he's a PF/stretch 4 he's not a wing and we dont need him to play on the wing. if he's gonna get any PT at all this year it'll be as a backup to AK and Stew
Is there really much of a difference between the 3 and 4 in Hurley's motion offense? Now on defense, assuming the opponent play some prototypical threes and fours, you need a one of them who's strong enough to defend in the post and the other quick enough to defend a player from the perimeter, or even better both capable of defending both.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think people need to start thinking more about positionless basketball when it comes to UConn. As dominant as they were last year, imagine if we had a five that could knock down threes at a solid clip. That team would have been virtually unguardable, but I digress.
I think Abraham (6-7 205) and Stewart (6-7 215) with the ability to put the ball on the floor and score at all 3 levels, are as close to perfect 3-4 combos you can get. I'm sure Stewart has been adding muscle and Abraham seems to have a nice frame where he should be able to put on some more bulk. You can even put Karaban (6-8 225), who probably arrived at UConn with similar measurements, in this category. (Note I'm leaving out the freak long, athletic and talented ballers like AJ Dybantsa who could probably play just about any position on the floor.)
I think it's by design that we're not seeing UConn recruiting any big physical single-dimensional 4s, or 5s, but instead offering a lot of multi-positional type of players (1-2s, 3-4s and 4-5s). Looking at the list of recruits UConn has offered, most look like players who can either score on multiple levels and/or defend multiple positions. Meleek Thomas has the size and game to play the 1 or 2. Now depending on what guards are on the floor at the same time (example, Newton & Castle) once the motion offense is initiated, what each guard is doing is often the same exact thing as they cycle through the motion. I'd love to see someone break down Hurley's motion offensive sequence by sequence. My guess is that other than what the five is doing, the other four positions are executing the same set of actions as they sequence through the motion, consisting of setting single or multiple screen, or cycling through the paint with occasional sudden backcuts, screen-&-rolls or flair-outs for pick-&-pop Js, etc. Frankly, I was surprised there weren't more turnovers where the handler passed the ball out of bounds while their teammate back cut to the basket. The chemistry last season was absolutely amazing.
Bottom line, you don't see a much of one specific guy bringing the ball up the court where the fours and fives are constantly trying to establish an inside position or setting screens for the twos and threes. The handler in Hurley's system is often one of two to three players where at some point during the latter part of the shot clock, they get the ball to one of better handlers to drive the gaps, pull up for a middy, attack the rim, dish it inside or out for a 3, toss the alley-oop, to name the more likely options.
Frankly I think it's a waste of time trying to pigeonhole a recruit into a specific singular position in light of UConn's positionless offense.
