Power Rankings from The Athletic: UConn's push for #1 | The Boneyard

Power Rankings from The Athletic: UConn's push for #1

Mike Honcho

HU5KIES!
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
1,276
Reaction Score
7,451

It begins:

You could make an argument that Connecticut deserves to be No. 1 this week. After Wednesday night’s win at Florida, and the ease with which it was accomplished, we honestly gave the idea some serious thought. But then, just as we were about to file our final copy to our editors, we saw this:


And we thought, yeah, you know what? Maybe we’ll stick with the team that has that guy.


2. UConn (10-0)​

Congratulations to Connecticut center Adama Sanogo, who last weekend provided what is so far — and is very likely to remain — the hardest quote of the 2022-23 season.


“They thought they had a chance to win the game tonight,” Sanogo said, after UConn’s 74-64 win over Oklahoma State. “They did not.”

Colllld-bloooooded. Also not incorrect. The Cowboys kept it marginal for the first 10 minutes, but UConn blew it open before halftime — Jordan Hawkins finally exploded, finishing 5-of-9 from 3 — and despite the relatively modest final score the game was never really a game from there. What was even more impressive was that the same dynamic at play again Wednesday night at Florida. The Gators appear to be a very average team, and they’re 6-3 having topped no one notable, but there are good players there (in particular Colin Castleton), but the Huskies, playing in a true road environment, just totally cruised the duration. It wasn’t a knockout win against another potential No. 1 seed, but it was the kind of consummate, comprehensive performance you really only ever see from teams with a chance to win the national title — from a group that no one has come close to touching in any of their first 10 games of the season, including some very strong competition. Where Houston and Virginia have had the occasional off night, even against so-so teams, the Huskies have exclusively dominated whenever they’ve touched the floor.

UConn thinks it has a chance to win a whole lot more than just one game. Right now, it thinks it can win everything. It should.
 
Joined
Sep 20, 2014
Messages
1,542
Reaction Score
4,814
Let's rain 3's and that dude can get all the layups and dunks he wants
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Messages
731
Reaction Score
1,935
Freshman Clingan vs junior Edey in the National Championship. I think we match up extremely well with Purdue (We match up well against anyone tbh)
It’s Purdue (I don’t think we’d meet in title game) and I legit think we would beat them by 10+

They’re young and they struggled against Marquette and Florida State. Our defense would smother their young guards. Edey is legit but mostly so due to his massive size. If he gets slowed down/in foul trouble it would be a blow out
 
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Messages
16,029
Reaction Score
23,090
Freshman Clingan vs junior Edey in the National Championship. I think we match up extremely well with Purdue (We match up well against anyone tbh)
7’4” 295. Major mismatch for Sanogo. Throw our 2 bigs against him and try to get him in foul trouble. Calhoun had strategies against bigs that worked like against Shaq and LSU. In a year Clingan could add 20 lbs. solid muscle and hang in there.
 

HuskyHawk

The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
31,859
Reaction Score
81,475
Andy Katz early bracket is out
ADB89145-1D43-42B8-9554-86BBE57D19C0.jpeg
 

caw

Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
6,973
Reaction Score
12,239

It begins:

You could make an argument that Connecticut deserves to be No. 1 this week. After Wednesday night’s win at Florida, and the ease with which it was accomplished, we honestly gave the idea some serious thought. But then, just as we were about to file our final copy to our editors, we saw this:


And we thought, yeah, you know what? Maybe we’ll stick with the team that has that guy.


Obviously no clue how they would matchup one-on-one but the fun thing is on a per minute basis Clingan's stats matchup pretty well with Edey.
 
Joined
Aug 17, 2011
Messages
14,290
Reaction Score
78,497
Joined
Sep 26, 2019
Messages
549
Reaction Score
2,446
I was all pumped when I saw this bracket and then I saw that Katz put Butler in the field as his 5th big east team lol. Obviously it’s amazing to see the national recognition we’re getting but the dude is pretty clueless. Or, Katz somehow is forecasting butler to be the surprise 5th team to make the dance from our conference?
 
Joined
Sep 2, 2011
Messages
1,337
Reaction Score
14,440
7’4” 295. Major mismatch for Sanogo. Throw our 2 bigs against him and try to get him in foul trouble. Calhoun had strategies against bigs that worked like against Shaq and LSU. In a year Clingan could add 20 lbs. solid muscle and hang in there.
Keep in mind Sanogo faced Edey at Hoophall. Not a full game head to head, but significant play. They both are better now, but they were both pretty good then. I posted about Edey/Sanogo matchup in Jan 2020. Edey was unranked his senior year and Sanogo was #128 in Jr class before he moved up. Sort of a strong comment about posters not wanting to recruit lower ranked non top 100 players?

Adama Sanogo
The article posted by Hooperscooper lists Adama Sanogo as a top performer and that is just where I was going.
He is a 6'9 245lb 2021 widebody with game ranked #128. Contrast this report with what I wrote regarding Cliff. The Patrick School played IMG Academy with a starting front court of Mark Williams 7'1 #30 Duke commit, and Moussa Diabate at 6' 11 2021 ranked #13. They rotate in Lynn Kidd at 6'10 2021 ranked #121, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 6'10 class of 2022 #6, and Zach Edey a positively huge human being at 7'3 class of 2020 who is a decent ball player and unranked. Jonathan Kuminga 2021 #1 for Patrick did not play, but Adama did have to also compete on the boards with his own teammates including Bretner Mutombo 6'11 class 2021 ranked #152, and Samson Johnson 6'10 2021, as well as an Asian player Chris (Chung/Jung?) who was all of 6'10 and widebody but not listed in the program. Against this humanity Sanogo got 26 points, 12 RBs, 2 Blocks, AND 7 STEALS.!! His steals were all over the court and in transition. On 1 occassion he took the ball the length of the court with 1 man back, eurostepped to avoid the defender and put the ball in. He had the conditioning never to come out of the game. He scored shooting, dunking, and with post moves. Always against multiple big bigs. He took 2 3pt shots that were almost set shots and more comical than impressive, but he is a player. BUT, again, one guy isn't enough and they lost. Give me a guy like this as part of a 3 headed rotation in the frontcourt.


  • Like
Reactions:HHusky, ToolzieFan, imno1 and 17 others
 

HuskyHawk

The triumphant return of the Blues Brothers.
Joined
Sep 12, 2011
Messages
31,859
Reaction Score
81,475
Didn't they meet in 2016?
You’re right. They did. I must have erased that from my memory. Wrong team won. That KU team was loaded. Lost to Nova in the final.

This year I’ll settle for back to back NCs by my alma maters. Who’s in favor?
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2018
Messages
1,393
Reaction Score
5,580
Lord, for the safety and well being of everyone in the yard, and their families, please do not let this team lose a game. Amen
 

Online statistics

Members online
566
Guests online
3,686
Total visitors
4,252

Forum statistics

Threads
155,770
Messages
4,030,940
Members
9,863
Latest member
leepaul


Top Bottom