Qudus Wahab

[Bost4]

sure did. as a 3 star freshmen recruit he started 17 games and averaged 2.3 blks in 16 mins/game on a championship team!

There was one very important play I recall...
“Napier missed on a drive at the other end, but Brimah got the rebound to the left of the basket, and was fouled while putting it back. He tied the game by hitting the free throw.
Taking over with 39 seconds left, the Hawks never got a shot off on what became their final possession of regulation.” ~ 2014 national champions

 

[Scrutineer]

This is such a waste of time. Chief said "trust the grind" and what else can we do? Let the coaches do their jobs and pray we hired the right coaches to get it done. But I guess the worrying here is part of the fun.

We all got caught up in the excitement of the early commitments from Bouknight and Gaffney, but now we're worrying about B's knee. Akok was hot and cold, then committed to great relief, and now still has some worried he'll opt for the draft. That would lead to an epic meltdown here.

Kofi was said to be the key to opening up the recruiting floodgates in future years, but now he's gone to Illinois to play in the B1G and get them back to winning championships. Right. He made that choice while knowing who Andre Drummond is, where he played and where he is today, yet it seemed to matter little.

I advocated for Wahab early on because of how solid his defense and rebounding are reported to be and how well that worked out for us with players like Emeka and Jake. We don't need guys who aren't one and dones but think they are (Kofi?). Put Wahab in with 7 to 8 other solid guys, two or three of which have some special qualities (RIP/Ben/Kemba/Bazz) and we're on the way to greatness again.

We heard from some that Kofi and Wahab will not both end up here. Let's hope one of them does.

 

[uchusky32]

This is such a waste of time. Chief said "trust the grind" and what else can we do? Let the coaches do their jobs and pray we hired the right coaches to get it done. But I guess the worrying here is part of the fun.

We all got caught up in the excitement of the early commitments from Bouknight and Gaffney, but now we're worrying about B's knee. Akok was hot and cold, then committed to great relief, and now still has some worried he'll opt for the draft. That would lead to an epic meltdown here.

Kofi was said to be the key to opening up the recruiting floodgates in future years, but now he's gone to Illinois to play in the B1G and get them back to winning championships. Right. He made that choice while knowing who Andre Drummond is, where he played and where he is today, yet it seemed to matter little.

I advocated for Wahab early on because of how solid his defense and rebounding are reported to be and how well that worked out for us with players like Emeka and Jake. We don't need guys who aren't one and dones but think they are (Kofi?). Put Wahab in with 7 to 8 other solid guys, two or three of which have some special qualities (RIP/Ben/Kemba/Bazz) and we're on the way to greatness again.

We heard from some that Kofi and Wahab will not both end up here. Let's hope one of them does.

From.the Annals of Chief's Briefs:
Rule #3. Never trust a long grind and a smile.

 

[methodology]

If our proximity to NYC is the #1 card we played recruiting anybody then it should be no surprise when we lose out. 3 hour drive from campus isn't exactly "our backyard", no matter how much UConn wants to wave that flag.

Out of major college bball programs you have st johns in the city. Seton hall/Rutgers about 20 miles away (anywhere from 30 min - hour depending when you leave), nova/ temple about 100 miles (2 hour drive time), uconn 130ish miles (2.5-3 hr), Maryland 225 miles (3.5- 4 hours), PC 180ish miles (3-3.5 hr)

That's not a bad drive at all for a parent/ family to see their kid play. I make these drives daily with the exception of Maryland. Pretty sure Dyson's mother would drive up from Maryland all the time to watch him play and Kemba family always made the trip and never always said how convenient it was

 

[Mano]

From.the Annals of Chief's Briefs

That’s a nearly dangerous sentence there.

 

[AdamaNation]

not arguing wahab isn't a project. i just think he's a project that could play 20 mins/game next year with only carlton to compete with. at VT maybe he gets 10 mins/game max backing up Blackshear

Bet we said the same about Carlton. But anyone with a star has got to be better.

 

[Hoophound]

From.the Annals of Chief's Briefs:
Rule #3. Never trust a long grind and a smile.

This is such a great post in so many ways. It is like the beginning of a Chief00 movie done in the James Bond genre. For some reason, I imagine Chief walking into a whore house in Bangkok and getting a knowing smile from an attractive yet intimidating looking Asian woman. Chief must decide, will this be a pleasure visit, or is something sinister afoot?

 

[superjohn]

Why isn't Wahab ranked higher? He has offers from UConn, G'Town, Louisville, Va Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse, Clemson, LSU etc. and yet it seems like his ranking has dropped over time. Strange that someone his size with those offers would drop unless there was an injury and or personal problems and there are neither.

 

[UConnStats]

Why isn't Wahab ranked higher? He has offers from UConn, G'Town, Louisville, Va Tech, Ohio State, Syracuse, Clemson, LSU etc. and yet it seems like his ranking has dropped over time. Strange that someone his size with those offers would drop unless there was an injury and or personal problems and there are neither.

Not much to work with offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer:

 

[pj]

Not much to work with offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer:

Coaches like this profile a lot more than journalists. Five guys have to defend at every moment, only one guy can take a shot. A dominant defender in the post changes the game even if he never scores from more than 2 feet. He can set screens and offensive rebound to help the offense.

 

[the Q]

Not much to work with offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer:

I’m sold. DH needs to land this dude.

 

[superjohn]

Not much to work with offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer:

I'm really starting to like the idea of a Wahab, Akok, Sid frontline. That could truly be a defensive force and get us back to a traditional UConn intimidating frontline of nothing easy around the rim.

 

[imno1]

[QUOTE="UConnStats, post: 2990555, mwith offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer: [/QUOTE]
Who need that kind of player

 

[UConnStats]

I'm really starting to like the idea of a Wahab, Akok, Sid frontline. That could truly be a defensive force and get us back to a traditional UConn intimidating frontline of nothing easy around the rim.

Agreed, and when I’ve seen Bouknight, he gets a fair amount of chasedown and weak side blocks on guards. Could be very solid as a defensive unit.

Hopefully we can close Wahab. Beating Georgetown and Pitt won’t be easy at this point, but it’s important that we do.

 

[yukonfan4]

who do you think we have a better shot at currently, wahab or mitchell? love that eveyone has talked themselves into this guy already, and i'm sure y'all can do the same with mitchell if that's who we land. i know i will.

 

[UConnStats]

which do you think we have a better shot at currently, wahab or mitchell?

Wahab. I don’t think we have much of a chance at all with Mitchell for 2019, because is leaning towards a reclassification to 2020.

If we miss on Wahab, we may offer Coulibaly or try to get more creative, but that would be bad news for Hurley. Unfortunately, Wahab is no sure thing at all.

But as @BFieldHusky said, Wahab could have committed to Georgetown or Pitt already, but he waited. Perhaps that points to him waiting to see where we ended up. We’ll see.

 

[yukonfan4]

alright, then i'll start talking myself into coulibaly and a grad transfer, just in case.

coulibaly looks like the next boris diaw!

 

[auror]

I'm really starting to like the idea of a Wahab, Akok, Sid frontline. That could truly be a defensive force and get us back to a traditional UConn intimidating frontline of nothing easy around the rim.

Blocking shots gets you out into transition, also.

 

[UConnStats]

alright, then i'll start talking myself into coulibaly and a grad transfer, just in case. hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

coulibaly looks like the next boris diaw!

I really do like Coulibaly. He rebounds like crazy on the defensive end, and he was efficient scoring despite an extremely high usage rate in the Adidas Gauntlet.

The problem is he isn’t that athletic and he’s 6’8. He may not be quick enough to defend some 4s or big/athletic enough to guard some 5s. Big time tweener, and we need a true center. But at the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up being like Markus Kennedy from Larry Brown’s SMU teams that owned us.

The numbers point to Coulibaly being underrated. I think he’s worth a scholarship, but we have too many tied up in the frontcourt right now. Unless someone was to transfer, I don’t think we’d have room if we were to land Wahab.

 

[methodology]

Don't know much about Wahab.

Is he a Clint Capela type big (obviously not that talented)?

 

[Towney007]

I really do like Coulibaly. He rebounds like crazy on the defensive end, and he was efficient scoring despite an extremely high usage rate in the Adidas Gauntlet.

The problem is he isn’t that athletic and he’s 6’8. He may not be quick enough to defend some 4s or big/athletic enough to guard some 5s. Big time tweener, and we need a true center. But at the same time, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ended up being like Markus Kennedy from Larry Brown’s SMU teams that owned us.

The numbers point to Coulibaly being underrated. I think he’s worth a scholarship, but we have too many tied up in the frontcourt right now. Unless someone was to transfer, I don’t think we’d have room if we were to land Wahab.

I love this.

Maybe i'm talking myself into him for the sake of it, but he's one of those guys that the more I learn about him, the more I like him. And in terms of being a real banger defensively, on the boards and blocking shots - I mean it might be one of those situations where he's the right player as opposed to the best player.

That being said, I wish we were on him a little harder earlier in the process.

 

[RipCity]

Hurley chose UConn over Pitt, so by the transitive property I believe Wahab is required to do so as well.

If we hadn’t take so many fliers on weirdly sized big men already, I’d be very down for Coulibaly. But yea... too many scholarships being held hostage right now.

 

[Towney007]

good grief. if we can't land our backup to our backup to our backup plan at center then might as well just grab 2 post grads and be done with it!

It's not that easy, man.

He's our backup, but he might be someone else's #1. Any basketball/sports adviser - financially or not - tell kids that the #1 priority should be to take a good, long, hard look at the places that *want you the most* even if it's not the sexiest choice.

Flip side of that is that kids get greedy and almost all of them have an inflated view of themselves. Doesn't make them spoiled, just makes them kids. And when they look at UConn and go 'wow, that's wide open and I fit perfect and I can play a lot' - that's pretty enticing.

The problem is - there are other options on the table. I'm not sure where we really stand with him. But given the fit (this is me armchair QB'ing this to a stupid degree) - I kind of wish we'd have been on him more earlier. He really has no effect on Kofi. And if you don't have Kofi, you have him. Which is pretty fantastic. Then you're looking at one last scholarship open and time, resources to dedicate everything you have to getting Precious or anything else you want.

I don't fault Hurley for it, this stuff is entirely fluid and evolves in a weird way (Kofi to Illinois for example), but hindsight and all.

 

[len0322]

good grief. if we can't land our backup to our backup to our backup plan at center then might as well just grab 2 post grads and be done with it!

the possibility of two david onuorah's on one roster...score....

 

[Scrutineer]

Not much to work with offensively. Defense first rim runners don’t all the glitz that offensive players do. Although an outlier to that for 2019 would be Omar Payne. He and Wahab are extremely similar.

But you’re right, his offers and his numbers don’t lie. Pretty eye-popping BLK% and REB% this spring/summer:

Wonder why Payne is #39 and Wahab is so much lower rated?