Rank Our Players

[selles]

Based on what?

Based on watching him last March. He's the guy you're going to want on Troy Caupain at winning time next year.

 

[OkaForPrez]

Here's the article. Unfortunately it doesn't give exact numbers, so it's not entirely helpful, but it does say that he's more efficient in post up situations rather than face-up or catch and shoot jumpers of any kind.

The most impressive stat about Miller to me is that Cornell went 13-18 with him in 2013, 2-26 without him in 2014, and then 13-17 with him again in 2015. Cornell's defense was 250th in KenPom in 2014 and 80th last year. He's clearly a very useful defensive player at the very least.

Good stuff man

 

[scrappy2.0]

For this season, which players do you think will be this team's most valuable or impactful.

Myself:
1) Hamilton
2) Gibbs
3) Brimah
4) Purvis
5) Adams
6) Miller
7) Facey
8) Cassell
9) Omar
10) Nolan

I'll make a composite list on Sunday of everyone's choices.

Great question by the way. Tough answer!!

My thoughts

1 Brimah
2 Gibbs
3 Hamilton
4 Purvis
5 Miller
6 Adams
7 Nolan
8 Calhoun
9 Facey
10 Cassell
11 Enosch

The top 5 are probably our starters and I just feel Amida's defense is going to be the most important asset to the team.

I like the 2nd unit. I like Adams having the ball with other good defensive players--2 of which can really finish well and the other 2 who can hit the 3 ball. Its a very balance team through 11.

 

[Matt1010]

Purvis is a good defender, and he can easily transition between SG and SF.

That versatility is extremely valuable these days as positions continue to mean less and less.

Gibbs and Purvis will likely be our best two scorers and I expect both to be on the floor in crunch time. Agree on the defensive versatility. RP greatly improved on D last season compared to NC State and continued to look better and better as the season went on. He will never be a strong rebound/assist guy but he even made major improvements in those areas. Pre-February RP averaged 2.1 rebounds and .9 assists which I think we can all agree is not going to cut it. Post-Feb RP averaged 3.1/1.4 which is enough to keep him on the floor. He's not the best passer but we really don't need him to be with Gibbs and Dan Hurley both feeding the ball. Purvis is a true "shooting guard" but his athleticism alone gives him the ability to be a capable rebounder as well.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Hamilton
Purvis
Gibbs
Brimah
Adams
Miller
Calhoun
Facey
Cassell
Nolan
Enosch

 

[microfich]

Purvis is a true "shooting guard" but his athleticism alone gives him the ability to be a capable rebounder as well.

Someone's gotta be. Kemba and Bazz's big boundings were tactical but they had the ability to do it and had some pretty good results. It's a must for us while we're still growing our bigs.

 

[ctchamps]

I have a wish list and not an order of player ranking.
1). I want a player to be a rebounding force on the offensive end to keep defenses honest. Facey was this player early last year but his overall game was so weak, and as the season progressed, his confusion ended in eliminating even this contribution. Thus his minutes were significantly reduced. I'm hoping Miller can provide this ability and be good on defense as well. To me the absence of a skilled four was the biggest glaring weakness last season. It was partially remedied by moving DHam to the four, but I would much prefer him playing the 3 alongside a skilled 4 like I'm hoping will be the case with Miller. I'm also hoping Facey can figure out the other aspects of his game so that he can push Miller for minutes.

2). Cannot see how anyone can rate Brimah ahead of Purvis without knowing which Brimah is going to show up this season. As a few posters pointed out something clicked in Purvis at the end of last season. The opposite was true for Brimah. His game went off the rails. The coaches were working on his ability to avoid foul trouble and I felt he was somewhat successful as the season progressed. But it appeared they were also trying to have him work on positioning for defensive rebounds and not just rely on blocking. At the end of the season he was inefficient with both. I'm hoping he figures this out. If not we may be seeing lots of minutes with a small line up. On offense he's fantastic with an alley oop. He's shown some progress with a mid range game but not enough to know if he can be a force on the offensive end unless someone creates for him. At the very least I'm hoping he can develop enough strength to get some dang put backs.

3). I'm hoping for a second good ball handler that KO can put on the floor at the end of games. I've seen a lot of criticism of Purvis's turnovers but did not see people pointing out DHam's turnover problems which were significant imo. His handle is too high and his spin move somewhat predictable. I'll take him in a heartbeat as the third option to create for others but not as the second. I don't think there are many better third options in college. Thus I'm hoping Jalen can develop into playing the role to Gibbs that Bazz provided with Kemba. On defense I'm hoping DHam can stay with his player better. It was a significant weakness. On the other hand DHam was second only to Ryan in releasing from his player to get a defensive rebound. But he was a liability when he played the four and bigger players pushed him out of position for defensive rebounds.

4). Don't know much about Gibbs other than what people who I respect have posted. I'm hoping that his defense is better than they indicate. Ryan was a very good defensive player and UConn won number four with outstanding defense from Bazz and Boat.

5). I liked Rodney's development over the season. He has me salivating for more. The early season injury and his deference to a senior Ryan were his limitations imo. People have pointed out his contribution over the last eight games and it can't be emphasized enough that some of that was without Ryan. Rodney maintained a level of scoring that took place with opposing teams keying on him. With DHam, Gibbs and Jalen, Rodney does not need to be a major assist guy. However, as the season progressed I felt he showed more promise even in this category and although he will never be a top assist guy I think this years team is more balanced than last and that will help Rodney. I felt Rodney was a decent defender and got better as the season progressed. The number of times he lost a player through screens or back door cuts or fast breaks was significantly reduced as the season progressed. What he can do is learn when he can "unglue" himself from a player and help with rebounding.

 

[TasteofUConn]

Cannot see how anyone can rate Brimah ahead of Purvis

Because Brimah is going to be one of the top shot blockers in the nation, will likely improve his rebounding somewhat, will likely improve his scoring somewhat, and will be able to impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Purvis is a scorer, and not much else. There is a rumor going around that he is a very good defender. 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 2 D-boards per game don't amount to that, from my view. Compare those numbers to 2nd year Dyson, who was, in fact, a very good defender (1.8, 0.7, and 3.0).
Also, pre-March we were 16/11. March and thereafter we were 4/4. In other words, Rodney's "click" did not translate to more wins. Which, of course, is the danger in being enamored with scoring - it's a false prophet.

 

[Matt1010]

Because Brimah is going to be one of the top shot blockers in the nation, will likely improve his rebounding somewhat, will likely improve his scoring somewhat, and will be able to impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Purvis is a scorer, and not much else. There is a rumor going around that he is a very good defender. 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 2 D-boards per game don't amount to that, from my view. Compare those numbers to 2nd year Dyson, who was, in fact, a very good defender (1.8, 0.7, and 3.0).
Also, pre-March we were 16/11. March and thereafter we were 4/4. In other words, Rodney's "click" did not translate to more wins. Which, of course, is the danger in being enamored with scoring - it's a false prophet.

Is James Harden a good defender because he averaged 2 steals and 6 rebounds as a SG? Just one example but other stats are much more useful in measuring defensive effectiveness. Freshman year Rodney had a .4 defensive win share and 108.7 defensive rating. This past year with us he improved to 1.3/101.4. As a comparison senior year Dyson was only slightly better at 1.6/100.5. RP is certainly no Boat when it comes to D but he has made major improvements and is a very solid defender.

Yes the team went 4/4 but it was against a tougher schedule and with Boat missing during one L. Nevermind the fact that Brimah averaged 4/3/4 in March.

 

[James]

Cannot see how anyone can rate Brimah ahead of Purvis

youre joking right? Purvis is a high volume shooter and thats it. Sure he has potential to be a disruptive defender, but thats it. and he is even less consistent than brimah. Ideally I wouldn't even start purvis.

 

[Matt1010]

youre joking right? Purvis is a high volume shooter and thats it. Sure he has potential to be a disruptive defender, but thats it. and he is even less consistent than brimah. Ideally I wouldn't even start purvis.

Adams hasn't played a minute of college basketball and you would start him over the guy that averaged 17/3 in March on about 50% shooting?

 

[TasteofUConn]

Nevermind the fact that Brimah averaged 4/3/4 in March.

Actually, this is my point exactly. Brimah is much more important than Purvis. If Brimah goes out, our W/L will suffer much more than if Purvis goes out.
We can disagree on this. Just opinions, after all.
And of course, if Purvis picks up where he left off and can shoot at close to 50% from 2 and 35% from 3 then there is no doubt that I (and others) have undervalued him, and I'll acknowledge that.
I fully admit that his early jeckyll/hyde play was difficult to watch, and may still cloud my judgment of his potential.

 

[Matt1010]

Actually, this is my point exactly. Brimah is much more important than Purvis. If Brimah goes out, our W/L will suffer much more than if Purvis goes out.
We can disagree on this. Just opinions, after all.

Agree completely, if Brimah doesn't play well we won't go far in March. I actually have Brimah above RP in my rankings, but based on how they ended the year RP was clearly playing much better ball.

 

[James]

Adams hasn't played a minute of college basketball and you would start him over the guy that averaged 17/3 in March on about 50% shooting?

What about the rest of the season? it surprises you that a bluechip freshman might be better than a redshirt junior who has yet to display any modicum of consistency in his career?

 

[breezy]

Who's better and who's more important are two completely different arguments. If Amida is our best player we're gonna have a heck of a team.

 

[Matt1010]

What about the rest of the season? it surprises you that a bluechip freshman might be better than a redshirt junior who has yet to display any modicum of consistency in his career?

Starting Adams over RP just makes absolutely no sense. JA is the perfect 6th man who can come in and create for the second team or take RP out for a rest and shift Gibbs to the SG spot to give him a break.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Because Brimah is going to be one of the top shot blockers in the nation, will likely improve his rebounding somewhat, will likely improve his scoring somewhat, and will be able to impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Purvis is a scorer, and not much else. There is a rumor going around that he is a very good defender. 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 2 D-boards per game don't amount to that, from my view. Compare those numbers to 2nd year Dyson, who was, in fact, a very good defender (1.8, 0.7, and 3.0).
Also, pre-March we were 16/11. March and thereafter we were 4/4. In other words, Rodney's "click" did not translate to more wins. Which, of course, is the danger in being enamored with scoring - it's a false prophet.

FWIW, I've been charting the defense from last season and I'm only through late December, but so far Purvis has a very solid stop percentage. His strength on defense is his ability to close out on jump shooters, something that Cassell and Boatright were more or less terrible at last year.

 

[James]

Starting Adams over RP just makes absolutely no sense. JA is the perfect 6th man who can come in and create for the second team or take RP out for a rest and shift Gibbs to the SG spot to give him a break.

the offense last season was in the gutter when purvis played shooting guard. substituting him with a potentially better passer/ballhandler in closing time would give us a serious boost. we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

 

[Huskyforlife]

the offense last season was in the gutter when purvis played shooting guard. substituting him with a potentially better passer/ballhandler in closing time would give us a serious boost. we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

Who plays backup pg then?

 

[ctchamps]

Actually, this is my point exactly. Brimah is much more important than Purvis. If Brimah goes out, our W/L will suffer much more than if Purvis goes out.
We can disagree on this. Just opinions, after all.
And of course, if Purvis picks up where he left off and can shoot at close to 50% from 2 and 35% from 3 then there is no doubt that I (and others) have undervalued him, and I'll acknowledge that.
I fully admit that his early jeckyll/hyde play was difficult to watch, and may still cloud my judgment of his potential.

And that's all I'm basing things on, end of season play versus potential impact of games. My choice of parameters. The coaches worked with Kentan to be in the flow of the game both on offense and defense and he never figured things out. They started this with Amidah (when to block vs. when to rebound) towards the end of the season and he wasn't able to adjust. I hope he does because he is an important piece to this team. And if he can do this the fast break becomes a significant factor because the guards won't have to be asked to rebound. But there is no guarantee it will happen. And if he doesn't then I expect opposing teams to get second and third chances against UConn (something that has happened the past two season with AB anchoring the 5) which negates some of the impact his blocking gives.

I guess I don't understand why some posters are more critical of one players inconsistency versus other players. The only primarily consistent positive play came from Ryan. At least Rodney's trajectory ended well. I didn't see that from DHam or AB. And this statement does not convey who I consider is the better talent or who the more impactful player potentially is. I think end of season play is a better predictor of how a person will play the following season than automatically assuming a natural progression.

 

[ctchamps]

the offense last season was in the gutter when purvis played shooting guard. substituting him with a potentially better passer/ballhandler in closing time would give us a serious boost. we'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.

And this offensive failure had nothing to do with the other four players on the floor?

 

[champs99and04]

Because Brimah is going to be one of the top shot blockers in the nation, will likely improve his rebounding somewhat, will likely improve his scoring somewhat, and will be able to impact the game on both ends of the floor.
Purvis is a scorer, and not much else. There is a rumor going around that he is a very good defender. 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks, and 2 D-boards per game don't amount to that, from my view. Compare those numbers to 2nd year Dyson, who was, in fact, a very good defender (1.8, 0.7, and 3.0).
Also, pre-March we were 16/11. March and thereafter we were 4/4. In other words, Rodney's "click" did not translate to more wins. Which, of course, is the danger in being enamored with scoring - it's a false prophet.

Purvis isn't a great defender, but he has the ability to be, and he showed more flashes last year than any of our other wing defenders. Steals, and especially blocks, are not a very good indicator of effective perimeter defense. Instinctually, he's not Boatright or even Dyson, but he has a strong frame that helps him navigate screens and wall off on drivers.

And yes, we were 4-4 in March (4-3 if you don't include the NIT game sans Boat), but that stretch also coincided with a much tougher portion of the schedule (SMU twice, Cincinnati, @ Temple, Tulsa, ASU and Memphis - South Florida was the only gimme) and included two of our best wins of the season (SMU and Cincinnati).

Now, that being said, I have Purvis 6th on my list. He has flaws. I probably err closer to your assessment of his game than I do somebody who thinks he's going to be a first team all-American. I think it's a little disingenuous, though, to act like his transformation towards the end of the season was a "false prophet" that didn't help us win games (and it wasn't just his scoring that improved, he got better as a playmaker, too). Hamilton and Brimah both fell of a cliff offensively, and Boat was evidentially playing hurt in the AAC championship.

 

[ctchamps]

Purvis isn't a great defender, but he has the ability to be, and he showed more flashes last year than any of our other wing defenders. Steals, and especially blocks, are not a very good indicator of effective perimeter defense. Instinctually, he's not Boatright or even Dyson, but he has a strong frame that helps him navigate screens and wall off on drivers.

And yes, we were 4-4 in March (4-3 if you don't include the NIT game sans Boat), but that stretch also coincided with a much tougher portion of the schedule (SMU twice, Cincinnati, @ Temple, Tulsa, ASU and Memphis - South Florida was the only gimme) and included two of our best wins of the season (SMU and Cincinnati).

Now, that being said, I have Purvis 6th on my list. He has flaws. I probably err closer to your assessment of his game than I do somebody who thinks he's going to be a first team all-American. I think it's a little disingenuous, though, to act like his transformation towards the end of the season was a "false prophet" that didn't help us win games (and it wasn't just his scoring that improved, he got better as a playmaker, too). Hamilton and Brimah both fell of a cliff offensively, and Boat was evidentially playing hurt in the AAC championship.

It seemed to me that Rodney was often guarding opposing teams better offensive players toward the end of the season. Am I wrong?

 

[tzznandrew]

It seemed to me that Rodney was often guarding opposing teams better offensive players toward the end of the season. Am I wrong?

Also, the 4-4 feels a bit disingenuous. They were 4-2 in the AAC title game, and then Boat got hurt and the team never recovered.

Purvis was excellent in those games.

I'm just going to give the 6'4" athletic freak who ended the year on a tear some slack and assume he's going to do something akin to that. I mean, the kid sat out a year, had surgery in the offseason, got injured early in the year, and really struggled.

Then it seemed like he got his legs under him and he started scoring.

Unfortunately for him, Boat got hurt, Hamilton hit the freshman wall, and Brimah was awful.

 

[champs99and04]

It seemed to me that Rodney was often guarding opposing teams better offensive players toward the end of the season. Am I wrong?

No. Some of this was probably to save Boat for the other end, but Purvis certainly seemed up for any challenge Ollie gives him and I expect that to carry over into this season.

 

[TasteofUConn]

Well, we can all agree on this:
If Purvis picks up where he left off - and maintains it going forward - we're a top 10 team.

 

[Fishy]

1) Purvis
2) Hamilton
3) Gibbs
4) Adams
5) Brimah
6) Miller
7) Facey
8) Enoch
9) Calhoun
10) Cassell
11) Nolan
12) Nnamdi Amilo
13) The 13th guy

I think Calhoun, Cassell and Nolan are just squeezed out in a numbers game - the top six players, plus Facey, are gonna just eat gobs of minutes. Perhaps Calhoun can carve out mid-double digits for himself, but it'll be tough for the other two to make a dent.

 

[TasteofUConn]

I think Calhoun, Cassell and Nolan are just squeezed out in a numbers game

You made the early "gunner" call on Cassell and nailed it. Agreed he'll only get minutes if there are injuries.
Unless something dramatic happens, I agree Calhoun won't be on the floor much.
Disagree on Nolan - he's the first big off the bench, if for no other reason than the guy is a senior, he's been to the FF and won it, and we have no other big with significant experience.

Your call on Purvis is interesting. Hope to hell you're right.

 

[champs99and04]

1) Purvis
2) Hamilton
3) Gibbs
4) Adams
5) Brimah
6) Miller
7) Facey
8) Enoch
9) Calhoun
10) Cassell
11) Nolan
12) Nnamdi Amilo
13) The 13th guy

I think Calhoun, Cassell and Nolan are just squeezed out in a numbers game - the top six players, plus Facey, are gonna just eat gobs of minutes. Perhaps Calhoun can carve out mid-double digits for himself, but it'll be tough for the other two to make a dent.

I imagine that by January or so, KO will have condensed the rotation to eight or nine, and that he will choose one wing (probably Cassell or Calhoun) and one big (Nolan or Enoch) to cut from the rotation entirely. But I don't see Calhoun and Cassell both outside looking in because it would leave us with only two true wings in the rotation.

 

[Fishy]

I imagine that by January or so, KO will have condensed the rotation to eight or nine, and that he will choose one wing (probably Cassell or Calhoun) and one big (Nolan or Enoch) to cut from the rotation entirely. But I don't see Calhoun and Cassell both outside looking in because it would leave us with only two true wings in the rotation.

With the constant three-guard rotation of Purvis, Gibbs and Adams and Hamilton playing 32 a game, it really does put pressure on Calhoun and Cassell.

I don't know if Cassell is quite athletic enough and I really question his shot selection most of the time - I suspect Calhoun will get back to form a bit and mop up most of the minutes available.