Dear Old U.Va.

Wahoo in review - Assane Sene

Thursday, May 14 2009 by Ben

Each week we'll be taking a look at one player on the Virginia basketball roster: how they did, where they were good, and where they were bad.  Today's featured player is... Assane Sene.

Clark: "My cousin-in-law, who's heart is bigger than his brain..."

Cousin Eddie: "Aw, Clark, I appreciate that."

- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

When thinking about Assane Sene's 2009 season, this quote came to mind.  It's not a comment on Sene's intellect - though it is on cousin Eddie's - it's more a reflection on his defensive game. 

Hear me out on this.

During defensive possessions, Sene displays all the energy and emotion of a kid at Christmas (ha HA!).  He's everywhere, at once.  He moves his feet and rotates well.  His help defense was the best on the team.

He helped turn Virginia's glaring weakness from the season prior, interior defense, into... well, still nothing great, but better.  Like I've said before, his energy was infectious for the whole team and, when he was injured, the defense took a half-step back. It would've been a full step save for the return of Tunji Soroye.  

In short, Sene was the defensive heart of the team.

However, as he matures, Sene's energy needs to be more focused.  He often picked up fouls too far away from the basket or bad over the back calls when was clearly boxed out.  These silly fouls often drew Leitao's ire; not that it really took that much to bring it out.  Add those fouls to the ones Sene picks up blocking shots (warranted fouls, in my opinion) and Sene spends a bulk of his time on the bench in foul trouble.

For the season, Sene averaged 6.4 fouls per 40 minutes.  Amazingly, that's enough fouls to get you disqualified from a regulation, 48-minute basketball NBA game.  Sene fouled an opponent every 6.25 minutes he was on the court.  That's... awful.

The best thing is, Sene will mature.  He will get smarter on the court.  He will figure it out.  Sene turns 20 in June.  The wisdom of another year will be an excellent tonic for the foul trouble.

If he can figure it out, Sene may prove to be a tremendous weapon in Bennett's defensive scheme.  A shot blocker with the length and agility of Sene covers for many mistakes made on defending dribble penetration.  Mistakes that a young-ish team will still make, though hopefully less so this year.

Offensively, Sene didn't contribute much and probably won't in the coming year.  That's ok, good footwork and balance in the post takes time to develop.  In the future, if he can develop one single offensive move, a running hook, let's say, he could really help the team out. 

Though, he likely won't have to in order to get minutes this year as he has, as they say, "a motor" on defense.

Past Wahoos in Review

Calvin Baker

Solomon Tat

Jamil Tucker

Jeff Jones

Sylven Landesberg