Big T we need ya!

[EBonz30]

Big T, we love your game, come play for the Huskies!!

It will be the best 4 years of your life, come play for Kevin Ollie and be part of the winningest program in the nation over the last 17 years!!

​

 

[rip7774]

I'm shocked we haven't reached out to some grad transfer 4s. The staff must love Taurean!

 

[EBonz30]

I'm shocked we haven't reached out to some grad transfer 4s. The staff must love Taurean!

How could you not love Taurean, big T is an absolute beast, this could be a huge 48 hours for the program if we can sign big T, really solidify this upcoming year and beyond.

 

[Hankster]

Big T, we love your game, come play for the Huskies!!

It will be the best 4 years of your life, come play for Kevin Ollie and be part of the winningest program in the nation over the last 17 years!!

​

The best 4 years? Unlikely. Three if were lucky.

 

[EBonz30]

The best 4 years? Unlikely. Three if were lucky.

Big T, 3 or 4 years, either way we would love to see you in the husky uniform.

Really complete this top 10 recruiting class and make it possibly one of the best classes in Uconn history.

Big T can't wait to see as a Husky!!

 

[Eskapeesto]

I miss the Big T show (Comcast public access). Any Danbury Yarders..?

 

[Ricker]

@EBonz30 have you seen Thompson in person much or at all? You are building up expectations for Thompson as a difference maker that will take big minutes at the 4 displacing Facey and Diarra. In the Brewster games I have attended, there was only a few minutes here or there that Thompson excelled, and he had a good game at Hoophall. Diarra out played him head to head at Brewster. He has a nice 10-12 ft jump shot, some moves around the basket, but doesn't have good skills if a stretch 4 makes him play defense outside the lane which is why he plays center at Brewster, he is only an adequate athlete, adequate rebounder, the offense doesn't run through him. He is a bit of a tweener at the 4-5 for us. I didn't see him in any post season all star games that he might have showed well in an unstructured setting, but in team play during the season he was merely a good player, not a drool over impact player. I'm not being negative, but if Thompson comes and Brown stays committed, then we have little to no room for some of the real appealing 2017 bigs that I think would have more impact. I have said in other threads that Thompson is another Facey who was also similarly ranked coming out of high school and that isn't bad, just redundant in my mind to what we have on the team. Elaborate if you have seen him differently because I'm open to being wrong. I'd like to want him more than I do.

 

[EBonz30]

@EBonz30 have you seen Thompson in person much or at all? You are building up expectations for Thompson as a difference maker that will take big minutes at the 4 displacing Facey and Diarra. In the Brewster games I have attended, there was only a few minutes here or there that Thompson excelled, and he had a good game at Hoophall. Diarra out played him head to head at Brewster. He has a nice 10-12 ft jump shot, some moves around the basket, but doesn't have good skills if a stretch 4 makes him play defense outside the lane which is why he plays center at Brewster, he is only an adequate athlete, adequate rebounder, the offense doesn't run through him. He is a bit of a tweener at the 4-5 for us. I didn't see him in any post season all star games that he might have showed well in an unstructured setting, but in team play during the season he was merely a good player, not a drool over impact player. I'm not being negative, but if Thompson comes and Brown stays committed, then we have little to no room for some of the real appealing 2017 bigs that I think would have more impact. I have said in other threads that Thompson is another Facey who was also similarly ranked coming out of high school and that isn't bad, just redundant in my mind to what we have on the team. Elaborate if you have seen him differently because I'm open to being wrong. I'd like to want him more than I do.

Ricker, it sounds like you have a pretty good scouting report on Big T. I haven't seen Big T in person, only on film, so obviously you would definitely have a better feel and better insight in who he is as a player. My take away is that he has very good body for a college 4 with a pretty decent touch around the basket. I think Facey would be a good comparison, but I also feel like Facey has underachieved throughout his college years, I think if Thompson can fill out his body he could be much more impactful player than Facey has been, obviously none of us know how much he loves the game or how bad he wants to be great.

More importantly I believe Thompson would give us some needed depth at the position this year, I believe Durham is going to be the guy but with his current injury it is the main reason I believe we need some more depth up
Front.

As far 2017 big men recruits, with Brimah and Facey gone, leaves us Diarra, Enoch, Brown, and Durham, all 4 players who might not have a huge impact in the upcoming year in which recruits would than not be worried or scared of being the guy come 2017-2018.

I know this is kind of the grid, but I haven't heard many people talk about Larrier on these boards, I believe he has a shot to be our best player next year, he is such a tremendous talent, I saw almost every game he played at VCU and although he made a lot of freshmen mistakes I thought his talent was overwhelming at times on the court. I believe his development and his play will have a lot to do with how good we are next year as a team.

 

[mauconnfan]

Great insight from both Ricker and Ebonz I will say this, they question for a kid with his size and ability is does he understand the game? I mean it's obvious Kentan and Amida are far behind many in understanding the intricacies of the game coming in therefore much tougher to teach. Does he have natural ability so he can learn to hedge and retreat as well as know where to help and when on D? Box out, he may not now but is he tough enough to get that and impact us there?

Wish we could see more video on the small things needed to show they understand the game and will be great students rather than them never missing a shot!

 

[EBonz30]

Great insight from both Ricker and Ebonz I will say this, they question for a kid with his size and ability is does he understand the game? I mean it's obvious Kentan and Amida are far behind many in understanding the intricacies of the game coming in therefore much tougher to teach. Does he have natural ability so he can learn to hedge and retreat as well as know where to help and when on D? Box out, he may not now but is he tough enough to get that and impact us there?

Wish we could see more video on the small things needed to show they understand the game and will be great students rather than them never missing a shot!

I understand your point, but I don't believe many kids coming out of high school know and understand all the ways to play the pick and roll and screen game on defense, obviously you have some kids who do, but it is not that usual a kid does.

Like I said before, besides what I see on the floor and talent, the two or three questions I would have for any player or recruit is...

How much do you like or love the game of basketball?

How great do you want to be and why do you want to be that great, what is driving you? (Caron Butler, great example, overachieved is whole career)

Basketball and playing defense is not rocket science.

 

[mauconnfan]

I understand your point, but I don't believe many kids coming out of high school know and understand all the ways to play the pick and roll and screen game on defense, obviously you have some kids who do, but it is not that usual a kid does.

Like I said before, besides what I see on the floor and talent, the two or three questions I would have for any player or recruit is...

How much do you like or love the game of basketball?

How great do you want to be and why do you want to be that great, what is driving you? (Caron Butler, great example, overachieved is whole career)

Basketball and playing defense is not rocket science.

Oh it's rocket science to some. We have 2 bigs who could be much more of an impact if they understood all of these things but in 3 years very little has been learned. I respectfully disagree on coming out of HS with understanding of the game, p&r etc etc.. Heck I knew it when I was 13-14 I hope someone is teaching them somewhere.

I don't think there is any doubt AB and KF love the game but loving it and knowing it are 2 very different things from what i see. Can't be great if nothing comes natural at any point of your career.

 

[EBonz30]

Oh it's rocket science to some. We have 2 bigs who could be much more of an impact if they understood all of these things but in 3 years very little has been learned. I respectfully disagree on coming out of HS with understanding of the game, p&r etc etc.. Heck I knew it when I was 13-14 I hope someone is teaching them somewhere.

I don't think there is any doubt AB and KF love the game but loving it and knowing it are 2 very different things from what i see. Can't be great if nothing comes natural at any point of your career.

Lol, good stuff.

 

[Mano]

Oh it's rocket science to some. We have 2 bigs who could be much more of an impact if they understood all of these things but in 3 years very little has been learned. I respectfully disagree on coming out of HS with understanding of the game, p&r etc etc.. Heck I knew it when I was 13-14 I hope someone is teaching them somewhere.

I don't think there is any doubt AB and KF love the game but loving it and knowing it are 2 very different things from what i see. Can't be great if nothing comes natural at any point of your career.

And you've unintentionally hit upon something that's definitely holding both AB and KF back, both of them didn't even start playing basketball until 16 and 15 respectively. By that age I was already playing for close to half my lifetime. I'm not saying it's not impossible to overcome, and certainly there are probably some great players that got late starts, and also they've got some of the best teachers and trainers around them, but it sure feels like its a major hurdle for these two in their understanding of the game.

 

[mauconnfan]

And you've unintentionally hit upon something that's definitely holding both AB and KF back, both of them didn't even start playing basketball until 16 and 15 respectively. By that age I was already playing for close to half my lifetime. I'm not saying it's not impossible to overcome, and certainly there are probably some great players that got late starts, and also they've got some of the best teachers and trainers around them, but it sure feels like its a major hurdle for these two in their understanding of the game.

Ok I get that fair point. But also by now they have both played enough basketball since they started to be in a better position to understand the game though right? I mean 3 months of practice per year and games, camps in the summer, summer leagues and then 30-35 games a year. They aren't rookies anymore I think it's fair to say "either you get it or you never will" after this season. Despite what many believe here they have the best teachers of the game to work with every day including the summer for certain hours. It's more than fair to expect AB could get a jump hook to the rim or at least square for one isn't it?

 

[Mano]

Ok I get that fair point. But also by now they have both played enough basketball since they started to be in a better position to understand the game though right? I mean 3 months of practice per year and games, camps in the summer, summer leagues and then 30-35 games a year. They aren't rookies anymore I think it's fair to say "either you get it or you never will" after this season. Despite what many believe here they have the best teachers of the game to work with every day including the summer for certain hours. It's more than fair to expect AB could get a jump hook to the rim or at least square for one isn't it?

I don't disagree. Certain aspects of both their games are severely lacking and haven't improved to the degree that I'm sure we all hoped it would have by now. I'm just unsure about what exactly is holding them back individually. I've no doubt the coaching staff drills them relentlessly about placement, defensive positioning, and rebounding position, and yet the game still appears to be moving to quickly for KF to process it effectively enough. For him, I'm hoping for an Armstrong-lite senior year, where the good minutes outweigh the ineffective minutes by a greater margin. As for AB, I've just never been able to get past it being a strength issue. It's not upperbody, it's all lowerbody. He just can't hold position without getting his center of gravity disturbed which seems to throw everything off. Quite frankly, I don't know how or if they can improve that.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't disagree. Certain aspects of both their games are severely lacking and haven't improved to the degree that I'm sure we all hoped it would have by now. I'm just unsure about what exactly is holding them back individually. I've no doubt the coaching staff drills them relentlessly about placement, defensive positioning, and rebounding position, and yet the game still appears to be moving to quickly for KF to process it effectively enough. For him, I'm hoping for an Armstrong-lite senior year, where the good minutes outweigh the ineffective minutes by a greater margin. As for AB, I've just never been able to get past it being a strength issue. It's not upperbody, it's all lowerbody. He just can't hold position without getting his center of gravity disturbed which seems to throw everything off. Quite frankly, I don't know how or if they can improve that.

Agree, and hope the same Mano.

 

[EBonz30]

C'mon Big T put a smile on our faces and commit to Uconn!

 

[Chief00]

I am not saying Brown isn't coming but I wouldn't plan on it

 

[joober jones]

Big T was a really good paper towel. I don't believe they're made anymore.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Big T, we love your game, come play for the Huskies!!

It will be the best 4 years of your life, come play for Kevin Ollie and be part of the winningest program in the nation over the last 17 years!!

​

"Big T, we need ya!" - This guy sounds as big of a deal as Ajou Deng! Come save the program Big T!