Ryan Boatright

[SubbaBub]

how is this misguided... did you watch this past season? i saw every minute and he was fantastic at getting his numbers, terrible at playing winning basketball and sacrificing etc...

You'll need to watch this season, before making this statement. Boat was an all-time Husky. Some of those guys can't be made better.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Boatright had a big heart, was fearless, and a great player here in his 4 years. He was not a great lead guard thought that could raise the level of his play from his teammates like Bazz though. When Bazz and Kemba played they played the game with so much discipline and demanded the same out of their teammates. Boatright did not play the game with the same discipline as them still throwing lazy passes and having frustrating turnovers at times. So his teammates played to that same level because teams are only as smart and disciplined as their lead guard.

so it's boats fault he's not 6'2? it was his fault that his teammates couldnt make a shot to bring up his assist numbers or couldnt stop pumpfaking and stepping out of bounds? if the other team double and even triple teams the best player every single game, you need other players to step up and help out... kemba had AO, lamb, bazz; bazz had daniels, boat, giff, kromah; boat had...... hamilton? when hamilton played with confidence

 

[Deleted at users request]

so it's boats fault he's not 6'2? it was his fault that his teammates couldnt make a shot to bring up his assist numbers or couldnt stop pumpfaking and stepping out of bounds? if the other team double and even triple teams the best player every single game, you need other players to step up and help out... kemba had AO, lamb, bazz; bazz had daniels, boat, giff, kromah; boat had. hamilton? when hamilton played with confidence

Was Kemba or Bazz 6'2? Why was Boat allowing them to double and triple team him? Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah all had better skillsets than any of the guys you just mentioned. Talent was not the issue with this team. Brimah has a better post up game and played better defense than AO. Hamilton's all around game was better than Lam's and Purvis this year was better than the freshman version of Bazz. I'm telling you the reason all those players looked so good was because they had a great lead guard that set them up well and made everyone know their roles. Most of the shots this year on offense were very 1 on 1. That did not happen Kemba or Bazz's year unless they were doing it.

If Boat was a great lead guard who could run your offense he wouldn't be getting talks of going undrafted after the 4 years he put together here. Our offense with all the talent it had would not have struggled so much either.

 

[James]

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.

 

[8893]

Why is it so difficult for people to accept the fact he wasn't a great lead guard?

Why is it so difficult for you to understand the difference between fact and opinion? People simply disagree with your opinion for a variety of reasons that have been stated and restated ad naseum.

No one is changing anyone's mind here, but it just seems sad to me that for some people the answer to the query in the op--i.e., What sticks in your mind most about Ryan Boatright?--is that he wasn't Shabazz or Kemba.

The kid gave everything he had to this university and was asked to play a number of difficult roles, the last of which was leader of a team that was less talented and less experienced than the ones to which he is being compared. I and others think he acquitted himself quite well all things considered, exceeding our expectations of his abilities in that role. You and some others lay the blame not on his supporting cast, but on him. Hence the disagreement.

If he was 2" taller he would be a first-round pick. Still doesn't diminish what he did in college.

 

[James]

Why is it so difficult for you to understand the difference between fact and opinion? People simply disagree with your opinion for a variety of reasons that have been stated and restated ad naseum.

No one is changing anyone's mind here, but it just seems sad to me that for some people the answer to the query in the op--i.e., What sticks in your mind most about Ryan Boatright?--is that he wasn't Shabazz or Kemba.

The kid gave everything he had to this university and was asked to play a number of difficult roles, the last of which was leader of a team that was less talented and less experienced than the ones to which he is being compared. I and others think he acquitted himself quite well all things considered, exceeding our expectations of his abilities in that role. You and some others lay the blame not on his supporting cast, but on him. Hence the disagreement.

If he was 2" taller he would be a first-round pick. Still doesn't diminish what he did in college.

you kind of started with the vitriol when you quoted 25% of my original post and claimed it as 'misguided sentiment'. It is a matter of opinion i agree with that.

 

[8893]

i can assure you gives no effs about uconn hoops.

Actually, I think this is the most unfortunate of all your observations.

 

[James]

Actually, I think this is the most unfortunate of all your observations.

the context of this is he isn't reading this message board, excuse the hyperbole on a post. knowing some inside the locker room stuff, i can confidently say that.

 

[Fishy]

'15 Ryan Boatright - 35.8 minutes, 5.4-12.6 FG/g, 42.3% FG, 41.1 3FG, 85.0 FT, 4.1 RB, 3.8 A/g, 2.4 TO, 17.1 ppg
'14 Shabazz Napier - 35.1 minutes, 5.3-12.4 FG/g, 42.9% FG, 40.5 3FG, 87.0 FT, 5.9 RB, 4.9 A/g, 2.0 TO, 18.0 ppg

If anyone thinks Ryan Boatright was the problem this past year, I don't know what to tell you.

If anything, he dragged that hot mess of offensive dreck much farther than it deserved to go on its own merits - Shabazz isn't looking at a late first-round selection if he's the sole point guard on the 2014-15 Huskies.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Was Kemba or Bazz 6'2? Why was Boat allowing them to double and triple team him? Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah all had better skillsets than any of the guys you just mentioned. Talent was not the issue with this team. Brimah has a better post up game and played better defense than AO. Hamilton's all around game was better than Lam's and Purvis this year was better than the freshman version of Bazz. I'm telling you the reason all those players looked so good was because they had a great lead guard that set them up well and made everyone know their roles. Most of the shots this year on offense were very 1 on 1. That did not happen Kemba or Bazz's year unless they were doing it.

If Boat was a great lead guard who could run your offense he wouldn't be getting talks of going undrafted after the 4 years he put together here. Our offense with all the talent it had would not have struggled so much either.

That fact that you said brimah has a better all around game than AO should be a red flag. Purvis had spurts this year. He's also been in college for three years, bazz was a freshman. Bazz was a great ball handler for kemba as was lamb. Lol maybe he's getting talked about going late second or undrafted is because he's small. He has the athleticism, speed, iq and skills to be able run an offense at the pro level. If bazz didn't have boat do you think bazz does what he did? Highly unlikely. If boat had three years to be the man, the lead guard, to work grow you'd have a different tune

 

[UConnSwag11]

'15 Ryan Boatright - 35.8 minutes, 5.4-12.6 FG/g, 42.3% FG, 41.1 3FG, 85.0 FT, 4.1 RB, 3.8 A/g, 2.4 TO, 17.1 ppg
'14 Shabazz Napier - 35.1 minutes, 5.3-12.4 FG/g, 42.9% FG, 40.5 3FG, 87.0 FT, 5.9 RB, 4.9 A/g, 2.0 TO, 18.0 ppg

If anyone thinks Ryan Boatright was the problem this past year, I don't know what to tell you.

If anything, he dragged that hot mess of offensive dreck much farther than it deserved on its own merits - Shabazz isn't looking at a late first-round selection if he's the sole point guard on the 2014-15 Huskies.

Was Kemba or Bazz 6'2? Why was Boat allowing them to double and triple team him? Hamilton, Purvis, and Brimah all had better skillsets than any of the guys you just mentioned. Talent was not the issue with this team. Brimah has a better post up game and played better defense than AO. Hamilton's all around game was better than Lam's and Purvis this year was better than the freshman version of Bazz. I'm telling you the reason all those players looked so good was because they had a great lead guard that set them up well and made everyone know their roles. Most of the shots this year on offense were very 1 on 1. That did not happen Kemba or Bazz's year unless they were doing it.

If Boat was a great lead guard who could run your offense he wouldn't be getting talks of going undrafted after the 4 years he put together here. Our offense with all the talent it had would not have struggled so much either.

 

[Deleted at users request]

That fact that you said brimah has a better all around game than AO should be a red flag. Purvis had spurts this year. He's also been in college for three years, bazz was a freshman. Bazz was a great ball handler for kemba as was lamb. Lol maybe he's getting talked about going late second or undrafted is because he's small. He has the athleticism, speed, iq and skills to be able run an offense at the pro level. If bazz didn't have boat do you think bazz does what he did? Highly unlikely. If boat had three years to be the man, the lead guard, to work grow you'd have a different tune

What did AO do better than Brimah besides rebound?
You guys are asking the wrong question too. If Boat didn't have Bazz is he the player he was his senior year? If Bazz didn't have Kemba as a mentor does he turn out to become the player he was? Bazz was the one who calmed Boat down and got him under control for his 1st 3 years. Not the other way around. That's what I'm talking about with being that lead guard. Being able to bring the best out of your supporting cast. A PG makes everyone look better. Do you think Giffey looks anywhere near as good as he would have if it wasn't for how smooth our offense was ran that gave him great looks where Bazz or Boat would find him?

It was all about offensive discipline. The discipline to make every pass crisp to set an example, the discipline to run your sets like you're suppose to and not come down and jack a terrible shot, the discipline to keep going to a guy and demanding he shot like Bazz did with Deandre. We didn't see that out of Boat this year. He was a scorer first. I said going into the season that the team success would depend on Boat's ability to facilitate to the other scorers we had on the team. No it isn't Boat's fault that these guys had their turnovers and couldn't make their shots. But he could've done a better job in elevating their play and making the game easier for them like the PGs that came before him is all.

 

[Clockshop]

are you going to add anything meaningful to this discussion? for instance, who did boatright make better as a teammate? he was a great second banana, thats it. or you can just continue to refute everything i say about boat like he is reading these forums, and i can assure you gives no effs about uconn hoops.

huh?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

If anyone thinks Ryan Boatright was the problem this past year, I don't know what to tell you. If anything, he dragged that hot mess of offensive dreck much farther than it deserved to go on its own merits

Seems like a pretty obvious point to anyone who watched them for even a couple minutes this year.

A couple of our more vocal basketball gurus are losing some significant credibility in this thread claiming otherwise.

The idea that this team's flaw was that Boat didn't play "winning basketball" or elevate his teammates makes me laugh out loud. It's like blaming your point guard when your 5 foot 6 small forward can't dunk.

 

[johnhuskies95]

It's not about just turnovers as it is the manner which they are made. Like not being able to pass out of a double team, lazy passes, bad passes, forcing things, etc.

That was the biggest knock on Napier. That he was too flashy and careless from the ball. A lot of his turnovers resulted from that. Do you not remember the turnover in the championship game when Harrison knocked it away from him in the backcourt with 5 minutes to go?

 

[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.