Jayden Ross Returning!!!

[RuffRuff]

He's a top 20 recruit and a McDonald's All American, if he's not playing next year then we won't see him in a UConn jersey at any point. He's going to play

Nowell made the Jordan Classic, was 33rd per 247. Adams is 26th. Splitting hairs at that point. I prefer using my own eyes. There's been much made of Adam's needing 25lbs to play at the high D1 which I agree with. Do you really think we're going to be rolling 4 freshmen into the rotation for major minutes? I don't.

 

[CTBasketball]

It has nothing to do with how good Furphy is or is not. Freshmen simply don’t play over upperclassmen here unless they are suppose to be going to the NBA.

Thinking that’s going to change for a low ranked possible hidden gem from overseas is actually insane. It’s hilarious to see what this board can talk themselves into sometimes ignoring clear patterns of how things work lol

For the record, I do still think you’re related to Jayden Ross or perhaps his girlfriend.

 

[willie99]

Awesome, it's really a clean sweep. Kids like it here, and we tend to retain all our rotation players.

I'm sorry anybody chooses to transfer out, but they have to pursue their dreams. I can't find fault with anyone who transfered out. I wish them well.

But I love how the very best players return. I think Mahaney may be the only significant minutes guy we ever lost in this process

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Ross needs to be a consistent 3 and D guy off the bench. Glad he’s back I am hoping for improvement.

And the strays Furphy is catching is crazy.

I don't think he needs to be a 3 and D guy. If he's coming off the bench, he'd have to bring the D and push the pace like Andre did to get layups and dunks. We don't need him to shoot 3 or 4 threes a game, so focus on the things he can be best at in limited time.

 

[UConnSwag11]

He was but for some reason the same people who can’t find a bad Ross defensive plays want to cling on to the narrative he wasn’t a good enough defender lol.

He simply had no offensive confidence. I promise that was his main issue that kept him off the floor. Cant play 4 on 5 on that end.

If Ross was a better defender than Stewart he would’ve played more

 

[REB1094]

I respect the loyalty. Will wait on projecting his role until we’re done with the portal, but looking forward to see how much he can improve going into next season!

If Ross has a solid year and UConn has success, he’ll be another great case study of why waiting your turn and being patient with the Hurley system is better in the long term

 

[freshler40]

I came here to celebrate Ross’s announcement. I’m in the camp that believes he has potential to be an impactful player. That Hurley is not blowing smoke with his assessment of Jayden.

I can’t argue with those posters who have a more skeptical opinion. The evidence is against my belief. But every once in a while I feel something about a player that makes me excited in spite of the evidence. Hopefully my spidey sense is correct about Ross.

Knowing the Hurley system is a big plus that Ross has over the incoming group. Some up-side must be apparent, and puzzle fit for him to be encouraged to return. Many teams will be in disarray with so many transfers pushing the need to start from scratch. This is not to mention all the coaching changes in addition to transfers.

Our core was good enough to push the current National Champs, Florida to the limit. We are very close already.

 

[Magic32]

The new era of NCAA basketball is gonna take some time to get used to. We lose 4 players to the portal and it is considered a low amount of turnover. Some teams might have entirely different rosters year after year with no retention. I love UConn and Bleed Blue but even in the pros there is more roster consistency because they sign contracts, allows you to build a connection.
Glad to have Ross back and look forward to his progress.

 

[UCMBBFan]

Jayden was first to defend Hassan Diarra in the BE tourney skirmish with Jamiya Neal. Jayden came off the bench and all the way across the court to back Hass and protect Husky honor. Jayden got ejected from the game for his zeal. I welcome Jayden back and continue to root for his development. Go Huskies! Creighton's Jamiya Neal & UConn's Hassan Diarra get into scuffle after late dunk by Neal | FOX Sports

 

[Jaydumo20]

Answered this already

I'm with you on everything.

I stopped listening to BY predictions when they were wrong about:

AJax
Sanogo
Hass
Samson

And not just wrong. Dead wrong. Like egregiously wrong. And they say:
"But when I wrote that he WAS playing horribly"

It's called coaching and growth and work. Improvement is not the exception in cbb it's the whole damn thing!

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Mau, if you go back and watch the games during the second half of the year this did not happen.

At most, guys would make crazy contested shots in Ross face. But this narrative is not true of him getting beat off the dribble.

I wish you all would stop saying this without finding video proof. It’s unfair to the kid.

There’s definitely less video of this the second half of the year because he barely played the second half of the year. Outside of the blowout against Seton Hall, he barely got any meaningful minutes. That’s not because Hurley just forgot to play him….

 

[BuffaloHusky]

I'm with you on everything.

I stopped listening to BY predictions when they were wrong about:

AJax
Sanogo
Hass
Samson

And not just wrong. Dead wrong. Like egregiously wrong. And they say:
"But when I wrote that he WAS playing horribly"

It's called coaching and growth and work. Improvement is not the exception in cbb it's the whole damn thing!

I vehemently agree with this and sometimes think we just crap on any kid that is initially unproductive with minutes while pinning away for guys that get no minutes.

 

[alphasigko]

Most on this board like my basketball opinion when I’m not giving my honest thoughts about the program lol

So, you are lying?

 

[BGesus4]

We see a very small sample size of the work they do and ability they show. Most likely next year some players are going to show us things we didn’t expect them to be capable of. Ross could definitely be a candidate for that, although obviously not a certainty. One thing that seems clear though is that the competition for minutes next year will be more intense than this year, which is only a good thing.

 

[bendm]

knew this wasn’t true but I went to check some late season box scores just in case. Bama played 8 main rotation guys and their 9ths minutes went up or down game by game for the few games I checked. None of those box scores contained a 10th man, let alone 11t

Now check their stats- Bama had 10 guys averaging over 14mpg and their 11th guy was at 8.8 (I think they lost someone to injury but that’s still a 10 man rotation)

Florida and Duke had 10 guys averaging over 10 mpg.

Auburn had 10 guys averaging over 9mpg.

10 man rotation doesn’t mean all 10 guys play every game.

 

[boog204]

It's weird for me to say I sort of agree with 611, but here I am. I'm psyched that Ross is coming back. I think there is a ton of potential here; more than any other guy on the roster (can't count the frosh yet.) He was probably our most athletic player (with Samson) and the only guy we had last year who could easily switch 1-4. Now, it was often not all that positive, but he can do it. He was great defensively against Nembhard in the late stages of that game and was our only guy who could check Kam Jones. He even played some "PG" facilitator type in that game. He is our closest thing to an AJax/Castle type of versatile player who can do a little of everything and the only true athletic 6-6 UConn wing type that we used to stockpile and is so needed in the college game.

The other part, and I trust this, is that Hurley truly believes in him. I don't think it was coachspeak at the beginning of the year when Hurley said Ross would've started the first scrimmage against URI. Hurley said Ross was our best player at times, and I know it was a cupcake, but Ross was electric in the second half of that first game against UNH. We were pretty ecstatic with what we had at that point. Obviously, he was inconsistent/bad for most of the rest of the year, totally lost his confidence, and became an afterthought. I could see him having a huge summer/preseason and being our starting 3. I could also totally see him getting pinned to the bench and passed over by the freshmen.

The minutes distribution will be interesting again. Around this time last year, we were excited about how many players we had and were trying to figure out how we could possibly have enough minutes to go around. Many of those players were not even close to what we thought they'd be, and it took care of itself.

 

[jibsey]

Furphy isn't a low ranked freshman, he's an international freshman. There is no way to evaluate the kid properly against the US crop. He'll also be 19 as a frosh, a year younger than Ross.

I have no idea why you are so glued to certain guys for the weirdest reasons. Ross is more likely a binky, similar to Samson. Great kid, culture carrier, limited upside, company guy to a coach who is a loyalist. There's a place for him.

Per Sam V: Had a great day at the Australian U20 Nationals. Best player I saw: Jacob Furphy (not related to Johnny). Just an absolute hooper. Tough as hell. Competitive. Winner. Insane hoops IQ. Super skilled. Felt same way watching him that I did the first time I saw Jaime Jaquez in 2018.

Tom Penders: A former Texas player of mine told me that Furphy was a possible lottery pick after year one. That former player played and coached in Australia. He now owns a basketball academy down under. Dan Hurley’s UCONN staff now recruits the world!

Have you seen anyone with that cred ever say that about Ross? Time to get the head out of the sand .

Penders is credible but coaches say things about players that don’t materialize. Samson was going to be a lottery pick? Wall potential?
Until the coaches and fans get their eyeballs on these players we will not have a good idea about this, and even when we did get a glimpse with players like Nowell and Abraham we didn’t get to see enough in playing time to make definitive judgements on them.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Well I have always been a fan. It is just amazing how Hurley and staff get these high level athletes to stay. Now we only need the answer on one more player.

But Ross coming back more than likely means he is going to see minutes. The pattern with Hurley is that if these young men make it to year three he is going to find them a roll.

Also you have to consider is he probably has seen his NIL market value and UConn was/is still willing to pay him near or at his market value and he believes long term the best way to get to the next level is with this coaching staff. He will be a defensive stopper and maybe he takes the type of one year jump that a few players have made in their junior years.

He was a 6’2” kid his sophomore and part of his junior year. Clearly he bloomed late from a physical standpoint and it takes time to learn how to play in your body when you grow almost a foot in high school.

I am seeing it with my son. He has grown almost 8” from his freshman year to his now middle of his junior year. From 5’3” as a freshman and being small but very athletic and he could hit. Now as a junior they moved him from second base to centerfield because he did not lose his speed or ability to defend. But he has improved arm strength. Only problem so far this year is he is not hitting. His coach told him not to worry about it this year or until he stops growing. His coach has a theory on the hitting problems this year but they are going to stick with him because all the physical attributes especially speed have not slipped. He was the fastest kid on the team as a 5’5” sophomore and he is still the fastest kid on the team at 5’11”.

And I will say this the competitive landscape for a high school student in south Florida is completely different than it is in CT.

Perhaps my personal experience is why I root for Jayden, I would like to think that what I saw was by one of the best athletes on the team (maybe Samson was better ), but no one else.

Another example of how special UConn is these kids want to stay after being here two years. So far not sure the first few weeks of the off season could have gone better as I really thought Ross was going into the portal.

 

[gmc1055]

This team returning upper class leadership and ultra talented Freshman. They will have a a combination to handle physical teams and overpower finest teams.

 

[RuffRuff]

Penders is credible but coaches say things about players that don’t materialize. Samson was going to be a lottery pick? Wall potential?
Until the coaches and fans get their eyeballs on these players we will not have a good idea about this, and even when we did get a glimpse with players like Nowell and Abraham we didn’t get to see enough in playing time to make definitive judgements on them.

Sam V lives in Australia, Penders is relaying what a former player of his who runs an academy in Australia is saying.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Glad to have him back. Helps the culture to bring back guys that won a Championship. Hopefully he can improve his on court game. I think he's more guard than SF and it's pretty crowded, but he can play multiple spots.

 

[jibsey]

Sam V lives in Australia, Penders is relaying what a former player of his who runs an academy in Australia is saying.

My point is that these coaches and teachers of basketball make these “lottery” statements and they get airspace but often fall flat. Our own coach has done so and he is the best in the business. It’s BBall talk.

 

[80shusky]

Good news. I'm glad Ross is back. Hoping the game slows down for him because he has the tools.

 

[7774]

Does if not perfectly not mean pretty much did exactly what he was suppose to do? On a play so many Ross detractors tried to use as a bad play.

It’s one thing to think something, it’s another to when being shown that wasn’t the case to still double down on something. (And that goes for way beyond you, unfortunately you were the only person who had the gumption (good way) to actually try to find an example).

I can never tell with you, but no, obviously "if not perfectly" in this context is not saying he pretty much did exactly what he was supposed to do.

 

[RuffRuff]

My point is that these coaches and teachers of basketball make these “lottery” statements and they get airspace but often fall flat. Our own coach has done so and he is the best in the business. It’s BBall talk.

Yes, hyperbole and unlikely he's a lottery pick after year one, but enough to offer a directional sense that the kid is really good. Sam V is not a man of hyperbole - straight shooter and he assesses talent for a living, really well.