Legit championship team

[UconnFanDC]

I saw a bunch of talented players that shoot, defend and play team ball. It was enough to tell me we're in the mix of top teams.

That's a fair statement.

 

[storrsroars]

In this thread, a bunch of people who've been around the BY long enough to know better somehow forget that the original poster is Scrappy3 & write novels about how we should pump the brakes, slow our rolls, wait and see, etc.

I've never put 2 and 2 together regarding an annual Scrappy post. Probably because our teams weren't serious contenders, so no point in responding. Until this year, when we are legit.

 

[Fan1978]

Boy do we have it
This team has more goods than last year!
We have a superstar in the majing playing center—just like last year we can get those interior points and it’s almost unstoppable and Samson is a very high caliber bak up who will start next year.
Karaban looks like Gordon Haywood
We have a 6-5 vet pg and a superstar rookie running mate in castle
All the rookies have great size and look all set to be important complimentary pieces
Additional vet guards like last year w diarra spencer. We have all the ingredient and you can seethe chemistry and pedigree
We lost a tin of talent yet we maybe better!!

Clingan needs to slow down and make more of the non dunks. He rushes himself. Sanago took his time and rarely missed when he established position. Donovan will be unstoppable if he just takes a breath. I assume he was just rusty in first game and he will make the adjustment. We were spoiled, could get a bucket on demand. That and andre defense and rebounding will be missed most.

 

[mauconnfan]

I saw a bunch of talented players that shoot, defend and play team ball. It was enough to tell me we're in the mix of top teams.

Definitely a fair point and I would agree. But since you mentioned people sound like “last year” how would we all react if this young team has the early 6 of 8 losses early on? Just saying we need to see more than NAU. I also saw a few teams from the BE that will be tough outs night in night out.

But you have to be excited for sure the talent is there.

 

[notEwekon]

If it were only about talent, then Duke, KU, UK and UNC would have all the banners...

Yeeeeeeeah...but Hurley tho..

 

[uconngb]

You know, every year I make fun of these scrappy posts. But he's been right more than 20% of the time. So time to give him his due and I won't mock these posts any more.

20%% that’s quite a bar you’ve set

 

[HooperScooper]

20%% that’s quite a bar you’ve set

What are there 360 +/- teams in D1? Maybe 50 you could say could actually win it all. So 20% is damn good.

Plus my entire post was tongue in cheek anyway. You couldn't tell?

 

[fatlucy]

JFC DOOOOOOMED!

 

[Hunt for 7]

I just wish I paid attention to @Scrappy3 posts so I could understand. There was a big reaction in another thread to freescooter posting after going awol for a period of time. What happened with him. Did he make a bet and lose.

 

[gtcam]

Last year we could have our best 2 players have off games and still beat ranked teams by double digits that won’t be the case this year.

Watching our team in tourney we’ll be back to sweating it out like every other fan base last years tourney feeling well most likely never see that again.

not in January 2023

 

[Waquoit]

Definitely a fair point and I would agree. But since you mentioned people sound like “last year” how would we all react if this young team has the early 6 of 8 losses early on?

I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I don't think they will.

 

[DogMania]

What are there 360 +/- teams in D1? Maybe 50 you could say could actually win it all. So 20% is damn good.

Plus my entire post was tongue in cheek anyway. You couldn't tell?

I could tell and I thought it was brilliant.

I like the potential this team has, but last season's squad was special once they began to put it all together.

Still burned in my memory from last year's tournament, was that pass to the middle of of the paint seemingly to nobody, when out of the TV screen coming out of nowhere, Andre soars into the paint and catches the pass. For the life of me, I can't remember what happened after that, but I know we got points. From there, we never looked back!

I could go on about how special that team turned out when it counted most.

This years team has a lot of nice pieces but a long way to go before anyone can say they are special. I hope we all can say that come March.

 

[Dove]

 

[WeAreUCONN]

We need to have Karaban, Clingan, and Newton be a little selfish but in a good way. They need to command the floor and dictate the shot selection while also making everyone else better. I liked what I saw from Karaban in the first game. Clingan needs to be more assertive at the rim and hit his foul shots. Newton needs to be extremely effective at the point and dictate the offense. Castle will fall into place at some point and join those other three players. I liked what I saw from Spencer, he’ll do whatever is needed of him.

 

[Conndog]

till burned in my memory from last year's tournament, was that pass to the middle of of the paint seemingly to nobody, when out of the TV screen coming out of nowhere, Andre soars into the paint and catches the pass. For the life of me, I can't remember what happened after that, but I know we got points. From there, we never looked back!

That was the Gonzaga game I think, just before half-time. Newton got trapped in a double team and tried passing to
Sanogo coming out to top of key. Andre was deep in the corner, yet as the double team was forming, he 1) was aware that ball would likely go to Sanogo 2) realized Sanogo would have no play if he got the ball (time was running out) 3) saw Karaban out wide and open 4) darted from the corner to get the pass that hadn't even been made yet 5) intercepted the ball and whipped it to Karaban who drilled a 3 which ended the half. Probably the greatest pass I've ever seen!

 

[giddyup]

Always takes a team. AJ was superhuman and just got better and better. Hard to duplicate his vision, his freakish plays and spark. But, he laid plenty of eggs along the way as did others. Once they gelled and leaned on each other so when one was off others stepped up to fill the gap, the unit became hard to beat. Just too much everywhere to handle. Talented players take you far, but a well functioning team takes to the next level.

 

[bfs3]

Did I miss something? Or is this based on us blowing out a bad Northern Arizona team missing 2 key players?

I'd love to think we won't miss Sanogo, Hawkins and Jackson. I'd also love to think Cooper Flagg's gonna wake up tomorrow and decide he's not a huge dork after all. But false hope is not a good thing to carry.

I hope he wakes up tomorrow with Shingles.

It wouldn’t surprise me if we end up with a similar record to last year and 3rd in the Big East. As long as the freshman become meaningful contributors, our starters stay healthy and Castle leaves no question as a top 10 pick; then this team can go anywhere. Watching the last game, even against a bad team tells me all of that is possible with a healthy squad.

Unfortunately though we are very obviously Doomed.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Here's my "What needs to be true" to compete for back to back:

1. Karaban's ability to score at the rim needs to translate to the high major level. I think this is a 50/50.
2. Clingan needs to show he can avoid foul trouble and play 28 min per game. Not willing to forecast this. Not worried about FT's.
3. Newton doesn't need to do anything better than what he did last year, he just needs to be steady.
4. Spencer needs to be Neils Giffeye, but without the March blackout.
5. Castle needs to be < 3 TO per game.
6. Samson just needs to keep other teams from scoring in the paint when he plays his 10-12 mpg. Samson needs his 6-8 PPG to be more than the points in the paint the other team scores when hes in the game.
7. Solo needs to be taking half of his sophomore jump come march (like Hawk was when he got hurt).
8. Diarra needs to be a dog and keep the locker room together.

If And True then 6.

 

[uconngb]

What are there 360 +/- teams in D1? Maybe 50 you could say could actually win it all. So 20% is damn good.

Plus my entire post was tongue in cheek anyway. You couldn't tell?

Of course I could....mine was as well

 

[jibsey]

im on the record saying not only will be our best passing team ever, but i think itll show to be better than last years squad as well...ball distribution for days

I think if what you say turns out to be true we can all relax.

 

[HeyMoe]

We should all know by now. You never really can be sure about anything after one game. I do think with the addition of Stewart, Ross, Ball and Johnson now playing we are more athletic. From the little I have seen I think you would have to say all four of those players are + or ++ athletes for their size. I mean we all know AJ was/is an athletic anamoly. But let’s break it down. Sanogo was great but not someone you would call super athletic. DC is as athletic as a person at 7’3” can be (unless you count Wemby or Kristap). But with SJ playing we are more athletic at center. Please don’t misquote that as being better. AK is back looks stronger and a little quicker. Hawkins was a good athlete but to me he was more a bb player than super athletic. Joey C, NA were great role players but I would not call them athletic in the sense they were fast or could jump through the roof. They were good basketball players. Ball. Stewart and Ross appear to be very athletic. SC is just physical not super fast but just very good at using his size and thinking about that spin move he may be more athletic than I am giving him credit for. TN is back so net the same at that position. We have the ability, it will come down to when we play against better competition is when we learn how they will deal with adversity. Another aspect is that Hurley definitely tinkered with our style when he was trying to get us out of our rut in January. He may have to make some adjustments this year. My biggest concern is playing time for all the talent we have. That can mess with chemistry and when a team faces adversity they only overcome together. Remember the sum of the parts is greater than the parts by themselves. Because if anyone says they thought we were going to win a natty last January I would question that statement. But if anyone is counting on the same results it might be best to just sit back expect us to be competitive and enjoy the journey. Like every season this one will have good times and bad times and we should expect our share of both. And more importantly it took a long post but I was able to include a Led Zepplin song title

Let me say I haven’t been this excited to start a UConn season in a long time. I think we have all the pieces. I think Karaban will have a crazy good year and Newton and Spencer will be key contributors. The freshman will come into their own and Samson Johnson should slide nicely into the backup center roll. To me the key will be Clingan. Last year Sanago was great making baskets 2-3 feet out. DC hasn’t proven he can consistently make the 2-3 foot shot with his back to the basket. If he can develop this shot and stay out of foul trouble, then this could be another special year.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

Here's my "What needs to be true" to compete for back to back:

1. Karaban's ability to score at the rim needs to translate to the high major level. I think this is a 50/50.
2. Clingan needs to show he can avoid foul trouble and play 28 min per game. Not willing to forecast this. Not worried about FT's.
3. Newton doesn't need to do anything better than what he did last year, he just needs to be steady.
4. Spencer needs to be Neils Giffeye, but without the March blackout.
5. Castle needs to be < 3 TO per game.
6. Samson just needs to keep other teams from scoring in the paint when he plays his 10-12 mpg. Samson needs his 6-8 PPG to be more than the points in the paint the other team scores when hes in the game.
7. Solo needs to be taking half of his sophomore jump come march (like Hawk was when he got hurt).
8. Diarra needs to be a dog and keep the locker room together.

If And True then 6.

At first I thought I was going to hate your list. And then I read it, and yes, I hate your list. We need Castle to be a lot more than "< TO per game". We need him to replace AJ for us to have a chance. We need Spencer to replace Hawkin's clutch 3's. We need SJ to be last year's DC, or something close to it. We need 2 of the remaining 3 freshmen to play like upper classmen come March. And last but not least, we need this team to play the type of defense that only certain special teams play. We can get there, but it is not a fate acompli. Not by any stretch.

 

[OkaForPrez]

At first I thought I was going to hate your list. And then I read it, and yes, I hate your list. We need Castle to be a lot more than "< TO per game". We need him to replace AJ for us to have a chance. We need Spencer to replace Hawkin's clutch 3's. We need SJ to be last year's DC, or something close to it. We need 2 of the remaining 3 freshmen to play like upper classmen come March. And last but not least, we need this team to play the type of defense that only certain special teams play. We can get there, but it is not a fate acompli. Not by any stretch.

Well at least you went into it with an open mind.

 

[RichZ]

I'm confused. There are a lot of responses that seem to indicate people take a Scrappy post seriously. People! Scrappy posts are for entertainment only. In his world, every year's Husky team is the best one ever. I wear a pair of National Flag Blue tinted glasses. Scrappy apparently wears them over similarly tinted contacts. It wouldn't be the start of a new season if we didn't have the positive energy injection of a Scrappy post.

 

[MTBingNinja]

Boy do we have it
This team has more goods than last year!
We have a superstar in the majing playing center—just like last year we can get those interior points and it’s almost unstoppable and Samson is a very high caliber bak up who will start next year.
Karaban looks like Gordon Haywood
We have a 6-5 vet pg and a superstar rookie running mate in castle
All the rookies have great size and look all set to be important complimentary pieces
Additional vet guards like last year w diarra spencer. We have all the ingredient and you can seethe chemistry and pedigree
We lost a tin of talent yet we maybe better!!

Slamin Samson is my X-Factor to the season.