Jalen Gaffney Transferring | Page 9 | The Boneyard

Jalen Gaffney Transferring

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Connecticut13 said:
Well, I mean clearly we can find two players in the portal that match their production from last year - given that they didn't produce at all. That's not the point. The point is that we no longer have any point guards on the roster -- not one. We need to find someone to fill RJ's role (first team All Big East) and then we need to find some capable of back-ups.
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Whether you (or anyone likes it or not) AJ will be the starting PG next year. I for one hope there is at least one pure PG who can shoot who transfers to UConn just in case Hurley's vision has some spotting in it.
 
QDOG5 said:
Next year is not a rebuild year. I will use not that word. I hope Dan Hurley never utters it. You can't rebuild something that hasn't been built yet.
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Hurley won’t utter it before the season because we’re trying to sell seats and that won’t help.

Whatever you want to call it, until we see what comes in through the portal there’s no reason to believe it will be any better than the last three seasons.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Whether you (or anyone likes it or not) AJ will be the starting PG next year. I for one hope there is at least one pure PG who can shoot who transfers to UConn just in case Hurley's vision has some spotting in it.
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Spotting in Hurley’s vision? Never!
 
UConnSwag11 said:
True. But he had a NC, conference tourney title and final as well. Just saying it seems like we’re giving a much longer leash with Hurley than Ollie and everyone seems content with it
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Ollie's teams were unwatchable in his last years. Zero intensity and desire. Hurley's teams are intense.
 
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auror said:
Jackson has PG attributes, like vision. But he's lacking PG skill and experience in a couple areas. He doesn't have the handle or savvy running a pick and roll, for one. That's one of the main things our roster is currently lacking and developing PnR reads is generally a skill built up over lots of repetition and instinct, so unlikely to develop over one summer. It also relies on a foundation of ballhandling and driving, which is not his forte either.

Jackson, if he were going to be in a distributor in our offense, will likely operate in a different/more creative manner. But we still need that pick and roll ballhandler for many situations. We absolutely need someone in the portal who has PnR savvy.
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Jackson has great court vision. He is marginal with court awareness. He's almost like the QB with a million dollar arm who thinks he can throw a pass anywhere on the field. And not aware that well scouted and coached defenses leave those seams to egg the QB in to throwing that exact pass. Too often AJ would see an open player but didn't/couldn't make the right pass to get it to the player. Result? TO. Knowing which pass to make is the biggest thing he needs to improve if UConn is running their offense through him regardless of whehter or not he is listed as the PG.
 
8893 said:
Didn’t you make the same declaration about Gaffney before last season?
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Yes, but I learned from that mistake. While Hurley was saying positions were up for competition he also kept mentioning Cole getting minutes. Dan Hurley has now mentioned AJ as one of three key players for next year and is staying consistent with AJ being an NBA PG. We also saw AJ take on more of the PG load throughout this season.
I phrased it a bit differently in another post. UConn's offense will oftentimes be run through AJ next year regardless of which position he is listed as playing.
 
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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8893 said:
If Andre is our starting point guard next season it will be by necessity, not design.

Any suggestion otherwise is complete fiction imo.
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Yeah, he's great as a second option or a guy who naturally uses his passing ability in the course of the game, but he shouldn't be our primary facilitator.

Even if he can create for others, he's not able or willing to create for himself, which is a big problem with the offense breaks down.

But this is all moot. Hurley didn't let Diggins and Gaffney walk without planning to land a transfer PG (of which there are many).
 
I remember when many were mad that Dan Hurley wasn't using the portal to get better faster or fill in holes in the roster like many others coaches. Now that he is...people mad at that and the portal is all castoffs and throwaways. I get the PG angst, but Cole greaduated and
Gaff was going to be a senior and if he he played more than a few spot minutes next year Hurley would be hammered for that and we would struggle mightily. Diggins is the only one I'm conflicted on. Just because he wasn't ready to contribute this year doesn't mean he is going to be a bust as some have said. Just might mean he needed time at the college level and wasn't ready right away. That used to be the norm for some freshman outside the top 60. It's unfortunate that we played so many close games because I believe in playing freshman for a variety of reasons. With so much pressure on winning, it's a fine line between development for the future and winning games. Sounds great in theory until we lose a game to St Johns because Diggins had a turnover spree and put us behind the 8 ball.
 
Not surprised by Gaff leaving. How could he trust Coach Hurley would play him next season more than 6 minutes a game. There are many words spoken about culture etc but your eyes tell you based on what happened this year the best move for Gaff was moving to another program. The players have more control over their careers now and that is good for them. It is the reality of College ball that you are recruited over every year. Having to sit on the bench due to your choice of school as a high school senior as your career moves on is now hopefully over for players that find the right fit if they transfer.
 
SeattleHoop said:
I mean I just simply disagree. I think he’s in a much better position as a distributor than us relying on him as a scoring wing.

His natural tendency is to find people in scoring spots. He has the vision, passing skills ams athletiscism to get where he needs to be and find people in spots where they can score.

He’s more of an asset at the PG position imo than any other position. His assist numbers show this.

He can be something really special at that position and I think Hurley thinks so too
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Actually I think he'd be most valuable as the first pass after a guard penetrates/shifts the defense. He reads the openings well.

We need someone to creates those opportunities by occupying 2 defenders with a drive/probing dribbles. This year Cole was our only penetrator (normally resulted in a shot attempt for himself).
 
amishboy said:
“Not a huge surprise,“ in retrospect? Or did you believe this was coming, say, 3 days ago, i.e., pre-Diggins transfer?
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At the end of the season, I would have put Gaffney at the top of a hypothetical list of players most likely to transfer. I really like the kid and was rooting for him hard. I think there is recorded history of me on this board defending him. But it is absolutely impossible to deny that he had a really, really, really bad year. He didn't get a ton of playing time, but it was for a reason. We desperately needed him this year and he just didn't get it done. The conference numbers are dreadful. I think there was a pretty shocking clip of the DePaul coach mic'd up at the Gampel game telling his team something to the effect of "Don't worry about guarding #0 he's afraid to shoot" and that's exactly what it looked like.

I think it makes sense for him to seek out a fresh start at a slightly lower level program with lower expectations. I think there is a world where he would have been a good player for us next year, but I think it would have been absolutely brutal for him if that wasn't the case.

Diggins was more surprising and disappointing to me for sure.
 
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lots of minutes available for potential recruits,,,sales pitch
 
EASTFLA said:
Our biggest issue isn’t going to be able to fill the roster. There is plenty of talent out there. There could be a possibility that he gets A following year recruit to reclassify. The big problem that I see is half your roster or more is going to be new to the system. Team chemistry is going to be hard to develop quickly as well, and do the pieces fit in that regard because there is going to be a lot of new ones. Everything will have to break right. We won’t know until we see it on the court in November.
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I'll take better overall skill and roster makeup, with some work needed on the chemistry front rather than another year of the opposite.
 
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Good for Gaffney! Go where you can get some serious minutes. I understand completely too why Diggins left- he didn't get a chance to play or develop. That's what happens when a recruit with good reputation is denied playing time- if they are smart, they seek another opportunity. Are there any others recruits that didn't get a chance to play much? I'd be nervous. Hurley might want to actually play his talent in the future.
 
If you can sell two high-level guards they will play 30 minutes a game, I think we will be fine. If we are really playing a box and one, Sanogo/Clingan will be the one. The other four spots can be rotated between 6-7 guys playing 20-35 minutes a game (more for Hawkins, Jackson, transfers and a little less for Karaban and Floyd). The only problem with losing Diggins and Gaffney is that we lost effectively the number 11 and 12 guys. It's going to be a hard sell for those two spots but two starting spots are up for grabs and I think they will be ridiculously easy to fill.

I assume the 7 wing/guard players will be
Jackson
Hawkins
Karaban
Floyd
Johnson or Akok
Transfer #1
Transfer #2

Springs and whoever loses the Johnson/Akok battle doesn't make the roster.
 
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This is not how you build a successful, top level program. A team that loses in the first round was not at a great starting point to begin with.
Add to that, a group of totally unknown players coming in.....not a good plan.
 
87Xfer said:
I'll take better overall skill and roster makeup, with some work needed on the chemistry front rather than another year of the opposite.
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I mean, Villanova is in the freakin Final Four and maaaaaybe Justin Moore gets picked in the NBA draft.

Team chemistry is huge.
 
my2cents said:
This is not how you build a successful, top level program. A team that loses in the first round was not at a great starting point to begin with.
Add to that, a group of totally unknown players coming in.....not a good plan.
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Sometimes unknown is better than known. Gaffney was a known entity and it wasn’t good. I can see the argument for Sool if you believe in his potential, but Gaffney is easily replaceable.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
Sometimes unknown is better than known. Gaffney was a known entity and it wasn’t good. I can see the argument for Sool if you believe in his potential, but Gaffney is easily replaceable.
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Diggins couldn't beat out Gaffney in practice. He was a known quantity to the staff and he wasn't good but I agree with your premise: I would much rather have a proven college player than a unproven kid out of high school. Don't get me wrong-recruiting top high school talent is very important, but once you get out of the top 150-200 high school players, a high-level transfer is going to be a better bet.
 
shizzle787 said:
Diggins couldn't beat out Gaffney in practice. He was a known quantity to the staff and he wasn't good but I agree with your premise: I would much rather have a proven college player than a unproven kid out of high school. Don't get me wrong-recruiting top high school talent is very important, but once you get out of the top 150-200 high school players, a high-level transfer is going to be a better bet.
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I'm not saying I agree with it, I'm just saying there's at least a respectable argument to be made for Sool's potential since he's a freshman. Gaffney is very much a known quantity and the chances of him getting much better are pretty negligible at this point in his career.
 
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