Hassan Diarra Commits to UConn

[ucp990411]

Guessing the wraps up the roster for next season

How about Jordan DeLaire as frontcourt insurance?

 

[Phoenixhusky]

Good add. Sweet 16 rotation. Need more bodies though, an injury at the guard position would be a huge issue. Don’t care if they come from Tunxis Community College we need another ball handler on the roster in case of emergency.

Castle!

 

[UofCT]

Could Diarra challenge Alleyne for a starting spot?

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Room temp take, my work here is done:

 

[Hey Adrien!]

How about Jordan DeLaire as frontcourt insurance?

Never heard of him.

But his third cousin, Jaiden, signed w/ San Diego earlier this week.

 

[Banta55]

How about Jordan DeLaire as frontcourt insurance?

He committed to Steve Lavin at San Diego.

 

[3rdbass]

Nice great pickup. He will be seeing minutes off the bench for sure. Now we just need one more developmental guard for depth. He probably won't play much.

 

[3rdbass]

Guessing the wraps up the roster for next season

We only have 10 Scholarship players. They did mention in an article that Hurley was hoping for 12 Scholarship players in. We still need a couple more developmental players for depth. You don't want to go in the season with only 10 scholarship players.

 

[Fatroony5]

Guessing the wraps up the roster for next season

They have 10 players on the roster, they aren’t going into the season banking 3 scholarships.

 

[shizzle787]

We need a Castle reclass, especially if he is the one and done player we are expecting. If that happens, I don’t see Johnson playing much as we will likely have a 9-man rotation.

 

[The Moose]

We need a few more bodies for practices and depth...some desperate kids in portal hell will be glad to come here even if it's for the end of the bench

 

[ucp990411]

He committed to Steve Lavin at San Diego.

Thanks. Didn’t see that. Like to see someone to play the 4/5 if needed. Wouldn’t expect someone to get much pt

 

[auror]

Love the versatility with the team now, especially with the 4-out offense. Pretty much everyone minus Sanogo and Clingan can play multiple positions. We've all been frustrated with a lot of Hurley's lineups more times than not, but he appears to have the right pieces to fit the puzzle now in an ideal offense not being hampered by being forced to play 2 traditional bigs on the court at the same time (Whaley/Sanogo).

I just like the toolbox nature of our rotation.

Listing the best 2 traits of all our guys, there isn't that much overlap. And when there is, it's shooting. (My nickname for their specialization role in para, think RPG classes).

Newton (Big PG) - Playmaking, Scoring
Alleyne (Sniper) - Shooting, Off ball movement
Diarra (Junkyard Dog) - Energy, Team defender
Hawkins (2G) - Shooting, Scoring
Jackson (Glue guy) - Athletic, Connecting
Karaban (Big Wing Shooter) - Skill for his size, Shooting
Johnson (Pterodactyl) - Rim protection, Shooting
Sanogo (Beast) - Interior scoring, Rebounding
Clingan (Human Mountain) - Literal human mountain, TBD.

Whatever situation arises, we've got a solution.

 

[huskyniner]

 

[Mooch82]

Seems incredibly risky to go into the season with 10 scholarship players

Yeah...if the Castle re-class is truly up in the air I think we need to add one more body. Can't go in with only 10 scholarship guys and not be able to play a true 5 v 5 in practice if someone gets hurt. Would prefer a grad transfer type at this point that would only take up a scholarship for one year since we're in on so many 2023 guys. Would also be good with an under the radar type freshman.

 

[Kitaman]

 

[RipCity]

I mean come on now, this is a lot different than Ramey or most of the guards we’ve discussed all offseason….

But we needed something and I like Diarra’s defense in contrast to Gaffney’s. Solid addition and gives us much more breathing room with guard depth.

 

[Huskymagic]

If we consider what we lost to graduation/transfers, the new additions are at best equal in value.

Nothing that surpasses them.

Next year’s success will depend on AJacks, Hawks, and Sanogo.

 

[ctchamps]

Cardiac Diarra!!! Why do I love the sound of that?

 

[Mike Honcho]

I just like the toolbox nature of our rotation.

Listing the best 2 traits of all our guys, there isn't that much overlap. And when there is, it's shooting. (My nickname for their specialization role in para, think RPG classes).

Newton (Big PG) - Playmaking, Scoring
Alleyne (Sniper) - Shooting, Off ball movement
Diarra (Junkyard Dog) - Energy, Team defender
Hawkins (2G) - Shooting, Scoring
Jackson (Glue guy) - Athletic, Connecting
Karaban (Big Wing Shooter) - Skill for his size, Shooting
Johnson (Pterodactyl) - Rim protection, Shooting
Sanogo (Beast) - Interior scoring, Rebounding
Clingan (Human Mountain) - Literal human mountain, TBD.

Whatever situation arises, we've got a solution.

I love this. I wonder how well we'll rebound next year. We were 10th in the nation last season at 40.4 rpg and +7.5 differential. We'll still have Sanogo and Jackson. We'll be taller overall. Tyrese was second on the team at 7.5 rpg.

Any thoughts there? It looks like Newton will be a + from the PG position (4.8 vs Cole's 3.4).

 

[Huskyforlife]

At minimum he’s an upgrade over what we had coming off the bench last year. Plus you never know what this staff might turn him into. Roster filling out nicely.

 

[Sportsman5]

I love this. I wonder how well we'll rebound next year. We were 10th in the nation last season at 40.4 rpg and +7.5 differential. We'll still have Sanogo and Jackson. We'll be taller overall. Tyrese was second on the team at 7.5 rpg.

Any thoughts there? It looks like Newton will be a + from the PG position (4.8 vs Cole's 3.4).

Better rebounding team overall, but with more offensive efficiency there might be less offensive rebounds.

 

[navery12]

I mean come on now, this is a lot different than Ramey or most of the guards we’ve discussed all offseason….

But we needed something and I like Diarra’s defense in contrast to Gaffney’s. Solid addition and gives us much more breathing room with guard depth.

Of course, but don't move the goalposts now. We were discussing Ramey and ended up with Alleyne instead, Diarra is in addition to that. You said we were going into next season with an 8 man rotation (no longer the case, it's 9 with Diarra). You said you no longer expected 2 more impact guards like Hurley said pre-Alleyne, that is no longer the case since we added Alleyne and Diarra

Diarra was literally the exact guard I was talking about when I replied to you with Hurley's quote about adding another ball handler

First name that comes to mind is Hassan Diarra. Maybe Femi Okudale as well, but not sure how his ball handling is

 

[NotADime89]

Of course, but don't move the goalposts now. We were discussing Ramey and ended up with Alleyne instead, Diarra is in addition to that. You said we were going into next season with an 8 man rotation (no longer the case, it's 9 with Diarra). You said you no longer expected 2 more impact guards like Hurley said pre-Alleyne, that is no longer the case since we added Alleyne and Diarra

Diarra was literally the exact guard I was talking about when I replied to you with Hurley's quote about adding another ball handler

 

[auror]

I love this. I wonder how well we'll rebound next year. We were 10th in the nation last season at 40.4 rpg and +7.5 differential. We'll still have Sanogo and Jackson. We'll be taller overall. Tyrese was second on the team at 7.5 rpg.

Any thoughts there? It looks like Newton will be a + from the PG position (4.8 vs Cole's 3.4).

Probably worse rebounding, but Tom Moore coached teams always rebound well, so who knows? Likely a strength of the team, just not as elite as last year. The Martin/Whaley losses are big on the offensive board front. Jackson was already a great defensive rebounder, but he'll pick up some of the o-reb slack as he'll be playing 4 more and there should be plenty of space to streak in on the weakside. I think Sanogo may be an anthropomorphic vacuum this season (15/22% o/d rebound rates seems possible).

I wouldn't expect much rebounding from Alleyne, and Newton should definitely make up for some of Martin's absence. Hawkins has rebounding potential because he's long and can jump, so we'll see how he does after adding some weight this off-season. Jury is out on Johnson/Karaban.

So basically Newton/Alleyne/Hawkins is likely a modest downgrade from Cole/Martin/Whaley, but Jackson and Sanogo may be even better, so net is a slightly worse rebounding team (and likely playing more guys around the perimeter, so less emphasis on o-rebs).