2017 -2018 Uconn Roster Up

[Dogdeacon]

The Boston Celtics are likely to go into NBA season with only 2 guys at 6'10" (Horford, Baynes), its not the height - its the experience and skill level of the bigs.
If Larrier is healthy and lineups with him at the 4 are playable, then we can put enough skill players out there to compete at a high level. But still very important that someone from the Cobb/Carlton/Diarra/Onourah/Whaley group emerges as bona-fide D1 talent.

When Josh Carlton was 2 months old, UConn won its first national championship!

 

[3rdbass]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

Exactly! I mean 2 of the guys we are hoping big things are coming back from injuries and possibly a third(MD) might be starting. If any of those 3, most concerned with Gilbert , can't play then it just puts more pressure on JA to perform at the highest level. I hope I'm surprised and besides KO's first year this is probably my lowest expectations in quite some time.

 

[Stainmaster]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

And this translates to "close to last in the conference" for you?

 

[joober jones]

Still no 54. Damn it.

 

[nomar]

I don't think "6-9" is some sort of magic number for big men. Wingspan's more important. Bulk and strength can be more important, as we learned over the last 4 seasons with our 7-foot center.

And, most importantly, experience. We have LOTS of big men. What we don't have is experienced big men.

Carlton, 6-9 225
Cobb, 6-9 285
Diarra, 6-8 215
Larrier, 6-8 192
Onuorah, 6-9 235
Polley, 6-7 190
Whaley, 6-9 195

(Not listing Williams because I think he's gonna be the rawest guy on the team by far.)

Now, I have no idea what to expect from any of these guys, save Larrier, who'll probably play a lot of smallball 4. But hopefully 3-4 of the other guys will be good enough to be in the rotation.

Getting Gilbert and Larrier back is huge. We'll be better than last year and although the team will take a while to gel, we will not finish at the bottom of the AAC. Come on.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I don't think "6-9" is some sort of magic number

Beg to differ.

 

[navery12]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

These are all fair points and they're all true. But you can't objectively look at this team on paper compared to the rest of the conference and tell me you really think this team finishes last in the conference. At the bare minimum Jalen puts us ahead of USF by himself

 

[joober jones]

USF has Terrance Samuel. They're a lock for the Final Four.

 

[imno1]

USF has Terrance Samuel. They're a lock for the Final Four.

What's the line on him making a 3 against us?

 

[EastConn'er]

We've got 9 guys between 6'7" & 6'9", not super tall, but we have many frontcourt options to mix & match depending on the game. It's really difficult to know who will be starters or back ups at this point, but Ollie & staff have time to sort it out before November. This is what October practices & pre-season games are for. For frontcourt players, provided everyone is healthy here's what I think.... SF: Larrier (starter), then Polley. PF: Diarra (starter), then Williams/Whaley/Carlton (not sure who is primary backup or even starter). Center: no clue who starts, could be some combination of Cobb or Onuorah, depending on the game, with Carlton also in the mix too. I wouldn't be surprised to see Whaley redshirt (since he's quite thin, but he seems to be a scorer). Foxen might struggle to get end of game minutes (if we are up big, he'll get some). We may not be super talented in the frontcourt, but we have lots of options, so it will be fun to see who evolves! I like being deep in the frontcout, even if no super star. Let's just enjoy the ride. Woo hoo!

 

[nomar]

Beg to differ.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The look on my pops's face when I asked him what that meant back in '89 . . .

 

[Huskyforlife]

And this translates to "close to last in the conference" for you?

Personally I think we'll be fine. But the potential is there, yes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

There is no way a team that probably has the best top 3 players of any team in the league, finishes last. Adams doesn't need to take some leap, he's already there. He needs to be heathy and not play the whole game with no supporting cast. Vital already stepped up last year. He should improve and be the role player he should be. Gilbert and Larrier are studs. Yes they were hurt, but any team in the league could have injuries to key contributors.

The other guys are question marks. But Diarra looks solid and has a year in the program. Onourah provides veteran leadership, defense and rebounding. I think Cobb will surprise people. Yes, he played little at USCe, but Juco experience is still experience. Then we need one of the four remaining guys to be good. Just one in four. That's not unreasonable.

For UConn to finish in the bottom half we'd need catastrophic bad luck like last year, where we still did better than that with a roster much, much worse than this one. I think top 3 is a fair prediction, with an NCAA bid.

 

[3rdbass]

And this translates to "close to last in the conference" for you?

If we lose all 3 guys again or they aren't effecrive and all our big guys suck then we could be in the bottom quarter of this conference. Remember even with average big men last year we finished sixth. Now we are worst on paper with only Jalen and maybe CV as proven players.

We not finish last but I just don't see how this team makes the sweet 16 unless Jalen goes off every game.

 

[joober jones]

What's the line on him making a 3 against us?

He'll be splashing like Steph Curry.

 

[80shusky]

That's actually a lot of size in our front court. Yes, we don't have a near 7 footer, even in Mau measurements, but we have a lot of guys with size. If a couple of them can play a little bit, score a little bit, rebound and defend well we could be ok. But, this will depend on Gilbert and Larrier's health. We are going to need Vital, Gilbert and Larrier to score and hope that the committee in the front court can score enough.

 

[rayrayfor3]

Jalen changed his number?

 

[Kitaman]

After 4 years of Amida something looks obviously different.

 

[UC56CAFF]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

I get your point. It's why bother going to games because we are going to be lousy right? Unbelievable that you have mailed in the season already. I really like this team and I think they will be legitimately good. You have to admit that with Jalen, Vitals, Larrier and Vitals, that we have an ultra talented 4. We also have a boat load of players that are long, athletic and have girth. If coached up properly, with a 40 minutes of Hell attitude, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Do yourself a favor, take a vacation from naysayer land brother!

 

[B1GEast]

Some of these guys are still growing. We had a seven footer that couldn't rebound or make a layup.

I'm not concerned

 

[Huskyforlife]

I get your point. It's why bother going to games because we are going to be lousy right? Unbelievable that you have mailed in the season already. I really like this team and I think they will be legitimately good. You have to admit that with Jalen, Vitals, Larrier and Vitals, that we have an ultra talented 4. We also have a boat load of players that are long, athletic and have girth. If coached up properly, with a 40 minutes of Hell attitude, then I think you will be pleasantly surprised. Do yourself a favor, take a vacation from naysayer land brother!

You missed the word "potentially"

 

[Huskybass]

So many question marks that the season is incredibly hard to predict. A good solid season that includes being ranked in the Top 25 much of the season would be fantastic, but we will need a big or two to really step up for that to happen.

Some say sweet sixteen, some say potentially real bad. My guess is something in the middle, but I am not even confident in that non-commital prediction.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Not having a center over 6'9 is probably a good place to start.

• David Onuorah being our most experienced big, the next being Cobb who played something like 1 min a game his freshman year.
• Concern over Gilbert, Larrier, and Diarra coming back from their respective injuries 100% and staying healthy all year whilst playing the majority of min at their positions.
• Not having a pure back up 3.
• A lot rests on Adams and Vital taking huge steps up, not a given.
• Our incoming players are underwhelming on paper(Yes I know they can outperform their rankings; Vital)
• Lots of tough games early, we seem to start slow

I'm sure there's more, but I think you get the point.

You had me at "whilst."

 

[Walker11]

You missed the word "potentially"

If Duke loses their top 11 players to injury, they could potentially lose every game this season. You see, the word "potentially" is key.