Current Talent and Incoming Talent

[GuardU]

To be clear, I'm neither pro Hurley or Ollie, I just think this fan base deserves a respectable product that doesn't tarnish it's reputation, of what's left that is. Occasional NCAA tournament misses can be dealt with, but it would appear we're further away from MAKING an NCAA tournament again than we care to admit as a fan base.

Obviously Hurley deserves a couple years beyond this year to prove he can assemble a respectable UConn team, but I don't think it's next year like a lot of you think.

For starters, what was the purpose of wasting a 4 yr scholarship on B Adams? I get that he's a freshman, but if the consensus is that we need to infuse the roster with "UConn level talent" I don't think B Adams was a good way to kick off the Hurley regime. What does he do well?

Bouknight, Gaffney, and Akok are obviously a great start to rebuilding this program, but not one of these guys is physically ready to play in a high-level D1 game. All 3 essentially have the build of Sid, which will continue the trend of rolling out boys vs. men. The nice thing is all 3 can shoot, which will add a missing dimension next year, but I'm anticipating similar rebounding struggles that will carry into next year, until we gain commitmentS for big men in next year's class.

Strength and shooting need to be the priority in our talent evaluations moving forward. Both of which should be pretty easy to identify.

 

[Stainmaster]

Adams will be fine long-term. If you wanted instant-impact freshmen from Day 1, you're spoiled.

 

[tcf15]

For starters, what was the purpose of wasting a 4 yr scholarship on B Adams? I get that he's a freshman, but if the consensus is that we need to infuse the roster with "UConn level talent" I don't think B Adams was a good way to kick off the Hurley regime. What does he do well?

Probably does all the stuff off the court that Hurley wants all of his players to do.

Also, it's quite the stretch to say the fifth guard on this team who was ranked outside the top 150 and is only 14 games into his career is a waste of a scholarship. lol c'mon man #trusttheprocess

 

[tykurez]

Dumpster fire

There’s not going to be a magic pill that gets us out of it either. We’re stuck in a mid-tier conference and slowly(?) sliding into irrelevancy. The Hurley hire gave us a nice little boost but it’s going to be a slog getting this program back where we all think it belongs.

Bouknight and Gaffney look like good players, but we can’t expect some freshman to come in next year and suddenly turn this ship in the right direction. And who knows if Akok ever even plays a game for us.

Alterique, Polley, etc. all need to make some strides to close out the year and we gotta hope we land a serious big man.

 

[GuardU]

I agree that it's unrealistic to expect impact freshman each year. However, when Hurley evaluated the make-up of the roster he was inheriting, and the end-goal was to retain those that wanted to stay, but ultimately upgrade the talent in upcoming classes, why would you tie up a 4 yrs scholarship for a guard that might be able to contribute as a bench player on the back half of his career, especially when the strength of this year's team was considered to be our guards? Doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[HuskyFich]

None of our current players outside of Jalen would be playing meaningful minutes on a true UConn team. Rique would get the freshman Kemba treatment and that’s it...

we don’t have 2 first round picks in the starting lineup and our Upperclassman aren’t even challenging the young guys for minutes based on performance.

So what the hell do you expect? I view this as a 4 year fix. We will be a tournament team before then, but we will not truly be a UConn powerhouse continuously pumping out talent for at least 3-4 years imo

 

[GuardU]

Probably does all the stuff off the court that Hurley wants all of his players to do.

Also, it's quite the stretch to say the fifth guard on this team who was ranked outside the top 150 and is only 14 games into his career is a waste of a scholarship. lol c'mon man #trusttheprocess

But if the purpose is to upgrade talent, in which area does B Adams provide that upgrade? Size? Sure. But outside of that it appears he doesn't fit for the level of talent everyone expects.

 

[HuskyFich]

Also, you want some 4 year guys that provide stability, CONSTANT GROWTH, and leadership by example. All things B.Adams has the opportunity to do...

Did you think Hurley was going to come in in April and get a top 75 kid to commit and play immediately?

 

[pj]

B.Adams has a lot of potential. Let's see. Hurley had to stabilize the situation. Brendan will be a fantastic 3rd-5th guard next year with Alterique, CV, Bouknight, Gaffney. Good to have competition for that 4th guard spot in practices.

 

[Kenny11]

Bouknight and Akok will be strong and more importantly SKILLED enough to make a positive impact immediately and Gaffney soon after. There are many freshmen in college basketball that aren't musclemen that are doing just fine. Strength is important we need more of it, but skills and athleticism are more important.

Plus Bouknight especially is stronger than he looks in a dyson sort of way.

 

[dannyHAM]

B. Adams brings size and has a decent 3. He seems like he genuinely cares and wants to win. Something that I can't say for many on this team.

 

[kansashusky]

I mentioned this after the Villanova lost and was met with several disagreements.

Next years team, while they might be more athletic and exciting, will have its fair share of growing pains and I would be surprised if they won more than 20-21 games.

 

[superjohn]

Dumpster fire

There’s not going to be a magic pill that gets us out of it either. We’re stuck in a mid-tier conference and slowly(?) sliding into irrelevancy. The Hurley hire gave us a nice little boost but it’s going to be a slog getting this program back where we all think it belongs.

Bouknight and Gaffney look like good players, but we can’t expect some freshman to come in next year and suddenly turn this ship in the right direction. And who knows if Akok ever even plays a game for us.

Alterique, Polley, etc. all need to make some strides to close out the year and we gotta hope we land a serious big man.

What?

 

[tcf15]

But if the purpose is to upgrade talent, in which area does B Adams provide that upgrade? Size? Sure. But outside of that it appears he doesn't fit for the level of talent everyone expects.

Hurley needed to upgrade UConn's talent just as much as he needed to change its culture. I think Adams has the potential to develop into an impact player by his senior year, but his immediate impact is probably felt off the court (practice, weight room, etc.).

 

[JMick]

We don't even know what the roster will look like next year. I think there will be some addition by subtraction but we have a lot of holes to fill

 

[JMick]

Hurley needed to upgrade UConn's talent just as much as he needed to change its culture. I think Adams has the potential to develop into an impact player by his senior year, but his immediate impact is probably felt off the court (practice, weight room, etc.).

People aren't used to players getting better anymore. It's been a long time. With some good coaching B Adams will be fine.

 

[6xChamps]

People are really writing off B Adams already? Really? It's almost as if you guys forgot about Deandre Daniels, Niels Giffey, Kentan Facey, etc. all of which played minimal minutes freshman year but went on to great careers.

 

[JMick]

People are really writing off B Adams already? Really? It's almost as if you guys forgot about Deandre Daniels, Niels Giffey, Kentan Facey, etc. all of which played minimal minutes freshman year but went on to great careers.

No one remembers how frustrating Kemba was either. He was playing like Gilbert is now.

 

[Tex-Lager93]

We have always been the program that does more with less. Not the one and done - but rather the slightly overlooked who develop into outstanding players and, often, future pros. B Adams fits the mold...well.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I don't see Brendan Adams being a big part of our future, but tying up one of our 13 scholarships on a high-floor, low-ceiling backup guard who will push his teammates in practice isn't our problem right now.

Getting virtually nothing out of 4 frontcourt recruits in the same class -- that's a problem.

 

[Griffman]

To be clear, I'm neither pro Hurley or Ollie, I just think this fan base deserves a respectable product that doesn't tarnish it's reputation, of what's left that is. Occasional NCAA tournament misses can be dealt with, but it would appear we're further away from MAKING an NCAA tournament again than we care to admit as a fan base.

Obviously Hurley deserves a couple years beyond this year to prove he can assemble a respectable UConn team, but I don't think it's next year like a lot of you think.

For starters, what was the purpose of wasting a 4 yr scholarship on B Adams? I get that he's a freshman, but if the consensus is that we need to infuse the roster with "UConn level talent" I don't think B Adams was a good way to kick off the Hurley regime. What does he do well?

Bouknight, Gaffney, and Akok are obviously a great start to rebuilding this program, but not one of these guys is physically ready to play in a high-level D1 game. All 3 essentially have the build of Sid, which will continue the trend of rolling out boys vs. men. The nice thing is all 3 can shoot, which will add a missing dimension next year, but I'm anticipating similar rebounding struggles that will carry into next year, until we gain commitmentS for big men in next year's class.

Strength and shooting need to be the priority in our talent evaluations moving forward. Both of which should be pretty easy to identify.

Even though Bouknight, Gaffney and Akok are not physical specimens, they are very high quality talented players and very good recruits. Adams and possibly Vital will be gone next year so I'm very happy with Bouknight/Gaffney signings. B. Adams is a 4th or 5th guard on the team so I have no problems with him. Yes, we do need strength in the frontcourt and Hurley is working to get that talent. This is going to take time.

 

[Marat]

Also Hurley didn't know if Gilbert would be healthy after consecutive shoulder surgeries. B Adams is another guard that was added to the mix with that in mind as well. You can't be too thin in that dept as we know. And at that time I believe Vital was questionable on returning (and Jalen? ) .

 

[ThabeetDown]

Give me Kofi and everything will be fine. That's a man to play against men.

 

[tzznandrew]

We have always been the program that does more with less.

This is a myth. All best teams were stocked with Top 50 talent.

Not Duke/UNC/UK/KU, I grant, but we and can be a powerhouse again.

Other than Okafor (who was still Top-100, mind you), the best 2-3 players on every team were sought after by everyone. If they were "overlooked," it was like Ray and Ben in barely missing the McDs game, not in having little fanfare.

 

[UofCT]

What is frustrating is that we have seen new coaches take on major programs and make an immediate impact in year 1. Washington, Ohio State, Auburn, Tennessee, etc. That is not happening here.

However, I do not give Ollie any credit for his success with Calhoun's guys and I'm for sure not blaming Hurley for failures with Ollie's guys.

Overall - This stinks.