2022 Recruiting: Alex Karaban Unoffical Visit (Again)

[JustbrewitMan]

Imagine being Alex Karaban & getting alerted that there's a 10-page discussion about him on a UConn Huskies sports discussion board...

Then, imagine him coming to check it out.

Peak Boneyard.

 

[Hi-Low]

How about he was a role player until his senior year? Does that satisfy everyones sensibilities enough or is this thread doomed to go the Clingan thread route? Now back to hoping Karaban pulls the trigger soon...

I'm with you, hope he does....just have a (non-insider) feeling Karaban wants to play his commitment out a little & see what else develops this summer.

Thought he said August somewhere but I mostly take with grain of salt what kids say publicly before they commit so who knows. I'll keep checking here daily for any more good recruit news

 

[GoDAWGS]

????? 0k enough of the Giffey stuff, he was a great ROLE player who came up huge in the NCAA TOURNAMENT but Karaban was/is a much better player w a much higher ceiling

Neil's was much bigger than stepping up in the tourney, Lassen kromah was a role player who stepped up. Neil's had been essential all year as a 2-4. He played PF in our small ball lineups, stretched the floor.

 

[GoDAWGS]

We don't win the NT without Giffey. He was huge. His defense was stellar too.

His defense was unbelievable, his fight for the ball, his ability to defend players much bigger and more athletic than him, absolutely we don't win without him

 

[Ricker]

Check out the Podcast Thread. Great listen women & men

re: Alex Karaban that he (Sean MacFarland) has been speaking with:
You feel so much more wanted when guys on the team are recruiting you to play with them. It isn't just the coaching staff telling you that they want you and that it's a great place.

 

[UCSouth]

You guys are idiots take this to a private chat

Not surprised that you would recognize that.

 

[Watchdog]

Niels won 2 national championships at UConn and played a combined 61 minutes in those two title games. I agree his stats look unimpressive but he was a really good intangibles player who was in and out of the lineup on a stacked team his freshmen year and his sophomore year he was kind of buried on one of the most talented teams in UConn history despite it being kind of a mess of a year...

He always did what was asked of him his whole career and for his senior year he became one of the top knock down three point shooters in the country and was a jacknife on defense who often got the job of trying to stop the best player on the other team, he shut down Julius Randle in the title game. The stats don't tell the story with him as a player, he was a winner here and has continued being a winner for Alba Berlin.

I remember when Calhoun signed him, he beat out UCLA, Louisville, and the Zags and the top recruiting guy who evaluated him said he would have him ranked right around the top 50 if he was playing in the US.

If I recall correctly, at the start of Giffey's freshman year Calhoun told him his play reminded him of John Havlicek. It was meant as a nice compliment to Giffey, and Giffey innocently asked who Havlicek was.

 

[Waquoit]

His defense was unbelievable, his fight for the ball, his ability to defend players much bigger and more athletic than him, absolutely we don't win without him

He played 24 minutes in a winning NCAA final, as a freshman.

 

[Mr. French]

This is so ridiculous, as are some takes here.

Alex Karaban, I expect you will develop really well here, and be more than a role player!

 

[Mr. French]

Oh I am convinced that we "can't have nice (threads)" anymore. It seems like too many people are making a concerted effort to crap them up.

(But yeah, your compromise works for me. )

This is funny.

 

[Husky Alien]

 

[selles]

Relax, we're just trying to induce the kid to come back for a third unofficial visit so he can get his thread back on track.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Relax, we're just trying to induce the kid to come back for a third unofficial visit so he can get his thread back on track.

Did Giffey take 3 unofficials?

 

[Huskybass]

Did Giffey take 3 unofficials?

No, role players are only allowed one unofficial visit. Ba dum bum. I'm here all week. Make sure you try the veal and tip your waiters and waitresses.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Check out the Podcast Thread. Great listen women & men

re: Alex Karaban that he (Sean MacFarland) has been speaking with:
You feel so much more wanted when guys on the team are recruiting you to play with them. It isn't just the coaching staff telling you that they want you and that it's a great place.

It’s not like I would root for UConn less if we had some questionable characters, but I love that our players and recruits seem to be such high-quality guys. It’s easy to pull for guys who clearly love being a Husky so much.

 

[Huskyforlife]

I guess people think "role player" is an insult.

 

[Hoops01]

We're probably going to agree to disagree based on definition, but objectively, he took 16% of the team's shots when he was on the court and had a usage rate less than 15%, 6th and 7th on the team, respectively. KenPom defines roles based on usage, and has that <15% usage in the "limited role" category, which is actually one category below offensive role player. There's 5 guys on the court and he took shots/used possessions 1/6 of the time.

He had a very defined role: floor spacer/3 point shooter and 3/4 wing defender and supplemental rebounder and very rarely did anything outside of that role. He was a pretty classic 3&D guy, which is one of the most well known role player roles.

He was very effective in that role. In fact, he's still a role player on the German national team, and the reason he is still being selected for the team at age 30 is because he knows and excels in said role.

BINGO! well said didn't want a gif bash when people kept going on about hoping Karaban would be 75% of giff it's not the underselling of giff it's the WAY UNDERSELLING OF KARABAN

 

[Kmba2Rmemba]

Neils Karaban

The ultimate non-role playing role player

 

[auror]

I just watched the 2014 Natty game because of this thread, so not all is lost.

Karaban, you got some expectations if you come to UConn..

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I guess people think "role player" is an insult.

It sort of is though in the context of this discussion?

 

[navery12]

Luke Murray is in AC to watch Karaban (amongst others I'm sure) today

 

[Huskyforlife]

Luke Murray is in AC to watch Karaban (amongst others I'm sure) today

Hope Dan made it too.

 

[seeya27]

Mods: please take this "Neils is a role player" to another thread. It is embarrassing to have included in an Alex Karban recruiting discussion.

Second, living in Dallas I see a lot of Luca Doncic in Alex. I am not suggesting he has the skills of Luca at all...but he brings to mind Luca in many ways. Same height (not nearly as thick and built obviously). Doesn't have nearly the point guard skills. But, I find other "similarities." Anyone else see a faint comparison, or am I delusional?

Last, I love the John Havlicek comparison to Neils. John was my basketball hero (I had 4 posters of him in my room growing up) and later had the opportunity to interview him when I was sports editor of the Daily Campus. In my marketing life, we had a sales celebration at CIGNA and Havlicek (along with Lawrence Taylor and Kathy Rigby) participated in a fun Olympics competition. Got to talk with John at length there.

His grandson later played basketball for Prospect youth basketball and he was often in attendance. The man was pure class and an extraordinary professional.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Second, living in Dallas I see a lot of Luca Doncic in Alex. I am not suggesting he has the skills of Luca at all...but he brings to mind Luca in many ways. Same height (not nearly as thick and built obviously). Doesn't have nearly the point guard skills. But, I find other "similarities." Anyone else see a faint comparison, or am I delusional?

So what are these "similarities"? you only listed things that are not the same...other than height

 

[MDHuskFan]

Mods: please take this "Neils is a role player" to another thread. It is embarrassing to have included in an Alex Karban recruiting discussion.

Second, living in Dallas I see a lot of Luca Doncic in Alex. I am not suggesting he has the skills of Luca at all...but he brings to mind Luca in many ways. Same height (not nearly as thick and built obviously). Doesn't have nearly the point guard skills. But, I find other "similarities." Anyone else see a faint comparison, or am I delusional?

Last, I love the John Havlicek comparison to Neils. John was my basketball hero (I had 4 posters of him in my room growing up) and later had the opportunity to interview him when I was sports editor of the Daily Campus. In my marketing life, we had a sales celebration at CIGNA and Havlicek (along with Lawrence Taylor and Kathy Rigby) participated in a fun Olympics competition. Got to talk with John at length there.

His grandson later played basketball for Prospect youth basketball and he was often in attendance. The man was pure class and an extraordinary professional.

Luka, Sam Dekker, the brother from everyone loves Raymond, all very similar in the sense they’re tall white men.
Non sarcastically though, I don’t see Luka in Karaban at all.