2024 Recruiting: - One more potential add? | The Boneyard

2024 Recruiting: One more potential add?

He can also mean one more tweet from Hurley this week. LOL! Really vague on what he means. It could just be as simple as Andre Johnson Jr. entering the portal.
 
Robo03 said:
Would love a more traditional big bodied PF that could take some tough defensive assignments. Our potential frontcourt of AK and Samson could get out muscled by some bigger frontcourts.
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We aren't going back to a traditional 4 especially with the Centers we have on the roster who can't score more than 5 feet from the basket. You could see a kid as someone mentioned from South Florida or just a developmental piece to replace Roumoglou. Just give up this traditional PF dream it isn't going to happen with UConn anymore unless we have a 5 who can space the floor. Hurley likes to keep the middle open for drives and stuff and a traditional 4 would just clog the lane up more.
 
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I don't think it's necessarily tied to Alex heading to the NBA. I'd imagine it's more like the addition of Yarin Hasson a couple years ago -- we'll take a project/end of bench guy to help with depth and make for competitive practices.

If Karaban does leave (and I tend to think he'll be back), I imagine we'll look at the portal then -- there's still the opportunity to get some high quality talent in the portal in June (see, e.g., Cam Spencer last year).
 
Tyler2Rings said:
Have to imagine an add only comes if Alex heads to the NBA
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"This week" but you may be correct on the delay.

But how many open scholarships now? There will be incomings of some kind.
 
3rdbass said:
We aren't going back to a traditional 4 especially with the Centers we have on the roster who can't score more than 5 feet from the basket. You could see a kid as someone mentioned from South Florida or just a developmental piece to replace Roumoglou. Just give up this traditional PF dream it isn't going to happen with UConn anymore unless we have a 5 who can space the floor. Hurley likes to keep the middle open for drives and stuff and a traditional 4 would just clog the lane up more.
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It's insane that people keep asking for this. I don't get it.
The biggest change we made was NOT having this player type on the floor. Then we went on the most dominant run in cbb in decades, now a few people want to go backwards. Insane
 
ec33 said:
"This week" but you may be correct on the delay.

But how many open scholarships now? There will be incomings of some kind.
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Currently 2 open, if AK returns there's just 1. Hurley has shown he likes keeping one available. That's how he got Alex in a semester early
 
3rdbass said:
We aren't going back to a traditional 4 especially with the Centers we have on the roster who can't score more than 5 feet from the basket. You could see a kid as someone mentioned from South Florida or just a developmental piece to replace Roumoglou. Just give up this traditional PF dream it isn't going to happen with UConn anymore unless we have a 5 who can space the floor. Hurley likes to keep the middle open for drives and stuff and a traditional 4 would just clog the lane up more.
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And thank God for that.

We correctly realized that the benefits of having a skilled 4 (shooting, spacing, press-breaking, interchangeability, matching up defensively against small-ball 4s) are much more valuable than the downsides (possibly being overpowered on D by traditional 4s if anyone still uses them).

It is really hard to take advantage of a team that uses a stretch 4 like Karaban, and very easy to take advantage of a team that uses a traditional 4 like Whaley.
 
Hard to see anyone of note coming in at this point, if it's an add I'd imagine it's a developmental type who wouldn't play until 2025.

If we wanted someone in the rotation I feel like we would have gotten Brea. There's not really any holes with or without Karaban, if you squint the biggest issue might be shooting which Brea would have fixed
 
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navery12 said:
Hard to see anyone of note coming in at this point, if it's an add I'd imagine it's a developmental type who wouldn't play until 2025.

If we wanted someone in the rotation I feel like we would have gotten Brea. There's not really any holes with or without Karaban, if you squint the biggest issue might be shooting which Brea would have fixed
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There’s probably some guys we’re eyeing for developmental roles, it’s just convincing them to come with virtually no shot at playing is probably difficult.
 
Robo03 said:
Would love a more traditional big bodied PF that could take some tough defensive assignments. Our potential frontcourt of AK and Samson could get out muscled by some bigger frontcourts.
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We don’t play in the big 10. We beat big 10 teams that play that way. Easily.
 
CardiacAndre7 said:
From my POV we are set everywhere. 2 Deep+ at guard. Seems like we have 45 wing players, and 2.5ish deep at Center.
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Even with no Karaban we're 3 deep at basically every spot. I guess the 1 and 2 has a decent amount of overlap but 80 minutes is already a bit tight for those 4 guys

PG: Diarra, Nowell, Mahaney
SG: Mahaney, Ball, Diarra
SF: McNeeley, Stewart, Ross
PF: Stewart, Abraham, McNeeley
C: Johnson, Reed, Singare
 
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Supes said:
Speculation seems to be that we're done with our backcourt, but still looking to add a big man. I'm assuming it would be a guy who can play PF/small ball C, who can shoot from 3. Basically Karaban insurance.
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Tyler2Rings said:
Have to imagine an add only comes if Alex heads to the NBA
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these are the only logical assumptions
navery12 said:
here's not really any holes with or without Karaban
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3peating becomes silly talk without AK. mcneeley and stew (both 6'7 ~210) have good size for SFs but not PFs. i'd like a one year grad transfer that wants to win a chip if AK stays in the draft. i'm being greedy but a 3peat is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
 
ibleedhuskyblue said:
It's insane that people keep asking for this. I don't get it.
The biggest change we made was NOT having this player type on the floor. Then we went on the most dominant run in cbb in decades, now a few people want to go backwards. Insane
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I think 2023 was the proof of this. Samson goes down with an injury in his first game and the 4 ends up being 6’8” freshman Alex Karaban, for the remainder of the season. Going into the Big East in early 23 there was talk about him not being strong enough physically for the opposition, but what it did for our offense was impossible to ignore. And outside of a couple buckets, it wasn’t an exploitative problem at all for our defense.


I see UConn with 1 big and outside of the point, a mix of taller combo guards and small forwards. I think this is our new identity. Next year we will have 4 guys at 6’7” and taller at the forward (Stewart, McNeeley, Ross, Abraham & Karaban if he returns).
 
Connecticut13 said:
I don't think it's necessarily tied to Alex heading to the NBA. I'd imagine it's more like the addition of Yarin Hasson a couple years ago -- we'll take a project/end of bench guy to help with depth and make for competitive practices.

If Karaban does leave (and I tend to think he'll be back), I imagine we'll look at the portal then -- there's still the opportunity to get some high quality talent in the portal in June (see, e.g., Cam Spencer last year).
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Only difference is Cam Spencer declared on May 19th. Grad students have to declare by May 1st this year. So we won't get the added luxury of good Grad Students declaring late in May.
 
bendm said:
these are the only logical assumptions

3peating becomes silly talk without AK. mcneeley and stew (both 6'7 ~210) have good size for SFs but not PFs. i'd like a one year grad transfer that wants to win a chip if AK stays in the draft. i'm being greedy but a 3peat is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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Why Can't Stewart put on some weight on his frame and come back like Karaban did for his sophomore year?
 
bendm said:
these are the only logical assumptions

3peating becomes silly talk without AK. mcneeley and stew (both 6'7 ~210) have good size for SFs but not PFs. i'd like a one year grad transfer that wants to win a chip if AK stays in the draft. i'm being greedy but a 3peat is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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McNeeley is more 3 than 4, but from watching him definitely looks like he could play either spot. Stewart is 100% more of a 4 just like Karaban. I think he'll start at the 3 next to Karaban if he comes back though
 
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bendm said:
these are the only logical assumptions

3peating becomes silly talk without AK. mcneeley and stew (both 6'7 ~210) have good size for SFs but not PFs. i'd like a one year grad transfer that wants to win a chip if AK stays in the draft. i'm being greedy but a 3peat is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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There's enough talent to three-peat without AK. With AK people will be talking about taking UConn over the field.
 
One piece we didn't have last year is a body to guard really physical 4's, where they could back down AK at ease. No one behind AK that can really guard that kind of guy either, guys like Reneau, Ingram, etc. I would think if he did anything, it would be just to get a body for depth in the event we played a team with a really strong PF. That, or get a developmental mid major. One thing I've heard Pope is doing is holding a couple spots open for guys that enter draft, then pull out. Always good to have a spot for opportunistic reasons as you never know how things will fall these days.
 
RuffRuff said:
One piece we didn't have last year is a body to guard really physical 4's, where they could back down AK at ease. No one behind AK that can really guard that kind of guy either, guys like Reneau, Ingram, etc. I would think if he did anything, it would be just to get a body for depth in the event we played a team with a really strong PF. That, or get a developmental mid major. One thing I've heard Pope is doing is holding a couple spots open for guys that enter draft, then pull out. Always good to have a spot for opportunistic reasons as you never know how things will fall these days.
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I don't think AK got backed down with ease. He added muscle and seemed to hold his own even against some bigger centers. It definitely was something he worked on last year offseason to get stronger. I agree that Stewart and especially McNeeley would need to add muscle to bang down low. This year we don't have Clingan to cover for guys so it will be interesting how we do inside. I think on offense we will be a better shooting team than this year with who we keep and those we bring in. The team will look a little different for sure but same concept of stretch 4 to keep the lanes open is what we will have this year.
 
An addition might be more for practice numbers than anything else. If Karaban leaves I can see picking up a reserve stretch 4 with some defensive physicality and rebounding ability.
 
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