Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[Fishy]

We didn't have enough point guards this year as it is. Not playing him and giving him a shot over Gaffney at times was mind boggling.

Just not finding a way to get him minutes was such an absolute disaster.

Other schools had no issues playing freshmen who were not nearly as talented and we could not find a way to fit Diggins and Johnson in anywhere?

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Just not finding a way to get him minutes was such an absolute disaster.

Other schools had no issues playing freshmen who were not nearly as talented and we could not find a way to fit Diggins and Johnson in anywhere?

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

So no part of you thinks that Diggins may have been extremely overrated by recruiting services?

 

[tentoes4rings]

Loyalty. LOL. Kid couldn't win easy minutes that were clearly available to him. Whatever happens him moving on is best for all parties. Maybe we'll all finally learn that social media doesn't win ballgames.

I had very high hopes for Gaffney, this season, but it didn't pan put put as he seemed a couple steps slower than everyone else on the floor. I still cons9der himnan asset and maybe he figures it out enough to make a difference, but if Diggins couldn't beat him in practice this year then he wasn't going to be a useful player for us next year at this level.

We’ve had 3 years to evaluate Gaffney. Unless he improves his handle, shooting and first step tremendously I think expecting a significant contribution from him next year is a recipe for disaster.

 

[tentoes4rings]

Just not finding a way to get him minutes was such an absolute disaster.

Other schools had no issues playing freshmen who were not nearly as talented and we could not find a way to fit Diggins and Johnson in anywhere?

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

Well, they also shot 11-14 from three and their best player had 37 including 11-11 from the line. But your point is dead on. We all pretty much knew if Diggins couldn’t be developed to give us a good 2nd option at PG, we wouldn’t go that far in March. There were plenty of cupcake games and blowouts in conference to give him and Johnson minutes, and inexcusably it was never done.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He had such little opportunity! I don’t know how some of you are drawing such a conclusion based on a tiny sample size. He got gobbled up late in that Georgetown game when Ewing decided to employ the 83-84 Hoya pressure down 20 with two minutes to go but that’s the only time he looked really bad to me. Other than that he got such limited minutes he probably played scared. Aside from a great transfer in Cole, all the staff has to show at PG in 4 years is Jalen Gaffney.

It's true he didn't play much. Most of it came against bad competition. And still he had worse advanced metrics than Matt Garry. People think Gaffney was bad? He played 46 minutes. Took 3 shots. Had 3 assists, 6 TOs, 1 steal, 0 rebounds and committed 6 fouls. Against cupcakes.

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[auror]

Just not finding a way to get him minutes was such an absolute disaster.

Other schools had no issues playing freshmen who were not nearly as talented and we could not find a way to fit Diggins and Johnson in anywhere?

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

You didn't watch the 2nd half of the NMSU game, and that's fine. We absolutely steamrolled their defense in the 2nd half. Even with a slow 1st half, we finished 1.08 ppp overall. That was right on our conference season average, which was 2nd in the Big East in scoring efficiency.

It was the defense/their hot shooting/our dumb plays that led to the loss in the end.

 

[shizzle787]

no good way to spin this.

either this was a mutual decision and the staff realized he wasn’t cut out for this level, which would be a big recruiting miss.

or this was not mutual and diggins decided to trasnfer due to the lack of opportunity given to him this year, which would be a big failure of the coaching staff to get him developmental minutes this year (there were obvious opportunities to do so).

Not everyone pans out. I don’t really blame the staff for that. Hawkins has worked out. Johnson may yet work out but he was behind already eatablished, better players. I think he has promise. Diggins looked like a dear in the headlights. I don’t think he’s power conference level.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

For those of you who like rummaging through clearance bins, deep discount aisles, and flea markets, here's a pile of various bad takes, hot-takes, Hurley-hater posts, etc from the thread so far.

Have fun, you're welcome. I have Venmo & Paypal.

That's what happens when you don't play kids you recruited - not surprising at all.

Don't blame him one bit. Great job Hurley, good thing you gave Gaff all that run.

Bingo. Every arm chair coach on this board was saying the same thing but ole stubborn Dan just put his head in the sand. Well now it's gonna come back to bite him. There is not a positive to put on this.

You are full of it - you never saw him in practice - if you did you wouldn't make that statement and if you did and stand by it you have no idea what you are looking at. I was at a pre NBE tournament practice and heard Kimani praising Sool and talking about a bright future with a reporter and Phil Chardis was listening in and agreeing.

Diggins got the same treatment this year that Carlton got last year.

I wonder if Josh Carlton's success when he left Danny's program is registering with players. Carlton blew up and had a career defining year.

For the life of me I can’t stand why he didn’t play him. He couldn’t even beat out Gaffney??? Cmon. should Of given the kid a chance— Why he didn’t play against the cupcakes in November??? I guess we’ll never know —-bad loss for Hurley. Not the way you want to see the Philly city player of the year go out.

?What do you expect when coach does not play him?

Or blind loyalty to 7-8 man rotation including and especially upperclassmen. Hurley had to be prodded to play Sanogo last year or we might have lost him. Any top point guard recruits looking at Uconn will hear this message from competitors.

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

I would've left too if I had to sit on the bench and watch an anemic Gaffney play my minutes...

He was I surely didn't see that in the second half when he went off on AJ and any other man we threw at him. AJ is a lazy defender who likes to go for the block and steal from behind. H needs to work on getting down and guarding his man and not letting him get pass him.

Any defender will give him several feet of space. He does not shoot well, this is going to limit his passing options. His best passes has been in transition, not so much in the half court.

He had such little opportunity! I don’t know how some of you are drawing such a conclusion based on a tiny sample size. He got gobbled up late in that Georgetown game when Ewing decided to employ the 83-84 Hoya pressure down 20 with two minutes to go but that’s the only time he looked really bad to me. Other than that he got such limited minutes he probably played scared. Aside from a great transfer in Cole, all the staff has to show at PG in 4 years is Jalen Gaffney.

 

[shizzle787]

Disappointed but not a shocker here. Wonder if this changes how Hurley plays highly touted freshman? Wishing the best for Sool.

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

 

[HuskyHawk]

You didn't watch the 2nd half of the NMSU game, and that's fine. We absolutely steamrolled their defense in the 2nd half. Even with a slow 1st half, we finished 1.08 ppp overall. That was right on our conference season average, which was 2nd in the Big East in scoring efficiency.

It was the defense/their hot shooting/our dumb plays that led to the loss in the end.

It was definitely NMSU just playing out of their minds on the offensive end. But what Fishy said would have come back to haunt us eventually. Especially Johnson more than Diggins, and Akok as well. It was so obvious we needed an offensive threat at the 4 opposite Sanogo, one who could block shots when we hedge and rebound (so not Polley). Two guys on the team that can solve it and rarely played either of them.

 

[UConnJim]

Diggins has talent, but he was not ready to play in the Big East, but I am confident that he will develop into a good guard over time. Unfortunately, he was probably told that UConn was going to bring in a top transfer point guard and Diggins decided he didn't want to continue to develop at UConn.

Some people in this thread have mentioned Gaffney's play this year. Unfortunately, he did not play like the top UConn PGs of the past, especially his shooting, but he was a capable backup. (Remember, he was rated a 3* #161 when he first committed to UConn.) Offensive efficiency stats say that the combination of Cole/Gaffney was the best 2 player combo for UConn and he was tied for second with Jackson behind Cole for Team Efficiency when he was on the court. Here are some other stats on Gaffney:

Highest assists per 40 minutes at 6.2/game
Highest steals per 40 minutes at 1.7/game
Higher points per 40 minutes than Whaley, Akok, and Jackson.
Assist to turnover ratio of 2.1 compared to Cole at 2.2 and Jackson at 1.5

Obviously, his shooting was subpar this year, but his FT% was 77.2%

 

[That Guy]

Not in the least bit surprised. In this day and age of transfers being the way they are you can't expect to recruit a top 50 kid, proceed to give him almost no minutes the whole year, and still hope to retain him. Wish Sool nothing but the best.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

This fact and not playing Diggins are mutually exclusive.

 

[Fishy]

This fact and not playing Diggins are mutually exclusive.

You sure?

From where I sit, having an undersized two-guard handle 90% of the point guard load was a bad thing in November and a bad thing in March.

 

[navery12]

You sure?

From where I sit, having an undersized two-guard handle 90% of the point guard load was a bad thing in November and a bad thing in March.

Then you very clearly were not sitting in front of a TV showing UConn Men's Basketball games all season. I can't believe this is a real opinion

 

[Fishy]

Diggins has talent, but he was not ready to play in the Big East, but I am confident that he will develop into a good guard over time. Unfortunately, he was probably told that UConn was going to bring in a top transfer point guard and Diggins decided he didn't want to continue to develop at UConn.

Counterpoint:

If the head coach recruited two top 60 recruits who were completely unprepared to play in the Big East, he is failing at his job.

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

What’s wrong with our guy? Either he failed to develop these kids, failed to give them an opportunity or he failed in recruiting them.

Pick one.

 

[Hungryhusky99]

Counterpoint:

If the head coach recruited two top 60 recruits who were completely unprepared to play in the Big East, he is failing at his job.

This is the right take

 

[UConnJim]

Just not finding a way to get him minutes was such an absolute disaster.

Other schools had no issues playing freshmen who were not nearly as talented and we could not find a way to fit Diggins and Johnson in anywhere?

If you watched this team in November, you knew how they would lose in March if they did not do something to improve the offense. We did nothing and a scrub 12 seed flicked us because they had no trouble defending anything we did.

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 more 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.

 

[rip7774]

THANK YOU. I don't know why on earth people are saying he's a bad defender. They ain't watching the game.

Not in that camp he’s a bad defender but he had no answers for Teddy Allen, kept getting beat to the right like he was standing still. Maybe that’s why some say that.

 

[6xChamps]

Not in that camp he’s a bad defender but he had no answers for Teddy Allen, kept getting beat to the right like he was standing still. Maybe that’s why some say that.

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.

 

[cohenzone]

I would've left too if I had to sit on the bench and watch an anemic Gaffney play my minutes...

They were “his minutes”? People say amazing things with zero information. and also think coaches are job suicidal. Maybe Diggins was anemic on steroids in practice.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Counterpoint:

If the head coach recruited two top 60 recruits who were completely unprepared to play in the Big East, he is failing at his job.

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

What’s wrong with our guy? Either he failed to develop these kids, failed to give them an opportunity or he failed in recruiting them.

Pick one.

Some top 60 recruits are overrated. Diggins was one of them.

Flush it, learn, and move on.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

You sure?

From where I sit, having an undersized two-guard handle 90% of the point guard load was a bad thing in November and a bad thing in March.

When your best player is Cole what other choice do you have?

Did you happen to catch the Georgetown game where we had to bring back in the undersized two guard because Diggins couldn't even bring the ball up the court up 20?

 

[nomar]

You sure?

From where I sit, having an undersized two-guard handle 90% of the point guard load was a bad thing in November and a bad thing in March.

Hurley clearly believed it was the lesser of two evils

 

[BGesus4]

Counterpoint:

If the head coach recruited two top 60 recruits who were completely unprepared to play in the Big East, he is failing at his job.

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

What’s wrong with our guy? Either he failed to develop these kids, failed to give them an opportunity or he failed in recruiting them.

Pick one.

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].

 

[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.