Josh Carlton 20 and 10

[mauconnfan]

And about a jillion more blocks, too. But heck, he was Emeka Okafor, and ain't nobody else before or since been quite like him.

Josh made a great run on blocking shots too, has nice timing and is smart with his angles as Dan said. Impressive for a guy who doesn't elevate to block as many as he did down the stretch and he was only trailing the Fall guy by 3 going into today I believe.

 

[3rdbass]

I think Josh can have a Jake Voshkul type ceiling here at UConn.

View attachment 40767

He is already better as a scorer and shot blocker so I think his ceiling can be higher.

 

[ucp990411]

Can we compare Carlton to Rod Sellers? Because that's who he reminds me of. And we should be ecstatic if that's what Josh ultimately becomes. Let's just leave Emeka completely out of the convo.

Very different player. Rod was a thug and I mean that as a big compliment. Had one of the greatest plays in UConn basketball history. How did that feel Chrissy?

 

[3rdbass]

Josh made a great run on blocking shots too, has nice timing and is smart with his angles as Dan said. Impressive for a guy who doesn't elevate to block as many as he did down the stretch and he was only trailing the Fall guy by 3 going into today I believe.

Like I said in another post he also has really good length for his height which really helps in his shot blocking.

 

[HawkHusky]

With Carlton's 2 blocks tonight, he tied Tacko Fall for most blocks in the AAC regular season.

Other AAC rankings:

#5 in rebounds
#3 in FG %

 

[Fishy]

He was grinning ear to ear when he came out.
Can anyone explain the large Gilbert support group right behind the bench? Rique wasn’t there and he is from Richmond and Georgia.

Josh grew up about five miles from the ECU campus.

 

[8893]

Josh grew up about five miles from the ECU campus.

He’s talking about the Gilbert crew right behind our bench. I was curious about that, too. A cute young kid in a Gilbert jersey and some people behind him waving a sign praising Gilbert.

 

[tcf15]

He’s talking about the Gilbert crew right behind our bench. I was curious about that, too. A cute young kid in a Gilbert jersey and some people behind him waving a sign praising Gilbert.

Turns out it was quite a few people:

 

[Fishy]

He’s talking about the Gilbert crew right behind our bench. I was curious about that, too. A cute young kid in a Gilbert jersey and some people behind him waving a sign praising Gilbert.

Actually, it’s not that far from Gilbert’s home either - probably less than 2.5 hours.

Guess they didn’t want to waste the tickets.

(That can’t be right...I have no idea why they were there. Maybe he has family locally. He played for CP3 in North Carolina, so perhaps that’s it.)

 

[RichZ]

What about Emeka as a Freshman, as this is basically Carlton's freshman year with a real coach...

Emeka's Freshman year, he had 138 blocks. 27 assists, 26 steals, 306 rebounds and 267 points.
As a soph, those numbers were 156, 29, 18, 370 and 524. We won't even bring Mek's senior numbers into the discussion.
Josh this year went 52,12 14, 177 and 263.
I think that body & development-wise, Josh came in last year most like Hilton, who as a JUNIOR went 60,14,26,201 & 197, which is not far off of Josh's sophomore production. If we see improvement from those numbers like Hilton showed the next year, we'll be a bunch of happy 'yarders. HA's senior year numbers went 167, 35, 51, 427, 526.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Emeka's Freshman year, he had 138 blocks. 27 assists, 26 steals, 306 rebounds and 267 points.
As a soph, those numbers were 156, 29, 18, 370 and 524. We won't even bring Mek's senior numbers into the discussion.
Josh this year went 52,12 14, 177 and 263.
I think that body & development-wise, Josh came in last year most like Hilton, who as a JUNIOR went 60,14,26,201 & 197, which is not far off of Josh's sophomore production. If we see improvement from those numbers like Hilton showed the next year, we'll be a bunch of happy 'yarders. HA's senior year numbers went 167, 35, 51, 427, 526.

Thank god, cause Mek’s Senior season sucked....

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Thank god, cause Mek’s Senior season sucked....

All zeroes . . .

 

[MDHuskFan]

All zeroes . . .

Like he didn’t even show up for 1 game

 

[Okafour rings]

Emeka is my fav player in any sport ever!

I've got to agree with this!

 

[Scrutineer]

Thank god, cause Mek’s Senior season sucked....

Only Hans got it.
However, what do you call someone's final year when they graduate in three years?
Maybe Senior year is right.

 

[Mr. French]

Let's have some fun! Compare Josh's year now to Emeka's freshman season, since he left as a junior and Josh is starting now to blossom under good guidance.

Maybe by Josh's senior season we'll have some serious stuff to work with.

 

[superjohn]

Let's have some fun! Compare Josh's year now to Emeka's freshman season, since he left as a junior and Josh is starting now to blossom under good guidance.

Maybe by Josh's senior season we'll have some serious stuff to work with.

Josh has improved dramatically this season but any sort of comparison to Emeka is silly and unfair to Josh.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Josh has improved dramatically this season but any sort of comparison to Emeka is silly and unfair to Josh.

The Boneyard: Where one man's sense of fun is another man's silly & unfair.

For the record, I enjoyed looking at some of Emeka's stat lines already posted in response to enthusiasm about Josh's play. And I've enjoyed Josh's play. Maybe somebody will even say that he gives "zero athleticism" a good name. It could even become a hash tag.

For now, it's more a 'both-and' than an 'either-or' for me.

I'm hopeful to see more good play in the AAC Tournament, and continued improvement beyond, but both are secondary to the overall enjoyment of the past 3 games because those have been real while the rest is speculative.

 

[Huskybass]

Josh has two years left and is putting up numbers like 20 and 10, albeit against weak competition. It certainly gives us all reason for hope despite a very lackluster season overall.

I like the returning core of Josh, Vital as a Senior, AG, and Sid. Add Bouknight, Gaffney, and Akok and we should have at least 7 guys who can play next season. That gives me reason to believe that we are moving toward a return to the type of UConn basketball we all want to see.

And for the record, Emeka averaged 15 and 11 his Soph year. 20 and 10 from Josh yesterday shows how far he has come, when his stats look more like Emeka's than any other big we have had in years.

 

[jibsey]

I see Sid as a role player not a starter. He can be valuable rebounding, putbacks and around the rim. he has no outside game.

 

[Hugo]

Josh has improved dramatically this season but any sort of comparison to Emeka is silly and unfair to Josh.

Not to take anything away from Josh's accomplishments this year, because he has a had a very good year, but remember that Emeka played against extremely strong Big East competition and not AAC level competition.

 

[mauconnfan]

Not to take anything away from Josh's accomplishments this year, because he has a had a very good year, but remember that Emeka played against extremely strong Big East competition and not AAC level competition.

No doubt about that but the reality is we don't want to even compare these 2, not fair to Josh. But his improvement over this season is something to be very positive about, hopefully there's more of those next season. For instance if Sid understands what it takes to improve he needs to take 1,000 shots a days over the summer. Along with some weight lifting and film watching to see what it takes to be a better defender. Kids who work hard between their freshman and sophomore seasons understand what it takes after having less than expected results their initial year. The speed, the strength and the knowledge they fell short on needs to be improved upon a lot on their own.

 

[pj]

Emeka's Freshman year, he had 138 blocks. 27 assists, 26 steals, 306 rebounds and 267 points.
As a soph, those numbers were 156, 29, 18, 370 and 524. We won't even bring Mek's senior numbers into the discussion.
Josh this year went 52,12 14, 177 and 263.
I think that body & development-wise, Josh came in last year most like Hilton, who as a JUNIOR went 60,14,26,201 & 197, which is not far off of Josh's sophomore production. If we see improvement from those numbers like Hilton showed the next year, we'll be a bunch of happy 'yarders. HA's senior year numbers went 167, 35, 51, 427, 526.

The Hilton comparison is intriguing. Of course Hilton had more length which gave him more NBA upside, but if Josh can go on the Hilton trajectory and make the NBA, what a feather that would be in the cap of the coaching staff.

 

[intlzncster]

The Hilton comparison is intriguing. Of course Hilton had more length which gave him more NBA upside, but if Josh can go on the Hilton trajectory and make the NBA, what a feather that would be in the cap of the coaching staff.

Hilton had more potential upside given athleticism and measurables. But Josh had the opportunity to get far more experience early, and has had a steeper growth curve than Hilty because of it. And I think he's a higher IQ player than Hilton ever was.