Brimah/Nolan Weight

[HistoryHusky]

I would like to see our big men get bigger for the 2014-2015 season. How difficult is it for someone with a tall frame to gain muscle mass/weight? Especially over the course of 6 months from now and September. This isn't football where you can gain (or drop) 15-30 lbs during the off-season.

Nolan gained about 10 lbs when he returned to UConn last fall. His current listed weight is 212. I remember he said he would like to get up to the 220 range. Brimah is listed at 217. Facey is a little skinny for a 6'9" guy. We do have Rakim Lubin coming in this fall with a Jeff Adrien-like body.

Do we want to get big with our big men or do we want them to be more athletic?

 

[UconnU]

they all need to gain lean muscle mass which is difficult. 5-12 pounds over the course of 6 months is probably realistic, but a significant increase in strength is realistic which is more important.

 

[Strummer]

I never understood the argument that such and such a frame can put on muscles more/less quickly. Never saw a research paper that suggested that rate of gain is somehow tied to whether you're built naturally like Niels Giffey or Toraino Walker.

My experience in life has been that guys who go balls to the wall in the weight room have nice gains. Guys who don't, don't. Regardless of starting form.

 

[superjohn]

I never understood the argument that such and such a frame can put on muscles more/less quickly. Never saw a research paper that suggested that rate of gain is somehow tied to whether you're built naturally like Niels Giffey or Toraino Walker.

My experience in life has been that guys who go balls to the wall in the weight room have nice gains. Guys who don't, don't. Regardless of starting form.

There is definitely something to hard gainer vs. not a hard gainer and different body types like ectomorph and endomorth but if you eat well and work out hard you will see good gains. I used to be fairly skinny when I was younger and wanted a more muscular build. By discovering weights my body has changed pretty dramatically over the years.

 

[Rico444]

Didnt Diaco get some big-time S&C coach from the SEC? And don't our basketball guys have access to this coach? Thought I remembered hearing that.

 

[Strummer]

There is definitely something to hard gainer vs. not a hard gainer and different body types like ectomorph and endomorth

This seems to me to be a reason to take the escalator.

Ecto, endo? Really, there is a spectrum, evenly populated from angel fish skinny to Lord of the Rings dwarf stocky. Ecto, endo, meso are arbitrary tags that fit no real parameter.

I'd like to see the study that says that a guy with X body type has muscle sarcomeres that don't rebuild quite as fast as guy with Y body type.

I always saw nice gains (still do). I was skinny skinny. But, then again, I always busted my ass when I was lifting weights. Guys I worked out with would not see quite the gains, and would comment how I was lucky. But they never seemed to really kill it on the last reps. Never seemed to be 10 toes in.

I'm happy to change my opinion, when I see a study saying that outside appearance is somehow related to molecular muscle building, which is just silly on its face.

 

[Stinger92860]

Matt Balis can make these guys make stronger and faster. They should start working with him on Monday.

http://articles.courant.com/2014-02...nd-conditioning-bob-diaco-head-football-coach

 

[TheChamps990411]

I would like to see our big men get bigger for the 2014-2015 season. How difficult is it for someone with a tall frame to gain muscle mass/weight? Especially over the course of 6 months from now and September. This isn't football where you can gain (or drop) 15-30 lbs during the off-season.

Nolan gained about 10 lbs when he returned to UConn last fall. His current listed weight is 212. I remember he said he would like to get up to the 220 range. Brimah is listed at 217. Facey is a little skinny for a 6'9" guy. We do have Rakim Lubin coming in this fall with a Jeff Adrien-like body.

Do we want to get big with our big men or do we want them to be more athletic?

Nolans biggest problem is his lack of skills and bball IQ but he could benefit greatly from getting stronger. I did see some encouraging signs in the tournament from him but he has a ways to go to be a pretty good player. He needs strength and someone intoducing him to a pump fake wouldnt hurt him any either.
Brimah doesnt need to gain 20lbs all he needs is another 10lbs of muscle and experience. Itll be a huge summer for him and i believe he will be big time next year. Too much talent there and his attitude is awesome! This kid could explode onto the national scene next year.

 

[Stinger92860]

Nolans biggest problem is his lack of skills and bball IQ but he could benefit greatly from getting stronger. I did see some encouraging signs in the tournament from him but he has a ways to go to be a pretty good player. He needs strength and someone intoducing him to a pump fake wouldnt hurt him any either.
Brimah doesnt need to gain 20lbs all he needs is another 10lbs of muscle and experience. Itll be a huge summer for him and i believe he will be big time next year. Too much talent there and his attitude is awesome! This kid could explode onto the national scene next year.

Hard to bash Nolan after what he accomplished. I would suspect his Bball IQ is sufficient.

 

[superjohn]

I agree with you that if you know what you're doing and hustling your butt off in the gym anybody will see results. I've never understood the people I see at the gym day after day who lift the exact same weight for the exact same reps, never breaking a sweat and talking more than working out. When I lift, it's non stop always challenging myself and all it takes is 45 minutes, the results come. I'm guessing this new strength and conditioning coach isn't just for the football team?

 

[James]

Nolans biggest problem is his lack of skills and bball IQ but he could benefit greatly from getting stronger. I did see some encouraging signs in the tournament from him but he has a ways to go to be a pretty good player. He needs strength and someone intoducing him to a pump fake wouldnt hurt him any either.
Brimah doesnt need to gain 20lbs all he needs is another 10lbs of muscle and experience. Itll be a huge summer for him and i believe he will be big time next year. Too much talent there and his attitude is awesome! This kid could explode onto the national scene next year.

P. Nolan has a tremendous defensive IQ, something he's picked up while playing on a elite defensive team. He rarely picks up touch fouls, and has very nice lateral quickness. I do agree on brimah, not all centers need to be 250 ( see KAJ), 230ish should be fine for a sophmore/junior.

Something to note for yarders, all the clamoring for a 5 star big should slow up. Bigs take longer to develop, we now have 4 next year in the rotation. Brimah next year is going to be seriously dominant, he's lead the country in block% as a freshman.

 

[HistoryHusky]

I forget all about Balis. He'll make an impact on the football side but I don't know about basketball? I guess we will see this fall. 20 lbs is too much for Brimah - 10 lbs is ideal.

 

[Leebo]

I don't know about Nolan's basketball IQ, but he does need to work on holding onto the ball/going strong to the basket.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Hard to bash Nolan after what he accomplished. I would suspect his Bball IQ is sufficient.

So with everything i wrote the one thing you get is that i bashed him on his questionable bb iq? Fact is while nolan did play some of his best basketball when it counted which i gave him all the credit in the world for he has shown that he has a history of being lost on the court on defense and offense lets celebrate what he did during our run but we cant forget how lost he looked for most of the season. He has improved and i hope he carries it into next season.

 

[James]

So with everything i wrote the one thing you get is that i bashed him on his questionable bb iq? Fact is while nolan did play some of his best basketball when it counted which i gave him all the credit in the world for he has shown that he has a history of being lost on the court on defense and offense lets celebrate what he did during our run but we cant forget how lost he looked for most of the season. He has improved and i hope he carries it into next season.

So how he played earlier in the season should be forever etched in our minds when we evaluate him as a player? Its called improving. He wont go back to his unimproved self. He has no offensive game We are aware of that, but he is far from lost (knows the plays).Also our best pnr defender, He's not just going to stop being a good pnr defender.

 

[Jerry1714]

To be an effective offensive player Nolan is going to have to get a lot stronger. The title game showed that.

 

[UCONNfan1]

I don't know. I tend to disagree on the "Nolan needs to hold on to the ball better" thing, or even that he needs to get a lot stronger. I mean, of course he needs to work on getting stronger - everyone on the team does.

But... UCONN ran some of the best offense I've ever seen. I mean this as no disrespect to Calhoun, but our offense is light years ahead of what Calhoun used to run. Thankfully, the days of relying solely on "imposing our will" on the other team are gone.

Our offense created multiple opportunities for our bigs to dunk the ball. And it's not like they went up paper strong. BUT Kentucky had ridiculously jacked athletes defending in the post and the continuously blocked our shots without fouling. I can't imagine ANY OTHER team out there stopping the offense that Ollie had designed like Kentucky did, AND we still won.

It was seriously some of the best college offense I've ever seen, and while I'm no college hoops expert, I don't think we can discount just how strong about 4 of Kentucky's players were in stopping our dunks. They were ridiculous...

 

[uconnfan68]

I don't know about Nolan's basketball IQ, but he does need to work on holding onto the ball/going strong to the basket.

And jumping about a foot higher.

 

[Stinger92860]

So with everything i wrote the one thing you get is that i bashed him on his questionable bb iq? Fact is while nolan did play some of his best basketball when it counted which i gave him all the credit in the world for he has shown that he has a history of being lost on the court on defense and offense lets celebrate what he did during our run but we cant forget how lost he looked for most of the season. He has improved and i hope he carries it into next season.

It was your opening line...lack of skills and poor Bball IQ. I disagreed.

 

[Leebo]

I don't know. I tend to disagree on the "Nolan needs to hold on to the ball better" thing, or ven that he needs to get a lot stronger.

Kentucky had ridiculously jacked athletes defending in the post and the continuously blocked our shots without fouling

It's not just one game. He's not a strong finisher. There are strong finishers on this team. He wasn't one of them. It's not a personal attack, it's just something he needs to work on.

 

[TheChamps990411]

It was your opening line...lack of skills and poor Bball IQ. I disagreed.

And i agree to disagree.

 

[Waquoit]

Matt Balis can make these guys make stronger and faster. They should start working with him on Monday.

Good idea. Can't forget a comment I read on the Miss. State board the day after the Balis announcement was made: "He turns twigs into redwoods

 

[jibsey]

Rather see Nolan work on a ball fake. Sure he's been shown it but didn't try it in the tourney and got squashed.

 

[BoatShow]

A big part of both of their effective nice is their quickness. I'd live to see them stronger but not to detriment of agility

 

[Palatine]

Rather see Nolan work on a ball fake. Sure he's been shown it but didn't try it in the tourney and got squashed.

+1