Roscoe Watch

[HuskyBballFan]

Calhoun had a bad habit in the last few years of opting for security blankets at times - Gavin Edwards and Tyler Olander were two largely limited players who got more minutes than they would have if they'd shown up ten years earlier.

That Tyler got almost 18 minutes a game that season was just nuts - our penance for that bit of idiocy is watching Roscoe Smith collect basketballs like he thinks they're made of gold.

In fairness, Roscoe and Olander put up virtually the exact same numbers in every statistical category that year. My recollection is that both Olander and Daniels got off to pretty good starts and outplayed Roscoe during the cupcake portion of the schedule. Over time, it became apparent that those two were overmatched and they worked themselves out of the rotation, with Roscoe being the main beneficiary. He played a lot more down the stretch, culminating with 33 minutes against Iowa State.

That was such a weird team in 2011-2012. One of the most talented rosters we've ever had, but every single guy seemed like he was a year away. As a result, we had 2 or 3-way competitions at certain positions (especially the 3 and 4) and it took awhile to figure out who our best players were. Eventually it became obvious that our best lineup included Napier, Boatright, and Lamb playing together (with Drummond at the 5), leaving one spot to be shared among Roscoe, Oriakhi, Olander, Giffey, and Daniels. In hindsight, it isn't all that surprising that certain guys were unhappy.

 

[Palatine]

In fairness, Roscoe and Olander put up virtually the exact same numbers in every statistical category that year. My recollection is that both Olander and Daniels got off to pretty good starts and outplayed Roscoe during the cupcake portion of the schedule. Over time, it became apaprent that those two were overmatched and they worked themselves out of the rotation, with Roscoe being the main beneficiary. He played a lot more down the stretch, culminating with 33 minutes against Iowa State.

That was such a weird team in 2011-2012. One of the most talented rosters we've ever had, but every single guy seemed like he was a year away. As a result, we had 2 or 3-way competitions at certain positions (especially the 3 and 4) and it took awhile to figure out who our best players were. Eventually it became obvious that our best lineup included Napier, Boatright, and Lamb playing together (with Drummond at the 5), leaving one spot to be shared among Roscoe, Oriakhi, Olander, Giffey, and Daniels. In hindsight, it isn't all that surprising that certain guys were unhappy.

The problem that year was AO played like crap. He was a perfect 4. But he couldn't make a one footer or grab a rebound. He should have been a double-double machine. If he was we would have been back in the final four.

 

[champs99and04]

Roscoe as a freshman was already a key defensive player. He was spectacular in the final 4, esp. the championship game.

Yup. He was one of the most versatile defensive players we ever had under Calhoun. There was nobody he didn't guard during that run in 2011 - he guarded Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Williams, Terrence Jones, and Matt Howard with high degrees of success. Hell, even in the 2012 tournament against Iowa State, after the disastrous Drummond on Royce White experiment ended with an emphatic thud, he was able to step in and hold him in check in the second half. You could probably make the argument that aside from Kemba and Lamb, he was our third most valuable player during that 2011 tournament run. By the time March rolled around, they had become possibly the best defense in the country, and Roscoe was probably the biggest reason for that. He was tenacious underneath - I don't think anything demonstrated that more than the black eye he suffered during the Big East Tournament. That was arguably the most iconic image from the tournament.

The tough thing to swallow is that although Roscoe was a great role player back then, he seems to have evolved into more than that now. He was a liability offensively during his time at UConn, but he always made enough savvy basket cuts and grabbed enough weak side rebounds to make you feel there was a productive offensive player in there somewhere. Needless to say, he would have been the perfect fit on this team. He could have done the dirty work inside that none of our guys, save maybe Giffey from time to time, seem to want to do. He would have reaped the benefits on the other end, too, simply because Napier is a wizard who would have been able to accentuate his strengths and neutralize his weaknesses (the lack of a refined perimeter game).

As for the "Roscoe got a raw deal his sophomore year and that's why he left" inferences I'm seeing thrown out there, I'm not really buying it. There may be some truth to the notion that he got d!cked around early in the year, but given he averaged over 27 minutes a game in his final eight games, Calhoun seemed to have admitted a mistake by the end of the season. He was also pretty much being offered a blank check of minutes his junior year, so I'm inclined to take him at his word that he left because he wanted to play small forward.

 

[Husky25]

Both were dicked around because they moped, sucked and were crappy players here 2 years ago - pretty simple. You tend to get "dicked around" when you play crappy too at most places. Whoever this Roscoe is conograts to him and I wish he had the balls to be that guy 2 years ago instead opting to be a "3" who can't shoot, dribble or pass!!

Love the Monday morning QB's......

Having said my piece his rebounding would be more than welcome. But he wasn't doing that coming out of the gate 2 years ago. Birch also had 14 rebounds from UNLV...........we recruited him too. Good story on Roscoe NOW and I hope both guys are happy as they probably will have a tough time finding the NIT this year..........

I appreciate what Smith contributed to UConn's 3rd National Championship, but he chose to exercised his right to leave UConn. As a UConn fan, I have to say that I am no longer interested in his progress except for a single stat: I want to see a 1 in the Degree column come mid-May. The best thing he can do for UConn now is to graduate and not negatively affect UConn's APR.

That said, as a basketball fan, if he keeps up these rebounding performances, the Celtics could use a rebounder in the 2nd round of next June's draft.

 

[upstater]

I appreciate what Smith contributed to UConn's 3rd National Championship, but he chose to exercised his right to leave UConn. As a UConn fan, I have to say that I am no longer interested in his progress except for a single stat: I want to see a 1 in the Degree column come mid-May. The best thing he can do for UConn now is to graduate and not negatively affect UConn's APR.

That said, as a basketball fan, if he keeps up these rebounding performances, the Celtics could use a rebounder in the 2nd round of next June's draft.

He is off UConn's books as far as academics goes. UConn gets no credit at all for his graduating.

 

[Gurleyman]

It was arguably the most iconic image from the tournament.

I agree with the rest of your post, but my avatar out-iconics anything else from 2011.

 

[Husky25]

He is off UConn's books as far as academics goes. UConn gets no credit at all for his graduating.

After watching the CenterStage with Jim Calhoun, I thought it worked differently. I was under the impression that transfers, regardless of academic standing, counted as an adjustment for both schools.

 

[upstater]

After watching the CenterStage with Jim Calhoun, I thought it worked differently. I was under the impression that transfers, regardless of academic standing, counted as an adjustment for both schools.

They do count as far as the NCAA is concerned, but not the Feds.

The new school gets credited for the graduation in the GSR. On the new school's APR, it has no impact since the APR has nothing to do with graduation.

For the old school, there is no benefit to GSR. The only benefit is for APR but that benefit ends when they leave the old school in good standing.

In other words, Roscoe did not hurt UConn's APR when he left because he was in good standing. But Roscoe also did not help UConn's APR when he left because you get 1 point for a player simply returning to school (and Roscoe didn't return). I presume that UConn was not hurt for that 1 point because he was deemed exempt.

All in all, it works out like this:

UNLV gets a plus on its GSR
UConn does not receive a plus or a minus on neither GSR nor APR

In terms of official federal rates, Oregon is NOT credited with a graduation, but it is also not docked for a failure to graduate. UConn on the other hand is docked for Roscoe's failure to graduate from UConn.

 

[Mike Honcho]

I agree with the rest of your post, but my avatar out-iconics anything else from 2011.

No question!

 

[Joobie]

I know I've said this before & I don't want to beat it to death, but Roscoe's leaving still bugs me. He told me to my face that he was staying. I'm wondering if his academics had anything to do with his sudden departure. If he was on shaky ground academically, would that have affected the APR in a negative way more than a transfer would have?

 

[caw]

They do count as far as the NCAA is concerned, but not the Feds.

The new school gets credited for the graduation in the GSR. On the new school's APR, it has no impact since the APR has nothing to do with graduation.

For the old school, there is no benefit to GSR. The only benefit is for APR but that benefit ends when they leave the old school in good standing.

In other words, Roscoe did not hurt UConn's APR when he left because he wasn't in good standing either. But Roscoe also did not help UConn's APR when he left because you get 1 point for a player simply returning to school (and Roscoe didn't return). I presume that UConn was not hurt for that 1 point because he was deemed exempt.

All in all, it works out like this:

UNLV gets a + on its GSR
UConn does not receive a + or a minus on either GSR nor APR

In terms of official federal rates, Oregon is NOT credited with a graduation, but it is also not docked for a failure to graduate. UConn on the other hand is docked for Roscoe's failure to graduate from UConn.

Wait you must mean "was in good standing" no?

 

[upstater]

Wait you must mean "was in good standing" no?

Yes, will change

 

[breezy]

Calhoun had a bad habit in the last few years of opting for security blankets at times - Gavin Edwards and Tyler Olander were two largely limited players who got more minutes than they would have if they'd shown up ten years earlier.

That Tyler got almost 18 minutes a game that season was just nuts - our penance for that bit of idiocy is watching Roscoe Smith collect basketballs like he thinks they're made of gold.

I see what you're saying but I disagree about Edwards. He was a competent backup as a junior and was a very solid player as a senior. He's not a fabled UConn post-player but he was actually pretty athletic, had a great bball IQ and put up good numbers his senior year. I'd definitely put him on this year's team if I could. He'd be an answer to the rebounding/defensive (aside from shotblocking) and offensive woes of the bigs...

That said I realize this post is more about safety guy Tyler taking away developmental minutes from the up-and-down Roscoe, which I too, retroactively groan about.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I know I've said this before & I don't want to beat it to death, but Roscoe's leaving still bugs me. He told me to my face that he was staying. I'm wondering if his academics had anything to do with his sudden departure. If he was on shaky ground academically, would that have affected the APR in a negative way more than a transfer would have?

No. In fact, most of the reason for our terrible APR in the mid-late 00's was the constant parade of transfers of guys who never should have been here and couldn't hack it either academically or basketball-wise.

If you transfer, your former school is held to a higher standard (must leave with a GPA > 2.3) in order to avoid being docked APR points. I believe the standard for continuing players is only >2.0.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

43 f'in rebounds in two games. Daniels, Nolan, Brimah, and Olander have combined for 35 rebounds all season. Not only would he pretty much eradicate our rebounding woes, but he could also bang on the block with stronger fours in ways that Giffey and Olander cannot. We have an elite offense right now; if Roscoe were here, we'd have an elite defense, too. Imagine how ridiculously stingy a Napier-Giffey-Daniels-Smith-Brimah lineup would have been. Sigh.

Don't worry I'm sure our resident BY genius ZennConn has a perfectly reasonable explanation for this 21 reb performance . PLEASE can mauconn and fluedy throw some water balloons at that guy? PLEASE!

Double sigh...I still hold out hope though that we have the ingredients to persevere and improve our rebounding weaknesses (no water balloons for that hope card ok)?

BRIMAH You are our shining star of hope! Hopefully he is eating and lifting weights between classes and practice.

 

[Gurleyman]

The guy who benefitted the most was probably Omar. No Roscoe meant DD to the 4, opening the door for Omar to start and play heavy minutes from day one.

As I said up thread, I don't think Facey comes if Roscoe is here, even though they would have overlapped by only a year - too much immediate competition. And if he did, then no scholarship would have been there for Brimah. So it could work out in the end, but if we were a pro team right now and could trade four years of Facey for one of Roscoe, we'd probably have to do it. Immediate needs for a championship contender taking precedence over future potential.

 

[mauconnfan]

Don't worry I'm sure our resident BY genius ZennConn has a perfectly reasonable explanation for this 21 reb performance . PLEASE can mauconn and fluedy throw some water balloons at that guy? PLEASE!

Double sigh...I still hold out hope though that we have the ingredients to persevere and improve our rebounding weaknesses (no water balloons for that hope card ok)?

BRIMAH You are our shining star of hope! Hopefully he is eating and lifting weights between classes and practice.

 

[CAHUSKY]

How does someone not stop and throw a rock right through their window?

 

[joober jones]

NBADraft.net now has Roscoe going as a first round pick this year.

 

[Buffett10]

Roscoe is a beast on the boards this year. He is playing with so much energy and excitement. He would NEVER see a minute playing for Calhoun the way he was showboating and screaming and jumping up and down over a decent play with plenty of time left in the game. Was kind of surprised he didn't get a T when he was taunting the opposing player that Birch blocked.