Rahsool Diggins transferring (merged threads)

[BPT2Storrs]

There is a chance he transfers and kills it. There is a chance he transfers and doesn’t kill it.

Yes he’s a top 100 recruit. There’s been plenty of top 100 recruits that haven’t panned out.

Is the fact that he didn’t play and is now transferring on Hurley? Not one of us knows the answer to that. Only time will tell if it was on Hurley.

What’s done is done. Time to hit the portal. I think Hurley wanted to a build a program the traditional way. He realized that way isn’t going to lead to success. He’s switched up and embraced the portal. To me this shows that he is maturing as a coach.

He had success in landing Cole. Let’s see what else he can do. Let’s all remember one thing - brining in a guy that has experience playing D1 basketball is much less risky then bringing in a HS recruit - no matter his ranking. One has proven they can play at this level and will put in the work, the other has not.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

First off, I wish him nothing but the best. Seemed to be an A+ teammate and while he didn't look great on the court I was excited to see him grow and carve out a role next year.

Very curious where he ends up. If it's a P5-level program, I'll be very curious how he ends up playing. If it's an A-10 type program that would make a lot more sense.

Wish him the best in life, too...Hope he succeeds in life...

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Also says Hurley wanted him back

Well, Hurley is really short on ball-handling guards without him, so …

 

[Ricker]

We do ? That brand is past tense right now. Not even Booknight is playing to that brand right now.

I thought the sarcasm in my post was evident, - hence the "nevermind"
What Hurley was selling last year is already passe.
We're going to be in 'full portal mode' to pull this year's roster together

 

[DayDayTFS]

We thought a guy who couldn’t sniff the court this year was going to come in and be a savior next year?!? This is only a loss with respect to saying how many Top 100 guys were on the roster

 

[HuskyHawk]

Pitt is 5 hours from Philly. Isn’t exactly close

It’s closer. You think he’s going to St Joes or Temple? Those are the “closer” options.

 

[inWV]

Im also of the mind this is a factor. I think Floyd was inline for a big role even if RJ came back/Diggins stayed. He’s going to be a player

Cole leaves a lot of available minutes and a kid that believe he will get a lot of them will stay. A kid that is miffed about minutes in games past or worried about others playing might leave. Hurley better be trying to recruit over his present players every year.

 

[Fatroony5]

I thought the sarcasm in my post was evident, - hence the "nevermind"
What Hurley was selling last year is already passe.
We're going to be in 'full portal mode' to pull this year's roster together

Yep, and UConn has to do that to be competitive. It’s just interesting to see how quickly it can change (and for good reasons). Here are the quotes from literally just last season:

“The goal is to bring in premium high school talent and be an outlier program that doesn’t have a lot of transfers.”

"The epidemic of transferring hasn’t hit me because I build a culture that players want to be part of...”

 

[uconngb]

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? How about Pete Fleming and Robert Swain.

None of them were top 60 recruits and thought to be critical pieces of their respective classes. Why are you people so thick?? He either misused Diggins or misevaluated him. He was a critical piece to this class and one way or another Hurley whiffed. JC was never counting on Trice or Swain to be the answer. Those comparisons just show how little you know.

 

[uconngb]

How about this…

Diggins gets a fresh start somewhere else where he can see the floor.

We get to show every top portal guard (who are all upgrades over RD, no offense to the kid) that the path to 30 mpg at the PG spot is clearly there.

Seems like a win for both camps

Problem is that DH is the one making the assessment on who the top portal guards are. Not his strong suit so far is it??

 

[uconngb]

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.

People who think AJ is a plus defender just don’t get it. Getting constantly beat off the dribble and every once in a while making a block from behind does not make you a good defender. One highlight reel play a game vs 5 bonehead plays a game does not make you a star. It makes you a liability.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Lol at people blaming Hurley. He watches these kids in practice every day. If Diggins deserved to play over Gaffney, he would’ve played. In the limited minutes he did get, he struggled. Sucks that it didn’t work out and I certainly hope this doesn’t start a trend (no reason to think it will) but blaming Hurley here is irresponsible.

That all being said - we need to bring in two guards now, whether it’s two transfers or a transfer and a de-commit who is able to play right away. I’m OK with “projects” with big men, but don’t love it with guards.

Who else should be blamed? If not Hurley, who was the lead recruiter? The criticism isn't so much what he saw or didn't see in practice, but what he saw during the recruiting process. You don't become a Top 50 recruit if you can't ball.

It's like an NFL GM drafting a guy in the first round who doesn't get off the practice squad and is then cut after a year. That failure is on the GM.

 

[uconngb]

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.

Well according to most on this board, it’s the recruiting services’ fault. They obviously overrated these guys.

SMH

 

[scotty0330]

A man named JQ would like a word. Jahvon Quinerly College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Oh yeah and he did what?? He got the hell out of Nova…that’s my point. No one is gonna stay at the program that essentially nailed his behind to the bench and suck it up as a learning year and have false hopes that next year will be any different…

 

[EastConn'er]

Pitt is 5 hours from Philly. Isn’t exactly close

Consider the source. Some people think just because Pittsburg is in the same state as Philadelphia, that means Pittsburgh is closer than Storrs... when it's not. Anyways, "closer to home" is often over stated. It will be about playing time.... and probably a different coaching style.

 

[Seamus84]

You can either blame Hurley for not playing him or for misevaluating him. Take your pick.

You’re not known by who you hire, you’re known by who you don’t fire.

 

[uconngb]

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.

LOL…..that lineup will be pressed and harassed into 20 turnovers a game with ease

 

[Sonova]

We thought a guy who couldn’t sniff the court this year was going to come in and be a savior next year?!? This is only a loss with respect to saying how many Top 100 guys were on the roster

You’re missing the bigger picture. In Year 5, we have at PG - wait for it - Jalen Gaffney. That’s it. The single most important position in the game and we have a 4th year guy who is a mid major level role player. The argument really isn’t whether or not Diggins should have played more - for the sake of ending the argument, let’s agree that DH recognized that he wasn't a Big East level player back in October, - how are we here?!! In a guard dominated world, we’re debating either malpractice by DH in not using a talented player as a freshman, or some pretty unacceptable miss in recruiting when a PG in the Class of ‘21 was the single biggest recruiting need. And for a coach that shunned the portal publicly a year ago, it’s an even bigger miss.

 

[Buffett10]

Could be a major blessing in disguise. Hate to lose him but now we can hit the portal for a shooter. We're gonna lack 3pt shooting next year don't think Diggins would help alot from 3 right away. Wishing him the best.

 

[uconngb]

Hurley and Wright = Apples and Pears

I’d say more like apples and toasters

 

[DayDayTFS]

You’re missing the bigger picture. In Year 5, we have at PG - wait for it - Jalen Gaffney. That’s it. The single most important position in the game and we have a 4th year guy who is a mid major level role player. The argument really isn’t whether or not Diggins should have played more - for the sake of ending the argument, let’s agree that DH recognized that he wasn't a Big East level player back in October, - how are we here?!! In a guard dominated world, we’re debating either malpractice by DH in not using a talented player as a freshman, or some pretty unacceptable miss in recruiting when a PG in the Class of ‘21 was the single biggest recruiting need. And for a coach that shunned the portal publicly a year ago, it’s an even bigger miss.

Let the dust settle, 20 pages of freak outs in 8 hrs after losing a kid who might not have played 40 total minutes all season.

 

[CTisballers]

We thought a guy who couldn’t sniff the court this year was going to come in and be a savior next year?!? This is only a loss with respect to saying how many Top 100 guys were on the roster

He was only a freshman playing behind 2 or 3 guards and actually Samson didn’t get no run either so he didn’t sniff the court also. How could you prove yourself with 40 seconds on the court.

 

[Bonamassa]

If he showed that he could play in practice Hurley would have played him, period. It's just stupid to believe otherwise.

 

[metsfan2323]

None of them were top 60 recruits and thought to be critical pieces of their respective classes. Why are you people so thick?? He either misused Diggins or misevaluated him. He was a critical piece to this class and one way or another Hurley whiffed. JC was never counting on Trice or Swain to be the answer. Those comparisons just show how little you know.

How about Ajou Deng, you know the best player on the 99 championship team?

The super talented Ater Majok?

Maybe McDonald's All American Scott Hazelton floats your boat?

and what do you mean JC wasn't counting on Swain or Trice? are you telling me that the G.O.A.T Jim Calhoun was just throwing away scholarships to players he knew would fail? are you that dense?

Of course Diggins was a whiff, every coach whiffs. Would you prefer he stayed on our bench for 3 more seasons and just played sporadically like Justin Brown or Gilad Katz? or is it better for everyone involved that he move on to a place where he can play while we try to improve our roster?

It's a new era with new rules, I personally think JC would embrace the portal and would use it every year to improve his roster.

 

[ToolzieFan]

It’s closer. You think he’s going to St Joes or Temple? Those are the “closer” options.

Storrs is closer to Philadelphia than Pittsburgh is. That doesn’t mean he won’t end up there, but it seemed worth pointing out.

Either way, I wish this kid the best of luck. He seemed to have a positive attitude even when he wasn’t playing and probably knew he was leaving. We won’t know until later in the offseason, but this could end up working out for us and him.