Deandre Daniels Is Already Better Than Rs.

[bmayuc]

Look DD is a great player, clearly. And he'll be very valuable to this team. But 'Scoe is a beast on defense + on the boards, and deserves to start. Having DD and RB off the bench will mean we have dynamic scorers to inject life into our team. That is such a valuable commodity.

 

[Bryan Lord]

This is what you would call one of those good problems

 

[jleves]

^ this

 

[Danzz]

He should start.

Daniels is a SF/SG, Roscoe is a PF/SF.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

This is just classic UCONN fan.

After two exhibition games where the freshman plays pretty good ball, a fan feels the need to not just compliment him, but to bash the incumbent starting small forward coming off a national championship.

I certainly like what I've seen from Daniels, but Roscoe does the gritty things that you need in order to win. Hopefully both players contribute a lot to this season.

 

[Burnsbros23]

To me Daniels is strictly a three. He still cant handle the ball well enough to be a two. Roscoe started at small forward last year but his primary position was at PF. And at this point in time he is a much better PF than SF. His handle is shaky and his jumper is streaky. I imagine there will be a lot of times were Drummond or Oriakhi pick up two fouls and Roscoe would slide in at the four.

I think Daniels will struggle to defend a 6'5 guard who is a capable driver. While Roscoe is prolly our best premiter defender. It will be interesting to see great problem to have.

 

[chiller99]

The image of Roscoe with the bandage in there banging still was one of the great ones from the championship run
http://blog.ctnews.com/ostrout/files/2011/03/20110310-074656.jpg

 

[Deadrody]

Roscoe was the starting SF on the national championship team. He will start against Columbia. The sky is blue.

THIS.

 

[Deadrody]

...he's more of a grit and toughness guy. He'll stick his nose in there ...

Yeah, literally.

 

[Deadrody]

I don't see anybody bashing Roscoe Smith here.

Pretty sure "DD is better than Roscoe" after 2 exhibition games qualifies as "bashing" in my book.

 

[Nully]

I don't know why it has to be mutually exclusive. At some point they will need rs's defense and rebounding. I think Daniels could one day be an NBA lottery pick but for now I like him coming off the bench. You can put him at a 2 or a 3. He is an excellent shooter runs the court very well. Gets back on defense, etc. He also showed an ability to explode going to the hoop today twice. This kid has an excellent game - not many flaws for such a young player. KO hit home runs with Daniels and Drummond this summer. Unbelievably talented kids.

KO has been invaluable on the recruiting trail. I hope he's around for a long, long time.

 

[ktuck911]

He may be better offensively...But Roscoe is still a beast on the boards and on defense.

DD is gonna be a stud, but lets wait until he plays against some real competition before we say he's clearly better than Roscoe. Overall, I think they both bring different things to the floor, so its a great problem to have.

Agreed 100% .. 'Sco is still the man in terms of intangibles (rebounding and defense)... The thing he does well is pick and choose when to shoot... He kinda surprises you when he does shoot but he seemed to find a way ( last season when it counted ) to keep teams honest when he put points on the board... DD is a bulldog on offense, IMO... from the little I've seen... He's gonna fit right in... help alleviate the loss of the scoring Kemba took to the NBA....

 

[ktuck911]

Another Marcus Johnson?

I've also got a good feeling about Mr D but this is pickup ball.

Big time NEGATIVE! He's better than Marcus Johnson... I can see that already... I think Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder can too... In terms of how approaches the game.. Marcus wasn't a pure scorer... ...I can see DD taking over a game ( or 2 ) offensively for us this season... only 2 because he's a freshman...

 

[huskyhal]

To me, the beauty of this team is that you can beat on a team for 10 minutes or so with AD, AO and RS, then, when they start bending over grabbing their shorts, bring in RB and DD, and let the track meet begin!!

Saying DD is better than RS (or vice versa, for that matter) makes no sense. They are different players, with different strengths, and we have a HOF coach pulling the strings.

 

[Waquoit]

Pretty sure "DD is better than Roscoe" after 2 exhibition games qualifies as "bashing" in my book.

I'm pretty sure you are full of baloney. Did you go to the games, rody? If you took someone who knew hoop but not the names of the players to both games and suggested that the 22 was better than the 2 he would fall down laughing. Roscoe has not played very well. He had trouble holding on to the ball. It is getting to him, everytime the horn sounded his head was whipping to the bench to see if he was the one getting yanked. Roscoe isn't as good as Olander right now. Is that bashing?

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I'm pretty sure you are full of baloney. Did you go to the games, rody? If you took someone who knew hoop but not the names of the players to both games and suggested that the 22 was better than the 2 he would fall down laughing. Roscoe has not played very well. He had trouble holding on to the ball. It is getting to him, everytime the horn sounded his head was whipping to the bench to see if he was the one getting yanked. Roscoe isn't as good as Olander right now. Is that bashing?

Alex Oriakhi was non-existent against C.W. Post. An outsider who didn't know the Uconn players would probably tell you based on yesterday that Oriakhi is our worst post player. Do you believe this to be true as well?

 

[Waquoit]

Alex Oriakhi was non-existent against C.W. Post. An outsider who didn't know the Uconn players would probably tell you based on yesterday that Oriakhi is our worst post player. Do you believe this to be true as well?

This ain't the Kobyashi Maru, HBF. I said both games.

 

[Lefty2one]

This thread reminds me of a thread two years ago that said Oriakhi (as a frosh, after two exhibitions, before ever playing a real DI game) was better than Jeff Adrien was a senior.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

This ain't the Kobyashi Maru, HBF. I said both games.

The small sample size argument still applies.

 

[iam76]

roscoe will be fine.. he will get his minutes.. why do we have to compare our kids to each other.. lets compare him to someone like one of the plumlees.. thats more fun

 

[jibsey]

The value of Roscoe's toughness can't be underestimated and he did it when the chips were down. Both get plenty of time so it shouldn't be about one against the other or who starts.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Roscoe just missed a couple of midrange shots that had a nice soft touch that I don't recall from last year. They have played together at times, with DD at the 3 and RS at the 4, as well as with DD at the 2 and RS at the 3. Should be interesting. What length we can throw at other teams on defense.

 

[DogMania]

I don't know if I can add anything to this topic. As pointed it out we are only 2 exhibition games into the season.

Both Roscoe and Daniels bring different things to the table. Based on video clips and what he's done in the to exhibition games Daniels seems more advanced offensively than Roscoe. Daniels has a better handle and knack for creating his own offence. He has been surprisingly good on defense. We know Roscoe is a monster on defense and seems to be a better rebounder. We shouldn't be surprised by that because Roscoe is simply bigger and stronger.

I think both players are going to earn alot of playing time. Has someone already pointed out their PT Will be earned in practice and based on how they are playing during that game.

We're talking about to very good players that deserve playing time. It's not a case of one or the other like Giffey and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel last season. Game situations and matchups might dictate who gets more playing time any given game.

Based on a small sampling Daniels looks like the more advanced offense of player, but that doesn't mean he will perform better than Roscoe at this early stage. We all need to see how Daniels performs against much higher competition and during a game where every play and shot could determine the outcome of the game.

 

[Huskymaniac]

I'm pretty sure you are full of baloney. Did you go to the games, rody? If you took someone who knew hoop but not the names of the players to both games and suggested that the 22 was better than the 2 he would fall down laughing. Roscoe has not played very well. He had trouble holding on to the ball. It is getting to him, everytime the horn sounded his head was whipping to the bench to see if he was the one getting yanked. Roscoe isn't as good as Olander right now. Is that bashing?

Yes it is and, even more importantly, it is UNWISE to compare CURRENT players. Say he had trouble holding onto the ball and looked unfocused if you want but leave the comparison to other current players out of it. NO GOOD CAN COME OF IT!!!!! Calhoun will start and play who he wants to and nothing anyone says here will make a difference. If you want to say that a certain player should start or play more, in your opinion, that's fine but to say specifically what other player should be negatively impacted is, simply, negative. Hell, if you wanted to say that DD should play more and Roscoe needs to get focused and be stronger with the ball in the same posting is probably fine. People just need to stop pitting the current players against each other. NO GOOD CAN COME OF IT!!!!

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Despite the fact that they have similar body types, they don't appear to have similar games at all. As for who's "better," by what metric are you referring to? Just as an overall player? If that's true, then he is indeed very special, because Roscoe is pretty damn good.