New offer out for 2014 PG Devin Watson

[CTBasketball]

Post-season records

• Shabazz Napier: 13-2
• Ryan Boatright: 2-2
• Kemba Walker: 16-4
• AJ Price: 4-4
• Marcus Williams: 4-4
• Taliek Brown: 19-4
• Khalid El-Amin: 19-3
• Ricky Moore: 24-4
• Doron Sheffer: 13-5
• Kevin Ollie: 9-8

I don't think its correct to judge a player off of post-season success. Not taking anything away from Taliek, but you could have had a true freshman play on that 2004 team and they probably still would have won. I think Taliek was one of the best PG's in Husky history because he won all the time, but Marcus Williams had the most PG talent. He may have slacked on defensive, but he was one of the best offensive point guards we've ever had.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't think anyone has said anything about AJ, Doron or KO and how they had the keys and didn't drive their respective teams to the finish line!! All with very good teams surrounding them but they also didn't have a #2 & #4 draft pick playing next to them.........this isn't about who was better it's about Marcus and his character I'm afraid.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Post-season records

• 
  [ ]Shabazz Napier: 13-2
  [ ]Ryan Boatright: 2-2
  [ ]Kemba Walker: 16-4
  [ ]AJ Price: 4-4
  [ ]Marcus Williams: 4-4
  [ ]Taliek Brown: 19-4
  [ ]Khalid El-Amin: 19-3
  [ ]Doron Sheffer: 13-5
  [ ]Kevin Ollie: 9-8

I don't think its correct to judge a player off of post-season success. Not taking anything away from Taliek, but you could have had a true freshman play on that 2004 team and they probably still would have won. I think Taliek was one of the best PG's in Husky history because he won all the time, but Marcus Williams had the most PG talent. He may have slacked on defensive, but he was one of the best offensive point guards we've ever had.

Considering that choking the offense before it gets in to its flow is one of the primary responsibilities of a PG that's a big BUT to overlook.

 

[CTBasketball]

Considering that choking the offense before it gets in to its flow is one of the primary responsibilities of a PG that's a big BUT to overlook.

I disagree with you. I don't think its fair to put the blame on MW for the 2005/2006 seasons. When I watched those games, he and Rashad were the only ones to show up. I think he missed a layup in 2005 against NCST, but that shouldn't be the reason why they lost.

 

[mauconnfan]

Considering that choking the offense before it gets in to its flow is one of the primary responsibilities of a PG that's a big BUT to overlook.

Both teams were well prepared with shotblockers in the back of the defense but I agree Chin it is important to cut the head off the dragon but it's also important to have a dragon the other team needs to guard when you set up offensively!!

 

[James]

I think this kind of make's Gurleyman's point. Marcus' talent was undeniable, an he probably would have shined in a backup role. But his character was awful, and when he was given the keys, his team underachieved.

I loved watching him play - point guards who are that much fun are few and far between, and I'm glad he went to UConn. I can't pretend for a second, though, that the Marcus Williams era was as satisfying as the eras of the guys who came before (KEA, Taliek) or after (Price, Kemba, Shabazz).

That's what he's measured against.

His character was awful? haha. I should have said 'replacing brown with Williams' since all you did was read the last sentence of my post. It's pretty clear there is an unjustified bias towards marcus, many of you believing he's thug or something. anyway marcus is doing great playing in the euroleague

 

[Gurleyman]

I don't think anyone has said anything about AJ, Doron or KO and how they had the keys and didn't drive their respective teams to the finish line!! All with very good teams surrounding them but they also didn't have a #2 & #4 draft pick playing next to them.........this isn't about who was better it's about Marcus and his character I'm afraid.

It isn't always the end result, but how it happens. The 1995 team played well through the whole tourney - beat an excellent Maryland team with Joe Smith, and then lost a good fight to top-seeded UCLA. AJ got to a Final Four - played really well to get there (punked Texas A+M), and lost to an excellent Michigan State team in Detroit. MW's team was down 12 to Albany, pulled a houdini to beat UW, and lost to a mid-major that Florida toyed with in the FF.

Pre laptop-gate, I liked Marcus. I didn't hold flunking off the team as a frosh against him (kids make mistakes, and no harm done), and I didn't hold 2005 against anyone - we were a human infirmary and Rudy fell down trying to guard Hodge in a tie game. Then came the laptops in an offseason prior to a "national title or bust" kind of year which boggled my mind coming from a kid who blew a chance at earning a ring 18 months prior. Then we decide to let him play (which I thought we shouldn't have - but reasonable minds can disagree), we go undefeated without him (Maui was a tougher field than the East Regional), and got wiped out by Marquette in his first game back when we gave up almost 100 points. That set a tone for me where I thought MW was an entertaining player, but not a guy who you want with the keys to the car (at least not without a co-pilot to handle most of the important stuff). Our postseason struggles reinforced that.

But, yeah, in a parallel universe where AJ had been healthy and that team won a title, I'd probably only hold the off-court stuff against him. Or I'll give you another one: had he been born two years earlier and we could have put Jerome Dyson on that team, that would have solved a lot of problems. Then maybe everyone else would like Dyson more.

 

[champs99and04]

I don't think we win the 2004 title if Taliek is subbed out for Marcus. Sure, we would have been a much better offense, and maybe even one of the most efficient offenses ever - but everybody knows defense wins championships (this is not just an old cliche I'm falling back on, it's supported by advanced stats), and whatever we gained offensively with Marcus at the helm in 04 would have been nullified and more by his lethargic defensive mindset. Let's not forget, although Ben was the two and Taliek was the one, Taliek would always guard the opposing teams best perimeter scorer (if he was in the same ballpark height wise) while Ben would handle a Craig Austrie-level player as means of conserving energy. If Taliek isn't around to do the dirty work, Ben's defensive deficiencies would have been exposed more often, and our horrific perimeter defense would have culminated in more Emeka fouls, meaning there would have been more episodes like the first half of the Duke game. These are the sort of ripple effects Taliek's absence would have caused that people do not account for. I'm just not sure how people expect we would have won a championship with the lack of one average defender at the 1-3 positions.

 

[mauconnfan]

Rudy wasn't Rudy, all of you bitched about Josh Boone all year and Hilton was inconsistent. That team wasn't nearly as good as 2004...............no comparison. Either guy with the "keys" wins it is that simple.......again Marcus being held for his off court issues. His defense wasn't bad enough to compare down the other end where one guy wasn't even considered an offensive weapon at all. Ben may have averaged 30 a game with a PG whom the other team deemed capable of scoring!!