4 star recruits

[cohenzone]

Well that team also lost to #260th Saint Joseph's by 9 at home and at one point lost 5 of 6. Gilbert was brutal all year and Vital/Bouk aren't PGs. Consider this: For how bad people say Gaffney has been so far this year, Gilbert had a worse Ast%, worse TO%, worse FT%, worse 2pt%, worse 3pt%, worse stl%, worse rebounding rates, and worse FT drawn rate than Gaffney this year. And he was the starter (aka Cole not Gaffney) for the first half of the year, with no other backup (no Gaffney essentially).

As I said, I’m not one of those way down on Gaffney. Just pointing out that Gaffney played almost half the game time and played in every game. Diggins basically isn’t playing at all. Hurley apparently doesn’t think Diggins has even earned 5 minutes a game for such a highly regarded recruit. Just comparing more or less apples to apples. As we know, Gaffney is not a world beater but saw plenty of freshman time so Hurley will play Freshman guards. Would he have played Diggins if he, not Gaffney was the freshman guard on that Gilbert team we will never know. As I believe, it’s not nuts to wonder why Diggins is still pretty much in red shirt status.

 

[auror]

Would he have played Diggins if he, not Gaffney was the freshman guard on that Gilbert team we will never know. As I believe, it’s not nuts to wonder why Diggins is still pretty much in red shirt status.

Yes, probably. There was no one else and the lead option was bad. Basically remove Cole from this year's team AND make Gaffney a little worse. Diggins is absolutely playing 15-20 minutes in that scenario.

 

[F101Voodoo]

Its not even january yet. Give the Frosh some time. These kids arent one and dones and arent a Bouknight who turned out to be far better than his ranking coming in. I have not seen enough of Diggins but Johnson looks extremely talented physically and is going to be heard from before this season is over. Of course Floyd red shirted so we never got to see what hes potentially capable of and Hawkins is a major talent who is clearly not adjusted to the collegfew athletes are actually studee game yet.

I am wondering if Hawkins is “adjusted to college “ life yet . Of course few athletes are really students anyway. Their “real” purpose is to bring money, fame, and entertainment. I neither defend that practice nor oppose it.

Edit add= college sports such as BB and FB are for all practical purposes a farm system for the NBA and the NFL. MLB - well one could argue that is somewhat albeit on a much smaller scale. Hey I am a fan and I do not want the system to change.

 

[Tampahusky]

Typical “sky is falling” UConn fan forum post lol ….Fire Hurley, Polley the next Duncan Robinson,Charlotte should trade Bouk, now this … good lord
Stop playing fantasy sports and live in the real world!!

 

[MDHuskFan]

I’ve made the decision to withhold thoughts on recruiting classes till after Sophomore season

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

I’ve made the decision to withhold thoughts on recruiting classes till after Sophomore season

And I think that's about the appropriate time for most recruits. The deeper our roster gets, the more difficult it will be for freshman to make an impact. And there is nothing wrong with that. Take a look at most skilled offensive players coming out of high school and you'll find that most are lost on the defensive end until the end of their freshman years in college (and if some don't commit to it, then may never "get there" regardless of how athletic they are). Even highly skilled defensive players coming out of high school take a good 10 or more college games to get acclimated defensively. It's just the way it is in high major college basketball.

 

[cohenzone]

Anyone want to volunteer and go through the average playing time of all recruits ranked between 40 and 60? That's around where Hawkins, Diggins and Johnson were all ranked. Someone must be in Covid quarantine who wants to waste some time! Lol. Would be really interested to see that. I don't think our freshmen are much different than the average 40-60 recruit. We also have a relatively experienced team. Although I'm not getting into the argument of whether some of them should play over those experienced players!

Using the 247Sports.com composite ranking (2021 Top Basketball Recruits) I'll even start it:

40. Jonas Aidoo - Tennessee: 2.6 minutes per game in 5 games, 0.8 points per game.
41. Langston Love - Baylor: Out for the season after an ACL tear suffered in October.
42. Kowacie Reeves - Florida: 11.0 mpg in 7 games, 3.4 ppg.
43. Jalen Warley - Florida St: 18.1 mpg in 10 games, 3.5 ppg.
44. Trey Kaufman - Purdue: Redshirting due to Purdue's frontcourt depth.
45. Josh Minott - Memphis: 9.1 mpg in 10 games, 3.9 ppg.

51. Hawkins: 16.6 mpg in 11 games, 6.5 ppg.
56. Johnson: 7.4 mpg in 7 games, 2.6 ppg.
59: Diggins: 7.6 mpg in 5 games, 1.4 ppg.

What’s happened in the last two years with the change in transfer rules certainly requires little used freshmen to have a degree of maturity and patience that the next year is okay to bide your time for. The kids who have had their ears filled since they were 9 on how great they are and were heavily recruited sometimes dance to a different tune. Obviously in UConn’s case.the staff sees Hawkins differently from the others, because they either think he fills a current need that they don’t need the other freshmen to be pushed into play for or they think Hawkins is a cut above in terms of readiness.