Another year, another two lottery picks.

[Palatine]

The heights this program has achieved are really special. Congrats to AD and Lamb.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

4 in the last 4 years

 

[upstater]

I think these two are going to have special careers in the NBA. A few years from now, Kemba, Andre and Lamb will be solid starters and 15 point a game contributors.

 

[freescooter]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

 

[aceboon]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

Without Jeremy this program doesn't have a 3rd title. UConn doesn't even get to a Final 4 and have a chance to win a title if he doesn't have the games he had against SDSU and AZ. Not sure how you can't see that and how it doesn't "move your needle", but then again you usually take the moronic route at looking at things.

 

[specialisthusky]

it must take alot to move your needle...

 

[Huskies4ever]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

Lamb was the second wheel on a national championship team. I loved his game. I agree, I would have liked to have seen longer Husky tenures from the both of them.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

We can only hope that you just plain forgot that Jeremy Lamb was the 2nd best player on the 2011 National Championship team.

 

[businesslawyer]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

I also care far, far more about NCAA performance than how a player is thought of by NBA scouts. But ignoring what Lamb accomplished while he was here is bizarre.

 

[huskiesnyc]

During the 11 game BE/NCAA run it seemed like Lamb hit a clutch floater, or steal for a coast to coast dunk in every game. Without Lamb we aren't winning a 3rd National Championship. The dude earned a lifetime pass for his 2011 contributions in my book

 

[champs99and04]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

I feel like you try to post the stupidest possible reaction at all times in order to get a rise out of people. If you count an irreplaceable piece to a team that won the National Championship as "not moving the needle", then it would be hard to take anything you say here very seriously, wouldn't you agree?

 

[Palatine]

Anyone who believes that this long run of excellence is possible without lottery picks is kidding themselves.

Ask JC how important the NBA draft is to recruiting.

 

[Palatine]

Anyone who believes that this long run of excellence is possible without lottery picks is kidding themselves.

Ask JC how important the NBA draft is to recruiting.

BTW, there were NBA lottery picks on every UConn NC team. Multiple on 2004 and 2011.

 

[Tenspro2002]

To play devil's advocate: you could make the point that as far as what Lamb accomplished in his second year, when he was supposed to be a go-to-guy and a leader, was far short of what our past lottery picks have accomplished as the #1 option.

Guys like Ray, Rip, Caron, Emeka, and Kemba accomplished much more under the burden of leading their teams than Lamb did.

 

[freescooter]

During the 11 game BE/NCAA run it seemed like Lamb hit a clutch floater, or steal for a coast to coast dunk in every game. Without Lamb we aren't winning a 3rd National Championship. The dude earned a lifetime pass for his 2011 contributions in my book

Pretending he was somehow more important than Kemba and even Orkiaki in that run is an interesting view. But OK...my view is that his accomplishment while at UConn are on the lower end for our lottery picks. He made some shots, but let's be real. That team began and ended with one guy and it wasn't Jeremy Lamb. Everyone else was backgound music. When it ame time to step into the role as the man, he was nothing more than average, with a tendncy to disapear in some critical moments.

 

[freescooter]

To play devil's advocate: you could make the point that as far as what Lamb accomplished in his second year, when he was supposed to be a go-to-guy and a leader, was far short of what our past lottery picks have accomplished as the #1 option.

Guys like Ray, Rip, Caron, Emeka, and Kemba accomplished much more under the burden of leading their teams than Lamb did.

That is really the point. Not saying he was a bad player, just that his accomplishments were modest compared to most UONN lottery picks.

 

[champs99and04]

To play devil's advocate: you could make the point that as far as what Lamb accomplished in his second year, when he was supposed to be a go-to-guy and a leader, was far short of what our past lottery picks have accomplished as the #1 option.

Guys like Ray, Rip, Caron, Emeka, and Kemba accomplished much more under the burden of leading their teams than Lamb did.

You would likely be correct, although to be fair, the aforementioned guys had a better supporting cast and more functional team than Lamb had this past year. Rip, Caron, Emeka, Ray, and Kemba also did not have the disadvantage of playing out the season with their HOF coach sidelined for much of the time. Also, all but Caron were upper-classmen when they really were able to showcase their developed leadership skills and lead the team to the promise land.

Under different circumstances, I could certainly see Lamb leading UConn to the sweet 16 or further during ihs sophmore season. UConn had a lot of problems last year, and Lamb was at the very bottom of the list, given he was our only consistent offensive scorer all season long.

Even if you do take the viewpoint that Lamb was not able to fill the shoes of the previously mentioned players, it's silly and downright disrespectful to act as if Lamb did not have an astronimcal impact on this program. As I've stated before, UConn's alumni can be broken into tiers. The first tier would contain Donyell, Kemba, Caron, Rip, Ray, Ben, and Emeka, and the second tier would contain guys like Lamb, Khalid, Ricky, Hash, Rudy, etc. There is a huge difference between the stance freescooter is taking and the position you have decided to take.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Pretending he was somehow more important than Kemba and even Orkiaki in that run is an interesting view. But OK...my view is that his accomplishment while at UConn are on the lower end for our lottery picks. He made some shots, but let's be real. That team began and ended with one guy and it wasn't Jeremy Lamb. Everyone else was backgound music. When it ame time to step into the role as the man, he was nothing more than average, with a tendncy to disapear in some critical moments.

Jeremy Lamb made 1st Team All-Big East as "the man" his sophomore year. On what planet is that "nothing more than average?"

 

[Palatine]

For all the complaining about this year's team, Calhoun's back was a bigger issue.

Tough to build chemistry when you never know who is going to be on the bench. Blaming Lamb or Napier or Drummond is silly. Players shuffled in and out of the line up. JC was in and out and in and out.

The team had no continuity to build cohesion. If the team had a healthy JC and an every game Boatright for a full season, it's a much better team.

 

[Scot-e]

Really- get different meds.

While Kemba was the man -what don't you get about us not winning without our second leading scorer on the floor. JL stepped it up big time during that run and was absolutely a beast. That run was magic and it would not have happened without JL.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Pretending he was somehow more important than Kemba and even Orkiaki in that run is an interesting view. But OK...my view is that his accomplishment while at UConn are on the lower end for our lottery picks. He made some shots, but let's be real. That team began and ended with one guy and it wasn't Jeremy Lamb. Everyone else was backgound music. When it ame time to step into the role as the man, he was nothing more than average, with a tendncy to disapear in some critical moments.

2nd best player on a Big East Championship and National Championship team as a freshman.
All Big East 1st team as a sophomore.

You are out of your mind.

 

[nomar]

Not sure about you guys, but I'd much rather have a deep NCAA run and zero lottery picks than lose in the first round with 2. Not to knock Drummond, but his contribution to UConn basketball is not particularly significant. Lamb, too was more the 2nd wheel than a go to guy. When I think of past UConn lottery picks, they don't even move the needle as far as their contribution to the program's history goes.

http://www.sadtrombone.com/

 

[Vuce]

Anyone who believes that this long run of excellence is possible without lottery picks is kidding themselves.

Ask JC how important the NBA draft is to recruiting.

Yes - this. It helps.....a lot.

 

[mauconnfan]

Funny how a kid who was hardly a Top 150 kid in HS, comes to UConn and helps in a huge way to win a NC his frosh year then averages 18 a game his soph year and still is hammered by fans on this board. He was expected to be the go-to guy on team that ended up not having much identity or interior game. He had his coach out for a major amount of time and the 2nd best guard wasn't playing for 8 games..........his year was nothing short of fantastic as he was doubled and even tripled on occasion with the other teams knowing we couldn't punch it inside.........amazing how people could find fault with Jeremy.

 

[freescooter]

I don't find fault with him. He is a very good player. Just saying that in the pantheon of UConn basketball greats he isn't going to be particularly memorable. I see him closer to Charlie Villanueva than Kemba Walker, Caron Butler, Rip, Ray , Okafor et al. It isn't a comment on his abilities, nor on his potential at the next level, just that when people make the look back at great UConn players to make the next All-something team, Lamb won't be on it. He was the 3rd most important guy on the Championship team, and if you look at the whole season, I don't think there can be any argument on that, and he was disappointing last season when he was looked to for leadership. He might be a great pro, though I see him as probably having a long but undistinguished career as one of those guys who plays for 7 teams over 15 years or something. Obvioulsy hard to project, though.