This is just pure comparision for comparison sakes, I know its been 2 games so I'm not hinting at anything yet, but doesnt Boatright remind you of Kemba? He's got the street like crossovers and jukes, he's got the quick speed and driving ability, and the swagger. But what Boatright has that Kemba didnt really, is he also has that true pointguard ability. He is an AWESOME passer. Also, I think Boatright is further along in development as a freshman than Kemba was. Imagine if he is better than Kemba was one day when he's herre? watchout!
Boatright
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like you said....its very early. but i agree, he does look a bit more polished as a PG.
love this kid
love this kid
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He reminded me of Kemba in the HS videos that showed the step back J. It looked just like the one KW aced Pitt with. But Boatright has seriously more spring than Kemba. I don't know how their height's compare and Boat also seems thinner but I'm comparing against a junior Kemba. Both are fearless. Calhoun is saying he has AI in him, but if you remember AI wasn't a great outside shooter freshman year so I have to say the potential is there to surpass KW but let's at least give him until game 3.
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Boatright is at kemba second half of sophmore season level right now.
tykurez
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Here's how I see it:
Freshman Boatright, although still early, is certainly ahead of freshman Kemba production wise. But I think it's important to remember a few things:
1) Freshman Kemba was playing behind an experienced senior in AJ Price (and to some degree, an experienced player in Craig Austrie) on a team that had an established identity. Sophomore Kemba had to play alongside (or behind, really) Dyson, Stanley on an older team. Freshman Boatright is playing on a very young team that is still working on developing it's identity. In my opinion, he's been given a better opportunity to perform than Kemba had his first year.
2) Related to the first point, I think Boatright is even more confident in his abilities than Kemba was at the time. By his junior year, Kemba knew he was great and showed it on the court. Boatright appears to already believe and exhibit that.
3) Regarding Kemba's passing ... I'm not sure you can draw any grand conclusions. He wasn't nicknamed "EZ-Pass" in high school for no reason. Last year he had to score and score a lot. When his shots were off, he showed the ability to get his team involved.
Freshman Boatright, although still early, is certainly ahead of freshman Kemba production wise. But I think it's important to remember a few things:
1) Freshman Kemba was playing behind an experienced senior in AJ Price (and to some degree, an experienced player in Craig Austrie) on a team that had an established identity. Sophomore Kemba had to play alongside (or behind, really) Dyson, Stanley on an older team. Freshman Boatright is playing on a very young team that is still working on developing it's identity. In my opinion, he's been given a better opportunity to perform than Kemba had his first year.
2) Related to the first point, I think Boatright is even more confident in his abilities than Kemba was at the time. By his junior year, Kemba knew he was great and showed it on the court. Boatright appears to already believe and exhibit that.
3) Regarding Kemba's passing ... I'm not sure you can draw any grand conclusions. He wasn't nicknamed "EZ-Pass" in high school for no reason. Last year he had to score and score a lot. When his shots were off, he showed the ability to get his team involved.
Boatright is fearless. A lot of players say they are, but few of them are at that point in their freshman year. It took Kemba 2 years before he got it last year. Lamb and Napier both deferred to him in the Arkansas game and he made plays. We are lucky to have him and are lucky that he is only 5'10 or he would be one and done.
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Like everyone else... I am very impressed with Boatright... we definitely stole one there...
I was going to ask what on earth West Virginia was thinking... but looks liek Jabarie Hinds is putting in a good showing so far as well, for a freshman at least (lots of turnovers)...
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/56761/jabarie-hinds
Will reserve full judgment until I see him play... but hard to believe he will look better than Boatright
I was going to ask what on earth West Virginia was thinking... but looks liek Jabarie Hinds is putting in a good showing so far as well, for a freshman at least (lots of turnovers)...
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/56761/jabarie-hinds
Will reserve full judgment until I see him play... but hard to believe he will look better than Boatright
Hinds looks good he is basically wvus best player. Long arms and quick hands. Different player than Boatright. Hinds is bigger and drives stronger rather than "quicker" to the hoop. Hinds is very very fast and while probably not as quick as Boatright he has quicker hands on defense. You will probably see him get quite a few steals if you watch him.
Not sure who is better, I prefer Boatright for UConn, but I don't think either team can complain. Though the thought of both Boatright and Hinds on the same team is a bit scary.
Not sure who is better, I prefer Boatright for UConn, but I don't think either team can complain. Though the thought of both Boatright and Hinds on the same team is a bit scary.
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In terms of what WVU was thinking, my guess is they felt confident about landing Boatright, but not so much that they could afford to back off on Hinds. They desperately wanted one of them but probably never guessed that both would say yes.
Then it comes down to the timing of it all. Boatright committed first and they were able to convince Hinds that the two of them could play together. Had Hinds committed first, Boatright never commits there to begin with.
I think some are assuming that Huggins recruited over Boatright, or prefered Hinds to Boatright. Based on the timing, my guess is that they recruiting both very hard hoping to get one.
THE BOATLOOKED LIKE KEMBA, BUT IT IS EARLY. I THINK HE IS A YEAR AHEAD OF KEMBA, BUT MAN HE CAN PLAY. THE ONLY ERROR I DETECTED WAS THE ONE WHEN HE PICKED UP HIS DRIBBLE AT HALF COURT AND HAD NOBODY TO PASS TO. HE IS EXCITING TO WATCH. HI STEP BACK IS NOT AS DEMONSTRATIVE AS KW'S, BUT IT WILL GET THERE
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Fair point, it is quite an assumption that WV recruiter Hinds OVER Boatright... we really don't know for certain what was going on there... Also, Caw's description above of Hinds' game suggests he may be a better fit for WV's system... they have recruiter and succeeded with the hard-nosed (as opposed to flashy) guards.
Looking forward to seeing Hinds play...
Actually, I'm just looking forward to Big East play in General. After Harvard it is going to be a long boring month for Uconn bball...
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Sparky- stop yelling! (really your killing me).
I just wonder what JH is thinking right now. He picks WV over UCONN and is playing for a team that is average at best- very little upside this year as well. If he wanted PT he got it but no one is paying any attention anyway kinda like Coleman at Miami.
Have fun guys.
I just wonder what JH is thinking right now. He picks WV over UCONN and is playing for a team that is average at best- very little upside this year as well. If he wanted PT he got it but no one is paying any attention anyway kinda like Coleman at Miami.
Have fun guys.
Thanks for the replies guys! Now how bout this, what do you think about him becoming the vocal leader this team needs? Yeah he's a freshman but its possible and could work. He has that fearless attitude that can help and just looking at him on the court with his demonstratives and his reactions and just his face, he has all the making of the emotional leader this team needs. thoughts?
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LOUD NOISES!!
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I think that we are going to have 2 vocal and emotional leaders by year's end both Boatright and Bazz. They both have that in their DNA and it means we will always have that on the floor which bodes very well. Remember last year when Bazz didn't start, they brought him in and it was ++? Well we know have that x2, but Bazz will not take a back court seat to Boat as leader.
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Great point and I will note a play from the game vs Arkansas the other day and see if anyone else noticed?
He made that no look pass into the post to Olander for the jumpers rather than throwing it back to Jeremy at the key. Now prior to throwing it to Tyler he also noticed an opening down low but Alex did not move to the spot as Ryan waited for a second. On the way back up court after the Tyler jumper Ryan made sure to talk to Alex about what he should have done and what he was thinking as the passer - he was looking for him to get to a spot. There is noticable leadership in this kid and he exudes confidence.
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RB has a lot of KW and a lot of AI as well. Kemba was very good as a freshman, though struggled with his 3 ball. RB has been nothing short of remarkable and has pretty much done everything at a very high level.
I agree that it is just a small sample, but one could argue that what RB is doing now is not all that far off from what KW did last season as a junior. He's not not relied upon as much as KW was last season. Since the BE season hasn't even started, the stakes have not been nearly as high. But RB has shown he can perform at a high level during high pressure winning time, which many upperclassmen aren't capable of doing.
I thought he was going to be very good as a freshman, but I didn't expect him to be this good. So far he's one of the most complete freshman PG I've seen in sometime. Based on what we've seen so far, here's how I rank his skills:
A+ Handle
A+ Midrange
A+ 3 pt shooter
A+ Finisher at the rim
A Passer (He has been excellent delivering the ball to the right people. He had a few bad passes that didn't end up being TOs in his first game. He's had some outstanding passes into the post. He's had a few that were a tad too high risk. He needs to be aware of the catching capabilities of his post players, though Alex surprised me by doing a real nice job of catching a RB bounce pass in traffic and dunking it.)
B- Defender (Haven't watch closely enough. He's not be a big liability, though has struggled getting through screens as has Napier. His size puts him at a disadvantage. If he can fill out a bit over the next couple seasons, he'll be better equipped to handle the physicality of the game, though he seems to absorb contact and finish on offense better than I expected. Defensively he needs to learn to anticipate a tad better to beat his man to the screen and go over the top instead of underneath. All this is quite common with young guards.)
B+ Rebounder. Similar to Kemba, he showed a nice nose for the ball coming away with the rebound among the trees.
There's still a lot of ball to be played, but so far he's been our best or one of our best players in the two games he's played. On top of being a fantastic offensive player, he might be one of our best passing PGs we've had in a long time.
I don't know if any of you are like me in that I usually look forward to watching UConn play, but I'm extra excited to watch the Boatshow to see what he's going to do.
I agree that it is just a small sample, but one could argue that what RB is doing now is not all that far off from what KW did last season as a junior. He's not not relied upon as much as KW was last season. Since the BE season hasn't even started, the stakes have not been nearly as high. But RB has shown he can perform at a high level during high pressure winning time, which many upperclassmen aren't capable of doing.
I thought he was going to be very good as a freshman, but I didn't expect him to be this good. So far he's one of the most complete freshman PG I've seen in sometime. Based on what we've seen so far, here's how I rank his skills:
A+ Handle
A+ Midrange
A+ 3 pt shooter
A+ Finisher at the rim
A Passer (He has been excellent delivering the ball to the right people. He had a few bad passes that didn't end up being TOs in his first game. He's had some outstanding passes into the post. He's had a few that were a tad too high risk. He needs to be aware of the catching capabilities of his post players, though Alex surprised me by doing a real nice job of catching a RB bounce pass in traffic and dunking it.)
B- Defender (Haven't watch closely enough. He's not be a big liability, though has struggled getting through screens as has Napier. His size puts him at a disadvantage. If he can fill out a bit over the next couple seasons, he'll be better equipped to handle the physicality of the game, though he seems to absorb contact and finish on offense better than I expected. Defensively he needs to learn to anticipate a tad better to beat his man to the screen and go over the top instead of underneath. All this is quite common with young guards.)
B+ Rebounder. Similar to Kemba, he showed a nice nose for the ball coming away with the rebound among the trees.
There's still a lot of ball to be played, but so far he's been our best or one of our best players in the two games he's played. On top of being a fantastic offensive player, he might be one of our best passing PGs we've had in a long time.
I don't know if any of you are like me in that I usually look forward to watching UConn play, but I'm extra excited to watch the Boatshow to see what he's going to do.
HuskyHawk
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I'm excited about Boatright and he looks like he will be another great Husky. That said, let's wait until he wades into the Big East waters before making to many pronouncements and comparisons to Kemba. It's been two games.
Sorry guys/gals. I am a hunt and peck typer and never noticed it. I will look from now on. By the way Boat is going to be a fine point guard who is not one dimentional. We still have to defend better. Bazz is my man and on ball he is a pain in the neck, but he has to get out better on the wing shooter.
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