Huskies who blossomed as upperclassmen | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Huskies who blossomed as upperclassmen

Many say Uncle Hilty which I'll agree with. Of course his senior year minutes more than doubled any other year which happens when you play with Emeka Charlie & Josh. He probably would have "blossomed" earlier on a different team. Thankfully there was no portal.
 
nomar said:
This has got to be the 10th time we've had this same thread.

The answer is Hilton Armstrong.
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Perhaps, but a good exercise to perform when we are stuck in the "he showed me nothing this year, replace him!" mentality.

(Plus, the new answer may be Sam)
 
aceboon said:
Olander?
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Maybe not Olander. Think I was thinking Gavin Edwards. Amida Brimah I feel was better than expected freshman year. He saved our title with his shot against St Joes. But he really levelled off. I feel like none of our players developed under Ollie and he was a victim of that.
 
Kirk King was another - deep bench as a freshman and sophomore, but jumped into the starting lineup on our 1995-96 team and was a legit cog on a 1 seed. Then his career ended early, alas - but Freeman got experience that would pay off later, so it worked out.
 
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Jaydumo20 said:
Perhaps, but a good exercise to perform when we are stuck in the "he showed me nothing this year, replace him!" mentality.

(Plus, the new answer may be Sam)
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Hey, I participated in it. This is just one of those threads that gets recycled every year. "Historical UConn Starting 5" being another.
 
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StllH8L8ner said:
Hilty always comes to my mind when talking about year to year jumps. He went from a serviceable 3 star big man to an inside force and lottery pick his senior year.
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He definitely was head, neck and shoulders above most players his senior year.
 
SockCymbal said:
Travis Knight, Rudy Johnson, Al Mourning, and Souleymane Wane somewhat (although not in maturity - but who am I to talk about mature 20-somethings)
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I remember Travis Knight struggling against physical bigs in his last 2 years. Jason Lawson, Eric Dampier, Othella Harrington..etc. Not sure he improved the way some of the other folks mentioned in this thread have.
 
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Jim Calhoun brings UConn to the dance in his 4th season
Dan Hurley brings UConn to the dance in his 3rd season
Geno brings UConn to the dance in his 5th season
 
I think Armstrong is the obvious answer and there are a lot of good names listed.

I would even throw Ryan Boatright on the list. I know his stats didn't change much and he scored as an underclassman, but something clicked half way through his junior year on the defensive end. Even his steal stats didn't change much, but and Shabazz became a nightmare at times. I think Boatright really began to understand his role and how important he was to the team.
 
I know Giffey was a 4 year contributor, one of my favorite bits of trivia is his playing 24 minutes in the Butler game. But his senior year he turned into one of the best 3-point shooters in the country. He started strong but never "reverted to the mean." In this case shooting 48% as a senior versus 34% the other 3 years. And we all remember, he was shooting daggers until the end.
 
I think Tyrese Martin counts, right? He was very good both years as a Husky, but the shooting took a major leap. He shot 32% from three on 2.3 attempts per game as a junior, and 43% on 3.4 attempts per game as a senior. He obviously deserves credit for improving his performance when he jumped from the A-10 to the Big East. Most noteworthy is that even The Boneyard didn’t see him as an NBA prospect entering his senior year. The board thought Akok, Johnson, Floyd, and Diggins were all more likely to play in the NBA.
IMG_7771.jpeg
 
Nobody to a bigger degree than Hilton Armstrong. I'd say Newton second. Facey arguably was pretty close to being as good as he was his senior year for a couple of years before - he just didn't get the PT to show it.
 
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caw said:
I'd say there are really only four examples under Hurley, as I think CV was already very good as a sophomore:

Whaley - as someone else mentioned it wasn't statistical but his overall play in his final year that was impressive.

Newton - Went from solid stats as a senior (first year at UConn) to being the best PG in the country as a fifth year

Diarra - His jump in play from junior to senior to fifth year is just something amazing. He went from 8-9th in 2023, to sixth man of the year in the BE in 2024 to a solid starter and arguably UConn's most indispensable player

Samson - His first two years were nearly non-existent. He was a more than solid backup last year and a solid starter this year.
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For Newton, you could see the switch happen in late 2022/23
 
nomar said:
This has got to be the 10th time we've had this same thread.

The answer is Hilton Armstrong.
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This is the correct answer. From his body frame, to athleticism, to his overall game and production, no blossomed later and as much as Hilton did. Anyone who saw him in his early years would be lying if they believed he would play himself to the lottery.
 
Travis Knight went from inept dullard for 2 years to on court tour de force in a flash. Amazing to watch.
 
If Walter Clayton was as good last year as he was this year, his senior season, he doesn't beat us this year

How about
Sanogo
A Jackson
Giffey
Kemba
Newt
Spencer
Reed
Wrench
Vital

All blossomed as upper classmen and / or with our coaching staff
 
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