Junior County

[WeAreUCONN]

As we scan the portal for our second point guard why can’t it be Junior? Strong, has a handle, slasher and shooter inside and behind the line. Yes there’s a learning curve and there will be some painful learning moments but why couldn’t he be the one to give 20 minutes a game? The way the portal is these days if the kids don’t get the floor time to develop they are gone. He’s in the top 30-50 player range.

When is the last time we had a freshman point guard that was capable of playing 15 minutes a game?I can’t remember 1. Maybe Khalid over 20 years ago?

 

[WeAreUCONN]

I'm really referring to mastery of the offense. When Malachi came in with the second unit early, it was a little helter skelter. He does indeed do well playing like that.

Hurley fine tuned him but it took several months. At the end I had complete confidence in his play.

 

[WeAreUCONN]

So risk success next year (the last year with Ball, Mullins, and Demary) in order to hopefully retain County who may or may not even be worth keeping in the long run? By playing him out of position as at a key position? A position that when Mahaney failed at threw the entire season off the rails.

Instead of just bringing in an actual PG so that there is one pure PG on the team? Something that might come in handy along the way.

We must get a capable backup pg and center. We must. Currently we’re one injury away from not having a C or PG.

 

[Lafayette]

I hope County turns out to be a great multiple year player for us. I wish this for every young man who commits to our program.

And yes, I am comparing a 6'0" point guard to a 6'4" combo guard to play the extremely important position on next year's team of: back up point guard. You are actually making the argument for me.

Next year's team is not in need of a back up combo guard... it is in serious need of a back up point guard. One who can handle pressure in our most important games against very good teams. And you are fine with us leaving it up to a 6'4" combo guard that we have no idea about at this point? With a team that will clearly be good enough to contend for the title again.

Sorry, but you talk as if the last two years of UConn basketball didn't just happen.

And I bet at least half of you if not most of you, at the end of 2024-2025 were lamenting the fact that the biggest short coming on that team was the lack of a competent back up point guard. Like pretty much everybody else on this board at that time. I think some of you like to argue just for the sake of arguing.

I merely thought Darius is a better comp to County than Nowell. The rest what you posted IDK where you got that from.

 

[LStudfellow]

This is the most rational argument. No matter how good at talent evaluation a coaching staff is they don’t get it right 100% of the time. Given how relatively short a season is and how important every game is there is a limit with experimentation. You increase the odds of success by bringing in redundancy. There are risks and downsides associated with it just as there are risks and downsides not doing it.

@HW611 along with a small minority of us turned out to be correct about Ross arguing against the majority in this forum that Ross's lack of playing time was limiting his development. The coaching staff correctly decided that Ball and Mullins should be the respective players getting the preponderance of minutes at the two and three. Ross only got the opportunity to prove the minority opinion because both Ball and Mullins were getting into foul trouble. Ross was built in redundancy willing to sacrifice himself for the goal of the team winning a championship. An extremely rare individual who fortunately got his opportunity in a unlikely situation.

You try to get the best possible experienced point guard in the portal willing to play backup minutes hoping that both County and this hypothetical experienced pg are both more than capable and both have to fight it out for that backup role. The worst case scenario is both are inadequate. But the chances are reduced when testing out two viable options.

Now you want to use a guy (Ross) who has been in our system for over two years, was clearly NOT ready in year 1 or year 2, as a blueprint for how County as a freshman will what?......... accelerate his growth on a Ross-like tragectory, only much faster and be like an end-of-junior-year Jayden Ross by the end of his freshman year? After we have seen that even guys with several years of college basketball under their belt (Newton, Diarra, Demary) struggle in their first year to get comfortable playing point guard in our system? Maybe you haven't noticed, but our point guards have to learn and process a heck of a lot more information than our wings.

But other than that part which TOTALLY NEGATES YOUR ARGUMENT HERE, you are spot on.

Oh, and since you brought it up: I was not one of those in this "majority" that you speak of that believed Ross could not have had more development last year if he had received more playing time earlier on. You can look it up. You will not find one single post where I ever said any such thing. Because in my mind the jury was out on that, and I looked forward to seeing how he developed coming into this year.

Congrats on being right about Ross. Watching him blossom this year was absolutely one of my favorite parts of this season. And watching guys develop and grow during their time here is one of my favorite things about being a college basketball fan, and a UConn fan in particular. I have stated from back when Hurley started here and he stayed loyal to guys who committed to our program even when there may have been better options out there to bring onto the team to improve us immediately that his loyalty would pay dividends in the long run. All of us who took that side were right, too, based purely on our recent results.

 

[LStudfellow]

I love how the freshman who hardly played gets blamed for our PG depth and not the transfer we brought in who had ample opportunity the freshman didn’t get.

Ok... and what exactly are you trying to say? That if you had been the head coach you would have played Nowell more, and he would have magically morphed into the back up point guard that we so desperately needed but never had on that team?

Most people on here do not "blame" Nowell more than Mahaney. They blame them equally. And obviously Nowell did not play more because when he did play he clearly displayed a lack of ability to handle the position at the level Hurley requires. You try to make it into an either/or situation when clearly both things can and were true at the same time. Mahaney received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025. Nowell also received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025.

Why do you feel the need to make it an either/or? Anyone who reads the previous threads on that subject of back up PG on the 2024/2025 team on here without any bias can clearly see that the consensus belief was that both of them failed at the postion. There is plenty of proof of practically everyone who commented on it back then and since then that they blamed Mahaney just as much as Nowell.

 

[navery12]

Ok... and what exactly are you trying to say? That if you had been the head coach you would have played Nowell more, and he would have magically morphed into the back up point guard that we so desperately needed but never had on that team?

Most people on here do not "blame" Nowell more than Mahaney. They blame them equally. And obviously Nowell did not play more because when he did play he clearly displayed a lack of ability to handle the position at the level Hurley requires. You try to make it into an either/or situation when clearly both things can and were true at the same time. Mahaney received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025. Nowell also received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025.

Why do you feel the need to make it an either/or? Anyone who reads the previous threads on that subject of back up PG on the 2024/2025 team on here without any bias can clearly see that the consensus belief was that both of them failed at the postion. There is plenty of proof of practically everyone who commented on it back then and since then that they blamed Mahaney just as much as Nowell.

That is exactly what he's saying. He said it all year when Nowell was here, which was crazy enough when it was obvious he wasn't good enough. To still say that after he couldn't get on the court at VCU is indefensible at this point. It was very obvious from the first game that Mahaney and Nowell were not good enough for UConn

 

[HW611]

Ok... and what exactly are you trying to say? That if you had been the head coach you would have played Nowell more, and he would have magically morphed into the back up point guard that we so desperately needed but never had on that team?

Most people on here do not "blame" Nowell more than Mahaney. They blame them equally. And obviously Nowell did not play more because when he did play he clearly displayed a lack of ability to handle the position at the level Hurley requires. You try to make it into an either/or situation when clearly both things can and were true at the same time. Mahaney received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025. Nowell also received blame because he wasn't good enough to play the back up point guard role in 2024/2025.

Why do you feel the need to make it an either/or? Anyone who reads the previous threads on that subject of back up PG on the 2024/2025 team on here without any bias can clearly see that the consensus belief was that both of them failed at the postion. There is plenty of proof of practically everyone who commented on it back then and since then that they blamed Mahaney just as much as Nowell.

By your logic, we should have also not brought in Silas because we tried to bring in a transfer to be our starter and he failed.

I know you don’t think that so I’m not sure why you are now damming all freshman because of Nowell even though you aren’t damming all transfers because Mahaney.

Similar to going from Mahaney to Silas, the coaching staff clearly have a type of PG they are targeting by going from Nowell to County.

 

[upstater]

Now you want to use a guy (Ross) who has been in our system for over two years, was clearly NOT ready in year 1 or year 2, as a blueprint for how County as a freshman will what?......... accelerate his growth on a Ross-like tragectory, only much faster and be like an end-of-junior-year Jayden Ross by the end of his freshman year? After we have seen that even guys with several years of college basketball under their belt (Newton, Diarra, Demary) struggle in their first year to get comfortable playing point guard in our system? Maybe you haven't noticed, but our point guards have to learn and process a heck of a lot more information than our wings.

But other than that part which TOTALLY NEGATES YOUR ARGUMENT HERE, you are spot on.

Oh, and since you brought it up: I was not one of those in this "majority" that you speak of that believed Ross could not have had more development last year if he had received more playing time earlier on. You can look it up. You will not find one single post where I ever said any such thing. Because in my mind the jury was out on that, and I looked forward to seeing how he developed coming into this year.

Congrats on being right about Ross. Watching him blossom this year was absolutely one of my favorite parts of this season. And watching guys develop and grow during their time here is one of my favorite things about being a college basketball fan, and a UConn fan in particular. I have stated from back when Hurley started here and he stayed loyal to guys who committed to our program even when there may have been better options out there to bring onto the team to improve us immediately that his loyalty would pay dividends in the long run. All of us who took that side were right, too, based purely on our recent results.

I think UConn fans are getting hung up on recruiting misses at the position.

You can't blame it on the difficulty of the offense when those players leave and end up not playing well elsewhere.

So the failures of Nowell and Diggins have to be looked at by what they did at other schools. It seems it wouldn't have worked out in any case.

This doesn't mean that a freshman can't pick it up in the time that it took Demary or Newton (2 months) or even Malachi (3 or 4 months).

I think it has more to do with the quality of the player than their class. I'm not saying we'll find Shabazz Napier often, but I have no doubt that a kid like him or Marcus Williams or Khalid El-Amin would pick up the offense as a freshman.

My concern with constantly going to the portal for a junior or even senior PG is that you're bringing on a guy that you've guaranteed a starting spot to and then they still need 2 or 3 months to acclimate themselves. Whereas if you had a freshman who has talent (again, scouting/recruiting) they would take the required 3 months to learn and then you'd have them in the pipeline after that.

 

[willstafa24]

I think the point was that we tried to take someone that wasn’t a true PG and rely on them to develop into that immediately. This is a complex offense. One that veteran PGs like Silas even took a reasonably long time to really look comfortable in. Expecting that out of a freshman CG is risky. If Hurley thinks he can, I’ll get on board though.

This is spot on. Newton had the same deal. Look at his numbers from year 1 and 2. Malachi had an issue too. We all complained that he dribbled too much but I think he was just uncertain of his next move in our system.

It's curious that Hurley would recruit a guy who would aspire to the handle the role as a Freshman but in Hurley we trust.

 

[Kenny11]

Is there any good recent video on Junior County? There doesn’t seem to be much on youtube, especially from his senior year

 

[willstafa24]

By your logic, we should have also not brought in Silas because we tried to bring in a transfer to be our starter and he failed.

I know you don’t think that so I’m not sure why you are now damming all freshman because of Nowell even though you aren’t damming all transfers because Mahaney.

Similar to going from Mahaney to Silas, the coaching staff clearly have a type of PG they are targeting by going from Nowell to County.

Hurley is cautious to change but will and does it well. The Mahaney/Nowell recruitments were not the type of PG we need and bringing in Silas shows that Hurley and the staff recognized the key to our offense. I can't imagine County being recruited now without the aptitude and potential to grow into the role.

 

[uconn_jack]

The question isn't whether we bring in a backup PG, obviously we need to. The question is whether l its a guy who IS the 1st backup or CAN BE the 1st backup if County isn't up to the task (or until he is). I think Hurley brought him in to eventually be our primary PG, he likes CG types for that obviously, but he won't be if we don't develop him by playing him.

I will contend again that we should bring in more of a Millender type than a Smith type in terms of expecting of playing time.

 

[444JR]

Is there any good recent video on Junior County? There doesn’t seem to be much on youtube, especially from his senior year

Full game from last month: 4/13 Wasatch Academy (UT) vs La Lumiere School (IN)

 

[Lafayette]

I think we can all agree Hurley likes 3 guard offenses. Seen it over the years and saw it first hand at St Anthony back in the day.

If we get a senior PG from the portal there is a risk County bolts. If we don’t County becomes a 5-10 minute sub for Silas. Neither is enviable. Need to find a good solution that works in County but this is highly dependent on practices.

Bringing up Mahaney is also not a direct comp. Haas was 6’0” and injured and Maheney was a shooting guard who we tried to make a point guard. We were left with Liam bringing up the ball too many times.

This is not that: we have Silas going on year 2 with us and we need to find the right balance of playing time for our freshmen.

Every practice piece we had without an older brother on the team bolted for playing time.

County is not coming to UConn for the Furphy or Millender role of garbage minutes. He could start for some other teams so likely if he’s not worked into the rotation he’s gone next year. NIL and school money and the portal make it way too east to find greener grass.

 

[RuffRuff]

I think we can all agree Hurley likes 3 guard offenses. Seen it over the years and saw it first hand at St Anthony back in the day.

If we get a senior PG from the portal there is a risk County bolts. If we don’t County becomes a 5-10 minute sub for Silas. Neither is enviable. Need to find a good solution that works in County but this is highly dependent on practices.

Bringing up Mahaney is also not a direct comp. Haas was 6’0” and injured and Maheney was a shooting guard who we tried to make a point guard. We were left with Liam bringing up the ball too many times.

This is not that: we have Silas going on year 2 with us and we need to find the right balance of playing time for our freshmen.

Every practice piece we had without an older brother on the team bolted for playing time.

County is not coming to UConn for the Furphy or Millender role of garbage minutes. He could start for some other teams so likely if he’s not worked into the rotation he’s gone next year. NIL and school money and the portal make it way too east to find greener grass.

Or given you have 6-7 open roster sport, you bring in a senior MM PG as an insurance policy in case County isn't ready and let them fight it out. The staff probably knows better than us what his potential is. He's not the most highly rated player for this weak class.

 

[Lafayette]

Or given you have 6-7 open roster sport, you bring in a senior MM PG as an insurance policy in case County isn't ready and let them fight it out. The staff probably knows better than us what his potential is. He's not the most highly rated player for this weak class.

Agree - feeling is that we need to thread that needle perfectly with a pg pickup.

Elsewhere for our 6-7 (5-6 if we get a MM PG) is definitely a backup or 2 center, some Karoma like insurance at the 4 and some euro practice pieces who bolt next year

 

[Brandon Miles]

I think he potentially could find himself at the backup PG spot, but the question is: how long will it take him to develop into that role? Does Hurley take the chance of bringing him in and working with him to get to that point come the start of the season or does he focus on getting someone who has proven himself at this level already? I don't like it, but it seems like we have to think of things so differently now. Will player development continue to be a hallmark of Hurley and the UConn program, or has that ship sailed? I certainly hope we can continue to get players in where there is a mutual loyalty between them and the program, but you just don't know. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, but it seems we have to kind of think this way now. The age of instant gratification has deeply infected the tradition of college basketball as we've come to know it.

I'd gamble on him being back up and do it by committee vs not having a true power forward

 

[RuffRuff]

Agree - feeling is that we need to thread that needle perfectly with a pg pickup.

Elsewhere for our 6-7 (5-6 if we get a MM PG) is definitely a backup or 2 center, some Karoma like insurance at the 4 and some euro practice pieces who bolt next year

I think they'll do exactly what they did last year - fill the blanks with some lower end MM willing to sit the bench/insurance, throw some euros back there.

 

[ec33]

I think we can all agree Hurley likes 3 guard offenses. Seen it over the years and saw it first hand at St Anthony back in the day.

If we get a senior PG from the portal there is a risk County bolts. If we don’t County becomes a 5-10 minute sub for Silas. Neither is enviable. Need to find a good solution that works in County but this is highly dependent on practices.

Bringing up Mahaney is also not a direct comp. Haas was 6’0” and injured and Maheney was a shooting guard who we tried to make a point guard. We were left with Liam bringing up the ball too many times.

This is not that: we have Silas going on year 2 with us and we need to find the right balance of playing time for our freshmen.

Every practice piece we had without an older brother on the team bolted for playing time.

County is not coming to UConn for the Furphy or Millender role of garbage minutes. He could start for some other teams so likely if he’s not worked into the rotation he’s gone next year. NIL and school money and the portal make it way too east to find greener grass.

If County comes in thinking he should be playing over Mullins and Ball then -- like Reibe -- he is going to be quite disappointed.

 

[RuffRuff]

If County comes in thinking he should be playing over Mullins and Ball then -- like Reibe -- he is going to be quite disappointed.

I'm sure they set expectations properly. The kid will have every chance to start in year 2.

 

[Horatio]

I think what people who are saying County should be the backup PG are forgetting are all 3 of our teams who made the championship game had a Diarra/Malachi. The veteran backup who not only drops dimes but is an absolute pest defensively.

The one year we didn't in the past 4 we were just a decent team and got bounced in the 2nd round.

County may be a good player worthy of some minutes next year. But expecting him to fill the role of a veteran PG, especially when most consider him to be more of a combo guard is a pretty risky gamble.

Mind you, we just had to play all THREE of our veteran point guard’s to get to the championship game.

 

[Rudy1927]

The backup center job is going to be tricky. It requires some both good enough to play 15-20 minutes at center for UConn and willing to be the backup to a sophomore. A player that could fulfill UConn's requirements is likely looking for a starting gig 11 or so days after the portal opened.

The point should be easier to fill and easier to wait out, but it would be great if they could find a junior willing to accept the backup role at UConn for two years.

Who says if they are good enough they can’t start a center? If they win the job they start

 

[mauconnfan]

I hope Junior County proves everyone wrong I really do. The staff is due for a treat coming in as a freshman. Having said that, if there’s another Malachi out there interested in backing up a real good PG in hopes of a trophy, I’m good with that move.

 

[UC0NN]

Last year the 2/3 had Ball/Solo/Ross so there were some minutes available for Smith to play alongside Silas.

This year the 2/3 could include those same 3 players plus Landrew and County. I cannot see a proven player as good as Smith being interested in that potential logjam situation. Smith proved to be a real luxury in the tournament. I think he had like 20 assists and 4 turnovers or something like that.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Napier was the 72nd ranked hS player. 18th ranked pg. we did okay with him.

 

[TrueBlue22]

Can we stir up some talk for Jay Rodgers from Central, and perhaps talk it into reality?

One of the highest assist rates in the country, and possibly a guy willing to take a limited role. Low turnover rate and a good enough shooter. Great size at the position.

 

[Scoe]

While I fully expect Silas to be ready to start the season while coming back from injury it presents an opportunity to give County more 1st team reps throw him right into the fire. Would still like to get a veteran pg.

 

[KillaCam]

Bingo. Just another lazy tired narrative they try to push on here about “modern basketball”.

I just don’t know what is this horrific scenario that you all are imagining with County. Smith had good games, yes. But his averages show he was largely mid for most of the year. Even unplayable at certain points.

I’d expect a very talented freshman to go through the same journey of showing flashes and having struggles. But figuring it out by the end of year if we stick with him the same way we did with Smith when he struggled. Except instead of losing him out the end of the year we get him back for another year for continuity hopefully.

I would agree with you if County was a point guard. He is a shooting guard not because some websites list him as such but because how he plays the game. So we would be dealing with changing his natural predispositions. If we add that to him being a freshman and time it takes more experienced players to adjust to UConn system, I think many of us here would think that experienced point guard provides less risk and more upside. I would look at it differently if County was a natural point guard.

 

[RuffRuff]

Napier was the 72nd ranked hS player. 18th ranked pg. we did okay with him.

Nigel James around the same. Small PGs seem to drop on size at times. Wagler was like 250. Happens. It might apply to County.