How deep will KO go with our rotation

[CallMeBruce]

For many good reasons not worth enumerating here beyond emphasizing skillset. I seem to recall Rashamel Jones taking a backseat to Rip Hamilton. That's my comparison right there.

Actually it was Khalid who got Jones' minutes, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[huskiesouth]

We need to play 10 - how else are we going to compete in the Final Four with KY and their dual starting 5?

On a slightly more serious note, if KO and the staff are faced with having to parcel out minutes among 8-10 players because everyone is playing well enough to deserve serious court time (1) I think we will be having a very good year and (2) KO & company will be thrilled to have to resolve such a positive situation.

 

[UconnU]

Anyone else a little concerned abput free throw shooting? Personnel wise I think we will get to the line a lot. Not sire we will convert nearly as well as last year though.

 

[David 76]

It will be tough using all 6 guys at the 1, 2, & 3. Someone will miss out and it won't be Purvis or Boat.. That leaves both Sams, Omar and Hamilton for the other starting spot and probably only 2 coming off the bench after the early games.
When they play traditional positions (with a true small forward) that leaves T Sam & Sam Jr competing for back up.
When they play 3 guards, Omar & Hamilton will see less time.
If Hamilton could play the 4 when playing small, then Lubin & Facey arecompeting for back-up minutes.

All very fluid and confusing. My best guess is Lubin sees less time and that one of the Sams sees less time just because of the crowd at their position (they may need to be patient. Boat & probably Purvis will move on and, even with Jalen, there will be more minutes for them next year.. But KO could surprise me.

 

[James]

meh. Cassell will be a contributer, but the idea he would start over purvis is baffling. can't see that happen. purvis is so athletic KO can utilize him in many defensive schemes. cassell is more of a savy shooter/ passer. would struggle guarding guys that are 6'6 and jacked. but i can see ko starting boat purv and cassell, never interesting stuff

 

[EricLA]

Why are people completely writing off the idea of someone who is essentially a junior, who dominated JUCO, starting over an 18 year old with zero college-level experience?

There is considerable buzz around Cassell. It is entirely possible that he starts and is one of our better players.

Doesn't Cassell have 3 years elig. remaining? Hopefully so. And there is a ton of buzz surrounding him. I think some fans are just going with how highly rated kids were coming out of HS. Purvis and Hamilton were very highly rated and Purvis basically has 2 years college experience now.

But if Cassell is getting a lot of positive buzz, and Samuel continues to perform like he did in the NCAA's last year, it will be hard to keep them off the court. Maybe Hamilton will be a bit like Daniels in that as a slimmer player, it takes him a year to adjust to the strength required to succeed at the college level.

I think one of the interesting things about this team is that there ARE so many question marks, but there also seems to be so much talent and it's spread around. I don't think there is a "superstar" leader on the team at this point, but a lot of players who are already really good and have the potential to be great. I'm not trying to downplay how good Boat should be, especially as a senior, but he's yet to be THE man on the court (always behind Napier his 1st 3 years) and he will have some adjustments to make being the floor general this season.

I know I'm probably saying a lot of obvious stuff without giving any specifics of what I think will happen, but the reason for that is, as I said, there are so many guys on the team who are very talented and have good experience in their backgrounds that at this point it's really hard to handicap how Ollie will manage the PT for everyone.

 

[Rocktheworld]

For many good reasons not worth enumerating here beyond emphasizing skillset. I seem to recall Rashamel Jones taking a backseat to Rip Hamilton. That's my comparison right there.

Look man, I get that DHam is good. I'm just reacting to the people, including you, who think it's more likely the holocaust never really happened than it is that -what, 21 year old?- JUCO AA Jr ever gets a start over a freshman.

I have reports from practice that back my point up, too. I'm not just pulling my skepticism out of thin air.

 

[Danzz]

Nothing about Cassell, just the fact that we're unlikely to go more than 3 deep at the 1/2, and Boat, Purvis, and Samuel are ahead of Cassell in the pecking order.

Cassell may get more minutes than Purvis if Purvis struggles from the outside. We lost a truckload of scoring and if this team has a weakness it will be putting points on the board. I see Cassell ahead of Samuel for that reason.
Bazz bailed out an offense that struggled at times. Easy fast break points will help.
One thing for sure: KO has a lot of talented players and the practices are going to be extremely competitive. It is going to be interesting to see how all the pieces fit together. Right now none of us have seen anything of these kids in a game situation but it is still fun to speculate.

 

[upstater]

Look man, I get that DHam is good. I'm just reacting to the people, including you, who think it's more likely the holocaust never really happened than it is that -what, 21 year old?- JUCO AA Jr ever gets a start over a freshman.

I have reports from practice that back my point up, too. I'm not just pulling my skepticism out of thin air.

The holocaust. Oh my.

Ajou Deng, ever hear of him?

The biggest reason DHam will play early and a lot. UConn needs scoring from the wing.

GONE: Daniels, Kromah, Giffey.

Having great guards is nice. Having someone over 6'3" who can fill the bucket is nice too.

It's pretty obvious.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

This roster is shaped good enough to run a really good press and be able to keep everyone fresh. There is a lot of long mobile athletes on this team that could cause havoc for teams with a press. Fits the whole fast paced game too that KO wants to have.

 

[UconnU]

The holocaust. Oh my.

Ajou Deng, ever hear of him?

The biggest reason DHam will play early and a lot. UConn needs scoring from the wing.

GONE: Daniels, Kromah, Giffey.

Having great guards is nice. Having someone over 6'3" who can fill the bucket is nice too.

It's pretty obvious.

I think Cassell starts (atleast to start the season) but D Ham gets more minutes. I think they will play together a lot as well. Some times with D Ham at the 4.

 

[champs99and04]

Of the ten scholarship players, the one that might not see much time is Lubin (this is based on nothing but speculation). I also have to believe that one of Omar, Samuel, and Cassell is going to be more or less squeezed from the rotation by mid-year. There are only 200 minutes to allocate and you have to make the numbers work somehow.

But, as @UConn990411 mentioned earlier in the thread, if your name isn't Boat, Purvis, or Brimah, you had better be ready to see your minutes fluctuate radically from game to game - the potential lineup combinations are seemingly unlimited, and if it took until March to settle on a rotation last year with a veteran team, there is going to be even more turnover this year.

 

[superjohn]

I doubt it, Omar is more versatile and has much more upside. Maybe he'll get some minutes here and there when they need a spark.

I'm rooting for Omar but what exactly makes Omar more versatile and have much higher upside? I'm really curious about what led you to this conclusion.

 

[methodology]

To start the season I think it's:

Boat
Purvis
Omar
Facey
Brimah

Sometime in December Hamilton takes over for Omar. Omar has the experience and is finally healthy. KO will want to build his confidence and try to get him going to start the season so there isn't a repeat if last year when you could tell he was pressing and trying to hard to contribute which eventually became detrimental. Nolan comes off the bench to limit foul problems with 4/5 positions

Come January I see a rotation with Cassel being the main backup to Boat and Purvis but tSam will also see time depending on matchups foul situation or just to get an energy boost. Hamilton and Omar will share the minutes at the 3 with Nolan backing up the 4/5 and lubin getting limited time depending on matchups and foul situation

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'm rooting for Omar but what exactly makes Omar more versatile and have much higher upside? I'm really curious about what led you to this conclusion.

I would argue that T Sam is better than Omar at every facet of the game. Being 1 year younger, I'd say he has more upside too.

 

[DOZE860]

i can see Nolan starting the season off, Facey having a couple of good games.. propelling into the starting line up, only to find out that he is better coming off the bench.. the thing that is going to be tuff to figure out is who comes off the bench first, Tsam or Cassell..if KO wants to speed the game up, he can bring in Tsam.. if he needs to have the game slow up a bit, he can bring in Cassell. I think Omar is going to have to fight for his minutes, and could get squeezed out if his shot is not falling.. With the post players its going to be a revolving door, due to foul troubles, so i think Lubin will get his fair share of burn, unless he is a defensive liability.

 

[mauconnfan]

Sorry you lose scoring then you need scoring. Rodney will bring some and so will this guy.......I realize it's not against Florida or Duke but just watch and tell me he doesn't know how to play. Lot's of dad with the fadeaways and feel for where he needs to get to in order to get a shot off. Can't teach this guys it just comes with the knowledge of the game and he gets it, sorry he's going to be hard to keep off the floor for Omar and TSam........

 

[huskiesouth]

I am old etc., but I really see a lot of Cassell Sr. in Cassel Jr.

UConn has many skill players - chemistry, rebounding, etc., - let's see what February/March 2015 reveal.

 

[Danzz]

I would argue that T Sam is better than Omar at every facet of the game. Being 1 year younger, I'd say he has more upside too.

Depends which Omar we get. Samuel wasn't a great shooter in HS so to expect him to be one here may be a little over optimistic. As far as Cassell and Hamilton are concerned, Cassell will play more 1 and 2 and Hamilton will play more 2 and 3.
Another question mark for us will be rebounding. We have pretty much the same 2 guys in the frontcourt from what was until the end of the season, a poor rebounding team. There is no fast break without rebounding and outlet passing so for us to play an up tempo game Brimah and Nolan are going to have to be the players we saw in the tourney and they will have to stay out of foul trouble. The wild card is Facey and if he develops it changes a lot of things.

 

[husky91]

TSam can't score outside of 6 feet. Omar has much more upside offensively, maybe not as a defensive stopper.

I would argue that T Sam is better than Omar at every facet of the game. Being 1 year younger, I'd say he has more upside too.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

TSam can't score outside of 6 feet. Omar has much more upside offensively, maybe not as a defensive stopper.

We've never really seen his jump shot in game as that wasn't really his role.

On the other hand we have seen Omar's.

I think Omar bounces back and plays the role of offensive support on off nights from our wing players - I think samuel becomes a star.

 

[Husky68]

Early on expect different players to have "better than they really are" games. Keith Smart looked like a combo of Westbrook and Harden his 1st few games for Okie State and then settled in to be just real good. Combs-Mcdaniels had a few games where he was the man.
Expect more big point wins against lesser competition with the speed and drivers seem to have, will need to see how team plays against the top 100 teams and who works well with each other. A knock down shooter will get time, a stopper on the wing will get time, an offensive rebounder will get time - each of these 10 guys has the skills to play an important role.
Interesting to see how the guy(s) whose roles turn out to be less than they hoped handle it, and how they get better and fight for more playing time in their role as the regular season winds down. This team seems to have all the parts, the most interesting team to me since the Gordon/Oakafor team in terms of lot of good pieces need to do their job; Taliek couldn't shoot, Ben couldn't drive, Brown turned the ball over like Calhoun, Boone couldn't catch the ball or make foul shots, Rashad was only a catch and shoot guy, Charlie was allergic to getting inside, etc. - yet as a team doing their roles they were the champs.

 

[superjohn]

TSam can't score outside of 6 feet. Omar has much more upside offensively, maybe not as a defensive stopper.

I will give Omar a clear edge in shooting based off of his freshman year even though he didn't hit a shot all of last year but TSam has proven he's better in every other aspect of the game. Better handle, better passer, better driver/finisher, better defender.