Enoch

[jibsey]

I'm tired of reading the litigation of the Enoch fiasco, whether he got the PT he deserved, how bad his attitude was, did KO mismanage him, and what he will be for another team in the future, but look at our front court and tell me how this is a win for us?

 

[uconnfan68]

He won't start there, ever, and his attitude won't get any better. Like others have said, good luck to a CT, but good riddance to a locker room issue.

 

[mauconnfan]

I'm tired of reading the litigation of the Enoch fiasco, whether he got the PT he deserved, how bad his attitude was, did KO mismanage him, and what he will be for another team in the future, but look at our front court and tell me how this is a win for us?

Tired of what losing 3/2 from a 6'10 guy who couldn't guard me? There's no telling what we have granted, but I promise what we have wants to be here, a Husky and that's already a win. You take your wins I will take my chances. But what left was never a win!

 

[gtcam]

Enoch was/is what Enoch wants to be
The kid, IMHO, was lazy on defense, his footwork was horrible, his attitude at times sucked but he did show glimpses of offensive ability. BUT tons of kids out of high school/prep school show the same thing because that's all they concentrated on - offense.
I have very little faith in SE turning the corner on D. He just doesn't have that fire in his belly nor does he have the physical ability in regards to his agility/foot speed.
Frankly, I don't care what he or L'ville do

 

[UConnStats]

I never saw anyone question Enoch's attitude until he announced he was transferring.

 

[auror]

I never saw anyone question Enoch's attitude until he announced he was transferring.

I definitely never questioned his attitude, just his ability to score and to prevent the other team from scoring.

 

[joober jones]

Chap is back!

 

[UConnNick]

I never saw anyone question Enoch's attitude until he announced he was transferring.

So what? Players transferring out are gonna be subject to plenty of second guessing and remarks, either factual or speculative, about their attitude, effort, motivation, the kind of teammate they were, etc., etc., etc. Some of it may be fair, some of it unfair. It goes with the territory.

 

[David 76]

I never saw anyone question Enoch's attitude until he announced he was transferring.

You weren't concerned about his defense and apparent lack of effort? Wow!

He has to change that. Maybe a second coach telling him that will do the trick.

 

[Chief00]

LMAO. Sure, he can. If he also gets a heck of a lot better. And if my aunt grew a pair, ---.

Look, I hope he succeeds and I have never discounted the potential of anyone with that body and quickness. But if you're going to make it sound like his problem at UConn was primarily that we didn't use him right, you would be an idiot. His primary problem at UConn is he sucked.

I remain an idiot then because I very much think the the dude can play. Additionally, my argument has never been solely that we did not use him right - although true that's a part of it. We basically did not have a functioning S&C program for Bigs and our Bigs coaching was nonexistent. We also changed defenses last season like a Chinese fire drill and more often than not different guys were playing different defenses at the same time. Hopefully, with the staff changes we will see improvements in those areas but it remains to be seen if Carlos is really our Bigs coach behind the scenes?
Quite frankly, Steve has good soft hands, strength and adequate speed/quickness. A big, strong body with soft hands is rare with a big and that's why so many experienced elite coaches made the assessment to go after him despite his underperformance at UConn. These guys are not idiots - they get paid millions to evaluate/recruit talent and win games.
He can seal a guy, catch the ball and put up a nice soft shot. No question the kid can be a rebounding machine and I think his defensive problems were more playing mentally slow than anything physical. Coach Miller's defenses were overly complex and all our Bigs often looked confused. I think Pitno will simplify things in comparison so Steve will be able to play at game speed.
I hope this helps. Good luck to your aunt next season.

 

[pj]

I remain an idiot then because I very much think the the dude can play. Additionally, my argument has never been solely that we did not use him right - although true that's a part of it. We basically did not have a functioning S&C program for Bigs and our Bigs coaching was nonexistent. We also changed defenses last season like a Chinese fire drill and more often than not different guys were playing different defenses at the same time. Hopefully, with the staff changes we will see improvements in those areas but it remains to be seen if Carlos is really our Bigs coach behind the scenes?
Quite frankly, Steve has good soft hands, strength and adequate speed/quickness. A big, strong body with soft hands is rare with a big and that's why so many experienced elite coaches made the assessment to go after him despite his underperformance at UConn. These guys are not idiots - they get paid millions to evaluate/recruit talent and win games.
He can seal a guy, catch the ball and put up a nice soft shot. No question the kid can be a rebounding machine and I think his defensive problems were more playing mentally slow than anything physical. Coach Miller's defenses were overly complex and all our Bigs often looked confused. I think Pitno will simplify things in comparison so Steve will be able to play at game speed.
I hope this helps. Good luck to your aunt next season.

We've got a lot of young bigs on the roster to coach up, so hopefully however the bigs coaching is handled, we've got quality coaches doing it. Since the bigs are more than half the roster, presumably there should be two bigs coaches -- maybe one for back-to-the-basket bigs and one for forwards?

 

[Chief00]

He won't start there, ever, and his attitude won't get any better. Like others have said, good luck to a CT, but good riddance to a locker room issue.

I will be candid with you, I always thought Steve was a good kid and coachable in my interactions with him. True, he got upset last season about not getting minutes but to blame Steve for the locker room and coach/player communication issues last season is laughable. He was much more a victim than a cause and I hate this victim stuff. It's just not true.

 

[mauconnfan]

Chief uses Coach Miller yet again with Enoch for an out. The only thing complex here is your evaluation Chief. You are correct he is big, agile and has soft hands. I believe also he is quick enough to be a decent defender but his brain wasn't he didn't comprehend and that's on him no coach can teach a player to understand the game. And rebounding is rebounding, either you can or you can't ...... so far even with his size and ability he can't because he wasn't reactive and he didn't jump to the ball enough. And on offense they did put him in position to score the ball and he did some really nice things to put himself in position to score, but rarely finished. Have you ever seen such a strong big man have the position on the smaller defenders and usually get his thrown back at him?

There's something there, but it will be up to him in a years work to figure it out and the good news is it will be without any pressure. Hope the kid gets it eventually but for now anyone who would blame the staff at all is whacked. Again, can't teach the unteachable.

Hopefully the new bigs are fundamentally sound and can learn I am sure it will be a breath of fresh air to the staff.

 

[Chief00]

Chief uses Coach Miller yet again with Enoch for an out. The only thing complex here is your evaluation Chief. You are correct he is big, agile and has soft hands. I believe also he is quick enough to be a decent defender but his brain wasn't he didn't comprehend and that's on him no coach can teach a player to understand the game. And rebounding is rebounding, either you can or you can't . so far even with his size and ability he can't because he wasn't reactive and he didn't jump to the ball enough. And on offense they did put him in position to score the ball and he did some really nice things to put himself in position to score, but rarely finished. Have you ever seen such a strong big man have the position on the smaller defenders and usually get his thrown back at him?

There's something there, but it will be up to him in a years work to figure it out and the good news is it will be without any pressure. Hope the kid gets it eventually but for now anyone who would blame the staff at all is whacked. Again, can't teach the unteachable.

Hopefully the new bigs are fundamentally sound and can learn I am sure it will be a breath of fresh air to the staff.

True, he needs to go quicker to the ball. In a good S&C program they do footwork but it wasn't part of Travis's approach. I won't dump on Coach Miller when he is down but Steve was the one that punch an elite P5 ticket after last season not Glen.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Hey Cheif, what are your thoughts on the team's strength and conditioning?

 

[CL82]

Perhaps then he should stay in Armenia. In a time of position less basketball, that leaves Steve without a position. Sure, he would have been a fine player 30 years ago, but he is way to slow and methodical to be effective in today's game. I know the boneyard is making him out to be the next Shaq, but most objective observers will tell you he is a far from it. If he gets on the floor at Louisville, I would expect similar lines to what we already saw.

The best U-20 big man in the history of Armenian basketball.

 

[Chief00]

Hey Cheif, what are your thoughts on the team's strength and conditioning?

I like Carlos - he makes them man up - no more sitting around in the faculty lounge type weight room atmosphere having Travis discussing the academic theories about S&C - while the dudes are thinking gee we are getting off easy - they are actually lifting weights and doing the grind!

 

[intlzncster]

True, he needs to go quicker to the ball. In a good S&C program they do footwork but it wasn't part of Travis's approach. I won't dump on Coach Miller when he is down but Steve was the one that punch an elite P5 ticket after last season not Glen.

As mau said, it was far more 'mental' than physical with Steve. It's amazing how much 'quicker' a guy gets when he becomes more instinctive and knows what to do.

Transferring is the best thing that he could do imo, and not necessarily to get different coaching (although that may help), but to get that year off to develop he desperately needs. I think that will be the greatest factor in Steve's development. And there's nothing UCONN could have done at this point to make that happen, there's no way they'd red shirt a rising Jr, especially with such holes and uncertainties in the middle.

Steve needed to red shirt his freshman year, but the coaches didn't do it, for whatever reason. They let him down there.

 

[joober jones]

As mau said, it was far more 'mental' than physical with Steve. It's amazing how much 'quicker' a guy gets when he becomes more instinctive and knows what to do.

Transferring is the best thing that he could do imo, and not necessarily to get different coaching (although that may help), but to get that year off to develop he desperately needs. I think that will be the greatest factor in Steve's development. And there's nothing UCONN could have done at this point to make that happen, there's no way they'd red shirt a rising Jr, especially with such holes and uncertainties in the middle.

Steve needed to red shirt his freshman year, but the coaches didn't do it, for whatever reason. They let him down there.

Enoch was only 17 when he started playing at UConn, so at least the redshirt transfer season won't hurt his stock age-wise.

 

[NEforceUConn]

You ever have a lady in the sack who's cute but nothing to write home about and moves the hips but nothing to write in your diary? That aptly describes mediocre sex that should ostensibly be better and Enoch. Good from far, far from good. As long as our season turns out more exciting - not even better, just less predictably awful - than last year and I'm golden ponyboy

Man, I need a life.

But dude....."diary"

 

[intlzncster]

You ever have a lady in the sack who's cute but nothing to write home about and moves the hips but nothing to write in your diary? That aptly describes mediocre sex that should ostensibly be better and Enoch. Good from far, far from good. As long as our season turns out more exciting - not even better, just less predictably awful - than last year and I'm golden ponyboy

Kind of a half baked analogy, but points for The Outsiders reference.

 

[Chief00]

I use to tell dudes who were bad mouthing Dre after his FR year, that he would be an NBA all star and they laugh.
Big men develop slower - the Business-lawyer type posters take a snapshot for evidence and extrapolate it over time. What you said about making the mental part instinctive so you don't have to spend game time thinking is what good coaching can accomplish with a willing player / Pitino will demand it - as much as I dislike that sleezeball - he will do that.

 

[intlzncster]

I use to tell dudes who were bad mouthing Dre after his FR year, that he would be an NBA all star and they laugh.
Big men develop slower - the Business-lawyer type posters take a snapshot for evidence and extrapolate it over time. What you said about making the mental part instinctive so you don't have to spend game time thinking is what good coaching can accomplish with a willing player / Pitino will demand it - as much as I dislike that sleezeball - he will do that.

Yah, but that doesn't mean he's going to develop. It's not like all big men do, even with the best coaches. Happened under JC often enough.

 

[David 76]

I remain an idiot

Takes a big man to own up to it.

 

[Chief00]

Takes a big man to own up to it.

Prototypical BY - you left out the context to distort the meaning - you can get a job in the media!