Hawkins - The couple 3s he took didnt fall but he legit looked like an NBA athlete out there

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The minute JH got in the game everybody started making shots as if amagic potion spread over the team. He raises all boats. Look out we are a different team with him on the floor.
You get the feeling of confidence and he hasn't shown us his D or 3pointer yet.
What about Richie Springs? Put him in the mix.

Hawkins instantly showed as smooth, fast, and confident. Looking forward to a larger sample size.

Springs went straight to the hoop 4 times with no flubs, drew 3 fouls, and scored a hoop. 4 touches and 6 points.

 

[KingAG]

The excitement police are by far the worst part of this board. Let fans be excited

 

[Lefty2one]

Huh? The first time we saw Bouk he showed us he could score in all sorts of ways against real competition. I'm high on Hawkins to, but if that debut reminded you of Bouk's you weren't watching the same two games I was.

The first time I watched both of them I knew they were NBA players who wouldn't spend four years on campus. That's what I meant. The specifics are irrelevant to my point.

 

[Huskyforlife]

The excitement police are by far the worst part of this board. Let fans be excited

Only if yall promise to stop hating on guys when they inevitably fall short of being Bouknight or Allen. It was annoying sifting through posts about how Jackson sucks because his first 2 games weren't lottery pick worthy. There's a difference between being excited, and being unreasonable.

 

[jibsey]

So the one thing we are missing is what Hawkins can potentially bring. Can he put the ball on the floor from the perimeter, create space elevate and get his shot? That was Bouknight with the clock winding down. That was Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Donyell, Caron, the list goes on. Seems like he can do it and we already know he can catch and shoot. If we add that to the overall team strength we have it’s a good thing.

 

[aburks41]

The excitement police are by far the worst part of this board. Let fans be excited

Some people here act like it’s unfathomable that we can have championship aspirations again even though we’ve literally seen what a championship team looks like multiple times. This team has the pieces to go that deep and no one can tell me otherwise. They are so damn talented and their defense is unfair. I don’t care if they haven’t had a real test yet - you know what kind of team beats 3 D1 teams by an average of 45 points? A championship team.

 

[husky429]

So the one thing we are missing is what Hawkins can potentially bring. Can he put the ball on the floor from the perimeter, create space elevate and get his shot? That was Bouknight with the clock winding down. That was Ray Allen, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Donyell, Caron, the list goes on. Seems like he can do it and we already know he can catch and shoot. If we add that to the overall team strength we have it’s a good thing.

In HS he was good for a 1-2 dribble pull up. He wasn't the kind of player to iso and play for separation, break people down, and get to the cup or anything. He has a straight line drive, a bunch of 3s and step backs, and a pull up.

He may have added more shiftiness to his game, idk. Regardless, his ticket to the NBA is going to be as an effecient shooter and defender a la Klay and late career Ray Allen. These days, that's good for a 10+ year career if you play your cards right.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Incredibly obvious that he has it. Glides similarly to Ray.

Really saw the same. Looks and moves a lot like Ray, just smooth. Maybe a bit of Caron Butler as well. He also gets after it on defense, which Ray didn't really. Impressed with that debut, even if he missed shots. He looked aggressive on both ends and can take it to the rim and absorb contact.

 

[Husky Alien]

He is one of those players that obviously has "it." He has an NBA skillset and athleticism... just needs the muscle to back it up.

The comparison to Bouk people make is way, way off base though. Hawkins isn't a 1v1 creator like Bouk nor is he a creative finisher. He's an elite shooter with fantastic defense.

There is no doubt about his ceiling. What surprised me is his athleticism and that was just a sample last night. Also his defense was better than I thought. He is definitely not like Bouk though. Very smooth player.

 

[jibsey]

In HS he was good for a 1-2 dribble pull up. He wasn't the kind of player to iso and play for separation, break people down, and get to the cup or anything. He has a straight line drive, a bunch of 3s and step backs, and a pull up.

He may have added more shiftiness to his game, idk. Regardless, his ticket to the NBA is going to be as an effecient shooter and defender a la Klay and late career Ray Allen. These days, that's good for a 10+ year career if you play your cards right.

The step back, or pull up would be all he needs with a defender in his face. He looks taller than 6’4”.

 

[dogpause]

He reminded me of that other Jordan. Perhaps it was the swagger.

 

[husky429]

The step back, or pull up would be all he needs with a defender in his face. He looks taller than 6’4”.

He's listed 6'5 on our roster.

 

[BGesus4]

Big Drama Show!

Lol first thing that came to mind when I read the quote

 

[UconnU]

His lateral quickness really stuck out. Also looks great crashing the boards.

 

[dennismenace]

Bringing him in at the end was the icing on the cake last night. He looks much faster than I thought he would be which just adds another dimension to this team. Adding track meet speed to great defense, insane depth, shot blocking and rebounding to this team is indeed starting to make it look scary. Wow!

 

[Get a Job]

Some people here act like it’s unfathomable that we can have championship aspirations again even though we’ve literally seen what a championship team looks like multiple times. This team has the pieces to go that deep and no one can tell me otherwise. They are so damn talented and their defense is unfair. I don’t care if they haven’t had a real test yet - you know what kind of team beats 3 D1 teams by an average of 45 points? A championship team.

What about all the other teams steamrolling cupcakes right now? Are they all going to win the championship, too?

Edit: I will give you this: we're number 2 in average margin of victory, which is pretty cool. However, to my point, Drake is number 1. Are they a championship team?

 

[KingAG]

What about all the other teams steamrolling cupcakes right now? Are they all going to win the championship, too?

There aren't a bunch of other teams steam rolling cupcakes. If you have been paying attention, power teams have been struggling against said cupcakes. Teams arent beating mid majors by an average of 45. We're taking that for granted in my opinion

 

[husky429]

There aren't a bunch of other teams steam rolling cupcakes. If you have been paying attention, power teams have been struggling against said cupcakes. Teams arent beating mid majors by an average of 45. We're taking that for granted in my opinion

I mean we aren't playing "mid-majors" if you want to get technical about it. We're playing some of the worst teams in all of D1. But you are correct that many teams are struggling vs bad competition. I think our depth, experience, and lack of transfers are really paying off right now. We essentially have 3 wins vs decent D2 teams... seriously.

I'm giving the staff a pass this year. These games have been planned for a long time, and maybe we just had bad luck. But our early-season schedule really should have some more challenges going forward.

Bringing him in at the end was the icing on the cake last night. He looks much faster than I thought he would be which just adds another dimension to this team. Adding track meet speed to great defense, insane depth, shot blocking and rebounding to this team is indeed starting to make it look scary. Wow!

Between Andre, Hawkins, Reese, and Akok we have some stupid athleticism on the wings right now.

 

[Get a Job]

There aren't a bunch of other teams steam rolling cupcakes. If you have been paying attention, power teams have been struggling against said cupcakes. Teams arent beating mid majors by an average of 45. We're taking that for granted in my opinion

We have the 4th worst SoS according to KenPom. We are not playing mid-majors.

 

[UConnStats]

His lateral quickness really stuck out. Also looks great crashing the boards.

Yeah he was all over the boards, which is nice to see. Jackson has also been great on the boards. He’s really filling the old DHam role in a more emphatic fashion.

The athleticism on this roster is pretty incredible.

 

[aburks41]

What about all the other teams steamrolling cupcakes right now? Are they all going to win the championship, too?

Edit: I will give you this: we're number 2 in average margin of victory, which is pretty cool. However, to my point, Drake is number 1. Are they a championship team?

The 2009 FF team played a worse non-con schedule than we are right now, and they weren't even winning by 45+ points in those games. We've literally seen this same story before from our own program.

Have you watched some of the other ranked teams this year against cupcakes? Most of them look absolutely terrible. We look like one of the most polished teams already and we're only going to keep getting better and better

 

[KingAG]

The 2009 FF team played a worse non-con schedule than we are right now, and they weren't even winning by 45+ points in those games. We've literally seen this same story before from our own program.

Have you watched some of the other ranked teams this year against cupcakes? Most of them look absolutely terrible. We look like one of the most polished teams already and we're only going to keep getting better and better

I don't think many here pay attention to non UConn related games

 

[KingAG]

We have the 4th worst SoS according to KenPom. We are not playing mid-majors.

I refer to a mid major as anyone not in a power conference, or a consistent national contender(Gonzaga, Memphis, Cincy).

 

[Psolo12]

I refer to a mid major as anyone not in a power conference, or a consistent national contender(Gonzaga, Memphis, Cincy).

Well there are mid majors and low majors just like high majors. Teams under Kenpom 250 are not mid majors, they’re low majors.

 

[KingAG]

Well there are mid majors and low majors just like high majors. Teams under Kenpom 250 are not mid majors, they’re low majors.

So we judge mid, low, and high ,majors based upon their KenPom? If a high major has a down year, they become a low major? I always thought the train of thought was you had your major conferences(BE, B10, SEC, ACC, B12, Pac12) and the rest were mid major conferences. It's semantics.

 

[UChusky916]

Hawkins is a stud, it's obvious. Some guys just have IT, and you could tell in limited minutes yesterday that this kid is going to be a star and on the wall in Werth in a few years.

In 8 minutes, he stuffed the stat sheet with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals. Yeah, he missed a few shots (follow-up dunk and open 3), but those will start going in the net as he gets more comfortable.

The similarities to Bouknight are not accurate in terms of play style. But I'll let it slide, because I understand there's a similar sentiment when seeing Hawkins play on this stage like when we saw Bouk on the floor the first time... you can tell the kid is special and just different.

Comparisons aside (I like mini-Ray), this kid should be getting at least 20+ mins every night. Hurley has a real challenge on his hands on how to balance minutes and line-ups. The team is so deep, talented, and diverse.

The only thing lacking on the roster is a real KNOCK DOWN shooter. Polley, Cole, and Gaff can certainly hit them at a respectable clip and get hot any night. But maybe Hawkins can be that guy to consistently knock down shots, and if so, he makes this team THAT much better.

Opponent aside, you can tell this team really has a good... dare I say... mojo going.

 

[husky429]

So we judge mid, low, and high ,majors based upon their KenPom? If a high major has a down year, they become a low major? I always thought the train of thought was you had your major conferences(BE, B10, SEC, ACC, B12, Pac12) and the rest were mid major conferences. It's semantics.

Why would their be high- and mid-major with no low-major? It may just be semantics, but that seems pretty basic lol

I get the idea though. There are years where your OOC schedule just ends up being worse. It happens.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

So we judge mid, low, and high ,majors based upon their KenPom? If a high major has a down year, they become a low major? I always thought the train of thought was you had your major conferences(BE, B10, SEC, ACC, B12, Pac12) and the rest were mid major conferences. It's semantics.

Grouping the A10 and the SWAC together is not semantics, it is stupidity.

 

[aburks41]

Hawkins is a stud, it's obvious. Some guys just have IT, and you could tell in limited minutes yesterday that this kid is going to be a star and on the wall in Werth in a few years.

In 8 minutes, he stuffed the stat sheet with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 steals. Yeah, he missed a few shots (follow-up dunk and open 3), but those will start going in the net as he gets more comfortable.

The similarities to Bouknight are not accurate in terms of play style. But I'll let it slide, because I understand there's a similar sentiment when seeing Hawkins play on this stage like when we saw Bouk on the floor the first time... you can tell the kid is special and just different.

Comparisons aside (I like mini-Ray), this kid should be getting at least 20+ mins every night. Hurley has a real challenge on his hands on how to balance minutes and line-ups. The team is so deep, talented, and diverse.

The only thing lacking on the roster is a real KNOCK DOWN shooter. Polley, Cole, and Gaff can certainly hit them at a respectable clip and get hot any night. But maybe Hawkins can be that guy to consistently knock down shots, and if so, he makes this team THAT much better.

Opponent aside, you can tell this team really has a good... dare I say... mojo going.

Limited sample size but Gaff is hitting 60% of his 3's on 4 attempts per game so far. He'll come back down to earth but he has great shot mechanics. He was a 36% guy last year, I can see him hitting 40% this year which is approaching that 'very good to elite' territory

 

[navery12]

So we judge mid, low, and high ,majors based upon their KenPom? If a high major has a down year, they become a low major? I always thought the train of thought was you had your major conferences(BE, B10, SEC, ACC, B12, Pac12) and the rest were mid major conferences. It's semantics.

No because even the worst high major teams are never coming anywhere close to being ranked 250+. They could go 0-20 in conference and still be above these low majors