DeAndre Daniels

[huskiesnyc]

People are sleeping on this kid, and if he continues what he did toward the end of last year we're a legit Final Four contender. He scored over 13 points in 6 of the last 7 games to end the season. If he continues to be assertive the sky's the limit. The way him, Bazz and Omar (pre injury) improved also shows how great KO is at developing players.

This is what he did in his last 4 games:
Gtown: 25 pts 10 rebounds
Cinci: 18 pts 8 rebounds
USF: 23 pts 10 rebounds
PC: 19 pts 8 rebounds

 

[Ts5034]

One of the things im looking forward to the most about this season is seeing how well Daniels plays. Hes proven he could be "the guy" with the way he closed out last season. The team was pretty banged up at the end of the year and it seems like DD took over. If he can average 15-17ppg, this team will be dangerous.

 

[Sportsman5]

the key for him is to be able to take over games against ranked opponents. We have enough scoring depth this year to blow out a lot of bad and mediocre teams.

 

[mcs333]

DD and Bazz were masterful in the pick and roll the last 4 games. This came late in the season. Early on didn't see them use the pick and roll or pick and pop much.

 

[mauconnfan]

People are sleeping on this kid, and if he continues what he did toward the end of last year we're a legit Final Four contender. He scored over 13 points in 6 of the last 7 games to end the season. If he continues to be assertive the sky's the limit. The way him, Bazz and Omar (pre injury) improved also shows how great KO is at developing players.

This is what he did in his last 4 games:
Gtown: 25 pts 10 rebounds
Cinci: 18 pts 8 rebounds
USF: 23 pts 10 rebounds
PC: 19 pts 8 rebounds

Not sure sleeping and he's going to be good but those games weren't enough to put him in the "next great one' category yet. But there were signs....he needs to handle it better and be able to take his guy from wing better .......little more consistent from 12' and out.......and if he does rebound with the aggressiveness of that last few I think he'll be a real good one.......just how good we will see!

 

[James]

statistically, a bazz and DD PICK n roll/fade is absolutely lethal. Daniels needs to learn to master screen setting to get boat/bazz off. Nolan Also. When we won the title oriakhi and okwandu were masterful at freeing up lamb/kemba.

 

[DogMania]

DD seemed to be well on his way to becoming the next great Husky wing. I have little doubt that he'll build on what he did at the end of last season. IMO, the difference between this team being a good team and a great one (i.e. F-4) lies with the development of our front court (Bigs). Imagine how many wins we would have had last year if we had not given up so many second chances? I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how we won so many games last season getting out rebounded especially on our own end.

I'm not saying that we need an all-american front court, but we need some players step up, rebound and score enough to keep defenses honest. If they can make teams defend the post, it should open things up for our skilled perimeter players to really light them up. just a little more balance and this team is going to be very special. If the bigs can't hold their own in the post, I'm not saying this team won't be a very good team. But to be a F-4 team, it would take some favorable matchups in the tournament for them to not be exploited. if Olander can get his act together and get back on track, Nolan build on what he did at the end of last season and Facey can overcome his eligibility issues and play this season, I think our front court will be good enough.

 

[tcf15]

http://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/Napier-Don-t-count-out-our-frontcourt-4850425.php?cmpid=twitter

 

[Sportsman5]

http://www.ctpost.com/uconn/article/Napier-Don-t-count-out-our-frontcourt-4850425.php?cmpid=twitter

if napier isn't exaggerating this is huge news. he would know better than just about anyone how brimah and nolan are matching up against people like thabeet and adrien in pickup games.

 

[Rico444]

"I think our frontcourt is better than our backcourt," Napier said. "I think a lot of you are giving our backcourt the advantage over the frontcourt, but I don't think you guys understand who we have."

Wow.

 

[DogMania]

if napier isn't exaggerating this is huge news. he would know better than just about anyone how brimah and nolan are matching up against people like thabeet and adrien in pickup games.

I haven't been mentioning Brimah. Was thinking he'd be more of a project this season. If he can come in right away and play at this level, that will be a nice boost for this front court. Just keep in mind that a pickup game is a far cry from a true game that counts against a legit hi major program. But still, that's encouraging news.

 

[Huskybass]

DD is going to be an absolute stud this year. Brimah will be a presence on d if he stays out of foul trouble and Facey is a lot better than people realize. Add Nolan to the mix and I like our frontcourt a great deal, assuming Facey is eligible.

 

[Sportsman5]

I haven't been mentioning Brimah. Was thinking he'd be more of a project this season. If he can come in right away and play at this level, that will be a nice boost for this front court. Just keep in mind that a pickup game is a far cry from a true game that counts against a legit hi major program. But still, that's encouraging news.

It can say a lot about how well he will play one on one defense, box out, and block shots. That's all we need him for. Making plays, getting open shots and other things like that are a lot easier during a pick up game than regulation game, but he won't be doing any of those things. Either way, all of the feedback about the young players seems more positive than most people on this board are assuming. Whether they exceed the expectations of a lot of people on here or blow those expectations out of the water is yet to be seen. Either way, it looks like there is a good chance to have a top 50 front court in the nation with the possibility of it being a top 25.

 

[bmayuc]

What to take from this article: Shabazz is a great hype man. Could replace Flava Flav and wouldn't miss a beat.

With that being said, I am going to go ahead and imagine the possibilities!!

With bazz boat deandre giffey and calhoun putting buckets up, if we can just squeeze solid defense/rebounding out of our 5s, we are golden!

 

[TheChamps990411]

i feel pretty good with nolan starting and olander backing up at the five. i really think nolan is going to surprise people this year. i think he can be very very good. olander could be solid off the pine as his backup i have no doubt. if facey and brimah could give us positive minutes we could be pretty darn good.
if nolan can run the floor and finish with some rebounding and shotblocking our starting 5 of boat,bazz,DD,omar and nolan could score a ton of points. and come march we all know its all about backcourt play. a deep run this year will fix any recruiting issues we may be having.

 

[imno1]

"I think our frontcourt is better than our backcourt," Napier said. "I think a lot of you are giving our backcourt the advantage over the frontcourt, but I don't think you guys understand who we have."

Wow.

Wondered where the hype was going to come from after JC retired. Coach taught Napier well.

 

[mauconnfan]

i feel pretty good with nolan starting and olander backing up at the five. i really think nolan is going to surprise people this year. i think he can be very very good. olander could be solid off the pine as his backup i have no doubt. if facey and brimah could give us positive minutes we could be pretty darn good.
if nolan can run the floor and finish with some rebounding and shotblocking our starting 5 of boat,bazz,DD,omar and nolan could score a ton of points. and come march we all know its all about backcourt play. a deep run this year will fix any recruiting issues we may be having.

And add a few minutes from Brimah as a shot blocking presence and some boards they could be okay. Lot of this is resting on Mr Nolan and I think he has the shoulders to carry this I agree..........if Kenton is eligible the depth will be really really good......mix and match size lineups vs speed........

 

[AZHuskiePop]

"I think our frontcourt is better than our backcourt," Napier said. "I think a lot of you are giving our backcourt the advantage over the frontcourt, but I don't think you guys understand who we have."

Wow.

That's why he is a great leader but this frontcourt woe is pretty bogus.
You have 2 potentential NBA players at the 4 .

That sounds like a real problem. You also have the obtion of playing them together sitting one of the smaller guards.
No one in the country has a backup frontcourt player like NG.
Plus you have Leon who I expect to be a situational player.

That leaves only the 5
If you look a rebounding late last year we had improved especially after Wolf left.
That's not a knock on him but attributable to the improvement of DD, NG, and Nolan.
You return a 4 year vet.who lacks phsicality but is an excellent passer and can score if ignored,and a Soph who showed great improvement over last year. We had many teams with far less at the 5. Including 2011. Our 5 job is to keep the other team from cheating.

What the freshman contribute is bonus.
Brimah I exspect will take some time.
Facey if eligiable will get the most minutes.
Either Brimah or Facey need to be availaable for fouls.
Freshman points only play when paired with s SN or RB.
and only for short periods.


Guys if they show the commitment of last years team they will be very good. Last years team when healthy was one of my all time favorite UConn teams to watch because of effort.
Actually I was worried more about depth in the backcourt until we added a guard. Evans played s lot of minutues and had the ball in his hand a good deal of those minutes.
Getting an experienced guard to replace him was important.