Lamb as a freshman | The Boneyard

Lamb as a freshman

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Using my time watching the UConn reruns; many thanks to TCF15. Yesterday and today have been focusing on the 2010-2011 season.
I understand that Bouk is an extremely talented offensive player and UConn is blessed to have him.
Jeremy Lamb, however, was in my opinion, was so far further along in all aspects of that game as a freshman than Bouk. Lamb could handle, Lamb knew how to move without the ball, lamb was a deadly 3 pt shooter as well as a mid range threat, he could drive from both sides and most importantly, he could defend with his feet as well as use his length.
I think I really under estimated Lamb's overall talent when watching him during that season.
I urge all you fans to go back and watch these wonderful replays of all the seasons, courtesy of TCF.
Go to You Tube TV and type in UConn Mens Basketball and any year, sit back and enjoy - I still find myself yelling at the screen!
 
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Using my time watching the UConn reruns; many thanks to TCF15. Yesterday and today have been focusing on the 2010-2011 season.
I understand that Bouk is an extremely talented offensive player and UConn is blessed to have him.
Jeremy Lamb, however, was in my opinion, was so far further along in all aspects of that game as a freshman than Bouk. Lamb could handle, Lamb knew how to move without the ball, lamb was a deadly 3 pt shooter as well as a mid range threat, he could drive from both sides and most importantly, he could defend with his feet as well as use his length.
I think I really under estimated Lamb's overall talent when watching him during that season.
I urge all you fans to go back and watch these wonderful replays of all the seasons, courtesy of TCF.
Go to You Tube TV and type in UConn Mens Basketball and any year, sit back and enjoy - I still find myself yelling at the screen!
Just stop it already.
 
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As always it's tough to compare players.

Lamb was playing with two exceptionally talented passers in Kemba and Bazz. Gaffney isn't nearly as ready as bazz was as a freshman, and Vital is not a naturally creative passer. So their roles were necessarily different. Bouk is making plays for himself. Watch the highlights--Lamb is almost always making one

Bouk is much better at creating for himself. Significantly more athletic. And a better ballhandler.

Lamb was longer, a higher IQ defender at the same stage. He also had a pretty good floater game which I don't remember from Bouk.
 
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Bouk
Screen Shot 2020-03-15 at 1.42.52 PM.png
 
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fixed everything for you in bold

Using my time watching the UConn reruns; many thanks to TCF15. Yesterday and today have been focusing on the 2010-2011 season.
I understand that Carlton is an extremely talented offensive player and UConn is blessed to have him.
Charles Okwandu, however, was in my opinion, was so far further along in all aspects of that game as a freshman than Carlton. Okwandu could handle, Okwandu knew how to move without the ball, Okwandu was a deadly 3 pt shooter as well as a mid range threat, he could drive from both sides and most importantly, he could defend with his feet as well as use his length.
I think I really under estimated Okwandu's overall talent when watching him during that season.
I urge all you fans to go back and watch these wonderful replays of all the seasons, courtesy of TCF.
Go to You Tube TV and type in UConn Mens Basketball and any year, sit back and enjoy - I still find myself yelling at the screen!
 
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- I am shocked that Bouk's defensive rating was better than Lamb's his freshman year. Potentially because Lamb was guarding better players. But that's an exciting thing looking forward for Bouk, anyways.

- Bouk is WAY better at getting to the line, and in general at the rim. Bouk's ability to draw fouls is a sign of a player who can be great--not just really good. And he improved towards the end of the year when Hurley unleashed him, too.

- Bouk fouls too much. I think we knew that already, lol. But Lamb did have a much higher IQ on that end to begin with.

Overall, they are honestly kind of remarkably similar. Very productive freshman years from kids ranked around, what, 70ish in HS?
 
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I actually took a moment to watch Lamb's highlights and there are amazing similarities between their games but what stands out to me is that Lamb is significantly bigger (longer and heavier) than Bouk. Lamb's length and strength led to dozens of contested hoops whereby Book was much less consistent at finishing in traffic.

I only watched offensive highlights but I'd guess that Lamb's size also contributed to his better defense as well.

With all that said, I'm expecting Bouk to reach Lamb like sophomore numbers with a full year of strength and conditioning because I think their skill sets are fairly even as freshman and I believe that Bouk has both a bit better quickness and leaping ability. On a side note... I'm not sure Bouk is faster. Lamb was incredibly adept at a getting in passing lanes and really showed off his speed after a steal several times that season.
 
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I actually took a moment to watch Lamb's highlights and there are amazing similarities between their games but what stands out to me is that Lamb is significantly bigger (longer and heavier) than Bouk. Lamb's length and strength led to dozens of contested hoops whereby Book was much less consistent at finishing in traffic.

I only watched offensive highlights but I'd guess that Lamb's size also contributed to his better defense as well.

With all that said, I'm expecting Bouk to reach Lamb like sophomore numbers with a full year of strength and conditioning because I think their skill sets are fairly even as freshman and I believe that Bouk has both a bit better quickness and leaping ability. On a side note... I'm not sure Bouk is faster. Lamb was incredibly adept at a getting in passing lanes and really showed off his speed after a steal several times that season.

Gonna go ahead and say you're wrong on the finishing. Watched all of the Lamb and Bouk highlight this afternoon. Lamb was making 1 dribble moves or cutting off-ball primarily. He used his floater to his advantage, but wasn't particularly advanced at the rim.

Bouk is absolutely a better finisher at the rim. He was the lead dog on offense and the go-ahead option late in the shot clock--he was forced to take tougher shots, hence the slightly lower 2 pt %.

Probably have to agree to disagree on this one though
 
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- I am shocked that Bouk's defensive rating was better than Lamb's his freshman year. Potentially because Lamb was guarding better players. But that's an exciting thing looking forward for Bouk, anyways.

- Bouk is WAY better at getting to the line, and in general at the rim. Bouk's ability to draw fouls is a sign of a player who can be great--not just really good. And he improved towards the end of the year when Hurley unleashed him, too.

- Bouk fouls too much. I think we knew that already, lol. But Lamb did have a much higher IQ on that end to begin with.

Overall, they are honestly kind of remarkably similar. Very productive freshman years from kids ranked around, what, 70ish in HS?

I think our memory of Lamb as a freshman, both observationally and statistically, is heavily influenced by his incredible postseason performance. In the 11 postseason games he averaged 15.3 on 62-113 (55%) shooting including 16-31 from 3.

His regular season was good (especially for his ranking) but not spectacular. He only scored in double figures 14 times in 30 games and was mired in a slump down the stretch (he shot 38% from the field and only scored in double figures twice in the last 8 games of the regular season).

In my view Bouknight clearly had the better regular season, but he certainly would have been hard-pressed to match Lamb's tournament leap (though it wouldn't have completely shocked me...).
 
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Freshman Lamb had All American Point Guards Kemba and Bazz (two NBA'ers), defenses could not key on him. Also had a HOF Coach.

Freshman Bouk had?
 
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Impossible to compare them as their strengths are so different. If Bouk can get to be more of a sharpshooter the way Jeremy was he could be a top 10 pick.
 
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Freshman Lamb had All American Point Guards Kemba and Bazz (two NBA'ers), defenses could not key on him. Also had a HOF Coach.

Freshman Bouk had?
Bazz was All-American caliber by his junior year, while it helped to play alongside two PGs, it's stating the obvious that Bazz was certainly not an All American PG his freshman year.
 
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Bazz was All-American caliber by his junior year, while it helped to play alongside two PGs, it's stating the obvious that Bazz was certainly not an All American PG his freshman year.
Coorect, I should have mentioned I see no potential AAs on this year's squad other than Bouk. Meaning Bouk is an island with Vital the only real good player on the team.

Lamb had a lot of support.

However that does not diminish Lamb's skill, potential and contributions as a freshman. Probably Calhoun's best 'find' ever.
 
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I think Bouk and Lamb are a similar level of prospect. Bouk will probably be a mid-to-late lottery selection in the 2021 draft.

Lamb had a weird freshman season. He scored 11 total points in Maui. He broke out a little bit in the middle of Big East play (an eight-game stretch where he put up 16.6 / 5.5 / 2.5 on .529 / .333 / .750) and then fell off a cliff to end the regular season (closed BE play over seven games putting up 7.7 / 3.3 / 1.6 on .397 / .350 / .500).

He had his real coming-out party in the BET and followed it up with an even better NCAA tournament performance. Kemba deserves all the praise for his magical run but Lamb's NCAA performance--despite earning All-Tourney honors--remains one of the most underrated feats in our program's history.

Lamb put up 16.2 / 4.8 / 1.7 on a ridiculous .581 / .632 / .831 line. He made 12/19 threes in the tournament. He was clutch. He was key on the defensive end of the floor. There's no way we win that title if Lamb didn't step it up.
 
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I'm with those who loved the Lamb floater, an absolute thing of beauty. Barely missed many finger tips as he was able to loft it as required.

Other than that you can go on and on with these 2 after their freshman year but it's damn close. Let's see what Bouk does next year then we'll have a better idea but both wonderful players year one for sure, fun to watch mature.
 

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