Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[HuskyFich]

I'm really happy for this outcome all the way around.

*Dan Hurley missed on a talent evaluation (along with many other HCs)
*Dan Hurley didn't compound the mistake, and was honest with the kid through the whole season
*Dan Hurley probably tells him to move on, more so than Rahsool spurns UConn...
*Sool finds the best coach possible in a league that will allow him to thrive
*Dan Hurley reloaded with a clear upgrade, and multiple years of eligibility
*Dan Hurley isn't done yet.

 

[444JR]

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Good landing spot and I think he'll carve out a nice career there. Excited to see how he progresses.

 

[mauconnfan]

I’m happy that he found a landing spot and I wish him the best.

Yep agree. Hope he kills it for Martin!!

 

[HooperScooper]

“With ‘Sool choosing UMass, I feel he can have a great start with a coaching staff that is starting from scratch,” Archbishop Wood John Mosco said. “He can go in and not have seniors and older players ahead of him. Now it is up to him to prove to everyone the player we all know he is!”

By the way, is Amherst closer to Philly than Storrs?

UMass lands former UConn guard Rahsool Diggins | Zagsblog

By ADAM ZAGORIA & CHARLIE PARENT Rahsool […]

www.zagsblog.com

 

[Storrs South]

Wonder if he is referring to CFJ based on the last sentence

 

[aburks41]

Wonder if he is referring to CFJ based on the last sentence

Lol would make sense since the rumor mill says that Floyd left because he was mad about the whole Diggins situation. Our two supposed star guards in the waiting...ending up at one of the worst A10 schools lmao

 

[Chief00]

Congrats to Diggins, wishing him a successful career at UMass.

 

[alphasigko]

Good for Sool! I hope that he winds up thriving there!

 

[BackAftaThis]

Wonder if he is referring to CFJ based on the last sentence

Good luck lol

 

[Waquoit]

To quote Cosell, "It was inevitable." If your name ends with "iggins" and you leave UConn, you're going to UMass.

 

[Huskybass]

Lol would make sense since the rumor mill says that Floyd left because he was mad about the whole Diggins situation. Our two supposed star guards in the waiting...ending up at one of the worst A10 schools lmao

What you say is true, but this may be a real opportunity for Diggins to shine. He should certainly get enough run that we will see if the skills are there or not. I'm thrilled that he found a decent landing place quickly.

 

[Umami Zen]

Hope Sool crushes it.. One word of caution to him.. Dan Hurley is pretty chill compared to Frank.. LOL

 

[Hey Adrien!]

What you say is true, but this may be a real opportunity for Diggins to shine. He should certainly get enough run that we will see if the skills are there or not. I'm thrilled that he found a decent landing place quickly.

It's a good spot for the long-term, but not in 21-22 though: starting point guard Noah Fernandes is still around and he had an excellent season last year: 14.9p, 5.3a, 2.6s, 43.5 fg%, 36 3p% in 33.6 mpg.

If I'm Frank Martin, I'm not messing with Fernandes' PT entering his fourth college season, he was their best player last season by a mile.

 

[gtcam]

Congrats to Sool - Frank Martin is a top notch coach
I hope Sool thrives and becomes the player I knew he could be before he came to UConn
Too bad things didn;t work out in Storrs

 

[tcf15]

 

[nadavtheman]

This is both hysterical and insane that someone is now ranking transfer recruiting classes. I really need a time machine to bring me back to college basketball circa 1999.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Diggins getting hooked up with Frank Martin is cool, but UMass is still UMass.

This kid didn't have P5's or even the upper tier of mid-majors banging down his door. It's fair to say there's a reason he didn't get playing time.

Chalk it up to a recruiting whiff by Hurley (and a bunch of other coaches who were high on him), but this is absolutely not a case of "refusing to play young talent and riding them out of town".

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Diggins getting hooked up with Frank Martin is cool, but UMass is still UMass.

This kid didn't have P5's or even the upper tier of mid-majors banging down his door. It's fair to say there's a reason he didn't get playing time.

Chalk it up to a recruiting whiff by Hurley (and a bunch of other coaches who were high on him), but this is absolutely not a case of "refusing to play young talent and riding them out of town".

I mean, we'll probably never know the whole story about Sool/CFJ.

Hurley invests too much into recruiting these young men and cares too much about them as young adults...it seems clear he's not going to badmouth any of them if the situation has to come to an unexpected end.

Yes, I definitely an a glass-half-full guy and lean more towards being a Hurley stan, but calling any of these HS ranked 75-125 transfers a "recruiting whiff" by the coach (by any coach, for that matter) is probably oversimplifying a very complex and difficult-to-predict recruiting/player development situation.

It could have been that the improvement arc seen for the kid during high school "should" have continued...but maybe he just plateaued due to inherent "Peter principle" reasons, maybe he didn't/wouldn't/couldn't put in the effort levels needed to continue to improve during college ball in year #1, maybe he decided after a year that the "brutal honesty" that Hurley promises his recruits was actually annoying, maybe this, maybe that...

Bottom line is that the portal definitely makes it super-super-easy for the solution to these difficult situations to be..."let's just separate, move on, hit CTRL+ALT+DEL" versus "let's find a way to make it work for us in the remaining 3 years you have left here."

There's good and bad to that for both sides.

 

[Huskybass]

Diggins getting hooked up with Frank Martin is cool, but UMass is still UMass.

This kid didn't have P5's or even the upper tier of mid-majors banging down his door. It's fair to say there's a reason he didn't get playing time.

Chalk it up to a recruiting whiff by Hurley (and a bunch of other coaches who were high on him), but this is absolutely not a case of "refusing to play young talent and riding them out of town".

Diggins never really got a chance to look good if we are being honest. He fell behind due to an ankle injury and then only received garbage time minutes surrounded by walk ons and other end of the bench guys. I would have loved to see him spell Cole here and there for a few minutes with the starters. Those minutes would have been much more telling.

I think the kid has talent. Glad he found a program where backup minutes should be available in year 1.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I mean, we'll probably never know the whole story about Sool/CFJ.

Hurley invests too much into recruiting these young men and cares too much about them as young adults...it seems clear he's not going to badmouth any of them if the situation has to come to an unexpected end.

Yes, I definitely an a glass-half-full guy and lean more towards being a Hurley stan, but calling any of these HS ranked 75-125 transfers a "recruiting whiff" by the coach (by any coach, for that matter) is probably oversimplifying a very complex and difficult-to-predict recruiting/player development situation.

It could have been that the improvement arc seen for the kid during high school "should" have continued...but maybe he just plateaued due to inherent "Peter principle" reasons, maybe he didn't/wouldn't/couldn't put in the effort levels needed to continue to improve during college ball in year #1, maybe he decided after a year that the "brutal honesty" that Hurley promises his recruits was actually annoying, maybe this, maybe that...

Bottom line is that the portal definitely makes it super-super-easy for the solution to these difficult situations to be..."let's just separate, move on, hit CTRL+ALT+DEL" versus "let's find a way to make it work for us in the remaining 3 years you have left here."

There's good and bad to that for both sides.

I agree, recruiting misses happen to every coach, my point was actually pretty well aligned with yours.

I just think the fact that he ended up at UMass pretty clearly disproved the theory that Diggins was secretly a highly talented player who deserved significant minutes and Hurley unfairly denied him playing time.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Diggins never really got a chance to look good if we are being honest. He fell behind due to an ankle injury and then only received garbage time minutes surrounded by walk ons and other end of the bench guys. I would have loved to see him spell Cole here and there for a few minutes with the starters. Those minutes would have been much more telling.

I think the kid has talent. Glad he found a program where backup minutes should be available in year 1.

I mean, coaches saw him for 15 hours a week or whatever in practice. Games aren't the only source of information on whether a guy can play.

 

[7774]

Diggins never really got a chance to look good if we are being honest. He fell behind due to an ankle injury and then only received garbage time minutes surrounded by walk ons and other end of the bench guys. I would have loved to see him spell Cole here and there for a few minutes with the starters. Those minutes would have been much more telling.

I think the kid has talent. Glad he found a program where backup minutes should be available in year 1.

Out of all the dumb narratives from the past year on this board, I think the whole "Rahsool struggled because he only played in the easiest situations possible, and if he had just been put in much more difficult situations, he would have been a lot better" narrative is my favorite.


I remember one time I saw a guy struggling to juggle, and I told him he'd be a lot better at juggling if he was also riding a unicycle.

 

[BIIIG]

Out of all the dumb narratives from the past year on this board, I think the whole "Rahsool struggled because he only played in the easiest situations possible, and if he had just been put in much more difficult situations, he would have been a lot better" narrative is my favorite.


I remember one time I saw a guy struggling to juggle, and I told him he'd be a lot better at juggling if he was also riding a unicycle.

Fair enough, I don't necessarily think he'd be better if he had played in more difficult situations but i think it would have made things more transparent. Walk-on minutes are tough. You are playing with the worst guys on the team, the arena is emptying, and for a top 100 recruit its probably a bit embarrassing. I do think there's some merit to saying it was prob hard for him to 'get up' for those moments and we might have seen a more intense, engaged, and better version of Diggins with say 10minutes left in the first half against a Maryland Eastern Shore, or Grambling State type of game. Whether or not he would have been better, it would have been a lot easier from a fan perspective to understand why he was riding the bench all season if he played a couple of 5 minute stretches in meaningful minutes and struggled rather than it just being minute 40 spirts when the game was nothing more than a kneel down. That being said, best of luck at UMass, hope it works out for him

 

[bendm]

Out of all the dumb narratives from the past year on this board, I think the whole "Rahsool struggled because he only played in the easiest situations possible, and if he had just been put in much more difficult situations, he would have been a lot better" narrative is my favorite.


I remember one time I saw a guy struggling to juggle, and I told him he'd be a lot better at juggling if he was also riding a unicycle.

Huskybass is the patron Saint of the portaled. Bring him your tired, your weak, your bench players, your recruited over. They’re all worth saving to him.