Rodney Purvis

[EBonz30]

Just really disagree with this. Rodney certainly carries us at times with his shooting, but the last thing I would call him is solid. I don't think any of our seniors are solid players, and that combined with no junior class is a much bigger problem than the injuries.

Your expectations of him are much higher than mine.

I never thought he was going to be a great player, never even had glimpses of him being great so I am not sure where all this is coming from.

He's a solid starter, he doesn't hurt your team from winning, he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the nation and like I said is a streaky shooter.

His season would of been better if he was able to play the two guard for 28-30 mins a game like a normal basketball player. I am good with an athletic 2 guard who can shoot and defend, when you make Purvis into a playmaker and passer that is his weakness.

The injuries have now force him to play out of character because we don't have any other playmakers besides Adams and there is only so much he can do. Adams gets hurt very often and it's probably because he too plays 40 mins a game and is exhausted.

For you to say it's not the injuries that just tells me your totally lost.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I'm serious: I would LOVE to see a 360° Rodney mixtape - the good, the bad, and the ugly...ending with a signature muscle flex.

I could go into details & make suggestions, but I prefer to lie back, close my eyes, and smile.

And yes, I wish for a good March from him most of all.

 

[GuttyWolf]

Your expectations of him are much higher than mine.

I never thought he was going to be a great player, never even had glimpses of him being great so I am not sure where all this is coming from.

He's a solid starter, he doesn't hurt your team from winning, he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the nation and like I said is a streaky shooter.

His season would of been better if he was able to play the two guard for 28-30 mins a game like a normal basketball player. I am good with an athletic 2 guard who can shoot and defend, when you make Purvis into a playmaker and passer that is his weakness.

The injuries have now force him to play out of character because we don't have any other playmakers besides Adams and there is only so much he can do. Adams gets hurt very often and it's probably because he too plays 40 mins a game and is exhausted.

For you to say it's not the injuries that just tells me your totally lost.

One of the best perimeter defenders in the nation? Who has he shut down defensively all year/ in his career? I must be watching a different a game out there. Just because he's built like a fullback, that does not make him Ricky Moore.

 

[7774]

Your expectations of him are much higher than mine.

My expectations aren't high for him at all, but you can't just grade on a curve where he meets your low expectations and is therefore good.

He's a solid starter, he doesn't hurt your team from winning, he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the nation and like I said is a streaky shooter.

I don't agree with any of this aside from the streaky shooter comment.

For you to say it's not the injuries that just tells me your totally lost.

It isn't the injuries. Almost every successful year we've had has been driven by stud players in our junior and senior classes. All of our injuries are to freshman and sophomores, who have generally been supplemental pieces on our best teams. Even with the injuries, our freshman and sophomore classes are easily good enough for us to be a high level team if we had the type of juniors and seniors we normally have on high level teams.

2009 was our last real dominant team. Imagine if you replaced our 3 seniors with 3 of these guys: Price, Adrien, Thabeet, or Sticks. We're easily a tournament team.

 

[Huskybass]

There are so many reasons people here bash Rodney. Their expectations were through the roof when Ollie called him a Ferrari. They've seen him take a game over and score 20+ points. They don't really value defensive play or understand its importance on a basketball team.

But mostly, just because they are spoiled brats who have never faced adversity and think that by birthright, they are due something by being a UCONN fan. They think that national titles grow on trees and that freshmen should play like seniors. And that's why I have read negative comments about every player on the team this year. Literally every player, even including Durham. Welcome to the Boneyard...

You could eat a bowl of turds then try to convince people it tasted good. You have absolutely no objectivity whatsoever. 4 for 18 against a top 20 team just isn't going to yield positive results. Ever.

I like Rodney alot. But even my 16 year old son commented that Rodney killed UConn's momentum on saturday. There is never a reason for a guy who is struggling in terms of shooting to hoist long three point shots early in the shot clock, especially when a guy like Facey is having a really good game.

Rodney has been a model student athlete, and gives it his all. But his decision making on the floor can be pretty poor at times.

 

[UConnDan97]

You could eat a bowl of turds then try to convince people it tasted good. You have absolutely no objectivity whatsoever. 4 for 18 against a top 20 team just isn't going to yield positive results. Ever.

I like Rodney alot. But even my 16 year old son commented that Rodney killed UConn's momentum on saturday. There is never a reason to hoist long three point shots early in the shot clock, especially when a guy like Facey is having a really good game.

Rodney has been a model student athlete, and gives it his all. But his decision making on the floor can be pretty poor at times.

I never argued that he had a great game yesterday. That's your strawman to bring up. The comment was pertaining to the fact that Rodney is one of the most maligned players in the history of UConn basketball. And I gave all my reasons for why that is. Because the folks who bash him the most are the ones that lack objectivity. Nobody values his D. Nobody values his toughness. And when he's hot, nobody values his scoring.

The best moments over the last 10 games or so were the multiple instances when people would start bashing him in the game threads, and then he would rattle off 10 or 12 points in a row. Then we wouldn't hear from those folks until the next game. Classic. I guess they were too busy snacking on those bowls of turds you were talking about...

 

[ctchamps]

I guess reading comprehension escapes you. Look above, you have posters calling people "spoiled brats who have never faced adversity" and yet I am taking the moral low ground?!

Your argument is flawed and is circular and doesn't deserve a response. I stopped reading after spoiled snowflake because you obviously have some latent anger/insecurity issues and I would be wasting time to read further/respond.

Have a great day!

My argument isn't flawed. Circular yes. I just took the second lap after you took the first lap.

Unbeknown to you I was doing a poor @ impersonation on you. You probably don't even know who is. Lucky you. The part I highlighted in red was a tongue and cheek statement in response to your line "call me every name in the book... " I just ignored the second line about the qualifier. Personally I don't think there is any justification for bashing people, even the one that says these people know what they're getting into when they become public figures.

My take is almost everyone has anger issues. Your first post in this thread was an angry statement directed at people who try to control how things are expressed. It's a hot button for you.
It's obvious to me that the reaction against the op, not just by you, but most of the posters who responded against it, is that they feel the need to be angry towards Rodney and don't want anyone censuring the anger. At some point in time most of you will no longer need to "hate" on him the same way most of the people who directed their "hate" on Taliek and Dyson no longer need to do so. And those responding to this group, myself included, are angry that people can't control themselves. And there's the lap. Most of us will not be upset with most of you in the near future and vice versa.

And lest people miss the quotes I put around the word hate those quotes are intended to express a qualifier. I know most of you are good people who just need to get it out of your systems. I just want to point out to people who need to express more than criticism that how things are expressed have a value (positive, negative, meant to hurt, meant to support, meant to inform, meant to rebut).

I meant my statement in red, purely as a joke. I thought it was obvious when I put the statement in red and put the line in your post in red. Obviously you missed that I put one of your lines in red. Had you seen it, maybe you would have responded to me differently. You would have also needed to be aware my statement was OTT and of course that isn't a given.

Nonetheless, the misunderstanding is a good teaching point. No matter who we are it's difficult to feel good or unaffected when people say things intended to hurt. It's why I choose to point this out when I perceive it happening (of course perception is different than fact so obviously I'm fallible).

It's not that I'm better than the people I'm responding to. Lord knows I've got my own hot button issues. My "belief system" in this forum and elsewhere is that every person is part of a community. In this community not only can we provide information about UConn men's bb, but also do things such as help people find the best pizza, best beer, problem solve requests, support one another through difficulties and offer advice to help us understand one another.

 

[JonnyRI]

He didn't live up to expectations as a basketball player, this is why he is critized. Nobody thinks he's a bad kid. We have all given him praise for the way he represents the university. Get off your moral high horse.

Rodney's one of the more frustrating players in recent memory. So much ability and so many repeated awful moments (blowing a fast break, catch the ball out of bounds, everyone drink!).

I'll be cheering him as loud as anyone as anyone though on senior day. Never a doubt how much he loves being a Husky. Yes Will miss him next year.

 

[QDOG5]

I guess, in the end, we can disagree to disagree on Rodney. For the record I place myself in the group that is frustrated with Rodney's career at UConn. Also, I think it is fair to debate players abilities and contributions to the team. That is why there is a Boneyard. It would be impossible to post here without critiquing. Commenting on an individual is inherently personal and the best we can do is to keep in mind when posting that they're 18-22 yos playing for our favorite team.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Also, I think it is fair to debate players abilities and contributions to the team.

This is a useless observation because no one says otherwise. There are one or two players every year for whom the "debate" devolves into derision, ridicule, and statements like "I can't wait until he's out of the program" that rub a certain segment of the fanbase the wrong way.

 

[yukonyc212]

The biggest issue with Purvis that I think everyone here has issue with is that he is legitimately the same player he was when he stepped foot on campus for the very first time. In many ways he has regressed. I just don't understand how you can not get any better doing your job every single day for 4 years straight. I can't think of a Uconn player in recent memory that was better as a sophomore than he was as a senior. Brimah maybe?

 

[yukonyc212]

Some people here are saying they had low expectations of him? I for one had huge expectations for him when he transferred here. He was a top 15 McDonald's All-American in high school and started as a freshman at NC St and put up solid numbers there before he transferred.

 

[Waquoit]

The real frustration in these Purvis threads are the hardcore Rodney fluffers. You are all nuts.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The real frustration in these Purvis threads are the hardcore Rodney fluffers. You are all nuts.

What's really nuts is that that's your takeaway from this thread. I mean that is borderline insane, unless you don't know what the words you're using mean and then I suppose you get a pass.

 

[Buffett10]

I think the Ferrari tag really hurt his perception by fans. On a championship caliber team he would be a solid backup 2 guard. He's trying to put a team on his back with UCONN and he ends up forcing a lot. We all know his strengths and weaknesses.

If people watched him at NCSU and in his HS tapes, you would know he wasn't gonna be our best player. He was a guy who got by in HS on athleticism. 90% of his mixtapes are of dunks. If you guys need Ollie to tell you someone is gonna be good stop being a basketball fan. A coach will NEVER say he has a bad player. Do your own research see that he isn't gonna shoot 45% from 3 like most "great" college players do now. The Ferrari comment was ridiculus and he is a Ferrari hes fast. It wasn't a lie on Ollie's part.

 

[Palatine]

Rodney was 10-41 in our three game losing streak. 3-15, 4-18,and 3-8.

When your leading scorer puts up number like those especially in his high volume games, it is hard to win.

 

[jibsey]

He does play defense, but 10-41 makes you wonder I'd he needs glasses.

 

[yukonyc212]

He does play defense, but 10-41 makes you wonder I'd he needs glasses.

Maybe he's like Rick Vaughn in Major League. Get him some rec-specs maybe????

 

[Matt1010]

Rodney was 10-41 in our three game losing streak. 3-15, 4-18,and 3-8.

When your leading scorer puts up number like those especially in his high volume games, it is hard to win.

Let me start this off by saying that Rodney comes across as a great kid and I'm very happy that we've had him as a Husky these last few years. With that said, we have lost a lot of games this year because of his poor shooting, plain and simple. I'm not blaming him for the season by any means because he has been forced into a very tough spot, but if you look at our wins and losses and RP's splits during those games they are directly correlated unlike any other player on our team. Like you said, no squad is going to win consistently with a main scorer shooting such low percentages and the below splits tell the story...

 

[UConnDan97]

Let me start this off by saying that Rodney comes across as a great kid and I'm very happy that we've had him as a Husky these last few years. With that said, we have lost a lot of games this year because of his poor shooting, plain and simple. I'm not blaming him for the season by any means because he has been forced into a very tough spot, but if you look at our wins and losses and RP's splits during those games they are directly correlated unlike any other player on our team. Like you said, no squad is going to win consistently with a main scorer shooting such low percentages and the below splits tell the story...

View attachment 20255

Just because I'm a stats type of guy, I'd like to dig a little further into your analysis:

1) Could you provide the same type of analysis for Jalen, or even for Vital? I'd be interested to see the drop for them.
2) The most interesting thing in your statistics for me was not the shooting percentage. It was the 20 less assists. In other words, did we also lose those games because his teammates missed their shots too?

I'm not criticizing your analysis. I'd rather have more of these types of discussions than the stuff I've been seeing on the board lately...

 

[Matt1010]

Just because I'm a stats type of guy, I'd like to dig a little further into your analysis:

1) Could you provide the same type of analysis for Jalen, or even for Vital? I'd be interested to see the drop for them.
2) The most interesting thing in your statistics for me was not the shooting percentage. It was the 20 less assists. In other words, did we also lose those games because his teammates missed their shots too?

I'm not criticizing your analysis. I'd rather have more of these types of discussions than the stuff I've been seeing on the board lately...

Here are the splits for Jalen:

Also obviously most players stats will be worse in losses compared to wins, I just noticed by far the biggest discrepancy/most volume for RP.

 

[UConnDan97]

Here are the splits for Jalen:

View attachment 20256

Also obviously most players stats will be worse in losses compared to wins, I just noticed by far the biggest discrepancy/most volume for RP.

Thanks for providing that. Again, the most interesting thing to me is the amount of assists that go down even for Jalen. His assists went down 35!

Now of course, Jalen's and Rodney's assists would both go down in games where they were both missing. But my gut also tells me that they went down substantially because other players were missing as well. It's interesting that both players maintained similar turnover numbers in both situations, but Jalen's rebounding goes down significantly in losses as well...

 

[Chin Diesel]

Thanks for providing that. Again, the most interesting thing to me is the amount of assists that go down even for Jalen. His assists went down 35!

Now of course, Jalen's and Rodney's assists would both go down in games where they were both missing. But my gut also tells me that they went down substantially because other players were missing as well. It's interesting that both players maintained similar turnover numbers in both situations, but Jalen's rebounding goes down significantly in losses as well...

You think the drop in assists may correlate to an increase in missed shots by Purvis?

 

[UConnDan97]

You think the drop in assists may correlate to an increase in missed shots by Purvis?

Yes. Do you think the drop in Purvis's assists may correlate to players not named "Purvis" increasing in missed shots?

 

[UConnDan97]

You think the drop in assists may correlate to an increase in missed shots by Purvis?

You do realize that I actually said as much in the quote you replied to, right?

"Now of course, Jalen's and Rodney's assists would both go down in games where they were both missing"