Is anyone getting nervous? We haven't got any transfers yet and Noah Locke has committed to Louisville

[TyroneJames]

This year without Bouknight, we will need to rely on transfers if we want to make an NCAA tournament run. However, we haven't signed any transfers yet. Are any of you getting nervous about this?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We signed two of the best grad transfers: Tyler Polley and Isaiah Whaley

 

[Chin Diesel]

Super nervous.

Not about lack of transfers committing to UConn.

Just more of a general nervousness.

 

[ChocRaisins]

No.

 

[Palatine]

The bigger issue is we haven't lost any of our better players. That's the key.

 

[8893]

 

[tcf15]

Nope.

EDIT: Yeah, losing a lottery pick is tough, but at the end of the day, UConn is returning 6 of their top 7 scorers and is bringing in a top 10 recruiting class. In my opinion, things are looking good for us next year.

 

[aburks41]

We have a top 10 recruiting class + another 5* "recruit" Akok next year to replace Bouknight's production. We we're never going to get a 1:1 transfer replacement for an NBA lottery pick, that just doesn't exist.

Plus, the rest of the team will get better over the summer. We're a top 20 team going into next season, no one should be worried lol

 

[navery12]

I'll take the tradeoff of Bouknight out and Hawkins, Diggins, Johnson in. I think that's already a recipe for improvement, and that's before getting into any sort of real offseason/health improvements/progression of returning players

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I'll take the tradeoff of Bouknight out and Hawkins, Diggins, Johnson in. I think that's already a recipe for improvement, and that's before getting into any sort of real offseason/health improvements/progression of returning players

Those 3 players combined as freshmen will not come close to replacing the production of Bouknight last season.

We have a gaping hole left by Bouknight no matter how you spin it. It remains to be seen how that offensive production will be replaced.

I have confidence we will be a good team next year with several players taking a leap. But let’s not act like we are better off without Bouknight.

 

[navery12]

Those 3 players combined as freshmen will not come close to replacing the production of Bouknight last season.

We have a gaping hole left by Bouknight no matter how you spin it. It remains to be seen how that offensive production will be replaced.

I have confidence we will be a good team next year with several players taking a leap. But let’s not act like we are better off without Bouknight.

Of course they won't replace his production alone, but they don't need to because there's 10 (or 9 right now) other players on the team. I'm not saying we're better without Bouknight, I'm saying we'll be a better team next year despite losing Bouknight

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Those 3 players combined as freshmen will not come close to replacing the production of Bouknight last season.

We have a gaping hole left by Bouknight no matter how you spin it. It remains to be seen how that offensive production will be replaced.

I have confidence we will be a good team next year with several players taking a leap. But let’s not act like we are better off without Bouknight.

Let’s be honest. We only got about 50% production out of our Lottery pick due to injury/post-injury rust. Even with that, We ended up a Top 25 KenPom team and made the tourney.

We have a great recruiting class coming in, and many here love to sell our current squad woefully short. I’m bullish on a great 21-22 season

 

[superjohn]

Those 3 players combined as freshmen will not come close to replacing the production of Bouknight last season.

We have a gaping hole left by Bouknight no matter how you spin it. It remains to be seen how that offensive production will be replaced.

I have confidence we will be a good team next year with several players taking a leap. But let’s not act like we are better off without Bouknight.

Team will absolutely be better next season.

 

[Huskymagic]

This year without Bouknight, we will need to rely on transfers if we want to make an NCAA tournament run. However, we haven't signed any transfers yet. Are any of you getting nervous about this?

No. We have a full roster. Point guard situation is the only place we need to worry.

Every other spot is full. No amateur basketball mercenary looking for starter minutes is looking at us because they know we are full.

Dagger Trey Ty is perimeter shooting answer. I like what I see from Hawk.

Kadary was the one guy we could of used to really take us to another level next year.

#DaggerTreyTy

 

[imno1]

If Hawkins isn't an integral part of our team by February I'll be disappointed. But I think he will be.

 

[rcarj]

We have a top 10 recruiting class + another 5* "recruit" Akok next year to replace Bouknight's production. We we're never going to get a 1:1 transfer replacement for an NBA lottery pick, that just doesn't exist.

Plus, the rest of the team will get better over the summer. We're a top 20 team going into next season, no one should be worried lol

Agree that there is no reason to panic, but the team will need a player who can beat guys off the dribble. Bouknight could do it before he got injured, but a lot of the late season inconsistency was because we didn’t have anybody who could consistently get a bucket when needed (I understand Bouknight had the ability to do that but, post injury, it didn’t happen much).

 

[ARIDE]

This year without Bouknight, we will need to rely on transfers if we want to make an NCAA tournament run. However, we haven't signed any transfers yet. Are any of you getting nervous about this?

We need a stud 3 or nothing!

 

[UConnRock]

UConn has 12 healthy scholarship players going into next year. That is more than the last few years. In previous years guys like Cole, Springs, Akok, and Polley were on scholarship but either not available or not at 100%. This team has more depth than any UConn team in many years. The team lacks the alpha dog scorer, but that won't come thru the transfer portal. Someone or a group will have to step up as the "go-to" guy, but UConn is back in the 1st round NBA draft discussion which bodes well for recruiting.

 

[Kenny11]

I’m not nervous if we don’t get a transfer. I am nervous about Akok being healthy and a quality player, Jackson making the leap he should make, polley being able to move his feet, and coaches figuring out our spacing issues with frontcourt. I’m hopeful on all of these issues though

 

[CL82]

Super nervous.

Not about lack of transfers committing to UConn.

Just more of a general nervousness.

It's a covid thing.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Nope.

EDIT: Yeah, losing a lottery pick is tough, but at the end of the day, UConn is returning 6 of their top 7 scorers and is bringing in a top 10 recruiting class. In my opinion, things are looking good for us next year.

I gotta agree with TCF. They are bringing back 4 starters and 6 of top 7 players.

Whaley and Polley are exactly what the team needs from a roster standpoint. I think Polley will shoot better next year. He had an inconsistent year but was 40% as a junior.

Expectations should be high next year and I think the team will deliver.

 

[CL82]

I'll take the tradeoff of Bouknight out and Hawkins, Diggins, Johnson in. I think that's already a recipe for improvement, and that's before getting into any sort of real offseason/health improvements/progression of returning players

Too soon to say, but I suspect that this is correct. We will have a lot scoring options next year. No one player is going to drop 40 on another team, but we've got guys, like Akok, who are going to be tough to match up with. I'm always hesitant to rely too much on freshmen, but we have got a lot of talent coming in.

We weren't a particularly attractive destination for kids in the portal given the amount of returning and incoming talent. That is less a function some glaring weakness in the coaching staff than the fact that transferring kids want to go where they are comfortable they'll get minutes.

 

[Fatroony5]

Not worried no. I like what they have and seems like the staff still wants to add another guy as well, long way to go until the season. 3 open scholarships, that bodes very well for adding talent to this class (transfer, reclass, ‘21 recruit etc) and beyond. It’s just gettin started...

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Of course they won't replace his production alone, but they don't need to because there's 10 (or 9 right now) other players on the team. I'm not saying we're better without Bouknight, I'm saying we'll be a better team next year despite losing Bouknight

Let’s be honest. We only got about 50% production out of our Lottery pick due to injury/post-injury rust. Even with that, We ended up a Top 25 KenPom team and made the tourney.

We have a great recruiting class coming in, and many here love to sell our current squad woefully short. I’m bullish on a great 21-22 season

Team will absolutely be better next season.

I’ll grant you we might be a better team next season. I think we are just parsing words.

I was solely disputing the “I’d take Diggins, Hawkins and Johnson over Bouknight” and “that’s a recipe for improvement”.

I think our recruiting class is awesome. But they’re freshmen. I stand by the idea we could have some serious offensive struggles next season if the roster remains as currently constructed. Would love to be proven wrong, and that the likes of Gaffney, Sanogo, Jackson take big leaps to overcome that. I love our defensive potential. I LOVE our front court.

I just don’t love our offense/individual scoring ability. I think we will feel the void of Bouknight towards the beginning of the season. Or maybe Gaffney comes out with a senior-Shabazz-year. I don’t know, I’m just going off the level of the players I watched this past season.

 

[UConnJim]

Hurley is focused on culture and bringing in a bunch of transfers is not the way he wants to develop a winning culture. All of the players that Hurley has brought in, Brendan Adams (not a transfer, but a decommit from URI), Cole, and Martin, were well known to him before they came to UConn. Hurley recruited Adams, his dad coached Cole, and he recruited and coached Martin.

Could he change his view of transfers in the future given the new free agency? Maybe, but he didn't need to do it this year with Whaley and Polley coming back.

 

[navery12]

I’ll grant you we might be a better team next season. I think we are just parsing words.

I was solely disputing the “I’d take Diggins, Hawkins and Johnson over Bouknight” and “that’s a recipe for improvement”.

I think our recruiting class is awesome. But they’re freshmen. I stand by the idea we could have some serious offensive struggles next season if the roster remains as currently constructed. Would love to be proven wrong, and that the likes of Gaffney, Sanogo, Jackson take big leaps to overcome that. I love our defensive potential. I LOVE our front court.

I just don’t love our offense/individual scoring ability.

Your 1st sentence was my entire point, that I think we'll be a better team next year.

And if you're going to quote me, at least quote what I actually said. Leaving out the word tradeoff from my quote changes the entire meaning. Obviously Bouknight is the best player of the group, I just think increasing the depth we have will make up for losing Bouknight

 

[JustbrewitMan]

I’ll grant you we might be a better team next season. I think we are just parsing words.

I was solely disputing the “I’d take Diggins, Hawkins and Johnson over Bouknight” and “that’s a recipe for improvement”.

I think our recruiting class is awesome. But they’re freshmen. I stand by the idea we could have some serious offensive struggles next season if the roster remains as currently constructed. Would love to be proven wrong, and that the likes of Gaffney, Sanogo, Jackson take big leaps to overcome that. I love our defensive potential. I LOVE our front court.

I just don’t love our offense/individual scoring ability. I think we will feel the void of Bouknight towards the beginning of the season. Or maybe Gaffney comes out with a senior-Shabazz-year. I don’t know, I’m just going off the level of the players I watched this past season.

I do agree with you that we can't run the team's offense in '21-22 like we have a lottery pick who can almost always manufacture a shot when needed.

This is probably the biggest wildcard that determines how good we can be next year: Can Hurley & Co advance/modify our offensive mindset to maximize the potential of a ton of "good" and "very good" offensive players that we can throw at you with fresh legs for a full 40 minutes???

I'd love to see them:
-Push uptempo play more
-Bring in a new assistant with some good creative offensive mindsets and allow that assistant to contribute to advancing offensive gameplan

Excited to see what happens!

 

[bazzdog]

This year without Bouknight, we will need to rely on transfers if we want to make an NCAA tournament run. However, we haven't signed any transfers yet. Are any of you getting nervous about this?

No

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Your 1st sentence was my entire point, that I think we'll be a better team next year.

And if you're going to quote me, at least quote what I actually said. Leaving out the word tradeoff from my quote changes the entire meaning. Obviously Bouknight is the best player of the group, I just think increasing the depth we have will make up for losing Bouknight

You said you’d take the tradeoff of that group over Bouknight. That implies to me you would rather have the freshmen class than Bouknight.

I do still disagree that having 3 freshmen for depth makes up for the loss of a ready-made NBA lottery pick that was our leading scorer.

Maybe we are arguing two different points. I think Bouknight gets us closer to a championship next season than the 3 freshmen. But long term I’d rather have the freshmen obviously.

 

[CTBasketball]

Those 3 players combined as freshmen will not come close to replacing the production of Bouknight last season.

We have a gaping hole left by Bouknight no matter how you spin it. It remains to be seen how that offensive production will be replaced.

I have confidence we will be a good team next year with several players taking a leap. But let’s not act like we are better off without Bouknight.

Team will be better without him.

I bet if you bench him during the tournament game we win. Hot take I know.