2026 Recruiting: Dylan Mingo Official Visit this weekend!

[CL82]

Would have come in handy last week for the Powerball numbers. I'm sure we could have all split the $1.8 billion prize and have been happy!

If we did, I think it's like 90% likely that someone would've called Dave about building a football stadium in Storrs.

 

[Scottzer]

I just love the evaluation, projection, and scouting part of basketball.

This seems like a relatively easy one to make. Me being on right on this board doesn’t even mean much because it won’t get acknowledged anyways.

I will disagree with you on the scouting part being easy. This coaching staff is obviously exceptional. Nobody gets it right 95 percent.

That said - I don’t want to pile on - we all know, when the season starts, we are cheering the same team. It’s not going to matter if anyone was right about a given player, we roll with who we have.

Why are we all fighting about who is best of the non-starters, let’s let’s let it play out and see?

 

[Scottzer]

I think someone needs to put together the hierarchy of preference for off-season posts. Bench players are preferred over starters, incomers are preferred over bench players, recruits are preferred over incomers,etc. What's at the top of the hierarchy? Infants with a basketball rattle?

Hhhahha- you’re saying parts of what some of us think. And, certainly no, I am not the best talent evaluator on her for hoops - or, probably most things outside of my time in comedy. (When I had a sales job, I helped get a friend hired and she later quit by carving a clementines into a jack-o’-lantern and leaving a not in bubble letters. (I didn’t expect her to last two years, but more than 2 months).

Bottom line - why are we bickering, when we know the staff can’t be 100 percent accurate, and we know their crystal ball predictions on success are more accurate than ours?

 

[Mooch82]

I know I joke around and argue with you a lot about Ross and really any basketball opinion. And most of them are admittedly opinions that intelligent minds can disagree on.

But this Paunovic is objectively BAD. He's not seeing a single minute on the court outside of the last minute of a blowout. He was not brought here to play, and Dan Hurley's comments made that obvious. It is very clear you've looked at nothing about him other than his age

I’m assuming you mean Paunovic “take”, right? Because he’s not objectively a bad basketball player, and if you watch 30 seconds of his highlights you can see that. We also never would have brought him in at all if he was “objectively bad”.

 

[navery12]

I’m assuming you mean Paunovic “take”, right? Because he’s not objectively a bad basketball player, and if you watch 30 seconds of his highlights you can see that. We also never would have brought him in at all if he was “objectively bad”.

Yeah, the take. He's not seeing the court here, he's not remotely close to UConn caliber talent to get meaningful minutes this year

 

[Mr. French]

I’m assuming you mean Paunovic “take”, right? Because he’s not objectively a bad basketball player, and if you watch 30 seconds of his highlights you can see that. We also never would have brought him in at all if he was “objectively bad”.

Yeah, the take. He's not seeing the court here, he's not remotely close to UConn caliber talent to get meaningful minutes this year

Also, it's just the "take" that Furphy would DEFINITELY not play over Ross or Paunovic, which was stated. Whatever your opinion of the last second, 14th man commitment, he's not higher on the pecking order than Furphy right now. It's just not really reasonable.

 

[HW611]

I know I joke around and argue with you a lot about Ross and really any basketball opinion. And most of them are admittedly opinions that intelligent minds can disagree on.

But this Paunovic take is objectively BAD. He's not seeing a single minute on the court outside of the last minute of a blowout. He was not brought here to play, and Dan Hurley's comments made that obvious. It is very clear you've looked at nothing about him other than his age

I watched his film and was impressed by his skillset. We didn’t think Joey C was going to play either.

 

[RuffRuff]

I watched his film and was impressed by his skillset. We didn’t think Joey C was going to play either.

Do you contextualize who he’s playing against? If your scouting prowess is that laser focused that the Serb bumps the Ozzie, I will tip the hat. I’ll call it a .05% chance, at most. I tend to think you subconsciously want Furph to flop because he’s getting the BY love your crush didn’t get.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I watched his film and was impressed by his skillset. We didn’t think Joey C was going to play either.

What was your assessment of Aidan Mahaney at this point last year? Please be honest.

 

[navery12]

I watched his film and was impressed by his skillset. We didn’t think Joey C was going to play either.

Joey C is an awful comparison. Besides the fact that he was a guy already playing college basketball, he was brought in to be the 9th or 10th man, and had a clear path to small minutes. Paunovic was the 14th and probably even 15th man. At best he's the 5th string PG

You always brag about seeing it right away and saying Joey C would play, but now that it's convenient you claim otherwise

 

[HW611]

What was your assessment of Aidan Mahaney at this point last year? Please be honest.

I was never impressed by Aidan Mahaney and pushed back against him being the next Cam despite the AA projections he was getting. I pretty much spent the summer wondering why people thought he was going to be better than Ball. When people said he was going to play PG I didn’t know how that would work because he played the 2G at St Marys.

I actually made a post (that got laughed at and mocked) that he was closer to Joey C than he was to Cam.

Joey C is an awful comparison. Besides the fact that he was a guy already playing college basketball, he was brought in to be the 9th or 10th man, and had a clear path to small minutes. Paunovic was the 14th and probably even 15th man. At best he's the 5th string PG

You always brag about seeing it right away and saying Joey C would play, but now that it's convenient you claim otherwise

When I say we I mean yall.

I don’t think I was exactly standing on the table for Joey C either. Just thought he looked impressive and smooth in practice highlights. I see the same smoothness from the Euro. If being 22 years old gives him grown man confidence I think he’ll be just fine.

 

[Mr. French]

Joey California is a more apt comparison for Furphy than the euro, actually. Just based on where he is in the pecking order and his possible role. But he played years of college hoops and was a sniper with basically 1 job.

 

[navery12]

I was never impressed by Aidan Mahaney and pushed back against him being the next Cam despite the AA projections he was getting. I pretty much spent the summer wondering why people thought he was going to be better than Ball. When people said he was going to play PG I didn’t know how that would work because he played the 2G at St Marys.

When I say we I mean yall.

Sorry, forgot we're all just simple peasants lucky to bask in your basketball knowledge. Let me know what else I'm missing about this year's team

 

[HW611]

Sorry, forgot we're all just simple peasants lucky to bask in your basketball knowledge. Let me know what else I'm missing about this year's team

Don’t forget it either 😉 we’re a lock for 7 if a lockdown wing defender that’s not Demary emerges.

 

[RuffRuff]

They will, and bury Ross and his swiss cheese defense on the bench where he belongs

 

[Son of Robert]

All you guys are tripping. Soon we'll have plenty more to talk about as all this stuff begins to play out.

 

[navery12]

I’ll be waiting for you to start the Ross apology thread when he he’s more Swiss army than Swiss cheese

And still no thread will be needed. I hope he improves, but he just does nothing that this team needs. At best he's the 4th option at every position

 

[Lafayette]

Jayden, Jacob...I'll go with proven Ross...

 

[gtcam]

Sorry, forgot we're all just simple peasants lucky to bask in your basketball knowledge. Let me know what else I'm missing about this year's team

where to start........................................

 

[DogMania]

View attachment 111562

Every year there is always at least one player who ends up being the Boneyard punching bag. Last season it was primarily Aidan Mahaney, though Jayden Ross was tethered often as well. With Aiden having moved on, Jayden seems to be the target.

He has a great deal of untapped talent. He's really struggled to let the game slow down for him during real game action the past 2 seasons. I hope he can get over that and just let his athleticism and talent grow and shine. Some players just never learn to mentally and emotionally process the game. I hope that is where he matures this season.

For examples, he's got a really nice smooth repeatable 3 point stroke, but he just seems to rush his shot when he doesn't have to. He's got a decent handle and shown some nice passing skills in cupcake games, but against better competition, he would often lose the ball trying to drive into some tight spaces. At other times he seemed afraid to make a mistake and quickly pass the ball to a teammate as soon as he received it instead of making a play either for himself or a teammate that has a better scoring advantage.

I'm all for constructive criticism, but why some Yarders have to trash our players before giving them a chance to show they've matured, just never seems to cease. Let's have a little hope and see what happens.

There's never been such a deep UConn team with so much positional flexibility that I can remember, so a lot is at stake for Jayden and many of his teammates that are all vying for playing time. I can't even begin to predict who will get minutes over who, other than Alex, Tarris and Silas, the rest are battling for minutes. Even Solo, who needs to improve his defense. We know he can shoot it, but if he can learn to defend, it will be hard for others to wrestle minutes from him. Others I didn't mention will earn minutes for sure, but there is lots of competition at just about all positions where those minutes need to be earned. Nothing will be given to anyone with what seems to be a talented roster that goes 2 to 3 players deep at all positions. I don't know how anyone here is able to predict PT and rotations at this early stage.

I can't wait to see this team in action.

 

[HW611]

Joey California is a more apt comparison for Furphy than the euro, actually. Just based on where he is in the pecking order and his possible role. But he played years of college hoops and was a sniper with basically 1 job.

The only thing similar about Furphy and Joey is the hypothetical place The Boneyard would have them in the depth chart.

My depth chart has him 11th and the Euro as the 2nd guard off the bench because he’s a 1/2 like Joey while there’s no way a 6’6 guard who averaged 2 assists a game as the main playmaker is playing PG as a freshman here.

The Euro has played years of professional hoops and he’ll have one job (the same job Joey C had).

These projections are not hard. We just saw a close to 5* not even be able to play PG here but people are trying to talk themselves into an unknown Euro being a factor this year and take ball handling minutes. Dispensaries in CT must be hitting.

 

[RuffRuff]

The only thing similar about Furphy and Joey is the hypothetical place The Boneyard would have them in the depth chart.

My depth chart has him 11th and the Euro as the 2nd guard off the bench because he’s a 1/2 like Joey while there’s no way a 6’6 guard who averaged 2 assists a game as the main playmaker is playing PG as a freshman here.

The Euro has played years of professional hoops and he’ll have one job (the same job Joey C had).

These projections are not hard. We just saw a close to 5* not even be able to play PG here but people are trying to talk themselves into an unknown Euro being a factor this year and take ball handling minutes. Dispensaries in CT must be hitting.

I think they may be handing your depth chart out as rolling paper at the dispensary.

 

[HW611]

I think they may be handing your depth chart out as rolling paper at the dispensary.

I mean someone who has seen practices already said he doubts Furphy will impact much this year.

But too many of yall have already talked yourselves into the hype to walk it back

 

[Mr. French]

The only thing similar about Furphy and Joey is the hypothetical place The Boneyard would have them in the depth chart.

My depth chart has him 11th and the Euro as the 2nd guard off the bench because he’s a 1/2 like Joey while there’s no way a 6’6 guard who averaged 2 assists a game as the main playmaker is playing PG as a freshman here.

The Euro has played years of professional hoops and he’ll have one job (the same job Joey C had).

These projections are not hard. We just saw a close to 5* not even be able to play PG here but people are trying to talk themselves into an unknown Euro being a factor this year and take ball handling minutes. Dispensaries in CT must be hitting.

I'm not sure what you really mean here. I just think you're way off base thinking this new euro kid is getting real minutes ... 2nd guard off the bench?!?!

I honestly don't know what you have against Furphy but it's all good, we'll see what happens.

I don't care THAT much about our 11-15 players and neither of us know exactly where they are right now on Hurley's depth chart. But my opinion is way more based on what we've heard and what we know right now than yours. Yours is a totally random projection.

Generally speaking, a 15th man that commits at the last second to finish the roster isn't the 2nd guard off the bench, Especially as compared to a top 100-ish, FIBA star who has some NBA scouts intrigued by his NBA draft potential in 2 years.

I'd go so far as to say that Furphy has a better chance of being a top 8 player than the euro has of being a top 11 player.

By the way, to combat your assist stats, whatever they mean to you, here's Finkelstein's scouting report:
Furphy is a highly skilled and extremely cerebral facilitating type of wing. He's an ideal connector who thrives in offensive structure with his ability to shoot from long range, make reads, and high-level passes.

 

[RuffRuff]

I'm not sure what you really mean here. I just think you're way off base thinking this new euro kid is getting real minutes ... 2nd guard off the bench?!?!

I honestly don't know what you have against Furphy but it's all good, we'll see what happens.

I don't care THAT much about our 11-15 players and neither of us know exactly where they are right now on Hurley's depth chart. But my opinion is way more based on what we've heard and what we know right now than yours. Yours is a totally random projection.

Generally speaking, a 15th man that commits at the last second to finish the roster isn't the 2nd guard off the bench, Especially as compared to a top 100-ish, FIBA star who has some NBA scouts intrigued by his NBA draft potential in 2 years.

I'd go so far as to say that Furphy has a better chance of being a top 8 player than the euro has of being a top 11 player.

By the way, to combat your assist stats, whatever they mean to you, here's Finkelstein's scouting report:
Furphy is a highly skilled and extremely cerebral facilitating type of wing. He's an ideal connector who thrives in offensive structure with his ability to shoot from long range, make reads, and high-level passes.

 

[HooperScooper]

My depth chart has him 11th and the Euro as the 2nd guard off the bench because he’s a 1/2 like Joey while there’s no way a 6’6 guard who averaged 2 assists a game as the main playmaker is playing PG as a freshman here.

I'm not saying you're right or you're wrong, but I think the reason some people are saying Furphy might play a little PG is because Hurley said it.

“With Mali (Smith) I see a guy that is going to be a lot like Hassan (Diarra),” Hurley said. “Malachi is a really good player. We have Alec (Millender). We can move a guy like Furph (shooting guard Jacob Furphy) over there who has some size (6-foot-5) and can play that position a little bit."

“We have a lot of answers there.”

https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/uconn-point-guard-demary-smith-millender-20789776.php

The RuffRuff Alternate Access:
Why Dan Hurley is pleased with UConn men's basketball team's point guards: 'We have a lot of answers'

 

[Mr. French]

I'm not saying you're right or you're wrong, but I think the reason some people are saying Furphy might play a little PG is because Hurley said it.

“With Mali (Smith) I see a guy that is going to be a lot like Hassan (Diarra),” Hurley said. “Malachi is a really good player. We have Alec (Millender). We can move a guy like Furph (shooting guard Jacob Furphy) over there who has some size (6-foot-5) and can play that position a little bit."

“We have a lot of answers there.”

https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/uconn-point-guard-demary-smith-millender-20789776.php

The RuffRuff Alternate Access:
Why Dan Hurley is pleased with UConn men's basketball team's point guards: 'We have a lot of answers'

And because between the 2 options we’re discussing (Furphy and the new euro) it’s kind of obvious.

 

[HW611]

By the way, to combat your assist stats, whatever they mean to you, here's Finkelstein's scouting report:
Furphy is a highly skilled and extremely cerebral facilitating type of wing. He's an ideal connector who thrives in offensive structure with his ability to shoot from long range, make reads, and high-level passes.

I don’t think the 22 year old Euro was brought in for no reason. Smith hasn’t been able to practice much with injury issues. I can see Smith and the Euro having the same roles Diarra and Joey had in 2023 and him being brought in for insurance.

Joey was also brought in as an afterthought after Diarra to fill out the guard room. They’re in pretty much the same scenario.

One guy is going from playing against grown men to 18-22 year olds (in a league he shot 47% from the field in) and the other is going from playing HSers to 18-22 year olds (where he shot 40% from the field).

This is not hard to project.

I'm not saying you're right or you're wrong, but I think the reason some people are saying Furphy might play a little PG is because Hurley said it.

“With Mali (Smith) I see a guy that is going to be a lot like Hassan (Diarra),” Hurley said. “Malachi is a really good player. We have Alec (Millender). We can move a guy like Furph (shooting guard Jacob Furphy) over there who has some size (6-foot-5) and can play that position a little bit."

“We have a lot of answers there.”

https://www.nhregister.com/sports/uconn-mens-basketball/article/uconn-point-guard-demary-smith-millender-20789776.php

The RuffRuff Alternate Access:
Why Dan Hurley is pleased with UConn men's basketball team's point guards: 'We have a lot of answers'

This was before the Euro was brought in (and the lack of guard depth was probably why)

 

[Samoo]

I think they may be handing your depth chart out as rolling paper at the dispensary.

Or hanging next to a porcelain throne...

 

[superjohn]

I don’t think the 22 year old Euro was brought in for no reason. Smith hasn’t been able to practice much with injury issues. I can see Smith and the Euro having the same roles Diarra and Joey had in 2023 and him being brought in for insurance.

Joey was also brought in as an afterthought after Diarra to fill out the guard room. They’re in pretty much the same scenario.

One guy is going from playing against grown men to 18-22 year olds (in a league he shot 47% from the field in) and the other is going from playing HSers to 18-22 year olds (where he shot 40% from the field).

This is not hard to project.



This was before the Euro was brought in (and the lack of guard depth was probably why)

Yes, he's brought in as insurance and he's insurance on top of the insurance Millender was brought in for. If God forbid something happens to Malachi and he can't play we're screwed and our chances to contend/win it all go down significantly. If God forbid something happens to Silas and Malachi and Malachi becomes the starting point guard and Millender and than Uros are backing him up we're royally screwed. If Silas and Malachi are both out with injury you will finally get your wish and Solo will be the starting point guard.