Next Year's Roster

[nomar]

Where pray tell are RB and DD going?
Are you really serious to think they can go to the NBA?
Not a chance.
Europe a very slim possibility or more likely the local Y

Do you like our players?

 

[Inyatkin]

We'll have a lot of talent next year, but I still remember some season preview magazine saying the 2000 Huskies "might be even more talented than last season's champions!" or some such stupidity.

 

[PAHusky]

We'll have a lot of talent next year, but I still remember some season preview magazine saying the 2000 Huskies "might be even more talented than last season's champions!" or some such stupidity.

That kind of asinine thinking pops up pretty often after a team wins the chip. I remember being guilty of it myself thinking that we'd be ok talent wise in 2012 with the guys we had coming back and the Drummond addition, and I know damn well that a bunch of LVille fans spent this last off season convincing themselves that this current team would be better than last years. Fools gold, but success does tend to make otherwise perpetually pessimistic fans throw out all reason and start chugging the kool aid.

 

[kyle]

We'll have a lot of talent next year, but I still remember some season preview magazine saying the 2000 Huskies "might be even more talented than last season's champions!" or some such stupidity.

Calhoun said Ajou Ajou Deng was the best player on the team.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Calhoun said Ajou Ajou Deng was the best player on the team.

I think that was billy packer

 

[ColoradoUCFan]

Here's my vote for who I think will be hitting the game winning shots

Published on Dec 8, 2013

After trailing for the entire second half, Daniel Hamilton's buzzer-beating 3-pointer stunned host Whitney Young HS at the 2013 Chicago Elite Classic at UIC Pavillion giving St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) a 62-59 win.

 

[huskyharry]

Keys next year will be the continued development of Brimah and Nolan, the emergence of Facey and the return to form of Calhoun. I take it as a given that Purvis and DHamilton are going to be special.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Looking back I should have worded it differently. Napier is one of the best PG ever at UConn. But besides Napier we don't really lose anyone. And to me that's exciting. All this talent returning and all of the talent coming in should make for a very good team in the next few years at least.

Griffey and Kromah are terrific mature players who can defend.
We will lose a lot.

 

[Kitaman]

Don't count Omar out. He just may surprise us all, and contend for starter position and lots of minutes.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We lose a lot of experience. Three 4 year seniors, plus a super senior in Kromah. Experience is huge in the current college game. We gain a lot of talent. Both Purvis and DHam should be more talented than anyone on this team. So it will be interesting to see whether Boat, DD and Nolan can take over the leadership role on the club. Purvis has been practicing and while he's a sophomore in terms of playing time, he'll really be a junior and should be one of our leaders as well. I'm going to hope that Cassell, son of an NBA player, will come in ahead of the average freshman in terms of poise.

How good we are depends on how much the new guys can contribute, and how much improvement we get from Brimah and Nolan (Nolan is starting to remind me of Hilton Armstrong). If DHam and Purvis are lighting it up and looking like future lottery picks, we'll be very good, even without Napier. Next year's team has a lot more offensive firepower, especially if Omar can find where he left his game over the summer. Defense will be the question.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Next year's team will be significantly worse.

Shabazz Napier is leading our team in every single statistical category except blocks, right?

On top of that, we lose our two best defenders in Kromah and Giffey, who also finish at the rim well (LK) and drain 3s (NG). Not to mention they've been our 2nd/3rd best players on multiple occasions this season.

Going into next season without a true PG scares the hell out of me. I expect Boat and Daniels and our bigs to be improved but take Napier off this team and were fighting for aCBI bid.

 

[UconnDon]

A lot depends on DD and RB coming back. I don't think Lyle is an option if they do.

They should, but...

A tremendous amount of next year's W/L result is also dependent on other Div. I graduation/other departures. This is difficult to quantify, but that usually plays a major part in a team's seasonal success, or lack thereof. Who returns to our opponents' teams??

 

[Husky25]

Next year's team will be significantly worse.

Shabazz Napier is leading our team in every single statistical category except blocks, right?

On top of that, we lose our two best defenders in Kromah and Giffey, who also finish at the rim well (LK) and drain 3s (NG). Not to mention they've been our 2nd/3rd best players on multiple occasions this season.

Going into next season without a true PG scares the hell out of me. I expect Boat and Daniels and our bigs to be improved but take Napier off this team and were fighting for aCBI bid.

That's only true if Ollie pulled an Al Skinner and fails to recruit a single first year player. He didn't. He replaces Olander with Lubin (with help from an improved Facey). He replaces Giffey/Kromah with Hamilton/Purvis (and an improved Calhoun), and he replaces Napier's body with Cassell. Production, of course will have to come in the aggregate. I'd expect more out of Terrance Samuel next year and I believe much of the offensive production to return to UConn's historic sweet spot of SG, Swing, and Center.

 

[BearJWS]

Purvis has been practicing and while he's a sophomore in terms of playing time, he'll really be a junior and should be one of our leaders as well.

Purvis is not practicing with the team. He's recovering from shoulder surgery from back in December. I believe it's like 4-5 month for recovery, so he won't be playing again until after the season is over. So getting back into playing shape will be key over the summer months. Hopefully no side affects. Calhoun had surgery this past off season & he hasn't been the same since.

 

[bmayuc]

I have serious concerns about next years teams in terms of (in order):

1. Heart(Napier)
2. Playmaking Ability(Napier)
3. 3 Pt shooting(Napier/Giffey)
4. Toughness(Napier/Giffey)

 

[I Bleed Blue]

At this point this is the way I see the depth chart for next season.

PG: Boat, Cassel Jr., Samuel
SG: Purvis, Calhoun
SF: DHam (With DD getting pleny of time at the 3)
PF: DD, Facey, Lubin (Facey will avg 20 mins a game at the 4)
C: Brimah, Nolan

Obviously need to add a couple guys. Shout out to Mr. Lenehan.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Next year's team will be significantly worse.

Shabazz Napier is leading our team in every single statistical category except blocks, right?

On top of that, we lose our two best defenders in Kromah and Giffey, who also finish at the rim well (LK) and drain 3s (NG). Not to mention they've been our 2nd/3rd best players on multiple occasions this season.

Going into next season without a true PG scares the hell out of me. I expect Boat and Daniels and our bigs to be improved but take Napier off this team and were fighting for aCBI bid.

That's absurd. We aren't taking Napier off of this team, he's off of next year's team. Kansas lost Ben McLemore and Withy last year...do they suck? Syracuse lost Michael Carter Williams, and they are much better.

We are losing an very good senior PG. But let's not get carried away in thinking that his production can't be replaced next year. I think there is a very good chance that next year's team is much better than this year's. The depth of scoring options is much improved. The overall experience level is improved, and especially up front. I also tend to think that both Boat and Bazz are better when the other one is on the bench. Ryan may finally behave like a PG. He'll need to, because competition at SG will be very strong.

 

[Husky25]

At this point this is the way I see the depth chart for next season.

PG: Boat, Cassel Jr., Samuel
SG: Purvis, Calhoun
SF: DHam (With DD getting pleny of time at the 3)
PF: DD, Facey, Lubin (Facey will avg 20 mins a game at the 4)
C: Brimah, Nolan

Obviously need to add a couple guys. Shout out to Mr. Lenehan.

Why does Cassell get the nod over Samuel? Aren't they both 3 star Recruits? Samuel has the advantage of the additional experience as well. I don' see Ollie paying a lot of consideration to name recognition.

 

[ASweet3781]

Looking back I should have worded it differently. Napier is one of the best PG ever at UConn. But besides Napier we don't really lose anyone. And to me that's exciting. All this talent returning and all of the talent coming in should make for a very good team in the next few years at least.

We don't really lose anyone else?

I think Giffey and Kromah have made some very serious contributions this year.

I'm excited to be adding Purvis, Hamilton, Lubin, and Cassell. But I am not convinced we are a better team next year or those newcomers can alone make up for losing Napier, Giffey, and Kromah. Will take a lot of improvement from other returners like Brimah and consistency with Daniels. This team without Napier on the court has not been too pretty.

 

[Ct79]

First time poster long time lurker here and I thought this was a good time to give my thoughts because personally and excited for next years roster. It seems like a lot of people are overly panicked about our lack of dominant bigs or the loss of Bazz. We have has some great Husky big men and point guards come through UCONN but when I thing of UCONN ball I think of teams lead by dynamic NBA caliber combo guard/wings. I’m 34 ad have been a fan since the dream season but honestly was young and my vivid memory of every UCONN season starts with Donyells junior year. I feel it is only recently that we have been led PGs lately is because of the talent we didn’t have the wing. We relied a lot offensively on AJ, Kemba and Bazz to make things happen because of the lack of NBA talent on the wing. In 2011 we don’t win a title with out Lamb playing the way he did through the Big East and NCAA tourneys. I feel like I have read posts bring up the dominant play of Oriahki that year. Don’t get me wrong he played great but I feel like people ignore how truly special Lamb played during that stretch. In 2004 Mek was dominant but that was a super talented team that also had the #3 NBA who went on to win 6th man of the year as a rookie at the 2. I guess my point is that I see NBA caliber players in Purvis and Hamilton coming in and they remind me of the UCONN team I used to love that got up and down the court and scored 75-80 a game. I don’t feel like we need dominant bigs, we need athletic rim protectors and rebounders. I may be more optimistic than others but I have seen enough progress in Nolan and Brimah over the course of the year to believe they will be much better next year. Nolan really struggled to start the year but lately he has been stringing together more and more solid performances as of late. When I watched Nolan to start the year I tried to image how much pressure to perform an unheralded sophomore big may feel being the starting center for UCONN. I look at Brimah and I see an eager learner and a hard worker oozing with athletic potential. Its great to have top recruits but a lot of top 100 guys don’t amount to much because what matters most is how coachable players are and how much work they are willing to put in. With regards to losing Bazz of course he will be hard to replace but that is the nature of college hoops, you have to replace great players every few years and we’ve had to replace a lot of great ones at UCONN. I don’t think we are going to have to relay on our PG offensively as much with the addition of Purvis and Hamilton, (Jackson and Ali). I’ve seen enough from Samuel to think he will be ready to give solid minutes as a facilitating PG. I also think Cassel Jr. will be ready to contribute some minute because he is an older more mature freshman who will understand the worked necessary to put in because of his father. Who knows what Daniels or Boatright decided to do but my feeling in Daniels comes back because he knows he’s not physically or mentally ready. With respect to what Boatright does I think he listens to Ollie and stays another year to improve his point skills. I’ve seen a lost of growth in Boat this year and have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be better next year. I see no reason to mock their draft stock and NBA dreams every time they have a down game. Some players are eager to start their career playing hoops wherever that may be and who am I to judge them. Just my thoughts on the future roster, I am always going to be optimistic about improvement in UCONN. I see no reason to have a favorite team if I can’t rock my blue colored glasses.

 

[caw]

I have serious concerns about next years teams in terms of (in order):

1. Heart(Napier)
2. Playmaking Ability(Napier)
3. 3 Pt shooting(Napier/Giffey)
4. Toughness(Napier/Giffey)

I don't know if I agree with 1,3,4.

I'll start with 3 - 3PT shooting will likely drop but if everyone is back it shouldn't be a concern we still return Boatright (38%) and Daniels (48%). Hamilton and Cassell have reps as good 3PT shooters. Considering the improvements of Giffey, Bazz, Daniels, Boat and even Kromah under the coaching staff, I think we should be OK. Also, Purvis shot well from 3 at NCSt.

#1, while I agree Napier has a ton of heart, but I don't think anyone plays with more heart than Boat. Plus KO will still be on the sidelines with Kfree and Moore.

#4 well maybe, assuming you mean something different than heart, but I think the non-seniors have shown some toughness so far. Also Brimah is playing tougher/stronger, and so is Nolan. I actually think next years team could be tougher.


Depending on the end of this year my concerns are:
- ball handling (Purvis may be good but he's not Napier)
- experience (4 seniors, 3 with NC experience)

I'm praying Daniels and Boat leave this year after bringing #4 back to UConn. Even better, they stay and try to bring #5.

 

[uconn17smith]

A lot of people are harping on the fact that I said we don't really lose anyone beside Napier. Of course we lose Giffey and Kromah who are two great players that have contributed a lot to this team. I guess what I meant was that with all of the newcomers to fill their spots (who are more talented than them), it evens out to only really losing Napier, who won't be replaced next season (or ever, really).

 

[David 76]

First time poster long time lurker here and I thought this was a good time to give my thoughts because personally and excited for next years roster. It seems like a lot of people are overly panicked about our lack of dominant bigs or the loss of Bazz. We have has some great Husky big men and point guards come through UCONN but when I thing of UCONN ball I think of teams lead by dynamic NBA caliber combo guard/wings. I’m 34 ad have been a fan since the dream season but honestly was young and my vivid memory of every UCONN season starts with Donyells junior year. I feel it is only recently that we have been led PGs lately is because of the talent we didn’t have the wing. We relied a lot offensively on AJ, Kemba and Ba

to make things happen because of the lack of NBA talent on the wing. In 2011 we don’t win a title with out Lamb playing the way he did through the Big East and NCAA tourneys. I feel like I have read posts bring up the dominant play of Oriahki that year. Don’t get me wrong he played great but I feel like people ignore how truly special Lamb played during that stretch. In 2004 Mek was dominant but that was a super talented

team that also had the #3 NBA who went on to win 6th man of the year as a rookie at the 2. I guess my point is that I see NBA caliber players in Purvis and Hamilton coming in and they remind me of the UCONN team I used to love that got up and down the court and scored 75-80 a game. I don’t feel like we need dominant bigs, we need athletic rim protectors and rebounders. I may be more optimistic than others but I have seen


enough progress in Nolan and Brimah over the course of the year to believe they will be much better next year. Nolan really struggled to start the year but lately he has been stringing together more and more solid performances as of late. When I watched Nolan to start the year I tried to image how much pressure to perform an unheralded sophomore big may feel being the starting center for UCONN. I look at Brimah and I see an eager learner and a hard worker oozing with athletic potential. Its great to have top recruits but a lot of top 100 guys don’t amount to much because what matters most is how coachable players are and how much work they are willing to put in. With regards to losing Bazz of course he will be hard to replace but that is the nature of college hoops, you have to replace great players every few years and we’ve had to replace a lot of great ones at UCONN. I don’t think we are going to have to relay on our PG offensively as much with the addition of Purvis and Hamilton, (Jackson and Ali). I’ve seen enough from Samuel to think he will be ready to give solid minutes as a facilitating PG. I also think Cassel Jr. will be ready to contribute some minute because he is an older more mature freshman who will understand the worked necessary to put in because of his father. Who knows what Daniels or Boatright decided to do but my feeling in Daniels comes back because he knows he’s not physically or mentally ready. With respect to what Boatright does I think he listens to Ollie and stays another year to improve his point skills. I’ve seen a lost of growth in Boat this year and have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be better next year. I see no reason to mock their draft stock and NBA dreams every time they have a down game. Some players are eager to start their career playing hoops wherever that may be and who am I to judge them. Just my thoughts on the future roster, I am always going to be optimistic about improvement in UCONN. I see no reason to have a favorite team if I can’t rock my blue colored glasses.

CT 79 You came out with a bang! Good post

 

[huskyharry]

No doubt we certainly will lose a lot. Kromah, Giffey and Bazz have been absolutely super this year. But IMO Bazz has had to do too much and that has made us very vulnerable when he has an off night (reference four of the five losses). This year's team has serious flaws that will be improved next year: Most of the game we play two guards who are significantly smaller and not as strong as their opponents. Boat struggle against the size of Cincy (the carry call was garbage BTW... in slow mo replay, Boat's hand went to the side of the ball, not the bottom) and has struggled against in other, similar situations. Bazz took more fade-away jumpers because of giving up height to athletic defenders. Boat will certainly be back next year but will not share the back-court with anyone less than 6'3". Also a switch on a screen won't automatically result in a 6'8" or 9" opponent shooting over a 6' or 5'9" guard because we will only be short at one position. I also fully expect Omar to break out of his slump next year. This year it seems like he makes 2 or 3 negative plays for every positive one...turn that ratio around and it will make a huge difference to the team.
Our primary bigs this year are either glacially slow of foot (TO) or weaker and less experienced than their opponents (I expect PN and especially AB to make significant strides forward). Next year, players like Cincy's Jackson, BCU's Anderson and Houston's Thomas won't be able to just dump-truck our bigs inside. Next year AB and PN will catch passes inside and finish with strength that they either fumble away or have the ball easily stripped away this year. This year's team makes up for these deficiencies (when playing well) by good ball movement and superior shooting. The shooting likely won't be as good next year, but the team also won't have to make up for as many deficiencies.

 

[CTBasketball]

I think we'll be better next year, especially if the bigs come along and start playing consistently well.

G: Purvis, Samuel, Cassel
G: Hamilton, Calhoun
F: Daniels, Tolksdorf
F: Nolan, Facey, Lubin
C: Brimah, Nolan

I think Boat goes and plays overseas.