Hurley: “I think [Hawkins] is going to be a first-round draft pick at the end of the year”

[HuskyWarrior611]

Deandre Daniels started early but his minutes decreased his freshman year much like Hawkins, maybe even less.

I wouldn’t say like Hawkins because Hawkins never got true PT outside of when Martin was out and he was forced to. Calhoun chose to invest in Deandre Daniel’s early and gave him ample opportunity to show what he had before saying he wasn’t ready later on.

Even when Hawkins started he could barely get 25 mins. He eclipsed that twice on the year. As a starter he scored 15 points in one game and only got 22 minutes… 11 another with 20. As a starter with no Martin. Hurley had the kid on a serious leash.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Ryan Boatright didn't play behind Shabazz or Lamb. He started alongside them. Those 2 got more minutes than any of the guys ahead of Hawkins did. So if Hurley wanted to start Hawkins alongside Martin and Jackson (NBA talents), he'd have to take minutes from Whaley and push Jackson to the 4, another 5th year senior and reigning conference defensive player of the year.

As mentioned in another comment, the people whose minutes Boatright actually took from was freshmen DeAndre Daniels and sophomores Giffey snd Roscoe Smith. Roscoe earned the lions share between those 3 and Daniels was posting 7 minutes or less in the last 7 games of the year and didn't crack 20 minutes a game from December onward. 5* recruit, future NCAA champion, NBA draft pick DeAndre Daniels playing less than 10 minutes s game??? Calhoun doesn't recognize talent, clearly.

No he didn’t check online. He came off the bench for most of the year. He didn’t start until February and it was because someone was hurt so he went back to the bench for the tourney. But from his very first game he was playing 30 minutes a game. With DD as a starter so no he didn’t take his minutes because Boatright’s minutes never changed. Calhoun played his freshman early and often if he thought you were talented because that’s how you develop, there was no seniority thing.

There’s a difference between giving someone amply opportunity and falling back from them, and never letting someone off the leash all season.

 

[auror]

No he didn’t check online. He came off the bench for most of the year. He didn’t start until February and it was because someone was hurt so he went back to the bench for the tourney. But from his very first game he was playing 30 minutes a game. With DD as a starter so no he didn’t take his minutes because Boatright’s minutes never changed. Calhoun played his freshman early and often if he thought you were talented because that’s how you develop, there was no seniority thing.

There’s a difference between giving someone amply opportunity and falling back from them, and never letting someone off the leash all season.

If you want to be semantic, yes he came off the bench for some of the year and "started" for some of it. But he was getting starter minutes throughout. He was basically in a Ginobli role, where you play starter minutes but for whatever reason you're not on the court for the opening tip. And yes, he did "take" Daniel's minutes, because minutes are zero sum. Daniels "started" but only played 15 minutes in game 1 despite it going to OT. Someone "took" the other 30, and a lot of that went to Boatright, pushing Lamb to the 3, and Calhoun went with Olander over Daniels/Roscoe at the 4 (despite them both starting). If Boat got less minutes, then Daniels or Roscoe/Olander would have played more alongside each other at the 3.

You're being obtuse on this. You can't say Calhoun played freshman early and if he thought you were talented (implying Hurley doesn't, which is wrong but thats a different post)) when literally in the same game you mentioned there's a 5* freshman who got 15/45 minutes (and 27% of the minutes on the season) who was one of our highest rated recruits ever, won a NC and was on the All-Final Four team later in his career. It's just a dumb statement.

Yes, there's a difference between giving someone "amply opportunity and falling back from them". But if you're going to get that nuanced, you also have to consider the circumstances, both for the player and for the team. As in, I do believe Hawkins was going to start coming into the year last year. He played with the other starters in the blue/white open practice last year. And then he sprained his ankle, which set him back. He went into a shooting slump, which set him back. And then he got bad COVID, which set him back. The coach has to balance playing guys for the future and winning games now. It's not easy and coaches aren't perfect.

The 2012 team had talent, but they were young. Of the 9 man rotation at the end of the year, there was 0 seniors and 1 junior. Seniors and juniors are usually better at basketball. That's why our team last year was better than the 2012 team. Better in KenPom, better conference record, better tournament seed (same tournament result). When a team is better, it's going to be harder to get minutes. Senior Cole was better than Sophomore Napier. Soph Lamb and senior Martin were pretty comparable. Soph Jackson was better than freshman Daniels. Super senior Whaley was better than junior Oriakhi (who was in a funk all year playing next to Drummond and better as a soph). Soph Sanogo was better than freshman Drummond. Super senior Polley was better than Soph Giffey. So there's better players all around, and then Boatright himself was better than Hawkins was as freshmen, so he earned more minutes.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

If you want to be semantic, yes he came off the bench for some of the year and "started" for some of it. But he was getting starter minutes throughout. He was basically in a Ginobli role, where you play starter minutes but for whatever reason you're not on the court for the opening tip. And yes, he did "take" Daniel's minutes, because minutes are zero sum. Daniels "started" but only played 15 minutes in game 1 despite it going to OT. Someone "took" the other 30, and a lot of that went to Boatright, pushing Lamb to the 3, and Calhoun went with Olander over Daniels/Roscoe at the 4 (despite them both starting). If Boat got less minutes, then Daniels or Roscoe/Olander would have played more alongside each other at the 3.

You're being obtuse on this. You can't say Calhoun played freshman early and if he thought you were talented (implying Hurley doesn't, which is wrong but thats a different post)) when literally in the same game you mentioned there's a 5* freshman who got 15/45 minutes (and 27% of the minutes on the season) who was one of our highest rated recruits ever, won a NC and was on the All-Final Four team later in his career. It's just a dumb statement.

Yes, there's a difference between giving someone "amply opportunity and falling back from them". But if you're going to get that nuanced, you also have to consider the circumstances, both for the player and for the team. As in, I do believe Hawkins was going to start coming into the year last year. He played with the other starters in the blue/white open practice last year. And then he sprained his ankle, which set him back. He went into a shooting slump, which set him back. And then he got bad COVID, which set him back. The coach has to balance playing guys for the future and winning games now. It's not easy and coaches aren't perfect.

The 2012 team had talent, but they were young. Of the 9 man rotation at the end of the year, there was 0 seniors and 1 junior. Seniors and juniors are usually better at basketball. That's why our team last year was better than the 2012 team. Better in KenPom, better conference record, better tournament seed (same tournament result). When a team is better, it's going to be harder to get minutes. Senior Cole was better than Sophomore Napier. Soph Lamb and senior Martin were pretty comparable. Soph Jackson was better than freshman Daniels. Super senior Whaley was better than junior Oriakhi (who was in a funk all year playing next to Drummond and better as a soph). Soph Sanogo was better than freshman Drummond. Super senior Polley was better than Soph Giffey. So there's better players all around, and then Boatright himself was better than Hawkins was as freshmen, so he earned more minutes.

First off, I do appreciate the very thoughtful response. You bring up some good points.

DD’s first game as a starter he actually received 29 minutes (which would’ve been the most on the year for Hawkins). Then he got 36 and 34 before dropping off when he wasn’t producing. So yes, Calhoun did originally give him big minutes and pulled back when he didn’t show much which included the FSU game when Boatright came back but DDs minutes were already going down from there. He played 21 minutes the game before.

I don’t buy those excuses though. Why couldn’t he get 30 mins when he was a starter and it was clear he was one of our best scorers? Like he’s had good games and Hurley chose not to reward him and ride the hot hand. We needed shooters badly that year and Hurley chose not to invest in a guy who could’ve paid big dividends at the end of the year.

Saying that Cole and Martin was better than Sophomore year Shabazz and a lottery pick in Jeremy Lamb is just dumb I’m sorry. Martin and Lamb were not comparable. Lamb is by far the better player. The only way Cole was better than Shabazz is if you’re looking at PPG because it’s really not a question who’s the better actual PG.

I’m not sure if Boatright would’ve been Boatright freshman year if he didn’t get 30 mins a game out the jump, which shows confidence and belief in your player, instead of being brought along slowly like Hurley did with Hawkins and Bouknight (who got 11 mins his first game despite it being clear to anyone watching he was the most talented scorer). Bouknight wasn’t coming off injury either. Hell freshman Kemba got 25 mins a game behind AJ Price, Dyson, and a steady senior in Craig Austrie and he was very mistake prone and couldn’t shoot. These reason for why a very talented Hawkins didn’t play over guys who weren’t NBA talents on a team that didn’t make any postseason noise is just excuses man. We have so much history to show why.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

. Senior Cole was better than Sophomore Napier. Soph Lamb and senior Martin were pretty comparable. Soph Jackson was better than freshman Daniels. Super senior Whaley was better than junior Oriakhi (who was in a funk all year playing next to Drummond and better as a soph). Soph Sanogo was better than freshman Drummond. Super senior Polley was better than Soph Giffey. So there's better players all around, and then Boatright himself was better than Hawkins was as freshmen, so he earned more minutes.

I’m sorry I still can’t believe you said this. I think it’s just been awhile and you need a refresher bruh.



UConn Highlights: Jeremy Lamb - Sophomore Season (2011-2012)

 

[Chief00]

Please see what I posted yesterday about potential and projecting. As with James, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. As a program and as players, we should want guys to go to The League when they are also ready.

 

[Waquoit]

Calhoun chose to invest in Deandre Daniel’s early and gave him ample opportunity to show what he had before saying he wasn’t ready later on.

That or he promised him the starting job to get him to come to UConn.

 

[HuskyHawk]

That or he promised him the starting job to get him to come to UConn.

It's pretty simple. Deandre was an impact defender. So he played. Andre Jackson was an impact defender. So he played. Hawkins was, early on, a defensive liability the opponent attacked relentlessly. He worked hard to fix that and was an average defender by the end. But to give him huge minutes, we'd have to sit Jackson or Martin. That wasn't going to happen.

 

[PAHusky]

I’m sorry I still can’t believe you said this. I think it’s just been awhile and you need a refresher bruh.



UConn Highlights: Jeremy Lamb - Sophomore Season (2011-2012)

I'm not going to wade into the rest of the argument in this thread but I will say sophmore Napier and Lamb would beat Cole and Martin from last year no problem.

 

[dennismenace]

Actually the reporter said DH said THIS:

UConn coach Dan Hurley is even more confident in Hawkins' potential. Normally loathe to talk about his players' NBA futures, at least once the season starts, he has said numerous times that he believes the Huskies could lose two or three players to “the league” after this season — with Hawkins topping that list.





“I think he's going to be a first-round draft pick at the end of the year,” Hurley said, succinctly.

You will find this at the beginning of the article.

Was that an "off the record quote" that the reporter didn't honor or was DH having a memory lapse when he spoke in the second quote?

Your thoughts?

 

[Huskyforlife]

I'm not going to wade into the rest of the argument in this thread but I will say sophmore Napier and Lamb would beat Cole and Martin from last year no problem.

Senior cole>Soph Napier
Sophomore Lamb> Senior Martin

Imo

 

[Scrutineer]

This is way overboard but I also don’t see the benefit to Hurley saying this publicly

DH may merely be assuring JH how much he believes in him and trusts him to take on a larger role this year.

 

[ctkaiser]

This is way overboard but I also don’t see the benefit to Hurley saying this publicly

He loves to talk. I call him talking man. I'd like to be able to call him delivery man as in delivering a Big East championship and a sweet 16 appearance. I think he's capable.

 

[NJHoops]

He loves to talk. I call him talking man. I'd like to be able to call him delivery man as in delivering a Big East championship and a sweet 16 appearance. I think he's capable.

Talking with reporters is literally his least favorite part of his job.

 

[gtcam]

When I went to school he's meant he is
don't know now with all the new pronoun rules

 

[dennismenace]

When I went to school he's meant he is
don't know now with all the new pronoun rules

Thank you. Case closed.

 

[superjohn]

@HuskyWarrior611
You're just really wrong on this stuff and you're digging. As Auror points out Boat never took a back seat or played behind anyone in his career. From day 1 he was prime time. First game he put the uniform on he won the game for the team.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

@HuskyWarrior611
You're just really wrong on this stuff and you're digging. As Auror points out Boat never took a back seat or played behind anyone in his career. From day 1 he was prime time. First game he put the uniform on he won the game for the team.

I mean the numbers don't lie. He was that because Calhoun allowed him to be that. Even if you disagree on Hawkins you can say Bouknight was clearly primetime from day 1 too and he didn't get Boat minutes until injury forced Hurley to do it. You can literally go back and check the numbers.

I don't know why there's all this push back on clear, verifiable numbers with multiple cases. Even Sanogo didn't play 20 mins a game until almost February. There's not one example of a freshman during Hurley's time that he's trusted to come out the gate playing big minutes. Not one. No matter how good they clearly looked from day 1.

 

[navery12]

I mean the numbers don't lie. He was that because Calhoun allowed him to be that. Even if you disagree on Hawkins you can say Bouknight was clearly primetime from day 1 too and he didn't get Boat minutes until injury forced Hurley to do it. You can literally go back and check the numbers.

I don't know why there's all this push back on clear, verifiable numbers with multiple cases. Even Sanogo didn't play 20 mins a game until almost February. There's not one example of a freshman during Hurley's time that he's trusted to come out the gate playing big minutes. Not one. No matter how good they clearly looked from day 1.

Besides the fact that you're objectively wrong about everything you just said with Hawkins, Bouknight, Sanogo I won't even bother with that. But Akok played 28 minutes a game his freshman year and was playing 25-30 minutes a night from game 1

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Besides the fact that you're objectively wrong about everything you just said with Hawkins, Bouknight, Sanogo I won't even bother with that. But Akok played 28 minutes a game his freshman year and was playing 25-30 minutes a night from game 1

Lol what was wrong about what I said about those 3. Were they not lighting it up from day 1?

Yeah Akok did, in my defense though the only other big on the roster was Whaley who at that point nobody thought was any good. So pretty much no other option at the time.