Prince Ali doing Prince Ali things again in EYBL

[Gurleyman]

I'm not just talking about their modern era. I'm talking about guys like Sheed, Jamison, Vince Carter, Stackhouse, etc. etc. All All Stars at one point in time. Roy Williams isn't as good of a coach development wise but I know Ollie is 10x as good as Roy in that department. So Lord knows what he could do with the talent. Not to mention before the modern era they had Jordan, Worthy, and McAdoo.

I know we are better than UNC in the modern era but you can't erase history before 1990.

The 1990s and 2000s were the parameters you used when they were winning titles with "NBA stars" and that's what you wanted us to be like. You're moving your own goal posts. Sheed, Jamison, Carter, Stackhouse never won any titles. In fact, UNC won a title in 1993 with a great college team and had almost everyone coming back, then Stackhouse and Wallace came in the following year and pretty much screwed it all up, acting like they were better than everyone else from the moment they arrived - that team flamed out and was upset by a Danya Abrams-led Boston College team in the second round. So why would you be jealous of those guys when we put NBA All-Stars Ray, Rip and Caron into the league in the same time frame? Or Burrell, who won a ring as a rotation guy in Chicago? Or someone like Kevin Ollie? UNC hasn't been doing anything better than we've been doing in the last 25 years. And why would you even be arguing with Texas fans about anything? They've been to one Final Four since 1947 (needing a path through San Antonio and a ball stuck in the rim to get there) and lost in the semis. Is it because of Kevin Durant? He had one latte at Austin Coffee Limits and went out in the Round of 32. It was a great recruiting war Texas won to get him, but the rafters are still collecting dust where those little hooks might go to attach banners.

This year showed how valuable guys like Kromah and Giffey and Brimah and Samuel are to winning championships. Putting together title teams isn't as simple as just hording talent and rolling out the basketball. Even the one title Kentucky won recently was successful partly because their superstar freshmen weren't really ball-dominant on offense and there were some returning guys around them (Miller, Lamb, Jones) to take some big shots and spread the floor. If you want to win college titles, you have to assemble a team where the parts fit, and where there's some leadership. Our best team ever had one NBA guy on it, really (although Voskuhl lasted awhile as a career backup). The point guard was short and stocky, the shooting guard couldn't shoot, the center had no low post moves at all, and the power forward was stuck in a small forward's body. But try to beat those guys straight up when they were at full strength? Forget it. Only one team did, and it took an air ball that turned into an accidental pass to win that one.

Ollie's job is to evaluate his own personnel, project his weaknesses and needs, and try to find the people that fit those needs. Many times, the biggest need is just simply finding the best talent - an alpha dog who can drop 20 on a regular basis. But there's 13 scholarships and probably 10 rotation guys most years (figuring injuries and small/big lineups), and if he feels like he needs a good wing defender who can play point guard to create some versatility in the backcourt, and Jackson is the best fit based on his own evaluation (and his staff's), then he's going to get the scholarship offer over someone who might be rated a little higher or put up better stats in AAU. And you can always go back to the Knight/Joseph/Selby/Napier class. Recruitniks would say we got the worst of the four - but the four of them combined for two titles, and Napier got them both. And my guess is that we don't win in 2011 with any of those other guys, since they would have wanted their shots to fulfill their one and done plan and would have stepped on Kemba's toes a bit (but we'll never know).

 

[caw]

I mean if we were always to go with "Coach is right" saying then what is the point of these message boards discussing what the program should be doing who should start,who should play more, etc etc.

A highlight film is a collection of the players best plays. You can still tell a lot from those especially when their best plays aren't that good. He shows off little athleticism and he doesn't seem very crafty with his dribble or his moves. He plays bad HS competition and now when he is playing other stars he is struggling. So sorry if I came to the conclusion that he won't be a special player or that good of a player here. If your a top 50 recruit and people think your going to be a 3-4 year player who would just be a nice role player or distributer then I'm sorry that's considered a bust or not living up to expectations. We don't know what will happen with this kid but we are allowed to make a fan observation. Doesn't mean it will be right either.

What highlights are you watching? The only highlights I've seen were uploaded in 2012, or before his sophomore year. They are plenty impressive. They are also pre-injury.

Whoever else in this thread said he had a great high school year and is having a poor AAU year is correct. It's been a bad summer so far. Doesn't mean he's a bad player.

Honestly what Ali is doing doesn't mean he is a great player either. AAU is a decent measuring stick but there have been plenty who have wowed during AAU and flopped and plenty who have done the inverse.

 

[Deleted at users request]

The 1990s and 2000s were the parameters you used when they were winning titles with "NBA stars" and that's what you wanted us to be like. You're moving your own goal posts. Sheed, Jamison, Carter, Stackhouse never won any titles. In fact, UNC won a title in 1993 with a great college team and had almost everyone coming back, then Stackhouse and Wallace came in the following year and pretty much screwed it all up, acting like they were better than everyone else from the moment they arrived - that team flamed out and was upset by a Danya Abrams-led Boston College team in the second round. So why would you be jealous of those guys when we put NBA All-Stars Ray, Rip and Caron into the league in the same time frame? Or Burrell, who won a ring as a rotation guy in Chicago? Or someone like Kevin Ollie? UNC hasn't been doing anything better than we've been doing in the last 25 years. And why would you even be arguing with Texas fans about anything? They've been to one Final Four since 1947 (needing a path through San Antonio and a ball stuck in the rim to get there) and lost in the semis. Is it because of Kevin Durant? He had one latte at Austin Coffee Limits and went out in the Round of 32. It was a great recruiting war Texas won to get him, but the rafters are still collecting dust where those little hooks might go to attach banners.

This year showed how valuable guys like Kromah and Giffey and Brimah and Samuel are to winning championships. Putting together title teams isn't as simple as just hording talent and rolling out the basketball. Even the one title Kentucky won recently was successful partly because their superstar freshmen weren't really ball-dominant on offense and there were some returning guys around them (Miller, Lamb, Jones) to take some big shots and spread the floor. If you want to win college titles, you have to assemble a team where the parts fit, and where there's some leadership. Our best team ever had one NBA guy on it, really (although Voskuhl lasted awhile as a career backup). The point guard was short and stocky, the shooting guard couldn't shoot, the center had no low post moves at all, and the power forward was stuck in a small forward's body. But try to beat those guys straight up when they were at full strength? Forget it. Only one team did, and it took an air ball that turned into an accidental pass to win that one.

Ollie's job is to evaluate his own personnel, project his weaknesses and needs, and try to find the people that fit those needs. Many times, the biggest need is just simply finding the best talent - an alpha dog who can drop 20 on a regular basis. But there's 13 scholarships and probably 10 rotation guys most years (figuring injuries and small/big lineups), and if he feels like he needs a good wing defender who can play point guard to create some versatility in the backcourt, and Jackson is the best fit based on his own evaluation (and his staff's), then he's going to get the scholarship offer over someone who might be rated a little higher or put up better stats in AAU. And you can always go back to the Knight/Joseph/Selby/Napier class. Recruitniks would say we got the worst of the four - but the four of them combined for two titles, and Napier got them both. And my guess is that we don't win in 2011 with any of those other guys, since they would have wanted their shots to fulfill their one and done plan and would have stepped on Kemba's toes a bit (but we'll never know).

Yeah the Texas fan doesn't say much to me. I shit on him on a constant basis except for when the All Star game is on or KD or Lamarcus are playing.

Also at the end of the day those UNC guys are always going to be remembered for how great they were in the NBA. They might not have won championships in college but Vince Carter was kids favorite player and the other guys have multiple all star appearances and are well known as main options leading teams they've been on instead of being role players. Nobody who isn't a uconn fan could tell you who Scott Burrell or kevin Ollie was (before he won the title) or that Caron was an All Star. I'm glad Andre decided to come to UConn instead of going straight to the league because he is going to be holding the torch for great UConn players in the NBA until Kevin really gets this machine going.

You are completely right on the assessment star players don't always win you championships. Completely right. Great guards always do though. Besides Kentucky in 2012 (which is really a team you can say out talented everyone else to that title as they were led by MKG and Davis at the end of the day) most teams do need those role players who make heady plays in those games. I completely understand where you are coming from with the part about filling needs and how Jackson would fit in and how you would worry about a superior guard coming in wanting more shots from the veteran star.

My thing is we have Kevin Ollie. This is a guy who turned a guy who use to score 60 points in some games in high school in Ryan Boatright into a distributer whose shot selection has become light years better than what it used to be. He has cosigns from the biggest nba stars and years of experience in the league himself. We really have the best coach in America IMO and I think he can get any star to buy into the program if they decide to come here and not step on veterans toes like Boatright did this past year. He has enough knowledge from the NBA to create a system where if everyone is that good everyone can get shots like we saw this past season when everyone was tearing it up from 3.

So while I understand where your coming from with the you don't want the star that will step on the veterans toes I still believe we can take them because Ollie has that ability to coach them and won't let them walk on him like Calipari. With that being said JA could fill that role you said just fine IMO while being fully capable to score when needed like Boatright was this past year.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Yeah the Texas fan doesn't say much to me. I on him on a constant basis except for when the All Star game is on or KD or Lamarcus are playing.

Also at the end of the day those UNC guys are always going to be remembered for how great they were in the NBA. They might not have won championships in college but Vince Carter was kids favorite player and the other guys have multiple all star appearances and are well known as main options leading teams they've been on instead of being role players. Nobody who isn't a uconn fan could tell you who Scott Burrell or kevin Ollie was (before he won the title) or that Caron was an All Star. I'm glad Andre decided to come to UConn instead of going straight to the league because he is going to be holding the torch for great UConn players in the NBA until Kevin really gets this machine going.

You are completely right on the assessment star players don't always win you championships. Completely right. Great guards always do though. Besides Kentucky in 2012 (which is really a team you can say out talented everyone else to that title as they were led by MKG and Davis at the end of the day) most teams do need those role players who make heady plays in those games. I completely understand where you are coming from with the part about filling needs and how Jackson would fit in and how you would worry about a superior guard coming in wanting more shots from the veteran star.

My thing is we have Kevin Ollie. This is a guy who turned a guy who use to score 60 points in some games in high school in Ryan Boatright into a distributer whose shot selection has become light years better than what it used to be. He has cosigns from the biggest nba stars and years of experience in the league himself. We really have the best coach in America IMO and I think he can get any star to buy into the program if they decide to come here and not step on veterans toes like Boatright did this past year. He has enough knowledge from the NBA to create a system where if everyone is that good everyone can get shots like we saw this past season when everyone was tearing it up from 3.

So while I understand where your coming from with the you don't want the star that will step on the veterans toes I still believe we can take them because Ollie has that ability to coach them and won't let them walk on him like Calipari. With that being said JA could fill that role you said just fine IMO while being fully capable to score when needed like Boatright was this past year.

Maybe turtle is just in a slump? On the bright side he has another high school year to develop and another 4 as a husky. Me thinks he'll be just fine.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

The 1990s and 2000s were the parameters you used when they were winning titles with "NBA stars" and that's what you wanted us to be like. You're moving your own goal posts. Sheed, Jamison, Carter, Stackhouse never won any titles. In fact, UNC won a title in 1993 with a great college team and had almost everyone coming back, then Stackhouse and Wallace came in the following year and pretty much screwed it all up, acting like they were better than everyone else from the moment they arrived - that team flamed out and was upset by a Danya Abrams-led Boston College team in the second round. So why would you be jealous of those guys when we put NBA All-Stars Ray, Rip and Caron into the league in the same time frame? Or Burrell, who won a ring as a rotation guy in Chicago? Or someone like Kevin Ollie? UNC hasn't been doing anything better than we've been doing in the last 25 years. And why would you even be arguing with Texas fans about anything? They've been to one Final Four since 1947 (needing a path through San Antonio and a ball stuck in the rim to get there) and lost in the semis. Is it because of Kevin Durant? He had one latte at Austin Coffee Limits and went out in the Round of 32. It was a great recruiting war Texas won to get him, but the rafters are still collecting dust where those little hooks might go to attach banners.

This year showed how valuable guys like Kromah and Giffey and Brimah and Samuel are to winning championships. Putting together title teams isn't as simple as just hording talent and rolling out the basketball. Even the one title Kentucky won recently was successful partly because their superstar freshmen weren't really ball-dominant on offense and there were some returning guys around them (Miller, Lamb, Jones) to take some big shots and spread the floor. If you want to win college titles, you have to assemble a team where the parts fit, and where there's some leadership. Our best team ever had one NBA guy on it, really (although Voskuhl lasted awhile as a career backup). The point guard was short and stocky, the shooting guard couldn't shoot, the center had no low post moves at all, and the power forward was stuck in a small forward's body. But try to beat those guys straight up when they were at full strength? Forget it. Only one team did, and it took an air ball that turned into an accidental pass to win that one.

Ollie's job is to evaluate his own personnel, project his weaknesses and needs, and try to find the people that fit those needs. Many times, the biggest need is just simply finding the best talent - an alpha dog who can drop 20 on a regular basis. But there's 13 scholarships and probably 10 rotation guys most years (figuring injuries and small/big lineups), and if he feels like he needs a good wing defender who can play point guard to create some versatility in the backcourt, and Jackson is the best fit based on his own evaluation (and his staff's), then he's going to get the scholarship offer over someone who might be rated a little higher or put up better stats in AAU. And you can always go back to the Knight/Joseph/Selby/Napier class. Recruitniks would say we got the worst of the four - but the four of them combined for two titles, and Napier got them both. And my guess is that we don't win in 2011 with any of those other guys, since they would have wanted their shots to fulfill their one and done plan and would have stepped on Kemba's toes a bit (but we'll never know).

I think this thread should end with this post

 

[Rocktheworld]

And you can always go back to the Knight/Joseph/Selby/Napier class. Recruitniks would say we got the worst of the four - but the four of them combined for two titles, and Napier got them both. And my guess is that we don't win in 2011 with any of those other guys, since they would have wanted their shots to fulfill their one and done plan and would have stepped on Kemba's toes a bit (but we'll never know).

Not to mention that those other three would be GONE after the 2011 championship, let alone stick around and lead the school to a second as a senior

 

[otp85]

Langford didn't have much ability to put it on the floor nor shoot from the perimeter. From what I've read this makes zero sense.

I think the comparison is quite accurate. Seems like you're also forgetting how good a player Langford was; he was a 35% 3pt shooter the second half of his career. But I think the comparison comes mostly from the way they attack the rim. Langford was ferocious and fearless at the rim; so is Prince. Until recently the biggest question mark around Prince was his jump shot but he's be excelling this summer.

I'll gladly take Keith Langford; especially if it's with a better jump shot

 

[otp85]

Just because we won a championship with Brimah doesn't mean we couldn't have done it without him and with someone like Noah Vonleh or Dakari Johnson.

Once the new rankings come out Turtle will not be that highly recruited.

Seriously man, again with this? Honestly, what is your obsessions with one and dones and recruiting rankings? Why are you seemingly unhappy with our guys? You want Vonleh over Brimah? Why? Because Indiana was so good? So we would already be replacing him? Dakari Johnson?? Brimah played big in games he watched from the sidelines. Johnson did nothing all season. Looked slow and lost. Just huge. Guess what Brimah is huge too. And not lazy. I know that 247 and espn told you Johnson was better but I'll take Brimah ALL DAY.

Start supporting our guys or go be a uk fan so you can get the AAU you seem to want.

 

[Uconn3412]

Since this is a thread about Prince Ali, here is a video with him doing what he does in the EYBL

 

[Deleted at users request]

Seriously man, again with this? Honestly, what is your obsessions with one and dones and recruiting rankings? Why are you seemingly unhappy with our guys? You want Vonleh over Brimah? Why? Because Indiana was so good? So we would already be replacing him? Dakari Johnson?? Brimah played big in games he watched from the sidelines. Johnson did nothing all season. Looked slow and lost. Just huge. Guess what Brimah is huge too. And not lazy. I know that 247 and espn told you Johnson was better but I'll take Brimah ALL DAY.

Start supporting our guys or go be a uk fan so you can get the AAU you seem to want.

I'm not explaining my point anymore if you don't get it. I never said I'll take those guys over Brimah right now. In fact I praised Ollie for the find. Vonleh being on the sidelines had nothing to do with his individual talent either. If he was playing for us and under Ollie he probably would've been an All American. You guys are equating players to success like we don't have the best coach in the country. If this team was with any other coach they don't win a title or come close.

 

[tcf15]

EliteYouthBasketball ‏@NikeEYB 7m
Southern Stampede (@Southstampede) will compete for an EYBL Championship #PeachJam

 

[dogfan96]

 

[UconnU]

EliteYouthBasketball ‏@NikeEYB 7m
Southern Stampede (@Southstampede) will compete for an EYBL Championship #PeachJam

this should be webcasted somewhere right?

 

[otp85]

I'm not explaining my point anymore if you don't get it.

I don't think you get it. You have multiple posts in which you admire the uk one and done recruiting process and continually say that the guys we get aren't on that level. And yeah, you praised him for AB but then said we should've gotten a guy like Vonleh. Why??? All-American or not under Ollie he'd be gone now. Not to mention that that type of player is way harder to coach because they have way less to prove. Look at Vonleh, prime example, a mediocre season on an average team and he's still projected high lottery. Their concern is staying healthy; as it should be, it's their livelihood.

It's really hard to get a team of one and dones to buy into a system the way our guys do to win Championships

 

[otp85]

this should be webcasted somewhere right?

I can't find anything definitive anywhere for this year right now but it's still early. Last year I watched it live on nike eyb, d1 circuit and ihigh.com while meanstreets and and ballislife was putting highlights/full games up after they'd ended

 

[Deleted at users request]

I don't think you get it. You have multiple posts in which you admire the uk one and done recruiting process and continually say that the guys we get aren't on that level. And yeah, you praised him for AB but then said we should've gotten a guy like Vonleh. Why??? All-American or not under Ollie he'd be gone now. Not to mention that that type of player is way harder to coach because they have way less to prove. Look at Vonleh, prime example, a mediocre season on an average team and he's still projected high lottery. Their concern is staying healthy; as it should be, it's their livelihood.

It's really hard to get a team of one and dones to buy into a system the way our guys do to win Championships

I don't necessarily admire one and dones. Rather the talent. You can recruit talent without them being one and done. Daniel Hamilton is a great talent. Is he a one and done? No maybe not. Prince Ali seems like an amazing talent. Is he a one and done? No probably not. Same with Jalen Adams. So no I don't want to recruit one and Dones. Rather I want us to recruit highly talented players that we can form to be stars in college AND he NBA so we can continue to watch our players strive. I also didn't say we should've got a guy like Vonleh. I said we still would've been able to win with a guy like Vonleh because you guys act like you can't win with these uber talented players. Like Kentucky hasn't been to 3 of the past 4 final fours with them. And we have 10x the coach they have.

It's not about my faith or lack there of in our players. It's my faith that HCKO can get the most out of any of his players because of his ability to relate to any kid and have them be 10 toes in when they come here and play for the program. So if any star came here they would fall into that or KO wouldn't stand for it. KO has the resume to knock any #1 recruit down and humble him because of his cosigns from Lebron and Durant so if they want to get at that level they better listen and be ten toes in instead of doing there own thing.

With that being said some recruits have more potential than others. With big men rankings don't necessarily mean talent as we saw with Brimah because some are so raw coming out of high school.

 

[ebucklewis]

I don't necessarily admire one and dones. Rather the talent. You can recruit talent without them being one and done. Daniel Hamilton is a great talent. Is he a one and done? No maybe not. Prince Ali seems like an amazing talent. Is he a one and done? No probably not. Same with Jalen Adams. So no I don't want to recruit one and Dones. Rather I want us to recruit highly talented players that we can form to be stars in college AND he NBA so we can continue to watch our players strive. I also didn't say we should've got a guy like Vonleh. I said we still would've been able to win with a guy like Vonleh because you guys act like you can't win with these uber talented players. Like Kentucky hasn't been to 3 of the past 4 final fours with them. And we have 10x the coach they have.

It's not about my faith or lack there of in our players. It's my faith that HCKO can get the most out of any of his players because of his ability to relate to any kid and have them be 10 toes in when they come here and play for the program. So if any star came here they would fall into that or KO wouldn't stand for it. KO has the resume to knock any #1 recruit down and humble him because of his cosigns from Lebron and Durant so if they want to get at that level they better listen and be ten toes in instead of doing there own thing.

With that being said some recruits have more potential than others. With big men rankings don't necessarily mean talent as we saw with Brimah because some are so raw coming out of high school.

best posting I have ever read - more please! oh wait, you're serious??

 

[Deleted at users request]

With my lil spiel already said about talent, I think we have some great talent for this upcoming year. Brimah and Facey have the potential to be lottery picks and I'm super excited to see their development. Especially Facey. I've said this before that he can be like Lamarcus Aldridge. A long 4 who can put it on the floor and really stretch it with great rebounding instincts. Rodney Purvis is going to be a lottery pick after KO is finished teaching him the way of being an NBA guard while here. He's a guy who was a 5* McDonalds All American out of high school. Would you guys not want him and rather have Terrence Samuel starting next to Boatright next year? As far as Terrence Samuel goes his game reminds me of Andre Millers game. Not much of a jump shooter but a great finisher in the paint and great distribution skills. He's also a nice big guard that can be a matchup problem for smaller guards later down the road.

All in all I'm really excited for the talent we have on this team and I can't wait to see the talent Ollie continues to bring in. I just don't think Turtle is one of these great talented kids based on what I've seen so far. Shoot me and remove my UConn fan badge.

 

[ebucklewis]

Shoot me

ok - now you are making some sense..

 

[otp85]

I don't necessarily admire one and dones. Rather the talent.

Call it talent, call it one and dones; to me it seems like you want name recognition. You want the guys you see on espn so that you can they are UCONN guys and brag about it.

You talk about uk like they are the pinnacle; they're not. That new field a glorified AAU team idea calipari has developed is just one way of many to put a good team on the floor. And to me the worst, hard to even call it a team.

Personally, I love having to under the radar guys. Even as a former McDonald's AA no one outside of us saw Kemba coming. It was what made it special. Our guys. Not just players we rented. Also what makes a TEAM.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Call it talent, call it one and dones; to me it seems like you want name recognition. You want the guys you see on espn so that you can they are UCONN guys and brag about it.

You talk about uk like they are the pinnacle; they're not. That new field a glorified AAU team idea calipari has developed is just one way of many to put a good team on the floor. And to me the worst, hard to even call it a team.

Personally, I love having to under the radar guys. Even as a former McDonald's AA no one outside of us saw Kemba coming. It was what made it special. Our guys. Not just players we rented. Also what makes a TEAM.

You obviously didn't read my whole post. So I'm just going to agree to disagree cause I don't care anymore. At the end of the day Ollie is going to win us championships and he's going to bring in the talent I like to see for the most part and do what I expect for us to do as a program which is exceed, including everyone's here, expectations.

 

[otp85]

You obviously didn't read my whole post. So I'm just going to agree to disagree cause I don't care anymore. At the end of the day Ollie is going to win us championships and he's going to bring in the talent I like to see for the most part and do what I expect for us to do as a program which is exceed, including everyone's here, expectations.

No I read it. You said some nice things about the players we do have then said we should recruit higher ranked ones.

 

[Deleted at users request]

No I read it. You said some nice things about the players we do have then said we should recruit higher ranked ones.

No I said we wouldn't be any worse of a program if we got #1s like Malik. We already are getting attention from pretty high ranked players with Ollie after this championship. So it's not like we need to go higher. I'm very happy with the players we have and have brought in (besides Turtle). My Johnson and Vonleh examples from before were just that, examples. Examples of guys who were top talents in the class who would've been more game ready than Brimah that wouldn't have hurt us like you guys act like these top recruits would (Not that we should have taken them over Brimah).

I'm extremely happy with Brimah because he obviously has a lot of talent. You aren't going to find many 7' who can move like him. It's not always about rankings. Besides Malik I don't think I would take any other guard in this class over Jalen. Rankings don't always equate to talent. You guys are just making that assumption.

 

[Deleted at users request]

When talking about Kentucky I'm not talking about every player they get. Rather the special ones they do get like John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, etc. I can care less about the Doron Lambs, Harrison twins, Poythresses, and the rest of the highly ranked but overhyped players. It wouldn't hurt to have a special one and done player come in to provide a boost to the veteran teams we would already have. Just because some of those players didn't win championships doesn't mean they wouldn't have done that with us.

But since this thread is about the Prince I'm going to end my last post in this thread with this. He is an elite talent. Reminds me of DWade except he seems to be developing a jumper. He's 6'3 with long arms and boy is he built. I can't wait to see him suit up in a UConn jersey for 2 to 3 years and see him be a big part of what will hopefully be a championship team or 2.

 

[ebucklewis]

When talking about Kentucky I'm not talking about every player they get. Rather the special ones they do get like John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, etc. I can care less about the Doron Lambs, Harrison twins, Poythresses, and the rest of the highly ranked but overhyped players. It wouldn't hurt to have a special one and done player come in to provide a boost to the veteran teams we would already have. Just because some of those players didn't win championships doesn't mean they wouldn't have done that with us.

But since this thread is about the Prince I'm going to end my last post in this thread with this. He is an elite talent. Reminds me of DWade except he seems to be developing a jumper. He's 6'3 with long arms and boy is he built. I can't wait to see him suit up in a UConn jersey for 2 to 3 years and see him be a big part of what will hopefully be a championship team or 2.

just so I understand better - you have a guy that's not ranked in the top 60 of his high school class and yet he's like Dwayne Wade with a developing jump shot. do I have that correct?

 

[Deleted at users request]

just so I understand better - you have a guy that's not ranked in the top 60 of his high school class and yet he's like Dwayne Wade with a developing jump shot. do I have that correct?

1. Prince Ali will easily be top 60 in the class in the new rankings. I think he already is on some sites.
2. DWade wasn't even a top 100 recruit coming out of high school because of his size and was a late bloomer. Stayed 2 years at Marquette.
3. If you actually looked at their playing styles, game, and build instead of rankings you'd see they are actually very similar players. Ali just might lack in the playmaking department for right now and I'm not even sure if he is truly lacking there. Someone else who have seen him play can let us know that.

 

[pj]

Every coach whiffs from time to time. Ollie's track record on this is very short, so it doesn't seem remotely unreasonable to me that it could happen here.

Yes, but this is something you only know in hindsight.

At the time Turtle was offered, we hadn't won a national championship, top recruits weren't begging to be recruited, top targets like Jalen Adams and Jessie Govan were reluctant to commit, the conference situation was a big negative, there was a risk of being shut out. Making an early offer on a once-heralded but high risk recruit with an injury is a speculative move that made sense at the time. If KO could have seen the future, he probably waits on Turtle like other top programs did.

It's OK, there are 13 roster spots and the tourney rotation is usually about 8. There is room to have a role player and time to develop a guy like Turtle. He might be a starter and a star, but even if he doesn't become that, the coaches will mold him into a useful contributor.

Not every player can be a star, and often teams overloaded with stars have poor chemistry. Turtle has a lot more potential than Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Darius Smith, Jonathan Mandeldove, Michael Bradley, Lean Tolksdorf, Donnell Beverley, or a boatload of other players Jim Calhoun recruited. I don't think we're going to be regretting his commitment five years from now.

 

[Uconn3412]

just so I understand better - you have a guy that's not ranked in the top 60 of his high school class and yet he's like Dwayne Wade with a developing jump shot. do I have that correct?

You might want to pay some attention to Ali, he is a lot more like D Wade than you know.. Read his ESPN profile and he is easily top 25.. compare his numbers to Malik Newman in the EYBL and you will see that Prince has a better shooting percentage, better 3 point percentage, takes a lot less shots than Newman and Prince is 3rd in scoring a head of a lot of players ranked ahead of him.. Not to mention Prince has led his high school team from unknown to being nationally ranked.. I have a feeling that Prince will be ranked very high before he gets to Uconn.. He dominated the toughest league in high school basketball and he did it with a good field goal percentage..

 

[caw]

1. Prince Ali will easily be top 60 in the class in the new rankings. I think he already is on some sites.
2. DWade wasn't even a top 100 recruit coming out of high school because of his size and was a late bloomer. Stayed 2 years at Marquette.
3. If you actually looked at their playing styles, game, and build instead of rankings you'd see they are actually very similar players. Ali just might lack in the playmaking department for right now and I'm not even sure if he is truly lacking there. Someone else who have seen him play can let us know that.

I'm not going to pretend I know what DWade was like in between his JR and SR years of high school but at Marquette and in the NBA there are a few things that stand out as being superior compared to Ali.

-Vision/Passing ability. There is a reason many thought DWade could play PG.
-Handle. DWades is good with either hand. Ali is much more right hand dominate
-Athleticism. Ali's is good, and may end up great, Wade was otherworldly early in the NBA.

Are you making this comparison off of highlights also?

I will say Ali does attack the rim hard and has very good body control and his shot is improving.

Finally, watch both Ali and Turtle play full games before elevating them or demeaning them. Yes they have had completely different AAU seasons but you are way to fast to give up on Turtle and Ali has a ton to work on.

 

[Uconn3412]

http://northcarolina.247sports.com/Article/The-Circuit-EYBL-top-performer-statistics-28851952