Tracking A Transfer: Ugonna Onyenso
How the twice Wildcat’s rim pressure fits as a Cavalier:
Great write up Cuts!
As someone who basically only watched him while he was at Kentucky, I am pretty excited for Ugo. I feel like (maybe just hope?) the staff chose him for the things he excels at and is going to put him in a position to succeed and focus on the things he does at a high level instead of expecting him to be something he’s not.
I am also stoked to have 2 competent centers. Too often in the Tony era, either due to his stubbornness playing certain guys or roster construction, it felt like a few fouls on our center meant that we were all of the sudden playing a completely different style then we planned. Having two guys you’re not worried about having out there if one gets into foul trouble is huge imo.
I just love the modern way they seem to have built this team. Multiple sweet-shooting guards that can all handle the ball a little, and big men who can protect the rim. Both allow the other to focus on their strengths instead of their weaknesses. I am still a little concerned about perimeter defense (fingers crossed one of Jacari or Elijah is up for being a really solid defender), but having a guy like Ugo really helps mitigate issues on the perimeter when he’s in the game.
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Not to mention having three bigs in Tillis, Grünloh, and De Ridder who can all pick and pop
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Thanks! I agree - there’s a lot of flexibility within this roster and, to my excitement, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have to sacrifice clearly in any one area to tap into it. For example, Grünloh gives you that stretch 5, but still gives you good rim protection, where Onyenso is there when you need MORE rim protection but also complements the guys we’ll be playing 1-4 very well within the context of Odom’s system.
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Just read the “because of the implication!” Easter egg. Bravo Cuts!
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I’m glad you caught that - I do enjoy writing in some Easter eggs.
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Just finished it. Great work, as always. I feel like I understand his game much better after reading / watching.
I do think it remains interesting that he seemingly regressed a bit from Kentucky to KSU. I think it’s fair to blame a lot of that on poor roster construction and poor lineup choices by Tang. And I also think Tang not playing in transition as much as Kentucky, wasted one of Ugo’s strengths. But blaming Tang and/or the situation doesn’t explain all of it. And now I’ll reference the key part of your takeaways:
But, the most exciting aspect of bringing him onto the team, in my opinion, is that there are so many areas in his game; like his offensive post moves, his ability to understand and read the game on both ends, his ability to play to his specific matchup on defense, even his shooting, where he has room to make great strides. He still reads very raw as a player despite having played three collegiate seasons.
That’s a very positive / optimistic way to say that he reads/processes the game poorly for a guy who has played 3 years of high major hoops. I think that there’s always hope that something clicks, and I think he definitely reads as a highly useful piece that the right coach can use for a great outcome. But the commonality of some of the issues was a bit glaring.
But on the positive side, the offense is better than I thought, and maybe he has developed a shot. He’s the prototypical big center athletically. He can run the floor. He will be a great rim protector. And you never know when the metaphorical light will go on, in terms of being able to read the game better.
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Just Malik Thomas left after this? And anything you decide to do on the internationals…
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Totally fair to say that there were times (many of which I showed in my piece) where he had the ability to influence a better outcome but didn’t because of his positioning or his alertness.
I’ll say this, though, the best reason I could find that he “regressed” from Kentucky to KSU (he did bulk up about 15lbs from his HS weight which seemed to help him physically impose on more bigs but he may have been a step slower) was that he seemed less sure of himself. To be clear, I think he’s the kind of player who is better served the more you simplify his responsibility - and that’s fully on him - but I do think there’s a lot of opportunity for better coaching to make strides there.
For example, clearly someone had put a bug in his ear that Houston was a great offensive rebounding team and he needed to get depth on those ball screens. He got way too much depth. That’s on him, certainly, because he didn’t have the hoops knowledge or intuition to try it up, but he was also pretty clearly doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing and there was never any adjustment. It was clear because, in other games, he’d step up and block or deflect jumpers sometimes. There were some really good looks in there of him actually being a nightmare 2-on-1 in closer to the basket because he could just bother both players.
Also - jump to 5:35 of this game, as an example at Kentucky https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od7YDT1ioXo - he seems to clearly know what’s being asked of him here on defense and what to do. He plays drop coverage off of a ball screen at good depth, leaves his man to step up and block a Dalton Knecht jumper, and then recovers to block/at least completely disrupt (I haven’t looked to see if he got credit) on the Knecht layup attempt. He’s just one year prior from KSU, he’s clearly much more comfortable with his defensive role and is diagnosing the play and where he needs to be.
So, I call out coaching not to remove ownership from Onyenso or suggest it won’t continue to be something that can be a work in progress, at times, but also because I think good coaching for him will be very helpful. Is Odom and his staff more likely to catch something like how extremely he was dropping against Houston and correct it in-game? Is Odom more likely to actually mix and match Onyenso’s cover so that he’s coming in against the Hunter Dickinson’s of the world and Grünloh is coming in against the Flory Bidunga’s of the world?
I’d suggest it’s very likely; because of how Odom’s Centers have played defensively in the past, what he’s shown in his attention to detail, and how one of his great strengths as a coach, from what I’ve seen, is how he tailors his systems to his personnel. I do think Ugo can be put into a position where he’s playing more freely, understands his defensive responsibilities and I think there’s a good chance that will happen here one way or another because Odom is attentive to detail and he doesn’t have the option to just decide he’s going to play N’Guessan and Hawkins and not worry about having to actually coach Onyenso.
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Yep! The Malik Thomas piece is frustrating because I really want to do the NIT games but can only find the highlights. I did get an incredibly low quality bootlegged version of one of the late Gonzaga games, and then also have full games against Oregon St. Washington St. and Loyola Marymount.
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I’m on Team Cuts here:
“Onyenso has the kind of potential that doesn’t know much of a ceiling.”
The ridiculous drop in his playing time at KS, along with clear coaching deficiencies make for a pretty solid rationale for a regression, or at least a lack of progression, in certain areas of his game. But given Odom’s scheme and the surrounding cast here, I am expecting a big jump for him.
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If you haven’t watched much of his Kentucky tape, that game I linked above against Tennessee is a good one on the #15 team in the country vs. the #4 in the second to last game of the regular season. No points in 29 minutes - but 6 boards, 4 blocks and a steal and a generally disruptive presence defensively all game. You want that defender on your team - and I have a hard time believing that’s not still in him.
Or, if you don’t want to watch the whole game, you can just jump to 54:45 and watch him swat Zeigler and Aidoo on back-to-back possessions.
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Thanks and will definitely check it out!
And agree with you and @CaptainThurman15 that it will come down to good coaching, both for development and for putting him in the right spots to succeed.
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fwiw, didn’t mean to imply you specifically haven’t watched much of his Kentucky tape - that was more of a general “if one hasn’t seen”
Also - broader thought as I’m looking at this Thomas stuff - if anyone wants to go full Draftmatic and record like all of the games in college basketball next year, so that you can hook me up once we figure out who our transfers are, I’d much appreciate it 
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Also a good reminder that Coach Cal is a very good defensive coach, for all his struggles to adapt on the offensive end recently.
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