Richard Springs Commits to UConn

[CL82]

I get the feeling that Springs is going to be better than anticipated. His physicality, athleticism and BB-IQ seem good for an incoming frosh.

 

[Samoo]

I should certainly hope that poster infamous for greeting recruits at the urinals is male.

The recruits may think otherwise.

 

[Chief00]

Springs is good friends with Rip’s nephew AJ - who’s is a PA guard who finds ways to score. Keep an eye open on this.

 

[uconngb]

No, the pollution is what you see in the mirror. Because you and your circle pals have nothing insightful, original or entertaining to write — you are jealous of someone who does. Quite frankly, you are never on my radar screen until you attack me. It’s strange how you choose to attack success - like my most recent Spring forecast.

Can you please point us to that specific “Springs forecast”? I still can’t find it. I must be caught in the paradigm shift.

 

[Chief00]

LOL - You have an amazing ability to walk into things at 1:24am!
Below is the post, 6 months before Springs committed.
And the recruiting “paradigm” shift I reference, that you cited in your post, was foretelling the move to the Big East. Other posters knew what I meant, because I direct DM them.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Carlton led the team in rebounding last year not Vital
5.9 to 6.1 . One of you guards getting 5 mostly defensive rebounds a game is pretty normal. Especially with so many long shots today.
Vital played many more minutes and a lot of them at the three.
Per 40 minute Vital averaged a hair over 7
Indicative of his minutes.
Carlton averaged over 11 RPG and 16 PPG.
Yes folks a double ,double.
That’s how good the kid was.
If I were coach I would suspect keeping Carlton on the floor is a key to UConn success.
I know that is a projection but it’s an advanced metric that’s a good indicator of value.

 

[ctchamps]

Carlton led the team in rebounding last year not Vital
5.9 to 6.1 . One of you guards getting 5 mostly defensive rebounds a game is pretty normal. Especially with so many long shots today.
Vital played many more minutes and a lot of them at the three.
Per 40 minute Vital averaged a hair over 7
Indicative of his minutes.
Carlton averaged over 11 RPG and 16 PPG.
Yes folks a double ,double.
That’s how good the kid was.
If I were coach I would suspect keeping Carlton on the floor is a key to UConn success.
I know that is a projection but it’s an advanced metric that’s a good indicator of value.

This analysis does not belong on the casual fan message board.

Good stuff. If coach has the opportunity playing Springs and Carlton at the same time will be a nightmare for many teams.

 

[Mister P]

This analysis does not belong on the casual fan message board.

Good stuff. If coach has the opportunity playing Springs and Carlton at the same time will be a nightmare for many teams.

Agree about Springs and Carlton though I think it will be next year when we see more of a match up nightmare for opponents with both Springs and Carlton on the floor together. With a year under Springs belt and our outside shots falling ( hopefully) teams won’t want to double down on Carlton as much. He struggled this past year when he was double teamed. I think we will see a monster senior year from Carlton.

 

[Chief00]

This analysis does not belong on the casual fan message board.

Good stuff. If coach has the opportunity playing Springs and Carlton at the same time will be a nightmare for many teams.

The encouraging thing with Josh, besides being a likable and coachable well raised kid, is that he finally did improve against better competition. Quite frankly, Chief was beginning to think the book on Josh was stats against cupcakes and not much against the cream. But, that changed as conference play continued last season.
With increased strength and confidence that trend should continue.

 

[intlzncster]

Agree about Springs and Carlton though I think it will be next year when we see more of a match up nightmare for opponents with both Springs and Carlton on the floor together. With a year under Springs belt and our outside shots falling ( hopefully) teams won’t want to double down on Carlton as much. He struggled this past year when he was double teamed. I think we will see a monster senior year from Carlton.

Everything depends on foul trouble, but if akok is still here, he'll be on the floor for 28-30min.

 

[3rdbass]

Agree about Springs and Carlton though I think it will be next year when we see more of a match up nightmare for opponents with both Springs and Carlton on the floor together. With a year under Springs belt and our outside shots falling ( hopefully) teams won’t want to double down on Carlton as much. He struggled this past year when he was double teamed. I think we will see a monster senior year from Carlton.

I’m expecting a monster junior year from Carlton.

 

[Mister P]

Everything depends on foul trouble, but if akok is still here, he'll be on the floor for 28-30min.

Great point. I neglected to also add Akok playing alongside Carlton and taking attention away from him.

 

[pj]

Having a solid backup will help Carlton stay on the floor -- the other team will not be as motivated to go at him when the drop-off in talent is not as large.

Akok and Springs will really help him. Agree on a monster year coming up for him -- at least the opportunity for one.

 

[Chief00]

I’m expecting a monster junior year from Carlton.

The connection many miss with Josh is his dad played for Holy Cross - so that George Blaney legacy is there. And you know how Chief respects George Blaney’s basketball mind.

 

[andy34]

The connection many miss with Josh is his dad played for Holy Cross - so that George Blaney legacy is there. And you know how Chief respects George Blaney’s basketball mind.

No offense but how does Josh's dad playing for George Blaney have any impact on the improvement we all expect from Josh based on the leap he made last season

 

[ClifSpliffy]

all im seeing is a tallish, younger guy. all things considered, it's a reasonable move for us, and a good move for mr. springs. to be frank, and at this time in his career, I think he 'married up', given his available suitors. timing is everything. next year in the spring, the UConn situation will look nothing like it did last spring, with a talented and entrenched coach, 3 quality freshman with a year of experience, and all arrows pointing up. mr. springs better get busy on improving, the comp is getting real for him, and height alone ain't what this level is about.

 

[bendm]

not sure if this was already posted somewhere, but with springs UConn went from the 21st (or 22nd?) to 18th ranked recruiting class on 247

 

[jdb50]

UCONN is going to have to build a bigger wall as we are going to have quite a few pelts to nail up this year. Welcome Richie !

 

[Chief00]

No offense but how does Josh's dad playing for George Blaney have any impact on the improvement we all expect from Josh based on the leap he made last season

Good question, when you are around someone with a truly great basketball mind and you love the game yourself - you want to learn what you can from the master mind.
His dad regularly goes to his games etc - so I believe there is some transfer.
One example, when KO left Josh was considering transferring and George talked to his dad about Danny’s coaching and basketball philosophy and the end result was Josh staying at UConn. That made this improvement possible.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Good question, when you are around someone with a truly great basketball mind and you love the game yourself - you want to learn what you can from the master mind.
His dad regularly goes to his games etc - so I believe there is some transfer.
One example, when KO left Josh was considering transferring and George talked to his dad about Danny’s coaching and basketball philosophy and the end result was Josh staying at UConn. That made this improvement possible.

question and answer. and what an answer! peak boneyard.

 

[navery12]

I credit Josh's kindergarten teacher as much as anyone. 2nd day of school he went to pick up some blocks and she directed him instead to a tiny basketball. Without that we're looking at UConn's next great architect instead of a basketball player

 

[ctchamps]

question and answer. and what an answer! peak boneyard.

Chief stuffed the snark and swished a spark.

 

[ctchamps]

I credit Josh's kindergarten teacher as much as anyone. 2nd day of school he went to pick up some blocks and she directed him instead to a tiny basketball. Without that we're looking at UConn's next great architect instead of a basketball player

At his birth the delivery nurse, observing Josh’s head, declared it’s the size of a basketball and repeated it several times “basketball, basketball, dunk, dunk, dunk!”

While pregnant with Josh mom and dad watched several NCAA national championship games. One of their favorites was the 77-74 UConn win over Duke.

 

[jibsey]

I’m expecting a monster junior year from Carlton.

Everyone is, but because we are weak in backup Center and we have to be concerned about Carlton picking up 2 quick fouls in a tough opponent game. We have lots of power forwards and they will need to help and absorb some of those fouls away from him where possible. Carlton was already one of the better centers in the league toward the end of last year.

 

[HuskyHawk]

No offense but how does Josh's dad playing for George Blaney have any impact on the improvement we all expect from Josh based on the leap he made last season

Not a true answer like Chief's, but my observations of Josh even as a freshman, indicated that his skill level was well above his athleticism. He got stronger, and enhanced that skill level further. He's a throwback player with several Kevin McHale style back to the basket scoring moves. It's a skill set that is almost stone cold dead in modern basketball. He didn't learn that on the playground or from his junior high/HS coach, or his birth nurse. He probably learned it from his dad.

One of the reasons Josh is so effective is that he's using those old school back to the basket moves against guys who don't really know how to defend them because they are used so rarely. Modern bigs are like Akok, they want to face the basket, step out and hit threes.