2022 Recruiting: Alex Karaban

[Get a Job]

KInd of reminds me of Gretzky's characterization of his approach to hockey when asked.."How do you explain why you're always in the right position to score or assist on a play..Right place/right time.?" He said he tried to not to be where the puck is/was but rather where he thought it was going to be/end up. Thinking ahead .

Sports IQ on another level. Different sport but similar concept. Dav was the same way.

I don't know why this piece of Gretzky's "wisdom" is so often cited as if it is revelatory. Most animals try to "skate to where the puck will be," whatever that may mean for a given creature. Otherwise, they would never be able to move, eat, etc. To me, this is as academic as saying, "Well, you see, my secret is shooting the puck between the uprights and under the crossbar."

Not picking on you personally.

 

[pj]

I don't know why this piece of Gretzky's "wisdom" is so often cited as if it is revelatory. Most animals try to "skate to where the puck will be," whatever that may mean for a given creature. Otherwise, they would never be able to move, eat, etc. To me, this is as academic as saying, "Well, you see, my secret is shooting the puck between the uprights and under the crossbar."

Not picking on you personally.

It's not quite so simple. Mediocre scorers assume the most likely outcome, which is skillful play on the part of the opponent, and optimize for that. Great scorers know that most goals come off mistakes by the opponent, and they position themselves for the most likely mistake. It may happen only 5% of the time but when it does they get a goal out of it. Gretzky had great judgment about which scenario to position himself for.

 

[Get a Job]

It's not quite so simple. Mediocre scorers assume the most likely outcome, which is skillful play on the part of the opponent, and optimize for that. Great scorers know that most goals come off mistakes by the opponent, and they position themselves for the most likely mistake. It may happen only 5% of the time but when it does they get a goal out of it. Gretzky had great judgment about which scenario to position himself for.

Now that's revelatory! But that doesn't change the fact that the above-quoted cliché is trite, bordering on meaningless.

 

[tuvent08]

 

[Umami Zen]

I don't know why this piece of Gretzky's "wisdom" is so often cited as if it is revelatory. Most animals try to "skate to where the puck will be," whatever that may mean for a given creature. Otherwise, they would never be able to move, eat, etc. To me, this is as academic as saying, "Well, you see, my secret is shooting the puck between the uprights and under the crossbar."

Not picking on you personally.

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.

 

[Huskyforlife]

wow

 

[bazzdog]

Nadav was the most important individual in that season’s full court press. His ability to anticipate passes and intercept them was uncanny.

The Gaza stripper

 

[uchusky32]

wow

Beer belly can shot!

 

[MDHuskFan]

Beer belly can shot!

Lock him up ASAP

 

[husky429]

wow

Holy crap.

He had another 22 point outing yesterday at Pangos too. Kid is due for a huge rankings bump if these evaluators have eyes.

FWIW his performances so far were

7 PTS
9 REB
0 AST

2 TO
1 BLK
0 STL

3/9 FG
1/6 3FG
0/0 FT

---

22 PTS
3 REB
4 AST

1 TO
1 BLK
0 STL

7/10 FG
4/5 3FG
4/4 FT

---

14 PTS
5 REB
1 AST

1 TO
0 BLK
0 STL

6/12 FG
2/6 3FG
0/0 FT

You can find any of the box scores here... the top 30 game the tweet references isn't up yet. Pangos21.all-americancamp.game.schedule

Westry, Williams, Epps, Bowen, Lively, Isaiah Miranda were also there. I think that's it for our recruits. Also Corey Floyd.

 

[Get a Job]

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.

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.

 

[Chin Diesel]

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.

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.

 

[superjohn]

Lock him up ASAP

Sure sounds good with Karaban and Clingan.

 

[Husky1972]

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.'

 

[Umami Zen]

Hoping AK enjoys his time on campus. Maybe Ricker could help with the tour or a shake at the Dairy Bar..

 

[Watchdog]

What on earth are you talking about?

It's not hard to figure out. He's so good he's not fair to the opponents.....

 

[WhereistheDove?]

It's not hard to figure out. He's so good he's not fair to the opponents.....

Very "woke" of you...

 

[seeya27]

 

[UConnKev]

 

[UConnKev]

 

[BoukofJames]

Didn’t he get fired from Cincinnati??

/s

 

[superjohn]

Karaban and Clingan come on down.

 

[bendm]

glad he's wasting his first 2 visits

 

[Mr. French]

Sheesh great shooting

 

[Slick]

T

Those pangos shirts are pretty damn ugly, and they make Karaban look like he has a huge beer gut.

I think they substituted my UPS driver in this picture!