Ranking our bigs

[Huskyforlife]

1. Williams: Only player on the team capable of performing a standing dunk in traffic. Plays with more hustle and fight than the rest of our bigs. Needs to be starting going forward.

2. Diarra: Has lots of defensive potential. Second best athlete in this group. Needs time to learn on the floor, play through mistakes

3. Cobb: Brings size and "skill" when he's on the floor. Think there's some underlying talent here.

4. Carlton/Whalley: Both are not ready for minutes on this team, neither produce enough when they're on the floor. Plenty of tape for both already, let them work this off season(specifically in the weight room).

5. Onourah: Will dominate whatever work league he plays in some day. But needs to take a seat for the younger guys.

 

[UConnSwag11]

1. Williams: Only player on the team capable of performing a standing dunk in traffic. Plays with more hustle and fight than the rest of our bigs. Needs to be starting going forward.

2. Diarra: Has lots of defensive potential. Second best athlete in this group. Needs time to learn on the floor, play through mistakes

3. Cobb: Brings size and "skill" when he's on the floor. Think there's some underlying talent here.

4. Carlton/Whalley: Both are not ready for minutes on this team, neither produce enough when they're on the floor. Plenty of tape for both already, let them work this off season(specifically in the weight room).

5. Onourah: Will dominate whatever work league he plays in some day. But needs to take a seat for the younger guys.

Carlton, Williams, Cobb, Diarra, DO

 

[mauconnfan]

1) Diarra and Whaley have dunked standing in traffic. But he does play with a lot of fight, needs more time.
2) He does deserve more time also. Awful defensively but needs to learn should have had more play time to do so.
3) Agree on Cobb but is there a 2 cent head there? If he stays I like what he can do.
4) Whaley is fine, played real well early today on defense and boards but was taken out for whatever reason. Very good athlete and best defender of bunch by a long shot. Carlton, needs to be quicker but has showed some idea of offense can be every good in 2 years.
5) Nice kid/guy and I am sure works his butt of in practice but to be honest the future was more important than him and KO blew a lot of potential learning minutes for the others mentioned already.

 

[Matrim55]

I'd be happy with Carlton, Williams, Diarra, Whaley & Kisunas as our 4/5 rotation as long as we've got a good coach next year.

A real coach & time in the weight room could make Carlton into a weapon. Great hands, long arms, good instincts, good fundamentals.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

3. Cobb: Brings size and "skill" when he's on the floor.

Maybe it's just me but when he was bringing the ball up, full court today all I could think of was that silly Geico commercial with the figure skating sumo wrestler.

 

[UConnSwag11]

I'd be happy with Carlton, Williams, Diarra, Whaley & Kisunas as our 4/5 rotation as long as we've got a good coach next year.

A real coach & time in the weight room could make Carlton into a weapon. Great hands, long arms, good instincts, good fundamentals.

jump shooters IMO are more important than the bigs. I think our bigs aren't as big as a concern as our defense and shooting

 

[Kitaman]

Williams is the necromancer we need. Ollie doesn't play D&D obviously.

Williams is a tool that needs to be used, his magic has no value on the bench. I'm not talking points either.

 

[WrenchFan69]

Give me anyone but Onourah and Larrier at the 4 and 5 spots and I'll be okay with it.

 

[gtcam]

I'd be happy with Carlton, Williams, Diarra, Whaley & Kisunas as our 4/5 rotation as long as we've got a good coach next year.

A real coach & time in the weight room could make Carlton into a weapon. Great hands, long arms, good instincts, good fundamentals.

A real coach isn't needed when the kid is so thick headed he gets at least 1 foul per game for setting illegal screens
What this team needs is a real recruiter who can recognize potential bigs that have half a brain and a whole lot of desire
Carleton has had enough playing time to have improved in some of the basics by now - without coaching
Will he get better? He should but first he has to do one thing that Whalley needs also - Think and use common sense

 

[JimHurley]

Next game I'd start Adams, Vital, Polley, Diarra, and Williams. I'm tempted to throw Anderson in there but we need at least 1 guard off the bench.

 

[Caronimo]

This is extremely hard to do for many reasons. I’d start off my rankings by putting DO last, with Cobb just behind him. Really feel like DO should focus on a football career. That being said, the other 4 really can be ranked interchangeably depending on how you want to rate them (talent, rebounding, heart, etc)

 

[champs99and04]

I'd be happy with Carlton, Williams, Diarra, Whaley & Kisunas as our 4/5 rotation as long as we've got a good coach next year.

A real coach & time in the weight room could make Carlton into a weapon. Great hands, long arms, good instincts, good fundamentals.

Speak for yourself. That looks like a mid-major front court to me.

Could some of these guys turn into players with the right coaching? Sure. But they're all limited in one way or another. I think your description of Carlton is a bit charitable. Perhaps he has good instincts and fundamentals compared to Brimah, but that doesn't say much. He's fairly plodding on defense and it isn't as if he's demonstrated a great touch in the paint. He's slow to get off the floor and that's something that puts a cap on your potential.

Williams can be a good energy player but I don't see him being much more. You don't have to guard him. Whaley is as timid on offense as I've ever seen a UConn player. Diarra is still our best bet IMO but obviously he's a fouling machine and super raw. I won't hold my breath there.

 

[KodiacKemba]

Looking into the off season I think there’s gonna be a lot of box jumps and stretch bands exercises in Carlton’s future .. depending on who’s back after this year, the S&C better show me something to get these kids ready come November... it not adios

Didn’t mention any other bigs cuz quite frankly they can all go

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

If Ollie keeps this up of not playing Kwintin, I'm afraid he will transfer.
I don't care if he looks lost out there sometimes, he has 10x more upside than David Onuorah.
It's absolutely mind boggling that Ollie doesn't play him over Onuorah.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I'd be happy with Carlton, Williams, Diarra, Whaley & Kisunas as our 4/5 rotation as long as we've got a good coach next year.

A real coach & time in the weight room could make Carlton into a weapon. Great hands, long arms, good instincts, good fundamentals.

And I would add that every one of them needs to be able to knock down 10 foot jump shots and have a couple of moves inside that don’t include fumbling the ball out of bounds.

 

[Matrim55]

And I would add that every one of them needs to be able to knock down 10 foot jump shots...

I never, ever want to see either Diarra or Whaley shoot anything but a lay-up or dunk. Ever.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Williams needs a system.. With actual real offensive plays being ran, he's look like a different player on a team with an organized offense.

 

[boog204]

With the right pieces around them, a frontcourt of Williams, Whaley, Carlton, Cobb, Diarra, and Kisunas could work. Play D, set screens, get garbage buckets. I do not think they are as bad as a group as some are making them out to be. None of them are going to be stars, but there's enough talent in each (not sure on Kisunas yet) to be more than servicable in a frontcourt committee of sorts. Let's not forget, we had a team that won 29 games with Hayward and Knight combining for 6 and 7 (and a zillion fouls) every night. Of course, I'd be remiss not to mention we had Donyell and Donny up front, too and that Hayward and Knight were both better than anything we have right now. But, a college team can win with "grinder" big men. Now, we need some real talent around our bigs or they become a gaping hole. Playing any semblance of defense would be nice as well.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I never, ever want to see either Diarra or Whaley shoot anything but a lay-up or dunk. Ever.

Well, this is where I will respectfully disagree. They need to work hard on nailing 10-12 footers so that that shot is a threat, and they can’t just be given it. When the D has to play them honest at that distance it opens up four things in addition to their own shot.

• The high-low dump down
• The kick out, because wing defenders will be tempted to collapse
• Honest play off the screen and roll rather than just doubling the driver
• The upfake one-dribble move for their own layup/dunk.

I don’t want it to be a focal point, but it has to be a threat.

 

[HuskyBoi]

I love Carlton’s post game man. He can be a true double double machine if he learned to stop fouling.

 

[Wordbomar]

1. Carlton
2. Diarra
3. Williams
4. Whaley
5. Cobb


57. Onuorah

 

[pj]

Well, this is where I will respectfully disagree. They need to work hard on nailing 10-12 footers so that that shot is a threat, and they can’t just be given it. When the D has to play them honest at that distance it opens up four things in addition to their own shot.

• The high-low dump down
• The kick out, because wing defenders will be tempted to collapse
• Honest play off the screen and roll rather than just doubling the driver
• The upfake one-dribble move for their own layup/dunk.

I don’t want it to be a focal point, but it has to be a threat.

The threat is stronger than the execution. To be effective an offense needs multiple threats at all times.

 

[UConnDad]

I never, ever want to see either Diarra or Whaley shoot anything but a lay-up or dunk. Ever.

Whaley is hesitant to shoot even when alone under the hoop.

 

[UConnDad]

I love Carlton’s post game man. He can be a true double double machine if he learned to stop fouling.

In on offense, out on defense, at very play stoppage.

 

[HuskyHawk]

1. Carlton
2. Diarra
3. Williams
4. Whaley
5. Cobb


57. Onuorah

This. I don't think its even debatable really, except for Whaley/Williams being close but bringing different things. Whaley is a very good shot blocker. Williams gets more boards. Neither bring much on offense.