Boat and Smith had great games

[huskymagic]

Daniels has done or, more important in your comparison, said nothing to warrant this. I'm not sure why you dislike him so much. He's clearly more athletic than Giffey. At this stage, he doesn't fit with the offense very well.

But he is still averaging, across the board, higher numbers in every measurable stat than Giffey in only a few more minutes per game. I think that he can be a very strong contributor to this team going forward. Giffey's defense has been better than Daniels', so I can see a reason why Giffey can get more minutes. But Daniels has a brighter future, and so I didn't mind seeing him on the floor.

Coaches just need to give one of them more extended minutes so they can get comfortable with the rotation. This has taken too long, in my opinion. Too much shuffling.

Daniels wont stay long at UCONN because he wont get a chance to play starters minutes at UCONN because he just isnt that good. He will transfer in order to play and start somewhere at a lesser Big Conference program where he can improve his game. He is nice kid, but I dont see him more than 2 years in Storrs.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Daniels wont stay long at UCONN because he wont get a chance to play starters minutes at UCONN because he just isnt that good. He will transfer in order to play and start somewhere at a lesser Big Conference program where he can improve his game. He is nice kid, but I dont see him more than 2 years in Storrs.

As you are relatively new here, I'll point out that one of the few rules here is that there is no speculating about transfers.

 

[huskymagic]

As you are relatively new here, I'll point out that one of the few rules here is that there is no speculating about transfers.

As you are relatively new here, I'll point out that one of the few rules here is that there is no speculating about transfers.

true and yea no need to stir the pot. In other news, we have bigger things to worry about but i like the fact that South Florida is making our win against them look even better. That point guard they have Anthony Collins has really turned their year around. I have been watching him since we played them at South Florida.

 

[MarkT]

I really am not sure why most people love his play, hence I said:


To take a guess: I'm not trying to impugn most people's judgment, but I generally think he doesn't do enough to justify the praise given. He's conservative on the court, he doesn't turn the ball over. I think people really like that. But that doesn't really justify the love because he doesn't produce. In this case, play may be the wrong word. The love doesn't match the production/results would have been better and more appropriate.

Do I think some people like him particularly because he is white? This will probably get me killed, but I'd bet money some fans like root for him a little extra because of that. That doesn't mean those fans don't like the rest of the team. My dad was like that. Huge UConn fan. His favorite players were Allen, El-Amin, Henefeld, Freeman among others. But he did always like it when there was a white kid on the team that got minutes and performed.

A lot of the talk about his "effort," his "bb IQ" and whatnot feels somewhat (likely unintentionally) coded to me, especially when contrasted with how willing some people are willing to call the rest of the players "lazy."

I'm sure now I'll get killed for this. Oh well.

Not sure what you see in Daniels, I'm sure he is a nice kid - he just isn't a high level basketball talent. You can argue with me if you want, since the season started I came out and said that Daniels was overrated and that we lost out when Mo Harkless Decommited - everyone seemed to think Daniels is a stud and by the end of the season he would be an important key to the team. From watching games, it looks like Daniels has regressed as a player (coaches seem to see the same thing, his minutes have gone down substantially from beginning of season) - he's not the only player tho, Bazz seems to have taken a step back as well. Regarding Giffey, I don't think he is anything special either - just someone they put in knowing he will probably leave it all on the court but he's just not that good and therefore has no impact on the game (in either way, they put him in to give others a breather). With that said, some may argue this team was more talented than last years - I think it just shows how important Kemba was to the team. Kemba was a great player (and a great person), seems what we miss the most is his leadership - if the game was on the line he wanted the ball and you could see it (and how confident he was), this year we have no leader. There's no one on the team (Bazz will take the shot, just seems like his shot selection is poor) that will demand the ball in the spotlight and no one that can get the team motivated to stop the opponents runs (5-7 min where the other team looks like they are at shoot-arounds or in lay-up lines).

 

[huskymagic]

Not sure what you see in Daniels, I'm sure he is a nice kid - he just isn't a high level basketball talent. You can argue with me if you want, since the season started I came out and said that Daniels was overrated and that we lost out when Mo Harkless Decommited - everyone seemed to think Daniels is a stud and by the end of the season he would be an important key to the team. From watching games, it looks like Daniels has regressed as a player (coaches seem to see the same thing, his minutes have gone down substantially from beginning of season) - he's not the only player tho, Bazz seems to have taken a step back as well. Regarding Giffey, I don't think he is anything special either - just someone they put in knowing he will probably leave it all on the court but he's just not that good and therefore has no impact on the game (in either way, they put him in to give others a breather). With that said, some may argue this team was more talented than last years - I think it just shows how important Kemba was to the team. Kemba was a great player (and a great person), seems what we miss the most is his leadership - if the game was on the line he wanted the ball and you could see it (and how confident he was), this year we have no leader. There's no one on the team (Bazz will take the shot, just seems like his shot selection is poor) that will demand the ball in the spotlight and no one that can get the team motivated to stop the opponents runs (5-7 min where the other team looks like they are at shoot-arounds or in lay-up lines).

The real marky T is back on the boneyard lol. I have been saying the same thing you have been saying from the beginning as well mark but you know negative news doesnt fit well in any team's forum especially with the recruiting class we had coming in.

P.S. The guy that should be taking the shots because he has the swagger, the confidence, and the ability to take shots in critical moments or to stop other team's runs in Ryan Boatright, but he is forced to defer to passive players like Lamb who is not that guy but is a secondary option. Lamb is already thinking about spring break and the NBA draft to bother worrying about making the NCAA tournament.

 

[MarkT]

I agree with you about Boatright, I think he has shown that he has the ability to be a leader both vocally and with his play. While Drummond's potential is sky high (and he will be a high draft pick cause of it) I think Boatright has been by far the best of the freshman. I also agree with you about Lamb, he is a good player and has a good deal of potential (he needs to put on some muscle tho) but he's just not a leader, he's not the type of guy that's gonna take over games or demand the ball in his hands at the critical points in the game. You can see it in his demeanor that he's not a leader - he may be a shy kid, but when you watch him in the game he never shows any emotion (always has the same expression), with Kemba you could see the emotion and he'd show it when he made a good/big play and it would pump the rest of the team up (I'm not saying Lamb doesn't care about winning or losing but when he's playing it just looks like he doesn't care and doesn't look like he's having any fun). I think Lamb will be ok at the next level (as long a team doesn't draft him as their franchise player which I don't think will happen), he will fit in on any team that has a solid leader and top player - I think he can a good 2nd/3rd option on a team and average 13-17 pts a game.