Postgrad Watch 3.0

[Goat]

Although they played hard for UConn, how did Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs impact cohesion and growth? I'm sure Miller was a factor in Facey's late blossom. What if Jalen had a trial by fire like Vance and Christian had this year? What dividends would the 2015-2016 struggles have paid? It is not just the moment, it's the chain.

 

[navery12]

Although they played hard for UConn, how did Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs impact cohesion and growth? I'm sure Miller was a factor in Facey's late blossom. What if Jalen had a trial by fire like Vance and Christian had this year? What dividends would the 2015-2016 struggles have paid? It is not just the moment, it's the chain.

At a certain point you have to try and win though. The reason why Vital and Jackson were able to play so much was this was a lost season. Last year we made the NCAA tournament and won a game once we were there, and without Gibbs and Miller there's no chance that happens

 

[Doctor Hoop]

The reason why Vital and Jackson were able to play so much was there was nobody else available.

 

[aceboon]

Although they played hard for UConn, how did Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs impact cohesion and growth? I'm sure Miller was a factor in Facey's late blossom. What if Jalen had a trial by fire like Vance and Christian had this year? What dividends would the 2015-2016 struggles have paid? It is not just the moment, it's the chain.

No Shonn and they likely don't make the tournament, KO had just gone through the 2014-2015 season where Facey had all the opportunity to carve out a role and outside a handful of games in the beginning of the year did very little with it. He was smart to go after Miller and not take the risk of whether Facey was gonna show up or not. Hell, Facey had a decent year this year but he was still a no show in the beginning and end.

 

[superjohn]

Although they played hard for UConn, how did Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs impact cohesion and growth? I'm sure Miller was a factor in Facey's late blossom. What if Jalen had a trial by fire like Vance and Christian had this year? What dividends would the 2015-2016 struggles have paid? It is not just the moment, it's the chain.

Shonn Miller was a lot better than Facey, that's why he played. Without Gibbs and Miller, it would be three awful seasons in a row, instead of two out of three.

 

[metsfan2323]

Here's a Post Grad worth considering. For those of you who can remember three years ago a common opinion on this board from Janury on was that we "always seem to go on a run when TSAM is in the lineup". In this video TSAM gets 2 points, 1 rebound, and an assist from the forward position.

I see TSAM as a point forward in a three guard lineup. He is not a point guard.

 

[Fishy]

Jesus.

Terrence Samuel is not coming back. Terrence Samuel should not come back. He's not good and he was never good. He played here because the staff repeatedly bungled their recruiting efforts...once they stopped, he left.

There is no scenario outside of the outbreak of plague in our locker room that would call for Terrence Samuel to be on the court for UConn.

A garbage program like Penn State just ran him off because he wasn't good enough to crack their lineup and we can use him?

No. A million times, no.

 

[metsfan2323]

Jesus.

Terrence Samuel is not coming back. Terrence Samuel should not come back. He's not good and he was never good. He played here because the staff repeatedly bungled their recruiting efforts...once they stopped, he left.

There is no scenario outside of the outbreak of plague in our locker room that would call for Terrence Samuel to be on the court for UConn.

A garbage program like Penn State just ran him off because he wasn't good enough to crack their lineup and we can use him?

No. A million times, no.

Jesus.

Terrence Samuel is not coming back. Terrence Samuel should not come back. He's not good and he was never good. He played here because the staff repeatedly bungled their recruiting efforts...once they stopped, he left.

There is no scenario outside of the outbreak of plague in our locker room that would call for Terrence Samuel to be on the court for UConn.

A garbage program like Penn State just ran him off because he wasn't good enough to crack their lineup and we can use him?

No. A million times, no.

And yet we don't win a national champiship in 14 without him. So suck on that.

 

[uconngb]

Jesus.

Terrence Samuel is not coming back. Terrence Samuel should not come back. He's not good and he was never good. He played here because the staff repeatedly bungled their recruiting efforts...once they stopped, he left.

There is no scenario outside of the outbreak of plague in our locker room that would call for Terrence Samuel to be on the court for UConn.

A garbage program like Penn State just ran him off because he wasn't good enough to crack their lineup and we can use him?

No. A million times, no.

I don't understand.

What are you trying to say?

Stop mincing your words.

 

[Fishy]

And yet we don't win a national champiship in 14 without him. So suck on that.

Stop.

You could plug anyone into Samuel's spot in 2014 and we win anyway.

There's no aspect of his game that would put him on the floor next year, but ride your dopey nostalgia train if you must.

 

[metsfan2323]

Stop.

You could plug anyone into Samuel's spot in 2014 and we win anyway.

There's no aspect of his game that would put him on the floor next year, but ride your dopey nostalgia train if you must.

I think most informed posters with half a brain would disagree with you. He was the "6th man" in 14 and a key cog. Apparently he also ran over your dog which is unfortunate.

 

[Walker11]

There is no scenario outside of the outbreak of plague in our locker room that would call for Terrence Samuel to be on the court for UConn.

It is strange to see this coming off a season where we had to give Mike Noyes minutes.

 

[Fishy]

It is strange to see this coming off a season where we had to give Mike Noyes minutes.

Mike Noyes played 18 minutes this year.

 

[Walker11]

Mike Noyes played 18 minutes this year.

18 more minutes than anyone of his caliber ever should play for a school like UCONN. I want another guard on this team. Not TSam.

 

[Fishy]

18 more minutes than anyone of his caliber ever should play for a school like UCONN. I want another guard on this team. Not TSam.

He played walk-on mop-up minutes - he probably got half of them in the 50-point game against USF.

If there's a 6'5" shooting guard out there who can hit threes or if Tremont Waters wants to stay home, I agree with you. We'll see what falls off the tree after these coaching firings.

Otherwise, I'm not really worried about the backcourt.

 

[champs99and04]

Terrence shot 58% from the floor in 15 games from February 12th against South Florida - a forgotten game that we don't win without him - through the title. You can't argue he wasn't good in his role that season.

 

[superjohn]

Stop.

You could plug anyone into Samuel's spot in 2014 and we win anyway.

There's no aspect of his game that would put him on the floor next year, but ride your dopey nostalgia train if you must.

I don't want him back and he was really bad as a sophomore but your comments aren't fair. Samuel's minutes were big in the tournament as a freshman, he was huge against Nova and Iowa State.

 

[Walker11]

He played walk-on mop-up minutes - he probably got half of them in the 50-point game against USF.

If there's a 6'5" shooting guard out there who can hit threes or if Tremont Waters wants to stay home, I agree with you. We'll see what falls off the tree after these coaching firings.

Otherwise, I'm not really worried about the backcourt.

My only concern with the backcourt is basically a concern with the frontcourt. Asking for 1 good big is a challenge. Asking for 2 good bigs is Mt. Everest.

Because of this, we will see a ton of Larrier and Vance at the 4, effectively going 3 guards with a roster that has 4 guards. A big shooting guard to play the 3 would be ideal. A kid like DJ Harvey. Easier said than done.

 

[Fishy]

Terrence shot 58% from the floor in 15 games from February 12th against South Florida - a forgotten game that we don't win without him - through the title. You can't argue he wasn't good in his role that season.

All right.

We won that USF game by 43 points. I don't know how he saved that game for us, but I am guessing that if he was never born, we still win. Maybe we win 79-40 instead of 83-40.

He wasn't the sixth man as stated above - he was perhaps ninth or tenth depending on the game. So yes, I agree. If his role was being the ninth or tenth guy into the game, he was fine.

 

[intlzncster]

Uconn needs/should recruit four year student/athletes rather than one and done (or two and done) athlete/"students". There is a difference. I truly believe that.

Get guys who love getting to know their team mates and end up loving to play together with high bball IQ even if skill is a little lower than the most powerful of the P5. Get guys who actually want an education (Okafor) along with playing ball. Not just there to play ball for a season or two max while trying to draw the attention of NBA personal. Find some European in Croatia who has been coached to death on how to run a pick and roll or set proper screens...

I want and would love to see 3 (Okafor) and 4 year players. I would love if Uconn was "THAT " team. They can be. That Middle Tenn/Princeton type...EXCEPT, this is uconn, with the history they have and they are playing like those teams as a 2 or 4 seed or whatever...hard to explain what I mean. Like an advanced version of those teams suited for the p5.

If you want to win consistently, you need a mix of 4 years, and guys in the 2 year stud mold. Players like Okafor and Kemba do NOT grow on trees. Once in a decade/lifetime players.

 

[intlzncster]

I hope you are wrong as I hate to think we will have to wait until then to get a good big man. Extremely doubtful that Enoch or Cobb will be the big man we really need and the whole frontcourt by committee nonsense is not the answer. We need a big who can play D and rebound and we need him ASAP.

We don't need a stud big man; 3 of UCONN's championships were won without one. Just a serviceable one. He has to be able to rebound/D/set screens/pass a little and score garbage. We'll see about the guys on our roster.

 

[Fishy]

My only concern with the backcourt is basically a concern with the frontcourt. Asking for 1 good big is a challenge. Asking for 2 good bigs is Mt. Everest.

Because of this, we will see a ton of Larrier and Vance at the 4, effectively going 3 guards with a roster that has 4 guards. A big shooting guard to play the 3 would be ideal. A kid like DJ Harvey. Easier said than done.

I think you'll see a lot of rotations with Jackson at the four and Larrier on the wing. I don't think we'll see Larrier at the four much - at best, he might be a point forward down the road, but he's more of a wing/shooting guard at this point.

A lot of what they do will depend on what happens with Durham. If he improves, they really have a lot of options one through four.

 

[intlzncster]

A lot of what they do will depend on what happens with Durham. If he improves, they really have a lot of options one through four.

Is there really anyone (realistically possible) out there that has more near term potential than Durham?

I'm personally more concerned about the 5 than the 4. And all I'm looking for from the 5 is serviceable.

 

[champs99and04]

All right.

We won that USF game by 43 points. I don't know how he saved that game for us, but I am guessing that if he was never born, we still win. Maybe we win 79-40 instead of 83-40.

He wasn't the sixth man as stated above - he was perhaps ninth or tenth depending on the game. So yes, I agree. If his role was being the ninth or tenth guy into the game, he was fine.

My bad. It was two games later @ South Florida. We're down 38-32 with 13 minutes left. Terrence checks in, we go on an 18-6 run, he checks out. That was the game we found something with the three guard lineup and it posted incredible +/- splits from there on out.

If he was the ninth or tenth guy on that team, fine. If we bring him in, it's to be a fifth guard who is there to run the bench mob, work his ass off in practice, and enjoy the experience of being a Husky without expecting anything else. Occasionally Ollie will throw him in a game and watch him storm throw the antique shop and perhaps it will shake the cobwebs out of anyone wondering if they want to play. In the back court, assuming we can't add a shooter, I think we're erring closer to too many guys than too few. That makes Samuel, a guy who knows the system and loves the school, a perfect candidate to fill the Beverly/Evans role.

 

[Fishy]

That makes more sense.

I disagree with your conclusion, but appreciate your reasoning.

I think it is in the best interests of both parties that he go elsewhere. He's got one year left - he can actually get on the court and contribute for a lot of teams, just not at this level.

 

[lange10]

Love TSam but he was vastly overrated defensively. And for a PG his handle was suspect. Oh, and he literally never made a 3 point FG while at UConn. Hard, hard pass.

We need a guy who is okay with playing 15-20 minutes off the bench as a pure spot up shooter. If not, get a 4 who can come in and start. A player akin to Shonn Miller would be more then ideal.