2023 Recruiting: - Gavin Griffiths back from injury... | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2023 Recruiting: Gavin Griffiths back from injury...

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HuskyHawk said:
Disagree completely. Shooting is easier to learn. All the lower level teams and Ivy teams are loaded with shooters. They can't defend the way we'd want. The athleticism isn't there. Obviously, I am not saying Griffiths is that kind of player, he wouldn't be so highly rated. But there are great shooters that will end up at Yale, U Maine etc.
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I think it's easy to turn somebody into a shooter who can make open 3s with their feet set. But that is a lot different than a kid with size who we can run off screens.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Disagree completely. Shooting is easier to learn. All the lower level teams and Ivy teams are loaded with shooters. They can't defend the way we'd want. The athleticism isn't there. Obviously, I am not saying Griffiths is that kind of player, he wouldn't be so highly rated. But there are great shooters that will end up at Yale, U Maine etc.
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It's not, as you understand we're talking about highest level D1 players, they can be taught to play good defense. The kids who end up in the Ivies and Maine are obviously different, they rarely have the athleticism to play at the highest level. It's why they end up going to Maine and Brown. A lot of those kids have the shooting to play high D1 but they wouldn't be able to guard anyone or get their shot off. It's easier to teach high level athletes how to play good defense than it is to turn them into good shooters.
 
superjohn said:
It's not, as you understand we're talking about highest level D1 players, they can be taught to play good defense. The kids who end up in the Ivies and Maine are obviously different, they rarely have the athleticism to play at the highest level. It's why they end up going to Maine and Brown. A lot of those kids have the shooting to play high D1 but they wouldn't be able to guard anyone or get their shot off. It's easier to teach high level athletes how to play good defense than it is to turn them into good shooters.
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Then we aren’t really in much disagreement. Shooting is a common skill. High level athleticism and defense is not. Obviously we want players with both. I don’t think it is that hard for any elite athlete to learn to shoot or play defense. Just desire, effort and work.

On the other hand. For deep bench guys, I think the shooters who aren’t great athletes might be a better option. UConn has certainly been victimized by them enough over the years.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Shooting is a common skill. High level athleticism and defense is not. Obviously we want players with both. I don’t think it is that hard for any elite athlete to learn to shoot or play defense. Just desire, effort and work.
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Athleticism is largely constrained by genetics. Shooting is neurological and that's substantially determined by development in utero - the mom's diet and lifestyle while pregnant. Training can develop skill if the innate ability is there, but coaches can't instill the neurological capability to finely control a shot. There are guys who are great athletes in gross motor skills who are great defenders, but who don't shoot well and never will be great shooters.

As for what college coaches can usefully teach, it's constrained on the ceiling by the athlete's biological/neurological limits, and on the floor by what the athlete has already learned. If high school coaches teach shooting effectively, then there's not much room for a college coach to improve shooting skill. Team skills like defense, there's usually a lot of room for coaches to improve and coaching to impact game results. So it shouldn't be surprising that the best coaches focus a lot of practice time on coaching defense.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Then we aren’t really in much disagreement. Shooting is a common skill. High level athleticism and defense is not. Obviously we want players with both. I don’t think it is that hard for any elite athlete to learn to shoot or play defense. Just desire, effort and work.

On the other hand. For deep bench guys, I think the shooters who aren’t great athletes might be a better option. UConn has certainly been victimized by them enough over the years.
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Shooting is not a common skill. Particularly shooters who can put up shots off the dribble, and with different types of footwork like Griffiths. That's why shooters are so highly valued. If they were a dime a dozen, we wouldn't have had 3 shooters on our entire roster last year.

It is also exceptionally difficult to learn how to shoot. It takes 1000s upon 1000s of reps. And MOST people never learn how to shoot that put in the effort.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Then we aren’t really in much disagreement. Shooting is a common skill. High level athleticism and defense is not. Obviously we want players with both. I don’t think it is that hard for any elite athlete to learn to shoot or play defense. Just desire, effort and work.

On the other hand. For deep bench guys, I think the shooters who aren’t great athletes might be a better option. UConn has certainly been victimized by them enough over the years.
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Being able to shoot and being able to shoot in games are also different skills. I like a shooter that is fearless and has great mechanics. A lot of guys we expect to be shooters don’t have the killer mentality between the ears needed to take advantage. I really wanted Denver Anglin. I got the impression he was that kind of player. I’m curious to see how he turns out.
 
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Hoophound said:
Being able to shoot and being able to shoot in games are also different skills. I like a shooter that is fearless and has great mechanics. A lot of guys we expect to be shooters don’t have the killer mentality between the ears needed to take advantage. I really wanted Denver Anglin. I got the impression he was that kind of player. I’m curious to see how he turns out.
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A big part of being a great shooter, or even a very good shooter is being able to handle missing shots. This is a part coaches can impact tremendously but most coaches never figure that out.

Problematically, some guys who are NOT very good shooters, have this ability.
 
pj said:
. Shooting is neurological and that's substantially determined by development in utero - the mom's diet and lifestyle while pregnant.
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Crickets Reaction GIF
 
pj said:
Athleticism is largely constrained by genetics. Shooting is neurological and that's substantially determined by development in utero - the mom's diet and lifestyle while pregnant. Training can develop skill if the innate ability is there, but coaches can't instill the neurological capability to finely control a shot. There are guys who are great athletes in gross motor skills who are great defenders, but who don't shoot well and never will be great shooters.

As for what college coaches can usefully teach, it's constrained on the ceiling by the athlete's biological/neurological limits, and on the floor by what the athlete has already learned. If high school coaches teach shooting effectively, then there's not much room for a college coach to improve shooting skill. Team skills like defense, there's usually a lot of room for coaches to improve and coaching to impact game results. So it shouldn't be surprising that the best coaches focus a lot of practice time on coaching defense.
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If this were a Wikipedia entry, it would be littered with "citation needed" tags.
 
Huskyforlife said:
Why did we get cut by Edwards and seemingly move on from Griffiths? Don’t give me any “Hurley doesn’t want them” nonsense.
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We did not move on from Griffiths. Just because @UConnStats claims he heard he's no longer a big priority doesn't mean its true. This board needs to stop taking one little comment that's probably not even true as fact.
 
NotADime89 said:
We did not move on from Griffiths. Just because @UConnStats claims he heard he's no longer a big priority doesn't mean its true. This board needs to stop taking one little comment that's probably not even true as fact.
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Lol all I did was pass on one little detail and this board can’t handle it. Good reminder of why I never should. My info came from someone who actually covers grassroots basketball and not from reading Twitter tea leaves like 95% of this board. Maybe we step up our efforts with Griffiths once he starts playing in games for Expressions, but right now we do not lead for him.
 
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Maybe because he wasn't playing, it gave the appearance that we had backed off because the coaches weren't being seen at his games?
 
UConnStats said:
Lol all I did was pass on one little detail and this board can’t handle it. Good reminder of why I never should. My info came from someone who actually covers grassroots basketball and not from reading Twitter tea leaves like 95% of this board. Maybe we step up our efforts with Griffiths once he starts playing in games for Expressions, but right now we do not lead for him.
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As I said in another thread, please don't stop passing on info. Pretty annoying how people get up in arms when something isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
As I said in another thread, please don't stop passing on info. Pretty annoying how people get up in arms when something isn't all sunshine and rainbows.
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I don’t see anyone up in arms. All I see is people saying not to make judgements on the staff based upon information that very well may not be 100% accurate
 
It does not look like we are leading for Gavin Griffiths. He is a great shooter and a top 40 overall recruit. We can use his skills at UCONN. This is what separates great recruiters from good recruiters. Hurley for now is a good recruiter. He cannot land one 5 star guy.

Scotty Middleton who we just started recruiting is a 5 star now on ESPN. It will be very tough for us to beat out Kansas considering he plays high school ball in Kansas.

PS: As far as Isaiah Miranda he is a good center and a top 40 overall recruit. However, we have Ugonna Kingsley who is a CT kid who is a top 40 big man playing very close to us. Also, JP Estrella is a very good big man more of a stretch 4 man than a center who is also local. There are options here. We can't go 0 for 3 here with 3 high level big man right in our backyard.
 
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navery12 said:
Come on, you post here often enough to know better. People say grain of salt and things change all the time, whether it's good or bad news
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Yeah but what i'm saying is people aren't ever as quizzical when it's good news, they run with it and accept it. I trust @UConnStats and his insights a lot. Just as I trust others who have said that what he heard may not be the case. So I don't think it's fair to him/her.
 
navery12 said:
Come on, you post here often enough to know better. People say grain of salt and things change all the time, whether it's good or bad news
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That’s not the people reacting to the insight.
 
Huskymagic said:
It does not look like we are leading for Gavin Griffiths. He is a great shooter and a top 40 overall recruit. We can use his skills at UCONN. This is what separates great recruiters from good recruiters. Hurley for now is a good recruiter. He cannot land one 5 star guy.

Scotty Middleton who we just started recruiting is a 5 star now on ESPN. It will be very tough for us to beat out Kansas considering he plays high school ball in Kansas.

PS: As far as Isaiah Miranda he is a good center and a top 40 overall recruit. However, we have Ugonna Kingsley who is a CT kid who is a top 40 big man playing very close to us. Also, JP Estrella is a very good big man more of a stretch 4 man than a center who is also local. There are options here. We can't go 0 for 3 here with 3 high level big man right in our backyard.
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Wait. What? Since when is South Portland, ME (or Wolfeboro, NH) local?
 
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Huskymagic said:
It does not look like we are leading for Gavin Griffiths. He is a great shooter and a top 40 overall recruit. We can use his skills at UCONN. This is what separates great recruiters from good recruiters. Hurley for now is a good recruiter. He cannot land one 5 star guy.

Scotty Middleton who we just started recruiting is a 5 star now on ESPN. It will be very tough for us to beat out Kansas considering he plays high school ball in Kansas.

PS: As far as Isaiah Miranda he is a good center and a top 40 overall recruit. However, we have Ugonna Kingsley who is a CT kid who is a top 40 big man playing very close to us. Also, JP Estrella is a very good big man more of a stretch 4 man than a center who is also local. There are options here. We can't go 0 for 3 here with 3 high level big man right in our backyard.
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I really don't care about stars - I care about wins. Wins come from getting the right players regardless of what the media and supposed recruiting experts think. I'd rather go out and get a 4 star that has ceiling and reaches to new heights while at UConn than a 5-star that doesn't reach expectations. Would you rather have a Bouknight or an Emoni Bates, for example?

And, would Hurley be a better recruiter if he had brought in a Bates instead of a Bouknight?
 
karstenkibbe said:
Wait. What? Since when is South Portland, ME (or Wolfeboro, NH) local?
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When there is only one high major team (and they're barely that) between those places and Storrs then it's local. As someone said, the distance between South Portland or Wolfeboro is considered pretty close in most areas of the country.
 
Huskymagic said:
It does not look like we are leading for Gavin Griffiths. He is a great shooter and a top 40 overall recruit. We can use his skills at UCONN. This is what separates great recruiters from good recruiters. Hurley for now is a good recruiter. He cannot land one 5 star guy.

Scotty Middleton who we just started recruiting is a 5 star now on ESPN. It will be very tough for us to beat out Kansas considering he plays high school ball in Kansas.

PS: As far as Isaiah Miranda he is a good center and a top 40 overall recruit. However, we have Ugonna Kingsley who is a CT kid who is a top 40 big man playing very close to us. Also, JP Estrella is a very good big man more of a stretch 4 man than a center who is also local. There are options here. We can't go 0 for 3 here with 3 high level big man right in our backyard.
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Think it’s best to move on. A source is a source, nobody/nothing is 100% in situations so fluid. It truly is not a big deal at all. Everyone is on the same side. I’m not some insider, just have some buddies in the know. I usually don’t relay much, just didn’t think this would have been so inflammatory (it wasn’t even a “next”).

No ill will to anyone, I actually would encourage people to be skeptical of what they hear. Especially with some of the fake gurus here
 
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