James Bouknight is good at basketball | Page 3 | The Boneyard

James Bouknight is good at basketball

NDakotaHusky said:
He's definitely a hybrid between RIP and Ray for me. Or maybe even a combination of both their skills. Which has probably been said before.

Probably the best evidence he's better than both is he's out after 2. They both needed 3. If he was around for three he would be almost exactly a combination of both.... with a quicker first step than both
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Just a different era. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell Ray Allen would be in college for three years in 2020. Probably doesn't even stay for year two.
 
awfuldan said:
Just a different era. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell Ray Allen would be in college for three years in 2020. Probably doesn't even stay for year two.
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That's fair
 
Fore! said:
Talent without accomplishment means little. Until he demonstrates that he can carry the team deep into the NCAA Tournament, Elite Eight at a minimum, Final Four or Championship, he falls short in comparison to Ray, Rip, Kemba or Shabazz regardless of he pretty he looks on the floor (and he sure looks plenty pretty out there). I’d love to see him put this team on his back in a run through the BE and NCAA Tourneys.
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You completely missed the point. Ray never made a final four and he's way more talented than Shabazz and Kemba. No matter how our season ends James is way more talented than Bazz and Kemba.
 
fatlucy said:
And Scotty......
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Burrell was as good an athlete as will ever put on a UConn uniform. Vastly batter defender than Bouknight and very much a forward, not a guard in college. But he didn’t have the offensive game that James has. The game has changed and the modern game really suits what Bouk does. It isn’t really fair to compare. We are blessed to enjoy these guys.
 
HuskyHawk said:
To me he’s the one guy that was probably better overall. I think you can say Emeka and Ben, but they had each other. Plus, you can’t really judge bigs the same way. They don‘t get to create offense. But Donyell dominated games on both sides of the ball, something Bouk doesn’t quite do yet. His defense tonight was terrific though. He’s starting to use his preternatural awareness on the defensive end. Emeka simply erased the rim from the other team. He did that while averaging close to 20 on offense. Caron was pretty amazing as well.

Bouk is probably the most gifted offensive player I’ve seen at UConn. His impact on D lags some of those greats.
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Different positions, & Bouk has the ball in his hands more than Donyell ever did. He’s Rip, with Caron’s grit, and the craftiness of a Kemba or Bazz.
The only thing left to judge is his Alpha ability to lead a team to the promised land. Is he a true Alpha? I think so. But time will tell.
 
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superjohn said:
You completely missed the point. Ray never made a final four and he's way more talented than Shabazz and Kemba. No matter how our season ends James is way more talented than Bazz and Kemba.
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It’s apparent you completely missed my point. I suggest you re-read my post. I agree he has great skill set, but until he demonstrates the leadership and ability to perform under tournament pressure his “skill set” is incomplete.
 
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Just finished watching the game and came here to post essentially what you all just said - I think Bouk is as good or better than them all. His combination of explosiveness, body control and fluidity are hypnotic.

Also, I see Martin playing in the league some day.
 
UCTitleTown said:
Donyell Marshall was pretty good in college..... He could do it all.
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i
superjohn said:
You completely missed the point. Ray never made a final four and he's way more talented than Shabazz and Kemba. No matter how our season ends James is way more talented than Bazz and Kemba.
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i just want tyrese maxey yo

let emiid & simmons do their thing, and score/defensd
 
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Enjoy him for the last several games that he's here. He's an unbelievably special talent.

Really sad it will only be 5 to14 more games we'll see him in a husky uniform.

Here's to hoping it's the higher end of that spectrum.

He'll represent us well in the league for many many years.
 
superjohn said:
We've hardly seen Bouknight compared to our other all-time greats, I'm not at all convinced we've ever had a more talented player.
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Basketball evolves and humans continually improve. I think he's legitimately the best player to play at UConn at his age. I think some of our other guys were better relative to their time period peers.
 
auror said:
Basketball evolves and humans continually improve. I think he's legitimately the best player to play at UConn at his age. I think some of our other guys were better relative to their time period peers.
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Don't think that's it. Ray and Rip were amazingly talented scorers but they weren't incredible dribblers, drivers, and finishers compared to the best. I think Bouknight is compared to the best.
 
I think all the "most talented" talk is warranted, but tough to argue Ray, Donyell, Ben ... he's in that discussion for pure scorer though with those guys.

PS: Reading through this, it's a great discussion that I want to dive into more when I have time, but some people are severely underrating or just forgetting how good and smooth sophomore Ray, Ben, Rip etc. were.
 
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Some of those guys we had were helluva shooters. Ray, Rip, Ben, Donyell were no slouches. Bouk from the outside we just haven’t seen enough but his around the rim inventiveness and touch no one can touch for sure and that’s where most of his damage is done. I’d like to see him come off screens and be as deadly as Rip.
 
superjohn said:
Don't think that's it. Ray and Rip were amazingly talented scorers but they weren't incredible dribblers, drivers, and finishers compared to the best. I think Bouknight is compared to the best.
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Ray and Rip were in school 25-30 years ago. It's just easier to improve skill portfolios now than it was then. All the credit to Bouk. He did. He's incredible. He's so good. He worked his ass off during a pandemic with trainers.

But what would Ray have been like with the same resources, knowledge bases, support and game teaching available now 25 years later?
 
auror said:
Ray and Rip were in school 25-30 years ago. It's just easier to improve skill portfolios now than it was then. All the credit to Bouk. He did. He's incredible. He's so good. He worked his ass off during a pandemic with trainers.

But what would Ray have been like with the same resources, knowledge bases, support and game teaching available now 25 years later?
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You said compared to their peers. There were plenty of guys who had better handles than Ray and Rip and could finish at the rim better than them, I don't think that's the case with Bouknight. Ray made his bones as the best shooter in the world, he did it by coming off screens and creating for himself to get to his jumper, Rip was the best mid range shooter in the world by being the best conditioned player and running off screens.
 
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You know... he doesn't exactly embarrass himself on defense either. This was his first game back. Matched up against one of the poy candidates for the conference. Bouk looked very comfortable matching up against Duke. In fact he kinda looked like a really good cover corner. Giving a bit of space at times. Knowing he's got the recovery speed to make up the distance.
 
andre jackson reminds me of /kuzma over ben simmons

at least he attempts a shot
 
I’ve watched a couple bball games almost every night this season. I haven’t seen a single player as good as Bouknight is. Removing my bias, he honestly is the best player in the country. If he takes us deep into the tourney he’ll easily be a top 10 pick. What does he even lack? He’s got size, he’s fast as hell, his finishing is just absurd, he can stroke it from 3. Any team that passes on him will regret it
 
Marat said:
I distinctly remember Caron pick it up in mid Feb but that was a full season of games.
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I always like to give Caron his props feel like he is slightly underated and we sometimes forget how talented he was for us and important to our program despite never winning a NC (that game against Maryland will forever be one of my favorites)
 
MuchoDogYears said:
You have to add Rip to that list.
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Yeah great list and Bouk fits right in but gotta add RIp to that list. Don’t forget, in rips sophomore year he led UConn to elite 8 where they lost to a loaded UNC squad consisting of Vince Carter, antwan Jameson and Ed cota. And then we all kno what rip did the following year.
 
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Bonesbrigade said:
I always like to give Caron his props feel like he is slightly underated and we sometimes forget how talented he was for us and important to our program despite never winning a NC (that game against Maryland will forever be one of my favorites)
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Yup. The infamous elite 8 game against Lonnie Baxter cornball steve Blake and Chris Wilcox. I believe that game was in carrier dome. Caron and Calhoun got into it at halftime. Caron I believe ended up dropping 30 in second half. Lol.
 
Marat said:
This is just after 1 year and 7 games. Who else at this stage of their careers was better? Ray ? Rip? Not sure if they were better.
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Doest thou forget that year 1 was shortened? By 7, I think. In game count. tonight might have been the last game of his first year.
 
superjohn said:
Don't think that's it. Ray and Rip were amazingly talented scorers but they weren't incredible dribblers, drivers, and finishers compared to the best. I think Bouknight is compared to the best.
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Perhaps your view of Ray has been tainted by the last half of his pro career, when he rarely drove, At UConn, he was a reliable and crafty ball handler and explosive on drives to the rim.
 
Marat said:
I distinctly remember Caron pick it up in mid Feb but that was a full season of games.
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Yes, mid-February was definitely well past game 7 of year 2, but when Caron's shot 'clicked,' he was the best player in college basketball and on clear mission to carry his team to the championship. Simply because of the time of year and it being Sophomore season, Caron is who I most think of in assessing Bouknight.

The only comp as a guard, with things coming on late in the season, would be Ben, who Calhoun had to push and push and push, saying that he could take over games but didn't get that he could.

I wondered, "Really? Is he that good?" and then saw it, though, of course, he had Emeka.

I feel no urgent need to be 'right' abouy Bouk, but completely loved watching him tonight.

Adding to the enjoyment was watching at my sister's with her and her best friend at the back end of dog care there today. She's a competitive athlete who is not overly given to high enthusiasm or hype. Because of the pandemic, I haven't watched any basketball with her in some time, and she watches pro sports much more so. I treaded rather lightly in 'introducing' her to this year's team and Bouknight's narrative, including tonight's return from injury. I didn't know how much he'd play and how he'd show up. She was massively, multiply wowed, and for good reason.

Because we were together, it was even more fun than last week giving her the heads up on WBB game against South Carolina, which started off sloppy and earned a blase txt about that, before she saw for herself that Bueckers is also the real thing.
 
I don't even think he's hit his offensive peak yet either. Hasn't been particularly good shooting outside - on 3s and long 2s he's 19/60, or 32%. And yet he's still averaging 20ppg.

If he rises to what you'd expect him to do with his jumper, we're going to have some fun down the stretch.
 
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