need to guard all the way out there so much. Getting beat leads to penetration and open 3’s too much.

As I said, I love his overall game, just a few concerns.

 

[elmcityboy]

my favorite player to watch on this team, even if his scoring ability (or lack thereof) can be maddening at times (e.g. on the two-on-one layup he bricked last night).

he set up a relatively similar dribble-handoff three at the end of the last villanova game that was called a moving screen. i thought it was a bs call at the time -- that play could have really swung things for us.

 

[elmcityboy]

also fun to watch the syracuse fans salivating over him:

Villanova vs. UCONN on Fox1

Good game going on. Whatever happened to Akok? He started early in the season, but he doesn’t play at all now. Jackson is a great athlete, defensive player and passer, but can’t shoot a lick. He would be amazing playing the wing on defense In the zone. I wonder if they are happy at UCONN?

syracusefan.com

he probably would either be riding the bench or starting for seton hall if he had gone with cuse over us.

 

[Umami Zen]

Pretty cool that they ran a play for him on first possession. Looks like that action is open in most games.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I’ll play devil’s advocate here a little, while prefacing I love AJ’s game, I played a lot like him in my past, obviously minus the other worldy athleticism.

He needs to be stronger at the rim; For a guy who is able to jump over anyone, he avoids contact like the plague and settles for low percentage floaters way too much.

He also plays defense 35 ft from the hoop and often gets beat on the bounce, as most defenders would to be fair. But he doesn’t need to guard all the way out there so much. Getting beat leads to penetration and open 3’s too much.

As I said, I love his overall game, just a few concerns.

I don't think that is playing devil's advocate. He has holes in his game on the offensive end (both shooting and getting to/finish at the rim). I don't think anyone including he or Hurley would give any pushback on that. If he cleans up those, he's an all-BE player.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The team is best when he's running the point and facilitating like he did yesterday. It allows Cole to play off-ball and really stretch the defense and allow him to work on getting open. If he can develop his scoring a bit more, he's going to be absolutely lethal. His defense was also phenomenal last night.

Main reason to me is Jackson is the one player who can penetrate and kick out to a wing player. He forces the wing defenders to stay with their man. That's why I think a lineup with Jackson, Cole, Hawkins, Polley or Martin and either Whaley or Sanogo is the best offensive lineup. Four out, one in. Martin and Jackson provide plenty of rebounding support for whichever big is in the lineup.

Cole looks for inside dumps or drop offs when he penetrates.

I really don't trust any other UConn player trying to make plays while moving with the ball.

 

[Mister P]

IMO, he has shown the biggest improvement from last year.
You can see the maturity more both physically and mentally along with him showing more swagger and passion.

It seems it’s more of a purpose this year for him and he will only be getting better.

 

[Chin Diesel]

So, was this the first game with the hair do he sported last night?

As a follickly challenged person I won't even try to guess or apply name tags to his different hair do's throughout the season but he was rocking some Josh Boone looking hair last night.

Good luck for rest of season??

 

[WNConn]

Hawkins is really coming along as a defender

What's been most interesting to me is that we've all noticed Hawkins progress a ton as a player throughout conference play in spite of the fact that his best skill (his shooting) has been a little off for the better part of the year

 

[CL82]

also fun to watch the syracuse fans salivating over him:

Villanova vs. UCONN on Fox1

Good game going on. Whatever happened to Akok? He started early in the season, but he doesn’t play at all now. Jackson is a great athlete, defensive player and passer, but can’t shoot a lick. He would be amazing playing the wing on defense In the zone. I wonder if they are happy at UCONN?

syracusefan.com

he probably would either be riding the bench or starting for seton hall if he had gone with cuse over us.

I read that thread. They just sound so sad over there. It’s as if all their pluck and grit is gone. Oh well, it’s a difficult time in Canada right now and I’m sure that weighs heavily upon them.