Does this team miss.. Josh Carlton?

[WhereistheDove?]

yeah but ... you would think some of the smarty pants youth around here who spouted meanspirited Josh Carlton posts would show up and say: Kid is proving me wrong. HE always had a certain skillset. You can play him full minutes against certain teams and for a specific role. He just didn't fit the way Coach Hurley wanted to play most 40 minutes. 30 and 11 is proof that he is a darn good college ballplayer.

He wasn’t run out of town with pitchforks. He was always a solid player who generally feasted on lesser competition and struggled with better teams and more athletic bigs. That doesn’t seem to have changed. The reality for him was that he was just not going to get the minutes he wanted with Sanogo clearly ahead of him and Whaley also here demanding minutes. He found a better situation for himself to get minutes but the idea that he’s blossomed into some amazing player far beyond the likes of what he was here is maybe a bit overblown.

 

[imno1]

I'm sure guys like Whaley miss him. They played 4 years together and I'm sure they are good friends.

 

[BapeKidd88]

He wasn’t run out of town with pitchforks. He was always a solid player who generally feasted on lesser competition and struggled with better teams and more athletic bigs. That doesn’t seem to have changed. The reality for him was that he was just not going to get the minutes he wanted with Sanogo clearly ahead of him and Whaley also here demanding minutes. He found a better situation for himself to get minutes but the idea that he’s blossomed into some amazing player far beyond the likes of what he was here is maybe a bit overblown.

IMO, Carlton is PLENTY athletic for his size.
At his size - with Carlton's dimensions from shoulder to shoulder - how much "athleticism" do you really need?
Carlton has always had an unusual gift (for a man his size) to dance around his man with great footwork. He had it at Dematha and he has it at Houston.
Kelvin Sampson is heavily utilizing him in the screen game. Sampson rightly points out that - with Josh - all he has to do is be in the area and he is so big that the players have to make great effort to go around him no matter how close they are.
Carlton is such a big target he's almost always open. The guards at Houston are having a field day getting him the ball. He doesn't have to jump to go get it or make some dynamic move to open up a passing window.
Kelvin Sampson saw him play extensively at UConn, like everyone on this board, and he liked what he saw so much that he was calling Josh as his team was preparing for the Final Four.
That man knows talent.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

IMO, Carlton is PLENTY athletic for his size.
At his size - with Carlton's dimensions from shoulder to shoulder - how much "athleticism" do you really need?
Carlton has always had an unusual gift (for a man his size) to dance around his man with great footwork. He had it at Dematha and he has it at Houston.
Kelvin Sampson is heavily utilizing him in the screen game. Sampson rightly points out that - with Josh - all he has to do is be in the area and he is so big that the players have to make great effort to go around him no matter how close they are.
Carlton is such a big target he's almost always open. The guards at Houston are having a field day getting him the ball. He doesn't have to jump to go get it or make some dynamic move to open up a passing window.
Kelvin Sampson saw him play extensively at UConn, like everyone on this board, and he liked what he saw so much that he was calling Josh as his team was preparing for the Final Four.
That man knows talent.

I don't want it to come across as though I'm trashing the guy. I appreciate what he did here and he was a solid contributor and by all accounts, a great guy off the court. But his limiting factor is and always has been his athleticism. He would be the least athletic F/C on this team by a decent margin, but he's always managed to provide value because of his footwork and skills. That has always been the case.

If you thought Carlton was underutilized or utilized wrong by Hurley, I get the desire to jump at a couple of big games to say why he's blossomed since leaving, but I just don't buy him being that much better than he was here. His games with 10+ points have come against USF, Texas State, Louisiana, Alabama, Alcorn State, Bryant, and Oregon. Of those teams, only Alabama is ranked in the top 50 and everyone but Alabama and Oregon are below 150 with USF, Alcorn, and Bryant in the mid to high 200s. Even the Oregon game came in a 29-point blowout after Oregon had just gotten trounced by 32 against BYU. Again, I don't meant to piss in his cheerios, but he is basically who he was here just with a few more touches. He's found a team more in need of that skill set though and is taking advantage of it and that's great for him. I certainly couldn't find 20 mpg for him on the current roster though, could you? Feels like this worked out for all parties involved, but IMO using his current play as an indictment of Hurley or to rewrite history about his abilities at UConn is misguided and wrong.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It’s not about benching players. It’s about circulating players into the game based on game flow, fouls, and certain looks. Houston is pretty guard heavy and Carlton is their number 2 F/C and playing extremely efficiently at 19mins with 11ppg. He wouldn’t get the same amount of minutes here but would still be used. He’s where he should be and getting utilized the way he should.

What Sampson will do, and Dan will not (so far) is adjust his scheme to fit his players. Carlton was like 65% from the field as a sophomore. Barely played as a Junior because he can’t do what Dan Hurley wants a 5 to do on defense. But he was our best post defender, rebounder, shot blocker and most efficient offensive player.

It is what it is, once Hurley recruited guys that fit his scheme, Josh became expendable. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t good. One on one in the paint he’d dominate Whaley on both ends. But no he can’t jump out and disrupt screens. Or shoot from outside.

 

[BapeKidd88]

Some of Carlton's plays:

[twitter]

 

[Huskyforlife]

Some of Carlton's plays:

[twitter]

Josh would help this team immensely with teams that have big centers. But you're really overselling the man right now. You gotta realize most kids don't get starting experience for 3 years, get to come back for another developmental season, and then play a 5th season on top of that. He's a really nice piece though, no doubt.

 

[Umami Zen]

Looks like he's having fun -Good for him-Great kid

 

[Palatine]

Josh would have been huge in the Pee Cee gme where we were eaten up inside.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Josh Carlton was born 15 years too late. He would be getting on mock draft boards right now if this was 2007. The game changed.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Josh Carlton was born 15 years too late. He would be getting on mock draft boards right now if this was 2007. The game changed.

We’re really getting into silly season with some of this stuff. The NBA has not been kind for a loooong time to 6’9ish below the rim centers with decent but not great back to the basket games. Rewinding the clock 15 years would not make Carlton an NBA player.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

He wasn’t run out of town with pitchforks. He was always a solid player who generally feasted on lesser competition and struggled with better teams and more athletic bigs. That doesn’t seem to have changed. The reality for him was that he was just not going to get the minutes he wanted with Sanogo clearly ahead of him and Whaley also here demanding minutes. He found a better situation for himself to get minutes but the idea that he’s blossomed into some amazing player far beyond the likes of what he was here is maybe a bit overblown.

That’s absolutely untrue.
Josh had some of his best games against better teams and worst games against weaker competition.
The reason being some of our better opponents had front lines that required him to man up another big not chase a little guy out on the perimeter something not many 6’11 250 lbs guys are capable of doing. He frequently got in early foul trouble and played limited minutes in some of his poorer games .
That became worse when he tried to high hedge.
Two years ago we had four good wins
Miami, Florida, Houston , and Cincinnati Josh had big games in three of those , ironically Houston was the worst of the four yet Sampson grabbed him in a heartbeat.
Last year where he played sparingly he came from the deep in the bench to have a great game against USC the best front court we saw last year and probably our best win.
He was a very good rebounder averaging around 9 a game in a little over twenty minutes.
Josh came here as a kid and is about the same age as Akok who is a junior. So he still is relatively young.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

We’re really getting into silly season with some of this stuff. The NBA has not been kind for a loooong time to 6’9ish below the rim centers with decent but not great back to the basket games. Rewinding the clock 15 years would not make Carlton an NBA player.

Did Josh Carlton shrink in Houston?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Did Josh Carlton shrink in Houston?

Maybe Sanogo and Polley are also 6’11? The heights on bigs are almost always inflated.

 

[freescooter]

I think the yard badly over estimated how good our bigs would be. Maybe Hurley did a bit too. And of course, nobody anticipated Adama being out this long. Johnson and Springs are pine brothers. Akok is a different type of player, not a banger. Same with Polley. Whaley would be a really good piece on a really top team but isn’t Adama.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I think the yard badly over estimated how good our bigs would be. Maybe Hurley did a bit too. And of course, nobody anticipated Adama being out this long. Johnson and Springs are pine brothers. Akok is a different type of player, not a banger. Same with Polley. Whaley would be a really good piece on a really top team but isn’t Adama.

I don’t think anyone is saying we wouldn’t take Carlton on this team if he had chose to stay around. The question is whether Carlton would have stuck around to be a matchup defendant big who would only get significant minutes in the event Adama went down with injury. The answer was clearly no. He got himself in a better situation to get playing time and good for him taking advantage of it.

 

[kansashusky]

Going nuts today against Wichita State. Glad he found a coach that could get him to his potential.

 

[BapeKidd88]

Josh Carlton has better moves in the post than anyone on the UConn roster.
He's a double double machine.
Some are saying he's improved, but it's just the coaching.

[twitter]

 

[Frank06830]

This team misses Jim Calhoun

 

[BapeKidd88]

Josh Carlton has a big fan who is just gushing over his game...

Hakeem Olajuwan

[twitter]

 

[storrsroars]

Not suggesting Carlton can be John Hugley skill-wise, but he has the size and his athleticism has improved. Just watched the Pitt-BC game just now - Hugley single-handedly fouled out two BC bigs. Had 20 FTAs (hit 75%), also 8-13 from field including a trey, 13 boards and even a couple of steals. Hugley now leads the NCAA in FTAs, and he missed the first cupcake game. If Carlton keeps improving with more time and opportunity, he could be a huge factor in NCAAs.

 

[Husky68]

Think Josh is at least "pretty" good yet?

Hard to get a clearer example of getting the least vs. getting the most out of a player than UConn Josh vs. Houston Josh.

 

[gtcam]

Had 22 and 11 yesterday - nay UConn doesn't need him at all
Hakeem doesn't know anything
I don't care about mock drafts and 15 years ago, I would like to know what Sampson sees and Dan Hurley doesn't and why Sampson can get consistency out of Josh and Dan Hurley couldn't
Anyone thinking or saying that he wouldn't help this team is fooling themselves.

 

[jibsey]

Had 22 and 11 yesterday - nay UConn doesn't need him at all
Hakeem doesn't know anything
I don't care about mock drafts and 15 years ago, I would like to know what Sampson sees and Dan Hurley doesn't and why Sampson can get consistency out of Josh and Dan Hurley couldn't
Anyone thinking or saying that he wouldn't help this team is fooling themselves.

Hurley was giving Sanogo the job but you have to be impressed with Josh's performance this year.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Anyone thinking or saying that he wouldn't help this team is fooling themselves.

I don’t think anyone has said that.