KO: Enoch will one of the best off big men to ever play at UConn

[tower1]

Love it. You can see flashes of it. Really looking forward to his continued development.

Really, you expect that.. You must dream allot.

 

[uconnbill]

My hope is he can make the jump on defense before he leaves UConn. He has to move his feet more and doesn't have to be the shot blocker but a rebounder would be good.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Like Kentan, I think Steven just needs to be put in a spot where he doesn't have to worry about coming off the floor. He has great moves, gets great position, and has touch. He's a big body with long arms, he has all the potential to be great on the offensive end. He just has to get in game reps and get the same confidence we saw Kentan finally get this year.

 

[Rico444]

Enoch clearly has the potential to be a force offensively. Who knows if he'll ever improve enough on the defensive end to reach that potential.

 

[CTBasketball]

Like Kentan, I think Steven just needs to be put in a spot where he doesn't have to worry about coming off the floor. He has great moves, gets great position, and has touch. He's a big body with long arms, he has all the potential to be great on the offensive end. He just has to get in game reps and get the same confidence we saw Kentan finally get this year.

Which can't happen if he gets buried on the bench for messing up on defense. We had to let Facey play through his lumps and bruises and now he's an asset.

Usually when you play more, you have a higher chance to get better. Mind-blowing I know.

 

[ctchamps]

Which can't happen if he gets buried on the bench for messing up on defense. We had to let Facey play through his lumps and bruises and now he's an asset.

Usually when you play more, you have a higher chance to get better. Mind-blowing I know.

Watch his high school games and you will see Steve was great on offense and poor on defense. He played a lot but his hs coach benched him several times because of defense.
And iirc Kentan had a lot of playing time freshman year. What we saw was a player who got a lot of offensive rebounds but was a defensive liability who was totally lost. As the season progressed his minutes were reduced.
Of course during that point there were people here who argued his offense was good enough to overlook his poor defense the same way there is debate about Amida only the reverse of O and D.
Let's just put it this way. I doubt Kentan and Steve would have gotten as much playing time under JC as KO has given them because of their D.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I'd settle for him being one of the top 30 bigs to play at UConn.

KO comes off as disengenous saying stuff like this and loses credibility with me. When you have guys like Okafor, Donyell Marshall, Thabeet, Boone, Voskuhl, etc. that all were NBA players and you proclaim a guy who can barely stay on the floor to be finish among them it just strikes me as a Diaco-ism where you blow smoke up everyone's ass and nobody believes it.

 

[Pudge]

I'd settle for him being one of the top 30 bigs to play at UConn.

KO comes off as disengenous saying stuff like this and loses credibility with me. When you have guys like Okafor, Donyell Marshall, Thabeet, Boone, Voskuhl, etc. that all were NBA players and you proclaim a guy who can barely stay on the floor to be finish among them it just strikes me as a Diaco-ism where you blow smoke up everyone's ass and nobody believes it.

Seems like you lack any capacity to distinguish one coach from another.

The Truth:
Enoch has enormous potential. His athleticism, hands&feet and body are outstanding. Ollie - as some just acknowedged - gave you the absolute fair assessment. Kid can be great on offense. Dont pull out shooting percentage; watch his last few games. Still ... he is disappointing on D.

As for Purvis, I think you see what KO saw. Hes a outstanding specimen. If you thought that meant he was gking early NBA thats your reading. I saw & continue to see a kid that has a physical top body; but not necessarily a hoop star. I have loved his games recently as he has become a leader.

I have strong revulsion to Ollie & Diaco in the same sentence. I dont know why some of you do this. Except your in misery for some odd reason.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Seems like you lack any capacity to distinguish one coach from another.

The Truth:
Enoch has enormous potential. His athleticism, hands&feet and body are outstanding. Ollie - as some just acknowedged - gave you the absolute fair assessment. Kid can be great on offense. Dont pull out shooting percentage; watch his last few games. Still ... he is disappointing on D.

As for Purvis, I think you see what KO saw. Hes a outstanding specimen. If you thought that meant he was gking early NBA thats your reading. I saw & continue to see a kid that has a physical top body; but not necessarily a hoop star. I have loved his games recently as he has become a leader.

I have strong revulsion to Ollie & Diaco in the same sentence. I dont know why some of you do this. Except your in misery for some odd reason.

I'm in misery? Only when trying to watch Enoch play defense.

Just because the guy has a good frame doesn't mean he has great potential. He looks absolutely clueless on the defensive end for the second straight season. Given our big under Ollie, I'm certainly not going to hold my breath on him becoming an all time UConn great. A couple of nice jump hooks looks good but overall the body of work is concerning.

We need Enoch to develop and I still have hope he can, but Ollie coming out and making stupid comments doesn't serve to help anyone out.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I'm in misery? Only when trying to watch Enoch play defense.

Just because the guy has a good frame doesn't mean he has great potential. He looks absolutely clueless on the defensive end for the second straight season. Given our big under Ollie, I'm certainly not going to hold my breath on him becoming an all time UConn great. A couple of nice jump hooks looks good but overall the body of work is concerning.

We need Enoch to develop and I still have hope he can, but Ollie coming out and making stupid comments doesn't serve to help anyone out.

You're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

You want to discredit the claim that Enoch has the potential to be the best offensive big man ever by arguing Enoch can't play defense well enough to stay on the floor, without acknowledging Ollie qualified his claim by stating Enoch needs to get better on defense. You really don't have a point to make here.

 

[intlzncster]

I'd settle for him being one of the top 30 bigs to play at UConn. it.

Top 30? You're not asking much. That list gets really thin in the 20s or so.

 

[ctchamps]

Seems like you lack any capacity to distinguish one coach from another.

The Truth:
Enoch has enormous potential. His athleticism, hands&feet and body are outstanding. Ollie - as some just acknowedged - gave you the absolute fair assessment. Kid can be great on offense. Dont pull out shooting percentage; watch his last few games. Still ... he is disappointing on D.

As for Purvis, I think you see what KO saw. Hes a outstanding specimen. If you thought that meant he was gking early NBA thats your reading. I saw & continue to see a kid that has a physical top body; but not necessarily a hoop star. I have loved his games recently as he has become a leader.

I have strong revulsion to Ollie & Diaco in the same sentence. I dont know why some of you do this. Except your in misery for some odd reason.

It's the same old same old. We tend to ignore positives if we subjectively don't like something while emphasizing negatives. If we like something we do the reverse.

If we don't like something some of us need to demean that something by ridiculing that something as opposed to discussing things in a relatively non inflamed manner.

It's a matter of who can control their emotions and neediness and who can't.

Everyone prefers winning over losing. Everyone prefers a win which is the result of great play versus a win which is the result of poor play. Not everyone can handle situations that don't meet our preferences. Just as there are sports skills and there is a distribution curve of skill capabilities, there is an emotional maturity distribution curve with one end being people who are outstanding at handling adversity and the other end people who struggle with everything and express that struggle poorly.

You would have more luck getting Amida into the NBA by fixing all of his bb negatives than trying to fix some of the emotional immaturities that are expressed in this forum. I'm sure Amida is aware of his inabilities. Most of the posters who you counter are convinced that they have no problems. That the problems reside in the coaches, players and posters that disagree with their needs. You can't begin to fix something if you don't believe there is a problem.

It's not the disagreement in opinions that I'm alluding too. It's the egocentric position that insists it's right or insists it must be heard (those that demand or insist their expectations be met in a world of uncertainty never mind something outside their control).

When I debate these individuals I'm less interested in changing them then making a point. I respect who they are the same way I respect UConn players who don't play as well as some of the stars. Furthermore I sometimes use the debate to help those outside the debate get a better understanding of human behavior, because too many of us struggle to understand why we think, feel and act the way we do.

I suggest you continue to present your arguments, but not get frustrated when people are unable to change. Always remember emotions are stronger than logic. And your positive outlook on things is a welcome necessity in any forum because even though you may not be able to convince the poster you are debating there are others reading your posts who can and do get some benefit.

 

[Pudge]

Would UConn ever give a scholarship to a kid like Meyer of UH? Loved his game.

Here's the thing: Enoch is not far from being good enough to make a lot of money playing ball. Maybe the NBA. Debate that and argue. The only thing Enoch has to do is work freaking harder than he can even imagine. Play as much every day. Play at a high level all summer. Big man camp. Lift. Watch film. Care about getting better. Like Kevin Ollie did personally. The odds and many on the Boneyard are against him. Frankly, I have no problem with Ollie stating the kid has GREAT raw skills. Hes no Mandeldove or Willingham.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Top 30? You're not asking much. That list gets really thin in the 20s or so.

This sounds like a fun exercise. I want to see your list of Top 30 bigs in the JC/KO era.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

@fleudslipcon you're a good poster but check your bs psych analysis at the door. The kid has shown extremely brief flashes of offensive competency and is bad at defense all while being a foul machine.

I don't have an agenda or an axe to grind or whatever crazy scenario you're trying to conceive through a message board post. Just calling like I see as a guy who has maybe missed a few games since I stepped onto campus a decade ago and watched every game i could as a kid in NJ.

 

[ctchamps]

@fleudslipcon you're a good poster but check your bs psych analysis at the door. The kid has shown extremely brief flashes of offensive competency and is bad at defense all while being a foul machine.

I don't have an agenda or an axe to grind or whatever crazy scenario you're trying to conceive through a message board post. Just calling like I see as a guy who has maybe missed a few games since I stepped onto campus a decade ago and watched every game i could as a kid in NJ.

I love this forum because of it's passion.

I'm not above reproach. I've had more than my share of emotional moments. I just don't want @Pudge to get frustrated is all. We need all the voices to get balance because no one voice knows it all. I'm not going passive aggressive on you with my post by any means.

My feeling is similar to yours regarding Steve. I just prefer isolating Steve's play for what it is and not make it an indictment about KO.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Bigs take longer to mature. Enoch has offensive potential. That is easy for him. His defense is terrible and he needs to work harder this summer on his game. Please, no more Estonia trips where he was matched up against 6 ft 5 centers.

Bottom line, if Enoch devotes himself to working really hard, he can be a big contributor the next 2 years. Personally, I think next year our best lineup will be small ball- Gilbert, Larrier, Adams, Jackson, Vital, Langston, with Polley, Durham, Enoch and Carlton giving us a traditional look.

 

[mauconnfan]

His defense is not good at all. Some is slower feet, but most is just natural ability to know where you need to be. The instincts of seeing the play unfold before it does, if you have this you can make plays and be a solid defender even with slower feet. He doesn't seem to grasp this much like all of our bigs as of late. It's the part of the game you need to get, can't really "work on it" unless you're playing. I hope he suddenly gets it but I am not confident in the guys who don't have that concept by now, but one never knows. His offensive ability is very good but we won't see that bloom until he plays more, stays out of foul trouble and plays defense enabling him to stay on the floor.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Since you play defense with your feet ,Steve needs to work on footwork especially but not exclusively on defense.
The feet get those big bodies into a position where you don't have to overcompensate your upper body by leaning in ,which usually redults in PF .
A big man camp or working out with someone like Emeka and this kid is a monster.
I'd be hard pressed to think of a UConn Big (5) who has the offensive skill set he has .
Cliff and Donell but neither was a true 5 .
Steve is never going to have the great quickness some of our bugs have had but he certainly can be s special plsyer

 

[Glastonhusky]

Since you play defense with your feet ,Steve needs to work on footwork especially but not exclusively on defense.
The feet get those big bodies into a position where you don't have to overcompensate your upper body by leaning in ,which usually redults in PF .
A big man camp or working out with someone like Emeka and this kid is a monster.
I'd be hard pressed to think of a UConn Big (5) who has the offensive skill set he has .
Cliff and Donell but neither was a true 5 .
Steve is never going to have the great quickness some of our bugs have had but he certainly can be s special plsyer

I'd like to see him work on his conditioning with a trainer over the summer. It looks like he could actually lose a little weight, wouldn't want to see him lose any upper body strength, but maybe tone up his body a little. It might help his quickness.

 

[huskyrob1]

Love it. You can see flashes of it. Really looking forward to his continued development.

I'm having a hard time accepting this tweet when KO gave Enoch chump change minutes, and went with Brimah in some recent critical games that we lost. Even with Brimah stinking up the joint on both sides of the ball, Enoch still sat on the bench. I just can't equate what Ollie says here with how he coached these games that we really needed to win and didn't.

 

[Pudge]

I'm having a hard time accepting this tweet when KO gave Enoch chump change minutes, and went with Brimah in some recent critical games that we lost. Even with Brimah stinking up the joint on both sides of the ball, Enoch still sat on the bench. I just can't equate what Ollie says here with how he coached these games that we really needed to win and didn't.

Well ...

There is coachspeak. And there is a shot across the bow. In a PUBLIC forum (New Haven Register) to a Connecticut kid, the Head Coach of the University of Connecticut is stating ... "Steve, you really can be so much better than what we have seen." And, I would state in guarantee that Enoch hears this in the practice facility all day every day.

KO just got everyone who reads the register in Southern Connecticut including the guys that are around Enoch in Norwalk to repeat this as a Mantra. That is what I read here. I don't think this is BS. I actually see Enoch grab a rebound with extremely quick confident hands, roll to either shoulder and make a tough shot, and run the floor. He has so far to go ... and for us that know his story, we can see that he started so late. Yes, he has to work far harder if he wants the brass ring. But, it is not impossible.

 

[Robertelamin]

After watching Calhoun for 20+ years I always take this type of talk with a grain of salt. I think he said at one point that Justin Brown would be a star or something similarly ridiculous and I know there are plenty of other examples out there. Of course, I hope Ollie is right.

 

[Pudge]

After watching Calhoun for 20+ years I always take this type of talk with a grain of salt. I think he said at one point that Justin Brown would be a star or something similarly ridiculous and I know there are plenty of other examples out there. Of course, I hope Ollie is right.

That is part of my point ... and if you are a UConn fan, you have seen this public language play before.

Calhoun OFTEN went into the "Horde" and dropped a completely "pie-in-the-sky" observation about one of his players. Enoch is hearing this. In practice every day, I am certain. But, there is something else going on when you tell Dave Borges of the New Haven paper.

 

[jibsey]

Enoch has better hands and will out rebound Brimah. He doesn't get the floor time because we're going to the final four and we can't take that chance.