Rick Issanza (C, 7'1", 225) to visit | Page 10 | The Boneyard

Rick Issanza (C, 7'1", 225) to visit

UofCT2009 said:
Why would Diarra decide to get rid of his scholarship?
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I believe they can give him academic or need-based aid, make him a manager, free up the scholarship, and still get him a (mostly) free education.
 
Kenny11 said:
Josh averaged about 2 blocks per game last year. He may not be athletic but he is very long.
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I've been a big supporter/defender of Josh since the beginning of the season when people were saying he should never be a starter on a uconn team. I was just saying that Akok's length brings shot blocking, didn't intend to imply that Josh doesn't. I think your response probably should have addressed @UcannUconn
 
Edward Sargent said:
I think they are leaving it to Diarra to decide after going home and talking to his family.
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Discussion likely has been had over the past weeks with potential options identified. If MD decides he would like to continue playing, the discussion will go in one direction for resolution. If MD decides he not lacing up the sneaks anymore, then the discussion goes another direction for resolution. I believe the coaching staff is trying to balance the needs of the program with the needs/desires of MD. Coming to a mutual decision is best for all. I know it doesn't seem like there's much in the college basketball D1 world anyone, but I'd like to see that our program embraces some level of integrity & compassion for our athletes. I know that ship has sailed for many programs...
 
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imno1 said:
I'll disagree and believe that Carlton would start on many good teams. I expect enough improvement over last year to make Josh one of the best bigs in our league.
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3rdbass said:
Why isn’t Josh Carlton a starter on a good team? Jake Voskuhl. Travis Knight , Alex Oriakhi and Amida Brimah were the centers on great teams. None of them were extremely talented even Alex who was overrated. I guess fans think we always had Emeka Okafors and Andre Drummond’s at Center. Uconn has been built with great wings and guards and a solid and not spectacular center. Josh is already offensively better than all of them. Hopefully with another offseason of getting stronger he can be up their defensively too. I think we are fine with Josh Carlton as our center next year. Our problem is we have nobody to back him up in any capacity. Whaley is too undersized to be backing up Carlton at center. He will foul out in 5 minutes.
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I certainly hope you are both right. As I said, I like and admire Josh and his hard work. Jake was better imho.
 
3rdbass said:
Why isn’t Josh Carlton a starter on a good team? Jake Voskuhl. Travis Knight , Alex Oriakhi and Amida Brimah were the centers on great teams. None of them were extremely talented even Alex who was overrated. I guess fans think we always had Emeka Okafors and Andre Drummond’s at Center. Uconn has been built with great wings and guards and a solid and not spectacular center. Josh is already offensively better than all of them. Hopefully with another offseason of getting stronger he can be up their defensively too. I think we are fine with Josh Carlton as our center next year. Our problem is we have nobody to back him up in any capacity. Whaley is too undersized to be backing up Carlton at center. He will foul out in 5 minutes.
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Josh is improving and hopefully he turns out to be great but Jake and Travis were better. Oriakhi could be pretty beastly when he wanted to but was up and down.
 
superjohn said:
Josh is improving and hopefully he turns out to be great but Jake and Travis were better. Oriakhi could be pretty beastly when he wanted to but was up and down.
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Though both Jake and Travis played in the NBA, being on great teams helps, neither of them posses the offensive game that Carlton gives us inside. Actually besides Emeka Okafor we have never had a center who could score inside consistently like Josh does. I expect with another year of beefing up that Josh will improve on his deficiencies and not get silly fouls inside.
 
superjohn said:
Josh is improving and hopefully he turns out to be great but Jake and Travis were better. Oriakhi could be pretty beastly when he wanted to but was up and down.
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Josh is a sophomore.

Jake best season 8.5 ppg 6+ boards
Travis best 9+ ppg and 9+ boards
Josh best so far 9 ppg 6.2 boards

A little too early to judge.
 
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3rdbass said:
Why isn’t Josh Carlton a starter on a good team? Jake Voskuhl. Travis Knight , Alex Oriakhi and Amida Brimah were the centers on great teams. None of them were extremely talented even Alex who was overrated. I guess fans think we always had Emeka Okafors and Andre Drummond’s at Center. Uconn has been built with great wings and guards and a solid and not spectacular center. Josh is already offensively better than all of them. Hopefully with another offseason of getting stronger he can be up their defensively too. I think we are fine with Josh Carlton as our center next year. Our problem is we have nobody to back him up in any capacity. Whaley is too undersized to be backing up Carlton at center. He will foul out in 5 minutes.
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Palatine said:
Josh is a sophomore.

Jake best season 8.5 ppg 6+ boards
Travis best 9+ ppg and 9+ boards
Josh best so far 9 ppg 6.2 boards

A little too early to judge.
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Putting aside whether you are correct or incorrect, you can't make your points with stats. The quality of opponent Carlton faces is so, so different than the quality that Travis and Jake faced that it's a total waste of time. Stats from our Big East era can't be compared to stats from our current era.
 
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Palatine said:
Josh is a sophomore.

Jake best season 8.5 ppg 6+ boards
Travis best 9+ ppg and 9+ boards
Josh best so far 9 ppg 6.2 boards

A little too early to judge.
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A little early but headed in the right direction if his last 7 games were any indication. 12.5 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 2.5 bpg.
Hurley would take that all season long and twice on Sundays.
 
Jake was the best inbound passer after being scored on. He would get scored on, rip the ball out of the net, and inbound the ball quickly up the court after doing that thing where he would step over the baseline with one foot while winging the pass. Good memories lol. good player too, not bashing him... that little skill he had just popped into my head
 
Ewekon said:
I certainly hope you are both right. As I said, I like and admire Josh and his hard work. Jake was better imho.
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Hopefully Carlton’s numbers will be better than Andre’s although AD was just a baby when he played here so it’s a tad unfair.
He will be most likely be the 2-3 rd leading scorer and he will figure prominently in opposing coaches game plans on both ends. That pretty heady for a UConn five Probably only Emeka and Thabeet also were asked to do more in recent memory.
Guys like Jake had a specific job and learned to do it well in the company of great players, but Carlton has more dimension to his game and will have to play a much bigger role if we are to be successful.
 
Kenny11 said:
Jake was the best inbound passer after being scored on. He would get scored on, rip the ball out of the net, and inbound the ball quickly up the court after doing that thing where he would step over the baseline with one foot while winging the pass. Good memories lol. good player too, not bashing him... that little skill he had just popped into my head
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His ability to start the fast break is often forgot on the board.
 
UcannUconn said:
Taking this statement literally, Hurley is normally fairly honest and direct, they’re still trying to figure out what to do with Diarra and will let him know when he returns for summer camp. This puts Diarra in a terrible situation, uncertain about his future.
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Diarra will be able to attend and graduate on scholarship. This decision is medically based, and input from medical professionals will inform the decision. It’s not a bunch of coaches sitting around deciding on his future. Chronic and various knee problems for a big guy that start in high school don’t tend to just get resolved.
 
Kenny11 said:
Jake was the best inbound passer after being scored on. He would get scored on, rip the ball out of the net, and inbound the ball quickly up the court after doing that thing where he would step over the baseline with one foot while winging the pass. Good memories lol. good player too, not bashing him... that little skill he had just popped into my head
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Jake was a terrific screener. He was part of the double screen that got RIP open for that sweet jumper.
 
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It will be interesting who we end up with. No way can we go into next year with just josh at the center position. We at least had Cobb and st johnns transfer to start last year backing up Carlton. Whaley can’t be it?
 
Seems like if it wasn't going to be Whaley, they would have tried to resolve the Diarra situation and make an offer in time to bring a guy in for June 3. I think it may be Whaley.
 
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pj said:
Seems like if it wasn't going to be Whaley, they would have tried to resolve the Diarra situation and make an offer in time to bring a guy in for June 3. I think it may be Whaley.
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Then expect us to try to outrun teams as we won’t be able to outmuscle them.
 
businesslawyer said:
Putting aside whether you are correct or incorrect, you can't make your points with stats. The quality of opponent Carlton faces is so, so different than the quality that Travis and Jake faced that it's a total waste of time. Stats from our Big East era can't be compared to stats from our current era.
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That’s makes the assumption that all your games are league games against top opponents. Simply untrue
In fact as a freshman Carlton started against
8 teams that made the NCAA tourney including the Big East and NC, the SEC champ, and the Big Ten 30 win MSU team. That’s pretty decent competition.
Also both Cinn and WSU were preseason top 20 teams
Houston wasn’t too shabby either. Each team played 9games against ranked opponents. That’s Big East comparably.
Last year’s OCS was weaker but conference depth is getting stronger
It’s obviously never gong to have the depth of theBig East but the gap isn’t as wide as you think.
Time to get over the Big East
It was a great league we had great teams but if all you can do is look back you might as well be dead.
This is coming from a genealogist and amateur historian.
 
pj said:
Seems like if it wasn't going to be Whaley, they would have tried to resolve the Diarra situation and make an offer in time to bring a guy in for June 3. I think it may be Whaley.
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Based on Hurley’s comments it was a stretch thinking we were going to recruit a competent 5 without a Scholarship decision until the end of Summer.
Whaley is a decent backup that might really come on if he is given an actually job. He could be a Yakwetype rim protector.
Given a little more length with Akok , we might be able to get by with a 6’8” sub.at 5
 
BFieldHusky said:
They are working on it.
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IMO, he has the most upside and is the best fit for us stylistically, he’s also from jersey city. I just worry something will come up and he’ll have to sit out etc. I wonder how St. John’s planned to have him eligible....
 
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