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Court Report: UConn's Tristen Newton has been the not-so-quiet MVP of the Huskies' season so far
Has any UConn upper classman (particularly seniors) helped their future basketball career more so than Tristan Newton?
Tate George, Kevin Ollie and Donnie Marshall and Travis Knight come to mind who were not on anyone's NBA radar till their Senior seasons. I was surprised when I looked them up that Take went in the first round and that KO went undrafted. Granted none had stellar NBA careers. Travis netted a multimillion, multi-year headscratcher contract thanks to the Cs. And KO earned some nice coin via a string of one year contacts during his long NBA career.
With the trend of college athletes leaving early with eligibility still left on the table even if it is to pursue a career overseas or some two-way D League opportunity, Tristan decided to return for his last year of eligibility. I remember reading that a NBA GM said about college players returning for their junior or senior season risking their stock dropping, the more they get to see them the less they tend to like what they see. So there's often the risk that a player who some think might risk that opportunity by returning and not showing much improvement. The NBA draft has a lot to do with potential in most cases.
Granted, Tristan had little to risk in returning since I don't think he was on anyone's NBA draft radar, though he probably could have secured a contract to play for pay overseas. He was very good last season and finish strong during the tournament. He struggled a little bit in the middle of the season. It has been eye-popping to see how much he's improved this season. There's still a lot of Hoops to be played this year, but if he continues to play at this level throughout the season I'd be surprised if he didn't get drafted towards the latter part of the first round or upper part of the second round.
Regardless to what happens, I'm going to enjoy every minute he plays for our UConn Huskies. This team would likely not be in the hunt for our first back-to-back National Championship if it were not for his return.
Has any UConn upper classman (particularly seniors) helped their future basketball career more so than Tristan Newton?
Tate George, Kevin Ollie and Donnie Marshall and Travis Knight come to mind who were not on anyone's NBA radar till their Senior seasons. I was surprised when I looked them up that Take went in the first round and that KO went undrafted. Granted none had stellar NBA careers. Travis netted a multimillion, multi-year headscratcher contract thanks to the Cs. And KO earned some nice coin via a string of one year contacts during his long NBA career.
With the trend of college athletes leaving early with eligibility still left on the table even if it is to pursue a career overseas or some two-way D League opportunity, Tristan decided to return for his last year of eligibility. I remember reading that a NBA GM said about college players returning for their junior or senior season risking their stock dropping, the more they get to see them the less they tend to like what they see. So there's often the risk that a player who some think might risk that opportunity by returning and not showing much improvement. The NBA draft has a lot to do with potential in most cases.
Granted, Tristan had little to risk in returning since I don't think he was on anyone's NBA draft radar, though he probably could have secured a contract to play for pay overseas. He was very good last season and finish strong during the tournament. He struggled a little bit in the middle of the season. It has been eye-popping to see how much he's improved this season. There's still a lot of Hoops to be played this year, but if he continues to play at this level throughout the season I'd be surprised if he didn't get drafted towards the latter part of the first round or upper part of the second round.
Regardless to what happens, I'm going to enjoy every minute he plays for our UConn Huskies. This team would likely not be in the hunt for our first back-to-back National Championship if it were not for his return.