Zags: Johnson & Floyd Jr. just ‘scratching the surface’ of their talents

[Hey Adrien!]

UConn recruits Johnson, Floyd Jr. just 'scratching the surface' of their talents | Zagsblog

By ADAM ZAGORIA When Roselle Catholic and […]

www.zagsblog.com

My personal favorite part of the article: Johnson guarded Floyd? Just thinking about that makes me marvel about his defensive versatility.

 

[husky429]

UConn recruits Johnson, Floyd Jr. just 'scratching the surface' of their talents | Zagsblog

By ADAM ZAGORIA When Roselle Catholic and […]

www.zagsblog.com

My personal favorite part of the article: Johnson guarded Floyd? Just thinking about that makes me marvel about his defensive versatility.

If he gets up to the 230lbs or so when Coach Mike gets ahold of him, I don't doubt that he could guard 90% of the conference 1v1. His lateral speed is ridiculous for 6'11. And of course his arms are a million feet long too

 

[Umami Zen]

If he gets up to the 230lbs or so when Coach Mike gets ahold of him, I don't doubt that he could guard 90% of the conference 1v1. His lateral speed is ridiculous for 6'11. And of course his arms are a million feet long too

Has great agility and foot speed for someone his size. Exciting part is he's still learning the game as a relative newcomer to it.

A bonus that he already has experience playing with AS in HS.

 

[HuskyBoi]

Johnson is going to be a star here with that length and touch

 

[UconnU]

If he gets up to the 230lbs or so when Coach Mike gets ahold of him, I don't doubt that he could guard 90% of the conference 1v1. His lateral speed is ridiculous for 6'11. And of course his arms are a million feet long too

Imo we should ditch most of the perimeter stuff and use him at center. Put another 20 pounds on him and use him how Mobley is used + the Whaley hard hedge.

 

[husky429]

Imo we should ditch most of the perimeter stuff and use him at center. Put another 20 pounds on him and use him how Mobley is used + the Whaley hard hedge.

It kind of depends on how many minutes he's earned IMO. With how talented Sanogo is, the most minutes he's probably going to be averaging is 15 next year if he's only playing the 5. If he's defending like a 25+ minute guy, we're going to need to go big more.

I'm not really against that, despite being really big on spacing and going small compared to most. Considering next year is likely to be a semi-rebuilding year for us, I think it's fair to say that if he can shoot 30% or better from 3, we should give him some attempts to practice stretching the floor. Going with two bigs if one can shoot maximizes our rebounding/putback and size advantages, while also giving us a humongous front line to stop everything at the rim on D.

And with Johnson/Akok our perimeter D is probably better than it is now at the 4 when Polley is there. Those two change the whole dynamic of our team defensively with their versatility.

A lineup of say... Gaff/Hawkins/Jackson/Healthy Akok/Johnson would probably be our fastest and most athletic lineup since the Calhoun days. I could get on board with that.

 

[Kemba'sYogurt]

It kind of depends on how many minutes he's earned IMO. With how talented Sanogo is, the most minutes he's probably going to be averaging is 15 next year if he's only playing the 5. If he's defending like a 25+ minute guy, we're going to need to go big more.

I'm not really against that, despite being really big on spacing and going small compared to most. Considering next year is likely to be a semi-rebuilding year for us, I think it's fair to say that if he can shoot 30% or better from 3, we should give him some attempts to practice stretching the floor. Going with two bigs if one can shoot maximizes our rebounding/putback and size advantages, while also giving us a humongous front line to stop everything at the rim on D.

And with Johnson/Akok our perimeter D is probably better than it is now at the 4 when Polley is there. Those two change the whole dynamic of our team defensively with their versatility.

A lineup of say... Gaff/Hawkins/Jackson/Healthy Akok/Johnson would probably be our fastest and most athletic lineup since the Calhoun days. I could get on board with that.

Just curious, ideally what pieces would you like to see the Staff add to make next year not be a semi-rebuilding year?

 

[superjohn]

It kind of depends on how many minutes he's earned IMO. With how talented Sanogo is, the most minutes he's probably going to be averaging is 15 next year if he's only playing the 5. If he's defending like a 25+ minute guy, we're going to need to go big more.

I'm not really against that, despite being really big on spacing and going small compared to most. Considering next year is likely to be a semi-rebuilding year for us, I think it's fair to say that if he can shoot 30% or better from 3, we should give him some attempts to practice stretching the floor. Going with two bigs if one can shoot maximizes our rebounding/putback and size advantages, while also giving us a humongous front line to stop everything at the rim on D.

And with Johnson/Akok our perimeter D is probably better than it is now at the 4 when Polley is there. Those two change the whole dynamic of our team defensively with their versatility.

A lineup of say... Gaff/Hawkins/Jackson/Healthy Akok/Johnson would probably be our fastest and most athletic lineup since the Calhoun days. I could get on board with that.

Not a rebuilding year.

 

[UconnU]

It kind of depends on how many minutes he's earned IMO. With how talented Sanogo is, the most minutes he's probably going to be averaging is 15 next year if he's only playing the 5. If he's defending like a 25+ minute guy, we're going to need to go big more.

I'm not really against that, despite being really big on spacing and going small compared to most. Considering next year is likely to be a semi-rebuilding year for us, I think it's fair to say that if he can shoot 30% or better from 3, we should give him some attempts to practice stretching the floor. Going with two bigs if one can shoot maximizes our rebounding/putback and size advantages, while also giving us a humongous front line to stop everything at the rim on D.

And with Johnson/Akok our perimeter D is probably better than it is now at the 4 when Polley is there. Those two change the whole dynamic of our team defensively with their versatility.

A lineup of say... Gaff/Hawkins/Jackson/Healthy Akok/Johnson would probably be our fastest and most athletic lineup since the Calhoun days. I could get on board with that.

Fwiw I thought St Ps looked a little clogged with Adama and Johnson. I think staff knows he’s probably a center he would be the only other center on next years roster and I don’t foresee us adding another. A 15c/7pf spread or something like that is likely for him. I think all 3 frosh play major minutes next year.

 

[Umami Zen]

Not a rebuilding year.

Dan Hurley says its year 4 in the rebuild next year

 

[SeattleHoop]

Just curious, ideally what pieces would you like to see the Staff add to make next year not be a semi-rebuilding year?

You didn’t ask me but I’ll answer because I’m bored and i seem to think my opinion is important even though nobody really cares.

If we have 2 open schollys I think we need another 3 point specialist after losing Polley. I know Hawkins can shoot but I still think we need more.
Then another 2 or 3 guard that is known for being a good slasher/ breaking his man down off the dribble and getting into the paint. This will help make up for losing Bouks 1 on 1 break-down ability.

We can’t replace him but we can disperse the load and others like Sanogo, Jackson and Martin can step up.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I’d temper expectations on Samson’s outside ability. I think Akok is a valid comparison, we thought he would be an average to above average shooter and as of yet it hasn’t been the case. I don’t know Samson’s game fully but the transition of shooting bigs seems to be one of the toughest from HS to the College game.

 

[husky429]

Not a rebuilding year.

Eh we're losing the best player in the Big East without any proven answer to replace him right now. I assume we'll address the concerns in the off season but no matter how you slice it, I consider that a "rebuild." Kind of depends how you want to define rebuild I suppose

I'll be disappointed if we're not a top 3-4 team in the NBE and make the round of 32 at minimum.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Eh we're losing the best player in the Big East without any proven answer to replace him right now. I assume we'll address the concerns in the off season but no matter how you slice it, I consider that a "rebuild." Kind of depends how you want to define rebuild I suppose

I'll be disappointed if we're not a top 3-4 team in the NBE and make the round of 32 at minimum.

That scenario could be an improvement on this season

 

[CTBasketball]

Eh we're losing the best player in the Big East without any proven answer to replace him right now. I assume we'll address the concerns in the off season but no matter how you slice it, I consider that a "rebuild." Kind of depends how you want to define rebuild I suppose

I'll be disappointed if we're not a top 3-4 team in the NBE and make the round of 32 at minimum.

As much as I like our players to find success in the NBA this highlights a real issue. Unless we find an absolute stud freshman, they’ll likely leave a huge gap after they leave.

Our four year recruits and seniors need to step it up to cover us when a Bouknight-type player leaves. They haven’t this year. In a perfect world, Bouknight will stay to work on his game but that’s not the reality of it.

 

[navery12]

Just curious, ideally what pieces would you like to see the Staff add to make next year not be a semi-rebuilding year?

There's obviously some overlap between the 3 groups but for my ideal roster construction I think we need another wing and big, I'd say preferably a 2/3 and then a 4/5. Preferably both guys who can score and stretch the floor at least a little bit for the big (like Bramah even if it's not him specifically).

Guards: Cole, Gaffney, Adams, Diggins, Hawkins
Wings: Jackson, Martin
Bigs: Johnson, Akok, Springs, Sanogo

 

[Slick]

There's obviously some overlap between the 3 groups but for my ideal roster construction I think we need another wing and big, I'd say preferably a 2/3 and then a 4/5. Preferably both guys who can score and stretch the floor at least a little bit for the big (like Bramah even if it's not him specifically).

Guards: Cole, Gaffney, Adams, Diggins, Hawkins
Wings: Jackson, Martin
Bigs: Johnson, Akok, Springs, Sanogo

I think some of these guys don’t come back

 

[navery12]

I think some of these guys don’t come back

You may be right but until that happens I don't really want to speculate on that

 

[UconnU]

We’re losing half our rotation and the face of our program. Anyway you slice it it’s not ideal. With that said we’ll have a lot of talent and some really nice freshman. St John’s lost like 4 starters and they’re competing and we’ll have significantly more talent than they have this year. If I had to guess we’ll be a middle of the pack type team and make a move in 2022-23.

 

[superjohn]

Eh we're losing the best player in the Big East without any proven answer to replace him right now. I assume we'll address the concerns in the off season but no matter how you slice it, I consider that a "rebuild." Kind of depends how you want to define rebuild I suppose

I'll be disappointed if we're not a top 3-4 team in the NBE and make the round of 32 at minimum.

We haven't had the best player in the Big East for the heart of the season, our stud athletic freak freshman missed preseason and a lot of the season hindering his development, our stud shot blocking pf will have a whole offseason fully healthy to be inserted into the starting lineup to pair with our sophomore stud big man. Add in the improvements people will make, all the Ollie players gone, and some stud freshman coming in and they should be a very good team.

 

[superjohn]

We’re losing half our rotation and the face of our program. Anyway you slice it it’s not ideal. With that said we’ll have a lot of talent and some really nice freshman. St John’s lost like 4 starters and they’re competing and we’ll have significantly more talent than they have this year. If I had to guess we’ll be a middle of the pack type team and make a move in 2022.

Addition by subtraction outside of Bouknight.

 

[Umami Zen]

It kind of depends on how many minutes he's earned IMO. With how talented Sanogo is, the most minutes he's probably going to be averaging is 15 next year if he's only playing the 5. If he's defending like a 25+ minute guy, we're going to need to go big more.

I'm not really against that, despite being really big on spacing and going small compared to most. Considering next year is likely to be a semi-rebuilding year for us, I think it's fair to say that if he can shoot 30% or better from 3, we should give him some attempts to practice stretching the floor. Going with two bigs if one can shoot maximizes our rebounding/putback and size advantages, while also giving us a humongous front line to stop everything at the rim on D.

And with Johnson/Akok our perimeter D is probably better than it is now at the 4 when Polley is there. Those two change the whole dynamic of our team defensively with their versatility.

A lineup of say... Gaff/Hawkins/Jackson/Healthy Akok/Johnson would probably be our fastest and most athletic lineup since the Calhoun days. I could get on board with that.

Martin coming off the bench??