A Whole lot of not Players Reaction

[EdgewoodNHV]

he is not an important piece of a ranked team. On a ranked team he's the 5th or 6th man.

TIL the 5th/6th man is not important to a basketball team.

 

[the Q]

You are filling holes with grad transfers. Either a hole that you have in the rotation for the next year or a hole that you have for a roster. You're pretending that we're turning away high school kids that we think are going to be important 4 years contributors. Name a single time that happened.

Exactly.

You can use the grad transfer market to fill a hole you have on your roster. One that the recruits still interested in your school are not able to fill, or they're simply better.

UNC got Cam Johnson because there wasn't a recruit left out there better than he was.

 

[the Q]

Vital's career FG% is below 40%. That is dreadful, no matter how you try to spin it. He's a limited guard thrust into a bigger role than he should be in. Same with Anderson last season. Vital is fine as your first guard off the bench; he shouldn't be playing 31 MPG. I have a suspicion his shot selection will be much better under Hurley as well.

I suspect you'll see his shooting percentages rise up a decent amount with a reigned in shot selection. His FT shooting was quite good.

There's plenty of shooting there. But he's more of a spot up shooter. He took way too many shots off the dribble and far too many shots from the Student Union last year.

 

[businesslawyer]

TIL the 5th/6th man is not important to a basketball team.

That's fair. I've been clear I'm not dissing Vitale, and I hope he stays. But he is critical to the team we had last year -- he's not critical to the team we all want to be again.

 

[krinklecut]

1 player reaction, 4 pages of garbage. I miss yesterday's thread.

 

[USNA90]

Fairly laughable post. We don't win national championship #4 without Evans coming in the year before and showing Boat and Bazz mental toughness and discipline, nor do we win it without Kromah's contribution that year. And we don't get to the NCAA's the last time we went without Miller and Gibbs.

Filling in holes during an offseason is fine. It's relying on grad students as opposed to recruiting frosh that is the problem.

I agree 100% with this. The need to fill the roster with grad transfers is a symptom. The real problem is not getting full recruiting classes and losing players. If the right guys are brought in when there are openings, they can be used to fill specific roles (shooter, shot blocker, etc.), but if recruiting/retention is working well, a team shouldn’t need grad transfers to fill the roster. Frankly, given all the players who transferred out last year, I would rather have seen UConn bring in more (and better) grad transfers, instead of filling out the roster with dead wood quick fixes who take up scholarships for several years.

 

[businesslawyer]

Vital's career FG% is below 40%. That is dreadful, no matter how you try to spin it. He's a limited guard thrust into a bigger role than he should be in. Same with Anderson last season. Vital is fine as your first guard off the bench; he shouldn't be playing 31 MPG. I have a suspicion his shot selection will be much better under Hurley as well.

His shot selection will be better when he has some confidence that him chucking up a 3 early in the shot clock isn't our best bet. Unfortunately, this year, he wasn't wrong (at least at home when he could hit some).

 

[Sonova]

In the spirit of transparency and efficiency can we change the title of this thread to “One player’s dad’s and the team trainer’s reaction followed by a discussion of Christian Vital”

 

[the Q]

His shot selection will be better when he has some confidence that him chucking up a 3 early in the shot clock isn't our best bet. Unfortunately, this year, he wasn't wrong (at least at home when he could hit some).

Or if he has the confidence that if he does it he'll be sitting next to Hurley about 12 seconds after it goes up.

 

[businesslawyer]

I agree 100% with this. The need to fill the roster with grad transfers is a symptom. The real problem is not getting full recruiting classes and losing players. If the right guys are brought in when there are openings, they can be used to fill specific roles (shooter, shot blocker, etc.), but if recruiting/retention is working well, a team shouldn’t need grad transfers to fill the roster. Frankly, given all the players who transferred out last year, I would rather have seen UConn bring in more (and better) grad transfers, instead of filling out the roster with dead wood quick fixes who take up scholarships for several years.

Everybody loses players nowadays. It's not like it was when Calhoun was here, and players would sit patiently and wait their turn for three years. The reason there are grad transfers everywhere is because there are transfers from everywhere.

 

[Danzz]

Yes. Just because we had subpar ones this past season doesn't mean they are all like that. There are plenty of grad transfers out there with the ability to compete at our level when placed in the appropriate role.

Anderson filled the backup PG role and we would have been worse without him. And yes we could have been worse.

 

[Lefty2one]

He took way too many shots off the dribble and far too many shots from the Student Union last year.

Which to me was a result of our terrible halfcourt offense. It's as if the team knew "well, we aren't going to get a better look during this possession anyway...". I expect he'll get better/easier looks next season and his shooting percentage will benefit from it.

 

[the Q]

Which to me was a result of our terrible halfcourt offense. It's as if the team knew "well, we aren't going to get a better look during this possession anyway...". I expect he'll get better/easier looks next season and his shooting percentage will benefit from it.

I will again reiterate the fact that he faced no repercussions from it also lead to that problem.

 

[Danzz]

Which part of Fishy's statement was slander? He's a shooting guard sans conscience who doesn't shoot at a particularly great rate, was incredibly prone to jacking up 3s at any point in the shot clock, and he's not very athletic at all for a high D1 guard. He plays with a great toughness, though he could do without the absurd taunting as a player on a sub .500 team. He's good for instant offense once ever few games, what's the plenty else to like?

Vital's shooting % would go up if he got the ball in better position, if we had an inside game along with better shot selection.

 

[Ctrane]

If this year's team had any set plays at all they certainly kept them well disguised.

 

[Danzz]

I will again reiterate the fact that he faced no repercussions from it also lead to that problem.

Yes it is like hitting golf balls on the driving range: there are no consequences for hitting bad shots.

 

[husky429]

Vital is an excellent player to have

Exactly. He is a great addition to any bench. He plays hard and is good. Not great, but a good player to have on your team.
in any team. I hope he stays.

Currently yes. But if he works hard, that can change! A good coach dors not have static players. We are forgetting that

 

[CL82]

What's Hurley's stance on the concussion protocol? #ImportantQuestions

Hurley is against concussions.

 

[CL82]

That's fair. I've been clear I'm not dissing Vitale, and I hope he stays. But he is critical to the team we had last year -- he's not critical to the team we all want to be again.

Critical? Maybe not, but he is an important piece on a team that doesn't have a lot of proven scoring options. I'd expect that Coach Hurley will have CV playing more within himself. He's is very important piece of next year's team.

 

[August_West]

Whats Hurleys position on skipping class to shoot free throws and not worrying so much about APR?

asking for a native american friend.

 

[Kitaman]

Any monster recruits we think Hurley will snag for upcoming class?

Wow talk about high and immediate expectations. LOL.

Perhaps, we should give him time to see the gym first and perhaps working on keeping some of the ones he's inheriting. Anyway I expect better results than his predecessor. He's got to work on his UConn pitch until then.

 

[BlueMAB]

Where is Vital gonna go? Seriously

After seeing Enoch (worst defensive big we've had in years) go to Louisville and Pitino (an excellent defensive program). Also seeing Durham marginally contribute and then go to ND, I'd guess there aren't more than 10 schools in the country that wouldn't give an open scholarship to CV for his final 2 years of eligibility.


EDIT:

Whether he'd be a starter or even get decent minutes on "any" team is a different discussion. Depends on the team, depth, and his improvement as a player. But asking "how much [more] would he contribute"? is a MUCH different question than "where is he going to go"?

 

[80shusky]

1 player reaction, 4 pages of garbage. I miss yesterday's thread.

Which to be fair was almost entirely garbage but we knew that going in.

 

[Blaneylover]

Now that Coach Hurley is here, who actually leaves? Carlton wants to leave? Where does he go if he leaves? He has to sit out a year and then hope that things work out wherever he lands. I think that, out of all of our "developing" big men, Carlton has the most potential. Williams may have been a candidate to leave but he's had such a tortured path to get to UCONN, he may not want to move again. I don't know how high the up-side may be for Whaley and Diarra. I like their effort, but it wasn't always consistent effort. Whaley seemed to make positive contributions during the first half of the season, while Diarra seemed to make positive contributions during the second half of the season. Like Carlton, they both have trouble staying out of foul trouble. As for Polley, I thought he was going to develop during the year. I kept waiting for him to have that 15 point break-out game. It never came. Does he leave? Perhaps, I suppose.

We shall see. Kids aren't patient anymore. There are a record number of transfers each year. We shall wee.

Oh...right...do any of the RI recruits come with him? Jermaine Harris would be a nice addition, I would think.

 

[JimHurley]

This. I like the kid's toughness, and goodness knows we would have been even worse the last two years without him, but he is not an important piece of a ranked team. On a ranked team he's the 5th or 6th man.

I agree that he wouldn't be a focal point on a great UConn team. But are you saying 5th and 6th men aren't important? Vital would thrive in a 6th man role as the first guard off the bench to give us a jolt of energy.