Ryan Boatright

[James]

people on this site take basketball discussion way to personally , as if i'm talking about your son or something. The thread started off asking how fans would remember boatright, i stated my opinion, only to be derided by posters claiming my opinion is nonsense and unfounded. There were plenty of problems with this years team, one of which was boatright not fitting the role of consummate pg well enough... IMO. doesn't mean he was the MAIN problem or the least of problems. his play reminded me of napier's sophomore year ( first year being a lead guard).

 

[Robertelamin]

Why is it so difficult for people to accept the fact he wasn't a great lead guard? everything huskywarrior said is on point, and to be frank its not really boats fault. he was kind of hoisted into the position to carry the torch, his last experience being a lead guard he scored a gazzilion points @ east aurora. His numbers across the board look good, but there were key moments in many games where his lack of court discipline was wildly apparent. not only on the offensive end, but also the defensive end! not even gonna bring up the pg's that torched the hell out of him and directly costed us games. The first temple game, the stanford game ( you know the game where terrible purvis was on fire? and showed up?), the first memphis game ( dhams' masterpiece, a statline daniels could never put up), the wvu game was over because they were in his head from the jump and he got destroyed by their pg.

i'll remember him as a great scorer who helped hoist banner #4 , but as a leader on a young team he left much to be desired.

I think the issue was that he was the ONLY lead guard. It isn't like his leadership could make Samuel shoot or Purvis handle the ball and distribute.

 

[Fishy]

You expressed an opinion that is very hard to defend on its merits.

You received nearly universal feedback that your opinion wasn't particularly well-informed.

Instead of whining about people being mean to you, a thoughtful person might take the time to revisit their opinion and consider why it received the commentary that it did.

 

[CallMeBruce]

could you imagine daniel hamilton playing with napier? he would turn him into daniels on roids. lots of pick n pops boatright couldn't do, simply because he never had the passing skills in his tool box.

You've got it backwards. Boat struggled because his supporting cast, largely Hamilton and Purvis, couldn't hit or wouldn't take open shots for a huge portion of the year. Last year, Napier had Daniels, Giffey, and Boatright hitting shots. I'm not sure how Boatright is supposed to make guys better when they can't hit a shot.

 

[aceboon]

I don't lean the way James does in regards to Boat, but I don't really agree with how a large portion of the fan base holds him up as an alltime great or that his number should be up on the wall. Boat had a pretty good career, and in last year's final four played complete games on both ends, but I just don't see an all time great career.

 

[Fishy]

Boat's in that orbit beneath the Kemba/Ray/Napier group, but with the Ricky/Taliek/KFree group of 'really good and we don't win a title without 'em' group.

In 20 years, you'll still remember him and that's pretty rarified air.

 

[Robertelamin]

I wouldn't consider him an all time great point guard, I think that is reserved for Bazz, Kemba and Khalid (this is Calhoun and after era, I have no idea before then). He is probably on the second tier with AJ, Marcus, Sheffer and maybe Taliek. He just shouldn't take a ton of the blame for last year.

 

[champs99and04]

I don't lean the way James does in regards to Boat, but I don't really agree with how a large portion of the fan base holds him up as an alltime great or that his number should be up on the wall. Boat had a pretty good career, and in last year's final four played complete games on both ends, but I just don't see an all time great career.

Maybe, I think you start getting into semantics when you distinguish between "all time great" and "pretty good" as it relates to the guards who have come through this program in the last quarter century. There are certainly more than a few guards who are regarded as merely very good at this program who would be considered all-time greats at other like programs.

I don't think Boat is quite on the level of Shabazz or Kemba, but I think he's closer to KEA than many think. He's probably on that second tier.

The thing people forget about Boat's career is that he really wasn't all that good as a junior until the tournament. But he dominated the tournament, and he carried that momentum over into his senior year. Not to mention, he was pretty damn good as a sophomore when he and Shabazz carried a decimated front court to 20 wins and within shouting distance of a BE title.

He strung three really good individual seasons together for this program and won a title in the process. He definitely had flaws and maybe was never perfectly qualified to be a full-time lead guard, but I'll still choose to view him as another in a long line of brilliant guards to come through this program.

 

[johnhuskies95]

To me he's a really good college guard, but not an all time great like Kemba and Shabazz. Truthfully Napier's junior season was better than Boat's senior season. But they were both extremely valuable and UConn was lucky to have them play together for three seasons.

 

[aceboon]

I've been saying the bolded for awhile now. 13-14 Boat wasn't as inconsistent at Purvis was this past season(although regular season Boat didn't have games near Purvis's peak games against SMU, Dayton, and Columbia) but there is a lot of revisionist history going on about his performance that year because how he played in the tourney. It was a struggle for Boat to score 10 points against most moderately good teams, and people seem to be forgetting Bazz mentioning to the media how he didn't have the help Kilpratick and Russ Smith had when it came to discussing AAC POY honors.
I hope people don't take it as me dumping on Boat's career, but it was a very good/tier 2/3 career, not all time great level, which I guess I see now others mentioning the same.

Maybe, I think you start getting into semantics when you distinguish between "all time great" and "pretty good" as it relates to the guards who have come through this program in the last quarter century. There are certainly more than a few guards who are regarded as merely very good at this program who would be considered all-time greats at other like programs.

I don't think Boat is quite on the level of Shabazz or Kemba, but I think he's closer to KEA than many think. He's probably on that second tier.

The thing people forget about Boat's career is that he really wasn't all that good as a junior until the tournament. But he dominated the tournament, and he carried that momentum over into his senior year. Not to mention, he was pretty damn good as a sophomore when he and Shabazz carried a decimated front court to 20 wins and within shouting distance of a BE title.

He strung three really good individual seasons together for this program and won three titles in the process. He definitely had flaws and maybe was never perfectly qualified to be a full-time lead guard, but I'll still choose to view him as another in a long line of brilliant guards to come through this program.

 

[sammydabiz]

You expressed an opinion that is very hard to defend on its merits.

You received nearly universal feedback that your opinion wasn't particularly well-informed.

Instead of whining about people being mean to you, a thoughtful person might take the time to revisit their opinion and consider why it received the commentary that it did.

The reason his opinion wasn't "particularly well-informed" is not because his opinion is unfounded, there's a lot of truth to what James/HuskyWarrior portrayed bout Boat. (Can't agree with him not playing "winning bball" tho)
The reason their opinions encounter so much flak, is due to this being a UConn message board, and no matter what, huskies will protect their own and understandably can be very defensive about any criticism directed at our boys, especially a fan fav like boat.
Ryan is a great player, great scorer, and can play lock down D when he wants to. Is he naturally a point guard, no.... Boat struggled playing pick n roll, and finding cutters to the hoop, which stagnated the offensive sets we tried to run. His best attributes was without the ball coming off a screen, or creating his own shot off the dribble....his game is that of a scoring guard, and he's a damn good one at that. The only reason he might not get drafted (eventhough I think he goes round 2) is because he's a natural 2 who happens to be under 6 feet. He's got the skills to play in the association, and imo was more talented than 95% of the competition he faced this year. He just wasn't the point guard his height forced him to be. (Also the lack of a dependable ball handler forced Ryan to stay in that point guard role as well..... Remember how much Kemba stepped his game up once Bazz was able to hold down the 1 towards the end of 2011)

 

[UConnSwag11]

The reason his opinion wasn't "particularly well-informed" is not because his opinion is unfounded, there's a lot of truth to what James/HuskyWarrior portrayed bout Boat. (Can't agree with him not playing "winning bball" tho)
The reason their opinions encounter so much flak, is due to this being a UConn message board, and no matter what, huskies will protect their own and understandably can be very defensive about any criticism directed at our boys, especially a fan fav like boat.
Ryan is a great player, great scorer, and can play lock down D when he wants to. Is he naturally a point guard, no.... Boat struggled playing pick n roll, and finding cutters to the hoop, which stagnated the offensive sets we tried to run. His best attributes was without the ball coming off a screen, or creating his own shot off the dribble....his game is that of a scoring guard, and he's a damn good one at that. The only reason he might not get drafted (eventhough I think he goes round 2) is because he's a natural 2 who happens to be under 6 feet. He's got the skills to play in the association, and imo was more talented than 95% of the competition he faced this year. He just wasn't the point guard his height forced him to be. (Also the lack of a dependable ball handler forced Ryan to stay in that point guard role as well..... Remember how much Kemba stepped his game up once Bazz was able to hold down the 1 towards the end of 2011)

it's that he is saying regardless of everything that was wrong with this team this year, boat wasnt lebron... it wasn't that boat didnt have a boat to help him out or three other scorers, or another dependable ball handler or two... its that at 5'11 boat wasnt able to be lebron... boat put up similar numbers as bazz and his assists wouldve gone up had the team around him been able to not turn it over and score the ball... he also didnt have 3 years to be the one, he was always the 2... he had one year to be the one and was asked to do everything for the team... he was a great leader on the court, you could see him talking and explaining things to the team... he wasnt a yeller like bazz

 

[Tenspro2002]

Was Boat a natural PG?
No.

Did Boat do everything he could have done with last year's team?
Probably.

Would having Shabazz instead of Boat have made last year's team appreciably better?
Probably not.

Was Boat a key cog on a national championship team?
Unquestionably.

Does Boat deserve a HoH spot?
Nah.

Is Boat a Top 5 lead guard in our program's history?
Probably not.

Should he be remembered fondly?
Absolutely.


None of these answers are contradictory. I suppose it's just a manner of which questions you choose to emphasize as being the important ones.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Is "natural point guard" a nonsense term? Yes.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Was Boat a natural PG?
No.

Did Boat do everything he could have done with last year's team?
Probably.

Would having Shabazz instead of Boat have made last year's team appreciably better?
Probably not.

Was Boat a key cog on a national championship team?
Unquestionably.

Does Boat deserve a HoH spot?
Nah.

Is Boat a Top 5 lead guard in our program's history?
Probably not.

Should he be remembered fondly?
Absolutely.


None of these answers are contradictory. I suppose it's just a manner of which questions you choose to emphasize as being the important ones.

I'm having a hard time believing having Shabazz Napier on a team isn't a top 25 team nationally, all things considered.

 

[2Husky]

Aren't Boat and Shabazz the only two guys to be top 10 in both points and assists in program history? I'd say that distinction can be really useful to see where Boat belongs among the Husky greats. His career ended a little sooner than i think it should have, but he had a pretty solid career and I will miss seeing him in a UConn uniform.

 

[Gurleyman]

I'm having a hard time believing having Shabazz Napier on a team isn't a top 25 team nationally, all things considered.

Going into the postseason, we weren't a top 25 team with him in 2012, 2013, or 2014.

 

[Horatio]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If I live to be 1000, I'll never forget this bucket:

That's when I knew we were going to win, that Bazz & Boat were both smart enough and quick enough and tough enough to punish every slow transition, every botched rotation from UK.

I'll remember the Syracuse comment, and the Cincinnati 3, and his overall toughness and wire-to-wire defense, of course. But that play is the first thing that will come to my mind when I read "Ryan Boatright" for the rest of my life.

This!!!!!! ^^^^^^^ This is just a higher basketball IQ at work.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Going into the postseason, we weren't a top 25 team with him in 2012, 2013, or 2014.

? They were 18th and 19th respectively in the polls going into the postseason last year.

 

[UConn990411]

Going into the postseason, we weren't a top 25 team with him in 2012, 2013, or 2014.

They were easily a tourney team in 2013, and - when experience is factored in -I don't think that team was that much more talented than this past season.

Not sure why some people here view it as a slight to say Boatright wasn't on the same level as Shabazz.

 

[Gurleyman]

? They were 18th and 19th respectively in the polls going into the postseason last year.

My bad - memory glitch. I think I went off of being a 7 seed but we were underseeded.

 

[CallMeBruce]

They were easily a tourney team in 2013, and - when experience is factored in -I don't think that team was that much more talented than this past season.

Not sure why some people here view it as a slight to say Boatright wasn't on the same level as Shabazz.

I don't think Boat was on the same level as Shabazz. Other than Kemba, I don't think any UConn PG ever has been. What I take umbrage with is the idea that, because this year's team was flawed, it proves that Boatright couldn't play PG effectively, implying that playing him out of position was the reason this team struggled, and not the incredibly inconsistent contributions of all of the supporting players on the roster, like Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah. I don't think it's reasonable to say that Boatright is responsible for Hamilton's or Purvis' inability to hit open shots, or Brimah's poor rebounding and tendency to be overpowered by credible big men on other teams.

Yes, it would have been better if Boatright could have played off the ball, but only because he was the only one who could consistently hit open shots. If this team had been able to play two Boatrights, they'd both look a lot better than the one we had last year did.

 

[mauconnfan]

I don't think Boat was on the same level as Shabazz. Other than Kemba, I don't think any UConn PG ever has been. What I take umbrage with is the idea that, because this year's team was flawed, it proves that Boatright couldn't play PG effectively, implying that playing him out of position was the reason this team struggled, and not the incredibly inconsistent contributions of all of the supporting players on the roster, like Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah. I don't think it's reasonable to say that Boatright is responsible for Hamilton's or Purvis' inability to hit open shots, or Brimah's poor rebounding and tendency to be overpowered by credible big men on other teams.

Yes, it would have been better if Boatright could have played off the ball, but only because he was the only one who could consistently hit open shots. If this team had been able to play two Boatrights, they'd both look a lot better than the one we had last year did.

Agree on Bazz and well stated. You need to think about inserting the many great and very good PG's over the years into that spot that Bazz had and see who could have thrown a team on their backs like that. Only Kemba jumps out with guys like KEA, AJ Earl Kelley among a few who were not quite that kind of player. I mean these 2 were really special for the NC runs and the night in-night out consistency and big playmaking is really hard to copy. Certainly not a knock on all the others just reality.

 

[Gurleyman]

They were easily a tourney team in 2013, and - when experience is factored in -I don't think that team was that much more talented than this past season. Not sure why some people here view it as a slight to say Boatright wasn't on the same level as Shabazz.

Boat is a level below Shabazz. I think that's 100 percent fair - and I imagine almost everyone would agree.

But statements like this one and the ones others make that we just "rode Bazz to the 2014 title" discount what Boat brought to the table. Boat was actually on that 2013 team and averaged 15 ppg, plus had as many assists as Bazz (albeit in two less games). He had a huge hand in that team being 20-10. We clearly don't win the title without Boat last year - he came up big against St. Joe's when Bazz was AWOL, he led the team's D against Nova with Bazz in foul trouble, he took MSU's guards and Wilbekin out of the game, he was big against Kentucky. Bazz was the lead dog, and his huge shots outweigh his couple of blips in the six-game run, but Boat's role was much, much more than going along for the ride. Some have knocked Boat for not making his teammates better, but one guy he helped make better was Bazz.

Just as a parallel, KEA didn't have a great year without Rip and Ricky (better than this one, but relatively speaking, a similar drop off - going from being ranked No. 1 or No. 2 all year to out of the top 25). Rarely does anyone consider that a flaw in KEA - just an acceptance that the team wasn't good enough and pieces didn't fit as well (Free at 3, eg). Same deal this year. Over time, KEA is thought of far, far more for 1999 than our junior year struggles, and rightfully so, and Boat should be thought of more for 2014 and being a huge, huge part of that two-year run back from the abyss, than trying to lead a team that wasn't good enough his final season.

 

[CallMeBruce]

The 2000 team was actually ranked #20 in the final AP poll, which is weird, because I had remembered them ending that season unranked as well.