Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[nomar]

I can't believe so many view this as a negative. I guess most of you ended up marrying your first girlfriend.

Best of luck to Diggins, but forgive me if I am excited by the opportunity to aggressively improve the roster.

BTW many freshman transferred out after one year with Calhoun. Jamaal Trice anyone?

People are saying either this was a recruiting miss or a player development miss like that's some kind of gotcha. Yeah, it was obviously a recruiting miss. And??????????????

You'd need 3 hands at least to count JC's recruiting misses. It happens. When a recruit is being sought after by multiple big-name programs, you can't blame the guy who landed him for being a bad recruiter. Come on.

 

[kansashusky]

I do hope it was amicable.

 

[superjohn]

The writing has been on the wall for a while now that Jackson might be the PG. Hurley mentioned it last year and it was mentioned in the most recent article about him. He's the starting PG as of right now

That scares me but it could probably work if he's paired with a dynamic dribbling scoring guard who scores off the bounce.

 

[Dove]

Diggins was a great ambassador and recruiter. That alone is big loss.

Another Diggins will come along.

 

[3rdbass]

The writing has been on the wall for a while now that Jackson might be the PG. Hurley mentioned it last year and it was mentioned in the most recent article about him. He's the starting PG as of right now

He better work on his offensive game, handle and instincts or this could be ugly.

 

[husky429]

I have a feeling Sool didn't make this choice in a vacuum. I choose to believe our staff was very frank with him and leaving is the choice Sool made after those talks.

Well, sure. You may not say "you need to x'fer" but coaches are going to be honest about playing time. And if they are pursuing a transfer, Gaffney is on top of him on the depth chart, and we have Castle coming in the year after... he's probably looking at the path to playing time and realizing that elsewhere is a better option. As long as everyone is honest, I see no problem with with a transfer.

 

[Connecticut13]

People are saying either this was a recruiting miss or a player development miss like that's some kind of gotcha. Yeah, it was obviously a recruiting miss. And??????????????

You'd need 3 hands at least to count JC's recruiting misses. It happens. When a recruit is being sought after by multiple big-name programs, you can't blame the guy who landed him for being a bad recruiter. Come on.

When was the last time our only returning point guard transferred out? Yes, JC had misses -- but those misses didn't put us in a situation like this. Big difference IMO. Still time for Hurley to pull something off here with the transfer portal, but we're still in a difficult situation.

 

[djct1999]

The timing of this announcement translates into a mutual decision after the season ending meeting. I am sure Hurley spelled out his plans and both sides decided its best to move on.

 

[HuskylnSC]

Things I read on the BY:
1) Yup Sool is the guy that's going to lead us to the promised land. He can do it all!

2) Jackson will be a great point guard. It's the position He's going to play at the next level.

3) Wait, we got Stephon Castle! OMG! that is GREAT! 6'6" point guard! That's fantastic!

4) Sool's leaving? Hurley is a jerk. He sabotaged his own team.

Maybe Sool reads the BY too.

 

[Scoe]

 

[dennismenace]

The word from Nova folks back in the HS days when he and Nova had some level of intrigue but never any real interest. Most Nova folks wanted to pass (esp coming off the memory of the Quinnerly year). Diggins didn’t want to wait and he wouldnt be nearly physically ready to contribute as a Freshman. Also, he can be dazzling and confident (and self impressed at times). But my guy said he’d be shocked if Diggins was ready to contribute to a good big East team NEXT year, unless he filled out A lot.

H has skills. But was definitely too slight right outa HS to play a switch every screen defense that Wright plays. I figured it isn’t much different at UCONN. Cole was a great guard for that duty. Diggins needs time.

Quinnerly eventually put on some weight, really matured and was a leader on the Alabama squad.

The guy you want is probably in or about to be in the portal

 

[Griffman]

Diggins could not beat out Gaffney as the back up to Cole and we all know how lousy Gaffney has been. Gaffney is essentially the best of the worst which is an indication that Hurley struck out twice recruiting point guards.

Floyd is the only guard on the team that can potentially create and score for himself. Not a good outlook unless Hurley has something up his sleeves with transfers.

 

[3rdbass]

It would great if his next step in development would be getting to the rim at will. He will be a a good point guard if he can score at the basket and Hurley surrounds him with scorers.

Yeah, I agree. Defenders just have to play him for the pass as he doesn't have any real offensive game to speak about presently.

 

[DCHuskyFan]

I would bet that each of the returning players sat down with Hurley and discussed the past season and their individual paths forward. Sool then decided to transfer, likely based upon Harley’s input. If that is the scenario, then Sool likely wasn’t going to be much help next year if he stayed.

 

[Dove]

Hurley better bring in some star guards this offseason.

....or?

 

[navery12]

....or?

 

[Mr. Hand]

You don't get to be a top 50 recruit by sucking.

It happens every year.

 

[JB75]

He couldn't beat out Gaffney b/c he wasn't good enough. Why is this hard to figure out?

It’s hard to figure out because how do you not even give the kid a chance to see minutes on the floor as a 4 star coming in? I don’t care if the kid played like my sister in practice— to not give the kid a minimal chance during the scrub squads in November —knowing how we desperately need point guard help - makes this not your average case of someone not playing due skill level. PLUS, he was a big recruit from Philly area—- at the very very very least, let him get 5 -7 mins a game during our 6-7 garbage games. Like I said , I mean Jesus , how bad cud the kid be?? I don’t care if he bounced the ball off his knee 10 straight possessions -to give Gaffney that many minutes early in the season is criminal. But the good thing about this is I guess we’ll find out who was right

 

[Dean Wormer]

I’ll give Dan Hurley credit for bringing in Cole but at this point he’s the outlier. I had my hopes squashed by Gaff last season, so i ain’t predicting what he’ll do next. We need a big score on a portal point guard. Guards win games in this sport, and we’re not going anywhere without some decent ones.

 

[Sphinx]

Hurley better bring in some star guards this offseason.

Problem is, this makes it difficult to recruit that second guard transfer we need.

The task is no longer to recruit a starting PG, backed up by Gaffney and Diggins. The task is to recruit a starting PG, backed up by Gaffney and a second transfer who must be satisfied with a third string role. It is unlikely that we can entice anyone of caliber to fill that role.

 

[nomar]

Didn’t Bouknight only start when Polley got injured?

He played 25 minutes in his second game, against Xavier.

Hurley clearly believed Bouknight deserved an opportunity and gave him one.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I’ll give Dan Hurley credit for bringing in Cole but at this point he’s the outlier. I had my hopes squashed by Gaff last season, so i ain’t predicting what he’ll do next. But we need a big score on a portal point guard. Guards win games in this sport, and we’re not going anywhere without some decent ones.

Define outlier?

 

[imno1]

Diggins could not beat out Gaffney as the back up to Cole and we all know how lousy Gaffney has been. Gaffney is essentially the best of the worst which is an indication that Hurley struck out twice recruiting point guards.

Floyd is the only guard on the team that can potentially create and score for himself. Not a good outlook unless Hurley has something up his sleeves with transfers.

Gaffney was objectively awful. It's hard to be worse than that. The kid was never given a chance. That much is obvious. You don't get to be a top 50 recruit by sucking.

And if we had gotten a top 50 he might have played more this season.

 

[JMick]

That scares me but it could probably work if he's paired with a dynamic dribbling scoring guard who scores off the bounce.

I'm fine with him being the backup PG next year. The kid works really hard and is going to get better. But we can't go into the season with him as the starter if he have any post season aspirations

 

[Waquoit]

For the life of me I can’t stand why he didn’t play him. He couldn’t even beat out Gaffney???

You ever hear of Occam's Razor?

 

[MexicoHusky]

Jackson as a PG keeps coming up. He's a good ball handler. Can get a rebound and push the ball. But he can't consistently beat a PG off the dribble, get his own shot, defend an opposing PG very well. He's just a well rounded basketball player with ok handle and passing. We still need actual guards.

 

[Mr. French]

I’ll never understand how this thing shook out, but I’m super disappointed.

Maybe with Castle coming he didn’t want to keep battling, but I don’t get how he couldn’t have gotten any minutes this year and his future can suddenly be murky.

 

[3rdbass]

Define outlier?

Maybe he means as far as getting PGs into our program. He has been the only good one he has brought into the program.

 

[JMick]

Jackson as a PG keeps coming up. He's a good ball handler. Can get a rebound and push the ball. But he can't consistently beat a PG off the dribble, get his own shot, defend an opposing PG very well. He's just a well rounded basketball player with ok handle and passing. We still need actual guards.

It keeps coming up because it came out of Hurleys mouth and it was in Mike Anthony's article. It's not random speculation

 

[ConnHuskBask]

Maybe he means as far as getting PGs into our program. He has been the only good one he has brought into the program.

Hurleys been here 4 years and has had really only 3 recruiting classes and ended the year with a first team All Big East PG.

Bouknight was great, Sanogo was first team all BE, and Jackson is a star in the making.

Let's see who comes in..if we get another Cole then what's the big deal.