Sanogo voted Big East preseason player of the year
Oct. 18—NEW YORK — Adama Sanogo couldn't have asked for a better start to his junior season with the UConn men's basketball team.
The 6-foot-9 Sanogo was named the 2022 Big East conference preseason Player of the Year as voted by the conference's coaches, it was announced at Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden today.
The Huskies were picked fourth in the preseason conference coaches poll, which was also released today.
As a sophomore last year, Sanogo was an honorable mention on the Big East preseason all-conference team. He had a breakout season with the Huskies, averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds in 29 games.
His rebounding average led the team while his scoring was second behind R.J. Cole. Sanogo is the only one of the Huskies' top-five scorers from last year still on the team.
For his efforts, Sanogo was named to the 2022 all-Big East first team and was a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award that honors the nation's top center.
Sanogo was the only Husky honored in today's awards.
Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton), Jared Bynum (Providence), Posh Alexander (St. John's), Colby Jones (Xavier) and Jack Nunge (Xavier) made up the preseason all-conference first team. Villanova's Cam Whitmore was the preseason Freshman of the Year.
Creighton (98 points) was picked to win the league by the coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own teams. The Bluejays received eight first-place votes. Xavier was second with 86 points and two first-place votes while reigning Big East tournament champion Villanova was third with 85 points and one first-place vote. Reigning regular-season champ Providence rounded out the top-five.
UConn opens its season against Stonehill Nov. 7 at the XL Center in Hartford. The Huskies begin Big East play Dec. 17 when it travels to Butler.
The 2023 Big East tournament is March 8-11 at Madison Square Garden.
Huskies get AP votes
UConn was second with 101 points in the "others receiving votes" section of the Associated Press' preseason top 25 poll, which was released Monday afternoon.
The Huskies' position in the poll essentially means they are the 27th-ranked team. They trailed only Texas A&M (112 points) in the "others receiving votes" section.
UConn was also 21 points shy of No. 25 Texas Tech (122).
North Carolina was in the top spot in the poll with 1,532 points. The Tar Heels received 47 of the 62 first-place votes.
Gonzaga, who was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll the past two seasons, was second with 1,479 points and 12 first-place votes. Houston was third, Kentucky fourth and reigning national champion Kansas and fellow Big 12 foe Baylor were tied for fifth.
Creighton was one of two Big East schools in the Top 25. The Bluejays were ninth (1,060 points) while Villanova was 16th. Xavier (29 points) also received votes
Bouknight arrested
Former UConn and current Charlotte Hornets guard James Bouknight was arrested and charged with driving while impaired over the weekend.
Per WSOCTV.com, the 22-year-old Bouknight was "booked into custody by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police early Sunday morning." The website also reported that his bond was set at $2,500.
The Hornets issued a statement on Twitter Monday, saying: "We are aware of the incident involving James Bouknight and are in the process of gathering additional information. We will have no further comment at this time."
It's not the first time that Bouknight has faced legal trouble.
During his freshman season at UConn in 2019, Bouknight was charged with evading responsibility, interfering with a police officer, traveling too fast for conditions and operation of a motor vehicle without a license following a traffic accident just off of campus.
He was granted probation for the incident.
Per Nick Carboni, the sports director of WCNC Charlotte, Bouknight practiced with Hornets Monday.
Bouknight spent two seasons with Huskies before being drafted by the Hornets 11th-overall in the 2021 NBA Draft.
During his rookie season, Bouknight played in 31 games, averaging 4.6 points in 9.8 minutes per game.
He missed the 2022 NBA Summer League season following surgery to fix an injured tendon in his right pinky finger.
Young named award finalist
The Rising Coaches Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Alliance has named UConn associate head coach Kimani Young as a finalist for its third annual "Next Up" Head Coaches Training Initiative, the school announced Monday.
He was one of 12 coaches selected to participate in the initiative, which will be held in late October.
Young was nominated by Coaches For Action, an organization he helped found, which is one of the 12 member organizations that make up the DEI Alliance.
Coaches for Action consists of 21 Big East assistant basketball coaches. Their mission is bring awareness to social injustices via athletics.
Young is entering his fifth season with the Huskies and under coach Dan Hurley. He joined the staff in April 2018 and became associate head coach in September 2020. He was previously featured as one of 25 up and coming assistant coaches by The Athletic, and was one of 50 assistants invited to Nike's Villa 7 consortium, which introduces assistant coaches to sitting athletic directors, in 2015.
Four alumni of the Next Up Initiative have moved on to head coaching jobs: Ben Johnson (Minnesota), Ganiyat Adeduntan (Colgate), Surina Dixon (Lane College), and Jason Hart (NBA G League Ignite).
For coverage of UConn football and men's basketball as well as area high school and local youth sports, follow Adam Betz on Twitter: @AdBetz1, Facebook: Adam Betz — Sports Writer, and Instagram: @AdBetzJI.
