Hurley’s Deepest UConn Team | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Hurley’s Deepest UConn Team

Ajax could not only guard 1-3, but also caused a ton of havoc on the defensive end and was a big part of the motor that made us go. If you think about that team, there weren't a ton of great individual defenders outside of Jax (we did have length). Newt wasn't an amazing defender, nor was Hawkins or Karaban. I wouldn't have called Adama a force on defense either. Amazing what one high plus perimeter defender can do.

We need to find a couple plus defenders on this roster (that aren't major offensive liabilities). I'm pretty high on Mullins potential on defense, really light on his feet/springy. Just need to see it with my eyes at this level. Silas looks strong and like he has some dawg in him. Maybe the Ross experiment pans out - as someone said so accurately, he was high energy, but bad defensively last year (as all metrics show). Can that high energy & length translate this year?
The team was mostly bigger faster and stronger than everyone else. We had a 6’5 PG and a legit 2 way NBA 2 guard in Hawkins and then Andre. Size wise and athletically, there was no one in the country matching up against us on the perimeter.

Add in Sanogo being a brick house and Clingan off the bench, we were just physically better than everyone else and asserted our will.

It’s not the same this year as the only position we’ll have a clear physical advantage is PG. Solo will be small for a 2G and Mullins will be smaller for a 3.

It’s why I’m pushing for Ross so hard because he helps us get a size an athletic advantage at that 3 spot (and why I push for PG Solo because he’s an athletic advantage there and a disadvantage as a 2). Not going back and forth about this but he looked like one of our best defenders once he started staying on his feet during the second half of the season. Don’t really care what the metrics say when I watched something closely with my own eyes.

Mullins played a lot of 2-3 defense in HS I think so I assume they’ll be a learning curve on understanding Hurley’s man defense.
 
I think this is Hurley’s deepest team since he became UConn’s head coach. It seems we are at least two deep at every position. If Furphy steps up and becomes a Swiss Army knife with his positional size we have 10 players who would play more than mop up minutes on all but a handful of Division one teams. If you go back and look it may have been situational but during the 22-23 we had nine players average more than 12 minutes per game. Will that happen again this year?
Like many others said, hard to know who is going to end up being really good until they play. Hurley has done a great job the last 3-4 years filling the roster with players that could be great.

Last year I thought for sure Mahaney and Nowell would be good, but that didn’t happen.
 
15 is an injury boon. Diarra had to play thru injury and 15 lets us have 3 PGs (4 if Furphy is needed there). Though much was made of Maheney’s performance these 3 have all played the point.
 
Correct. I think that Clingan was the wild card that made it go even in his first year when he only played 15 minutes a game. Our second unit not only kept up but often pushed out leads when they were brought in.
Reibe looks great on tape and has offensive skills but he’s going to have to defend, rebound and rise up to BE toughness. We now have a third guy who is 7’2” right?
I think what made Clingon/Sanogo such a tough combo is that Sanogo started and dominated offensively and was very good defensively - but not shut down rim protector.

But then Clingon subbed in and he was a “shut down” center meaning no one comes to the rim for an easy 2 - like no one.

It was the 2 different styles that left all teams bewildered… who do they prepare for? Sanogo / Clingon?

The answer was both but no team we faced in games that mattered - could.

How different our styles are at center will matter -I think Hurley is way ahead of me on this one LOL and that’s part of his strategy with late adds recruiting. Make lightening strike twice.
 
I think what made Clingon/Sanogo such a tough combo is that Sanogo started and dominated offensively and was very good defensively - but not shut down rim protector.

But then Clingon subbed in and he was a “shut down” center meaning no one comes to the rim for an easy 2 - like no one.

It was the 2 different styles that left all teams bewildered… who do they prepare for? Sanogo / Clingon?

The answer was both but no team we faced in games that mattered - could.

How different our styles are at center will matter -I think Hurley is way ahead of me on this one LOL and that’s part of his strategy with late adds recruiting. Make lightening strike twice.
Who is Clingon?
 
Who is Clingon?
Star Trek Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
 
Same thread every year. Last year some of you had us going 12 deep and averaging 127 points and at least two guys going lottery. It’ll play out how it always does. Hurley will get 8-9’deep, some guys who we expected to play more or contribute won’t, and we’ll go into the offseason watching who stays or goes.
Guilty! And one of the lottery guys for me was Abraham!!! Called that wrong!!
 
Ajax could not only guard 1-3, but also caused a ton of havoc on the defensive end and was a big part of the motor that made us go. If you think about that team, there weren't a ton of great individual defenders outside of Jax (we did have length). Newt wasn't an amazing defender, nor was Hawkins or Karaban. I wouldn't have called Adama a force on defense either. Amazing what one high plus perimeter defender can do.

We need to find a couple plus defenders on this roster (that aren't major offensive liabilities). I'm pretty high on Mullins potential on defense, really light on his feet/springy. Just need to see it with my eyes at this level. Silas looks strong and like he has some dawg in him. Maybe the Ross experiment pans out - as someone said so accurately, he was high energy, but bad defensively last year (as all metrics show). Can that high energy & length translate this year?
Ajax was maybe the best example I’ve ever seen of intangible influence on the court. He made so many incredible effort plays (made possible by incredible athleticism) I just imagined how much it would suck to have him on the other team.
 
Depth is good for practice and in case of injuries.

Otherwise it just leads to unhappy players and guys who can’t get into a rythym because they are always looking over their shoulder if they miss a shot or make a mistake.

It’s better to have it than to not have it though
 
Spot on - key to how good this team is will be driven by how much of a defensive upgrade we get with Silas/Mullins at the 1 & 3. Major reason that I don't see any way that Stew gets majority time at the 3 is that he will never be a great defender at the 3 and we really can't stay flat on that end. I'm limiting my expectations on any major defensive leaps by AK or Solo.

It's so hard to compare teams one for one - so much of it is about how the pieces fit together. That 23 team had amazing chemistry by end of year, everyone knew their roles and they were highly defined.

Similarly, Purdue's upside will be determined by their defense - their big 3 is nice on offense, not so much on defense.
Agree with you about defense. Gotta have an upgrade this year re: team D and help D. Our offensive talent will keep us in most games.
 
A deep bench to me means you have at least 3-4 Division 1 ready players, preferably with in-game experience. Also bench being Big East ready is what's most important, and its in our Conference play how we determine our bench strength.

We've seen so often come January (Conference) our rotations shorten and many bench players separate themselves from the pack. Our bench players have a 2 month window to earn PT, especially the freshman.

Just saying, we only need 3 or so bench players to make us Championship material, the others can be used for limited and certain game situations.

Lets see which 3 rise to the top.
 
A deep bench to me means you have at least 3-4 Division 1 ready players, preferably with in-game experience. Also bench being Big East ready is what's most important, and its in our Conference play how we determine our bench strength.

We've seen so often come January (Conference) our rotations shorten and many bench players separate themselves from the pack. Our bench players have a 2 month window to earn PT, especially the freshman.

Just saying, we only need 3 or so bench players to make us Championship material, the others can be used for limited and certain game situations.

Lets see which 3 rise to the top.
Hurley has two templates to raging success right now. One is a depth and having a second wave that can blitz you, 2023. The other is having two shut down defenders that can basically lock you up entirely, 2024. He knows it’s really d@mn hard to find defenders at the quality of Castle/Clingan so I’m guessing he’ll being looking to replicate the 23 model more often than not.

The thing about depth is that your second wave needs to be better than the other teams backups, and/or changes pace to wear out tired starters. That 23 team got to a point where they could bring in 3 high level fresh guys along with super fit players like Ajax/Hawk and just run by you for 5 minutes.

It really feels like we will have a second unit this year, Smith/Reibe/Stew and maybe Furphy/Ross. How good that group plays collectively will be interesting to watch.
 
Quality depth can help overcome weaknesses in the main rotation. If our 2nd line is better than everyone else’s we can wear opponents down. The 23-24 team just kept on hitting in waves and eventually broke them by midway through the 2nd half.
 
The team was mostly bigger faster and stronger than everyone else. We had a 6’5 PG and a legit 2 way NBA 2 guard in Hawkins and then Andre. Size wise and athletically, there was no one in the country matching up against us on the perimeter.

Add in Sanogo being a brick house and Clingan off the bench, we were just physically better than everyone else and asserted our will.

It’s not the same this year as the only position we’ll have a clear physical advantage is PG. Solo will be small for a 2G and Mullins will be smaller for a 3.

It’s why I’m pushing for Ross so hard because he helps us get a size an athletic advantage at that 3 spot (and why I push for PG Solo because he’s an athletic advantage there and a disadvantage as a 2). Not going back and forth about this but he looked like one of our best defenders once he started staying on his feet during the second half of the season. Don’t really care what the metrics say when I watched something closely with my own eyes.

Mullins played a lot of 2-3 defense in HS I think so I assume they’ll be a learning curve on understanding Hurley’s man defense.
Demary isn't a big as we thought. Reed has size/strength advantage. New look Alex might too. Stewart at the 3 has a size/strength advantage. Ross is very slight. Mullis is a little undersized at the 3, but will play some SG and is oversized there. Solo isn't tall, but has a big strength advantage at SG, even though he hasn't used it so far and seems allergic to contact inside. He can absolutely bully other guards if he wants to.
 
Demary isn't a big as we thought. Reed has size/strength advantage. New look Alex might too. Stewart at the 3 has a size/strength advantage. Ross is very slight. Mullis is a little undersized at the 3, but will play some SG and is oversized there. Solo isn't tall, but has a big strength advantage at SG, even though he hasn't used it so far and seems allergic to contact inside. He can absolutely bully other guards if he wants to.
Hmmmmmm. Don't really agree with most of this.

Ross is not slight, kid is pretty jacked up in fact. You can tell he's put a lot of effort working on his body the last couple years. We'll see with him - the one aspect of him I'll hold out hope on is that he's a kid that grew late, could simply be a late bloomer figuring out how to use his body.

Demary may not be as long as listed, but he's also built like a brick #$#house. He may not have that high end length to deter 3's, but he'll be up in grills. I'm honestly not sure I'd call Mullins that undersized at the 3 - he's listed at 6'6", probably closer to 6'5" or so. Kneuppel played the 3 for Duke last year, noted for having an NBA sized roster, was listed at 6'5". Mullins is listed as the same general height as Ajax & Castle, who also played the 3. The 3 in today's world is much more of a guard than a forward. I'm expecting him to be something special by end of year, as he strikes me as a kid that is locked in and with good instincts. Has Castle vibes in that he'll do what it takes to win early, and blossom into a bigger role offensively as the year progresses.

Not sure I agree on Solo/strength - he played much more of a finesse game last year than a strength game, really couldn't body up guys well or take to the rim strong. He is built up top, but has coffee stirrers for legs & is pretty top heavy. I can't think of one instance last year where he actually bullied anyone. He's a jump shooter at this point.

Stew may have a size advantage at the 3, but he's just not a 3 profile in today's world as a bit slow footed and without a great dribble game. So there is a trade off liability at the three on both ends of the floor. Him getting bigger/stronger, and his frame can definitely carry it, only pushes him closer to the 4 profile. I will continue to see him as our future 4 than I see him as a really productive 3.

We underestimate how much of a bulldozer Tarris can be - I think he can be the single most dominant 5 physically in the country this year if he can learn how reign it in. I can't think of one player even close to him in the regard, maybe Zubi, but even Zubi couldn't handle Tarris last year physically. I'm expecting him to dominate in stretches this year as a focused starter with another year in the system.
 

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Hmmmmmm. Don't really agree with most of this.

Ross is not slight, kid is pretty jacked up in fact. You can tell he's put a lot of effort working on his body the last couple years. We'll see with him - the one aspect of him I'll hold out hope on is that he's a kid that grew late, could simply be a late bloomer figuring out how to use his body.

Demary may not be as long as listed, but he's also built like a brick #$#house. He may not have that high end length to deter 3's, but he'll be up in grills. I'm honestly not sure I'd call Mullins that undersized at the 3 - he's listed at 6'6", probably closer to 6'5" or so. Kneuppel played the 3 for Duke last year, noted for having an NBA sized roster, was listed at 6'5". Mullins is listed as the same general height as Ajax & Castle, who also played the 3. The 3 in today's world is much more of a guard than a forward. I'm expecting him to be something special by end of year, as he strikes me as a kid that is locked in and with good instincts. Has Castle vibes in that he'll do what it takes to win early, and blossom into a bigger role offensively as the year progresses.

Not sure I agree on Solo/strength - he played much more of a finesse game last year than a strength game, really couldn't body up guys well or take to the rim strong. He is built up top, but has coffee stirrers for legs & is pretty top heavy. I can't think of one instance last year where he actually bullied anyone. He's a jump shooter at this point.

Stew may have a size advantage at the 3, but he's just not a 3 profile in today's world as a bit slow footed and without a great dribble game. So there is a trade off liability at the three on both ends of the floor. Him getting bigger/stronger, and his frame can definitely carry it, only pushes him closer to the 4 profile. I will continue to see him as our future 4 than I see him as a really productive 3.

We underestimate how much of a bulldozer Tarris can be - I think he can be the single most dominant 5 physically in the country this year if he can learn how rein it in. I can't think of one player even close to him in the regard, maybe Zubi, but even Zubi couldn't handle Tarris last year physically. I'm expecting him to dominate in stretches this year as a focused starter with another year in the system.
Well I hope we got strong enough to not get bullied and pushed around by SJ , Marquette or other top BE teams. From knowing other rosters will that be the case? I’m not worried about our offensive skills but we MUST dominate the glass.
 
Well I hope we got strong enough to not get bullied and pushed around by SJ , Marquette or other top BE teams. From knowing other rosters will that be the case? I’m not worried about our offensive skills but we MUST dominate the glass.
I don't believe that we will be "bullied and pushed around" by other BE teams.

But BE refs, on the other hand....

Cannot get out of the BE fast enough to suit.me...
 
Well I hope we got strong enough to not get bullied and pushed around by SJ , Marquette or other top BE teams. From knowing other rosters will that be the case? I’m not worried about our offensive skills but we MUST dominate the glass.
You think Big Ben Gold is gonna bully us? We got bullied last year when we had one of the most inefficient rebounding centers in the country, a small/hurt PG, a finesse SG starting for the first time, a freshmen we were expecting to lead us and a 4 trying to be something he wasn't. Even so, I wouldn't say we got bulled much outside of StJ, we were just a slow footed & bad defensive team. Getting bullied is not something I anticipate this year.
 
Hmmmmmm. Don't really agree with most of this.

Ross is not slight, kid is pretty jacked up in fact. You can tell he's put a lot of effort working on his body the last couple years. We'll see with him - the one aspect of him I'll hold out hope on is that he's a kid that grew late, could simply be a late bloomer figuring out how to use his body.

Demary may not be as long as listed, but he's also built like a brick #$#house. He may not have that high end length to deter 3's, but he'll be up in grills. I'm honestly not sure I'd call Mullins that undersized at the 3 - he's listed at 6'6", probably closer to 6'5" or so. Kneuppel played the 3 for Duke last year, noted for having an NBA sized roster, was listed at 6'5". Mullins is listed as the same general height as Ajax & Castle, who also played the 3. The 3 in today's world is much more of a guard than a forward. I'm expecting him to be something special by end of year, as he strikes me as a kid that is locked in and with good instincts. Has Castle vibes in that he'll do what it takes to win early, and blossom into a bigger role offensively as the year progresses.

Not sure I agree on Solo/strength - he played much more of a finesse game last year than a strength game, really couldn't body up guys well or take to the rim strong. He is built up top, but has coffee stirrers for legs & is pretty top heavy. I can't think of one instance last year where he actually bullied anyone. He's a jump shooter at this point.

Stew may have a size advantage at the 3, but he's just not a 3 profile in today's world as a bit slow footed and without a great dribble game. So there is a trade off liability at the three on both ends of the floor. Him getting bigger/stronger, and his frame can definitely carry it, only pushes him closer to the 4 profile. I will continue to see him as our future 4 than I see him as a really productive 3.

We underestimate how much of a bulldozer Tarris can be - I think he can be the single most dominant 5 physically in the country this year if he can learn how rein it in. I can't think of one player even close to him in the regard, maybe Zubi, but even Zubi couldn't handle Tarris last year physically. I'm expecting him to dominate in stretches this year as a focused starter with another year in the system.
Solo is athletic - has hops with a long wingspan. Definitely not a strength guy. I honestly expected him to be a better defender though, he just had so much trouble staying in front of guys last year despite how quick he is. Wouldn’t be surprised if this year he puts it all together.
 

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