Next year's team will be good.

[JimHurley]

I'm thinking our starting lineup next year will be Adams, Purvis, Hamilton, Nolan, and Brimah. Cassell, Samuel, Facey, Enoch, and Lubin will also contribute decent minutes. I actually think Cassell will turn out to be a good player for this program. He battled through injuries all last year so it's no fair to judge him based on just this year. He's a decent ball handler and can definitely shoot as we saw in the preseason games.

I see Purvis and Hamilton each averaging around 15-16 points a game. Adams I think will put up around 10. He will be decent throughout the year but will struggle at times as did Boat and Bazz early in their careers. Nolan and Brimah won't be huge scorers, maybe combining for 12 points per game but Nolan can play good defense and Brimah is one of the best shot blockers in the country so it'll be a pretty good front court as long as they improve their rebounding.

Adams, Purvis, and Hamilton will be the best backcourt in the conference. And let's face it, UConn basketball isn't based around big men. We let our guards to the damage. So all in all, I really think this team will be good next year. I would be willing to bet we'll make the NCAA tournament and have a legitimate shot at making the sweet 16.

 

[Kitaman]

Ok Doc, anyway welcome to the Yard. With this as your first post we will need you next year to post like this more often.

 

[ctchamps]

Ok Doc, anyway welcome to the Yard. With this as your first post we will need you next year to post like this more often.

He's scrappy2.0's little bro. Or The Smart One has made a name change. Anyways welcome JimOllie.

 

[JimHurley]

Thank both of you for the welcoming. I'm neither scrappy2.0's little bro or The Smart One, just a student at UConn who can't wait for next season.

 

[Wise2]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

Khalid?

 

[JimHurley]

Wise2, I can't. But it can be done. For example look at Maryland with Melo Trimble and Ohio State with D'Angelo Russell. Jalen Adams has the talent to make an impact as big as them.

 

[tcf15]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

 

[BearJWS]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

Bazz was a Freshman PG on the 2011 team... You didn't quantify it as a Starter.

 

[raf46]

I'm thinking our starting lineup next year will be Adams, Purvis, Hamilton, Nolan, and Brimah. Cassell, Samuel, Facey, Enoch, and Lubin will also contribute decent minutes. I actually think Cassell will turn out to be a good player for this program. He battled through injuries all last year so it's no fair to judge him based on just this year. He's a decent ball handler and can definitely shoot as we saw in the preseason games.

I see Purvis and Hamilton each averaging around 15-16 points a game. Adams I think will put up around 10. He will be decent throughout the year but will struggle at times as did Boat and Bazz early in their careers. Nolan and Brimah won't be huge scorers, maybe combining for 12 points per game but Nolan can play good defense and Brimah is one of the best shot blockers in the country so it'll be a pretty good front court as long as they improve their rebounding.

Adams, Purvis, and Hamilton will be the best backcourt in the conference. And let's face it, UConn basketball isn't based around big men. We let our guards to the damage. So all in all, I really think this team will be good next year. I would be willing to bet we'll make the NCAA tournament and have a legitimate shot at making the sweet 16.

you are going to replace Boat, with a freshman, and make the team better. you are assuming al lot from the returning players. I hope you are right. However, a freshman not named el amin, will have a major learning curve.

 

[Matrim55]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

While this is obviously a/the big concern, can we at least recognize that a ton of the offense is going to run through DHam next year? He's the best passing forward we've ever had (sorry Caron & Scottie, it's true) and will relieve a TON of the burden of offensive initiation/creation from whoever the starting PG is.

 

[Kitaman]

I love the optimism, but name the last UCONN team that was really good with a Freshman point guard.

2008 was a good great team with Kemba. 31-5 record: Linky

But if you mean without an on-court tutor, you have to go all the way back to Taliek Brown. He came in solo.

However we have Moore, Hobbs and Ollie on staff so that should reduce the learning curb significantly.

 

[sammydabiz]

2008 was a good great team with Kemba. 31-5 record: Linky

But if you mean without an on-court tutor, you have to go all the way back to Taliek Brown. He came in solo.

However we have Moore, Hobbs and Ollie on staff so that should reduce the learning curb significantly.

Ya I think it's assumed that the "starting PG" is a freshman..... 2008-2009 was AJ Price's squad..... He never gets the credit he deserves, 31-5 record, and a final four squad that unfortunately had to play Mich St in Detroit. Price was fantastic that year, and it was the last "dominant" UConn squad we've had in Storrs

 

[Ripper32]

We're going to be a bubble team until we see substantial growth from our frontcourt, whomever that will be.

 

[lange10]

Wise2, I can't. But it can be done. For example look at Maryland with Melo Trimble and Ohio State with D'Angelo Russell. Jalen Adams has the talent to make an impact as big as them.

Jalen Adams is a lot like Trimble. Does that mean I'm expecting Adams to come in and average 16 and 4 like Trimble? No, but just because he's a freshman doesn't mean we can't be good. Let the tournament finish, coaches get fired and start the onslaught of recruiting grad transfers. Get 2 more talented pieces (True PG, shooter, low post presence - any 2 of the 3) and this team can be good. It's not optimism its the truth.

 

[Mots010]

Is Khalid standing on a ladder?

 

[Brandon86]

http://nehoopnews.com/news/brewster...-helps-team-win-nepsac-aaa-title#.VQzLENAo7qC

Adams looks good!!!

 

[JimHurley]

Yeah, I think Adams will be a great player for our program. I think he could be along the lines of Kemba, Shabazz, Boat, etc.

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

Not really sure if we will be very good next season but 2 years from now when Purvis Brimah are seniors I think we can make another run

 

[Huskies2324]

Some new faces to look forward to next year. At least our expectations will be held in check so slight possibity to be pleasantly surprised.

 

[JimHurley]

Yeah I've been thinking that all year. In 2 years our seniors will be Samuel, Purvis, Brimah, Cassell, and Facey. Adams will be a sophomore. Hamilton (fingers crossed) will be a junior. That team could be scary good.

 

[UConnSwag11]

We have OSU and GTown at home next year... Maryland at our second home, MSG and away at texas.. Would like to say those would be a good way to measure our team but by mid jan I would like to see us rolling... I think we can be very good if we can fix a majority of our issues both as a team and individually. It's not like adams hasn't been in the spotlight, the kid seems to feed off of it... If we can get a big or our guys work over this summer and get much better at rebounding and team defense I think we can be very good... our guards did a lot of the work this year and we were in a lot of games without much from the bigs

 

[JimHurley]

A strong Non-Conference schedule is always a good thing.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

I think Hamilton will be gone after next season, and rightfully so, because if he plays the way he should, he can be a top 5 pick

 

[Yankees32123]

We also haven't had a freshman point guard with the all around game that Jalen already has. God I hope he's next year's Melo Trimble. We're also a BIG team. When opponents see Brimah, Nolan, Facey, Enoch, and Lubin coming out into the layup lines, there's going to be an intimidation factor with our size. Hopefully Kentan and Amida put on some weight. I'm optimistic about next year.

If I'm being honest, as great as Boat was this year, we will be better without him next year. Obviously he didn't make us worse this year, but next year they won't have him to rely on so others will have to step up. I expect a lot of improvement from Brimah, and at least 40 ppg from Purvis/Hamilton/Adams.