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Player Development

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Bboy Lace

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I was talking to a colleague about player development and how much it's been at the core of UConn's identity, historically.

From a player development standpoint,
who's the 1 player that you feel has benefitted the most from coming to UConn from each decade?

80's -
90's -
00's -
10's -
20's -
 
Bboy Lace said:
I was talking to a colleague about player development and how much it's been at the core of UConn's identity, historically.

From a player development standpoint,
who's the 1 player that you feel has benefitted the most from coming to UConn from each decade?

80's -
90's -
00's -
10's -
20's -
Expand ...
I am a bit younger, so I’m not going to try to speak to the ones I don‘t know as much about. But this is what I think.
10’s- Kemba (obviously)
20’s- Castle
I could see the argument for Clingan, and he is probably the right answer here. But it is pretty impressive to be a one-and-done lottery pick here in Storrs, so I thought Stephon was a great option
 
With the current coaching staff just list every player. Newton became an All American so he would likely be #1. Cliff Robinson benefitted from Calhoun's coaching and went on to have a long NBA career. So many players for Calhoun, the list is endless. Caron Butler benefitted in many ways from JC.
 
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Niels Giffey is the guy that comes to mind first. Calhoun pulled him out of thin air, and he turned into an Olympian.

Hilton Armstrong #2

Donny Marshall

Albert Mouring


Souleymane Wane
Phillip Nolan
Tyler Olander

3 guys that when they arrived had no business getting on the court at this level, all went on to be major pieces of championship teams
 
Being able to develop players who aren’t in the rotation is so hard but I think we’ve mostly managed to do a good job of it (example: Samson)

Players develop best by playing in games. It will be very interesting to see the development of someone like Ross who was not in the rotation this past season. Sitting on the bench for the whole season is a confidence destroyer.

Stewart and Ball got enough of a taste of playing in real games that I’m sure they will be more than fine.
 
Armstrong is obviously the big one for the 2010s

Kemba’s development was amazing as well. Came in with so much to improve and was almost a perfect player by the time he left.

Lamb was all potential when he came in with little confidence who played off Kemba and left as one of the most effortless scorers in the country by the time he left.

Bazz was also a completely different player senior year and a very complete player

Think Whaley is the main guy from the 2020s who looked like a completely different player (and not necessarily just had a larger role).
 
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Off the top of my head I'd say Hilton, Gavin, and Amida.

Hilton was an afterthought recruit who became a monster.
Gavin was, I think a "2 star" recruit who was openly criticized. I think his own coach said he didn't think he could be a Big East player.
Amida was pure rawness and played in the NBA.

I'm sure there's others but those three jump out to me...
 
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The defensive improvement for-
Hawk,
Newt,
Cam,
Joey C
and
AK
In one year...pretty hard to beat.
 
Bboy Lace said:
I was talking to a colleague about player development and how much it's been at the core of UConn's identity, historically.

From a player development standpoint,
who's the 1 player that you feel has benefitted the most from coming to UConn from each decade?

80's -
90's -
00's -
10's -
20's -
Expand ...
Going in reverse order,
20s - Tristen Newton
10s - DeAndre Daniels
00s- Josh Boone
90s - Jake Voshkul
80s - Cliff Robinson

RE: the 10s -- I wanted to say Caron, who was inarguably a better finished product but he also came in with a better game than Josh, who went from being a tall guy to a very skilled tall guy.
 
boog204 said:
Off the top of my head I'd say Hilton, Gavin, and Amida.

Hilton was an afterthought recruit who became a monster.
Gavin was, I think a "2 star" recruit who was openly criticized. I think his own coach said he didn't think he could be a Big East player.
Amida was pure rawness and played in the NBA.

I'm sure there's others but those three jump out to me...
Expand ...
I’ve got to disagree about Brimah. I really don’t think he developed that much during his time here. Nice kid though.
 
bendm said:
It’s not really that surprising for 5* burger boys to turn out to be good tho, is it?

What about Tristen Newton? Hilton Armstrong?
Expand ...
That's my thinking also. Best examples are guys like Hilton who came in not highly ranked and exited as great players and/or NBA guys. Guys like Kemba ended up great but they also came in as highly ranked recruits for a reason.
 
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mussels said:
Okafor clearly had unrecognized potential, but he came to Storrs barely cracking the top 100 HS recruits, and left as number 2 in the NBA draft.
Expand ...

I think as soon as he walked onto the practice court, the staff he knew he was awesome. They certainly helped him develop, particularly on offense, but the recruiting sites had criminally underrated him. So he went from 8-10, whereas Hilton went from 2-7.
 
imno1 said:
I’ve got to disagree about Brimah. I really don’t think he developed that much during his time here. Nice kid though.
Expand ...
boog204 said:
Off the top of my head I'd say Hilton, Gavin, and Amida.

Hilton was an afterthought recruit who became a monster.
Gavin was, I think a "2 star" recruit who was openly criticized. I think his own coach said he didn't think he could be a Big East player.
Amida was pure rawness and played in the NBA.

I'm sure there's others but those three jump out to me...
Expand ...

Holy cow, boog. That is a crazy take. I use Brimah as the best (but far from only) example of how horrific the previous staff was at developing players. (See also Jalen Adams, Daniel Hamilton), If he'd have been coached by a parakeet, he would have ended up the same player that graduated.

As a sophomore, he averaged 9.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.5 bpg, and 1.0 tpg, and shot 67% from the field and 64% from the line. (On a per-minute basis, this wasn't even an improvement from his freshman season).
As a senior, he averaged 7.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.6 bpg, and 1.5 tpg, and shot 57% from the field and 62% from the line.

Apart from a moderate improvement in rebounding (he was still bad at it when he left), where's the development?

www.sports-reference.com

Amida Brimah College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Amida Brimah - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more
www.sports-reference.com www.sports-reference.com
 
mussels said:
Okafor clearly had unrecognized potential, but he came to Storrs barely cracking the top 100 HS recruits, and left as number 2 in the NBA draft.
Expand ...
Maybe my old and addled mind is playing tricks on me, but ISTR him having lackluster first game, and from then on, he was lights out good.
 
GampelGladiator said:
80's - Tate George
90's - Donny Marshall
00's - Hilton Armstrong
10's - Jeremy Lamb
20's - Tristen Newton
Expand ...
I like those but Newton came in with three years experience so he had a leg up. So I nominate AS who came out of high school with limited experience playing the game let alone competing at a high level and we all saw how he developed.
 
Hilton is definitely high on the list. Others that come to mind
  • Caron: he was older and a very solid recruit but i thought JC did a marvelous job convincing Caron that he was the best player in the country
  • Newton and Spencer: these guys are kinda tricky because its likely they already had it in them. Maybe they just needed exposure. Well... they got it. And now they are likely NBA players. Tough to say if they get there without the time in Storrs
  • KO: his shooting was so bad when he arrived. He made great strides by the time he was a senior
 
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