Fan Opinion of Big Men

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Chief loves the fans getting involved and providing their opinions.

No better place for that than the-boneyard dot com.
I think that makes you one of us too Chief.

 

[MattMang23]

Looks like he lost some of his baby fat!

Unfortunately, I think that was his adult fat.

 

[QDOG5]

It's good to see he's shucked some of that weight. C'mon it's page 2 already.

 

[RichZ]

With good coaching, an actual plan on offense, a roomful of smoke and a few mirrors, we can get by with the assortment of bigs we have on board. But no way do we have the bigs we need to be UConn good.

 

[joober jones]

This reminds me a bit of the days when we had the Hayward/Willingham/Knight/King center by committee situation.

 

[MattMang23]

This reminds me a bit of the days when we had the Hayward/Willingham/Knight/King center by committee situation.

We barely have anyone as good as Eric Hayward on the roster, let alone Knight or King.

 

[joober jones]

We barely have anyone as good as Eric Hayward on the roster, let alone Knight or King.

I mean in the early days of the rotation 1993-94ish.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Made the comparison before. Carlton reminds me of Sellers so far. Got better as season went along. Let's see what the coaches can do.

 

[XLCenterFan]

I like not having to rely on our bigs for anything but blocks, rebounds, and altering shots. Don't even pass them the ball. See Thabeet, Drummond, Boone, Travis Knight, Brimah, Oriakhi, Voskhul, even Okafor to a certain extent. None of these guys could be relied upon for much offensively besides a dunk, but all of the other things they did allowed to WIN!

 

[nashusky109]

I like not having to rely on our bigs for anything but blocks, rebounds, and altering shots. Don't even pass them the ball. See Thabeet, Drummond, Boone, Travis Knight, Brimah, Oriakhi, Voskhul, even Okafor to a certain extent. None of these guys could be relied upon for much offensively besides a dunk, but all of the other things they did allowed to WIN!

Pretty sure Calhoun loved feeding Oriakhi the ball especially since he knew it was Kemba/lamb as the scorers in the 2011 season. Emeka was an Consensus All American, BE Player of the year, and Tournament most outstanding player who averaged 12.8 attempts a game in 04.. He was most definitely relied on to do more than just defense/rebounds. Good thing he was good at both.

An offensively gifted big men will only make it easier for the guards. Agreed that the big men need to continue to do all the other things but having a guy with some post moves would be nice too.

 

[Fan4ever]

Need to increase the toughness when the game is on the line and prevent double digit holes so we can have a chance. Looking forward to how the coaches can impact rebounding inertia.

 

[jibsey]

just curious to see how UConn Nation feels about our big men individually.

Josh Carlton: He’s got all the tools and should be a good starter. Just needs to get more athletic.

Cobb: Seems to be talented, but needs to be utilized right and obviously lose weight.

Yakwe: Experience, shot blocking, awful offense. Sounds familiar? Hey, Amida.

Diarra: Would be great as an energy guy, showed he can rebound and blocked shots, unfortunately didn’t get a lot of experience last year due to low minutes. Thanks, KO.

Whaley: Unskilled, raw, pure energy. Needs to put some meat on those bones. Don’t think he can have a legit impact until next year.

Williams: I’m personally not buying this kids stock. Dunks are cool and all, but it’s not when you don’t know the fundamentals. I don’t feel like he has a position on the floor.

In final, will definitely be better than last year, with Diarra and Carlton standing out. As the years go on, we could have a very good, veteran front court with Carlton, Diarra, and Whaley.

Defense without excessive fouling is a concern. Most of these guys like Diarra and Cobb fouled as they stepped on the floor. I think that this group can rebound Well but Carlton is our big hope here as far as offense goes. The team continues to have a big men hole.

 

[husky429]

Need to increase the toughness when the game is on the line and prevent double digit holes so we can have a chance. Looking forward to how the coaches can impact rebounding inertia.

Hurley is a new-school rebounder, which I like to see.

Inside boxouts, on the perimeter "stick and pursue" as I like to call it

 

[mauconnfan]

Carlton - like his skills but he really needs to move his feet faster and get more explosive, hopefully he knows this and works hard. He is the best offensive option for sure and has very good hands.
Cobb - lots there just needs to play within the game and himself. Looks like he knows time is running out and got himself into really good shape, he also has some offense and he is plenty strong enough to move people on the block. All up to him but if he's buying in he will see the floor a lot more.
Whaley - Can guard SF up has great feet and can block shots. Offense is way behind but could be a Josh Boone-type around the rim on the weak side and tip ins etc etc.. He can guard people needs to get stronger hands and body to rebound the way he'd like.
Diarra - Lots of potential just needs to understand the defensive side better, can be a beast but needs to learn hedge and help. Looks like he can make a shot if he drifted to 12-15 feet on occasion.

It's all up to who improves where needed, there's some decent talent here and we just need a couple guys to have a summer of hard work. Will be interesting to see who wants it.

 

[MattMang23]

I like not having to rely on our bigs for anything but blocks, rebounds, and altering shots. Don't even pass them the ball.

It's tough to play offense 3 on 5, Kevin.

 

[gtcam]

Most women will say it's not really the size but how it's used -- but I digress...............................

The ideal big would be a combo of all of them and there might still be a shortfall - experience/bulk
The bulk can be taken care of
Of all the bigs, I would love to see Diarra develop because he has the junkyard dog attitude but man he is a personal foul machine and Coach Hurley will become very irritated by this trait - a hard one to break
Cobb - yeah he looks good and trimed down but what doesn't show hurts him the most - that apparent split personality of good guy, bad kid. He has a scorers mentality which is badly needed but hasn't shown he can play D or fight for a defensive board
Whaley - I like this kid but there's something about him that gives me pause - besides a few glimmers of being able to - has this kid ever shown a desire to score? His D is the best of the bigs - by far
Carlton - in a way he reminds me somewhat of SE, decent offensive skills and can catch the ball but he has 2 left feet I think he could develop into a pretty good player if he works hard on his agility, etc.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Carlton - like his skills but he really needs to move his feet faster and get more explosive, hopefully he knows this and works hard. He is the best offensive option for sure and has very good hands.
Cobb - lots there just needs to play within the game and himself. Looks like he knows time is running out and got himself into really good shape, he also has some offense and he is plenty strong enough to move people on the block. All up to him but if he's buying in he will see the floor a lot more.
Whaley - Can guard SF up has great feet and can block shots. Offense is way behind but could be a Josh Boone-type around the rim on the weak side and tip ins etc etc.. He can guard people needs to get stronger hands and body to rebound the way he'd like.
Diarra - Lots of potential just needs to understand the defensive side better, can be a beast but needs to learn hedge and help. Looks like he can make a shot if he drifted to 12-15 feet on occasion.

It's all up to who improves where needed, there's some decent talent here and we just need a couple guys to have a summer of hard work. Will be interesting to see who wants it.

None of these guys are back to the basket, feed the post bigs. There's no Kevin McHale. The good news is that almost no team has one of those guys.

I expect us to press and run. And in that offense where the bigs get the ball in the flow of the running game and finish, I expect Diarra to shine. He has wheels and can finish through contact. I think Cobb could be very effective in that kind of game as well. Carlton is better suited to trying to score in the half court game, if we can get him the ball. Whaley could become a defensive specialist, maybe. No idea what Williams will show, and I don't know enough about Yawke.

I think many people here are looking at these bigs and how ineffective they were in Kevin's plodding half court/zero motion offense. If you think of Diarra and Cobb as trailers on the break, dunking, you can begin to see how I hope they will be used.

 

[champs99and04]

lol what happened to my post I thought it was clear I was joking about bringing back Ollie. Worst part is now I can't see what the posters who replied to me said.

Carldon did indeed have a good run there - averaged 11 and 10 over a three game stretch that included Memphis, Nova, and SMU.