2022 Recruiting: - Alex Karaban | Page 8 | The Boneyard

2022 Recruiting: Alex Karaban

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Umami Zen said:
Not picking on you personally but no one did it better than Gretzky and in his era.. Not many hockey players had articulated this insight prior to Gretzky. I think your journalistic generalization of his talent is trivializing the unique skillset that was rarely displayed at his level by his peers.

Nadav had similar instincts on the basketball court.. Not exclusively unique to him but certainly noteworthy.

No need to fall into the Get a Job banter of critique over content so I'll move on .BTW.. Not picking on you personally.
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I also was not picking on Gretzky's skill or talent either. That you read it that way is bizarre. I am just saying the quote is as intellectually groundbreaking as the statement, "Water is wet." In fact, I always assumed that The Great One just kind of meant it tongue-in-cheek, in the way that one might say my previous example about aiming between the uprights. He may or may not have known he was also setting a trap for morons to reveal their stupidity.

Now I am picking on you personally.
 
Get a Job said:
I also was not picking on Gretzky's skill or talent either. That you read it that way is bizarre. I am just saying the quote is as intellectually groundbreaking as the statement, "Water is wet." In fact, I always assumed that The Great One just kind of meant it tongue-in-cheek, in the way that one might say my previous example about aiming between the uprights. He may or may not have known he was also setting a trap for morons to reveal their stupidity.

Now I am picking on you personally.
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What Gretzky or Dove could do was see the play developing and translate that in body movement earlier than others.

Gretzky wasn't trying to impart wisdom, he was just saying his goal was to get to a location before others could figure out what that location was on rink.

There really isn't any "wisdom" in sports. Batters want to see a pitch as early as possible to hit it. Guards try to lead their teammates with passes in basketball. QB's try to look off WR's to freeze DB's. DB's try to anticipate. A QB's throw..........

The greats are able to process the information and move in clutter to find space when others can't.
 
Looks like this thread has gotten derailed again by Karaban talk, so let's get back on topic.

I the old days, team practices were in the fieldhouse with a curtain pulled around the court for privacy, but you could sit up in the stands and see what was going on. I always took in early practices each year to see the new players in action, etc. There were two baskets set up between the curtain and the stands as an extra "court" for drills. I sat in the stands and watched the practice for awhile, and there was this guy down in front of me who would take a shot or two at one of the practice baskets, get down, touch the baseline, sprint to the other baseline, sprint back, pick up the ball and take another couple of shots at the hoop....again sprint to the other baseline, sprint back....... This was repeated by this guy throughout the entire practice with rests between several sets.

So, I asked someone else who was sitting there that I recognized, could have been the usually present Dee Rowe, "who was it doing this drill?" Whoever it was I asked, told me it was Nadav Henefeld, that he was waiting to be cleared to practice, so he was doing this on the side.

When I learned of his background in Israel and the requirement to have served in their army for three years, it was like: 'Oh, OK I get it now.'
 
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boog204 said:
I sometimes go back and watch the first half of the UConn-California game in the 2nd round of the Dream Season. You can literally see a player (Nadav) dominate every single intangible aspect of a basketball game without scoring. Passing lanes, tipping rebounds, the extra pass, spacing, etc. He was on a whole other level of bball IQ in that first half. Personified the "make everyone else better" idea.
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So well stated about Nadavs game boog. There are so many intracasies involved in how he impacted every game, many of which you missed if you couldn’t recognize. Again, just a special player!
 
mauconnfan said:
So well stated about Nadavs game boog. There are so many intracasies involved in how he impacted every game, many of which you missed if you couldn’t recognize. Again, just a special player!
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I went back and watched, again... He only put a few #'s on the scoresheet during the initial 17-2 run that destroyed California. But he was the catalyst for everything we did. They were scared of him on the press so they picked up their dribble early and turned it over. Offensively, he either led our press-break offense or in the half-court made the pass that led to the pass and got their zone out of rotation. With his height, he was skip passing over the 2-3 creating space for Smitty and Tate to penetrate the gaps.

He probably only had a rebound or two, but he was keeping the ball alive or tipping to teammates over and over. Raftery did a whole break down of all the things he was doing without putting any major #'s up. I think he finished with a fairly pedestrian 10 and 4 for the game and he absolutely dominated. We've never really had another player who was so dominant intangibly.
 
boog204 said:
I went back and watched, again... He only put a few #'s on the scoresheet during the initial 17-2 run that destroyed California. But he was the catalyst for everything we did. They were scared of him on the press so they picked up their dribble early and turned it over. Offensively, he either led our press-break offense or in the half-court made the pass that led to the pass and got their zone out of rotation. With his height, he was skip passing over the 2-3 creating space for Smitty and Tate to penetrate the gaps.

He probably only had a rebound or two, but he was keeping the ball alive or tipping to teammates over and over. Raftery did a whole break down of all the things he was doing without putting any major #'s up. I think he finished with a fairly pedestrian 10 and 4 for the game and he absolutely dominated. We've never really had another player who was so dominant intangibly.
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Boog. .My initial post suggesting some similarities between Nadav and AK was to compliment AK.. Has a very good BB IQ for his age and shares the ball well for a SF.

BTW. Did not want to detract from AK's attractiveness to the UConn Program(and this thread) by encouraging a Nadav narrative-as well-deserving as it is.

Hope AK wants to be part of #5
 
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Umami Zen said:
Boog. .My initial post suggesting some similarities between Nadav and AK was to compliment AK.. Has a very good BB IQ for his age and shares the ball well for a SF.

BTW. Did not want to detract from AK's attractiveness to the UConn Program(and this thread) by encouraging a Nadav narrative-as well-deserving as it is.

Hope AK wants to be part of #5
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Sorry for the derailment!
 
Ricker said:
However they are different, Nadav, Giffey, and Karaban make fundamental plays that lead to winning.

Nadav had the major deep shots that gave us the key back to back home wins vs Syracuse and Georgetown at the HCC that has always stayed with me as the key marker that we were a program to be reckoned with. His passing lane anticipation I still haven't seen from any player over the past 30 years. Most guys with a lot of steals get them with quickness. Nadav was all IQ. Karaban does many things better than Nadav but not that. I think my very first post on Karaban I may have mentioned or compared him to Giffey as a senior. That's because Giffey came in at 6'6/6'5 with a game comparable to Jamaal Coombs-McDaniel. He literally grew while he was at UConn. Freshman Giffey to freshman Karaban isn't useful.

If you watch the Karaban highlight video around post #10 in this thread, you are actually watching what you would see in person on every occasion I have seen him, (about 6x live). He impacts every possession he is in the game. Sometimes it is subtle by disallowing an entry pass an entire possession, and often it is in the highlight reel. Hawkins seems to glide and pick his spots, Karaban influences every offensive and defensive possession somehow. He doesn't make everything, but I never saw him go cold or miss bunnies. Just read what analysts have said that is posted in this thread. The kid is effective.

Don't overthink techniques, form, etc. The winning and the personal numbers are there game after game against the best competition there is. Yeah rah rah staff. Give me a K...
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Nadav had "situational awareness" and made steals look effortless.

For example, he instinctively knew there were limited passing options for an opponent with the ball who was being double teamed on the sideline near midcourt or at midcourt near the sideline. He made countless steals by understanding that situation and others, reading the location of the other players and "shading" in the right direction to make the steal.
 
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boog204 said:
I went back and watched, again... He only put a few #'s on the scoresheet during the initial 17-2 run that destroyed California. But he was the catalyst for everything we did. They were scared of him on the press so they picked up their dribble early and turned it over. Offensively, he either led our press-break offense or in the half-court made the pass that led to the pass and got their zone out of rotation. With his height, he was skip passing over the 2-3 creating space for Smitty and Tate to penetrate the gaps.

He probably only had a rebound or two, but he was keeping the ball alive or tipping to teammates over and over. Raftery did a whole break down of all the things he was doing without putting any major #'s up. I think he finished with a fairly pedestrian 10 and 4 for the game and he absolutely dominated. We've never really had another player who was so dominant intangibly.
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Boog, the Cal game is probably one of my top 3 games to replay. Cal was completely stymied and at times frozen to deal with the press. Nadav's intuitive play was just remarkable.

He also had remarkably quick hands. There were many times throughout that season that he would approach a ball handler and just literally snatch the ball from his possession. Leaving the viewer asking, "How did he do that,?" He just approached the game differently than his contemporaries and it was beautiful to watch.
 
boog204 said:
Sorry for the derailment!
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IMO.. Your contribution was insightful/honest/sincere.. Not about you.. I guess I didn't anticipate the awesome positivity and appreciation for Nadav still residing among Yarders. As I said.. One of my all-time favorite UConn players.

Thinking I was more the contributor to a temporary "derailment" by mentioning Dove as an example of a player that AK reminds me of in recent history. BB IQ and non-scoring contributions as you pointed out.

I was expecting to get called out by the derailment guys but so far.They've given me a pass on this unintentional one.
 
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Umami Zen said:
IMO.. Your contribution was insightful/honest/sincere.. Not about you.. I guess I didn't anticipate the awesome positivity and appreciation for Nadav still residing among Yarders. As I said.. One of my all-time favorite UConn players.

Thinking I was more the contributor to a temporary "derailment" by mentioning Dove as an example of a player that AK reminds me of in recent history. BB IQ and non-scoring contributions as you pointed out.

I was expecting to get called out by the derailment guys but so far.They've given me a pass on this unintentional one.
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I was 9 years old when Nadav "hit" so he is my first truly positive UConn memory. I vaguely remember the NIT Championship team, but I did not have the connection to that team that I did with the 89-90 one. I think any time Nadav is brought up on this board we go into reminiscing mode and it's tough to get out of it. That being said, I really like Karaban and hope we snag him. Would be a perfect addition at the 3/4.
 
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