Huskies’ 1-2 punch?
Bouknight is the top dog, but who’ll be his wingman?
Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. Magic Johnson had James Worthy. Larry Bird had Kevin McHale.
More appropriately around these parts, Kemba Walker had Jeremy Lamb. Shabazz Napier had Ryan Boatright.
Star players often need a sidekick, a wingman, to win championships. James Bouknight, the ultra-talented sophomore guard, is poised to be UConn’s star player this season, the Huskies’ No. 1 guy.
And so, as UConn officially kicked off practices with a threehour marathon Friday afternoon, the question is: Who’s No. 2?
Could it be Andre Jackson, the dynamic 6-foot-6 wing who’s just a freshman? What about Tyler Polley, the 6-9 3-point sniper who just returned to live action after seasonending knee surgery in January?
How about Tyrese Martin, the 6-6 junior wing who averaged 12.8 points per game last season — at Rhode Island, in the Atlantic 10? R.J. Cole, a high-scoring point guard while at Howard? Jalen Gaffney, who averaged just 3.9 ppg last season as a freshman? Akok Akok, when (if) he’s ready to return from a season-ending Achilles injury?
Or maybe all of the above? Maybe the Huskies won’t have a clear No. 2 scorer, but instead a revolving door of scorers who can go off on any night. A wingman-by-committee, if you will.
Just ask Bouknight himself. “I don’t think it’s just gonna be like a 1-2 punch ,” said Bouknight, who averaged 13 ppg as a freshman. “I think this year, it’s gonna be a team thing. We have so much talent on this team, everyone’s fighting for a spot. Any given night, a different player can go off. It’s gonna be
fun.”
Coach Dan Hurley seems to agree.
“Obviously, James has a chance to be a dynamic player,” said Hurley, who enters his third season at the Huskies’ helm. “I think we’ve got a number of guys that could be double-figure scorers. We may have a team where we have four or five guys in doubles, and a couple of other guys maybe in that 7-9 point range. I think the strength of the team is gonna be that balance we have, where players 2 through 9 for us, we’re gonna almost feel like we have seven or eight starters.”
Indeed, Isaiah Whaley, the 6-9 senior forward, scored in double figures in five of the Huskies’ final six games last season after cracking the starting lineup. Senior Josh Carlton averaged 8.1 per game and was the AAC’s Most Improved Player as a sophomore before taking a step back last season. Adama Sanogo is a highly touted 6-10 frosh who’s bullish on the interior; Brendan Adams is a much better shooter than he’s showed his first two years at UConn, according to Hurley.
“Tyler’s a guy who, on any given night, (can) give you 15-plus,” Hurley noted. “I think Tyrese, R.J., Gaffney, Brendan, Josh, Isaiah ... did I miss anybody ...?
Actually, yes; Hurley forgot to mention Jackson, who may emerge as a freshman star just as Bouknight did a year ago. Maybe that further shows just how much depth and potential the Huskies have when it comes to finding that No. 2 scorer.
“You want somebody to emerge that way,” Hurley noted, “but I think you could be looking at a team that’s got tremendous balance. Obviously, we have an explosive guy like James, but I don’t think we’re gonna put anyone on the court that the other team isn’t gonna have to guard.”
RIM RATTLINGS
Hurley labeled Friday’s opening practice as “intense.”
Jackson agreed, though his first official collegiate practice wasn’t anything he didn’t expect.
“It was really intense,” Jackson said, “but we’ve been really working hard in our workouts before this, so it wasn’t a huge adjustment. A lot more defensive focus and definitely a lot of
energy. I think it went well. A lot of voices from the upperclassmen were expressed today. So, yeah, I think it went well, for sure.”
Akok, Adams (foot) and Martin (quad) didn’t practice. Hurley said Martin made a play off a deflection during a workout last week, took an awkward fall and strained his quad. The coach expects Martin to be back on the practice floor at some point next week.
Akok did some “non-live stuff, defensive non-live stuff on the side,” said Hurley, who hopes the 6-9 sophomore will be able to start doing live stuff in practice by December. He added that Adams will hopefully return soon.
Gaffney also recently returned to the floor after suffering a mild strain a little over a week ago.
There was one injury to report. New assistant coach Kevin Freeman dislocated his pinkie finger during a defensive warm-up drill early in practice. Freeman, a key member of UConn’s 1999 national title team, had his finger pulled back into place and remained at practice, though he will get an X-Ray.
“All the guys on that ‘99 team would have been proud of Kevin (on Friday),” Hurley quipped.
Hurley said UConn’s schedule will hopefully become a little more clear next week. But right now?
“It’s chaos,” the coach said “I have no idea what’s going on. I think we’ll have more of an idea of the starting date for the Big East opener soon. There’s some adjustments going that way, which is then creating some issues with what we have slated currently with the non-conference.
“With the non-confer
ence, there’s a fair amount of shuffling,” he added. “I don’t want to say hysteria, but ... just not a lot of certainty behind what’s gonna be played, which day, you hear a team might not be participating ... It’s pretty chaotic right now. We’re hopeful that next week, we’ll have some more concrete answers, with nonconference and conference.”
While the general consensus among preseason prognosticators has UConn finishing between third and fifth in the Big East, Hurley isn’t about to get overconfi
dent.
“People are gonna pick us relatively high in the new league, but we’re not going to be seduced into thinking that we’ve arrived. We’re in Year 3 of a rebuild. We’ve got to show up with an edge, because we’re still climbing the mountain. We’re hunting right now. We’re not gonna allow ourselves to become complacent. We’re still incredibly hungry. We’re not where we want to be.”