Koby Brea entered the portal. Please please Coach Hurley

[ec33]

Per Storrs Central, it was matter of us getting our top 3 choices and not being sure adding the 4th (Brea) wouldnt rock the boat too much.

Interesting, thanks.

 

[Hi-Low]

We can close the book on Brea (unless someting new)....only open issue it seems for next season is AK.

If AK comes back to UConn we're set, if AK stays in the draft then it's back to the portal.

 

[bjc42]

We can close the book on Brea (unless someting new)....only open issue it seems for next season is AK.

If AK comes back to UConn we're set, if AK stays in the draft then it's back to the portal.

I think it’s as simple as that tbh.

 

[CL82]

Are you tall enough to play the stretch 4?

Sure if he stretches.

 

[Umami Zen]

Danny and staff got their priority targets within a timeframe that happened around and shortly after Brea's visit. I'm sure Danny had a hunch as to Brea's "wish to showcase his game" and where his NIL target was. Simply not a Program fit -cultural fit as compared to Mahaney's fit. Had to get the Mahaney commit before you can turn the page. Can hear Danny saying- If you think Pope is your guy and you can accomplish your objectives. More power to you. We're focused on a 3peat around here.

 

[tuvent08]

Danny and staff got their priority targets within a timeframe that happened around and shortly after Brea's visit. I'm sure Danny had a hunch as to Brea's "wish to showcase his game" and where his NIL target was. Simply not a Program fit -cultural fit as compared to Mahaney's fit. Had to get the Mahaney commit before you can turn the page. Can hear Danny saying- If you think Pope is your guy and you can accomplish your objectives. More power to you. We're focused on a 3peat around here.

Based on everything we've heard from credible sources, Brea and his family were not a hassle at all and were fully on board. It had nothing to do with culture or program fit. There was just not enough space.

 

[Umami Zen]

Based on everything we've heard from credible sources, Brea and his family were not a hassle at all and were fully on board. It had nothing to do with culture or program fit. There was just not enough space.

I believe that Mahaney was always the priority over Brea and that Danny will obviously leave his last roster spot for AK . Since he appears to be limiting roster size to 12. Haven't heard about Brea being fully on board but I'll assume the credible sources know what they're talking about. Brea has been talking with Pope since before the UConn visit.

It's ok. Very happy with Mahaney.

 

[Hoophound]

Remember when Tate George got drafted in the 1st round by the Nets, soley on his Sr year during the Dream Season? Then halfway through his rookie year, Nets scouts were giving anonymous quotes that he wasn't quick enough for the NBA? Those days are long gone it seems.

Tate actually played really well for the Nets. Chuck Daly just hated his style (he literally said, “I don’t like his game”) and didn’t play him enough. Killed Tate’s career. He went on to be an absolutely deadly scorer in the CBA. His game became almost unrecognizable. I still believe Tate would have spent 10+years in the NBA if he’d been in a better situation.

 

[NJHoops]

The Koby criticism is weird and not warranted.

 

[Umami Zen]

The Koby criticism is weird and not warranted.

Actually simply an opinion. Not a criticism. I'll move on to other subjects but I stand by my opinion that Dan got his priority targets.

 

[noeynox]

Tate actually played really well for the Nets. Chuck Daly just hated his style (he literally said, “I don’t like his game”) and didn’t play him enough. Killed Tate’s career. He went on to be an absolutely deadly scorer in the CBA. His game became almost unrecognizable. I still believe Tate would have spent 10+years in the NBA if he’d been in a better situation.

Describe really well. That is not my recollection at all. His career numbers certainly don't back that up. He just couldn't defend well enough to stay on the floor.

 

[UconnU]

The Koby criticism is weird and not warranted.

Talented kid but not a UConn kid. We need to be 100% sure the kids are coming here for the right reasons. The selflessness, team orientation, are why we’re the best team in the country.

 

[UConniki]

One, that makes no sense. Two, why do folks feel the need to denigrate someone we looked at just when for whatever reason he doesn't end up here? I really don't get it.

They used to call it “sour grapes “, but now I’m not sure what they call it. Unfortunate immaturity, maybe?

 

[imno1]

It's asinine but will always be the case until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, until the rivers run dry, and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves.

What about when pigs have wings?

 

[ec33]

The Koby criticism is weird and not warranted.

"He is the best player coming off the bench at an A-10 school" is terrible slander.

 

[Hoophound]

Tate actually played really well for the Nets. Chuck Daly just hated his style (he literally said, “I don’t like his game”) and didn’t play him enough. Killed Tate’s career. He went on to be an absolutely deadly scorer in the CBA. His game became almost unrecognizable. I still believe Tate would have spent 10+years in the NBA if he’d been in a better situation.

Describe really well. That is not my recollection at all. His career numbers certainly don't back that up. He just couldn't defend well enough to stay on the floor.

When he got minutes he produced. He didn’t get many minutes. He had several 10-20 point games when given the chance and he always took care of the ball. He was a little before his time. His game was a lot like Tristen Newton’s.

I believe he led the CBA in scoring for a few years. I can’t find the CBA stats.

 

[NJHoops]

"He is the best player coming off the bench at an A-10 school" is terrible slander.

I differentiate between talking about someone as a player and as a person. Criticism of his game is fair, doing the same to his character isn’t, especially when it is unfounded and based on unsubstantiated “word is...”

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Talented kid but not a UConn kid. We need to be 100% sure the kids are coming here for the right reasons. The selflessness, team orientation, are why we’re the best team in the country.

We are so full of ourselves lol

 

[Marbles90]

I have been reading this thread shaking my head the entire time. I trust Hurley and love that Mahaney is on the team. But from a guy who watched Brea all season, trust me, this guy would absolutely kill it in Hurley’s system. So the takes are crazy about him. Again, I trust Hurley and trust he got his guy. But I still would love Brea.

To make sure I was not mis remembering, and because although I watched many SMC games, I simply don’t remember Mahaney, I went back and watched both SMC and Dayton’s opening round games of the NCAA. Interesting the games were very similar and both Brea and Mahaney had bad first halves. Both teams were down big in the second half but Brea hit four 3’s to get Dayton back in it and eventually win. Where SMC just faded and Mahaney missed tons of wide open 3’s. He also just had a really really bad game.

Look, I get this is just one game. And you can’t judge on only one game. But watch a whole game before knocking Brea. Don’t just watch highlights (highlights make everyone look like Larry Bird) or look at stats. When you see the whole game, you see so much more. Even the announcers in the Dayton game said “It is so weird, Dayton runs NOTHING for Brea. I don’t understand.” Dayton’s entire offense is trying to feed Holmes and if that doesn’t work - take your guy 1 on 1 or chuck a contested 3. Brea was kinda wasted all year. All his shots came at the end of shot clocks or at end of games when they needed 3’s.

And side note of concern, Mahaney really struggled with GCU’s athletes and could not stay with his guy defensively. He had several of his shots blocked. Again, just one game. Could be an anomaly. I will watch a few more if I can.

Also note they both started. Mahaney played the entire game. Brea sat for 2 minutes in the first half but played the entire 2nd half (38 minutes total).

 

[That Guy]

Talented kid but not a UConn kid. We need to be 100% sure the kids are coming here for the right reasons. The selflessness, team orientation, are why we’re the best team in the country.

Pretty sure someone posted some insider stuff from Storrs Central earlier that said the whole thing with him wanting a lot of NIL was completely untrue and that he's a great kid, we just simply prioritized Mahaney.

Edit: This was the post

How worth it is storrs central?

I have seen various messages on threads and I’m just curious how “worth it” it is in terms of the insider info.

the-boneyard.com

 

[superjohn]

I have been reading this thread shaking my head the entire time. I trust Hurley and love that Mahaney is on the team. But from a guy who watched Brea all season, trust me, this guy would absolutely kill it in Hurley’s system. So the takes are crazy about him. Again, I trust Hurley and trust he got his guy. But I still would love Brea.

To make sure I was not mis remembering, and because although I watched many SMC games, I simply don’t remember Mahaney, I went back and watched both SMC and Dayton’s opening round games of the NCAA. Interesting the games were very similar and both Brea and Mahaney had bad first halves. Both teams were down big in the second half but Brea hit four 3’s to get Dayton back in it and eventually win. Where SMC just faded and Mahaney missed tons of wide open 3’s. He also just had a really really bad game.

Look, I get this is just one game. And you can’t judge on only one game. But watch a whole game before knocking Brea. Don’t just watch highlights (highlights make everyone look like Larry Bird) or look at stats. When you see the whole game, you see so much more. Even the announcers in the Dayton game said “It is so weird, Dayton runs NOTHING for Brea. I don’t understand.” Dayton’s entire offense is trying to feed Holmes and if that doesn’t work - take your guy 1 on 1 or chuck a contested 3. Brea was kinda wasted all year. All his shots came at the end of shot clocks or at end of games when they needed 3’s.

And side note of concern, Mahaney really struggled with GCU’s athletes and could not stay with his guy defensively. He had several of his shots blocked. Again, just one game. Could be an anomaly. I will watch a few more if I can.

Also note they both started. Mahaney played the entire game. Brea sat for 2 minutes in the first half but played the entire 2nd half (38 minutes total).

Mahaney is a lot better than Brea, he fills a need, and he has two seasons. Hurley will probably turn Mahaney into an NBA player. Trust the staff.

 

[Marbles90]

Trust the staff.

Yes. I do. I said that multiple times in my post and multiple other times in this thread.

 

[UConntLose]

Mahaney is a lot better than Brea, he fills a need, and he has two seasons. Hurley will probably turn Mahaney into an NBA player. Trust the staff.

Totally agree. Although I never have seen him play, I was talking to a client of mine who is a Dayton season holder a few weeks back. The season ticket holder said Koby is honestly an all-time great kid who was content to stay but his family thought he’d owed it to himself to test the portal. The person also said that he can’t play defense up to UConn’s standards and could not create his own shot.

I’ll be rooting for Koby from afar. Hope he has a great season and thrives except in any scenario where he may encounter the Huskies.

Think we could probably lock this thread.

 

[Gurleyman]

My worry with Brea was that he shot 7 FTs his entire junior year and then 16 last year. He’s 21-23 in two years … so he should be trying to get to the line (and Dayton has won a lot so some of those 23 were probably deliberate last minute fouls where you figure Dayton would try to inbound the ball to him). He seems allergic to the territory inside the arc - just one 2 attempt a game. Theres the Joey C role he could have filled nicely, but is that what he wants? It feels like he’s not multi-dimensional enough to fit our offense the way we like to run it - perhaps he was held back by Dayton’s system, but with only one year to work with him, could he get up to speed?

His 3 percentage last year was an outlier for his four-year career. Perhaps he has developed and is simply that good now ... but it also could be an anomaly. Shooting can be prone to slumps. When Cam was cold from 3, he brought other things to the table. There isn't anything in the numbers that would give me hope that Brea is not a one-trick pony. When he played Houston he had 0 in 30 minutes. Wasn’t so much an off night as he didn't even get shots up.

I have a few worries with Mahaney too - feel like his assist numbers should be higher, but get him in our offense and out of the St. Mary’s one, and I feel like he has a higher ceiling there. And we lose so much with Newton and Spencer, just with their improvisation skills and triple-threat qualities - I feel like Mahaney gives us a better chance of filling that vacancy and I’d have prioritized him too.

Time might show I’m wrong and that Brea will show more of a multi faceted game with a new lease on life. But I figure our staff has evaluated tons of film and can give an expert opinion.

Could be wrong on this too - but I also think some of the “we aren’t recruiting him any more” leaks could be for Ball’s sake - a vote of confidence that they expect him to step up and have a big role in our rotation and that we aren’t recruiting multiple people to get in his way.

 

[Waquoit]

And I think there's something to the fact that Brea has only one year left while Mahaney had two.