Amida Brimah

[SeattleHoop]

I am not that worried about Wolf deciding not to come to back, as others appear to be. I wish him luck, but think about it, Nolan can probably jump a foot higher than Wolf, Facey has a great leap and so does Daniels. Add Olander and 7 footer Brimah to the mix I actually think we are going to a lot better on the boards than we were last year. Will we dominate the glass? Hell no, but I think they will hold it down enough for our guards to get done what they need to get done.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I think that Wolf brought 2 things that no one else did last year. First, strong and quick interior players often killed us. Wolf was able to stop them better than others by a combination of height and ability to handle some bulk. TO would get blown by and not be able to recover and other guys were not strong or tall enough to really stop them. Giff was doing better at the end of the year.

Secondly, Wolf had the awareness and stones to try and make plays. He made some big baskets when we desperately needed someone else who could score. TO would often get stuffed and other guys would often not look to shoot anything more than a putback.

Having said that, perhaps Nolan, Facey, and Brimah can develop and contribute in other ways. I still wonder how we will defend those 6'7" and 230 lb. PF's who killed us last year. It's funny how The Boneyard has completely written off Tyler O when he still might be odds on favorite to start the year at center. I do not suggest he should, just that he could. I would rather see the best of Nolan, Facey, and Brimah get the nod, but the coaches may not go that direction with Tyler a senior.

 

[BearJWS]

I am thinking Brimah can give us something like 4 ppg, 5 rpg & 1.5 bpg, if Wolf is not back. You can't teach height. Brimah would be the tallest guy on the roster, with extremely long arms. Plus Brimah is an excellent leaper, based on him finishing 3rd at the FL State high jump. I really don't expect to see Facey at Center. I think Olander will start at Center & Daniels at PF.... with Brimah & Facey coming in as defensive players at Center & PF, respectively. Then Nolan can swing between PF/Center if Wolf is not back.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I am thinking Brimah can give us something like 4 ppg, 5 rpg & 1.5 bpg, if Wolf is not back. You can't teach height. Brimah would be the tallest guy on the roster, with extremely long arms. Plus Brimah is an excellent leaper, based on him finishing 3rd at the FL State high jump. I really don't expect to see Facey at Center. I think Olander will start at Center & Daniels at PF.... with Brimah & Facey coming in as defensive players at Center & PF, respectively. Then Nolan can swing between PF/Center if Wolf is not back.

I think the chances of Brimah being ahead of Nolan on the depth chart are very, very slim.

 

[mauconnfan]

I think the chances of Brimah being ahead of Nolan on the depth chart are very, very slim.

I agree.....if Phil Nolan gained confidence from his solid performances towards the latter part of the year then he should be fine. If he really finds himself as i think there's a lot more he can offer, it could be real interesting. I am interested in seeing how he looks as there was a noticeable difference in his body thickness after his time in Storrs by season's end. If he continues that trend he could be a much stronger kid as a soph for sure. Again not 7' which hurts but could bring plenty to the table. Brimah still has a ways to go but you can't "teach" that wingspan for sure.........has to be a spot for that unless they plan on redshirting someone!

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I think a lot of us are assuming that there is more playing time available to be split amongst our big guys than there actually is. If DeAndre Daniels has the type of year we expect him to have, he's going to be playing 30-35 minutes per game at PF - just like last year. Giffey is too good of a player to be kept on the bench, so he's going to pick up some minutes at PF as well - just like last year.

We are completely set at the 1-4 spots. Napier, Boatright, Calhoun, Daniels, Giffey, Kromah, and Samuel are going to get almost 100% of the minutes at those four positions.

There's only one spot open. My guess is that Nolan and Olander get the majority of the minutes early on, with Facey earning a bigger role as the season progresses.

 

[BearJWS]

I think the chances of Brimah being ahead of Nolan on the depth chart are very, very slim.

I disagree. Nolan was behind T.O., Wolf & Giffey at depth @ Center last year. Considering how poor Center play last year was for us, that says something. He only got P.T. because Wolf was suspended and Olander & Giffey got hurt. Ollie would have played him more if he was that good. Nolan had one good game all season against Cinci. People act like his 2 pt & 6 reb games against PC & S.FL were awesome games. They were encouraging. Brimah has 2" on Nolan on height, a far longer reach, is more athletic, is a better shot blocker, rebounder & defender. I can see modest improvements in Nolan for next season, but I don't see him as ahead of Brimah. It may be a wash offensively, because neither seems to score beyond 5 feet.

 

[Scot-e]

I think the key is just having more bodies to throw in the paint- they do not have to score much next year or we will be in big trouble. With DD, SN and Boat carrying the load- we just need solid D and rebounds.

 

[mauconnfan]

I disagree. Nolan was behind T.O., Wolf & Giffey at depth @ Center last year. Considering how poor Center play last year was for us, that says something. He only got P.T. because Wolf was suspended and Olander & Giffey got hurt. Ollie would have played him more if he was that good. Nolan had one good game all season against Cinci. People act like his 2 pt & 6 reb games against PC & S.FL were awesome games. They were encouraging. Brimah has 2" on Nolan on height, a far longer reach, is more athletic, is a better shot blocker, rebounder & defender. I can see modest improvements in Nolan for next season, but I don't see him as ahead of Brimah. It may be a wash offensively, because neither seems to score beyond 5 feet.

He actually was very solid in most of his last 4-5 games with very visible improvement and confidence.........He showed he could play in a role for sure, whether he can be more than that if Wolf does not return is an unknown. Having said that Brimah is very much an unknown and we will need to see a lot more from him before we can even speculate. Tyler needs to be more consistent and get better feet to end all of his competition off at the position.

The end result is we will need all hands on deck especially if EW stays in Germany!

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I disagree. Nolan was behind T.O., Wolf & Giffey at depth @ Center last year. Considering how poor Center play last year was for us, that says something. He only got P.T. because Wolf was suspended and Olander & Giffey got hurt. Ollie would have played him more if he was that good. Nolan had one good game all season against Cinci. People act like his 2 pt & 6 reb games against PC & S.FL were awesome games. They were encouraging. Brimah has 2" on Nolan on height, a far longer reach, is more athletic, is a better shot blocker, rebounder & defender. I can see modest improvements in Nolan for next season, but I don't see him as ahead of Brimah. It may be a wash offensively, because neither seems to score beyond 5 feet.

We shall see how it plays out, but I do not see Amida being more athletic than Nolan. Nolan runs the court extremely well and also showed good lateral quickness for his size. Late in the season, he started to play with some aggression and did well at it, becoming more of a factor. He would show glimpses of very good play, followed by disappearing for a while. I could be very wrong, but I would be very surprised if Amida ran the court or moved laterally as well as Nolan.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I disagree. Nolan was behind T.O., Wolf & Giffey at depth @ Center last year. Considering how poor Center play last year was for us, that says something. He only got P.T. because Wolf was suspended and Olander & Giffey got hurt. Ollie would have played him more if he was that good. Nolan had one good game all season against Cinci. People act like his 2 pt & 6 reb games against PC & S.FL were awesome games. They were encouraging. Brimah has 2" on Nolan on height, a far longer reach, is more athletic, is a better shot blocker, rebounder & defender. I can see modest improvements in Nolan for next season, but I don't see him as ahead of Brimah. It may be a wash offensively, because neither seems to score beyond 5 feet.

The only part of your comparison of Brimah vs Nolan that is remotely based in fact is Brimah being taller than Nolan. On what basis is Brimah a better shot blocker, rebounder, and defender? Because of some youtube clips where he blocked a lot of shots and grabbed a lot of rebounds against 6'2'' high schoolers?

 

[BearJWS]

The only part of your comparison of Brimah vs Nolan that is remotely based in fact is Brimah being taller than Nolan. On what basis is Brimah a better shot blocker, rebounder, and defender? Because of some youtube clips where he blocked a lot of shots and grabbed a lot of rebounds against 6'2'' high schoolers?

Because Brimah averaged nearly a triple double in a competitive Miami, FL league. He wasn't always playing against 6'2"kids all the time as you claim. When you have a 6'11" guy finishing 3rd in the FL state high jump, you know you have an athlete. Nolan put up 1.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg last year. I don't think Nolan showed anything impressive athletically & I'm even trying to remember if he had an actual dunk last year. I see Nolan more as following an Hilston Armstrong / Gavin Edwards path... baby steps. Brimah's going to be blocking shots right off the bat, protecting the rim better than anyone else on the team. I see Facey being similar at the PF role. Both these guys are noted high energy guys.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Because Brimah averaged nearly a triple double in a competitive Miami, FL league. He wasn't always playing against 6'2"kids all the time as you claim. When you have a 6'11" guy finishing 3rd in the FL state high jump, you know you have an athlete. Nolan put up 1.4 ppg, 2.1 rpg last year. I don't think Nolan showed anything impressive athletically & I'm even trying to remember if he had an actual dunk last year. I see Nolan more as following an Hilston Armstrong / Gavin Edwards path... baby steps. Brimah's going to be blocking shots right off the bat, protecting the rim better than anyone else on the team. I see Facey being similar at the PF role. Both these guys are noted high energy guys.

You're going to be extremely disappointed in how skinny and raw Brimah is. When you're 7 feet tall and athletic enough to get a D1 scholarship, it's not as hard as you think to average a triple double as a high school senior. Yes, he runs like a deer. But he's going to get pushed around. Forget the games - he's going to get pushed around by his older, stronger teammates in practice.

The fact is, he's a completely under the radar recruit who did not play against great competition in high school. Forget the fact that Nolan was considered a better get from a recruiting standpoint, he has a full year of weight training and development on Brimah. He held his own against legitimate competition once Wolf left the team. We need to see Brimah do the same, even in the preseason scrimmages against D2 teams, before we can consider him ahead of Nolan on the depth chart.

Amida wasn't recruited here to solve our big man problems from day 1. This is the type of recruit who would be redshirted if we had a traditional Uconn frontcourt, with hopes of getting something out of him in the second half of his career.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I just hope Brimah falls in love with the dinner table and spends a lot of time in the gym. And listen to the coaches. If he does that I'd call it a successful freshman campaign.

 

[sledog]

'Nolan can probably jump a foot higher than Wolf, ...'


Did Wolf's feet actually leave the floor?????