Shonn Miller (Cornell Transfer) Met With UCONN

[HuskiesAllDay]

A lot of "experts" here who've decided that a mediocre Ivy League guard could probably be useful taking minutes from a guard who, while he can't shoot, contributed greatly to a national championship run.

If you saw this discussion on another board, and hadn't gone overboard hating T Sam's game, wouldn't you think these people were idiots?

The T-Sam "contributed greatly" to our national championship run has become so overblown on this board, its comical. Please define greatly.

If a few steady minutes off the bench here and there to: give our starters a quick breather, attack the rim, and knock down foul shots qualifies as greatly, then basically any guy who ever played in 99, 04, 11, and 14 also contributed greatly to our championships.

T-Sam played great during the 2014 NCAA tourney, and Im glad he did. But he played a few minutes a game and was basically expected to just knock down free throws (which he did).

You cant just ignore that he barely played the other 30 games that year and basically showed absolutely nothing at all this entire season. You said he cant shoot. Well he also doenst dribble particularly well and hasnt shown much ability to run an offense/ set others up, and his defense is ok at best.

Hes a nice kid and can be a decent role player for us. Not saying we should run him out of town by any means. But what he did in last years tournament does not make him a cornerstone of the program and shouldn't prevent the staff from exhausting every option possible to provide an upgrade.

 

[superjohn]

Yeah, I guess I don't see it. If he's not going to be creating his own shot, it seems like the only thing that matters is how quickly he can take it. I'd love to hear an explanation otherwise.

I don't know why you are having trouble understanding this. Try and name me a 5'10 unathletic guy who has played at a UConn level school in recent memory? You and the other poster are acting like it's easy to get open and get quality high percentage shots off at this level, well it's not. Jaren Sina is a few inches taller, more athletic and a better player than Mitola and he had a ton of trouble getting shots off at Seton Hall, that's why he shot such a horrible percentage. Trevor Cooney is 6'4 and twice the athlete of Mitola and many games he struggles mightily to get a clean look and Cooney was one of the best shooters in the country in high school. Many people considered 6'1 Conner Frankamp the best shooter coming out of high school, he went to Kansas for a year and couldn't get a shot off and tranferred. I seriously can't believe this is hard for some to understand and can't believe people are saying this kid is better than Samuel and Cassell, that's slam your head into a wall stupid.

 

[upstater]

I watched Samuel play this year. He can't handle well enough to play the point, and he can't shoot well enough to play the 2. The player in question can both handle and shoot better than Samuel.

But if he doesn't have quickness then his handle and shot are all for nought. We've seen this before, no? Robert Garrison shot 38% and 11 or 12 points a game at Niagara. He could dribble well too and had multiple assist games even here at UConn. But he used to get swallowed up on the court because of a lack of quickness.

 

[superjohn]

The T-Sam "contributed greatly" to our national championship run has become so overblown on this board, its comical. Please define greatly.

If a few steady minutes off the bench here and there to: give our starters a quick breather, attack the rim, and knock down foul shots qualifies as greatly, then basically any guy who ever played in 99, 04, 11, and 14 also contributed greatly to our championships.

T-Sam played great during the 2014 NCAA tourney, and Im glad he did. But he played a few minutes a game and was basically expected to just knock down free throws (which he did).

You cant just ignore that he barely played the other 30 games that year and basically showed absolutely nothing at all this entire season. You said he cant shoot. Well he also doenst dribble particularly well and hasnt shown much ability to run an offense/ set others up, and his defense is ok at best.

Hes a nice kid and can be a decent role player for us. Not saying we should run him out of town by any means. But what he did in last years tournament does not make him a cornerstone of the program and shouldn't prevent the staff from exhausting every option possible to provide an upgrade.

So much fail in this post, T-Sam did contribute greatly to our National Championship.

 

[uconnbill]

T-Sam is a good first guard off the bench but I wouldn't trust him to run the team over the long haul.
Miller would give UCONN more athleticism at the 3/4 spot and would help with the running game. Getting him is a must along with one other guard like Brown if he changes from 2016-2015 class.

 

[businesslawyer]

So much fail in this post, T-Sam did contribute greatly to our National Championship.

At times I think I must have been the only one watching those six games. Nolan and Samule both played really well, and we needed both of them to play really well.

It is correct that Samule barely played that regular season. Find me anyone who said otherwise. But we're not going anywhere next year if Purvis and Hamilton -- hopefully with hope from Brimah and Adams -- aren't carrying the offense. And if they're not, thinking a mediocre Ivy league guard without the size and athleticism to play at this level is absurd.

 

[Matrim55]

At times I think I must have been the only one watching those six games. Nolan and Samule both played really well, and we needed both of them to play really well.

Indeed.

It is correct that Samule barely played that regular season. Find me anyone who said otherwise. But we're not going anywhere next year if Purvis and Hamilton -- hopefully with hope from Brimah and Adams -- aren't carrying the offense. And if they're not, thinking a mediocre Ivy league guard without the size and athleticism to play at this level is absurd.

This is all also very true, and I remain encouraged by what Samuel showed vs. Arizona State.

However, there are going to be times when the ball is primarily in Hamilton or Purvis's hands, and when that's the case then smart teams will collapse into the lane off of Samuel, making it more difficult to create and/or finish shots for our two best offensive threats. In those situations, it'd sure be nice to have a guy coming off the bench for 3 or 4 minutes at a time who is a threat from 3. If nothing else, it will prevent an extra defender from sagging off a perimeter non-threat just via proper spacing.

YMMV on this, but as was said elsewhere in the thread: better player doesn't always mean better fit. Having the option to put an experienced shooter out there every now and again would be a nice club to have in the bag.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

They need talent. Talent. They don't a mediocre Ivy League player who ten years ago wouldn't have been invited to try out for the team in the name of "fit." Fit is what you screw around with when you have a base of talent to work from.

 

[Fishy]

Lots of sturm und drang in this thread over a player UConn's not even recruiting.

 

[mauconnfan]

Miller is almost a "must"!!

 

[HuskiesAllDay]

So much fail in this post, T-Sam did contribute greatly to our National Championship.

So much fail that you couldn't even list one example or counterpoint?

I laid out my argument loud and clear, and I'd love to hear yours...

In case you missed it I never said he didn't contribute. But people act like he was vital. He wasn't. Of all the players during our 4 championship runs, t-sam's contributions probably rank somewhere between 25-30 in terms of importance (probably closer to 30). I wouldn't label that as "greatly contributed".

 

[businesslawyer]

So much fail that you couldn't even list one example or counterpoint?

I laid out my argument loud and clear, and I'd love to hear yours...

In case you missed it I never said he didn't contribute. But people act like he was vital. He wasn't. Of all the players during our 4 championship runs, t-sam's contributions probably rank somewhere between 25-30 in terms of importance (probably closer to 30). I wouldn't label that as "greatly contributed".

But you're arguing against no one. T Sam in the tournament was probably our 8th most important piece. But if you think that any Ivy League starter could be the 8th man in the rotation on a team that wins a championship, you're way, way off.

 

[Fishy]

So much fail that you couldn't even list one example or counterpoint?

1) Ten points in the second half against Iowa State.

2) Eleven points against Nova.

3) Defense, defense and defense.

“Terrence has been huge. He’s allowing me to put three point guards on the court at the same time and it’s really allowed us to create havoc on the defensive end, picking up our pressure. It also allows us to space the floor and use our dribble drive sets more effectively. He’s been doing an outstanding job." -- Kevin Ollie, post-Florida in the Final Four

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

1) Ten points in the second half against Iowa State.

2) Eleven points against Nova.

3) Defense, defense and defense.

“Terrence has been huge. He’s allowing me to put three point guards on the court at the same time and it’s really allowed us to create havoc on the defensive end, picking up our pressure. It also allows us to space the floor and use our dribble drive sets more effectively. He’s been doing an outstanding job." -- Kevin Ollie, post-Florida in the Final Four

That was a well thought out post. I am going to grade it a 10 out of ten so let the archives reflect it . Kinda puts things in perspective since I have been down on the kid BIG TIME after this year! At 1 time I was the biggest TSam supporter here. lol

 

[upstater]

Samuel against Villanova when our key guy was out was huge. He shivved them. You could see the breath come out of the Wildcats, and it was because of Samuel. Now, I had great seats for that game and could watch the Villanova players during timeouts, but the time to pounce on UConn came when they were without their guy, and when the lead shrunk, the players were dejected. That was all she wrote.

Remember, UConn was down 19-9. Samuel brought them back. Bazz was in foul trouble. Never forget Samuel's flagrant foul at the end of the first half either. Villanova was kind of, err, scared after that.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

Samuel against Villanova when our key guy was out was huge. He shivved them. You could see the breath come out of the Wildcats, and it was because of Samuel. Now, I had great seats for that game and could watch the Villanova players during timeouts, but the time to pounce on UConn came when they were without their guy, and when the lead expanded, the players were dejected. That was all she wrote.

I really love that kid.

 

[huskyharry]

I really don't know what happened to TSam last year but he was not the same player that we saw in the NCAAs. As posted above, what was previously strong perimeter defense became very average. He seemed to play defense in far too upright of a stance, making it not difficult for opposing guards to blow right by him.
Of offense, he frequently just pounded the ball into the floor without going anywhere, although still finished well on drives when a lane opened up. His 3 pt shooting was atrocious but he was not bad from 15 to 17 feet, but then he didn't have the common sense to stick to what was working.
Worse of all was his passing...it seemed like once or twice per game, he would attempt to pass off of a dribble-drive and give it to the other team to head the other direction for a lay-up.
The problem was he wasn't alone in these deficiencies. Other than shooting and playing better defense, Purvis made the same mistakes, as did Omar.
Someone who can pass, dribble and hit an open shot would be an important addition, particularly to team chemistry.
I really don't get the "Ivy league level players are so far beneath" us stuff. We play in a league with half of its team from the same level of play, we lost to Yale at home etc.

 

[businesslawyer]

I really don't know what happened to TSam last year but he was not the same player that we saw in the NCAAs. As posted above, what was previously strong perimeter defense became very average. He seemed to play defense in far too upright of a stance, making it not difficult for opposing guards to blow right by him.
Of offense, he frequently just pounded the ball into the floor without going anywhere, although still finished well on drives when a lane opened up. His 3 pt shooting was atrocious but he was not bad from 15 to 17 feet, but then he didn't have the common sense to stick to what was working.
Worse of all was his passing...it seemed like once or twice per game, he would attempt to pass off of a dribble-drive and give it to the other team to head the other direction for a lay-up.
The problem was he wasn't alone in these deficiencies. Other than shooting and playing better defense, Purvis made the same mistakes, as did Omar.
Someone who can pass, dribble and hit an open shot would be an important addition, particularly to team chemistry.
I really don't get the "Ivy league level players are so far beneath" us stuff. We play in a league with half of its team from the same level of play, we lost to Yale at home etc.

What difference does it make that half of our conference plays hoops on an Ivy level? How does that relate to the difference between mediocre Ivy players and a team that wants to compete for championships?

We underpeformed our talent level last year. It sucks but it happens. That doesn't mean that lowering the caliber of player we're taking becomes a good idea. Guess what -- that doesn't automatically make us play up to our talent level either. It just lowers the talent level.

 

[huskyharry]

We need players with skills that are complementary to one another to facilitate synergy.
Last year's team was sorely lacking in complementary dribbling, passing and perimeter shooting skills.

 

[Fishy]

I really don't know what happened to TSam last year but he was not the same player that we saw in the NCAAs. As posted above, what was previously strong perimeter defense became very average.

He's a solid, but limited role player. He's big, he's fast, he's fearless...he just isn't a natural point guard and he can't shoot at all.

If he's used when the matchups and situations favor him, he can be very effective. When you need to rely on him as we did this year, the limitations are in sharper relief.

During the 2014 tourney, with Shabazz, Boat and Kromah, Ollie could use Terrence where he might be effective and didn't use when he might not.

He played 21 minutes against Nova and 23 against Iowa State....sandwiching those games was St. Joe's and Michigan State where he played nine minutes total.

Anywho, some teeny Ivy League guard isn't going to replace him. Ideally, we'd be in the position again where he's the fourth guard and he's able to play when the conditions favor him.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

He's a solid, but limited role player. He's big, he's fast, he's fearless...he just isn't a natural point guard and he can't shoot at all.

If he's used when the matchups and situations favor him, he can be very effective. When you need to rely on him as we did this year, the limitations are in sharper relief.

During the 2014 tourney, with Shabazz, Boat and Kromah, Ollie could use Terrence where he might be effective and didn't use when he might not.

He played 21 minutes against Nova and 23 against Iowa State....sandwiching those games was St. Joe's and Michigan State where he played nine minutes total.

Anywho, some teeny Ivy League guard isn't going to replace him. Ideally, we'd be in the position again where he's the fourth guard and he's able to play when the conditions favor him.

I agree with all this. Why are some people calling for that tiny Ivy league guard who can only shoot threes and cannot create his own shot (from the little that i've seen and heard). And as I've said on here before, people need to stop saying Samuel isn't solid and took a step back this season. He went from playing 9.0 minutes per game to playing 20.4. He showed in flashes throughout the season that he can be a good passing guard. Now i don't trust him to run the team as the starter, but as a back up PG who can push Jalen off the ball from time to time, I'm fine with that. If he works on his ball handling and can MAYBE, just MAYBE, be able to make, say 1 out of 5 threes, i will be ecstatic.

 

[superjohn]

I agree with all this. Why are some people calling for that tiny Ivy league guard who can only shoot threes and cannot create his own shot (from the little that i've seen and heard). And as I've said on here before, people need to stop saying Samuel isn't solid and took a step back this season. He went from playing 9.0 minutes per game to playing 20.4. He showed in flashes throughout the season that he can be a good passing guard. Now i don't trust him to run the team as the starter, but as a back up PG who can push Jalen off the ball from time to time, I'm fine with that. If he works on his ball handling and can MAYBE, just MAYBE, be able to make, say 1 out of 5 threes, i will be ecstatic.

If Ollie was interested in that tiny Ivy League guard this program would be in worse trouble than any of us could ever even imagine.

 

[David 76]

TS showed a bit better at the end of this past season. My biggest problem with him is not his lack of a jump shot but his inability to handle the ball when being pressed. He's good for defense, some energy and driving to the hoop. He just could not play PG against a team that presses.
Anyone we add should be noticeably better or passed on. We don't benefit from adding more folks of limited value. Miller, Brown, Mack or similar and a popper
I'd rather store a scholarship than get another bench player that I shudder when they go in the game.

 

[pnow15]

Miller supposed to visit on 16th or 17th in April. Rothstein tweet.

 

[Waquoit]

I'll gladly take a guy that can make a 3.