1st Team vs 2nd Team | Page 2 | The Boneyard

1st Team vs 2nd Team

UofCT said:
Michigan was 8-23 (3-17 in conference). That’s DePaul level bad. I think people need to chill on the Reed starting talk. He was the 5th scoring option on Michigan. Even if he has all the tools / raw talent it’s going to take time to eliminate the bad habits. Meanwhile Samson has been in Hurleys system for 3 seasons, has 2 rings, won the starting job over Karaban in 2022 and was one of the best back up bigs in the country last year. Knows all the plays and is ready to start.
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Don’t agree with this take at all. Reed was a top 30 prospect coming out of HS, is built like a dude and has more hand/eye than Samson. Last two you can’t teach.

Reed walked into a shitshow at UM. They had one of the most talented teams in the country two years ago, two top 15 draft picks, and Dickinson and couldn’t make the tourney. That is coaching calamity.

Early reports out of practice are that he’s a “specimen”. Samson has been in the system for a few years now. He is what he is, a change of pace athlete with limited basketball skills and IQ. He has room to improve, but it won’t be a leap.
 
UofCT said:
Tarris will get plenty of minutes for those reasons. I think we will also see Karaban play the 5 for stretches. However, Samson is starting games. Might not finish them but he’s earned the starting spot.
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How can he have earned the starting spot already when his competition with Reed has only just begun? You earn a starting spot by outperforming your competitors in practice.
 
Palatine said:
Given the complexity of our system, with the players have so many options, I think the Hurley will use his veterans to start the early season games as the new guys work in.

So, Samson, AK, Stewart, Diarra and Mahaney is my guess for the early game starters.

The first TO brings in McNeeley and Ball for Steward and Diarra.

Reed, Ross and Nowell are the next three. And there will opportunities for Abraham and Singare to move into top ten.
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Agree with the premise here. My percent chance starting at the beginning of the year:
1 - Diarra 80% / Nowell 20%
2 - Ball% 60% / Mahaney 40%
3 - Liam 70% / Stewart 20% / Ross 10% / Abraham 0%
4 - AK 100% / Stewart 0%
5 - Samson 75% / Reed 25%
 
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Hurleyman216 said:
I think you only have 3 of the 5 starters on your Team 1. I expect Stewart will start over McNeeley and Reed will possibly start over Samson although the center position may be more of a coin toss.
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I’d be shocked if McNeeley is not our starting 3. Stewart will be improved but McNeeley talent wise is already superior, imo.
 
This team is hilariously loaded if we are bringing the best shooter in High School, Liam McNeeley, and a sophomore leap Solo Ball as the first 2 guys off the bench. Those 2 guys alone would be the featured 1-2 punch on basically 99% of other teams in the country...Insane

Hell even if its Stewart or Mahaney off the bench. Or 6th MOY Diarra with another season of improved shooting under his belt. This team is just unfair
 
ucp990411 said:
Guess I am the only one who thinks Solo starts.
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That probably would mean that Maheney is picking up the offense slowly. If Solo spent last last year running the offense instead of hunting for shots, he would be the favorite to start. Hurley knows, but we haven't seen, how comfortable Solo is in the offense.
 
Palatine said:
That probably would mean that Maheney is picking up the offense slowly. If Solo spent last last year running the offense instead of hunting for shots, he would be the favorite to start. Hurley knows, but we haven't seen, how comfortable Solo is in the offense.
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It's going to be a huge leap for Solo to become a guy who can lead an offense this season. His passing was rather horrendous in 23-24. 0.9 assists per-40 might be the worst passing season from a guard we've had in years, especially considering the system we run is built to hunt assists.

He needs to get in the film room and on the court to start building his passing reads in our set plays. He isn't going to be that natural, make-something-out-of-nothing passing guard like Tristen, Cam, or Castle, but he can be a cog in the machine. It is going to take A LOT of work though.
 
Part of the fun of this year will to see which of this vast assortment of talented players rises to the top, embarrassment of riches.

Practices this year may be better competition than the majority of the schedule, which is a nice problem to have. Team will be ready.

Formula will be who is most ready to execute the system x scheme fit x overall talent.
 
pj said:
How can he have earned the starting spot already when his competition with Reed has only just begun? You earn a starting spot by outperforming your competitors in practice.
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That's not true. Some players will walk into the season as starters like Karaban and Samson.
 
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boog204 said:
I’d be shocked if McNeeley is not our starting 3. Stewart will be improved but McNeeley talent wise is already superior, imo.
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I think most people under estimate what a year in the program does for someone like Stewart. He will be the starter over McNeeley on day 1. We’ll see where it goes from there as the season moves on.
 
UofCT said:
That's not true. Some players will walk into the season as starters like Karaban and Samson.
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I don't see how you can consider Samson the equivalent of Karaban. Karaban will be a starter because he is a superior player, has been superior at his position for two years, and no player was brought on who might be better at his position. Samson hasn't yet demonstrated superiority, and an arguably superior center was brought in.
 
It really depends on how practice goes and what they decide the overall style of the team to be. With the versatile players on roster they could go a number of ways. A 5 out, offense oriented small lineup would even have AK as the "big". bring in reed/samson in to counter any adjustments. If they want to play bigger Reed can exploit slower opposing bigs with the face up game.
 
pj said:
I don't see how you can consider Samson the equivalent of Karaban. Karaban will be a starter because he is a superior player, has been superior at his position for two years, and no player was brought on who might be better at his position. Samson hasn't yet demonstrated superiority, and an arguably superior center was brought in.
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Ok, but to be fair, last season was the first season Samson was healthy and played an entire season. I think people are factoring in the natural development that comes year to year, especially when healthy, and projecting that he’ll be even better.
 
With 4 starters gone Jaylin Stewart will have a tremendous impact on this team. Perhaps the biggest jump of the returning players including Karaban, Ball, Diarra, and Ross. McNeeley, Stewart, and Karaban sharing the floor for some minutes, sure why not.
 
Horatio said:
Ok, but to be fair, last season was the first season Samson was healthy and played an entire season. I think people are factoring in the natural development that comes year to year, especially when healthy, and projecting that he’ll be even better.
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Fine, but we can also project that Reed will become better through his natural development, especially since he will benefit from a big leap in the quality of his coaching, while Samson has already had the benefit of UConn coaching for two years.
 
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Son of Robert said:
With 4 starters gone Jaylin Stewart will have a tremendous impact on this team. Perhaps the biggest jump of the returning players including Karaban, Ball, Diarra, and Ross. McNeeley, Stewart, and Karaban sharing the floor for some minutes, sure why not.
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Agree with this. Steward looks like a star in the making, and the other two are also elite. We'll have a three-player rotation at the forward spots that will be the envy of college basketball.
 
pj said:
I don't see how you can consider Samson the equivalent of Karaban. Karaban will be a starter because he is a superior player, has been superior at his position for two years, and no player was brought on who might be better at his position. Samson hasn't yet demonstrated superiority, and an arguably superior center was brought in.
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Samson is a senior and made an impact on the best college team in the last 15 seasons. Reed started on the worst team in the B10 and was their 5th option.
 
Son of Robert said:
With 4 starters gone Jaylin Stewart will have a tremendous impact on this team. Perhaps the biggest jump of the returning players including Karaban, Ball, Diarra, and Ross. McNeeley, Stewart, and Karaban sharing the floor for some minutes, sure why not.
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My pick for likely MIP is definitely Stewart. He was naturally deferential to other guys last year but showed real flashes of elite defense and work in the lane.
 
UofCT said:
Samson is a senior and made an impact on the best college team in the last 15 seasons. Reed started on the worst team in the B10 and was their 5th option.
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staff was all over reed the day the portal opened. They brought him over for the chip parade. It’s an insult to the staff to say they brought in a stiff
 
husky429 said:
My pick for likely MIP is definitely Stewart. He was naturally deferential to other guys last year but showed real flashes of elite defense and work in the lane.
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Wouldn’t discount Solo. He didn’t play as much because we were just much deeper at guard once Castle was healthy. Solo is an athletic freak with a really, really nice stroke. His issue last year when he did play was more mental than anything. Seemed out of position a lot and staring way too much, with a happy trigger from 3. If he can figure out a role in the scheme, I think he has just as much upside.
 
Liam will be our best player. I want Hass off the bench with Stewart. Imagine being down 5 after six minutes of first half. Then say to yourself, who cares bc Hass and Stewart haven’t even played yet. We need someone to step up at pg outside of Hass. Many possibilities. If you can shoot and play some D, you will get plenty of minutes. Up to the kids to play with confidence and just know you belong. I think playing 23 minutes a night on UConn means good chance you are first round draft pick. We are the problem everyone knows they have to deal with.
 
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Drame said:
Agree with the premise here. My percent chance starting at the beginning of the year:
1 - Diarra 80% / Nowell 20%
2 - Ball% 60% / Mahaney 40%
3 - Liam 70% / Stewart 20% / Ross 10% / Abraham 0%
4 - AK 100% / Stewart 0%
5 - Samson 75% / Reed 25%
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I like this prediction -mostly. I love solo but I wud switch those numbers to 60/40 in mahaneys favor and close the gap a little between Stewart and mcneeley. Maybe 60/40. Everything else looks good. Reed and Nowell wud assumingly close the gap on Samson and Diarra as season progresses
 
Remember the game where Stew took over and went off from 3? Beautiful elevation and jump shot I was impressed by that. Was that a one of or is that really him?
 
Drame said:
Agree with the premise here. My percent chance starting at the beginning of the year:
1 - Diarra 80% / Nowell 20%
2 - Ball% 60% / Mahaney 40%
3 - Liam 70% / Stewart 20% / Ross 10% / Abraham 0%
4 - AK 100% / Stewart 0%
5 - Samson 75% / Reed 25%
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If Ball is starting, it's with Mahaney--not over Mahaney (which is unlikely, but possible). Mahaney was the #2 option on a ranked team. He averaged almost 20ppg and 39% on volume from deep vs. high-major/ranked teams and a positive A:TO.

If AK is a lock (he is), Mahaney is probably the next closest thing.
 
Let me give my starting lineup percentages for the first game of the season because I'm bored. Too hot to work on the house, and I have my brothers kids all weekend anyways.

PG: Diarra 70% / Nowell 15%/ Mahaney 15%... Nowell is really good, but it's rare for a freshman PG to be ready no matter how talented. Maybe coach wants to go with Mahaney at the 1. Or Nowell adjusts really fast. Who knows.
SG: Mahaney 70% / Solo 30%... Like I said in my previous post. Mahaney is a hell of a talent and this board underestimates his skill because he played in a mid-major conference. #2 option on a top-25 team didn't transfer to sit. Period.
SF: McNeeley 50 % / Stewart 40% / Ross 10% Basically a Stewart/McNeeley toss-up in my eye. The comments recently on McNeeley adjusting in practice quickly gave him the edge.
PF: Karaban 95% / Stewart 5% Only way AK sits is if he's got the flu day 1.
C: Reed 65% / Johnson 35% Probably the one choice I'll get heat for. I think Samson's style is built to be a spark off the bench. Blaze of energy doesn't work for 25-30mpg. He's a 3-5 minute stint energy piece IMO--and he'll be very good at it. Reed is going to wear teams down with his size, strength, and quickness in the lane. Our system will help him cut down on his only glaring weakness: TOs.
 
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