Hassan Diarra

[bendm]

I agree we will be a better team if the returning guys make the expected jumps and Newton's game translates over, but I still think we are another shot creator away from being really good.

well we'll be preseason top 20-25 and assuming the things you listed happen then we have sweet 16 potential. that's really good in my book!

 

[Hungryhusky99]

we'll be preseason top 20-25 and assuming the things you listed happen then we have sweet 16 potential. that's really good in my book.

Top 25 doesn’t mean anything at this point. We need guys who can get it done in March.

 

[bendm]

Top 25 doesn’t mean anything at this point. We need guys who can get it done in March.

that's why i said:

assuming the things you listed happen then we have sweet 16 potential.

or is that not good enough? shouldnt we at least win a tourney game before we can have championship aspirations as a program again?

 

[bigknight3]

You need to add another layer of context to the stats and then the real story becomes abundantly clear very quickly.

Jalen scored 131 points last year; 40 of those came in the first four games of the season against very weak competition, and to take that a step further: 56 came in those 4 games + 2 more with MD-ES and Grambling. He also had 24 of his 65 assists in those 6 games.

Against representative competition, we're talking about a sub-.300 FG% with a 3P% of 15 in 27 games. From the start of Big East play on, he shot .286% from the field, .188% from 3 and scored 44 points in 22 games with a 1.3 to 0.7 assist to turnover ratio. That is not a playable high-major player by any standard whatsoever.

You seem stuck on the assist to turnover ratio, but both Jalen's and H. Diarra's are misleading.

Jalen's fatal flaw is an inability to handle high-major ball pressure. To compensate for that, he turned his back to the defender and backed the ball up the court, eating up a large amount of the shot clock. His inability to initiate offense cratered our shot quality and offense efficiency because of the number of times it led to a game of hot potato to get a shot up for whomever ended up with the ball and less than 10 seconds to make something happen when he finally got us into a half-court set.

Diarra, meanwhile, played in a Buzz Williams system that has always led to low assist-to-turnover ratios.

Remember all those great guards he had at Marquette? Vander Blue averaged 1.8 assists to 2.3 turnovers his final year and a 2.0 assists/2.0 turnovers for his career. Darius Johnson-Odom posted a 2.7 assist to 2.4 turnover mark as an All-Big East first teamer in 2011-12. These are future NBA players on Sweet 16/Elite Eight teams. Look up and down last year's A&M roster and it's the same thing. It's the way they play.

Diarra also improved considerably as the season went on last year against high-major competition. I took his final 15 games as what seems like a fair indicator: He shot 434% from the field, .378% from 3 from that point on and as many have mentioned, there's reason in Texas A&M's roster construction change during the season to believe that is not a coincidence.

All this is to say that Jalen 100% did the right thing in leaving UConn for a level where his skillset can flourish without his inability to handle ball pressure destroying his production. And perhaps more importantly, to nip any idea of using a misrepresentation of what Gaffney was to cut down Hassan before he even plays his first game for us.

What's the record for most likes in a single post that's all quality commentary and not a simple repost of an IG/Twitter commitment from a recruit???

Great post.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

that's why i said:

or is that not good enough? shouldnt we at least win a tourney game before we can have championship aspirations as a program again?

Yes, but you probably said we had sweet 16 potential this year too so what does that matter.

A sweet 16 this year would be awesome, by no means do I expect a championship.

 

[bigknight3]

Thanks goodness we aren't recruiting the twins Seborrhea and Psoriasis.

Lol no one gave you a like for this..! It was like worthy hahaha

 

[navery12]

Top 25 doesn’t mean anything at this point. We need guys who can get it done in March.

For example, a guy in Hassan Diarra with postseason experience (albeit NIT) and who's taken tons of big shots for them in the SEC tournament/NIT

 

[Hungryhusky99]

For example, a guy in Hassan Diarra with postseason experience (albeit NIT) and who's taken tons of big shots for them in the SEC tournament/NIT

He is a fine bench guard. I have no problems with him and understand that the role he is taking is not an easy sell. I just think they could’ve made better use of the Alleyne spot, but hopefully he is awesome and proves me wrong.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Him and Samson just followed each other

 

[Edward Sargent]

Did I miss something, why are we assuming there was contact before he was in the portal?

We aren’t assuming anything but some are

 

[Edward Sargent]

Him and Samson just followed each other

Him?

 

[uchusky32]

Him?
Titles mean nothing on the Yard anymore.

 

[NJHoops]

It’s not unusual for a guy to transfer out of a program that hasn’t made the tournament and has undergone a lot of personnel change in the two years he’s been there. It’s also not unusual for teams who recruited a player previously to reach out once he makes himself available. Not all transfers feel the need to release a list of everyone they’ve been in contact with since they went into the portal.

 

[AntG168]

✂️ Hassan Diarra

21 seconds · Clipped by King AntG · Original video "Wisconsin vs Texas A&M | 2021.11.22 | NCAAB Game" by The Draftmatic

youtube.com

Defensive possessions like this is what will make us fall in love with Diarra. Pay attention to #5. Perfect help defense.

Dan Hurley is going to turn Diarra into a menace on defense. Would not be surprised to see him turn into our defensive stopper as the year goes on. His add is being very undersold. We’re infatuated with adding these highly skilled guards(which is a need) but Diarra fills a need as well. We need a junk yard dog after losing Rese, Cole, and Whaley. That’s a lot of toughness to lose in one off season. We have a bunch of good guys(Alleyne, Newton, Hawkins, Freshman). We needed some toughness, a dog, and Diarra is THAT.

 

[ucp990411]

✂️ Hassan Diarra

21 seconds · Clipped by King AntG · Original video "Wisconsin vs Texas A&M | 2021.11.22 | NCAAB Game" by The Draftmatic

youtube.com

Defensive possessions like this is what will make us fall in love with Diarra. Pay attention to #5. Perfect help defense.

Dan Hurley is going to turn Diarra into a menace on defense. Would not be surprised to see him turn into our defensive stopper as the year goes on. His add is being very undersold. We’re infatuated with adding these highly skilled guards(which is a need) but Diarra fills a need as well. We need a junk yard dog after losing Rese, Cole, and Whaley. That’s a lot of toughness to lose in one off season. We have a bunch of good guys(Alleyne, Newton, Hawkins, Freshman). We needed some toughness, a dog, and Diarra is THAT.

Did he commit?

 

[CTBasketball]

Did he commit?

He will in 20 min.

 

[aburks41]

✂️ Hassan Diarra

21 seconds · Clipped by King AntG · Original video "Wisconsin vs Texas A&M | 2021.11.22 | NCAAB Game" by The Draftmatic

youtube.com

Defensive possessions like this is what will make us fall in love with Diarra. Pay attention to #5. Perfect help defense.

Dan Hurley is going to turn Diarra into a menace on defense. Would not be surprised to see him turn into our defensive stopper as the year goes on. His add is being very undersold. We’re infatuated with adding these highly skilled guards(which is a need) but Diarra fills a need as well. We need a junk yard dog after losing Rese, Cole, and Whaley. That’s a lot of toughness to lose in one off season. We have a bunch of good guys(Alleyne, Newton, Hawkins, Freshman). We needed some toughness, a dog, and Diarra is THAT.

Nice pass to find the open guy in the corner too. Alleyne and Hawkins will enjoy playing with him

 

[fatlucy]

Lock it down

 

[djct1999]

I have no idea why you want this to be true so badly, but you should really quit digging. This isn't a good look for you

I have seen a lot of weird things on here, but insisting UConn may have tampered here is one of the weirdest takes I remember.

 

[GuardU]

I guess it's not surprising "Get a Job" is willing to go in circles on such a dumb topic. Let it go already.

 

[UChusky916]

These tampering comments are ridiculous.

We recruited the kid out of HS, so he's familiar with the program.
He saw there was lots of playing time available here after all of the guard departures.
Maybe he wanted to be closer to home.
Maybe he saw the success his brother had at the school academically.

This board constantly tries to find things to unnecessarily fret over.

 

[auror]

Try this:
. Hass calls Mam and say, "Hey big bro, I'm kinda unhappy down here. How are you doing up in the Cut?""
Mam replies, "It's great here, I'm getting my masters and the team is really tight. You should think about it, they wanted you before and there are roster spaces."
Hassan: " I just might", and jumps in the portal.

Voila, perfectly plausible and no tampering. Is that what you needed?

I was typing up almost the same exact thing.

Here's a perfectly plausible scenario.

Hassan: Hey Mama. Heard about all your guards transferring out. Seems crazy, they were going to play a ton. You know, I'm not really happy here with my playing time.
Mamadou: Hey Hassan. Yeah man. We upgrading. Got a couple guys already. Oh that sucks dude. You want in? I can ask coach if he's interested.
(Day later).
Mamdou: Hey Hassan. There might be a spot here. Jump in the portal so Coach can reach out.

Is this considered tampering? I have no idea. Samoo's is definitely not. In mine, is Mama acting on the direction of the coach? Or is it the answer to a legal question posed by Hassan? I'd lean the latter, but who knows. Either way, this is not something that would get prosecuted, and i'd lean towards it not being morally wrong either, since Hassan initiated the inquiry.

We have no idea if that's how it happened, but since there are perfectly plausible scenarios in which it's not tampering, we should not assume to have tampered without evidence to the contrary.

 

[Improviser]

These tampering comments are ridiculous.

We recruited the kid out of HS, so he's familiar with the program.
He saw there was lots of playing time available here after all of the guard departures.
Maybe he wanted to be closer to home.
Maybe he saw the success his brother had at the school academically.

This board constantly tries to find things to unnecessarily fret over.

This is what sitcom writers do.

Write about an often common situation and have the actors play it out or have the actors guess what others meant when they acted a certain way.

Seinfeld was famous for this motif.

 

[imno1]

Am I the only one who really doesn't care. It didn't bother me when CFjr got poached. I want players who are all in on UConn bb

 

[huskiesouth]

The number of possible scenarios is almost endless.

Like this one.

Hassan, like hundreds of other Div. 1 athletes, is either unhappy with his current school or is restless for a new experience. He enters the portal and waits to see what happens.

UConn calls.

Hassan decides to transfer to ?

End of story.