Are we a NCAA Tournament team next year?

[gtcam]

Without a serviceable big - no

 

[ucawn]

Can ag be the “alpha”

 

[JB75]

Even tho Jalen will be leaving, part of me thinks the offense will flow better with him gone. Cv and Gilbert will be fine fir the backcourt . Not gonna expect much from polley or sid - they ll be a bit better but not much. Carlton shud be better overall. I think akok and bouknight will deffly be better than Sid and polley are this year and prolly next year too. I wud also assume that Gaffney will be better than b Adams this year. Obviously hurleys gonna get a couple bangs that are going to replace Yakwe and diarra and cobb so at least we ll have more bodies - right now we have nothing- how could we not be better?

 

[upstater]

Teams like Pitt and Georgetown pop in my head right away because we've been recruiting against them but you see it around the country. Xavier Johnson, Mac McClung, Trey McGowens, and Akinjo are all doing big things and they weren't exactly highly ranked. It seems extremely rare that any of our freshmen do really big things their freshmen year.

I think we have a different definition of big things.

Pitt and Georgetown are not going to the NCAAs.

Do I think players can step in and do what Akinjo and those you named above are doing? Yes.

 

[GHSWolverines]

it all depends on who else we get. If PA commits and one player on the current roster transfers with a guy like TM comes here...then I say we have a good chance

 

[superjohn]

I think we have a different definition of big things.

Pitt and Georgetown are not going to the NCAAs.

Do I think players can step in and do what Akinjo and those you named above are doing? Yes.

I used them as an example because we've been recruiting the same people. They are doing big things for their teams as freshmen, neither are going to the NCAA most likely but they are both better than our team and they have freshmen who are getting 15 ppg and leading them to some big wins. My question is why doesn't that happen here? It's be a fairly long time since we had guys step in and be ready to contribute at a really high level.

 

[Scrutineer]

I think we tend to do just the opposite, and then post nasty grams about them when they don't meet expectations. I'd rather be surprised by the occasional impact freshman.

Tend to?

Isn't it the way of life here? Bouknight and Gaffney's commitments, followed by Akok's, led to a rising crescendo of expectations fueled by the "dam narrative".

"Kofi is the guy we need to give us credibility that we're back as a national contender, he's Jamaican and will be like Drummond, he'll clean out the opponents anywhere near the basket, etc." then, when he picked Illinois, the narrative became his mentor was the problem, there must be money involved, etc. so let's jump on the bandwagon of the next guy............Wahab.

God forgive the Boneyard if someone else comes here and turns out (Deng and Majok) to be nothing more than an athlete who can dunk.

 

[jayteeman]

we replace the coach....then we lose the best point guard in the league
you want to talk about playoffs?....playoffs?

 

[superjohn]

we replace the coach....then we lose the best point guard in the league
you want to talk about playoffs?....playoffs?

Alterique isn't going anywhere.

 

[Danzz]

Because freshmen can contribute but they rarely lead their teams. Look at our best players when they were freshmen.There are exceptions around the country but they are just that, exceptions.
We have a very good recruiting class but no can't miss MD's AA's.

 

[CL82]

we replace the coach....then we lose the best point guard in the league
you want to talk about playoffs?....playoffs?

Well... yeah, but mostly because of the first part.

 

[UConnDan97]

Ok @UConnDan97

If you think my undefeated basketball prediction was rough, wait until you hear me tell you about our upcoming undefeated season in football...

 

[jayteeman]

Alterique isn't going anywhere.

Nope....JA

 

[scotty0330]

Disagree, you look at the scoring and think it's irreplaceable but I don't think he has a good effect on the team overall.

Rob gray was the entire Houston team last year. Losing him and they got better. Could be the same with Adams. For all his scoring he is a liability on defense and lacks leadership. Let’s not overstate his value.

 

[UconnFanDC]

I can not predict the future but I hope we are. It would be great for the freshmen and returning players to overachieve and propel Uconn to another level. But wait, lets see if they can get something suprising done this year. It's never over until it's over.

 

[mauconnfan]

Need more info:

Alterique going to be healthy?
Christian staying?
Post grad (s) of impact? Big guy not necessarily a 5 but a big bodied 4 who can score a little, rebound and defend?
Wilson, Akok going to get better and contribute?
I think if AG, CV are here and the leaders it’s nive for the freshman to just be part of a good backcourt team rather than the focus of how we play in 19-20. But other teams have freshman who become impact players immediately so why not. All 3 have special qualities so maybe 1 or 2 show up ready day 1.

So much still to figure out I can’t give it a yes or no. As we are right now, no if I had to guess.

 

[billybud]

Watching games this year....

I'd think that UConn could be a bubble team or make the tournament in a higher seed.

BUT...

As others have posted...the team must play bigger and be stronger next season....need Carlton or someone to play stronger up front on both ends of the court.

 

[Yardigan]

Teams like Pitt and Georgetown pop in my head right away because we've been recruiting against them but you see it around the country. Xavier Johnson, Mac McClung, Trey McGowens, and Akinjo are all doing big things and they weren't exactly highly ranked. It seems extremely rare that any of our freshmen do really big things their freshmen year.

One of the great (recent) names in hoops....

 

[imno1]

Couple of my friends who are managers say that Akok is already the best player on the team. Absolutely dominant on defense, as well as being the best shooter and having the ability to dribble drive. It will help ease the gap that Jalen leaves but we will still see discrepancies since he had the ball and played a lot.

I’ve heard even better than Ajou Deng

 

[CL82]

It's interesting to see how individuals voted. Click on the vote total to see the specific votes. There are a lot of die hard, normally pretty optimistic guys who believe the NCAAs are too much to expect for the current personnel. Hopefully we pick up one more effective big. I think that is missing piece.

 

[Purple Stein]

Need a center

Pretty much this. I mean, if we get Precious, it's a different conversation. Otherwise, it's going to come down to what Danny can do to help Carlton down low (freshman, grad transfer, whatever).

 

[AfgHusky15]

Disagree, you look at the scoring and think it's irreplaceable but I don't think he has a good effect on the team overall.

This is a crazy take. Jalen Adams is the most talented player on the team. W/o Jalen we would lose the UCF game by 20, and we would lose other games by much more w/o Jalen.

Jalen is the most important player on the team. When he leaves there will be a huge void. Jalen attracts the most attention from opposing team’s D, which allows Vital to get open shots, and allows Alterique to penetrate better.

Jalen is the second leading scorer in the conference, and is shooting over 50% from the field. Of course his TO numbers are terrible but that does not outweigh all the good he brings with his play.

Again, crazy take by you @superjohn

 

[NYConn18]

A lot of the problem this year comes the establishment of Hurleys system defensively. The constant hustle with the press is wearing down players and causing more silly fouls and the FT discrepancy. Having to rely on many 3/4 stars who haven't been properly taught the way to slide your feet and rotate on defensive with a consistently high motor that Hurley demands is an obvious weakness. When in foul trouble, the lack of depth exposes us on both ends and forces Hurley to choose between running JA/CV/AG into the ground in hope to stay competitive on the offensive end and giving them a rest and hoping we don't get outscored by too much during that time.

With that being said, it is clear that our 3 new guys coming in have outstanding athleticism that will fit Hurley's scheme. Even with these 3 I only give us 2/3 more wins and a potential bubble team (SOS does not help) next year. Give it one more recruiting class with a 3 point shooter and a back to the basket big and I see us competing at the top of the conference for a long time.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Couple of my friends who are managers say that Akok is already the best player on the team. Absolutely dominant on defense, as well as being the best shooter and having the ability to dribble drive. It will help ease the gap that Jalen leaves but we will still see discrepancies since he had the ball and played a lot.

Oh no, did you have to go and do this? Ajou? Ferrari? Don't you know about the UConn curse?

 

[Jay-Bone]

Teams like Pitt and Georgetown pop in my head right away because we've been recruiting against them but you see it around the country. Xavier Johnson, Mac McClung, Trey McGowens, and Akinjo are all doing big things and they weren't exactly highly ranked. It seems extremely rare that any of our freshmen do really big things their freshmen year.

Brazdeikis is a pretty good example. 40th ranked recruit being the top scorer on a top 5 team. A team that was preseason ranked at 19. Boy could we have used him.