Competition | The Boneyard

Competition

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Not a big poster but watching and reading about the recruiting events taking place leads be to believe we're getting young men not afraid to compete for their playing time rather than have it handed to them. Speaks volumes about the kids we're getting and also says a lot about the kids we got. They worked their asses off to play for UConn. In the end they're much better off...witness all the guys making a living playing this game.
 
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Not a big poster but watching and reading about the recruiting events taking place leads be to believe we're getting young men not afraid to compete for their playing time rather than have it handed to them. Speaks volumes about the kids we're getting and also says a lot about the kids we got. They worked their asses off to play for UConn. In the end they're much better off...witness all the guys making a living playing this game.


It's a nice thought and one that gets expressed all the time on here, but are you really saying that a kid who commits to, say, Kentucky, is looking for playing time to be handed to him? When they go three deep with McDonald's All-Americans at every position?
 
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BigErnMcCracken said:
It's a nice thought and one that gets expressed all the time on here, but are you really saying that a kid who commits to, say, Kentucky, is looking for playing time to be handed to him? When they go three deep with McDonald's All-Americans at every position?

That three deep stuff is a myth. The last two times we played them in the Final Four, they basically only played six guys. What was their "three deep" last year in the backcourt? Their entire bench play at guard was 7 minutes of Hawkins, who you might not remember since he was invisible (I had to look it up - I knew someone was burned on Boat's baseline spin move but couldn't have remembered his name without hypnosis). That was all they had backing up both Harrisons. 7 minutes of nothing.

This is the first time they've really had depth like this, and it's not by design. People who were supposed to leave didn't.
 
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That three deep stuff is a myth. The last two times we played them in the Final Four, they basically only played six guys. What was their "three deep" last year in the backcourt? Their entire bench play at guard was 7 minutes of Hawkins, who you might not remember since he was invisible (I had to look it up - I knew someone was burned on Boat's baseline spin move but couldn't have remembered his name without hypnosis). That was all they had backing up both Harrisons. 7 minutes of nothing.

This is the first time they've really had depth like this, and it's not by design. People who were supposed to leave didn't.


I totally agree with this. It was was what I tried to write in another post, unsuccessfully, I might add. I really didn't think the twins were all that.
 
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Gurleyman said:
That three deep stuff is a myth. The last two times we played them in the Final Four, they basically only played six guys. What was their "three deep" last year in the backcourt? Their entire bench play at guard was 7 minutes of Hawkins, who you might not remember since he was invisible (I had to look it up - I knew someone was burned on Boat's baseline spin move but couldn't have remembered his name without hypnosis). That was all they had backing up both Harrisons. 7 minutes of nothing. This is the first time they've really had depth like this, and it's not by design. People who were supposed to leave didn't.

Three deep was a pretty obvious (I thought) exaggeration, given that teams don't even have enough guys to go three deep.

The point, which I think is pretty hard to ignore, is that we keep trumpeting this notion that kids who look elsewhere are scared off by the competition here, but the fact is that there are rosters far more talented than UConn's (yes, it's true) and yet they continue to attract a steady stream of top flight recruits. So if kids are too scared to come here why don't they feel the same reluctance to compete against arguably more talented kids elsewhere?

If I know anything about the boneyard, we'll certainly be able to manufacture an explanation.
 

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Three deep was a pretty obvious (I thought) exaggeration, given that teams don't even have enough guys to go three deep.

The point, which I think is pretty hard to ignore, is that we keep trumpeting this notion that kids who look elsewhere are scared off by the competition here, but the fact is that there are rosters far more talented than UConn's (yes, it's true) and yet they continue to attract a steady stream of top flight recruits. So if kids are too scared to come here why don't they feel the same reluctance to compete against arguably more talented kids elsewhere?

If I know anything about the boneyard, we'll certainly be able to manufacture an explanation.

far more talented is a stretch in this context
if we are comparing CCSU and UConn, yes, but comparatives between top flite programs "far more" is an exaggeration (unless it was another purposely done).
Many peceived talent levels are pumped by hype.
Example - I saw T Sam and Boatwright to be everybit as capable as the Harrison twins in the NC game but who was trumped up to be "more talented"? Are the twins slightly more talented? Perhaps, Hugely? No
 
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BigErnMcCracken said:
Three deep was a pretty obvious (I thought) exaggeration, given that teams don't even have enough guys to go three deep. The point, which I think is pretty hard to ignore, is that we keep trumpeting this notion that kids who look elsewhere are scared off by the competition here, but the fact is that there are rosters far more talented than UConn's (yes, it's true) and yet they continue to attract a steady stream of top flight recruits. So if kids are too scared to come here why don't they feel the same reluctance to compete against arguably more talented kids elsewhere? If I know anything about the boneyard, we'll certainly be able to manufacture an explanation.

And my point (which perhaps wasn't as obvious) was that forget 3 deep, many years they don't even go 2 deep at key positions. They were deep up front last year, but had nothing backing up the perimeter guys (Harrison, Harrison, Young) in the title game except 7 invisible minutes of Hawkins, and nobody backing up Knight in 2011, who played all 40. They weren't deep two years ago when they lost Noel to injury and plummeted into the NIT and out vs Robert Morris. Kentucky has been bringing in five studs a class to pretty much replenish their whole starting lineup every year. The recruits they are signing aren't expecting to compete with the guys in front of them, because they are not supposed to be there (this year, their model broke when several guys came back unexpectedly, and it may work out for them if their egos can be massaged). You can recruit behind Wiggins, Embiid, Randle, Young and Parker, just as easily as you can recruit behind a senior. If we get Stone, and have freshman Stone and senior Nolan next year, I'd fully expect to recruit a big man a year behind them, as if Stone wouldn't be there and playing time was plentiful.

Hamilton, though, is not a sure one and done, and is (probably) a better player than Jones/Mack/Clarke. Exhibition season probably didn't help if those guys weren't sure, seeing Hamilton look every bit the part of a guy who is going to demand 30+ minutes a night. So as a freshman, if they look at it closely, they'd have to figure they would have to beat out a senior Omar Calhoun for the right to back up Hamilton at the 3, and then maybe start as a sophomore if Hamilton leaves after 2 years (but even that's tough to speculate on at this point). That's not necessarily the path to immediate playing time that many are looking for if they are top 50 recruits.

Three deep is usually an over the top exaggeration, but that's exactly what we were trying to do for next year - go three deep with top 50 talent at the 3. Shouldn't be all that surprising to all of us that it was a tough sell, even if we have a shiny new practice facility. If Hamilton was a top 10 guy on the fast track to the NBA, we could have recruited behind him much easier, but he's not. He could turn out to be a one and done, in which case we'll have a hole next year - but Omar then just has to step up as a senior, or we play a lot of 3 guards. Then we can recruit wings in 2016 who will have nobody in front of them at all, and if we lose those recruiting battles to the VCUs and UNLVs of the world, then I'll join the angst crowd.
 
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This year's kentucky squad is the exception, not the rule. In the past, they clean out 3-5 underclassmen and maybe a veteran of a lower caliber out to the NBA draft, and they get 4-6 fresh all americans in. So I would say each year they have like 3-4 super talented freshman and a few super talented sophs, with a few juniors and seniors to fill it in. This past year a lot of their guys opted to stay in school which I think was the right choice for them, and for that reason alone they are super deep where they usually are not.

I think Kentucky is really one of the only schools that gets top level guys to ride the pine, which is why I am so sure that Calipari does something shady to get the kids to go there. Yes I know they can look at past players for 'proof' that they will get drafted into the league regardless of how little PT cal can afford them, but still... why would you not want to go to a program with all the tools, a solid coach, where you can be a main fixture of the offense? There are enough established programs that arent full of talent at all times now that kids have plenty of choices which they dont take in favor of heading out to Kentucky.
 
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