Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[DayDayTFS]

If you are good enough, you play. If you are not, you sit. Players know this.

 

[superjohn]

UConn had a top 9 of Cole, Sanogo, Martin, Jackson, Whaley, Polley, Hawkins, Akok, and Gaffney. It's pretty hard to find minutes for players 10 through 12.

And, how many games did UConn either blow out the other team or got blown out? The number of games this season decided by 11 points or less were 4 wins: Grambling St., Butler 2x, and Georgetown and the last game there was an at least 11 point victory was January 25th. Against Grambling, Johnson played 20 minutes and Diggins played 12 minutes. Unfortunately, there were not many blow out opportunities for the end of the bench players to get minutes. The lack of blow out wins highlights UConn's offensive problems.

That top 9 isn't all that impressive when you dive into it. Only one guy who could consistently score off the bounce, one guy who could score down low, 2 guys who couldn't really score at all starting and the 8th and 9th guys were basically unplayable.

We've all heard enough talk from Hurley, he got the fanbase excited and we're relevant again but he simply needs to start producing at a higher level to back up his talk.

 

[kcc1442]

No surprise. Best of luck to the kid.

I know people want to complain about him not getting PT... but I'm just not confident he was actually good enough to play. This kind of stuff always works itself out in practice. There are plenty of misses with top-100 players.

We might not be the best fit for him. Somewhere where he can be the #1 guy on the team, and a team that relies heavily on a pass-first PG would be better for him.

I agree with all of this. Brings up memories of Darius Smith's short tenure here. Top 100, couldn't see floor here despite that 09-10 team needing a backup PG. Calhoun was unwilling to play him much despite his ranking and despite our need. Transferred out and was never heard of.

 

[Greg]

Nobody hits on every recruit and some kids take longer to develop, some never do.

 

[UChusky916]

You're still the one not seeing my point. Hurley decided seemingly pretty early that Diggins wasn't going or didn't have the ability to be ready by the end of the year. It's not like he literally never played or practiced. He played 7-10 minutes in the first 3 games and was practicing with the team the full season. You can develop guys in practice, too. You can't necessarily judge a guy's performance in games in small samples of minutes in garbage time, but you sure can judge their play in practice.

You give someone a chance to develop if they are worth developing, and coaches have to judge that all the time. You can tell by his consistent comments to the media that Hurley thinks that Samson is clearly worth developing.

This is what Hurley said when he was asked about Diggins' minutes:

So what you're saying is we're supposed to trust Hurley's evaluation of a freshman Diggins, who never had a real opportunity outside of practice... while also admitting Hurley failed to properly evaluate Gaffney and his ceiling after 3 years... all while Gaffney was the one getting minutes?

You're talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Hurley made a decision, yes. Maybe he made a quick evaluation that Gaffney would be best suited as backup PG and that it wasn't worth investing minutes in Diggins for THIS YEAR.
But you can't tell me he made the RIGHT DECISION when Diggins wasn't even given a fair chance and Gaffney turned out the way he did.

 

[Waquoit]

There's a whole group of people on this board who just really wish basketball was still in 1995

When everyone was saying JC couldn't win the big one?

 

[Fishy]

Yeah this is an idiotic take. Every coach in America recruits players that at the very least are not cut out to get minutes as a freshman, even [insert coach’s name you think would be doing a better job with the program than Hurley].

Who’s the point guard next year, champ?

I’m sure Diggins was recruited with the idea that he would get no minutes as a freshman and transfer out after the season.

So, again, who’s the point guard next year?

 

[Waquoit]

Are some saying that minutes aren't earned in practice anymore?

 

[superjohn]

Who’s the point guard next year, champ?

I’m sure Diggins was recruited with the idea that he would get no minutes as a freshman and transfer out after the season.

So, again, who’s the point guard next year?

We don't know yet, he simply needs to bring in a stud point guard and he needs to bring in someone who can handle like a point and score off the bounce. If he doesn't do these things it be rough next season and most of the fanbase will be calling for his head.

 

[NotADime89]

Who’s the point guard next year, champ?

I’m sure Diggins was recruited with the idea that he would get no minutes as a freshman and transfer out after the season.

So, again, who’s the point guard next year?

We can go with Jackson, Hawkins, Floyd, Samson Johnson, and Sanogo and be fine but DH will be in a transfer PG and a CG CHAMP.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

Other coaches recruited freshmen who could play in the Big East…and then played them in the Big East.

The only teams who actually did this were Creighton (impressive) and Marquette (they just fired their coach, we did the same thing in Hurley's first few years).

The rest of the Big East All Freshman team was the kid at Georgetown (who cares) and our guy.

Nova and Providence did not play their freshman at all. Neither does UNC, Kansas, Houston...I could go on and on.

And to your question on "who is next year's point guard?"....obviously it's going to be a transfer, probably a guy that nobody on this board even knows is transferring. And transfers are good enough for all of the teams I listed above, so they are also good enough for UConn.

Your idea of great roster management made sense 10 years ago. Almost nobody else is actually doing what you think we should be doing.

 

[UConnJim]

Who’s the point guard next year, champ?

I’m sure Diggins was recruited with the idea that he would get no minutes as a freshman and transfer out after the season.

So, again, who’s the point guard next year?

He is or will be in the portal. Lots of PGs will be in the portal based on last year (>20 4* PGs were in the portal last year.)

 

[djct1999]

Seems to me Diggins was recruited over. This did not catch the staff by surprise nor is it a real concern.

 

[How Sway?!]

Would be cool if Diggins ends up at Howard and kills it there

 

[bendm]

Maybe he made a quick evaluation that Gaffney would be best suited as backup PG and that it wasn't worth investing minutes in Diggins for THIS YEAR.
But you can't tell me he made the RIGHT DECISION when Diggins wasn't even given a fair chance and Gaffney turned out the way he did.

or maybe it wasn't a quick decision at all and was actually based on seeing diggins in practice every day...

maybe the fact that diggins didnt play even with Gaff turning out the way he did says everything you need to know about how good or bad diggins really was.

only time will tell if it was the right decision so let's see how he plays next year at his new school before rendering a verdict. i hope it doesnt turn into a jahvon quinerly scenario.

 

[Fishy]

or maybe it wasn't a quick decision at all and was actually based on seeing diggins in practice every day...

maybe the fact that diggins didnt play even with Gaff turning out the way he did says everything you need to know about how good or bad diggins really is.

only time will tell if it was the right decision let's see how he develops at his next school before rendering a verdict

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

This isn’t the first top-100 kid who hasn’t even made it to the end of the second semester.

 

[CL82]

As of now it’s Gaffney’s show

Just reading this quote made me surprisingly sad.

 

[bendm]

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

the post i was replying to wasnt addressing the recruiting aspect just the decision not to play him given gaffney not being any good

call it a recruiting miss or call the kid a bust, same difference in the end.

 

[Tenspro2002]

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

Obviously the former. He missed. Got a highly-rated kid who turned out to be not up to snuff. It happens.

It's only a major problem if we fail to get any of the several dozen point guards who are hitting the portal.

 

[navery12]

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

Well luckily it's 2022 and we employ a coach who has chosen to live in reality and recruit transfers unlike you. So having no PG on March 28 is not a problem, if we still don't have one in November then it's a problem

 

[HuskyBballFan]

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

A major, major problem…

In two weeks there will be about 9,000 point guards on the portal. Most of them stink, but plenty of them don’t. And we can offer them oodles of playing time and a solid team around them.

We’re going to get one of them, relax.

 

[JMick]

You can’t have it both ways.

Did Hurley make a mistake in recruiting Diggins or did he make a mistake in not playing him? Because we’re without an option at point guard right now which is a major, major problem.

This isn’t the first top-100 kid who hasn’t even made it to the end of the second semester.

It's a major problem.

But if he missed and the kid couldn't cut it, why are you complaining that he didn't get any minutes?

 

[Fishy]

Well luckily it's 2022 and we employ a coach who has chosen to live in reality and recruit transfers unlike you. So having no PG on March 28 is not a problem, if we still don't have one in November then it's a problem

lol.

Sure.

GD, where do we find these morons?

 

[Hoophound]

The issue is still a roster management issue at its core. We need TWO PGs. Fishy is right in that we shouldn’t be in this position. We’ve been short PGs for a few years.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He was more than serviceable on Teddy. I think Teddy had like 2 points in the first half when Dre picked up his 2nd foul. Dre went to bench and Teddy torched Tyrese but Dre did an admirable job I'd say.

Martin guarded Teddy almost the whole first half. And yes, Teddy scored in all sorts of ways against near perfect defense. Andre played him just fine, the guy just made everything and when we doubled him, the guys on his team that aren't very good all hit those shots. They shot 72%. It was a freak thing.