Aidan Mahaney

[Samoo]

With Karaban, Murray, Hurley, Calhoun floating around….are we approaching too much Irish?

Karaban? Irish? His parents first names are Alexi and Olga...

 

[3rdbass]

Hass played 4 minutes total in the final four 1 year ago... it became an 8 man rotation, which is where hurley seems to land. He always talks about expanding bench, but it doesnt happen

clearly if there are injuries we will go deeper than 8

During the regular season he played 9 with Diarra. They really didn't stop playing Diarra until the final four. He did average 12.7 minutes in 2022-2023 so 9 man rotation is pretty accurate.

 

[superjohn]

sanogo and jackson were proven starters that returned in 2023. newton and karaban were proven starters that returned this past year. next year we have none. big difference.

Again, we don't know what we have yet for next year. I think there's a very good chance we have a guy in our starting lineup next season who has already started 77 games for us and won back to back national championships but we don't know for certain. Why not just wait until we have our roster?

 

[Scrutineer]

I would love to know how the staff prioritizes transfers. There are so many of them and Hurley seems to be pretty picky about what he wants. But since it's all happening so quickly and with so many recruits they might not know a lot about, it must be a tough job to sift through all the transfers.

Parents not likely to be much of an issue with him either.....

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Most likely no but we don't have any idea what our team is for next season. I expect Ross to improve a lot, he's a player.

This same thing happened with Whaley, whom a lot of folks on here had transferring to a low major program halfway through his sophomore year. Players have athletic gifts and are perfectly capable of developing skills that can take advantage of those gifts by doing the work. In Whaley's case it was a sharp BBIQ particularly on D, quick hands and feet for the hedge, a desire to block shots and great timing.

Singare has some attributes that can make him someone who can contribute next year if necessary. Yes, he's raw. Is he ahead of Reed Jr. or Johnson on the depth chart? No. Could he make himself a player who earns minutes? We'll see.

 

[Scrutineer]

Iron sharpens iron. We need the best team assembled ASAP so that they can start to forge themselves in the fire of practice and competition.

Eloquence only found among pharmacists!

 

[HooperScooper]

Isn't Karaban Ukrainian?

His mother is from Ukraine and his father is from Belarus. He's definitely not Irish! Lol

 

[McLovin]

Hass played 4 minutes total in the final four 1 year ago... it became an 8 man rotation, which is where hurley seems to land. He always talks about expanding bench, but it doesnt happen

clearly if there are injuries we will go deeper than 8

I think ideally he wants to be comfortable being able to go 9 (or 10) deep if needed (injury or foul trouble), but in the postseason every coach shrinks their rotation to have their best players on the court for the most time possible.

 

[speckle]

if you think of our current roster construction, we dont have a power forward (other than Samson, who is our starting center.) We have Reed, and..... thats it.... if karaban isnt back Jaylin becomes our 3rd biggest guy (i dont really see Singare getting more than Springs minutes)

we really do kind of need another real 4 (stretch 4 if you like), or we will be outmuscled/rebounded at times, especially since we dont have big guards like last yr

Everyone is still sleeping on Abraham. Wouldn't be surprised if he's backing up the 4 pretty early next year. Quick, strong, defensive ready and willing.

 

[BuffaloHusky]

I’d argue Karaban and Clingan were slightly below average rebounders for their positions. All 3 of our starting guards picked up a lot of slack on the boards. No reason to believe next year’s team can’t do the same thing.

I’m not sure I agree. Because our guards were so effective rebounding, they also took rebounds away from Clingan and Karaban.

 

[Fan1978]

You take Mahaney if he fits our criteria, 2 years left and is already a solid player.

Mahaney over brea all day long. 3 level
Scorer they need desperately. He would be the late shot clock guy Newton was this year.

 

[Fan1978]

I like the idea of adding both. Have to imagine part of the pitch would be for heavy minutes for Mahaney, which would likely leave Solo coming off the bench. It's a point of contention on this board whether Solo is ready to start.

Solo needs to earn his minutes. Team needs to strike while iron is hot and get best players available. Solo will get minutes, how much he will decide..

 

[Tenspro2002]

Mahaney brings more to the table than Brea.

Brea is an elite catch-and-shoot option. He hits 1/2 of his three-point attemps and over 80% of his field-goal attempts are from three.

Mahaney isn't as strong of a perimeter shooter as Brea (almost no one is), but can hit threes, but also score in a variety of ways. Out of the two, I'd prefer Mananey.

Mahaney impressed me in our game against St. Mary's last year. As a freshman he showed moxie and competitiveness, and enough skill.

He strikes me as maybe a slightly-poor-man's Cam Spencer.

 

[Fan1978]

Ball and Ross are unhappy in that scenario, especially if Ball is only getting 15 minutes. Which isn't a reason to not do it, I think you can carve out enough minutes for Ball and whoever comes in between Brea or Mahaney as long as you can convince someone to come off the bench. Ross is a tougher sell though

Ross has shown absolutely nothing so far. I am sure he has talent but minutes will need to be earned

 

[NJHusky]

Normally would agree but not here. No way they’re making moves that could push Hass out. He and Karaban seemed like the leaders of this team and he’s primed to play a major role next year.

I believe he’s choosing between moving on to a pro career overseas or coming back for another year. And really hope he chooses the latter.

How does NIL compare to what you make in Europe for a guy like Hass?

 

[KemBuckets21]

Solo needs to earn his minutes. Team needs to strike while iron is hot and get best players available. Solo will get minutes, how much he will decide..

Agree 100%, I was just saying I ruffled some feathers saying I liked the idea of recruiting a combo guard with facilitation skills to play over Solo. I still like his outlook, but he's a scorer through and through. Hoping he can still play 20ish minutes even if we hit on 2 more guys.

 

[auror]

Ross has shown absolutely nothing so far. I am sure he has talent but minutes will need to be earned

He has shown Hurley a lot in practice. Go back and read the stuff he was saying about Ross before the season.

 

[Fan1978]

Because they are the 10th/11th/12th guys. I'm sorry, but there is zero chance we're going that deep. DH gets his 8 man rotation by BE season and it's not really going to vary.

9 man rotation prior year. Top players not as good so 10 guys could get rotation minutes

 

[speckle]

I’m not sure I agree. Because our guards were so effective rebounding, they also took rebounds away from Clingan and Karaban.

Clingan was a "contest first" rim protector. It's extremely difficult for those guys to also rebound the same play, so their rebounding numbers are always depressed. It's a different job.

 

[Scrutineer]

sure it makes more logistical sense but that team just isnt scary. if we lose karaban then i'm hoping we replace him with a starter better than Mahaney, like Traore. Or we get Mahaney AND Brea.

Agreed. Not sure why all this mania over Mahaney and unless our coaches have seen some flaw they believe they can correct why would he be getting 30 minutes here? He played in a weaker league and was static or slightly regressed from year one to year two as shown in the chart below. Shooting dropped off and not a great assist guy or rebounder and poor on steals:

ll

Stats
2023-24
2022-23

GP	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
34	33.2	38.6	35.5	81.3	2.6	2.6	0.1	0.8	2.2	1.4	13.9
35	30.6	42.8	40.0	71.8	2.1	2.0	0.1	0.9	2.2	1.5	13.9

 

[Scrutineer]

With Karaban, Murray, Hurley, Calhoun floating around….are we approaching too much Irish?

Karaban's Ukrainian.

 

[Scrutineer]

Regardless is Karaban returns, if we land McNeeley we will have (at least) 2 snipers on next years between McNeeley and Ball.

Because of this, I'd also prefer Mahaney. A three-level scoring guard could fill a much needed void that Cam and Newton have left behind at the guard spots.

Also, if Brea really is considering Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and UNC in addition to us, that feels like it would be an uphill battle to land him. Recruiting against UVA and Creighton seems like a better investment of time and resources lol

Don't forget Berkshire Hathaway is based in Omaha. Money should not be short for NIL.

 

[Fan1978]

Agreed. Not sure why all this mania over Mahaney and unless our coaches have seen some flaw they believe they can correct why would he be getting 30 minutes here? He played in a weaker league and was static or slightly regressed from year one to year two as shown in the chart below. Shooting dropped off and not a great assist guy or rebounder and poor on steals:

ll

Stats
2023-24
2022-23

GP	MIN	FG%	3P%	FT%	REB	AST	BLK	STL	PF	TO	PTS
34	33.2	38.6	35.5	81.3	2.6	2.6	0.1	0.8	2.2	1.4	13.9
35	30.6	42.8	40.0	71.8	2.1	2.0	0.1	0.9	2.2	1.5	13.9

Played a different style, he is an outstanding player that would flourish with better coaching and talent around him. Look at solos freshman stats, not impressive and he is an excellent player. Watch some tape, mahaney would be a huge get.

 

[Fatroony5]

Im at a point where I just have full trust in who the staff wants. One thing seems clear about the staff right now: they are not satisfied and they do not intend to have a “rebuilding season.” Id say it’s pretty clear that going after a big, a huge recruit in McNeeley, and another potential starting/6th man caliber guard in Mahaney, they are going for it again. They’re very intentional in their roster building.

 

[AllHusky]

The projection game seems to be popular with half the posters. Even knowing the roster next year(we don’t) a few axioms apply to ruin the projection game

Competitors Compete- don’t see anyone running away from Storrs because they are afraid. Kids will tell you who to play.

No plan survives contact with the enemy or the Mike Tyson version “Everybodies got a plan until they get punched in the nose”