Nowell in the transfer portal

[businesslawyer]

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.

Neither side of this argument is wrong. Seeding is relatively unimportant if the only thing you care about is winning a national championship, and everything short of that is a bust you don’t care about. Seeding is much more important if you view reaching the Sweet 16 and the Final Four as worthy goals in their own right, even if they’re not the ultimate goal.

 

[navery12]

Who did we luck out in avoiding in 2023? We steamrolled everyone OOC all season. We were the best team.

In 2014 we were the only team to beat Florida and we did it twice. We didn’t luck out in not playing anyone.

2023 I agree we would have beaten anyone, but in 2014 we would have been destroyed by Louisville if we played them in the NCAA Tournament. That team was just an awful matchup for us

 

[temery]

Who did we luck out in avoiding in 2023? We steamrolled everyone OOC all season. We were the best team.

In 2014 we were the only team to beat Florida and we did it twice. We didn’t luck out in not playing anyone.

January 2023 wasn't fun.

 

[PBX71]

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.

this is false, i agree the portal is the great fixer and can make any team viable immediately. However, Puke is a team with its core built around 3 freshman and that is not supposed to work either.
I do agree and think now you should only recruit HS players you believe can contribute right away and fill with portal but you can not just go all in on the portal. Its now the job of the mid and low majors to develop most of the high school talent.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Who did we luck out in avoiding in 2023? We steamrolled everyone OOC all season. We were the best team.

In 2014 we were the only team to beat Florida and we did it twice. We didn’t luck out in not playing anyone.

Also beat the best of the A-10, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, and best-playing late season SEC.

We were fortunate in not having to play the best team in our own conference in the NCAA Tourney.

 

[UConnRock]

In 2014 UConn wins were against 10, 2, 3, 4, 1, 8. that is not a cakewalk.
In comparison -
2011 was a 14, 6, 5, 3, 4, 8
2023 was a 4, 5, 8, 3, 5, 5
2024 was a 16, 9, 5, 3, 4 ,1

 

[jibsey]

Isn’t Nowell about the same size as Mark Sears? Nowell tore it up in HS to become a 4 star player but it just didn’t carry over to larger more physical BE players. And even if he could have some success there is no room for error at his size. Sears was stuffed and couldn’t get shots off in his last game.

 

[boog204]

Isn’t Nowell about the same size as Mark Sears? Nowell tore it up in HS to become a 4 star player but it just didn’t carry over to larger more physical BE players. And even if he could have some success there is no room for error at his size. Sears was stuffed and couldn’t get shots off in his last game.

Nowell struck me from the start as that bowling ball type small guard who can dominate in HS taking the ball to the hoop. There have been tons over the years. Hell, Taliek was one. But then they come to college and show they cannot shoot, and it just doesn't work out that well unless they have really good PG skills (like Taliek). It wasn't that Ahmad wasn't a great shooter that puzzled me; it was that he didn't seem all that quick and that his handle was really loose.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Isn’t Nowell about the same size as Mark Sears? Nowell tore it up in HS to become a 4 star player but it just didn’t carry over to larger more physical BE players. And even if he could have some success there is no room for error at his size. Sears was stuffed and couldn’t get shots off in his last game.

That's not a good argument. Mark Sears was a first team All-American. So were Braden Smith and Walter Clayton, neither of whom are big. The fact that Sears had a bad game against Duke doesn't mean that guys his size aren't successful in college basketball. He torched us in the Final Four last year.

Nowell might very well have gone on to have a good UConn career, and he might very well become a very good college basketball player elsewhere. He didn't show it this year and we didn't have the kind of team where he could play through a ton of mistakes. And in 2025 guys aren't going to stick around for a couple years if that's the case. While having a 6-5 guy running your offense is a weapon, some people here have gone way too far in the conclusion that it's the only way to play.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I totally understand that he was rusty. He is used to playing regular minutes, and last year he barely played. But what I found disappointing was his ball handling and his defense. His dribble was not steady and much too high. And while I can understand that he is not Castle defensively (most people aren't), I hated seeing how quickly he got beat off the dribble. Very little defensive effort. And in the game after Aidan got benched it showed. Aidan still got beat, but he was putting up a fight. Nowell never put up a fight. And comparing Nowell with Mark Sears is silly. Sears is an All-American for two years in a row. Settle down.

 

[REB1094]

Maybe reaching here. This guy is a Richmond Times sports editor

Husky to Ram. Nowell to VCU? A lot of their guards are graduating

 

[navery12]

Maybe reaching here. This guy is a Richmond Times sports editor

Husky to Ram. Nowell to VCU? A lot of their guards are graduating

Not reaching, that's been the rumor all week

 

[SubbaBub]

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?

We'd at least make it to the Elite 8 with the new guys having another couple of games under there belt and a chance at a more favorable whistle.

So yes, having to play FL early is a disadvantage that's why they seed teams in the first place.

 

[FlexOnEm]

VCU or SJU in PA.

 

[auror]

To be Mark Sears, Braden Smith, or whomever, you have to be 1) probably old and 2) elite of the elite in skills and shooting.

 

[boog204]

Not reaching, that's been the rumor all week

VCU just hired Phil Martelli, Jr., who's a Philly guy and obviously has deep ties with his dad at St. Joe's. Since Ahmad's people are all about how UConn destroys Philly players, why not send him to a Philly coach to right our wrongs?

 

[RuffRuff]

VCU just hired Phil Martelli, Jr., who's a Philly guy and obviously has deep ties with his dad at St. Joe's. Since Ahmad's people are all about how UConn destroys Philly players, why not send him to a Philly coach to right our wrongs?

I like this for him and do wonder if it’s a smart play for lots of kids his caliber sans the NIL piece. Nothing substitutes development like real game time. Go play at VCU for a year or two and if the goods are there make the jump. It is telling of his caliber at this stage.

 

[Umami Zen]

VCU just hired Phil Martelli, Jr., who's a Philly guy and obviously has deep ties with his dad at St. Joe's. Since Ahmad's people are all about how UConn destroys Philly players, why not send him to a Philly coach to right our wrongs?

Tasheed Carr played two years at St Joes for Phil Jr's Dad

 

[RuffRuff]

To be Mark Sears, Braden Smith, or whomever, you have to be 1) probably old and 2) elite of the elite in skills and shooting.

Yeah sure it can work, but you have to be a lot more skilled/quick. Big players can naturally do things small ones cannot.

 

[bluestreak]

There is a lot of talk in this thread about guard size. It harkens me back to 2014 and how the talking heads all predicted how the taller Harrison twins were going to destroy our smaller Baz and Boat guards.
Didn't work out that way for them. I can still see Baz saying "I TOLD YOU"

 

[Mots010]

There is a lot of talk in this thread about guard size. It harkens me back to 2014 and how the talking heads all predicted how the taller Harrison twins were going to destroy our smaller Baz and Boat guards.
Didn't work out that way for them. I can still see Baz saying "I TOLD YOU"

Prior to 2023, we won all of our championships with small lead guards. Heck, el Amin was 5-10!

 

[Richmondhsky]

Maybe reaching here. This guy is a Richmond Times sports editor

Husky to Ram. Nowell to VCU? A lot of their guards are graduating

Interesting…been here going on 30 years and have never heard of him…I read the Times Dispatch. Does a good job on local and VA CBB and Football

 

[Scottzer]

There is a lot of talk in this thread about guard size. It harkens me back to 2014 and how the talking heads all predicted how the taller Harrison twins were going to destroy our smaller Baz and Boat guards.
Didn't work out that way for them. I can still see Baz saying "I TOLD YOU"

I recall Bazz saying something like “their guards are big, so their dribble is a little high.”

 

[dennismenace]

The best response to grabby small defenders is to be big enough to just play through them like Cam, Castle and Newton did. Dribbling 16 seconds off the shot clock going around them isn’t an answer. Bigger guards are better getting to the rim too. I think Adams is going to be great at that.

How much weight/muscle do you think he needs to play in the big east?

 

[Edward Sargent]

How much weight/muscle do you think he needs to play in the big east?

Actually I thought when I first saw him that he was thick enough ala Khalid to get the job done