Lukas Kisunas Commits to UConn

[superjohn]

He nailed quite a few during games too, but it's more fun to pretend he fumbled the ball 100% of the time it was passed to him.

More like 80% of the time he fumbled and 90% of the time he ended up on the floor.

 

[Tenspro2002]

After years of frustration with Brimah, it'll be nice to have a guy who embraces contact, knows how to use his body, can pass the ball, and seems to have a knack for the intangible aspects of the game.

On the other hand, it's reasonable to have some pause about the fact that he's not very highly-touted and may be badly outclassed athletically at the highest levels.

We'll just have to wait and see how his game translates to the court in college basketball.

 

[intlzncster]

After years of frustration with Brimah, it'll be nice to have a guy who embraces contact, knows how to use his body, can pass the ball, and seems to have a knack for the intangible aspects of the game.

On the other hand, it's reasonable to have some pause about the fact that he's not very highly-touted and may be badly outclassed athletically at the highest levels.

We'll just have to wait and see.

He plays in a pretty good league right now though. Strength and fundamentals can often counteract athleticism. Especially at the college level, where bigs aren't often as developed.

I'm personally not at all worried about the athletic thing. If you get your footwork and positioning right, you're often in the right place before the more raw athletic guy anyway.

Let's see where his ranking ends up at the end of the year. Looks like a guy who wasn't focused heavily on due to lack of AAU exposure.

 

[UCDaveD]

Once Carlos gets his hands on him, he's going to be the next Przemek Karnowski

 

[Stainmaster]

Once Carlos gets his hands on him, he's going to be the next Przemek Karnowski

Hopefully he does better than 1-8 from the field in the natty his senior year.

 

[Chief00]

More like 80% of the time he fumbled and 90% of the time he ended up on the floor.

Sometimes I wonder if Stairs is the guy at Bunkey’s party, who is passed out while the game is on.

 

[Son of Robert]

Once Carlos gets his hands on him, he's going to be the next Przemek Karnowski

This is the Polish national team center from Gonzaga, correct? I was definitely thinking why can't we recruit a center like that. He changes their whole offense in a positive way when he's on the floor. That is impact. Kisunas is much more mobile however.

 

[Matrim55]

Hopefully he does better than 1-8 from the field in the natty his senior year.

Man if we're playing in the natty any time within the next four years I will be so stoked...

 

[tcf15]

This is the Polish national team center from Gonzaga, correct? I was definitely thinking why can't we recruit a center like that. He changes their whole offense in a positive way when he's on the floor. That is impact.

To be fair, he was a much better recruit than Kisunas currently is:

Jonathon Givony of DraftExpress tweeted that Karnowski is a "McDonald's All-American-type recruit" who is more ready to contribute immediately than elite future Pittsburgh big man Steven Adams. ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla called Karnowski a "huge get" for the Zags and compared him with Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol.

 

[tcf15]

 

[80shusky]

He and @Dove appear to have the same graphics guy.

 

[Vancat]

He didn't die, did he?

 

[ctchamps]

After years of frustration with Brimah, it'll be nice to have a guy who embraces contact, knows how to use his body, can pass the ball, and seems to have a knack for the intangible aspects of the game.

On the other hand, it's reasonable to have some pause about the fact that he's not very highly-touted and may be badly outclassed athletically at the highest levels.

We'll just have to wait and see how his game translates to the court in college basketball.

In other words TBD.

 

[Guapo]

He didn't die, did he?

This deserves more likes

 

[nomar]

He didn't die, did he?

No, he's just inside TRON. Except instead of one of those motorcycles he got a hang glider.

 

[Son of Robert]

To be fair, he was a much better recruit than Kisunas currently is:
I only watched him as a polished senior during last years run and he had a very complete game. I still stand by my statement though that comparing these two snapshots Kisunas appears more mobile, but there are age differences etc. With lots of hard work and experience over the next few years we might be looking at a somewhat similar player. He's got skills and IQ, no doubt about it.

 

[Son of Robert]

So, tcf15 wrote that first line in blue, and then I wrote the rest. Look above for tcf15's complete post which I tried to reply to and did, but I bungled it terribly and have no clue how to fix it. Somebody take this keypad away from me.

 

[Scrutiner]

Umm, you know that KEA was universally considered one of the top 15 players in the country, right?

Not at the time I saw the announcement. He was a mystery to me but when I saw him in the first exhibition game it was obvious he had the moxie to lead the team as a freshman. Hoping some of the new recruits will turn out the same.

 

[champs99and04]

Karnowski goes 7'1, 300 pounds. There aren't many guys on the planet that are built like him (however, his wingspan is only 7'0) - those extra three inches make a big difference.

Somebody mentioned it earlier, but the biggest cause for optimism for me with regards to Kisunas is that he goes to Brewster. I know not everybody who plays there is necessarily a high-major prospect, but the fact that the staff there trusts him - and that he's used to playing with and against elite competition - speaks volumes. There is something to be said for reliability - the departing three seniors were the opposite of reliable in that they were always either too aloof or too tight. This dude strikes me as the type who prides himself by the customs of his trade and answers to the orders of habit rather than consciousness. I think I'm starting to talk myself into this.

But I'm not sure the mental calculus needs to be flipped at the expense of the physical one. (And when I say mental, I don't mean intelligence, I mean instincts). Basketball as a sport has naturally selected certain traits - foot speed, wingspan, vertical leap, shooting ability - that their counterparts can only transcend to a certain point. This is a butterfly sport and not a caterpillar one. You coach to conquer limitation rather than bargain with it.

 

[intlzncster]

But I'm not sure the mental calculus needs to be flipped at the expense of the physical one. (And when I say mental, I don't mean intelligence, I mean instincts). Basketball as a sport has naturally selected certain traits - foot speed, wingspan, vertical leap, shooting ability - that their counterparts can only transcend to a certain point. This is a butterfly sport and not a caterpillar one. You coach to conquer limitation rather than bargain with it.

I addressed this briefly in my post above:
2018 Recruiting: - Lukas Kisunas Commits to UConn

While you're not wrong, I think this shows up more at the NBA level, than the college level. When the athletic guys have enough skills to demolish less athletic guys. But even then, a guy like Tim Duncan, never to be mistaken for an elite athlete, rose to be arguably the best at his position ever, based largely on the strength of his fundamentals and skills. (yes, I understand he is probably the most extreme example available)

In college, just being an athlete is not enough; bigs are generally so raw. UK's athletes in 2014 were locked down by guys like DD and Giffey. Neither were elite athletes. I mean, Giffey was guarding Julius Randle well, not because he was elite athletically, but he had very, very sound fundamentals.

When you think about guys like Harangody, Curley, etc...fundamentals in college, at the big man position, can take you a long way.

 

[Towney007]

"Kisunas isn't a reach, he's just not the kind of guy that the morons who give ratings like. He doesn't jump out of the gym, but he knows how to play. Every year we watch an Ivy team made up of guys almost entirely like this give some #1 or #2 seed absolute fits. Surround those kids with better athletes, like we have, and their basketball skill set and knack for doing the little things is magnified".

Hit the nail on the head. Sorry to keep bringing baseball back into the conversation - but it's the same thing with "bureaus" like Perfect Game. They're just rating isolated tools. Kid throws 90, runs a 6.6 60, throws 84 across the diamond and is a 6'3 middle infielder = top 100. Done. Could have the baseball IQ of a cardboard box and it doesn't matter. In hoops it's not much different. They like/favor showcase guys and in most/many cases, that's totally justified; but frequently they just miss. In baseball, guys fall off the radar all the time just because they're not on a travel ball circuit or frankly any circuit. Or they're just super solid players who don't flash a lot of pro tools. You see soooo many guys who are like 6'0, throw 87-88 and just fill up the zone and chomp innings in college. They have no pro upside, really - but they're just really fantastic college pitchers. Rankings sites don't like guys like that. So they're not noticed/ranked/heavily recruited.

But to the overriding point everyone's trying to make - this is what UConn's needed to do for a really, really long time and hasn't. Yes, you need a *stud* or two - that top-50 guy who can be a real difference maker.... but getting multiples of those guys is super hard year after year. Give me one of those guys and three of this guy and you're going to be very good year after year. Just stockpiling tool boxes like we have the last few years doesn't/hasn't/won't work.

 

[huskiesouth]

I see glasses as being half full (which is why I am always topping off my wine).

The player I see in the two videos I have found on the BY makes himself available for the ball, heads for the basket with or without the ball, seems to have a good touch off the glass, goes up straight and strong to the rim when that alley is open, has good footwork and does not travel, knows how to make catchable passes, seems to have good court vision and BB IQ and will hurt the other team offensively if they don't defend him (something not true of our recent teams).

If LK ends up as a UConn second-string player, he will be as good as many first-stringers on other teams and better that the other team's subs who will be guarding him, making his time on the court very productive. If he ends up a starter I think he is capable of neutralizing most other team's 4-5. Many very good BB players had or have the vertical leap of a Sherman tank.

Now where is that bottle of wine?

 

[champs99and04]

I addressed this briefly in my post above:
2018 Recruiting: - Lukas Kisunas Commits to UConn

While you're not wrong, I think this shows up more at the NBA level, than the college level. When the athletic guys have enough skills to demolish less athletic guys. But even then, a guy like Tim Duncan, never to be mistaken for an elite athlete, rose to be arguably the best at his position ever, based largely on the strength of his fundamentals and skills. (yes, I understand he is probably the most extreme example available)

In college, just being an athlete is not enough; bigs are generally so raw. UK's athletes in 2014 were locked down by guys like DD and Giffey. Neither were elite athletes. I mean, Giffey was guarding Julius Randle well, not because he was elite athletically, but he had very, very sound fundamentals.

When you think about guys like Harangody, Curley, etc...fundamentals in college, at the big man position, can take you a long way.

You're absolutely right, and most importantly, the athletic guys are younger in the college game. There is a reason that the sport has so much parity. Nobody is all that good given that the most talented players are in the infancy stages of their development. A kid like Kisunas will be relatively polished early in his career and especially by the time he graduates.

The problem I have is that virtually every generality that is being pedaled around in this thread can be applied to every level of basketball imaginable. If I pooled together a bunch of fragmented paragraphs describing Ivy League players and imposed them next to the posts in this thread, I'm not sure people would be able to tell them apart. That's because the entire appeal of this player is built upon subjective terms. All of it can be universalized and manipulated for filler on whoever's recruiting website needs clicks. None of it can be extrapolated into a scheme that fits a practical calculus.

Kisunas will help us win, I simply question whether he will help us win in every match-up. But that's what separates the good recruits from the elite recruits, and right now, especially up front, we're short on elite ones. If this board is hoping to avoid a scenario where everything we do is limited by the center position, then signing the opposite of Brimah is not the answer. It wasn't that long ago that Olander and Wolf drew the derision of this board, and they had great hands and could screen like hell. Back then, we would have traded the farm for a player like Brimah or Facey.

I would argue that Giffey was, if not an elite athlete, then close to it. He didn't jump off the screen, but the finer points of athleticism, like foot work, body control, core strength, and balance, he possessed in abundance. That's what enabled him to play the five at a time where doing so at that size and winning big was unprecedented. Brimah's lack of balance, footwork, and instincts held him back, which is exactly why I'm eagerly awaiting the debut of Diarra. If Brimah is one end of the extreme and Kisunas is the other, he probably represents something closer to a happy medium (at his size, he won't play center full-time, but Giffey didn't, either).

This board is obviously not supposed to be objective. I'm not objective, either. In a way, nobody is. But consider the optics of four frustrating years and then consider the idea of finding an alternative to that. It's a dichotomy that is not supposed to resonate in an objective way and this particular recruit has managed to satisfy every board fetish at once. (Incidentally, during Harangody's reign, Notre Dame ranked 133rd, 66th, 45th, and 105th in adjusted defense and won one combined tournament game - his tree isn't the one I want to pick from).

 

[Ewekon]

We out for Carey now?

 

[UConnStats]

We out for Carey now?

No