Koby Brea entered the portal. Please please Coach Hurley

[bjc42]

Even if you feel that way, you're directly supporting UConn basketball players with your $10 a month. Even if I got absolutely nothing out of my subscription (which, spoiler, that is not the case at all), I'm happy helping to keep UConn basketball at a high level.

Are you talking about Storrs central?

 

[Fan1978]

Interesting if true that we might only have 11 scholarship players this year if Karaban stays in the draft.

Will bring in a 4 if karaban leaves. Perhaps kid from usf if he is still in play

 

[Chuck]

Interesting if true that we might only have 11 scholarship players this year if Karaban stays in the draft.

I can think of so many things that may have gone down to have things end with Brea this way. But it isn't fair to the guy to guess based on rumors. That would make me a Kentucky fan.

The one thing I don't think was coincidental is Hurley announcing that Hass is back. I think Hurley made sure Hass was on board before letting the "no longer recruiting Brea" information leak.

 

[UConnRock]

It is interesting that most of the Hurley portal pickups were/are players with multi-year eligibility. Cam and Joey C are the exceptions. Brendan Adams, Tyrese Martin, RJ Cole, Newton, Alleyne, Diarra, Reed and Mahaney. Coincidence or Hurley's preference, but 8 to 2 on multiple year vs 1 year transfers. Hurley wants guys he can develop in the system, while leaving the door open for a 1 year fix if needed. Newton and Tyrese are the classic examples of how 2 years in the system can change a player. Mahaney and Reed have the upside of being a true juniors. They are still young with lots room for improvement. Nice that the 24 year old COVID transfers are on their last year.

 

[3rdbass]

Someone somewhere suggested that if we thought Karaban was not coming back, we could look for a bigger body in the front court. (More of a tradition forward than a stretch.)

That kinda makes sense to me

Why would we be looking for a more tradiational 4 when that formula didn't work before? Having a stretch 4 in Karban has given us 2 NCAA championships and I don't think that is a coincidence. If we are looking for a Karaban replacement if he doesn't come back I'm sure it will be another stretch 4.

 

[3rdbass]

I will be ready if called…

Are you tall enough to play the stretch 4?

 

[Samoo]

So much to speculate here. Brea was my biggest want and McNeeley was #2. The kid Mahaney is a good catch but I wasn't to thrilled looking at his stats against some of the tougher competition from the lesser P5 opponents. I trust Hurley will make it work but an experience ball handler is still a concern. I just know Castle and Newton carried that load and it will be missed

McNeeley should be the #1 want by leaps and bounds. He's lottery material and fits UConn like he grew there. Brea and Mahany each have their value but neither will add what McNeeley projects to.

 

[Fishy]

honestly fair enough. With Karaban we are the best team in the country though, no doubt.

Kansas is out there playing rotisserie roster, but I would take ours every day of the week.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Idk why we’d bother with a visit there’s no way someone is coming here on their last year to play 12 mins a game. If he’s knocking down 3-4 threes a game he’d be playing more than that unless he’s a huge defensive liability.

Joey C did almost exactly what you're describing. He wanted to be part of a winner and was fine with fighting for minutes. It happens.
Obviously the role the staff envisioned for KB didn't match the role he envisioned. No harm done except a little wasted visit time for both.
We all move on.

 

[DogMania]

Interesting if true that we might only have 11 scholarship players this year if Karaban stays in the draft.

I saw an article quoting Norlander's X. Can we assume his sources are solid?

Regardless, Brea was a luxury, now that we landed Mahaney and McNeeley. As noted by many, if Karaban doesn't return there's a greater need to add a 4 or a 4/5 or 3/4 combo.

Not much time left for players to enter the Portal. Not sure how Hurley navigates this, not knowing what AK will do. And would a talented front court player come here not knowing if Alex will be returning or not. There are 2 unfilled ships so they could add a 4 and still have a ship for Alex if he decides to return.

They also need to ensure they have some open ships for 2025 class that has some very talented recruits that have shown interest. Adding a player with only one season of eligibility like Brea, gives us a player for the upcoming season while preserving a 2025 ship for next season.

 

[Uconn10922]

I think some signals are getting crossed and tea leaves read wrong on the Trillycord.

I heard from a reputable source that Kentucky played the song “La Bamba” when Brea arrived because they knew of his Dominican roots.

Easy to see how the two rumors could be conflated

“La Bamba” is not a Dominican song. If they played merengue o bachata ok. This reeks of “all Spanish are Mexican” thinking. I’m married to a Dominican so I know not all Spanish make “tacos”. I think this shows that Kentucky still isn’t on our level. It’s like someone said “hey what’s a Spanish song someone knows, I got it La Bamba”

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

Will bring in a 4 if karaban leaves. Perhaps kid from usf if he is still in play

I doubt it. Stewart will play the 4 if AK isn't here. Behind him will be a combo of McNeeley moving over for a while, and Ross. We can also go 4 guard at times like we did when AK either had foul trouble or was out against St Johns. We still have lots of options. Last season we just moved Castle over for a few mins, this year it will be Liam.
One thing i know we wont do is bring in a post 4. They are probably easiest to get right now because less and less teams are using them. They have absolutely no place on our roster.

 

[3rdbass]

I doubt it. Stewart will play the 4 if AK isn't here. Behind him will be a combo of McNeeley moving over for a while, and Ross. We can also go 4 guard at times like we did when AK either had foul trouble or was out against St Johns. We still have lots of options. Last season we just moved Castle over for a few mins, this year it will be Liam.
One thing i know we wont do is bring in a post 4. They are probably easiest to get right now because less and less teams are using them. They have absolutely no place on our roster.

I agree 100% with the bolded.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I saw an article quoting Norlander's X. Can we assume his sources are solid?

Regardless, Brea was a luxury, now that we landed Mahaney and McNeeley. As noted by many, if Karaban doesn't return there's a greater need to add a 4 or a 4/5 or 3/4 combo.

Not much time left for players to enter the Portal. Not sure how Hurley navigates this, not knowing what AK will do. And would a talented front court player come here not knowing if Alex will be returning or not. There are 2 unfilled ships so they could add a 4 and still have a ship for Alex if he decides to return.

They also need to ensure they have some open ships for 2025 class that has some very talented recruits that have shown interest. Adding a player with only one season of eligibility like Brea, gives us a player for the upcoming season while preserving a 2025 ship for next season.

Even without Alex, or top 8-9 will be solid. I doubt we'll bring in anything other than a developmental player who doesn't mind waiting (like Apostolos). What is the date for draft entry confirmation? Isn't it June? By that time most rosters will be set. There will still be hundreds of players in the portal, but i doubt we will want any of them. Maybe look internationally at that point.

 

[Rico444]

Kansas is out there playing rotisserie roster, but I would take ours every day of the week.

That's the thing, we've seen over and over again that you can't just stick 5 great players together and expect greatness. Storr is at his 4th school in 4 years and Kugel got benched the last few weeks of last year. I tend to believe it's going to be more of a mess than a great team.

 

[FreeKlaiber]

I like the idea of bringing in a PF/C type, who can hit the three a little, and is ok with no guaranteed playing time. Just for the chance to be on the three-peat team. Just an insurance policy for rebounding, injury and our bigs.
I'm sure that there is a solid Post grad 4/5 who fits the bill.

C'mon there has to be a european 18 year old Big who wants to play for the huskies and who knows

Let's see if that's the way they go with the last scholarship. Was hoping we passed on Brea, and went in this direction. Hurley and staff are clearly, as Fran said "Tyson in his prime"

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I agree 100% with the bolded.

There's still a few people who want a big body for the sake of a big body. The 4 in our offense needs to dribble, pass, shoot, and process quickly. We're not clogging the lane with a Whaley/Sanogo combo anymore. Whatever we lose on defense, we will more than make up for on offense, as evidenced by the results of the last 2 seasons.
Occasionally we will run into a team that has a bruiser for a PF and he will score 24 points and half this board will go nuts saying we need size at the 4. These same people will have totally forgotten that in that same game we won by 16 because their big 4 couldn't guard us on the perimeter.

 

[3rdbass]

There's still a few people who want a big body for the sake of a big body. The 4 in our offense needs to dribble, pass, shoot, and process quickly. We're not clogging the lane with a Whaley/Sanogo combo anymore. Whatever we lose on defense, we will more than make up for on offense, as evidenced by the results of the last 2 seasons.
Occasionally we will run into a team that has a bruiser for a PF and he will score 24 points and half this board will go nuts saying we need size at the 4. These same people will have totally forgotten that in that same game we won by 16 because their big 4 couldn't guard us on the perimeter.

Also, it was obvious that Karaban built up his body to better handle the 4. He was even able to bang with some much bigger centers at time and be pretty effective. I see a similar trajectory body wise for Stewart to bang a little more even though he was already built better than Freshman Karaban. Stewart is just going ot have to work on his outside shot and passing this off season to raise his game to Karaban's level if possible.

 

[tzznandrew]

Pay attention to who said what you dope. I hadn't posted anything begging for Brea, and then the dude you quoted said:

Solo > Brea

If Brea comes here and starts, we’re not very good. There’s a reason that he’s come off the bench for four years.

 

[FearThePups]

Someone somewhere suggested that if we thought Karaban was not coming back, we could look for a bigger body in the front court. (More of a tradition forward than a stretch.)

That kinda makes sense to me

I agree completely. We will most likely have a drop off in rebounding as Newton, Cam, and Stephon were kickass rebounding guards. So a big, physical rebounding forward would fit the bill. Let’s find a Dennis Rodman clone.

 

[shizzle787]

Interesting if true that we might only have 11 scholarship players this year if Karaban stays in the draft.

I said this a few days ago and was roasted: I didn't want Brea because that meant we would have lost out on Mahaney (who I think is the better player). Many said we could try to be greedy and get both, but Hurley isn't stupid. You can't have too many great players because you are only going to have 8-9 rotation spots and if a guy comes here and could make anybody else's rotation except for ours because we over recruit, it could cause problems in the locker room.

 

[Fishy]

How long have you been an imbecile?

Brea would have committed this weekend, btw.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Brea was easily the worst player in that trio.

He's a four year reserver in the Atlantic 10. McNeeley is a top 10 recruit and Mahaney has been All-WCC in his first two years of college.

There's a huge drop off to Brea.

STOP! Lol. Brea has performed well to great playing against tougher competition. But I am content and trust Hurley will get Mahaney to shoot better and against tougher competition because he's a Husky now. No need to take my research and opinion personal based on my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices.

 

[Fishy]

That's the thing, we've seen over and over again that you can't just stick 5 great players together and expect greatness. Storr is at his 4th school in 4 years and Kugel got benched the last few weeks of last year. I tend to believe it's going to be more of a mess than a great team.

I don’t like their roster. If you compile it and look at stars, it’s fine, but there are some nuts on it. I like Passmore as a prospect and I almost guarantee that he leaves in the portal next year because there’s just portal guys tossed in on top of him.