Five teams ready to make the jump to the NCAA Tournament

[HooperScooper]

Five teams ready to make the jump to the NCAA Tournament

ESPN Insider's article but I'll put the UConn part on here. Hopefully nothing to that last part about Adams. We haven't talked about that much on here but let's hope Adams doesn't pull a Daniel Hamilton on us. I don't think he'd be a 1st round draft choice and leading this team to a great season next year would serve him well in the 2018 NBA draft. His projected backcourt of MAL and Gilbert would leave UConn extremely inexperienced at the most critical positions. That would scare me.

Connecticut: The Huskies were crushed by injuries this past season, but Kevin Ollie will have more than enough weapons next season to get back to the NCAA tournament. The key addition is ESPN 100 Makai Ashton-Langford (No. 36), who has a great feel for the game and is capable of running an offense and creating for others. Ashton-Langford should form a dynamic backcourt with former five-star point guard Alterique Gilbert, who missed nearly the entire season with a torn labrum. Ollie is also bringing in four-star frontcourt pieces Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton, two breakout performers from last summer. UConn was short on frontcourt depth this past season, and will lose seniors Kentan Facey and Amida Brimah (along with Rodney Purvis in the backcourt). Polley and Carlton should help. Throw in the return from injury of Terry Larrier and Mamadou Diarra, and nearly everyone else coming back, and the Huskies will be loaded with talent -- regardless of whether sophomore guard Jalen Adams enters the NBA Draft.

Other teams he talks about are Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Washington.

 

[WrenchFan69]

If Washington can't do it with Fultz, what makes them think they can do it with Porter? Unless they know something about Romar being canned. The rest I agree with; I think Bama is going to be very, very good next year

 

[jibsey]

It would be a monumentally bad decision for Jalen, he is in perfect position to have a big season, and there are aspects of his game that need cleaning up.

 

[ktuck911]

Five teams ready to make the jump to the NCAA Tournament

ESPN Insider's article but I'll put the UConn part on here. Hopefully nothing to that last part about Adams. We haven't talked about that much on here but let's hope Adams doesn't pull a Daniel Hamilton on us. I don't think he'd be a 1st round draft choice and leading this team to a great season next year would serve him well in the 2018 NBA draft. His projected backcourt of MAL and Gilbert would leave UConn extremely inexperienced at the most critical positions. That would scare me.

Connecticut: The Huskies were crushed by injuries this past season, but Kevin Ollie will have more than enough weapons next season to get back to the NCAA tournament. The key addition is ESPN 100 Makai Ashton-Langford (No. 36), who has a great feel for the game and is capable of running an offense and creating for others. Ashton-Langford should form a dynamic backcourt with former five-star point guard Alterique Gilbert, who missed nearly the entire season with a torn labrum. Ollie is also bringing in four-star frontcourt pieces Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton, two breakout performers from last summer. UConn was short on frontcourt depth this past season, and will lose seniors Kentan Facey and Amida Brimah (along with Rodney Purvis in the backcourt). Polley and Carlton should help. Throw in the return from injury of Terry Larrier and Mamadou Diarra, and nearly everyone else coming back, and the Huskies will be loaded with talent -- regardless of whether sophomore guard Jalen Adams enters the NBA Draft.

Other teams he talks about are Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Washington.

One backcourt mate that wasn't even mentioned, that I truly believe will make an even bigger impact next year is Christian Vital... He's gonna be a beast for us that we are all sleeping on... I'm not anyways.... Very assertive on D and not afraid to take a big shot from behind the arc... solid in transition...

 

[CTGoonie]

Odd they didn't mention Jackson and Vital as key returnees.

 

[WrenchFan69]

What makes you say that?

 

[EastCoast2]

Porter is more Kevin Durant than Kevin Garnet. Very explosive athlete and high flyer.

 

[gtcam]

Porter is more Kevin Durant than Kevin Garnet. Very explosive athlete and high flyer.

Makes NO difference
Romar can bring in the Pope but couldn't lead him to church on Sunday

 

[blackbird]

If Adams leaves, we won't make the tournament.

Adams won't leave though.

 

[Travelman6]

God Adams, don´t leave.

He really has the chance to put his footprint on the program (forever, more or less). I think he could leave the campus, not only as the big man on campus in the here and now, but as a Top 10 Husky of all time. Mentioned in the same breath as RIP, Ray Allen, (still beloved to this day), Gordon, Oakafor, Kemba, Napier, Clifford, George, Smith, Gay, El-Amin, etc.

He could lead this team next year, average 20 pts, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals per game and look like a stud.

He is so not ready this year for the NBA.

 

[mauconnfan]

I mean to be honest, Jalen needs to come back to have a chance at a really good season. I believe he will just to work on the things that could make him a higher 1 at some point.

 

[Jimdish255]

A successful season playing with complementary talent will Allow Jalen to work on his game without trying to carry a team on his shoulders. Leading a Final Four run (possible) would also elevate his stock for the draft, to say nothing of continuing his education which might/should be important to him. Nothing else is guaranteed to last.

 

[Ts5034]

God Adams, don´t leave.

He really has the chance to put his footprint on the program (forever, more or less). I think he could leave the campus, not only as the big man on campus in the here and now, but as a Top 10 Husky of all time. Mentioned in the same breath as RIP, Ray Allen, (still beloved to this day), Gordon, Oakafor, Kemba, Napier, Clifford, George, Smith, Gay, El-Amin, etc.

He could lead this team next year, average 20 pts, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals per game and look like a stud.

He is so not ready this year for the NBA.

Obviously I hope he stays. The Junior year has usually been the year our best players have shown their most improvement. Just look at guys like Ray, Rip, Ben, Kemba. All of them were very good players as Sophomores, but they were on a completely different level as Juniors.

 

[HooperScooper]

If Adams leaves, we won't make the tournament.

Adams won't leave though.

I'm with you. I'd hate to think Adams leaves on such a sour note for the program. But last year I was absolutely convinced Hamilton was coming back. For a ton of logical reasons. So now I'm not 100% certain of anything a college kid does because they don't always follow logic. There are thoughts and forces in effect that we sometimes don't know about. But there's no question he should come back.

 

[PAHusky]

Odd they didn't mention Jackson and Vital as key returnees.

I think it's odd too, but to be fair to ESPN here if they had mentioned those two they would have literally said something about every single kid on the team save them and Enoch, so I'll cut them some slack there.

 

[LIuconn]

Strange there wasn't even a mention of Jackson or Vital, but in ESPN's eyes, in our case the saviors are those who haven't seen the court yet

I'm sure this will get roasted but I don't understand the Jalen-to-the-NBA talk. Sure, he's our best player but I don't see the NBA strength or athleticism.

In any event, we should (SHOULD) be a top 15 team throughout the season next year

 

[dennismenace]

One backcourt mate that wasn't even mentioned, that I truly believe will make an even bigger impact next year is Christian Vital... He's gonna be a beast for us that we are all sleeping on... I'm not anyways.... Very assertive on D and not afraid to take a big shot from behind the arc... solid in transition...

This is why if you are serious about following Uconn the BY has the real "insider" picture, not ESPN.

 

[Devland]

I didn't think there was even a question about Adams coming back next year. I believe it was his post game Cincinnati interview where it sounded pretty clear he was coming back.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I didn't think there was even a question about Adams coming back next year. I believe it was his post game Cincinnati interview where it sounded pretty clear he was coming back.

A) I don't think that Ollie or anyone else will be telling him he's a first round pick. B) Adams I think wants to be one of the UConn guards who leads his team on a deep NCAA run, and probably wants an AAC title to boot.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

The draft is stacked this year. It's good enough that adams probably wouldn't even go 2nd round. If he leaves it's because he wants to make money overseas

Really think with a couple guys like Gilbert and MAL to let him move off the ball a bit next season he'll really shine

 

[Jerry1714]

22 posts discussing Adams leaving? Where is he going? Even for the boneyard this is silly.

 

[BUConn10]

these articles at the beginning of each off-season seem to be the most press we get all year now. "5 teams next year that should recover next year".

 

[Storrs South]

I didn't think there was even a question about Adams coming back next year. I believe it was his post game Cincinnati interview where it sounded pretty clear he was coming back.

Here's the part I think you were referring to at the 5:00 minute mark: