CJ Jackson (Committed to Ohio State)

[Lefty2one]

I'm always wary of juco kids. Didn't Mike Hayes lead the country in rebounding while at a juco back in 2001 or whenever we signed him? These kids rarely seem to work out for most programs. Either they're busts who don't contribute or they're good players but hurt chemistry or put up good numbers on poor teams.

Looking at Cassell's footage before he arrived on campus, he looked like a savvy scorer with an old-man's game. Turns out he just isn't athletic enough to be in the rotation here. I'd have the same concern with this kid. But we do need guard depth, especially if Purvis is still considering going elsewhere (which would be a surprise to me).

 

[businesslawyer]

I knew what he meant, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

That's o.k. -- sometimes I can't help myself either.

Yes, I obviously meant in the era during which we've been competing with them. But when I saw that I didn't explicitly say that, I have to admit that I left it alone wondering how many posts in response it would generate.

 

[Excalibur]

I assume he just means Kansas (KU).

I figured he meant under Calipari.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm always wary of juco kids. Didn't Mike Hayes lead the country in rebounding while at a juco back in 2001 or whenever we signed him? These kids rarely seem to work out for most programs. Either they're busts who don't contribute or they're good players but hurt chemistry or put up good numbers on poor teams.

Looking at Cassell's footage before he arrived on campus, he looked like a savvy scorer with an old-man's game. Turns out he just isn't athletic enough to be in the rotation here. I'd have the same concern with this kid. But we do need guard depth, especially if Purvis is still considering going elsewhere (which would be a surprise to me).

Johnnie Selvie was also a JuCo guy, and he worked out pretty well for us. Cassell's only issue wasn't athleticism. He also only shot 33% from 3 in junior college, whereas this guy shot 45%. He's not going to start here, but he could give us some decent minutes.

 

[Tommyboy]

I figured he meant under Calipari.

Could be.

 

[boog204]

I'm always wary of juco kids. Didn't Mike Hayes lead the country in rebounding while at a juco back in 2001 or whenever we signed him? These kids rarely seem to work out for most programs. Either they're busts who don't contribute or they're good players but hurt chemistry or put up good numbers on poor teams.

Looking at Cassell's footage before he arrived on campus, he looked like a savvy scorer with an old-man's game. Turns out he just isn't athletic enough to be in the rotation here. I'd have the same concern with this kid. But we do need guard depth, especially if Purvis is still considering going elsewhere (which would be a surprise to me).

But did you really expect Mike Hayes to come in and be a 30mpg per game guy? He was a big body backup who was ok for 7-8 minutes a game. You need those guys too. If CJ Jackson can play 10mpg and be a 3 point sniper then he's worth a scholarship.

I'd actually argue that most of our jucos have worked out. Off the top of my head...

1) Selvie - was a very productive player; perplexing at times, but a consistent 10 and 6 guy for two years.
2) Q Hardnett - was a solid off the bench as a 5-6ppg guy
3) Aforementioned Hayes. Big body and fouls.
4) Ryan Thompson - had a few moments here and there
5) Willie McCloud - from my early days as a little UConn fan. Dude could sky
6) Charles Okwandu - Heard he loves UConn...

On the not so good side...

1) Cup Cormier almost unseated KO as the starting PG during the 92-93 season. Cup was great in leading us to a victory against a pretty good NC State team but then became so inconsistent. I remember reading stuff about how incredibly dominant he was in practice. Didn't translate to games obviously.
2) Beau Archibald had talent but was injured from the start. Liked his phone a little too much too.
3) Sam II. He was one of our leading scorers during the preseason games last year and didn't he even start a few games at the start of last year? He has talent but it might be too late to realize it.

Any other jucos I forgot about?

 

[ctchamps]

Never has a player been given a longer leash for one play than Brimah for that and-1.

I understand the gratitude for the big play moment, but I think it's a mistake to use that play as an excuse to ignore gross inadequacies in his game forever thereafter because of that one play.

You sir are a @mauconnfan apologista. But I agree with you and him

 

[ctchamps]

Uh, UK does have more championships than we do.

Yeah but how many Helms trophies do they have in their cases?

 

[CallMeBruce]

Yeah but how many Helms trophies do they have in their cases?

Sorry, I don't speak Canadian.

 

[UConnStats]

The fail rate is higher for JUCO transfers, but some big successes in recent years have come as well.

2013: Chris Jones, Jameel McKay, Jonathan Holton, Elgin Cook, Yanick Moreira
2014: Stefan Moody, Kadeem Allen, Trahson Burrell, Gary Payton II, Jaysean Paige, Coreontae DeBerry, Jeff Newberry, Avery Woodson, Farad Cobb, Dwayne Benjamin
2015: Chris Boucher, Malik Dime, TJ Dunans, Rob Gray, Pat Birt

Plenty of gems to be found in JUCO ball. If Ollie sees something in Jackson, I have faith that he can produce for this team in some capacity.

 

[ctchamps]

Sorry, I don't speak Canadian.

all you need to know is 111 Canadian points do not add up to three against that Mason team

 

[nomar]

Just to clarify, Oz hasn't hinted about Purvis leaving since Jacobs has tweeted about Purvis staying. Not saying anything is guaranteed, just don't want to send this forum into panic mode.

When did Jacobs tweet that?

Oz said something ominous on Monday.

Purvis bleeds blue and isn't ready for the NBA. He may want to "declare" under the new rules (which will make a lot of coaches and fans nervous, but still represent a great change) but I can't imagine him not returning.

 

[nomar]

Never has a player been given a longer leash for one play than Brimah for that and-1.

I understand the gratitude for the big play moment, but I think it's a mistake to use that play as an excuse to ignore gross inadequacies in his game forever thereafter because of that one play.

Did you watch the games where AB was out with an injury?

 

[nomar]

Jackson had the hot hand early against Ranger College, but it wasn’t enough to take down the Billy Gillispie coached Ranger College.

What's next? A middle-school girl's team? It's his alma mater, but yeesh. I don't recall Adolph Rupp coaching at Gateway.

 

[UConniki]

But did you really expect Mike Hayes to come in and be a 30mpg per game guy? He was a big body backup who was ok for 7-8 minutes a game. You need those guys too. If CJ Jackson can play 10mpg and be a 3 point sniper then he's worth a scholarship.

I'd actually argue that most of our jucos have worked out. Off the top of my head...

1) Selvie - was a very productive player; perplexing at times, but a consistent 10 and 6 guy for two years.
2) Q Hardnett - was a solid off the bench as a 5-6ppg guy
3) Aforementioned Hayes. Big body and fouls.
4) Ryan Thompson - had a few moments here and there
5) Willie McCloud - from my early days as a little UConn fan. Dude could sky
6) Charles Okwandu - Heard he loves UConn...

On the not so good side...

1) Cup Cormier almost unseated KO as the starting PG during the 92-93 season. Cup was great in leading us to a victory against a pretty good NC State team but then became so inconsistent. I remember reading stuff about how incredibly dominant he was in practice. Didn't translate to games obviously.
2) Beau Archibald had talent but was injured from the start. Liked his phone a little too much too.
3) Sam II. He was one of our leading scorers during the preseason games last year and didn't he even start a few games at the start of last year? He has talent but it might be too late to realize it.

Any other jucos I forgot about?

Spider Ursery, came in as a soph and started at pf for 3 years. I am pretty sure he started on the NIT championship team.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Did you watch the games where AB was out with an injury?

Yeah I did. Brimah would have had the same impact on those games as he has for most of the games in his career - minor. The games where he has a major impact are very much the exception.

 

[nomar]

Yeah I did. Brimah would have had the same impact on those games as he has for most of the games in his career - minor. The games where he has a major impact are very much the exception.

I bet Daniel Hamilton would disagree. I haven't checked it but I strongly suspect his numbers were way down without AB in the lineup.

Edit:

Here are DHam's stats in the 11 games Brimah was out

Lowell: 5-8, 7 assists, 4 to's
CCSU: 5-12, 11 assists, 2 to's
Texas: 5-12, 2 assists, 3 to's
Tulane: 4-12, 3 assists, 4 to's
Temple: 2-13, 2 assists, 1 to
Memphis: 2-11, 4 assists, 3 to's
Tulsa: 2-12, 5 assists, 3 to's
Houston: 4-13, 3 assists, 1 to
Tulane: 3-7, 3 assists, 6 to's
Georgetown: 2-8, 3 assists, 0 to's
Cincinnati: 2-11, 8 assists, 4 to's
Total: 36-119 (30.3%), 4.6 apg, 2.8 tpg
Other 25 games: 123-292 (42.1%), 4.8 apg, 3.0

I think it's a big enough sample size to conclude that not having Brimah as an outlet forced Hamilton into taking a lot of bad shots. I thought it was clear from watching the games, but a 30% shooting percentage over an 11-game stretch speaks volumes.

 

[intlzncster]

The jury is out until we get a look at Chief's long-awaited analysis

Rarely, rarely, does Chief not answer the bell when called. Maybe he's evaluating extra tape to really nail this one?

 

[intlzncster]

Three-point shooters are favorites of the First Night crowd, and that's ok. We need those fans too. But if you want to win, you need to play at both ends. You also need to put in the work in the film room and the weight room to maximize your potential. Jerome, Andre and I were talking about that the other day. Jerome finally understood too late what I was trying to tell him, and Andre is starting to understand that to succeed in the NBA, you can't just date Nickelodeon stars on Instagram to become popular. You need to work on your game!

And, while he'll spend most of his time on the perimeter, he'll really need a big man's coach to improve those post up fundamentals. Glenn Miller is not getting it done. I don't like his zone philosophies infecting KO either. It's too bad we don't have Clyde.

 

[intlzncster]

From some googling it looks like his father was a high school standout in the Los Angeles area 1 year ahead of KO (went on to play at Georgia). He played his high school ball at a private school, but he lived near Crenshaw. Wonder if they ever crossed paths back in the day.

Without question. That's a fairly tight breeding ground for ball players.

 

[intlzncster]

Yes. And I love AB for that. But it is a coincidence. Had we a better center, we wouldn't have needed that 3 point play.

Look, I love AB, ask Mau. But an weak frontcourt by design is not a good thing.
I remember when we were recruiting Diamond Stone and a bunch of posters didn't want him because of sharing minutes with AB. They wanted another wing.
We are headed in the right direction. But I think next year we are lacking still. Nolan and Miller are gone. And we add Diarra. Don't think anyone is taking Miller's points. I hope Diarra takes his rebounds.

I wonder how AB would look with a bruising PF by his side?

 

[intlzncster]

Bazz also played pretty poorly in that game as well, he had to get his points on volume shooting and took alot of bad shots since he was pressing, he got bailed out by Boat and DD in that game, Nolan had one of his better offensive games of the season, and of course Brimah at the end of regulation. The obsession with the old school posters on this board with post play is like listening to Barkley, I hate to sound like a broken record but for all the talk about our bigs, the guards and wings were pretty terrible in the first 20 minutes of Saturday's game, and it was a recurring theme in other losses as well with either slow starts or wide open layups/jumpers. It would be nice to have complete balance across the board but the higher rated guards/wings need to play up to their talent that they show in flashes.

Also, it's hard to ignore the small ball 'revolution', for lack of a better term (eg Warriors). KO seems to be targeting skilled bigs (whether he lands them or not), more than pure bruisers. Could just be my imagination of course.

Add to that the fact that college basketball is a guards game, and has been for years.

 

[intlzncster]

Unless he's a power forward with game that can bang, don't need or want another guard.

And what happens if RP gets hurt or in foul trouble. SC Jr is spelling the starters then -> not good. Both Gibs and Omar won't be around.

 

[3rdbass]

And what happens if RP gets hurt or in foul trouble. SC Jr is spelling the starters then -> not good. Both Gibs and Omar won't be around.

What happens if any of the 3 guards get hurt? Nobody wants to rely on Sam I Am as being a key contributor for next year. Yes, we need better players at the guard position for next year for sure. I hope this guy is good.

 

[mauconnfan]

Did you watch the games where AB was out with an injury?

Yeah we were fine, inconsistent but him coming back didn't change that.