Nowell in the transfer portal | The Boneyard

Nowell in the transfer portal

Best of luck Ahmad.
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disappointing. I think injuries and subsequent lack of playing time really hindered his development. PG is a spot where we are losing Hass and were already short. However, it looked the same in 2022 and the staff was able to find what we excactly needed, so hoping it will all work out the same.
 
huskyharry said:
disappointing. I think injuries and subsequent lack of playing time really hindered his development. PG is a spot where we are losing Hass and were already short. However, it looked the same in 2022 and the staff was able to find what we excactly needed, so hoping it will all work out the same.
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The injuries and also when they occurred along with UConn being behind the 8-ball from the 0-3 performance in Maui really hindered his chances of developing. It's unfortunate.

I wish him the best wherever his future resides.
 
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Not surprising again. Good Luck. Another stone falls. Next !
 
It appears it's pretty much useless to give non-5* freshmen NIL these days. If they don't help us year 1, they're going to transfer. If they do help someone else year 1, they're going to transfer looking for extra money so we can buy them then. High school recruiting is going to be strange going forward.
 
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Unlike Abraham we saw Nowell play. His handle was not special, he couldn’t create his own shot driving and he wasn’t a great 3 point shooter. On top of that as short as he was they could shoot over him and take him off the dribble. He had some nice assists but we need bigger and better.
Only wish him well of course.
 
Agreed small sample but nothing jumped off page about either one and if they couldn’t crack the lineup on this year’s team doubtful next year would have been any different
 
He was one of the top NIL players on the team, so we'll have more for portal now. I was so impressed by his highlights and complained he wasnt playing more, but after seeing him, he just didn't play like the player Dan Hurley signed. High dribble and not the strong penetrator I thought he was. Definitely best of luck to him. I hope the Huskies never play against any ex-players that portaled. We don't need any more guys having insane nights against us. Playing against Oriakhi when he transferred to Missouri was one of the strangest things I remember.
 
I think Ahmad can play. Clearly I am higher on him than a decent chunk of people, but it wasn’t a good situation for a freshman to try to crack this rotation with the pressure that the team had on it

Probably would be PG2 next year, and I’m not sure how many teams will give him the reigns to be PG1 right now. So I guess he just wants a change of scenery

Best of luck to Ahmad
 
there were some tea leaves online about this one.

bummer, but what can you do? we are going hard for a starting PG and if kids want guaranteed playing time this is the wrong spot.
 
The reality is, you couldn’t go into the year with him penciled in as your starting PG as a team that hopes to contend for a title. Seemed like he had some talent but it didn’t shine through here in year 1 for him. UConn doesn’t really have the luxury to develop a bunch of freshmen that aren’t ready to contribute right away. This isn’t the Bouk, Gaff, Akok year in the AAC where the team is still trying to get its footing & will allow lots of freshmen to play through mistakes. It’s a team coming off back to back natties. It’s really hard for most freshmen to break into that line up, even with a dicey point guard situation behind Diarra. UConn will be fine.
 
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UCTitleTown said:
He was one of the top NIL players on the team, so we'll have more for portal now. I was so impressed by his highlights and complained he wasnt playing more, but after seeing him, he just didn't play like the player Dan Hurley signed. High dribble and not the strong penetrator I thought he was. Definitely best of luck to him. I hope the Huskies never play against any ex-players that portaled. We don't need any more guys having insane nights against us. Playing against Oriakhi when he transferred to Missouri was one of the strangest things I remember.
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The strangest part of it is UConn didn't play them that year...
 
jibsey said:
Unlike Abraham we saw Nowell play. His handle was not special, he couldn’t create his own shot driving and he wasn’t a great 3 point shooter. On top of that as short as he was they could shoot over him and take him off the dribble. He had some nice assists but we need bigger and better.
Only wish him well of course.
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Obviously no one is surprised by this news. But I have a feeling he will have a lot of success with another program.

Keep this in mind...the UConn offense is very hard to master and it is difficult for a young PG to get to the point where he isn't "thinking" about what needs to be done and is instead playing freely and naturally.

This is what has me nervous about the complete reliance on a transfer PG next year. I have full faith in Hurley and our coaching staff--so it isn't a criticism. But look at every PG that has come in under Hurley--they have all had major struggles the first year and look like they are in over their head. Even TNewton looked horrible his first season until late February rolled around. Diarra looked completed overmatched when he first arrived his first season. AMahaney was a shell of himself all year this year. Heck even this year's NBA rookie of the year looked like half the player he is in the NBA 6 months later for the first half of last season. Alleyne struggle mightily for the first half of his season here. Before that, we had Gaffney and Diggins who never lived up.

Given the track record of first year PGs at UConn for the past few years, I think we need to give Nowell a break. I suspect he will end up being a very good college player in two years. UConn and Hurley can be a very tough place for inexperienced PGs. I am hoping and have faith that we get an experienced transfer PG and Hurley can shorten the learning curve next year immensely.
 
REB1094 said:
I think Ahmad can play. Clearly I am higher on him than a decent chunk of people, but it wasn’t a good situation for a freshman to try to crack this rotation with the pressure that the team had on it

Probably would be PG2 next year, and I’m not sure how many teams will give him the reigns to be PG1 right now. So I guess he just wants a change of scenery

Best of luck to Ahmad
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He can play. He will have a good career elsewhere. If we had a better season or were still in the tournament he might have stayed. It's a lot easier to wait your turn when the team is dominant. When losses pile up and you aren't playing at all, it becomes such a long season. We will get a very point guard in the portal....maybe even two of them.
 
This one feels different from Abraham - with what we have coming back, and coming in next year, I think Abraham would have been buried on the depth chart. However, with Diarra leaving, and Mahaney not the answer at the 1, I think the tea leaves pointed to Nowell as the logical replacement.

I am sure the coaches saw way more than we did in practices, etc., but perhaps they felt even with a sophomore leap, he was not the answer for next season.
 
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Another unsurprising one but I do think he’s going to turn into a nice player. I don’t know if it’ll be at this level but still exciting to follow his progression. Best of luck to him.
 
I think this points to two quality guards coming in from the portal with one being a plug in starter. Probably good size with both.
I have high hopes for Adams so hopefully he’ll be groomed next year to lead this offense in a couple of years.
 
Ahmad was one guy I was excited about long-term, but the reality is that this team needs a sure-fire PG for next season, which would have rendered Nowell's role to the bench in Y2. Based on that, I'm not surprised he's looking elsewhere, but I wish him the best of luck. Seems like a good kid.

Moving forward, I'd love to see Mahaney stick around next season as a veteran shooter/secondary distributor alongside our talented freshmen and hopefully a shiny new PG from the portal.
 
DRBackup said:
The strangest part of it is UConn didn't play them that year...
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If you really think about it hard, you can probably figure out why they weren’t playing, despite a lack of quality depth at each position.
 
EricLA said:
This one feels different from Abraham - with what we have coming back, and coming in next year, I think Abraham would have been buried on the depth chart. However, with Diarra leaving, and Mahaney not the answer at the 1, I think the tea leaves pointed to Nowell as the logical replacement.

I am sure the coaches saw way more than we did in practices, etc., but perhaps they felt even with a sophomore leap, he was not the answer for next season.
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I think they're pretty clearly intent on bringing in a 1 in the portal and I would assume Hurley envisions Adams in the Tristen [edit] Newton [I'm an idiot] mold of a combo guard that can be on the ball. Not crazy that a kid would not be amped to compete for at best a backup spot.

I wish the kid well, never really got any indication that he'd be poised to have an impact next year. Like most kids who leave I hope he finds a good fit.
 
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