KO said what?

[raf46]

KO is quoted as saying Steve Enoch can learn from Phil and Kenta is kiss of death. He has to be better than that coming in.

 

[Huskies4ever]

KO is quoted as saying Steve Enoch can learn from Phil and Kenta is kiss of death. He has to be better than that coming in.

He'll be a frosh, they're upperclassmen. There's plenty he can learn from them.

 

[UConnSwag11]

KO is quoted as saying Steve Enoch can learn from Phil and Kenta is kiss of death. He has to be better than that coming in.

bev, chuck, olander, etc didnt have the skills but they were experience and understood the game which helped the underclassmen... also will help with maturity, responsibility, and work ethic

 

[Dove]

Phil and Kentan are hard-working upper classmen with championship rings. They have played for Ollie three years. They are fine players to learn from.

 

[Chief00]

Quite frankly, where do I start. KO is a coach of a team, he wants to make the upper classman feel valued and not threaten by a Freshman at this point, since they could make that adjustment for Enoch difficult. From a logical pure basketball perspective I agree Brimah has repeated the same mistake multiple times but he is also a game changer and very few players are truly that.

My bigger concern is I still see we need 2 more very good shooters and I am skeptical that will happen.

 

[8893]

KO is quoted as saying Steve Enoch can learn from Phil and Kenta is kiss of death. He has to be better than that coming in.

1. KO can only talk about the players we already have. I'm sure he's hoping, like the rest of us, that there is one more experienced big (coughshonnmillercoughcough) from whom Enoch can learn next season.

2. In any event, they are experienced upperclassmen and members of a National Championship team. I'd rather KO temper expectations about Enoch than talk about his "Mack Truck on the production line" like the Purvis-Porsche advance hype that set expectations through the roof.

 

[Kitaman]

There's more to the game than fundamentals. Phil knows a lot of tricks, and has played against 'now' NBA big men. Plus there's off the court stuff and both kids have stayed out of trouble. With that said, whatever they can teach will be somewhat limited.

But in a way it would be nice to refer these newcomers to learn from a big man coach.

 

[HuskyFich]

Kentan and Phil can both show Enoch the most important aspect of UConn's offense : SPACING.
With both these guys not commanding the ball on offense, they have learned other ways to keep the flow going, which is extremely important to learn as a freshman (Evidence with DHam's dribbling into traffic the first 10 games).

Maybe a little crazy thought...but with Brimah, Facey, Enoch, Nolan and hopefully S.Miller we have an incredibly versatile and dangerous front court. Undeniable length, athleticism and experience. Our defense should be top notch next year.

...Just one more shooter please KO

 

[Tenspro2002]

There's no problem with KO's statement, but the situation underlying it is an underdiscussed aspect of why our bigs are not improving at the rate they have in the past.

They are not challenged in practice. They have no legitimate yardstick to use as a point of comparison. If (for example) Brimah were getting schooled by the likes of Emeka Okafor or, hell, even Josh Boone, in practice, he'd learn a lot faster than he does now. I'm sure Brimah looks really impressive against Nolan and Facey and can rebound over them with ease. But he still can't figure it out in the games.

Mediocrity begets mediocrity in the front court. There's only so much a "big man coach" can accomplish if the guys testing (for example) Brimah don't present a challenge.

The flip side of this argument is Hilton Armstrong, who was a nobody coming in, but after 3 years of practice against Okafor, CV, and Boone, elevated his game to the point of being a lottery pick.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I doubt that Brimah is outrebounding Facey in practice.

 

[HuskyFich]

There's no problem with KO's statement, but the situation underlying it is an underdiscussed aspect of why our bigs are not improving at the rate they have in the past.

They are not challenged in practice. They have no legitimate yardstick to use as a point of comparison. If (for example) Brimah were getting schooled by the likes of Emeka Okafor or, hell, even Josh Boone, in practice, he'd learn a lot faster than he does now. I'm sure Brimah looks really impressive against Nolan and Facey and can rebound over them with ease. But he still can't figure it out in the games.

Mediocrity begets mediocrity in the front court. There's only so much a "big man coach" can accomplish if the guys testing (for example) Brimah don't present a challenge.

The flip side of this argument is Hilton Armstrong, who was a nobody coming in, but after 3 years of practice against Okafor, CV, and Boone, elevated his game to the point of being a lottery pick.

Think about the physical behemoths you just mentioned. They were all 6'11+ and weighed 50 lbs more than any of these current guys.

 

[uchusky32]

Who better than Phil to show the young upstart how to take a charge?

 

[jibsey]

Think about the physical behemoths you just mentioned. They were all 6'11+ and weighed 50 lbs more than any of these current guys.

Good point. The biggest thing is to come to the table with skills and a body, so even if things aren't perfect we have something to build on.