Same. It can't be overstated that I am 100% rooting for him. What I am hoping to see, which will be different from the past, is that he doesn't look in no man's land defensively. He's gifted with enough tools that we'll be able to take advantage of so long as he is not a liability on defense.One of the things I'm most excited for on Monday is to see if all of this smoke about Samson Johnson is warranted or if Hurley is just trying to pump him up. I've heard nothing but praise about him from practices and workouts and yet every time I've seen him it's been underwhelming. I get that the scrimmage was more like a pickup game than anything else, but he didn't really do much of anything there. Hoping to see an impact from him on Monday.
One of the things I'm most excited for on Monday is to see if all of this smoke about Samson Johnson is warranted or if Hurley is just trying to pump him up. I've heard nothing but praise about him from practices and workouts and yet every time I've seen him it's been underwhelming. I get that the scrimmage was more like a pickup game than anything else, but he didn't really do much of anything there. Hoping to see an impact from him on Monday.
The crowds at gampel excluding the students where everything but school colors LOLWho is wearing flannel to the game?
The standard UConn outfits by age bracket. This at min covers 90% of the crowd every game:
Olds: jeans or khakis, UConn mock neck sweatshirt, or 37 year old windbreaker pullover
30/40s: exclusively Jeans, UConn hoody (gray or blue) and 7 beers deep before tip
Student/20s: see 30/40s with the caveat being the kid that discovered the gym 4 months ago so wears the hoop uni w no undershirt.
This has been a huge issue for him.Just defend, defend, defend. With his athleticism and height, he should be causing mayhem blitzing screens.
He should be the elusive NBA-style big that can defend at the level of the screen, blitz, switch, or drop. He's got the natural ability and attributes. It will be big for us if we can have that blitzing center vs. drop center (Clingan) combo that seemed to really throw teams off their game last season. It's like switching to a zone from man to man in the way that it can disrupt the rhythm of an opponent, but we don't have to practice full other defenses. We need to be able to keep opposing offenses guessing.I'm in the same boat. I'm waiting to see it on the court, and hoping we do. Backup 4/5 is a potential weak spot without a solid performance from him.
Don't even care about the offense. Just defend, defend, defend. With his athleticism and height, he should be causing mayhem blitzing screens.
He should be the elusive NBA-style big that can defend at the level of the screen, blitz, switch, or drop. He's got the natural ability and attributes. It will be big for us if we can have that blitzing center vs. drop center (Clingan) combo that seemed to really throw teams off their game last season. It's like switching to a zone from man to man in the way that it can disrupt the rhythm of an opponent, but we don't have to practice full other defenses. We need to be able to keep opposing offenses guessing.
But the exciting thing is that he's been impressive in 4 scrimmages and the private open practice earlier this year. He also led the bench in scoring overseas. I think he might be pretty good.
After 3 years of practice, I gotta think he can defend. If Hurley can't max your defensive potential, I'm not sure if anyone could.
I thought he only scored the lob and 1 other basket for 4 pts. Did he have more?I also would have liked to see him just flat-out dominate at the open practice, but he didn't look mediocre. Lob to start the game was gorgeous. He grabbed an Oreb on a missed Castle 3, made some good post moves in traffic to fight to get sqaured to the hoop and finished. Was quick and seemed to not get lost on D.
I thought he only scored the lob and 1 other basket for 4 pts. Did he have more?