At 7'0, junior center Assane Sene is the biggest guy we've had in quite some time. When he put up three dunks in Saturday's losing effort against Wake Forest, fans and media took notice. The question is, at seven feet and 239 pounds, why doesn't this happen more often?
On Saturday, Sene's three dunks looked downright easy.
"If you or I could jump high enough, we could have dunked [those three]," head coach Tony Bennett said on Monday. "Some of the opportunities that he had, whether it was off an out of bounds play or an offensive rebound, ... he really was hamming the front of the basket."
Despite this, however, Sene is generally uncomfortable going up strong on the basket for the dunk, having missed several earlier this season and previously.
"I think he dunked the right ones, but he's not one of those guys who are so vertical. He more dunks it with his lengths. If he gets bumped with his longer levers, he's not as comfortable going up."
Bennett said that if he's already set directly underneath the basket, Sene can get the easy two. However, if forced to make a quick decision, or if he a little further out, Sene's confidence quickly drops.
"It's when you bend down and wind up or wait a little bit where everybody either gets the chance to knock you or they get to your ball, and that's what we're certainly working on."
Bennett also mentioned that they are working with Sene more on rebounding and, more importantly in the eyes of fans, not dropping the ball as much. "The typical stuff," Bennett said.