Jeff Goodman in Storrs

[Sphinx]

Jackson has the best court vision on the team, has an adequate handle, and a willing passer. Sounds like the traits of someone who could run the point to me.

I would certainly like to see him cleanup the careless turnovers caused by some of his passes but I expect that to tighten up this year.

It’s asinine that people think this means the team will struggle if he needs to play at the point. You put the ball in the hands of your best playmakers and he is one of them, period.

Agree. To repeat what I've said elsewhere, Hurley's assessment of Jackson as NBA-material has got to be based on his PG potential. Jackson isn't close to having the offensive firepower to be an NBA 2 or 3. I have no doubt from Hurley's recent comments that Ajax is his preferred option at point. Ajax doesn't have to win the job; he has to lose it.

 

[Umami Zen]

Shabazz/Kemba/Taliek/Marcus J/RJ(to name a few) aren't walkin' through the door to run the point. We have who we have this season.. Danny is ok with his guys.. We have multiple ball handlers and more shot makers(than last season).. IMO .Our overall team athleticism combined with our shooting proficiency will put less pressure on the need for offensive sets and instead.. Getting guys the ball in their spots on time with catchable passes and getting the ball up the floor in fast break/secondary break situations. This group of guards/wings can do that.

You have 2 guys--Ajax/Newton-- Who are projected at the next level to be handling the ball--If they want to get there--They have to show those skills this year.

 

[jibsey]

He’s a point forward/ point guard and we other guys who are point guards but this will be a little different than having Walker or Bazz or Cole out there. Could be a good thing.

 

[ARIDE]

I think 17 and 15 from Adama and Hawkins respectively is possible. 35 combined might be a stretch.

No offense but we have no idea how this offense will change the scoring who it's gonna come from..my guess is it will be from different guys every night depending on the match ups..wait and see too many variables..

 

[jibsey]

Trying to predict or label this team’s potential problems at this point with so many new players is impossible. By Mid December just about all questions are answered.

 

[ctchamps]

Just want to clarify this point. Cole had an elite efficiency for his usage. Yes, his efficiency probably would have been higher if he had a smaller role, but somebody has to use possessions and usually teams have at least 1 guy in this range. Cole was more efficient than almost all of them.

There were 458 guys with a usage% above 24 last season. Cole was one of 33 with an offensive rating above 115 (93% percentile). There were 49 guys with a usage between 24 and 26 in high major conferences (his closest peers), 6 had ORTG above 115.

That list:
Oscar Tshiebwe (1st team All-SEC)
Armando Bacot (1st team All-ACC)
Paul Atkinson (Honorable mention All-ACC)
RJ Cole
Kris Murray (Almanac has him #32 for 2023 top 100 players)
Bryson Williams (1st team All-Big12)

If you expand to 113+ ORTG and 23-27 usage, here are all the rest of the names (nobody left out, no cherry picking):
Pete Nance (Almanac #2 transfer 2023, #38 top 100 players).
Josh Carlton (1st team All-ACC)
Trayce Jackson-Davis (2nd team All-B1G)
Posh Alexander (Honorable mention All-Big East)
Ochai Agbaji (1st team All-Big 12)
Malaki Branham (Big 10 Freshman of the Year, 20th pick NBA draft)
Benedict Mathurin (1st team All-Pac 12)
Jaime Jaquez (1st team All-Pac 12)
Nijel Pack (1st team All-Big 12)
Keve Aluma (2nd team All-ACC)
Hunter Dickinson (2nd team All-B1G)

This is absolutely elite company as far as his usage and efficiency combination. There's a reason he was 1st team all-conference BE and 33rd in PORPAGATU.

You have been presenting excellent detailed analysis to us. Much appreciated by this casual fan.

You are by no means a casual fan.

 

[CL82]

He’s a point forward/ point guard and we other guys who are point guards but this will be a little different than having Walker or Bazz or Cole out there. Could be a good thing.

This. In college basketball AJ is a 3 with great court vision and good passing skills. He’s not a point guard, but playing alongside guys who have more traditional point guard skills. I think Hurley‘s vision in for this year‘s team is envisions a lot of ball movement to create opportunities. And we are constructed to being a very difficult team to guard that can exploit different opponent weaknesses each night. AJ isn’t Kemba or Bazz, but he doesn’t have to be for this team to be successful.

 

[REB1094]

I don't expect nor should anyone expect Newton to be a 1:1 replacement of Cole. It's unlikely to happen given the step up in league and given Dauster said on his pod today the staff isn't seeing him stand out like that (paraphrasing i dont recall exact wording) so I wouldn't bank on it.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to because the roster is deeper and better constructed. For how good Cole was, he was a liability defensively due his size and his efficiency was just OK but not great given the outsized role he had to play and he could never be on the bench for more than a few min at a time.

If Newton can be a double digit scorer (10-12 points), 4-5 assists, and do so efficiently (35+% from 3), a year older Jackson and Hawkins plus the army of other talented guards like Nahiem and Hassan (who Dauster and Horde have said is standing out in practice) can fill in the rest.

Cole was a great player and should have had an even better season, but unfortunately he could never sit for more than 5 min a game and was the only guy that could break down a defender. That isn't the case anymore so no one has to be RJ Cole, but the team has the talent to be better even without one through no fault of RJ's just given the circumstances he had to operate under.

Great explanation and I need to add that nobody is going to be a 1:1 replacement of RJ Cole because there’s not a lot of 5th year senior PGs who were 20+ PPG scorers in smaller conferences and had a year to play second fiddle to learn the new conference before taking the keys

If Newton can dribble the ball, score 12+, and continue to be 6’5…he’ll do great

 

[WhereistheDove?]

It’s not at all asinine. He does have great vision and can make plays there’s little doubt about that. He also was wildly out of control when he should have slowed down at times. Lots of bad decisions in the open court, sometimes tried to be too pretty rather than just making the play. He’s more of the open court PG than the “let’s set up in half court and run some stuff.” Can he be, maybe after all he can get from defensive rebound to the other end in no time. But let’s hope we don’t need to worry about him being our actual PG as we have plenty of other answers which will allow him to be the point forward we expect.

At the risk of starting this again, the POINT guard and POINT forward are called those because they both run the POINT. Just as he did last year, I'm sure Andre will spend plenty of time at the point. All those times when RJ slid off-ball in the half court and the team would run sets to get him open off screens for a shot, the point was not empty.

 

[Umami Zen]

FWIW.. I would expect Alleyne to become extremely valuable to our guard/wing rotation and become a Yard favorite over the course of the season.

Might even be able to keep him around for his second year since the Castle/Alleyne families are pretty tight.. Time will tell.

 

[Kenny11]

I agree. If Jackson is our best option at the point we could be in trouble unless he absolutely balls out and surprises us all.

Last year I thought Jackson was definitely our best passer and he probably still is. But even with that great skill he would be most effective as a finisher. He may have had 10 dunks last season? He should be around 50

 

[uchusky32]

 

[auror]

Last year I thought Jackson was definitely our best passer and he probably still is. But even with that great skill he would be most effective as a finisher. He may have had 10 dunks last season? He should be around 50

Jackson was 15/18 on dunks last year according to BartTorvik.

Of guys 6'8 or shorter, he was 183rd for most dunks.

I agree he's gotta get ~30 dunks+.

 

[dennismenace]

I expect good 3 pt production from Alleyne and Karaban and possibly even from Calcaterra. As far as Hawkins, I'm from Missouri (show me). If he can mature he can be great. Talent will only get you so far. I truly hope he has settled down.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Jackson was 15/18 on dunks last year according to BartTorvik.

Of guys 6'8 or shorter, he was 183rd for most dunks.

I agree he's gotta get ~30 dunks+.

Cut those ugly floaters in half and i'll be happy

 

[Psolo12]

I expect good 3 pt production from Alleyne and Karaban and possibly even from Calcaterra. As far as Hawkins, I'm from Missouri (show me). If he can mature he can be great. Talent will only get you so far. I truly hope he has settled down.

Hurley has said Hawkins has arguably the most beautiful shot he's ever seen. If nothing else that boy is gonna shoot.

 

[mauconnfan]

At the risk of starting this again, the POINT guard and POINT forward are called those because they both run the POINT. Just as he did last year, I'm sure Andre will spend plenty of time at the point. All those times when RJ slid off-ball in the half court and the team would run sets to get him open off screens for a shot, the point was not empty.

Larry Bird was a point forward too but I admittedly never saw him run the point. AJ is ok to help out when needed working with other combos, but if he’s our “best point” I’m very nervous about this year!

 

[Palatine]

Cut those ugly floaters in half and i'll be happy

If they go in they won't be ugly.

 

[NotADime89]

Larry Bird was a point forward too but I admittedly never saw him run the point. AJ is ok to help out when needed working with other combos, but if he’s our “best point” I’m very nervous about this year!

I'd say AJax and Larry have a little bit different skill sets/ athletic ability

 

[HuskyHawk]

I can no longer tell the difference between people doing bits and people being sincere.

Same. It appears that there are actual fans who simply live to imagine preposterous worst case scenarios for this team. We haven't had a team we should be this optimistic about in a long, long time. At least since 2013. The 2010-11 team was unranked to start the year.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Larry Bird was a point forward too but I admittedly never saw him run the point. AJ is ok to help out when needed working with other combos, but if he’s our “best point” I’m very nervous about this year!

Bird himself said he was not interested in playing a point forward role. I feel like your definition of "point forward" is forward who passes well and that's clearly where we differ. The argument that a point forward need not play the point is just bizarre to me but we can agree to disagree.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Same. It appears that there are actual fans who simply live to imagine preposterous worst case scenarios for this team. We haven't had a team we should be this optimistic about in a long, long time. At least since 2013. The 2010-11 team was unranked to start the year.

You have to admit, the fact that Hurley is not letting Dave Borges watch practice is extremely concerning. Says it all, really.

 

[BlueMAB]

I expect good 3 pt production from Alleyne and Karaban and possibly even from Calcaterra. As far as Hawkins, I'm from Missouri (show me). If he can mature he can be great. Talent will only get you so far. I truly hope he has settled down.

So you "expect good 3 pt production" from the guy who hasn't played a single college game; but the guy who was Big East all-freshman still has to "show [you]" something?

 

[tennmike]

You have to admit, the fact that Hurley is not letting Dave Borges watch practice is extremely concerning. Says it all, really.

I echo your concern. We're simply not ready. No point guard, a 70-foot guy that weighs 265...challenges aplenty.

 

[Scrutiner]

Hard to see. But it's possible. I don't think Sanogo will have much trouble holding up his end of that, but Hawkins averaging 15-20 a game is a huge leap forward. Has the ability/tools to do so for sure, but that doesn't always translate immediately to that type of production. It would be a huge breakout year for him if he did. Bouk averaged 13 his frosh season and 19 in year two. It is a lofty expectation in my opinion for Hawkins to go from 6 his frosh to 1

I would think so. It's the most important position on the court by far and we lost our 1st team all-Big East point guard with nobody from the system to replace him.

As we've learned over the years UConn teams go as their point guard goes and we always seem to play much better when we have an understudy to take over the reins.

There's a lot of talent, size, and veterans all over the court. Having someone who can manage all of that on the floor will dictate just how good we are this season.

Amen. Size is overrated in point guards, as the Harrison twins proved in 2011.
All four championships featured smallish guards that lead the team and could shoot and distribute and play defense although, admittedly, some had their issues with either offense or defense.