Castle Injury

[husky429]

This is fair. It's too early to pass judgment on Ross and Stewart, even Ball, but we know who Diarra is -- there was never a leap coming.

Johnson appears to be exactly what I've said for 2 years -- a highlight reel package, a guy who looks amazing in workouts, but who doesn't fit a winning 5-on-5 concept. The lobs and dunks won't be there as readily against good competition. He has a lot of similarities to Majok and Akok. That high-potential archetype just doesn't typically produce in college unless they're really at a freak, superstar level. He still has 30+ games to prove me wrong, or for it to "click," but priors are getting reinforced with each passing game.

I have faith that he can learn to defend adequately with film work. Hurley can teach ANYONE to defend with time.

 

[HeGotGame]

I literally said wait for it to play out before guessing how serious it is. Stop.

You literally said, "Suppose he knocked knees with someone and it’s a bone bruise?" When what happened was already announced. That is why I said stop speculating.

 

[XLCenterFan]

$ 20 to park in Hartford, you got to be kidding me

I’ve never paid to park in Hartford. All around Bushnel Park is free. Never had an issue in over 20 years.

 

[TheHorde]

You literally said, "Suppose he knocked knees with someone and it’s a bone bruise?" When what happened was already announced. That is why I said stop speculating.

Did you tell the person whose comment I replied to to stop speculating? And FYI one of my friends was at the game and sat through warmups. Castle warmed up before the game. Now go shoo. Not replying to this again.

 

[alexd]

I’ve never paid to park in Hartford. All around Bushnel Park is free. Never had an issue in over 20 years.

Yes... free street parking after 6pm on weekdays and free on weekends.

 

[CL82]

Well, what's your credit score?

"Post of the day"

 

[Horatio]

You sure Horatio? With Castle in the lineup and Ball off the pine we’re ok. But otherwise I saw a dramatic change. And Samson is ok but his defense is still a question mark and will be noticeable versus better teams.

I’m nervous about the “depth” I admit it. I know it’s early but the young guys seem to lack that it thing right now.

I understand but I trust that we have enough pieces to compensate for Castle missing some games. Spencer emerged and stepped up instantly. The freshman only have three games of actual experience and film but the talent is there. I trust the coaching staff with developing guys during the season.

 

[Greedo]

I think the depth at this point was pretty predictable. Hopefully Castle can come back soon because he offers an element that this team is lacking when he's out. But the majority of the depth being freshmen means there will be growing pains early in the season when the starters come out. Hopefully they grow and mature a lot by March and then we can have some good pieces on the bench by then. I do think they'll drop some head scratchers this season, but this is still a really good team capable of repeating if the freshmen depth pieces fall into place.

 

[CL82]

I’ve never paid to park in Hartford. All around Bushnel Park is free. Never had an issue in over 20 years.

Post/handle

 

[Waquoit]

Last year after a similar early game, folks here were saying things like "Hurley completly whiffed in the portal". Now they are saying we have no depth.

 

[CL82]

Our depth is good. The reason why we looked out of sync at times yesterday was that the team was making a quick pivot from having Castle as our primary point guard. Everybody needs to adjust a little bit. That adjustment was complicated by the fact that we were in a loosely officiated game against a team that decided it needed to foul liberally in order to stay in contact with us. Those types of games make everyone look bad (out of sync).

Watching Castle is develop and grow is one of the great sub stories of the season. Hopefully he's medically cleared and we see him in MSG. Those are huge games and I know the players look forward to them.

 

[Scrutineer]

No it didn't. Bouknight stunk in every big game he ever played in

Then you didn't see him in the Charleston Classic against Xavier....

 

[Deepster]

I'm just going to post my notes on the depth pieces that I took over the past few games since we're talking about depth concerns. I think it's pretty clear we don't have the same depth we did last year. There is no Clingan off the bench (which was a luxury), and at this point basically on one we can rely on to score the rock. I think we'll be fine though--last year was kind of an enigma in terms of bench performance.

Johnson: Hot and cold. Makes an eye-popping athletic play on both ends and follows it up with 2 plays of disaster. He's not worth much at this point on offense outside of lobs, but that's all we really need and much more would be taking the ball out of our scorers hands. Where he MUST improve is on defense. He's a half step too slow all the time on his rotations, or misses them entirely, which is saying something considering how slow our opponents have been, and how fast he is naturally. I don't need the big block or the SC Top-10 dunk if he can just be in the right position on defense. Get in the film room. Right now, he's playing like a freshman (no surprise), so I think he'll be servicable with game reps soon.

Solo: Needs to chill the hell out. Reminds me of early Hawkins and Andre in that way. Looks much better when he is playing in the flow of things. When his feet are set his shot looks much better--way improved during his year at Brewster. Obviously a freak athlete. I suspect he'll settle in and defend better--just making some freshman mistakes now. Good for some baseline dunks, but his handle and finishing are super limited. A lot like early Hawkins in that regard. We need him to be passable as a secondary ballhandler to take minutes from Diarra, but I'm not sure he's there yet.

Diarra: I am confused why folks are surprised with his play. He is what he is. Great in the locker room and in practice, but limited as a player. We'll need him for ballhandling in case of foul trouble, but I'd expect him around 5-10 MPG at most in games that matter. If Solo can have a steep learning curve, we may see even less.

Ross: Can't say he's shown much except not making too many mistakes. Which for a 9th-man is actually pretty solid, but we really need scoring. Occasional nice pass, 3, or hustle play but otherwise pretty much just there. Needs to SHOOT when he is open.

Stewart: Similar to Ross--I'm not sure either has really established themselves as the obvious choice for 9th (and probably last) in the normal rotation. Same as Ross, not looking to score enough, especially on the perimeter.

You didn’t really dig this deep into a cupcake warm up against maybe the worst team in D1, did you?

Like an English teacher once told me. Make it like a girls skirt. Long enough to cover the topic. Short enough to be interesting.

 

[Deepster]

I have noticed Samson has been slipping on the XL floor. Are they playing over ice?

Good call potentially. Or just sweat on the floor they didn’t get to mopping up?

 

[Horatio]

Meh. Not really. We have a great starting five and Johnson and Ball look good. Not sold on anyone else.

Throw them in the pool, they’ll swim

 

[UCLJ0211]

He was doing warmups with the team and walking around, relax it’s not that serious. He will probably be back in a week or two at the most.

 

[HeGotGame]

Did you tell the person whose comment I replied to to stop speculating? And FYI one of my friends was at the game and sat through warmups. Castle warmed up before the game. Now go shoo. Not replying to this again.

Cool story. Too bad your friend couldn't tell you what happened.

 

[caw]

I think the two quick fouls on Karaban also threw things off a bit.

The rebounding with Karaban, and/or Clingan in, was miles better.

 

[NJHusky]

I have faith that he can learn to defend adequately with film work. Hurley can teach ANYONE to defend with time.

I know he hasn't played much the past 2 years....but he has been here getting coached and had plenty of time for film study, so not sure why another 3 months will make a difference. Hope I'm wrong. I can understand needing time for game situations, but the mental side should be there by now...just my .02 cents

 

[NJHusky]

Like an English teacher once told me. Make it like a girls skirt. Long enough to cover the topic. Short enough to be interesting.

Did the teacher attribute it to Churchill?

The famous statesman and orator Winston Churchill was asked about the length of an ideal address, and he supposedly said:

A speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.

 

[nomar]

Did you tell the person whose comment I replied to to stop speculating? And FYI one of my friends was at the game and sat through warmups. Castle warmed up before the game. Now go shoo. Not replying to this again.

Guys, guys, let's settle this like men: At dawn, you'll exchange Experian credit reports.

 

[CL82]

Guys, guys, let's settle this like men: At dawn, you'll exchange Experian credit reports.

"798? Laughable!"

 

[Deleted at users request]

I know he hasn't played much the past 2 years....but he has been here getting coached and had plenty of time for film study, so not sure why another 3 months will make a difference. Hope I'm wrong. I can understand needing time for game situations, but the mental side should be there by now...just my .02 cents

It still takes time to apply those concepts to real game situations with guys you’re not familiar with and real refs.

Things are much different when the bullets are flying.

 

[TheHorde]

Cool story. Too bad your friend couldn't tell you what happened.

Too bad it went way WAY over your head that I refuted a point that says EVEEY knee issue is a ligament or meniscus tear. Go take a long walk off a short pier.

 

[husky429]

Guys, guys, let's settle this like men: At dawn, you'll exchange Experian credit reports.

If you're not taking an average of the 3 major credit bureaus, it's just a scrimmage. Make it count and run them all, my man