Nowell in the transfer portal

[JustbrewitMan]

Gaffney and Cole came in during the same year. One was considered our future point guard, and the other was a depth piece, at a time when we were a .500 team and not a destination place for top tier talent.

Diggins was recruited during the COVID shutdown without really seeing him play .. and realistically, we still weren't re-established yet.

Nowell, I don't know. Might just be a talent evaluation miss, or maybe the lost practice time for injuries was a killer for him and he'll be better with a fresh start. But I do know I didn't feel comfortable with him penciled in as a starting point guard next year. At all. If he wanted to stay and try to carve out the role that bench Hassan had, sure, and maybe he'd make the starter leap as a junior. By contrast, I saw enough flashes in Solo last year where I was happy to pencil him in at the 2, even though his stat line at the end of the year didn't look great. But it takes some moxie to take on UNC at the Garden and get us some big buckets. And he had a couple 4-5 games where you could see what he could do.

Careful, a bit too much logic in this post for many here.

 

[Horatio]

If Nowell did have a shoulder injury this season, I think it was probably a lot more serious than reported. A Shoulder injury would absolutely limit what he could do. A mid level shoulder injury would hinder a freshman PG. Plus an ankle injury.

 

[RuffRuff]

Gaffney and Cole came in during the same year. One was considered our future point guard, and the other was a depth piece, at a time when we were a .500 team and not a destination place for top tier talent.

Diggins was recruited during the COVID shutdown without really seeing him play .. and realistically, we still weren't re-established yet.

Nowell, I don't know. Might just be a talent evaluation miss, or maybe the lost practice time for injuries was a killer for him and he'll be better with a fresh start. But I do know I didn't feel comfortable with him penciled in as a starting point guard next year. At all. If he wanted to stay and try to carve out the role that bench Hassan had, sure, and maybe he'd make the starter leap as a junior. By contrast, I saw enough flashes in Solo last year where I was happy to pencil him in at the 2, even though his stat line at the end of the year didn't look great. But it takes some moxie to take on UNC at the Garden and get us some big buckets. And he had a couple 4-5 games where you could see what he could do.

I highly doubt Nowell was just an injury/practice time issue. He would have still had plenty of chances to show what he's made of in practice and if the staff felt he had the goods going into a point guardless sophomore season, they would have pushed to keep. My guess is it was just an eval mistake. It's not like they're not prone as we can look at the Mahaney miss as an egregious one. They're generally very good at evaluating, but not flawless.

 

[caw]

Danny hasn’t had a single hit as far as HS PGs go in about 8 years. Thats not normal.

I know I know it doesn’t matter because we can buy a player someone else developed to play.

Umm, no. Stephon Castle was a high school PG. You can argue if he was the PG at UConn (I will argue he played PG a good amount of the time but wasn't always the main facilitator as a freshman with perhaps the best PG in the country as a fifth year player) but he is playing PG now in the NBA also (he's also played the two, but with Fox out he's gotten a lot more run as the PG).

Castle is also the only first choice PG Hurley has signed from high school IIRC, not sure on Gaffney.

2025 - Not sure there is a real PG in this class. Adams is much more of a combo than any of the other PG recruits below. He's also an unknown at the college level. TBD.
2024 - Nowell, Hurley wanted Pettiford I'm pretty sure, who signed pretty early with Auburn.
2023 - Castle
2022 - NA (got two transfers at PG in Newton and Diarra)
2021 - Diggins, honestly don't recall but I want to say UConn had interest elsewhere first, still a miss for UConn's level
2020 - NA (didn't even recruit one that I recall)
2019 - Gaffney (also brought in Cole) - Gaffney was decent and did play on a final four team, so I wouldn't call this a miss as much as not a home run.
2018 - Adams (solid and brought in as a backup. He played to the level he was recruited for.)

I honestly don't recall before that at URI. So you are talking about five HS recruits. 1 absolute HR in Castle. Adams and Gaffney were serviceable players who could play at UConn's level but were bench players and at least Adams was brought in as such. Diggins was not good enough for UConn's level at all but was also a COVID player where evaluations were bonkers. Nowell is a TBD (IMO) with him barely playing.

 

[UCFan1513]

I highly doubt Nowell was just an injury/practice time issue. He would have still had plenty of chances to show what he's made of in practice and if the staff felt he had the goods going into a point guardless sophomore season, they would have pushed to keep. My guess is it was just an eval mistake. It's not like they're not prone as we can look at the Mahaney miss as an egregious one. They're generally very good at evaluating, but not flawless.

Keep in mind he was likely our third option after missing on Pettiford and either missing or eventually passing on Fland

 

[Deleted at users request]

Keep in mind he was likely our third option after missing on Pettiford and either missing or eventually passing on Fland

We didn’t pass on Fland. We didn’t want to pay up for Fland.

 

[alphasigko]

We didn’t pass on Fland. We didn’t want to pay up for Fland.

And rightly so

 

[freescooter]

100% the former. He developed Newton just fine. It's a hard position to recruit given the transition from HS to college is steep in how it impacts the role. You can't just dribble by guys anymore. Meanwhile we have some here that feel he should try to develop any one we recruit into All American's at all costs, when the portal offers the opportunity to fix mistakes.

Speaking of which, there is a certain ex PG on the roster who's status is still out there.

Different situation. Newton was an established experienced D1 player. And a scorer. And about 2 years shy of collecting social security, LOL,. Different worjingvwith him than with a kid just out of high school. Less maturity, less experience in the game, less developed physically, too.

 

[MDHuskFan]

Different situation. Newton was an established experienced D1 player. And a scorer. And about 2 years shy of collecting social security, LOL,. Different worjingvwith him than with a kid just out of high school. Less maturity, less experience in the game, less developed physically, too.

Newton was a 22 year old senior. He was a young freshman. Let’s not act like he was one of these 25 year old fifth years. It’s just not accurate

 

[HooperScooper]

Newton was a 22 year old senior. He was a young freshman. Let’s not act like he was one of these 25 year old fifth years. It’s just not accurate

Yeah he was born April 26, 2001. So when he came to UConn for his senior year in 2022 after 3 years at ECU he was 21 years old and graduated with a degree from UConn just after he turned 22. Like most people in college.

 

[Gurleyman]

Different situation. Newton was an established experienced D1 player. And a scorer. And about 2 years shy of collecting social security, LOL,. Different worjingvwith him than with a kid just out of high school. Less maturity, less experience in the game, less developed physically, too.

I just don’t understand what’s going on. Is targeting your future point guard at age 17, recruiting him, developing him, and winning with him some sort of a thing that matters? Like that’s the only proper way to do it? In the portal era? Just point guards and no other positions?

Because the starting point guards in the Final Four started at Tulane, FIU, Oklahoma and Iona, but you won’t find those teams playing (ok, you can nit pick James vs. Proctor - Pettiford comes off the bench - but you get the, uh, point - heh heh). The point guard from Iona had a dramatic comeback to beat the point guard from Howard, and the point guard from Ohio U had a bad day and didn’t make it back for a second year in a row.

Newton was a former zero star recruit who was playing losing, inefficient basketball for a bottom tier AAC team and left a first-team All-American with two national championship rings.

I’m not putting an asterisk on that.

 

[auror]

Has anyone seen a list of potential Nowell suitors?

VCU because of the Martelli connection with Carr has been heavily rumored.

 

[UCFan1513]

We didn’t pass on Fland. We didn’t want to pay up for Fland.

So we passed

 

[ScottCT]

Does a loss in November or December matter when your team is at its best in March and make a run?

It’s not that deep

Seeding is very important so losses in November and December does matter. It's not the end of the world but don't make the losses sound so trivial.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Seeding is very important so losses in November and December does matter. It's not the end of the world but don't make the losses sound so trivial.

If you’re the best team you’re the best team.

Gosh when did we start needing all these things to go right. 2014 had the most difficult path ever as a 7 seed.

2011 played the #2 draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Kentucky as a 3.

Now we’re over here talking about seeding. Either you’re the best team or you’re not. The losses are indeed trivial.

 

[SubbaBub]

The portal makes developing HS players more difficult. If you are playing or projected to play a major role/start, then there is always someone willing to pay you and play you.

The guys that buy into the culture, and believe that waiting will ultimately be the better option are the one who will stay to be developed.

Winning helps, having a clear path (including playing time) helps, showing real progression helps, and coaches keeping their word helps.

How else to you think UGA loses their best players? St Mary's? ECU? Michigan?

We've been losing bench guys, guys who weren't going to play much, and guys who can see the writing on the wall. Good players. Yes. Guys we'd prefer to keep because they are our guys? Yes. That's just not how the world works any longer.

Truth is from UConn's perspective and the players. These moves have mostly been win/win.

Anyone really miss any of the freshmen guys that transferred out before we got Newton and Joey C? Can't name most of them, but they found a home and we ended up better off.

 

[RuffRuff]

If you’re the best team you’re the best team.

Gosh when did we start needing all these things to go right. 2014 had the most difficult path ever as a 7 seed.

2011 played the #2 draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Kentucky as a 3.

Now we’re over here talking about seeding. Either you’re the best team or you’re not. The losses are indeed trivial.

Seriously? Are you being serious?

Do you still use a beeper and watch reruns of MTV music videos?

Those constantly bringing up Kemba and Shabazz nonstop should be severed. It’s pointless drivel. The way things landed this year (2025) with all the mid major talent funneling to the top is a LOT more what it’s going to look like going forward that effen 2011. For effs sake already.

 

[7774]

If you’re the best team you’re the best team.

Gosh when did we start needing all these things to go right. 2014 had the most difficult path ever as a 7 seed.

2011 played the #2 draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Kentucky as a 3.

Now we’re over here talking about seeding. Either you’re the best team or you’re not. The losses are indeed trivial.

Kawhi was drafted 15th. The rest of this post has that same level of accuracy.

 

[RuffRuff]

I just don’t understand what’s going on. Is targeting your future point guard at age 17, recruiting him, developing him, and winning with him some sort of a thing that matters? Like that’s the only proper way to do it? In the portal era? Just point guards and no other positions?

Because the starting point guards in the Final Four started at Tulane, FIU, Oklahoma and Iona, but you won’t find those teams playing (ok, you can nit pick James vs. Proctor - Pettiford comes off the bench - but you get the, uh, point - heh heh). The point guard from Iona had a dramatic comeback to beat the point guard from Howard, and the point guard from Ohio U had a bad day and didn’t make it back for a second year in a row.

Newton was a former zero star recruit who was playing losing, inefficient basketball for a bottom tier AAC team and left a first-team All-American with two national championship rings.

I’m not putting an asterisk on that.

No, it doesn’t matter. The portal is the great fixer. There are lingering romantics who think today is no different than 2011. These are people who clearly fawn over the good ol days because perhaps they were better times in their life. They’d rather go on surprising runs out of the blue carried on the back of a home, than be a great team from start to finish, earn a top seed.

Those two UConn teams are anomalies. Go look at the data. They aren’t happening again. As the algorithms tighten up, the portal funnels talent, you’ll see top teams in computer rankings make the final 4, like this year.

Appreciate the runs but please stop using them as baselines to how it should be done today. Cred plummets.

 

[djct1999]

VCU because of the Martelli connection with Carr has been heavily rumored.

I actually think that would be a great fit. Hopefully its true.

 

[Viet Vet]

lol no they don’t. The only thing that matters is how well you’re playing come March.

Would we have been a #8 seed if we'd won more games during the season? All games DO matter.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Kawhi was drafted 15th. The rest of this post has that same level of accuracy.

Derrick Williams from Arizona was drafted 2nd. Now you look stupid trying to be a smartalec

 

[7774]

Derrick Williams from Arizona was drafted 2nd. Now you look stupid trying to be a smartalec

Ah, I see what you were saying. What a weird way to phrase something. Regardless, that whole post is vegetable level nonsense.

 

[navery12]

If you’re the best team you’re the best team.

Gosh when did we start needing all these things to go right. 2014 had the most difficult path ever as a 7 seed.

2011 played the #2 draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Kentucky as a 3.

Now we’re over here talking about seeding. Either you’re the best team or you’re not. The losses are indeed trivial.

This was you 2 days ago, so do the November losses only matter when you want them to?

 

[Deleted at users request]

This was you 2 days ago, so do the November losses only matter when you want them to?

View attachment 108474

Where do I talk about seeding in this post?

 

[WhereistheDove?]

If you’re the best team you’re the best team.

Gosh when did we start needing all these things to go right. 2014 had the most difficult path ever as a 7 seed.

2011 played the #2 draft pick, Kawhi Leonard, and Kentucky as a 3.

Now we’re over here talking about seeding. Either you’re the best team or you’re not. The losses are indeed trivial.

There are times where I’m like 90% sure you’re trolling everyone and this is one of them.

 

[giddyup]

So we passed

Word on the street was BF was about the money. Thats why I suppose a kid from CT follows C and ends up in place he probably couldn’t find on a map … Arkansas is another flush SEC money pit. Glad he sucked in prime time. If you ain’t UConn, I wish you nothing but the worst.

 

[Deleted at users request]

There are times where I’m like 90% sure you’re trolling everyone and this is one of them.

Do you think if we were a 3 seed instead of an 8 this year we win a championship?

Or no matter what we weren’t a better team than Florida and even a Duke?

 

[UCfor3]

Where do I talk about seeding in this post?

Where does Navery mention seeding in his post?

 

[gtcam]

Newton was a former zero star recruit who was playing losing, inefficient basketball for a bottom tier AAC team

As I recall, Newton led the state of Texas in scoring and was 6th in the nation his senior year averaging over 30 pts per game. The reason he was overlooked is that he played in El Paso not known for its basketball but is a football hotbed. He started as a freshman at ECU and was twice named all conference second team AAC, averaging 18 pts pg his jr year - the only reason he wasn't 1st team was that Houston and Memphis (and UConn's CV!) had dominant PG players. I remember Dan Hurley lauding him on his play at ECU before coming to Storrs.
Quite inefficient.
but yes, he fit in well at UConn, he did flourish when surrounded by better players, as most all players do