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Hawkins and Clingan, and Karaban keeping the the defense honest from three which opens up the inside game much more than last season.
What makes this year's team so much better than last year?
- Thread starter Conndog
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Huskyforlife
Akokbouk
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This guy would look at Giannis his rookie year and Giannis now and wonder why the Bucks won a championship.
wheelerdog
#OneForTheThumb
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This team has quality depth and much better shooting
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We had Polley, but had to devote the entire offense to setting him up to run off 7 screens to get him a contested look while moving.
Now we have shooters getting shots in the rhythm of the offense.
Waquoit
Mr. Positive
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Nah, and no one cheered harder for Polley than I did.
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i have wondered about this question myself, and appreciate you starting this thread, but i think your post is wrong! last year, it felt like hurley was reticent to play the small ball lineup with the three wings (hawkins, jackson, martin) plus cole and a big. we played a TON with whaley or polley at the four, and those guys were just limited.
i think you take the improved versions of hawkins, jackson, and sanogo, and surround them with shooter-playmakers at the other two positions and the team is so much more versatile and dangerous.
as others have pointed out, hurley can turn anyone into a good defender/rebounder. he needed skilled players to run his offense properly and was always missing a couple of pieces.
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also, i think if you added cole to this team and he played the newton role the team would CRUISE to a fifth chip.
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Cruise may be a bit hyperbolic, but do seriously wish Cole was the PG this year. Ready to ride with Newton, but I loved Cole and think his scoring ability and basketball IQ would boost this team even more. He definitely was a scorer his whole career though so some slight concern about him adjusting as more of a facilitator for arguably the first time in his career in this hypothetical. Though Newton was a primary scorer at ECU as well, coming in as a transfer naturally knocks down a player's own perception of how much he is the "guy" when it comes to driving the offense so the team may benefit versus having an incumbent PG like Cole would've been.
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haha, it was definitely hyperbole, but i stand by it.
the ceiling of the team might be capped if cole is the primary offensive option, but if we are running plays for sanogo post-ups and hawkins threes and then rj cole pick-and-roll is the second or third option when a play breaks down... we would be scoring 100 ppg.
i also miss having someone as surehanded as cole in the backcourt. i like newton and (to a lesser extent) diarra, but feel like both just give up the ball way too often.
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If you could make the assumption Cole would find his groove while not having an insane usage rate, woof would this team be crazy. But agreed number one difference would be ball security Cole's handle was just so good, but I think that is something that can and will improve this year
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Not 100% sold on Alleyne yet, but the benefit of this team is that we have the depth to allow him to work through whatever is going on without it being detrimental to the team.
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Really....Hawkins should be compared to Martin and Karaban to Whaley. While I love Martin, Hawkins is much more dynamic offensivelyl And sort of the same thing with Whaley/Karaban....but they are such different players it's really hard to compare. This team just seems to mesh much better and has a lot more answers than last year's squad. I also think Hurley and co. have done a MUCH better job coaching offense this year than last year.
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In fairness, you're going to look like a better offensive coach when you have a bunch of guys that can make shots and you're not constantly trying to squeeze blood from a stone with a 5-10 guard of average athleticism as your crunch time scorer.
August_West
Conscience do cost
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This. 1000x
It’s easy to see the offensive improvements of the returns + the transfers and frosh.
Our defense is stifling. Just next level.
Remember when KO used to count “ kills” ( 3 defensive stops in a row) I don’t have a number in front of me but I’d bet we are over 1/2 way to the last few seasons total numbers . We get stops. Consistently. AJ rebounds stops and pushes hard. Opens everything up. And now we have some guys who can spot up and shoot on secondary break.
I almost stated this earlier too; if I had to choose one and only one change to account for the difference, it would be the addition of Clingan to the roster.
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RichZ
Fort the ead!
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Sanogo has undergone a physical transformation of sorts since last year. I have no idea what his BMI is, but there's less fat and more finely tuned muscles involved. The difference in speed and reaction time is more than noticeable. He still sweats more than any other human, but now he doesn't look winded. Ever.
It shows the most on the High Hedge. Last year, he got 'stuck' outside when the ball went inside, way too often. This year, his speed and especially reflexes (and perhaps a better comprehension of what the hedge is supposed to accomplish and how it works) have improved dramatically.
Now if we could just get him to kick the ball back out more than once in a blue moon when he's double/triple teamed in the post, we'd be dang well unstoppable.
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100% Different Leadership. Nothing against Cole or Martin but their answer for everything was isolation plays. This team wins as a team. It doesn't depend on one player to be the hero every night. Andre is a natural leader. He brings people together. Last years team was all good guys but the leaders on that team were not vocal and had a hard time raising their team mates up. This team follows Andre's and Adama's work ethic and trust one another. It's beautiful basketball that can beat you in a million ways.
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Counterpoint: they're not blowing people out because of different leadership. They're blowing people out because they have different players.
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Ern--I hear your noise
PG position: Newton is better defender for Hurley's schemes. RJ tried but he was short and switches caused poor mismatches. Offensively I think Newton might fit better also (post entry passes), though RJ was pretty darn good.
SG position: Martin could shoot but he did not have that hair trigger Hawkins has, which causes opposing defenses to have to play up on him and chase him around screens. Martin was more of a set shooter, an opportunistic three-point shooter. Basically Hawkins draws much more attention even if Martin could get the same amount of points.
SF position: Jackson is just better this year.
PF position: Whaley was a better defender and while he could shoot a bit and pass a bit, Karaban is a more natural shooter and passer who plays solid defense. Again it keeps his defender honest when he's stepping beyond the arc. Whaley was almost dared to shoot (like Adama this year).
C position: Sanogo is better this year.
Bench: Last year it was Hawkins, Gaffney, Akok and Polley. While I do believe UConn would have gone further in the NCAAT last year with a healthy Hawkins, really none of those four are as good as Clingan, Alleyne, or Diarra defensively and right now Clingan and Calcaterra bring much more offensively.
SG position: Martin could shoot but he did not have that hair trigger Hawkins has, which causes opposing defenses to have to play up on him and chase him around screens. Martin was more of a set shooter, an opportunistic three-point shooter. Basically Hawkins draws much more attention even if Martin could get the same amount of points.
SF position: Jackson is just better this year.
PF position: Whaley was a better defender and while he could shoot a bit and pass a bit, Karaban is a more natural shooter and passer who plays solid defense. Again it keeps his defender honest when he's stepping beyond the arc. Whaley was almost dared to shoot (like Adama this year).
C position: Sanogo is better this year.
Bench: Last year it was Hawkins, Gaffney, Akok and Polley. While I do believe UConn would have gone further in the NCAAT last year with a healthy Hawkins, really none of those four are as good as Clingan, Alleyne, or Diarra defensively and right now Clingan and Calcaterra bring much more offensively.
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This was not the lineup last year. Martin at the 4? What?
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Hawkins Andre and Sonogo are not no difference. They all got better
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