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

[JohnnyJr]

I don’t know how people see a 6’6 super athletic wing with amazing playmaking ability get drafted in the 2nd round and think that was a good development job. Let alone exceeded expectations.

We didn’t give him not one skill he could use to score with in 3 years.

Hawkins skillset fits the develop your 3 mindset over everything else this program has.

Jackson couldn’t shoot at all so what else were we supposed to give him. He was great in transition but couldn’t really get to the rim in pick n roll or one on one. Just being a great athlete doesn’t mean your gonna be an offensive star.

 

[navery12]

Another thread of HuskyWarrior getting absolutely dunked on over and over again. Love to see it

 

[Deleted at users request]

A college coaches job boils down to essentially two things - develop your players and win. They're pretty intertwined but not always.

Jackson can't shoot. He came in not being able to shoot, he left not being able to shoot, and even the pro team he's on has made some adjustments but they don't really know how to solve it either. What Hurley did is put him in positions to maximize his athleticism and otherworldly bball IQ to the point where NBA teams were willing to overlook I would argue the single most important thing for a guard/wing in the modern NBA to be able to do - shoot - because of his exceptional other talents (again, highlighted by Hurley). Oh, and Dan Hurley did that all while winning a national championship.

You clearly thing Ball should be a rim attacking pg. Hurley clearly sees his role right now as someone who should do that, mostly via cuts, but who also has the green light to shoot threes. This clearly benefits the team now, and will benefit the team in the future. If he's as good a shooter as Dan Hurley thinks he is, getting him comfortable in low stakes games shooting 3's will pay huge dividends down the road for both his individual development and the team's.

P.S. they're calling you onanistic because you're repeating the same non sensical arguments over and over

Do you think shooting 3s is the only thing you can teach someone to do?

 

[NotADime89]

I don’t know how people see a 6’6 super athletic wing with amazing playmaking ability get drafted in the 2nd round and think that was a good development job. Let alone exceeded expectations.

We didn’t give him not one skill he could use to score with in 3 years.

Hawkins skillset fits the develop your 3 mindset over everything else this program has.

 

[HuskyHawk]

It's just not clear to me what I would look at to see some evidence that Hurley is mishandling the freshmen relative to Calhoun. And the world you're describing under Jim Calhoun is one that bears no resemblance whatsoever to my memory of it. The idea that Calhoun emboldened freshmen and "let them make mistakes" while Hurley is some rigid taskmaster that forces them to play timid is, to me, just completely disconnected from reality. That's what I find strange about all this.

Also, just as an aside, it is wild to invoke Hawkins's freshman year as a "fixable" problem Hurley created rather than an instance of a kid just getting much better while at UConn than he was when he got here. Just a very strange way to look at things.

As I said earlier in this ruined thread, it wouldn't be reasonable to compare anyway. Calhoun didn't have the portal. I guarantee you there are guys who played a lot as freshmen who wouldn't have if he could bring in a capable senior instead.

 

[Deleted at users request]

As I said earlier in this ruined thread, it wouldn't be reasonable to compare anyway. Calhoun didn't have the portal. I guarantee you there are guys who played a lot as freshmen who wouldn't have if he could bring in a capable senior instead.

Who are the freshmen that were so bad that you would have wanted that with?

 

[ValleyGuy]

Who are the freshmen that were so bad that you would have wanted that with?

Tyler Olander

 

[JohnnyJr]

Do you think shooting 3s is the only thing you can teach someone to do?

Hurleys offense is 3s and shots in the paint. Jackson kind of developed a floater but I don’t know what else he could have learned. He wasn’t gonna be a post up player either.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Really a big failure on JC's part not to show more confidence in Darius Smith or Jamaal Trice or Michael Bradley.

 

[444JR]

Stewart is good and has good potential as a big wing defender. Needs a little more leash imo.

 

[bendm]

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

Ross? If he comes back plus the guys you listed then we need at least 3 transfers. But all 3 have to be starting quality since the only 2 guys I trust are AK and Samson.

 

[auror]

I don’t know how people see a 6’6 super athletic wing with amazing playmaking ability get drafted in the 2nd round and think that was a good development job. Let alone exceeded expectations.

We didn’t give him not one skill he could use to score with in 3 years.

Hawkins skillset fits the develop your 3 mindset over everything else this program has.

...Do you think he was an amazing playmaker when he came to school?

 

[superjohn]

Ross? If he comes back plus the guys you listed then we need at least 3 transfers. But all 3 have to be starting quality since the only 2 guys I trust are AK and Samson.

My bad, thought I put Ross in there. He'll be a big part of what we do. Our returning freshmen are talented, they will be different players next season and later this season.

 

[superjohn]

If Karaban is a projected first round draft pick after this season along with Clingan and Castle, you don't think he leaves?

I highly doubt he'll be a projected first round draft pick after this season. Hope I'm wrong, it will mean great things for him and for UConn this season.

 

[Bboy Lace]

I highly doubt he'll be a projected first round draft pick after this season. Hope I'm wrong, it will mean great things for him and for UConn this season.

Hmmmm
He's projected 20th pick here in the latest mock by CBS

2024 NBA Mock Draft: USC's Isaiah Collier goes No. 1 to Trail Blazers in first projection with season underway

 

[jibsey]

Hmmmm
He's projected 20th pick here in the latest mock by CBS

2024 NBA Mock Draft: USC's Isaiah Collier goes No. 1 to Trail Blazers in first projection with season underway

7’4 300 Edey national player of year playing better than ever at #28.

 

[Deleted at users request]

...Do you think he was an amazing playmaker when he came to school?

Idk man you tell me. I think 6 assists in his first game would say so though.

 

[JustbrewitMan]

Idk man you tell me. I think 6 assists in his first game would say so though.

Yea if I’m remembering correctly, Andre went right from high school to playing his first game at UConn with no contact with Hurley & the coaching staff. Just jumped right in with no tainted coaching influence from our coach who prides himself on neutering player development…

 

[auror]

Idk man you tell me. I think 6 assists in his first game would say so though.

He came in with the right attitude to be a good passer. But he had a 32% turnover rate his freshman year.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Who are the freshmen that were so bad that you would have wanted that with?

Doesn’t matter. They weren‘t as good (as freshmen) as senior transfers. Ball is probably better, as a senior, than Spencer. But he’s not better now. People played freshmen because they had no choice.

 

[Deleted at users request]

He came in with the right attitude to be a good passer. But he had a 32% turnover rate his freshman year.

He had turnover problems like most freshmen but it doesn’t take away from the fact he came in with great playmaking ability.

I’m not sure if Andre picked up one offensive skill over his 3 years here. Unless you count cutting down on turnovers.

Doesn’t matter. They weren‘t as good (as freshmen) as senior transfers. Ball is probably better, as a senior, than Spencer. But he’s not better now. People played freshmen because they had no choice.

So you would have wanted a senior transfer over Jeremy Lamb and Bazz? Who won a championship?

Kemba Walker the 09 year?

Jeff Adrien in 06?

The examples matter because you realize no, you were very happy with the play you had from all those guys and a transfer would’ve been unnecessary.

 

[Bboy Lace]

He had turnover problems like most freshmen but it doesn’t take away from the fact he came in with great playmaking ability.

I’m not sure if Andre picked up one offensive skill over his 3 years here. Unless you count cutting down on turnovers.

So you would have wanted a senior transfer over Jeremy Lamb and Bazz? Who won a championship?

Kemba Walker the 09 year?

Jeff Adrien in 06?

The examples matter because you realize no, you were very happy with the play you had from all those guys and a transfer would’ve been unnecessary.

Sorry,
But you don't sound like a husky warrior. Just sayin...

 

[superjohn]

Really a big failure on JC's part not to show more confidence in Darius Smith or Jamaal Trice or Michael Bradley.

Or Ben Eaves, Chad Wise, Antonio Kellogg, Robert Swain, Scottie Haralson, Marcus Cox...

 

[Deleted at users request]

Or Ben Eaves, Chad Wise, Antonio Kellogg, Robert Swain, Scottie Haralson, Marcus Cox...

I feel like this is definitely an insider joke to keep me going at this point. Lol

I know at least BigErn went to an Ivy League school so yall not that stupid to understand what all these names have in common and wouldn’t have in common with the other freshmen we’ve talked about like Hawkins and Solo.

Can’t be that stupid to not see the difference.

 

[HuskyHawk]

He had turnover problems like most freshmen but it doesn’t take away from the fact he came in with great playmaking ability.

I’m not sure if Andre picked up one offensive skill over his 3 years here. Unless you count cutting down on turnovers.

So you would have wanted a senior transfer over Jeremy Lamb and Bazz? Who won a championship?

Kemba Walker the 09 year?

Jeff Adrien in 06?

The examples matter because you realize no, you were very happy with the play you had from all those guys and a transfer would’ve been unnecessary.

You don’t know what you’re going to get. Kemba was a 5 star, so, like Castle you expect him to start and play. Other guys? If they beat out the transfer you play them. But most coaches at good programs are not going to want to rely on freshmen outside the top 25. Expect to see them contribute less now than in the past. You can’t compare this era to the pre portal era. Ross and Stewart not playing doesn’t mean anything now.

Covid years impacted it too. Neither Newton or Spencer should be eligible. That is over thankfully.

 

[navery12]

You don’t know what you’re going to get. Kemba was a 5 star, so, like Castle you expect him to start and play. Other guys? If they beat out the transfer you play them. But most coaches at good programs are not going to want to rely on freshmen outside the top 25. Expect to see them contribute less now than in the past. You can’t compare this era to the pre portal era. Ross and Stewart not playing doesn’t mean anything now.

Covid years impacted it too. Neither Newton or Spencer should be eligible. That is over thankfully.

Not yet, there's still one more year of Covid seniors

 

[Deleted at users request]

You don’t know what you’re going to get.

History has shown this is not true. You can not name one time we were disappointed or let down relying on a freshman.

Even the 2021 year we went on a run when Gaffney and Bouknight were inserted into the lineup. Last year Karaban was perfectly fine when we had to rely on him when Samson went down.

No one in this thread has named one person who didn’t play a lot their freshmen year and went on to be a high impact player. And there’s literally only 2 who actually weren’t ready in the time they did get.

That’s a VERY high hit rate. Not sure why something that wasn’t broken in the first place would need to be fixed. Not an indictment on the guys we have currently either to clarify. Just showing how this is not normal to have freshmen struggling like this.

Here’s to them finding their way and making a big impact down the road though.

Also, you don’t know what you’ll get with transfers necessarily either. If I told you at the start of last year that Joey C was going to have a higher impact than Diarra and Alleyne you would’ve said that I was crazy. Remember we brought in Sterling Gibbs Jalen Adams freshman year? Gibbs was horrible. Those guys are not always sure things either.

 

[Chin Diesel]

...Do you think he was an amazing playmaker when he came to school?

His court vision and willingness to seek out teammates was evident even in high school. I don't think it was a refined skill mostly because Andre's speed and vision were, shall we say, light years ahead of his teammates.

 

[Samoo]

How do you know any of this to be true?

He doesn't have to know it; just feeling it is enough to be right.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

There was only 1 year he missed the tournament because the team was too young from what I remember.

The 09-10 team was actually really experienced. Funny enough, the “4th season” young team won a championship.

1990-1991 was the first year JC took us to the tournament. 2004-2005 was the first time he took us in four consecutive seasons. We had a very long run of NCAA, NCAA, NCAA, NIT (did it three consecutive four year stretches).