2024 Recruiting: One more potential add?

[tennmike]

While it is exciting to think of the development of Ball and Stewart, it would be naive to think that Mahaney will not; this dude is going to be in a system that enhances his skills. If you look at his freshman versus sophomore seasons, it is clear he is getting more physically mature. He has great foundational skills and will have a outsized impact on this team.

 

[AllHusky]

A HS All-Star game or HS games in general are not more telling than actually playing in college. In the NCAAT I saw Stewart come in and make some explosive athletic plays that reminded me of the energy that Andre Jackson brought to the team.

More skills, not quite Alex athletically(who is?), but close enough to be able to talk about it.

 

[bendm]

don’t have a dog in the fight, but didn’t you preface your SG/PF statement with a quip about his weight? It very much seemed like a 1+1=2 scenario.

Good grief. I’ll try to spell things out more carefully in the future to avoid these never ending semantic debates.

 

[AllHusky]

I doubt it. Ball fell out of the rotation this year. He will improve but I will shocked if he starts at tge beginning of the seasonZ.

Ball fell out because he wasn't needed any more. Had he continued to get the minutes he was, you would have a different opinion. Losing PT certainly put the brakes on his development, but man has he got some stuff!!

 

[AllHusky]

If forced to start either McNeeley OR AK, sorry, I'd pick McNeeley. AK had too many lousy shooting days this year, I don't think high BB IQ totally overcomes lousy shooting.

Assuming McNeeley plays against DI comp like he did against high level HS competition, sure, why wouldn't he? We might have Larry Bird if he does though, big problem.

 

[UCfor3]

So far we have Alex not starting and Singare and Ross as options at the 4 spot. These opinions are twilight zone material. It's great that we have fans of all kinds, but there is certainly a lack of understanding of players abilities and where they fit in our system.

 

[ec33]

@Tenspro2002 was obviously joking but I can’t tell if you are

He was joking about getting Samson some time at the 3? Nevermind.

And yes, there are some hot takes in this thread.

 

[AllHusky]

In the championship game against Monteverde he did more than a respectable job against Flagg. There were moments he played the five became Ngombo(?) was struggling. Abraham should be able to provide help against fours on the defensive end .

Really excited to see Abraham. Next years roster, to quote Mr Gump, will be " ....like a box of chocolates...."

 

[AllHusky]

So far we have Alex not starting and Singare and Ross as options at the 4 spot. These opinions are twilight zone material. It's great that we have fans of all kinds, but there is certainly a lack of understanding of players abilities and where they fit in our system.

Day drinking(actually morning)

 

[FlexOnEm]

Ball and Stewart will come off the bench.

I’m gonna go polar opposite and say Mahaney, Ball, and Stewart start with Diarra and McNeeley coming off the bench.

 

[bendm]

He was joking about getting Samson some time at the 3? Nevermind.

 

[GlastonTim]

If forced to start either McNeeley OR AK, sorry, I'd pick McNeeley. AK had too many lousy shooting days this year, I don't think high BB IQ totally overcomes lousy shooting.

Pretty sure Dan said Alex was the critical piece for this offense and you think a 3rd year Alex wouldn’t start. Get off the crack Jack.

 

[Iluvsuebird]

For those over-zealous fans that think that our offense will be as good as the last two years - please calm yourselves. The Huskies five starters all averaged double figures this season, and I personally don’t expect that again for the 24-25 season. Nowell, Mahaney, McNeely and Hoss all need to learn the offense - and if they do there’s no guarantee that they’ll run it as smoothly as this past season. Ball and Stewart have a leg up here, and don’t think that they won’t take advantage of that edge over the newcomers to carve out minutes for themselves. They’ll start, but do you expect them to fill it up like Tristen and Cam? McNeely can score, but even Jordan Hawkins didn’t average double figures his freshman year coming off the bench. Do you think that McNeely is better than Hawkins at this stage? Do you think that he’ll bump Ball or Stewart?

The guards will unlikely rebound as well as Newton, Spencer and Castle did this past year. The Huskies enjoyed a tremendous edge in rebounding all year, and that wasn’t solely due to Clingan.

I expect UConn to be one of the best teams in the nation in 2024-25. I also expect that their average margin of victory will be single digits. That doesn’t mean that they won’t 3-peat, but if they do I expect a closer score in the final. 77-74 sounds about right

Your point is well taken. The flip side is that we may be more potent this year. I think the offensive ceiling of Liam is greater than anyone’s last year. Alex should be better. Aidan shots at almost 40% from 3. And for all of DC’s defensive dominance, he was never a finished product offensively. Thus, I can make a credible argument that we will get more offensively from our centers this year. And that’s before we begin to talk about Solo and Stewart’s improvement, or Nowell’s contributions. The key I think is Alex coming back. But listen, a bunch of you are really high on Stewart. If he improves from last year, holy crap we are gonna be insane.

 

[UCSouth]

Day drinking(actually morning)

Comprehension issues?

 

[JustbrewitMan]

So far we have Alex not starting and Singare and Ross as options at the 4 spot. These opinions are twilight zone material. It's great that we have fans of all kinds, but there is certainly a lack of understanding of players abilities and where they fit in our system.

I'm actually disappointed at our progress so far.

Assuming a roster size of 11 players, there could be 462 possible starting lineups. If we get to 12, it balloons to 792 possible starting lineups.

We can do better, Boneyarders!!!

 

[HuskyFich]

If forced to start either McNeeley OR AK, sorry, I'd pick McNeeley. AK had too many lousy shooting days this year, I don't think high BB IQ totally overcomes lousy shooting.

Okay Calipari, we found your burner account.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Huh? Are you talking about Stewart? Then my initial point is proven that we don't need a tall huge physical bruiser playing that position. I think you needed to respond to Bendm as he was the one saying we needed the huge more physical big than Karaban playing the 4.

You initial point was:

“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.”

Stewart can play forward or center, he’s 6’7” or 6’8” depending on who you talk to, can out jump most people taller than he is and has put on some muscle since last summer. Best of all he’s great in transition, and has an excellent 3pt shot. He’s a threat to score inside 5 feet or outside 18 feet.

 

[bendm]

If forced to start either McNeeley OR AK, sorry, I'd pick McNeeley. AK had too many lousy shooting days this year, I don't think high BB IQ totally overcomes lousy shooting.

 

[uconn_jack]

Ball and Stewart will come off the bench.

If Karaban stays, then probably, but both will be significant minutes. Like 2023, I think we will run an 8-9 deep rotation with little drop-off and few playing more than 20-25 minutes, exhausting the opposing team.

If Karaban leaves, then I think it Stewart who starts with McNeely, Mahaney, Hass, and Johnson. Arguing who is playing the 3 or 4 is a moot point, I think the two forward positions (or even the forward and off-guard positions) will be interchangeable and in name only.

 

[ucp990411]

Is there a chance Singare could play the backup 4 in spot minutes? I see him more as a 5 though.

No

 

[ucp990411]

Mike Haynes 2.0!!!

Mike Hayes

 

[ucp990411]

Stewart is already stronger than Karaban. I forgot which game but at the end of the season Karaban got posted up 3 times in a row and the guy made all the shots. Hurley put Stewart in to replace Alex and they didn’t try to post up Stewart.

Marquette with Joplin. That was on Sharka. Could believe he stopped posting Joplin

 

[ucp990411]

You know, Samson Johnson showed some perimeter skills a few years ago. I think we could pencil him in for a few minutes at the 3 to really throw off the opponent.

Plus I once saw him dribble so he can probably play point guard

 

[ucp990411]

This thread has me very concerned about those that post. Thankfully our teams basketball IQ is much, much higher than those who contribute here. This thread should go down in boneyard history.

 

[DemonDeac22]

Last year Cam Spenser did not commit to UConn until June 6. I guess I need to brace myself for at least another month of this starting lineup guessing game before the roster is even finalized.

Maybe we should have movies released a week after they just started shooting to follow this thought process.