PF Mamadou Diarra (Signed LOI on 11/14) | Page 8 | The Boneyard

PF Mamadou Diarra (Signed LOI on 11/14)

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If Diarra comes, that frontline is going to look pretty formidable for the next few years.

If I were a guard/wing like Gilbert and VJ King, or Bruce Borwn, I'd be looking at UConn as a place that's all set up for my success.
 
upstater said:
If Diarra comes, that frontline is going to look pretty formidable for the next few years.

If I were a guard/wing like Gilbert and VJ King, or Bruce Borwn, I'd be looking at UConn as a place that's all set up for my success.
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If only it were that easy
 
Tenspro2002 said:
I'm just trying to get a feel for what kind of game he has, since I know very little about him. My goal isn't to come out of this saying "he's the next Jeff Adrien, and anything less is a disappointment".

Is he a bruiser? Can he shoot a foul line jumper? Does he have post moves?

The easiest way to answer those questions is by referring to attributes of players we know well, something like "OK, he's undersized like Freeman, but more muscular, probably has a crude offensive game like Oriakhi, but with Adrien's motor and toughness".

Also, we didn't love Adrien and Freeman because they were unique. We loved them because they were good players and good teammates who were fun to root for. If Diarra is exactly the same as those guys (and we get him) that would be great.
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Could I add to Jeff and Kevin resume : the fact that they both gave 100% effort every time ,made them legendary.
 
We need this guy! If we don't get him I will be very disappointed. He is the tenacious rebounder with actual size that this team is missing.
 
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If we lose out on another recruit to VCU I'll pull my hair out.
 
On a side note- when's the last time we had a player commit to uconn on a planned occasion / press conference?
 
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Kembacity said:
Good read there, anyone else find it funny that in evaluating a player's potential, size of neck is now in the conversation?
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I laughed at that too, if he had a normal neck he'd be what? 6'9"? What if he had Jeremy Lamb's neck? 7'2"? The author is correct in his point that his reach is more important. (Although the height to be able to see over defenders helps)
 
RipCity said:
Not trying to insult or start something with anyone, but why does everyone always have to compare players to other players? The reason we loved Adrien, Freeman, etc. was that they were unique for our program. We should be hoping that Diarra builds a name for himself just like they did, but in his own way.
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This sounds like a very positive message (all of our players are unique snowflakes), and so I get why people "liked" it, but I think it's quite strange to criticize people for asking who these recruits' best comps are. I don't watch high school basketball games in my spare time and it's very helpful to me and many others when someone can describe a facet of someone's game as being similar to a skill of a player we've all seen a lot of.

So I actually find all of the comparisons very helpful. I will continue to ask for comps and I hope others do as well.
 
nomar said:
This sounds like a very positive message (all of our players are unique snowflakes), and so I get why people "liked" it, but I think it's quite strange to criticize people for asking who these recruits' best comps are. I don't watch high school basketball games in my spare time and it's very helpful to me and many others when someone can describe a facet of someone's game as being similar to a skill of a player we've all seen a lot of.

So I actually find all of the comparisons very helpful. I will continue to ask for comps and I hope others do as well.
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I think the issue is that people are confusing "this player has a similar game to UCONN Great X" with "we expect this player to be as good/impactful as UCONN Great X right off the bat".
 
Even if the players weren't "unique snowflakes" it doesn't mean that there is a 1:1 previous UConn player comparison for each recruit. It seems hard to get any kind of feel for a high school player's performance relative to 4 years of past players at UConn.
 
Stairmaster said:
I think the issue is that people are confusing "this player has a similar game to UCONN Great X" with "we expect this player to be as good/impactful as UCONN Great X right off the bat".
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Well, sports fans' over-exuberance about the unknown will always be there. From Billy Packer talking about Ajou Deng (the best player on the title team) to every tanking NBA team (valuing the kids in the draft, the majority of whom will flame out, more than actual established NBA players), people always expect way too much. Every year, people expect our recruits to be stars right away, as if Kemba and Shabazz didn't have their struggles as freshmen.

So yeah.

But that's not a reason to not talk about whose skill sets are comparable. Had Rip City said, "let's hold off on calling these kids 'the next' Adrien," I would have agreed.
 
Leebo said:
Even if the players weren't "unique snowflakes" it doesn't mean that there is a 1:1 previous UConn player comparison for each recruit. It seems hard to get any kind of feel for a high school player's performance relative to 4 years of past players at UConn.
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Who says there has to be? Is a player more of a Marcus White or a Travis Knight? Is a player more a true PG or a combo guard? Maybe a kid has the ball-handling skills of one player and the spin move of another. It's not rocket science. Players remind people of other players, all the time.
 
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nomar said:
Who says there has to be? Is a player more of a Marcus White or a Travis Knight? Is a player more a true PG or a combo guard? Maybe a kid has the ball-handling skills of one player and the spin move of another. It's not rocket science. Players remind people of other players, all the time.
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If you feel you've gained something useful from hearing that kind of info, that's fine I guess. I personally somewhat doubt the ability of our random posters to give meaningful accuracy in that regard.
 
Stairmaster said:
I think the issue is that people are confusing "this player has a similar game to UCONN Great X" with "we expect this player to be as good/impactful as UCONN Great X right off the bat".
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I think the folks who confuse those two are willfully obtuse.
 
Leebo said:
If you feel you've gained something useful from hearing that kind of info, that's fine I guess. I personally somewhat doubt the ability of our random posters to give meaningful accuracy in that regard.
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You mean we aren't chock full of experienced scouts/coaches?
 
Diarra doesn't even have a similar body type than Adrien, and he's two inches taller. If you want to make comparisons, do it to a player who actually compares, not to someone with only a couple shared traits. Or someone realistic. Comparing Diarra to Harrell, for example, doesn't make sense to me. Harrell is a rare talent. Not everyone with his type of game is going to be nearly as good as Harrell.

Most of the comparisons here are barely passable and freakishly optimistic. And we wonder why were upset when our young players don't light the world on fire.
 
Kelis Fisher is one of my all time favorite Huskies. An undersized PF he just had a great motor that never quit. I just recently watched tha 99 championship game, again, and Kevin was a monster. Him and Ricky Moore kept them in that game until Rip could get going.
JA was cut from the same cloth. He also played some very valuable minutes as a freshman.
KO knows he needs higher level recruits. He 's recruiting over some of the present players which is why TS and RK, who couldn't jump over a piece of paper, decided to go elsewhere.
 
Harrell was an absolute beast in AAU/High School. His highlight videos and performances from back then are legendary. I don't think Diarra is at that level, but he could blow up.
 
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johnhuskies95 said:
Harrell was an absolute beast in AAU/High School. His highlight videos and performances from back then are legendary. I don't think Diarra is at that level, but he could blow up.
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If I remember correctly Harrell was ranked around 100, he was originally committed to Va Tech and UConn was interested before he picked Louisville. Harrell wasn't some surefire McDonald's type of recruit.
 
Leebo said:
If you feel you've gained something useful from hearing that kind of info, that's fine I guess. I personally somewhat doubt the ability of our random posters to give meaningful accuracy in that regard.
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We have some terrific posters who watch a lot of HS basketball games. I value their opinions.

I don't think anybody really credits the posters who, based on a YouTube clip, declare a HS senior to be the AAC POY as a freshman.
 
CTBasketball said:
If we lose out on another recruit to VCU I'll pull my hair out.
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Losing to VCU with Shaka is one thing - losing to VCU with Will Wade is another. Would definitely be a head scratcher if we can't lock this up.
 
RipCity said:
Not trying to insult or start something with anyone, but why does everyone always have to compare players to other players? The reason we loved Adrien, Freeman, etc. was that they were unique for our program. We should be hoping that Diarra builds a name for himself just like they did, but in his own way.
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So much Montrezl Harrell in his game lol, if u follow Jon Rothstein on Twitter, u will get this one!
 
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