Drummond decision expected today

[upstater]

I do not deny that JC and co. are fantastic at developing big men defensively. Despite that fact, this year proved that you can't make a deep tourney run without offense from your big men.

Care to explain '99 for me? 6 from Saunders, 2 from Wane, 5 from Voskuhl.
Or how about the 2002 team that went to the final 8 against NC Maryland. 8 from frosh Emeka, no other big man on the team. Selvie was the only other guy and he was a black hole who shot from the foul line. In those 2 years at least, UConn made deep runs.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I do not deny that JC and co. are fantastic at developing big men defensively. Despite that fact, this year proved that you can't make a deep tourney run without offense from your big men.

You mean like all the offense we got from Oriakhi, Okwandu, and Olander in 2011? Or how about all the offense Duke got in 2010 from Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas?

 

[Connrack]

I agree that it is collateral damage from the APR, but not for that reason. We're all just reading the tea leaves here, but I don't think he needed the draw of a significant friendship to stay. I think he quite liked it here, but he (and especially the people influencing his decision) needed to believe there was an upside to him staying that was at least equal to, if not better than, the guarantee he is going to get by leaving now. If we were not banned from post-season play next year, I believe he could be sold on the prospect of making another run, as well as the exposure he would get in the process. It is a given (imo) that he would develop far better by staying another year irrespective of the ban, but in the end I'm guessing he came to believe that it was unwise to risk injury and lack of exposure, with so little upside beyond better development.

I'm saying his friendship with Dunn could very well have overridden the negative impact the tournament ban had on his decision to turn pro. From my perspective, Drummond has a boyish exuberance, a I-want-to-hang-with-my-buds innocence, and that playing with Dunn would have been a strong allure. The NCAA tournament is a great forum for exposure, but that is for the general basketball fan base. For the most part, before the tournament begins, NBA talent evaluators well know the quality of player Drummond will be. And your thinking also assumes that they make the NCAA tournament, and if they do, they are not one-and-done. What's apparent is that Drummond's decision speaks to how magnified the NCAA tournament has become relative to the regular season, as well as, the possible lack of peer respect for playing for a team that is tournament ineligible.

 

[upstater]

I tend to think stories were true last year about Drummond considering a jump straight from Prep to the NBA, had he stayed in Prep. I think he was always a one-and-done but he enjoyed his time at UConn, and that's the only thing that gave him second thoughts.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I do not deny that JC and co. are fantastic at developing big men defensively. Despite that fact, this year proved that you can't make a deep tourney run without offense from your big men.

Um, did we have much offense from big men during the run in 2011?

 

[champs99and04]

Call it sour grapes, but this is why college basketball is regressing every year. I understand Drummond is a massive talent, and you'd have to be a fool not to take him in the top ten at the very least. But these are the kind of kids that really need college, and frankly, the fact that more and more of these players are leaving rather than sticking around to develop their game is what is damaging the sport.

By all acounts, Andre Drummond is a great kid, and i wish him luck. He didn't owe me, or anybody else, anything. But honestly, I'll probably have about as much affiliation with him going forward as I do with Ater Majok or Andrew Bynum, which isn't much. He made no impact on this program and the program didn't seem to make any impact on him. In short, he accomplished close to nothing during his time here, and in turn, the program also accomplished nothing.

The fact that this kid will be more appreciated on here than a kid like Dyson who put everything he had on the line for this program baffles me. Again, this isn't anything about Drummond personally, it's just what college basketball has become. I'm sure it will make some of us feel good 10 years down the line if he's an all-star, and I'm sure he'll represent the school well and thank UConn for everything. But from a far, UConn had very little impact on his life, at least as a basketball player. He'll leave here the same way he came in, incredibly talented with no skill to speak of and a questionable desire to play the game. Look at the transformation Drummond made while he was here and look at the transformation guys like Kemba, Rip, Ray, even Hilton, Boone, Armstrong made, and you'll understand why I likely won't make any sort of connection with the kid going forward.

That said, he had some fun moments here and I hope he has a great career. It's not him, it's the process. And it sucks as a UConn fan, and a college basketball fan.

 

[suzyq]

He did not live up to expectations, clearly. I expected something like 14 & 10 from him, based on put-backs, dunks, and the occasional low post move. I knew his offensive game was raw but I was disappointed that he made very little progress over the course of the year. That said, if he were to come back I would be pretty confident that we'd see a much better player next season. Too bad it looks like that won't happen.

He could be a Bynum-type player. I know that rarely happens with "projects," but he's got the skill set to make it happen, or else he wouldn't be a consensus top-5 pick.

Okay, now picture him on the team last year with Kemba getting him the ball. He didn't play in a vacuum.

 

[Dogdeacon]

Nothing smacks of a petty personality more than sour grapes over unrequited devotion.

Andre gave us, minimally, a year of his basketball life.

As far as I can tell, the kid was nothing but positive about UConn through all the crap that has happened in the last year.

When he wasn't getting a lot of PT early, he didn't pout, complain, it, or otherwise do anything self-centered or destructive to the team.

He played with a broken nose, in a mask.

Can we just say "thank you for being a Husky", and leave the sour-grape, we got dumped nonsense in Junior High School, where it belongs?

I think if 99% of the people on this board or in this thread met Andre Drummond, 'Thank you and good luck!' is exactly what they would say.

But I don't think its necessary to admonish thoughts and police threads as if they are Andre's goodbye card or a personal interaction/insult. The kid performed well, but below some very high expectations. He is going to have to deal with even higher expectations in the future. Assuming this is the last we've seen of him its pretty natural for UConn fans to express some remorse over what could have been.

Imagine how much less fondly we'd remember Emeka Okafor if he'd played only one year?!

Or he had zero expecations and outperformed, but #1 on a lot of Husky fans' all-time wish list would be another year or two of Nadav Henefeld.

One year players, whether great (Nadav) or just scratching the surface (Andre) are always going to come with some regrets.

 

[HeGotGame]

Okay, now picture him on the team last year with Kemba getting him the ball. He didn't play in a vacuum.

What does this even mean? Are you saying he would be a better offensive player if Kemba was the PG? How do you figure? The only thing it would have done was drawing some defenders away from AD when Kemba drove so maybe he would have an extra dunk or two. Kemba is not CP3, he was a shoot first PG who averaged 4 assists a game.

 

[JLock819]

I can think of a lot of memorable things he did.

Too many to list, numerous highlight moves, from is incredible spin move on the baseline for a jam, to numerous alley-oops, to jump shots raining down on West Virginia in his best performance of the year.

I think we need to let a season or two pass and see how much you or I remember. Unfortunately, the only on court moment I think i'll remember is the put back dunk in the BE tourney. There were no special statistical games and no big W's.

 

[8893]

Okay, now picture him on the team last year with Kemba getting him the ball. He didn't play in a vacuum.

That would have to be one helluva big vacuum.

And now I'm reminded of Steve Martin's "Let's get small" skit. Anyone?

 

[Huskies4ever]

I think we need to let a season or two pass and see how much you or I remember. Unfortunately, the only on court moment I think i'll remember is the put back dunk in the BE tourney. There were no special statistical games and no big W's.

I remember a couple monster jams from Rudy Gay and that's mostly it out of a two - year stay. Only time will tell what AD 's time here means to each of us.

 

[8893]

Bynum is by no means the exception. Plenty of other post players who left college after a year or skipped it all together for the draft have had lucrative NBA careers.

AD could make $100,000,000 for his career without ever playing in all-star game, and people around here would still shake their heads and say it's a shame he left early. It's easy to make that call when dollars and cents aren't part of the equation for us.

He will have a lucrative NBA career. That much is guaranteed. And I am not making any call. I'm only saying that I believe that his odds of having an NBA career that is notable and rewarding in ways other than financially were better if he had more time to develop in college, especially emotionally. Much will depend on the situation into which he is drafted. The Lakers were patient with Bynum, and he had one-on-one daily tutoring with Kareem. I do believe there are more big man busts than success stories, and that those odds worsen the earlier the jump and the less-developed the player.

 

[upstater]

I think we need to let a season or two pass and see how much you or I remember. Unfortunately, the only on court moment I think i'll remember is the put back dunk in the BE tourney. There were no special statistical games and no big W's.

9 of 11 shooting, most of them from outside, 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals.

Nothing special?

 

[hungry husky]

9 of 11 shooting, most of them from outside, 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals.

Nothing special?

Holy Cross isn't exactly an NBA-caliber squad.

 

[Rico444]

West Virginia is pretty good, though.

 

[upstater]

Holy Cross isn't exactly an NBA-caliber squad.

West Virginia

I want to know if you guys watched any UConn basketball this year.

 

[uconnbill]

He was a scoundrel, a cancer, and a loser.

UConn's record with Drummond: 20-14.

He did nothing while at UConn.

I don't care anymore- I'm done talking about Drummond.

Bitter much....Some of you need to step away from the computer and breath before typing whatever comes to your mind.

I wish the season was better but to put it on him is ridiculous

 

[sledog]

So, is he gone????????

 

[Rico444]

Yes, he's gone.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Nothing smacks of a petty personality more than sour grapes over unrequited devotion.

Andre gave us, minimally, a year of his basketball life.

As far as I can tell, the kid was nothing but positive about UConn through all the crap that has happened in the last year.

When he wasn't getting a lot of PT early, he didn't pout, complain, it, or otherwise do anything self-centered or destructive to the team.

He played with a broken nose, in a mask.

Can we just say "thank you for being a Husky", and leave the sour-grape, we got dumped nonsense in Junior High School, where it belongs?

I can't even tell if this is serious after how you trashed Dyson the other day. Talk about hypocritical.