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Palpable Buzz

UconnFanNVa said:
This shouldn't turn into a jalen vs ag conversation! It's just good to hear that statement either way. Jalen knows what he has to prove, Terry too! Maybe this buzz is just motivation for AG to try to live up to the hype? Maybe he actually looks really good? Either way this bids well for Uconn basketball this year, and that excites me!
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In fairness, there was no way it wasn't going to turn into that, and at this point, hopefully that stays out of the players' ears. It's better for us that Jalen is considered the unquestioned leader heading into the season.

Interestingly, Jalen averaged 11 points and 4 assists on 39% shooting in the three games Gilbert played last year, then proceeded to average 29 and 7 on 63% shooting in the first three games without him. So that dynamic will be interesting to watch.
 
champs99and04 said:
In fairness, there was no way it wasn't going to turn into that, and at this point, hopefully that stays out of the players' ears. It's better for us that Jalen is considered the unquestioned leader heading into the season.

Interestingly, Jalen averaged 11 points and 4 assists on 39% shooting in the three games Gilbert played last year, then proceeded to average 29 and 7 on 63% shooting in the first three games without him. So that dynamic will be interesting to watch.
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I think Jalen was tentative to take the reigns. The injuries were a blessing and a curse. It became Jalen's team when Alterique and Larrier went down. It's Jalen's team (I want him taking the last shot) and we'll see that from the start.
 
lange10 said:
I think Jalen was tentative to take the reigns. The injuries were a blessing and a curse. It became Jalen's team when Alterique and Larrier went down. It's Jalen's team (I want him taking the last shot) and we'll see that from the start.
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It's true, Jalen was tentative at first because he's not a natural point guard but he adjusted as excellent players do, and by playing last year as the primary ball handler/point guard, his overall game which we'll see this year, grew tremendously. He became much more skilled by having to lead the team last year. True, he had tons of assists, but he was the only distributor by default. AG is a very talented natural point guard with an incredible handle, and from everything I've been hearing for two years he also has very strong leadership skills both on and off the court, which are just part of his persona. The coaching staff tout his leadership abilities. This is both Jalen's and Alterique's team. All part of the aforementioned symmetry between the two of them. Terry Larrier has a ton of respect on this team also.
 
nomar said:
"Oh, he's the best player on the team," El-Amin replied.

You mean besides you and Richard Hamilton, right?

"I said, he's the best player on the team."

Out of Africa Forced to leave his home in war-torn Sudan at age nine and raised in Egypt and England 6'11" freshman forward Ajou Deng is bringing a world of talent to Connecticut

#palpablebuzz

In all seriousness, I DO think AG is going to be awesome. But better than JA this year? Gosh, I doubt it.
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If KEA said it, who are we to question it?
The guy had an ego that wouldn't quit so if he said that the kid was better than him - I'm buying it
 
Huskymagic said:
Don't believe everything you hear my advice. Not that Rique isn't a good player but best player lol. He was a very bad defender and his overall effect on the game last year was negative.

If he's better than Jalen then he's a first round pick after this year. Jalen has more size, skill, talent, and leadership qualities as a point guard.

I don't like these blanket statements because it once again seems that the coaching staff is prioritizing a freshman over Jalen in who will be regarded as the team leader and main ball handler.

Jalen needs to get in better physical shape.
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This post is wildly inaccurate.
 
UConnNick said:
That may have been true as a practice player, which is all Khalid had seen of him at the time he made his comment. Unfortunately, it didn't transfer to the court during real games.
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I find it amazing that a guy who is reportedly that talented becomes average when in a real game. Even at Fairfield, I don't recall him being a star.
 
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Huskybass said:
I find it amazing that a guy who is reportedly that talented becomes average when in a real game. Even at Fairfield, I don't recall him being a star.
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What youre saying is the essence of recruiting the diamonds in the rough, or really anyone past the 5 stars. Who has the "it" factor. Calhoun was a master of this, lets hope kill, ollie, and killings are too.
 
SirHypeAlot said:
this is going to sound corny as hell but rique controlling the aux cord was huge first indicator. he has lockerroom under his control
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Yea... or he's just the player on the team who is most passionate about music.
 
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Alterique certainly has the potential to be special so no reason to say "this is not possible." I mean I am quite sure the hype machine is on in full blast although we haven't heard much else, but this wouldn't do anything but make Jalen better also so I hope it's true or close. I mean 2 games last year and we have people saying he sucked on defense, he didn't do much blah blah blah. It's almost equal to the nitwits who were throwing Chill under the bus after a month or 2 because he couldn't close.

The kids is really good, if he stay healthy and and Jalen can possibly be one of the top 5 backcourts in the country and add CV and Anderson potentially the best overall or close. It's all good no reason to play our backcourt against each other. They will need to have chemistry early and I think the time they've had to spend will allow that to begin early this year, heck it has to.
 
SirHypeAlot said:
this is going to sound corny as hell but rique controlling the aux cord was huge first indicator. he has lockerroom under his control
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Not such a silly post and I know you are aware of this. We both saw the same interview probably. Jalen's playing music too. It's just subtle directed information that helps point us towards the dynamics.
 
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WvConn said:
Yeah I appreciate this opinion here, but Jalen Adams is a better basketball player than AG. He's got more experience, more skill, more size. I'm not saying it's a huge margin, but Jalen is the face of the team.
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Jalen's a better player in terms of his skillset, but it all comes down to who can influence games more... which is often mental.
 
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King Husky said:
Jalen's a better player in terms of his skillset, but it all comes down to who can influence games more... which is often mental.
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Rip was a far better player than KEA but KEA was JC's floor general. He had the knack for observing and understanding the court as well as the moxie to stand up to JC and keep the players loose.

Real good team players know how to defer in addition to offering skill sets. Additionally some players feel more comfortable leading as opposed to following and vice versa.

Of course this is all conjecture. When the season opens we'll find out how the players work things out.
 
superjohn said:
El-Amin was great but Rip was far better, not at all a slight to Khalid.
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Exactly.

My best scouting report ever was going to MM (app. two hour drive each way) observing freshman KEA and telling my wife and son Khalid was the piece the team needed and he was going to help UConn get it's first NCAA championship. I was very high on the kid's ability and leadership.

I was blown away with how he led his players even in a glorified scrimmage.
 
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superjohn said:
El-Amin was great but Rip was far better, not at all a slight to Khalid.
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This^

But Waq is right many do forget how good, or how important KEA was to the Huskies. I mean Rip was a better player and there is no doubting that but in the overall scheme of things they were of fairly equal importance to the overall mental strength of that team. One with what he did the other with how he led, 2 Husky greats for sure.
 
Waquoit said:
Yeah, it is. Rip wasn't far better. They were 1 and 1A.
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IMO opinion he was. Of course we needed both of them to win it all but Rip and Brand were 1 and 1A in the whole country. I love Khalid and he is an all-timer but Rip had the best UConn career ever IMO.
 
There were not enough games before Alterique and Terry were hurt to be sure, but I did feel that there was some sorting out that never was completed last fall over whether Alterique or Jalen was the alpha. Before Jalen stepped up last season to be the unopposed leader, I would have bet that Alterique was going to emerge as the alpha. Jalen and Terry were also going to each be a force, but Alterique would be the true point. An obviously improved Jalen with a supporting cast is going to be a big improvement from last year's reduced roster. But, if Jalen and Alterique can play at the same time, sharing on the ball duties, the team will be tough to defend and the offense will be better than it has been for a while. I won't care about the controversy over whether the best player was the one scoring the most points or the one making the most assists.

Of course, Boneyarders will savage each other trying to make the distinction.

Meanwhile, I want to hear the buzz about who is going to grab 10 rebounds a game.
 
We have Adams, Gilbert, Vital, and Anderson. What are some of the other top backcourts in the country?
 
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