At that number, you really need a HUGE jump from him next year. Hopefully, that happens, but it's far from a certainty. He definitely showed some great flashes of skill last year, but reality is, he's not exceptional athletically and he really struggled defensively due to a lack of physicality. He also struggled shooting the ball! Putting aside 'THE SHOT,' his year last year was fine for a freshman, but objectively, it was sub par for what we needed as a UConn starter. Many other players put in that spot could have produced his offensive numbers and given us way more defensively this last year.
I definitely want him back too, but next year, he still won't be exceptional athletically. He'll presumably mature a bit physically, but he won't be elite there either. So at that number, in our budget, given his limitations physically/defensively, he really needs to be a TOP LEVEL scorer...not just a streaky shooter. In that regard, you really can't just overtly dismiss other options for those dollars without serious consideration to those other options. Sometimes, getting 2 starter level seniors can trump a POTENTIAL sophomore star... especially one whose value relies so much on perimeter scoring