Malachi Smith commits to UConn | Page 7 | The Boneyard

Malachi Smith commits to UConn

superjohn said:
The knock on Nowell was he wasn't good enough to play at UConn.
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Nowell was overrated in his rankings and isn’t as quick, as good of a penetrator or as good on defense as Malachi. He wasn’t even a good shooter. At least with Malachi he is getting a proven player unlike a unproven but highly ranked freshman. It just sucked that both PG options besides Diarra, Mahaney and Nowell couldn’t provide any real good depth at PG this past year. Malachi has played PG against top teams and has held his own. Hurley was hoping this past year he would get more from Nowell especially when Mahaney showed that it was hard for him instinctually to play the point guard position.
 
alphasigko said:
Same height and about the same weight as Nowell. I thought that was one of the knocks on Nowell. What am I missing? A proven D1 player I guess. Welcome aboard Malachi
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If you’re small, you need some sort of “plus” skill. Nobody has ever called a 6-0 player a “glue guy”. Nowell never really showed one last year - maybe something in him will be unlocked at VCU, and there’s no reason not to pull for him. But he wasn’t tough to guard - he didn’t have explosive quickness and he didn’t look like a great shooter or someone who had much of a creative bag. He had a couple nice passes here and there - but struggled getting us into our offense. At a lower level, maybe he’ll be able to get into positions where that will come out a little more. Or maybe he could have improved as a 15 mpg backup here if he wanted to stay - but obviously he had higher aspirations coming out of HS.

Smith is older and has a couple of plus skills - he ranked 14th in the country in assist rate and was in the 94th percentile in spot up three point shooting. He has flaws (shooting off the dribble, finishing at the rim) - but at the very least he can be a change of pace guy who pushes tempo and gets guys shots, and then be a knockdown shooter if the ball comes back his way. And I like the idea of being able to move Demary off the ball if he’s got the hot hand without forcing Solo into doing something he’s not good at. He also makes us less vulnerable to pressing teams and heavy ball pressure.
 
Hurley has been very hit or miss when it comes to PGs. Massive hits with Newton and Diarra. Big hit with Cole. Big misses with Nowell, Mahaney, Diggins, and Gaffney. I'm not going to have any crazy expectations for Smith or Demary and I'm just going to wait and see how it plays out.
 
Nowell looked like a bad fit for the offense in general. This year point many real good point guard skills were demphasized. Attacking the basket and getting to the rim seemed secondary to getting into an offense built around multiple sets of movement outside of the scoring area. We were often really slow getting into it which seemed somewhat due to our point guards. It will be interesting to see if that changes a little with legit point guards and a 7 foot stretch center on the floor. Good luck to Nowell. I hope he gets a chance to show whether or not he can play at a d1 level. Looked like a bad fit for us.
 
Gurleyman said:
If you’re small, you need some sort of “plus” skill. Nobody has ever called a 6-0 player a “glue guy”. Nowell never really showed one last year - maybe something in him will be unlocked at VCU, and there’s no reason not to pull for him. But he wasn’t tough to guard - he didn’t have explosive quickness and he didn’t look like a great shooter or someone who had much of a creative bag. He had a couple nice passes here and there - but struggled getting us into our offense. At a lower level, maybe he’ll be able to get into positions where that will come out a little more. Or maybe he could have improved as a 15 mpg backup here if he wanted to stay - but obviously he had higher aspirations coming out of HS.

Smith is older and has a couple of plus skills - he ranked 14th in the country in assist rate and was in the 94th percentile in spot up three point shooting. He has flaws (shooting off the dribble, finishing at the rim) - but at the very least he can be a change of pace guy who pushes tempo and gets guys shots, and then be a knockdown shooter if the ball comes back his way. And I like the idea of being able to move Demary off the ball if he’s got the hot hand without forcing Solo into doing something he’s not good at. He also makes us less vulnerable to pressing teams and heavy ball pressure.
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I watched some games of Nowell in High School against prep school AA type competition. He was really good. He showed here that he had difficulty within the offense, but that's not unusual for a guard at UConn. Even Newton struggled at first. I wouldn't be surprised if Nowell excelled at VUC. He may just need a totally different kind of offense. He is fast, there is no doubt about it.
 
That Guy said:
Hurley has been very hit or miss when it comes to PGs. Massive hits with Newton and Diarra. Big hit with Cole. Big misses with Nowell, Mahaney, Diggins, and Gaffney. I'm not going to have any crazy expectations for Smith or Demary and I'm just going to wait and see how it plays out.
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Well unfair to compare his early misses because choices weren’t as definite as they are after winning 2 NCs. I’m not sure “missed” is true in either Mahaney or Nowell those stories aren’t complete and more “didn’t work out” than misses. Pretty sure that can happen again I guess but if you’re not happy with these 2 guys in your backcourt I don’t know what to tell you.
 
3rdbass said:
Nowell was overrated in his rankings and isn’t as quick, as good of a penetrator or as good on defense as Malachi. He wasn’t even a good shooter. At least with Malachi he is getting a proven player unlike a unproven but highly ranked freshman. It just sucked that both PG options besides Diarra, Mahaney and Nowell couldn’t provide any real good depth at PG this past year. Malachi has played PG against top teams and has held his own. Hurley was hoping this past year he would get more from Nowell especially when Mahaney showed that it was hard for him instinctually to play the point guard position.
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At his size you kind of need to be a +++ shooter and ball handler. I really cannot think of any excellent players at that size that were not extremely skilled. I suspect Nowell will get there though as an upper classman and could see him being a all A-10 player some day
 
mauconnfan said:
Well unfair to compare his early misses because choices weren’t as definite as they are after winning 2 NCs. I’m not sure “missed” is true in either Mahaney or Nowell those stories aren’t complete and more “didn’t work out” than misses. Pretty sure that can happen again I guess but if you’re not happy with these 2 guys in your backcourt I don’t know what to tell you.
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He won't make the mistake of Mahaney in Demary.

Look, Demary is a great catch and shoot guard, and can handle the ball. He is MUCH better at catch and shoot than dribble shoot. Now enter Malachi Smith who can drop a pass anywhere and is a true PG.

We will likely have a 3 guard lineup of Malachi Smith, Silas Demary, and Solo Ball to go with Reed and Stewart, or can go big with Reed, Reibe, Stewart, Ball and Smith. Likely we pickup another "big" in the portal pending AK announcement (which he should make sooner than later else we are paused on his replacement at the 4).

Great subs in Mullins, Furphy while Adams might take a bit longer to work into the lineup.

Guards: Malachi Smith, Silas Demary, Solo Ball, Darius Adams, Braylon Mullins
Forwards: Jaylin Stewart, Jayden Ross, Jacob Furphy
Centers: Tarris Reed, Eric Reibe

So 10 spots pending AK.

Thinner now at C (we had 3, now have 2), and could use a 4 as Stew/Ross/Furphy are more SF than PF.
 
PNolanFan said:
At his size you kind of need to be a +++ shooter and ball handler. I really cannot think of any excellent players at that size that were not extremely skilled. I suspect Nowell will get there though as an upper classman and could see him being a all A-10 player some day
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I was excited throughout his recruitment and thought he'd be better. I wanted him to be the silver lining to losing Pettiford to Auburn.

For whatever reasons, he didn't perform well on the court. I wish him well.
 
PNolanFan said:
At his size you kind of need to be a +++ shooter and ball handler. I really cannot think of any excellent players at that size that were not extremely skilled. I suspect Nowell will get there though as an upper classman and could see him being a all A-10 player some day
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Hans Sprungfeld said:
I was excited throughout his recruitment and thought he'd be better. I wanted him to be the silver lining to losing Pettiford to Auburn.

For whatever reasons, he didn't perform well on the court. I wish him well.
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In years past he'd have two years to develop at UConn and us fans would expect some contributions as an upperclassman. With the transfer portal, that is gone. Not because UConn doesn't have the patience, it's all the schools. The days of recruiting a 4-star or 3-star and hoping to develop them are over. You really need 10-12 players on the roster who can contribute and compete for every minute at every position. And the players who used to sit on the bench waiting their turn, are being recruited and thrown some cheddar to get them to move on.
 
upstater said:
I watched some games of Nowell in High School against prep school AA type competition. He was really good. He showed here that he had difficulty within the offense, but that's not unusual for a guard at UConn. Even Newton struggled at first. I wouldn't be surprised if Nowell excelled at VUC. He may just need a totally different kind of offense. He is fast, there is no doubt about it.
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Agree on the offense, but I never thought he was quick in the limited time I saw him. Thick yes. Fast, not imo.
 
Hans Sprungfeld said:
I was excited throughout his recruitment and thought he'd be better. I wanted him to be the silver lining to losing Pettiford to Auburn.

For whatever reasons, he didn't perform well on the court. I wish him well.
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I think the injuries came at really tough moments in the grand scheme of things too. He sprained that shoulder in early December right when there may have been some minutes available post-Maui, and then he had the ankle injury in late January right when a lot of people had soured on Mahaney.

I don't think he would have suddenly lit the world on fire, but missing roughly a month of practices in the thick of the season as an undersized freshman guard is just a tough situation to be in.
 
We did play Dayton this year, has anyone gone back and watched that game?
4 TOs in 23 min.
2 assists
9 pts on 2-7 shooting
I’m sure he had better games
3rd game in 3 days, he was given lots of rest
 
That Guy said:
Hurley has been very hit or miss when it comes to PGs. Massive hits with Newton and Diarra. Big hit with Cole. Big misses with Nowell, Mahaney, Diggins, and Gaffney. I'm not going to have any crazy expectations for Smith or Demary and I'm just going to wait and see how it plays out.
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Post / handle
 
NJHusky said:
Agree on the offense, but I never thought he was quick in the limited time I saw him. Thick yes. Fast, not imo.
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I wonder if that has to do with the ankle injury he suffered. The timing of his health issues threw a wrench into his development.

Edit: I did not see post 168 from yungdowork before I typed my post that stated the same thing.
 
Waquoit said:
Seems like he could never get healthy. Or was that part of it?
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That plus we were under the gun with those early unexpected losses and Mahaney didn’t pan out.

We needed Nowell to be and contribute at a level which was unrealistic. He is a better player than some posters are saying but not at the level at this point in his career we needed.
 
uconn1999 said:
We did play Dayton this year, has anyone gone back and watched that game?
4 TOs in 23 min.
2 assists
9 pts on 2-7 shooting
I’m sure he had better games
3rd game in 3 days, he was given lots of rest
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Not too concerned. He had 22 points and 9 assists the day before against Iowa State. Had 11 assists against Marquette and Stevie Mitchell (although shot 3-10).

Given his anticipated role, he may be a major contributor some nights and just a hold the fort guy for a few minutes a half on others. If he can get our shooters shots and get Reed the ball in good places, he’ll help us win.
 
That Guy said:
Hurley has been very hit or miss when it comes to PGs. Massive hits with Newton and Diarra. Big hit with Cole. Big misses with Nowell, Mahaney, Diggins, and Gaffney. I'm not going to have any crazy expectations for Smith or Demary and I'm just going to wait and see how it plays out.
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Okay. Thank you.
 
uconn1999 said:
We did play Dayton this year, has anyone gone back and watched that game?
4 TOs in 23 min.
2 assists
9 pts on 2-7 shooting
I’m sure he had better games
3rd game in 3 days, he was given lots of rest
Expand ...
He’s coming here to be a backup PG. If we need him to be a major factor offensively then the year has really not gone as we hoped. If Smith can play 12-15 mpg, give us 4-6pts and 2-4ast then we’re golden, imo.
 
That Guy said:
Hurley has been very hit or miss when it comes to PGs. Massive hits with Newton and Diarra. Big hit with Cole. Big misses with Nowell, Mahaney, Diggins, and Gaffney. I'm not going to have any crazy expectations for Smith or Demary and I'm just going to wait and see how it plays out.
Expand ...

Only one of the misses was a portal guy.

(Although the staff did like Timberlake...)
 
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