I fell in love with Christian Vital Saturday

[Stainmaster]

Did you predict T Sam as AA after his play in 2014?

Get a grip and clue

LOL comparing Samuel and Vital - have you watched a minute of UConn basketball all year, or do you just take a look at the roster before coming to this site and saying "Player X sucks! Player Y sucks!"?

 

[eireman]

I usually stay away from predictions, and usually don't respond to bombastic fools.......i only try to give out info that i can talk about hence my low number of posts

 

[JSM1970]

Huh, T Sam contributed on a NC team.

CV played on an awful, sub .500 AAC team.

My point is people get excited over limited bodies of work with players who lack skills.

LOL comparing Samuel and Vital - have you watched a minute of UConn basketball all year, or do you just take a look at the roster before coming to this site and saying "Player X sucks! Player Y sucks!"?

 

[Dogbreath2U]

Christian Vital is ..... "a wildcard." What a surprise the way he made unexpected big plays and was willing to take big shots. He seemed to grow a lot and had a penchant for steals. He was not a great ball-handler or distributor, but was game to try to do whatever was asked of him. He was finishing better late in the year and just seemed to be more of a weapon than I would have ever expected. If he can keep his focus, I can see him getting a lot of minutes. At the same time, Alterique is a special talent who will get opportunities. I could see either one being a potent force as the 6th man (or first guard off the bench). What if MAL surprises and demands time? That group should be fun to watch.

 

[reddevilhusky]

These arguments over which of our great guards should start are the type of problems I like to have. We should have a crazy good back court next year and let the competition sort out the front court. We got a ton of great matchups next year and I can't wait to see how our guys play.

 

[intlzncster]

Vital is better right now and is proving it game by game. Oh yea I'm sure having Jalen off the ball with Rique will have him blow up just like what happened against Wagner, Northeastern, and almost Loyola if not for Vital's heroics late. I like Gilbert, but Vital is the better player right now and provides more to the team and alongside Jalen on the backcourt. Vital is a shot maker, an excellent defender, high IQ player, tough, good rebounder, can handle a little bit, has swagger/intensity. Vital is everything we hoped Rodney Purvis would be.

Wait, you judging a kid on 3 games?? That's hilarious. This kids' in the Kemba Walker mold. We'll see if he realizes that potential, but that's the kind of ceiling he could have. Jalen wasn't very good the 1st three games THIS year...guess that means he's not the man or something? This line of thinking is preposterous.

I call it like I see it, and Vital is the better fit alongside Jalen because he understands his role and does it well. He has a chance to be a Ben Gordon type player with Boatright/Napier defensive qualities if he keeps going. At minimum he will be a Devonte Graham for us. We won't have WTF losses with Vital in there that's for sure. Gilbert and Makai are excellent subs for both Jalen and Vital.

Vital could be a really nice player for us, but Ben Gordon he is not. He would have to be a Top 20 AA kid coming in, enroute to a Top 3 lottery pick. That's not going to happen. You are comparing his game to one of our top 2 guards ever. And then you double down and mention him in the same breath as Boat defensively (Ricky and Boat being 1 and 1a top guard defenders ever). So basically, Vital is going to be a combo of Ben Gordon on O and Ryan Boatright on D. That might put him in the conversation for the best 2 guard in all of college basketball history.

I believe you "call it like you see it", which is why I asked what you were smoking. I want some, sounds interesting over there.

PS: I have no idea how people still think Jalen will play off the ball most his time next year. Jalen is the man next year and will handle the rock majority of the time like he should.

Same exact way Kemba played off the ball a lot in 2011....to fantastic results. You can be the man without initiating the offense every time down the court. Do you understand what off the ball means?

 

[Ukonnfan]

My question about Christian is:
Who played better on-the-ball defense in the conference than him the last few games?

FWIW..I thought Uconn lost some effectiveness in their defense, because the switching was not very good at times. I belive the Cincy game would have had a different outcome if that was better. Better communication on the court will be needed in the future. I'm sure they will watch film, and work on that. Watch the girls, they're switching is great. Because they are talking AND listening to one another. A great example. Ask Jay Bilas, he'll tell ya.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I'd say CV is more of a Tony Robertson than the Austrie comp everyone makes. Much better offensive player and athlete.

 

[Matrim55]

My question about Christian is:
Who played better on-the-ball defense in the conference than him the last few games?

Nobody.

I'd say CV is more of a Tony Robertson than the Austrie comp everyone makes. Much better offensive player and athlete.

Mouring!

Either way the kid's a gem.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Nobody.

Mouring!

Either way the kid's a gem.

I'd say more of a complete player but not as good of a shooter. I kinda hate our instincts to try and label all our players the next so and so anyways.

 

[tjc1888]

LOL comparing Samuel and Vital - have you watched a minute of UConn basketball all year, or do you just take a look at the roster before coming to this site and saying "Player X sucks! Player Y sucks!"?

Don't you know by now.......he ONLY looks at recruiting rankings. Vital wasn't top 100.......nope not good.

 

[The Funster]

Vital is a slasher who's 3 point shot got better as the season progressed. I also think as he matures his handle will get better. Was a good defender but has room for improvement. I like him, he's a gamer too.

 

[dennismenace]

Welcome to the love-fest. I've been in love with CV since November:
So stoked to have CV for 4 years


Comparing CV to Austrie is an ENORMOUS disservice to CV. It boggles my mind that I've seen this comparison multiple times on this board. Take high school recruiting rankings out of the picture, and make your similarities based on numbers. Because outside of Austrie's and CV's high school recruiting class rankings, you'll see CV is in an entirely different stratosphere.

In fact, you'll see that CV has had one of the best freshman performances we've seen in some time, especially from 3-pt range:

Per Sports Reference, Vital had:

• Best 3-pt% by a UConn freshman (36.6% on 142 att) since... Ryan Boatright (37.7% on 69 att) in 2011-2012.
  • Boat only had 69 attempts compared to CV's 142, so CV's % is more impressive having shot more than twice the # of attempts.
  • Excluding Boat, the next freshman with better 3 pt % was Jeremy Lamb (36.8% on 125 att) in 2010-2011. Again, smaller sample size for Lamb with relatively equivalent percentages.
  • If you wanted to find a freshman who shot nearly equivalent volume, CV had the best 3pt % since Rashad Anderson (39% on 140 att)
  • CV had better freshman 3 pt % than: Napier, Kemba, D Daniels, AJ Price, N Giffey, and J Adams.

• Best Offensive Rating per 100 possessions (105.8) by a UConn freshman since Jeremy Lamb (118.1) in 2010-2011.

• Best Defensive Rating per 100 possessions (102.0) by a UConn freshman since Ryan Boatright (104.2) in 2011-2012.

So offensively and defensively, CV as a freshman was most comparable to Jeremy Lamb and Ryan Boatright. Again, nowhere near Austrie or Beverly. CV is a MUCH BETTER PLAYER.

My head tells me his outstanding 3-pt % from this year is bound to regress, but he had so many attempts that I just don't think he will -- it's a big enough sample size to show he's an above-average 3-pt shooter. And he was asked to do A LOT for this team very early, let's see how he performs with more experience.

The team's overall underachievement and poor performance clearly overshadowed just HOW GREAT Vital was for us this year. He's a stud in the making.

I expect him to work hard in the off season because of his work ethic. Would not be surprised to see him come back improved. With his attitude and work ethic he has a very high upside. He is also setting an example in leadership which will be something this team can use in the years ahead.

 

[pj]

All 4 guards are going to play. You know KO will want the 2 point guard look and so Adams, Gilbert, and MAL will be splitting the backcourt minutes. Vital is different, a shooter/perimeter defender, if he can continue to elevate his shooting above 40% you'll want him on the court to stretch the D, he should split time at the 3 with Larrier. I think the players who get squeezed for PT are the forwards, Larrier and Durham should both get a lot of minutes which squeezes Jackson, Polley, Diarra, Carlton. Enoch and Cobb switch at center when you need muscle and maybe Durham can take some minutes there against small opponents.

 

[RichZ]

Nobody.

Mouring!

Either way the kid's a gem.

No, TRob is the right comparison. Mouring never had the upper body strength that Vital and TRob both have. But with a couple inches more vertical, Vital would already be TRob as an upperclassman. Here's CV's Freshman stats against TRob's Senior Stats.

That includes CV's early season, when he was still finding his way. Once he started getting the minutes, his averages jumped considerably, and he was actually shooting better than Sr TRob in every shooting category. Just add the explosive dunks and bingo!

 

[WrenchFan69]

No, TRob is the right comparison. Mouring never had the upper body strength that Vital and TRob both have. But with a couple inches more vertical, Vital would already be TRob as an upperclassman. Here's CV's Freshman stats against TRob's Senior Stats.
View attachment 20721
That includes CV's early season, when he was still finding his way. Once he started getting the minutes, his averages jumped considerably, and he was actually shooting better than Sr TRob in every shooting category. Just add the explosive dunks and bingo!

CV averaging over a block but only .2 steals is the upset of the year

 

[JSM1970]

T Sam wasn't either.

This started from my post saying I didn't think CV would start if all players are healthy

I stick to that

He plays hard and with effort but isn't a good athlete or shooter

Don't you know by now..he ONLY looks at recruiting rankings. Vital wasn't top 100..nope not good.

 

[Tuna]

He was a big player on a sub .500 team. I like his energy, but want to upgrade the talent. He's limited to bad.

I have resisted ignoring any posters on this board....until today.

 

[JSM1970]

Whatever

If he & Vance were as good as people on this board said we'd have at least made the NIT

NEWSFLASH: 8 of the best 10 players in college are Freshmen

I like both players. I also want to be relevant again on the big stage.

I have resisted ignoring any posters on this board....until today.

 

[Danzz]

Way, way too early to lobby for starters. KO will determine that in practice where he will see them everyday. One player starting may determine the next starter.