Castle's improvement at UConn

[RichZ]

The difference between October Castle and March Castle is astounding. I recall that Stephon came to us very highly regarded, except for his 3 ball.
I also remember 5 - 6 months ago, when I first watched him play, wondering what all the hype was about. He seemed hesitant.
Hurley gave him a quick hook when he made a bad play or seemed to have a mental lapse. But Hurley and staff sure must have been working with him a lot. Perhaps there was a sense of urgency, knowing they had but one season to reap the rewards of recruiting him, and getting him in a position to live up to the hype on the BIG stage of the Big East and NCAA tourneys.
Some of his drives through traffic the last half dozen games have been amazing. Play it over and over in your head kind of amazing. The combination of power and grace in some of drives is incredible.
It seems like he reaches into his bag of skills and brings out something different each game. Last night, it was rebounding and ball hawking. 6 boards and 4 steals. Not to mention three dimes. A week ago, it was scoring, when he went for 21 on 75% shooting against Seton Hall.
He's also a way better defender than I ever anticipated.
And, under the tutelage of our staff, his supposed weak link -- the 3 ball -- is no longer an issue. He's not Spencer or Alex, but he's hitting it with regularity, and appears willing to take it in a big moment. I'd hazard a guess that someone on the staff, or perhaps one of his teammates invested a lot of time with him working on it.
The improvements in his game bode well for his future, as well as for ours over the next 9 games.

 

[Palatine]

The same thing happened with Jeremy Lamb. Couldn't hit a three early in his freshman year but Calhoun kept saying this kid is special. And the BY kept saying, I don't see it.

It was deja vu with posters saying Castle should never take a three. Patience is a virtue but it's not a common virtue.

 

[AdamaNation]

The difference between October Castle and March Castle is astounding. I recall that Stephon came to us very highly regarded, except for his 3 ball.
I also remember 5 - 6 months ago, when I first watched him play, wondering what all the hype was about. He seemed hesitant.
Hurley gave him a quick hook when he made a bad play or seemed to have a mental lapse. But Hurley and staff sure must have been working with him a lot. Perhaps there was a sense of urgency, knowing they had but one season to reap the rewards of recruiting him, and getting him in a position to live up to the hype on the BIG stage of the Big East and NCAA tourneys.
Some of his drives through traffic the last half dozen games have been amazing. Play it over and over in your head kind of amazing. The combination of power and grace in some of drives is incredible.
It seems like he reaches into his bag of skills and brings out something different each game. Last night, it was rebounding and ball hawking. 6 boards and 4 steals. Not to mention three dimes. A week ago, it was scoring, when he went for 21 on 75% shooting against Seton Hall.
He's also a way better defender than I ever anticipated.
And, under the tutelage of our staff, his supposed weak link -- the 3 ball -- is no longer an issue. He's not Spencer or Alex, but he's hitting it with regularity, and appears willing to take it in a big moment. I'd hazard a guess that someone on the staff, or perhaps one of his teammates invested a lot of time with him working on it.
The improvements in his game bode well for his future, as well as for ours over the next 9 games.

As of yesterday. All 5 starters had a 3 and are now threats. I want don to start taking more once the games out of reach.

 

[ctchamps]

Noticed that Hurley is resting Tristen and letting Stephon run the point as well as Hassan when Tristen isn't in the game.

I can only imagine what this team would be like at this stage if Stephon and Donovan weren't set back by injuries. Upside of course was the run that Samson and Hassan got as a consequence which can't be discounted for this season or next and Solo for next season.

 

[UConnSwag11]

He is our best on-ball defender and it isn't even close

 

[gtcam]

Stephon is the same player he was as he was last year in AAU/HS, just scoring less and defending a bit better
He just had to overcome his injury and not being the main playmaker on his team

 

[Magic32]

I think the rapid maturity of Castle has impressed me the most. Earlier in the season I feel like he would have reacted totally different to that illegal screen hard hit he took. He just shrugged it off last night.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Stephon is the same player he was as he was last year in AAU/HS, just scoring less and defending a bit better
He just had to overcome his injury and not being the main playmaker on his team

I feel like we’re always on the same page with these things lol

 

[Deleted at users request]

Castle has turned into an elite defender thanks to Hurley, the best defensive coach in the country.

Offensively he struggles to score outside of right at the rim. This is after he was a pretty good all around scorer in HS. I’m not sure how much we can say he developed offensively.

Defensively though? Absolutely.

 

[Kenny11]

He’s really good and he can do things he hasn’t even shown yet. He’s a freshman on a great team so he holds back some things to play it safe.

As several as mentioned, his defense is most impressive. His high school tape did not show this at all.

 

[RichZ]

Stephon is the same player he was as he was last year in AAU/HS, just scoring less and defending a bit better
He just had to overcome his injury and not being the main playmaker on his team

I suspect that "not being the main playmaker" thing was a huge factor. I would not be surprised though, to see him move more towards that role as the stakes grow higher in upcoming games. As long as he does it within the flow of the offense and doesn't try to make it more about him than the team, I'm all for it.

 

[RichZ]

And with his 11th Freshman of the Week award today, he broke the tie with Melo and became the all time leader. Do they continue to do that during the BET?

 

[Edward Sargent]

Rich I would move your reference to defense up to the top of your list. All aspects of his game have seen improvement but he is our guy who is going to shut down their guy 1 through 4

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

Why don't you keep notes or something for the rest of us?

 

[Leebo]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

What the hell

 

[Spaceman213J]

I remember watching the McDonald's scrimmages and Castle was hitting them beyond the NBA 3 point line.

I actually believe that he believes the team is better off with him driving and getting offensive rebounds then putting up 5 or 6 3-point tries a game, which he's right, but for a freshman with a NBA lottery paycheck on the line the next year, makes him even more impressive.

 

[jibsey]

If you’re guarding him on a drive to the hoop it’s going to be physical, he’s so strong. Yes he misses layups but it’s a war in there battling bigger players. Wish he could stay longer.

 

[nomar]

Noticed that Hurley is resting Tristen and letting Stephon run the point as well as Hassan when Tristen isn't in the game.

I can only imagine what this team would be like at this stage if Stephon and Donovan weren't set back by injuries. Upside of course was the run that Samson and Hassan got as a consequence which can't be discounted for this season or next and Solo for next season.

I honestly think their injuries didn’t set us back at all. It toughened the team up and gave other guys minutes.

 

[nomar]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

I forgot whatever shots he missed about as quickly as I’m going to forget you posted this. You should hope everyone else quickly forgets your post as well.

 

[drayenob]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

Need the dislike button back.

 

[ctchamps]

I honestly think their injuries didn’t set us back at all. It toughened the team up and gave other guys minutes.

“At all” is too definitive for me. I feel Stephon is not nearly as polished on the offensive end as I believe he’d be if he had all the games he missed or was not under minute restrictions. Harder for me to know where Donovan would be if he was healthy from the start.

Agree there were positive trade offs. No way of calculating the positives vs. the negatives. Doubt our math nerds have algorithms to determine the overall value of the trade offs.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Nice player. Great prospect. Let’s not forget he missed something like 7 layups last game.

"As you go through life, let this always be your goal:
Keep your eye upon the donut, and not upon the hole."

If that doesn't work for you, then change, "Let's not forget..." to, "I'll never forget..."

And then be thankful that you're unlikely to ever have somebody campaigning for us all to never forget that you wrote this.

 

[HCCForever]

One of the coolest things about Castle is that he enjoys the triumphs of others more than his shots. His celebration of Newton’s last triple double and Diarra’s three at the end of first half at PC come to mind.

 

[giddyup]

He’s making out of the world plays that only special players make. He’s a hustler and gets after it on D. That said he’s got plenty of work do on his outside shooting. I guess the G league will clean that up. I wish he’d stay and develop his next level but that isn’t happening.

 

[superjohn]

He’s making out of the world plays that only special players make. He’s a hustler and gets after it on D. That said he’s got plenty of work do on his outside shooting. I guess the G league will clean that up. I wish he’d stay and develop his next level but that isn’t happening.

You should probably pick a different sport to follow.

 

[husky429]

@Iluvsuebird vs @JungleLobo for King of the Dunces. Who wins?

 

[Incursio007]

That fast break last game when he faked the alley to Karaban & scooped in the layup was so filthy.

 

[JungleLobo]

Who’s up for going to the malt shop and getting an egg cream?

 

[dennismenace]

To me he has a great sneaky fast set of hands. When he is going to the hoop he is moving at one speed and then at the very last second those hands do a double or triple take at a much faster speed than before. Above all he is locked in focused and very tough and stays calm. Reminds me of Ray Allen's quote: "Play hard but stay calm". Much easier said than done. Pretty rare for a freshman. Great potential future.