Samson Johnson - The Value of Waiting Your Turn. Will the Fab Five Follow the Model? What Say You?

[ManFromOZ]

Samson Johnson is an example of what used to make college hoops so great. Seeing a player develop through all four years. He waited his turn. Problem is this doesn't happen anymore. It is the exception rather than the rule. That's why it is so refreshing and validates Hurley's "management" of player expectations. (Keeping Johnson may be one of his greatest recruiting moves.) Can we expect the Fab Five to follow suit? So tough in today's portal/NIL world. Ross, Stewart and Singare are't getting a lot of burn in these blow out games. Ball is getting major minutes and Castle is Castle - NBA bound. The body language on the three previosuly mentioned of the Fab Five wasn't great last night. May be nothing but something to watch. They can learn from Johnson and how he worked and patiently waited for his opportunity.

 

[Huskybass]

Johnson's situation is very unique due to his injury and the presence of Karaban. In general, talented kids who don't play meaningful minutes go to the portal. Without speculating on specific players, we would be kidding ourselves if we think the program is immune to this. Despite Hurley creating a great culture, there simply are not enough minutes to go around in today's college landscape.

 

[Palatine]

The freshman have been a disappointment. They have no idea how to make their court time valuable -- and that includes Ball. Solo still rushes everything and that leads to terrible shooting. Steward comes in hunts the three and misses it. Ross is trying to absorb the game but looks lost. Hopefully we start to get something -anything- out of them by the new year.

Maybe when Castle comes back Solo will feel less pressure in a smaller role and just let the game flow.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hard to know you’re going to come in for a very short time but also know you need to impress. They will learn and grow from this, or they won’t. It will be interesting to see these kids mature.

Let’s be honest if they don’t the portal will be monstrous for the staff next year.

 

[bendm]

We’re gonna need 4 or 5 quality transfers for next season since we’re losing our entire starting lineup to graduation or the draft and only have 2 freshmen coming in.

 

[JohnnyJr]

With the exception of Castle I don’t think any of these guys should have come in expecting to start or play 20 plus minutes as freshman. There will be plenty of opportunities for minutes next year for all of them.

 

[JohnnyJr]

We’re gonna need 4 or 5 quality transfers for next season since we’re losing our entire starting lineup to graduation or the draft and only have 2 freshmen coming in.

Top priority would probably be a PG

 

[Kenny11]

There will be so many minutes next year. My guess would be only 1 of the freshmen transfers out...2 max. I don't think the freshmen have been disappointments at all. Playing in garbage time is actually very hard.

 

[RipCity]

We’re gonna need 4 or 5 quality transfers for next season since we’re losing our entire starting lineup to graduation or draft and only have 2 freshmen coming in.

That’s premature on Karaban (who I hope will choose to come back and be a superstar), but they’ll definitely need to hit the portal hard particularly since Hurley lost every big 2024 recruiting fight he picked outside of Nowell.

The freshmen this year are going to look like fish out of water when their teammates are the main pieces of a top 5 team

 

[ctchamps]

Body language was fine.

Moving parts aren't easy to predict even after the season ends. It's more difficult to know this early in the season. Things are not linear and that includes player development and player game play. So regarding the OP I prefer not speculating.

What can be stated declaratively is that this Friday Dorothy will say "Toto, I've got a feeling we're in Kansas now and not in Connecticut anymore"!

 

[REB1094]

I’m sure Castle and Solo knew they had guaranteed minutes

For the rest, the pitch was probably that if you work hard, buy in, and perform, you will get minutes and you will succeed. I’m sure they are working hard and buying in, but the performance comes with time. They all have the chance to be key players next year

Without context, it’s not fair to them. They have super short leashes. But they’re coming into a team who has repeat championship aspirations. This year of experience in this program will pay off long term, regardless if they’re getting heavy minutes or not right now

 

[auror]

The freshman have been a disappointment. They have no idea how to make their court time valuable -- and that includes Ball. Solo still rushes everything and that leads to terrible shooting. Steward comes in hunts the three and misses it. Ross is trying to absorb the game but looks lost. Hopefully we start to get something -anything- out of them by the new year.

Maybe when Castle comes back Solo will feel less pressure in a smaller role and just let the game flow.

Your expectations for freshmen are way too high if they're a disappointment. They're right where they should be. On average, outside of the top 30 ranked freshmen are a net negative to teams, and that's okay. It's an investment in future ability.

 

[husky429]

Everyone on this team had a sense of how much PT they can expect while they were recruited. I don't think any of our freshman are a disappointment so far. Hoped for a bit better shooting during Ross's minutes, but everyone else is pretty much on track.

That being said, in this day and age we should accept that 1, 2, maybe even more players will transfer. Unless they do us dirty like CFJ, I'll have no hard feelings about it.

 

[superjohn]

We’re gonna need 4 or 5 quality transfers for next season since we’re losing our entire starting lineup to graduation or the draft and only have 2 freshmen coming in.

I highly doubt Karaban will leave. So we're looking at Karaban, Samson, Diarra, Ball, Stewart, Singare, Nowell, Abraham. Not sure on The Greek.

 

[CTBasketball]

Everyone on this team had a sense of how much PT they can expect while they were recruited. I don't think any of our freshman are a disappointment so far. Hoped for a bit better shooting during Ross's minutes, but everyone else is pretty much on track.

That being said, in this day and age we should accept that 1, 2, maybe even more players will transfer. Unless they do us dirty like CFJ, I'll have no hard feelings about it.

I would be OK with Apostolos taking more of Ross’s minutes. He looks a lot better so far this season.

 

[RipCity]

I highly doubt Karaban will leave. So we're looking at Karaban, Samson, Diarra, Ball, Stewart, Singare, Nowell, Abraham. Not sure on The Greek.

So 4 or 5 from the portal. Hopefully he can mirror what Neptune did this offseason. He can’t coach but he still cleaned up in the portal

 

[Sphinx]

The freshman have been a disappointment. They have no idea how to make their court time valuable -- and that includes Ball. Solo still rushes everything and that leads to terrible shooting. Steward comes in hunts the three and misses it. Ross is trying to absorb the game but looks lost. Hopefully we start to get something -anything- out of them by the new year.

Maybe when Castle comes back Solo will feel less pressure in a smaller role and just let the game flow.

Yes, it appears that four of the Fab Five are more fabuless than fabulous. There is no valid comparison with Johnson since none remotely combine size and athleticism the way he does. Ball is a stallion that can eventually be tamed, I think, and Singare, if ever given a chance, can be a critical piece next year, but the prospect that Ross and Stewart will soon step into meaningful roles seems to be a fanciful hope.

 

[HooperScooper]

The freshman have been a disappointment. They have no idea how to make their court time valuable -- and that includes Ball. Solo still rushes everything and that leads to terrible shooting. Steward comes in hunts the three and misses it. Ross is trying to absorb the game but looks lost. Hopefully we start to get something -anything- out of them by the new year.

Maybe when Castle comes back Solo will feel less pressure in a smaller role and just let the game flow.

So they look like normal freshmen who aren't 5 star recruits. They'll get there.

 

[jibsey]

Samuel Johnson, 8 rebounds and 10 points in 18 minutes. How long are his arms? His arm popped up out of nowhere a couple of times yesterday to come up with the ball over other players who were jumping. Big man rebounding is pretty pretty good for us.

 

[Jbirdp5]

Give the kids time to develop they might not be at certain people’s expectations but it’s much too early to call any of them a disappointment before even playing 10 games …the one thing we know is that Hurley usually has a very good read on his team and what needs to be done. While everyone was panicking last offseason Hurley had a blueprint that brought us a championship…..let’s let things play out a bit

 

[Sphinx]

Samuel Johnson, 8 rebounds and 10 points in 18 minutes. How long are his arms? His arm popped up out of nowhere a couple of times yesterday to come up with the ball over other players who were jumping. Big man rebounding is pretty pretty good for us.

I presume the stats are from Boswell's Life of Johnson.

 

[Dogdeacon]

How and why are we spinning a great story about Samson Johnson into a negative for 4 other players?!

Its ridiculous to speculate on what will happen with these freshman NEXT year when we aren't even thru the first month of the season. Let's worry about how they will contribute in basketball games THIS FREAGIN' season which is a rather important one.
Ball - I like his takes to the basket, agree he rushes shots at times but its that way with any new player & I'm encourage by Hurley's confidence that Ball's 3pt % will improve.
Other freshman - we just haven't seen enough of anyone yet to see even 1-3 months into future on how they will develop. Again I trust that they are getting incredibly valuable reps in practice and improving in skills & strength.
The upcoming Kansas, Gonzaga, UNC games made the early schedule a bit more about developing the core rotation than typical. Unlike the FOUR past post NCAA championship seasons this year UConn is working towards a repeat. The challenging schedule reflects that leaving somewhat fewer game minutes to develop young players. We needn't worry as 90% of the Frosh's time & development occurs outside of those 40 minute games.

And I feel really good about the way TEAM success led to individual successes for everyone last year and that this IS the UCONN culture under Hurley. They were talking about that a lot on the broadcast of the Empire classic final. UConn is about unselfishness and the way these freshman get better is by working hard and making everyone around them better. Samson Johnson's current play is just one of many 'voices' showing and telling them this.

 

[EricSD]

Count me among the folks who aren't disappointed in the freshmen. They will develop (or they won't), but the staff will work tirelessly with them.

Blown away by Johnson this season. Diarra has been a pleasant surprise. For the freshmen, Ball has been disappointing, but only because he seems so stuck on shooting the 3, but he's not a good 3 point shooter and that's been disappointing to see so many hoisted up... However, he totally looks like he belongs on the court, plays some really solid defense, and we all can see his potential.

Pretty great to see how Clingan has improved and will become more and more dominant as he continues his journey back from his injury. Karaban had an off night shooting vs. UNH (even the announcers noted his shot was way off), but he's terrific. Spencer has been amazing. Can't wait to see Castle come back. And Newton is indeed one of the best PG's in the nation. This is a FUN team to watch, and it's been funny to see announcers and analysts across the nation slowly come around and get on board - the UConn train is alive and well!

As someone mentioned above, hopefully when Castle comes back, Ball settles in better in a reserve role. I hope when that happens, though, he doesn't panic and feel like he needs to do a lot in fewer minutes.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

With the exception of Castle, and to a lesser exent, Ball, The Fab 5 moniker raised expectations to completely unreasonable levels for "casual fans" who haven't been closely watching the HS video and early-season video.

That being said, I'm seeing signs of slow progress for Ball and Stewart. Flashes here-and-there for Ross/Singare.

The really good news is that it seems like there may be more opportunities to play the freshmen for significantly more minutes than originally expected during our Big East conference games. The pre-season expectations for team quality for DePaul, G'Town, Xavier (b/c of injuries), and maybe even St. Johns now appear to be significantly overhyped.

There seems like there will be a clear division of team quality in the BE and we'll likely get some cupcake-type blowout games to continue to get valuable minutes for our bench players throughout Dec-Jan-Feb.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Fab 5 is used very loosely these days. Now Duke next year....they'll have a Fab 5.

 

[businesslawyer]

Give the kids time to develop they might not be at certain people’s expectations but it’s much too early to call any of them a disappointment before even playing 10 games …the one thing we know is that Hurley usually has a very good read on his team and what needs to be done. While everyone was panicking last offseason Hurley had a blueprint that brought us a championship…..let’s let things play out a bit

It's like you don't know us at all any more.

You are, obviously, 100% correct, but unfortunately that's not how life in the internet age works.

 

[Tenspro2002]

The freshman have been a disappointment. They have no idea how to make their court time valuable -- and that includes Ball. Solo still rushes everything and that leads to terrible shooting. Steward comes in hunts the three and misses it. Ross is trying to absorb the game but looks lost. Hopefully we start to get something -anything- out of them by the new year.

Maybe when Castle comes back Solo will feel less pressure in a smaller role and just let the game flow.

Have to agree so far. Castle will obviously have a big role. Ball, by default if nothing else, will be the first or second guard off the bench.

A question coming in to this season was, "which freshman out of Stewart or Ross will assert themselves to be the 9th guy in the rotation?" and the answer so far is "neither."

At this point I expect us to roll with 7 players against Kansas and with 8 once Castle gets back, and I could even see Ball get squeezed down to 5-10 mpg in the latter scenario.

 

[Deleted at users request]

When did a guy ever wait 3 years to play?

Under Calhoun, if you were going to be good you contributed early.

It’s different now because we are very loaded to the point where we just don’t have minutes for everyone but freshman consistently struggling like this when they do play is not normal.

You don’t have to be a 5* player to have an impact. Our history shows that.

 

[husky429]

With the exception of Castle, and to a lesser exent, Ball, The Fab 5 moniker raised expectations to completely unreasonable levels for "casual fans" who haven't been closely watching the HS video and early-season video.

That being said, I'm seeing signs of slow progress for Ball and Stewart. Flashes here-and-there for Ross/Singare.

The really good news is that it seems like there may be more opportunities to play the freshmen for significantly more minutes than originally expected during our Big East conference games. The pre-season expectations for team quality for DePaul, G'Town, Xavier (b/c of injuries), and maybe even St. Johns now appear to be significantly overhyped.

There seems like there will be a clear division of team quality in the BE and we'll likely get some cupcake-type blowout games to continue to get valuable minutes for our bench players throughout Dec-Jan-Feb.

All but the most talented freshman should have (and probably do) expected limited minutes. Hurley isn't promising minutes.

If Ross/Stewart/Singare wanted to start and play 25mpg somewhere, they could have committed to Depaul or Butler. They didn't, because they believed in their own ability to develop and earn PT. They won't get the same level of coaching or NBA talent to compete against in practice anywhere else.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Jeremy Lamb, Shabazz Napier, Roscoe Smith, Amida Brimah, Rashad Anderson, Dehnam Brown, Marcus Williams, Ryan Boatright, Jeff Adrien, Omar Calhoun, etc.

I’m purposefully leaving out some legends and the 5* guys. But all of those names and so many more had freshman years where they made significant impacts.

You will be hard pressed to find a single guy who struggled, didn’t play, and made something of themselves. The Hilton and Deandre examples started a lot of games.

I’m not sure where people are getting this all freshman struggle and don’t contribute narrative from. That couldn’t be further from the truth for this program.