Jalen Gaffney Transferring

[Sonova]

I think it's reasonable to be concerned until we land some guys. Obviously the worst case scenario is losing our only 2 PGs and not replacing them with anyone.

But I think it's also reasonable to believe we will replace them with quality PGs, given who we are and what we can offer.

I also think that even if someone has doubts about Hurley's ability to spot HS talent (which I find rather silly), it's another thing altogether to think he's incapable of figuring out who played well in college this past season.

I have zero doubt we’ll replace them. And I also have zero doubt that Hurley can evaluate talent. I do have a concern about his acumen at constructing a roster (and using it effectively). And I am a bit befuddled by the last couple of years of how he’s “built”/filled the PG position. It was a big weakness last year. And a big one this year. And that’s to take nothing away from RJ. But , again, there’s a reason why teams don’t find themselves in the position we are (PG-wise) right now. And it isn’t because our coach is smarter than everyone else.

 

[CTBasketball]

Does anyone actually think that’s going to work?

He does not cherish possession of the ball and is way to reckless. He would be a very good point forward who is the #2 guy in regards to distribution.

The press will murder us if AJ is our point.

Do you think Gaffney enjoyed hearing the words “Andre will be the starting point guard next year”?

Why do you think he left lol

 

[JustbrewitMan]

For all of you excited about this kid transferring, you realize we need guards, right? We needed another two before Gaffney announced. Now, we probably need three. Gaffney is someone who could've helped if utlized off the ball for about 10 minutes a game.

It's not like we're North-South-East-West Valley Mountain State U in the Hayseed Belt Conference looking for 3 guards.

We're a blueblood program in one of the top 2-3 basketball conferences in America, We have BOATLOADS of playing time at the guard position. We have a coach that has resurrected a failing program on a clear upwards arc with clear strong culture.

High-level guards looking to show out to build their resume for the next level are going to be VERY interested in coming here.

 

[JMick]

Exactly... I think its fair to ask how many years he gets at UConn without any significant wins in the post season

Does he get 6yrs in the seat without an NCAA tournament win? Without an appearance in the BE Finals?

He's getting at least six years barring something wild happening

 

[HuskyFich]

Andre Jackson will be the starting PG next year.

Does anyone actually think that’s going to work?

He does not cherish possession of the ball and is way to reckless. He would be a very good point forward who is the #2 guy in regards to distribution.

The press will murder us if AJ is our point.

The leap Andre took from December to March was monumental. He brought the ball up for us against Nova, while also shutting down gillespie at the same time.

Yes, he's erratic at times, but he's physically unguardable to the average sized PG, and a better athlete than everyone on the floor. He reminds me a lot of a more athletic Kyle Anderson, an NBA point guard.

 

[BGesus4]

The press will murder us if AJ is our point.

This made me laugh out loud before I realized you didn’t mean the media

The idea of getting slammed on ESPN everyday for having Jackson run point was a fun idea though

 

[nyhuskies13]

He's getting at least six years barring something wild happening

so he's got 2yrs... I tend to agree with you

will we be sitting here in year 7 or 8 of Hurley era without a splash in NCAA tourney, and thinking that's ok?

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

I'm with you. Even if we are "fine" with hasty stop gap replacements next year, it just sucks as a fan. I like Whaley and Polley way more than shonn Miller for example, or Sterling Gibbs. They did a fine job but I barely consider them Huskies.

Do you consider Cole and Martin Huskies? They were transfers.
I, for one, consider them true Huskies.

This is the way of the NCAA now. We can certainly bring in instant impact guys who also have 2, or more, years of eligibility.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Watch how many kids in the portal are out of college basketball next season. The portal is the greatest sleight of hand ever in college sports. Biggest function of the portal is to convey players downward and the ones already near the bottom are conveyed out.

Disagree with this and my HS coach friend does too. The biggest function is to shift the development/risk of freshmen to smaller schools so that power programs can poach all the good players they missed on, and reload when guys graduate or go NBA. I think you'll see fewer big programs taking on any 3 star kids as freshmen. They will instead grab the best of those players when they are sophomores and juniors.

 

[navery12]

Does anyone actually think that’s going to work?

He does not cherish possession of the ball and is way to reckless. He would be a very good point forward who is the #2 guy in regards to distribution.

The press will murder us if AJ is our point.

Yes I do think it would work. I also think we should bring in a PG from the portal because they're not mutually exclusive.

The last month of the season when he was asking to initiate the offense more he had 42 assists to 14 turnovers, that's really good. Over the same stretch RJ had 34 assists to 20 turnovers

 

[JMick]

so he's got 2yrs... I tend to agree with you

will we really sitting here in year 7 or 8 of Hurley era without a splash in NCAA tourney and thinking that's ok?

I've been saying for a while now that next year will be a rebuilding year and that he will be on the hot seat going into 2023/2024. But it's definitely too early to say what will happen that far in the future. A rebuild next year could be good for us. We really need to revamp the offense and to do that we needed to revamp the roster. Now it's his job to fix it.

 

[djct1999]

Its entirely possible that we have a more talented team next year because of the last two days. Just saying.

 

[kansashusky]

Disagree with this and my HS coach friend does too. The biggest function is to shift the development/risk of freshmen to smaller schools so that power programs can poach all the good players they missed on, and reload when guys graduate or go NBA. I think you'll see fewer big programs taking on any 3 star kids as freshmen. They will instead grab the best of those players when they are sophomores and juniors.

Correct. Fishy also forgets there is one huge factor in the portal as well: you don't have to transfer.

If you decide to transfer and there is not a place for you elsewhere, that's your fault.

 

[JMick]

Yes I do think it would work. I also think we should bring in a PG from the portal because they're not mutually exclusive.

The last month of the season when he was asking to initiate the offense more he had 42 assists to 14 turnovers, that's really good. Over the same stretch RJ had 34 assists to 20 turnovers

I think he can make a great backup PG next year. If we find a good starting PG and another guard that can handle the ball and give us 8-10mpg, we will be ok

 

[tykurez]

Hope everyone spinning this is right but not feeling warm and fuzzy with the state of the program at this very moment. Really need to hope the portal works out … as well as some of these freshman.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Yes I do think it would work. I also think we should bring in a PG from the portal because they're not mutually exclusive.

The last month of the season when he was asking to initiate the offense more he had 42 assists to 14 turnovers, that's really good. Over the same stretch RJ had 34 assists to 20 turnovers

It's like some of these posters have watched entirely different games this year. Like they DVR'd University of Y.ukon games to watch and never realized that it wasnt UConn.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Not too surprising here, think he'll be a very good player if he finds a home in the A10. Best of luck to him

Very similar to Brendan Adams' situation last year.

Both were holdovers that were looking to get, at-best, the same PT as they got the previous season.

This is a good move for both parties. Gaffney is good enough to get major PT at some solid, mid-major programs. For UConn, they can replace Gaffney's PT with a variety of options: a young, long-term piece, a low- or mid-major transfer who can earn bench minutes on our squad, two PGs who play close to "starter minutes". Lots of possibilities here.

This adds even more to what I said yesterday: UConn is now in a major position to showcase to teams the boatloads of PT up for grabs at the PG position. How many high-major teams can boast that, especially after LSU secured their PG hole w/ Juice Hill.

 

[SeattleHoop]

Andre will be a great PG. Those who can’t see that don’t see how high is ceiling is.

He can be an NBA PG if he learns to get his shot off a bit quicker. Everything else is there and his size and athleticism, other PG’s cannot match it

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Hurley named Jalen as a guy he had to get the right people around yesterday. Fair to say, Dan didn’t know Jalen was leaving.

Danny Hurley is excellent at speaking to the media and providing actual content while maintaining the professionalism and privacy of the people he works with, players and coaches included.

That goes a long way to building the "culture" he talks about often.

 

[imno1]

I’m going to wait for Jalen to announce before commenting. He deserves that

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

Some of you are acting like the season starts next Tuesday and that the sky is falling in the Hurley regime.

We have 7 months until our next game. Seven.

Is Gaffney and Diggins transferring out how Hurley and staff envisioned it? No.
Were those 2 the backbone of our future? No.
Has Hurley pretty much whiffed on every guard he's recruited out of high school here? Yes, absolutely. (EDIT: He's whiffed on every freshman lead ball handling true point guard.)

As far as I'm concerned, Hurley brought us from a losing team to an NCAA tournament 5 seed in four seasons.
Next season I expect another step forward. Sure, if we go into the season with this roster, then we're screwed. But we're not going into the season without more pieces, obviously. There's 0.00% chance of that happening.

Let's hope for some success in the portal, and reassess the roster come like September.

Am I the only one that's kind of excited to see if we can massively upgrade our back court with talent and depth from instant impact guys? And also excited that Hurley realizes priority is that we need multiple scorers/shooters on the floor?
Hurley's number one, A+ strength is ability to convince a potential player to join his team. So let's see how that plays out. I think this could all work out well for us.

I wish Diggins and Gaffney the best.

 

[nomar]

I have zero doubt we’ll replace them. And I also have zero doubt that Hurley can evaluate talent. I do have a concern about his acumen at constructing a roster (and using it effectively). And I am a bit befuddled by the last couple of years of how he’s “built”/filled the PG position. It was a big weakness last year. And a big one this year. And that’s to take nothing away from RJ. But , again, there’s a reason why teams don’t find themselves in the position we are (PG-wise) right now. And it isn’t because our coach is smarter than everyone else.

I think he expected Diggins to earn minutes and also for more improvement out of Gaff.

I can't argue with the results, they weren't good. I'm just not trying to make too big a deal out of whiffing on Diggins.

 

[Connecticut13]

How is it not the point?

Yes we 100% need to fill Cole's production

Yes Hurley has done a terrible job recruiting PGs. The stater should be on the roster already and isn't

But that's irrelevant to these two players transferring. We will find two players who are at least as good as Diggins and Gaffney were

The point is we were expecting our guards to take big steps forward next year - especially Diggins who was a highly regarded recruit. Your point is well taken, but I don't think the question is whether we can find a transfer to replace the production from Diggins/Gaffney last season. The question is whether we can find transfers who can replace what expected Diggins and Gaffney to be next season.

 

[Fishy]

Disagree with this and my HS coach friend does too. The biggest function is to shift the development/risk of freshmen to smaller schools so that power programs can poach all the good players they missed on, and reload when guys graduate or go NBA. I think you'll see fewer big programs taking on any 3 star kids as freshmen. They will instead grab the best of those players when they are sophomores and juniors.

With all due respect, you and the guy who coaches high school (?) are mistaken. The movement is overwhelmingly downward in both sports.

 

[nomar]

Some of you are acting like the season starts next Tuesday and that the sky is falling in the Hurley regime.

We have 7 months until our next game. Seven.

Is Gaffney and Diggins transferring out how Hurley and staff envisioned it? No.
Were those 2 the backbone of our future? No.
Has Hurley pretty much whiffed on every guard he's recruited out of high school here? Yes, absolutely.

As far as I'm concerned, Hurley brought us from a losing team to an NCAA tournament 5 seed in four seasons.
Next season I expect another step forward. Sure, if we go into the season with this roster, then we're screwed. But we're not going into the season without more pieces, obviously. There's 0.00% chance of that happening.

Let's hope for some success in the portal, and reassess the roster come like September.

One quibble: Jordan Hawkins is a guard and not a whiff. (And technically, Jackson is listed as a guard.) We'll see about Floyd; I am going to be optimistic!