Shout out to Diarra and Samson | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Shout out to Diarra and Samson

CL82 said:
If feels right that Sampson ended his career on a double double. Hass just showed so much heart playing on a bum leg for the second half of the season. We will miss them both next year.
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Hass, Samson, and the rest of the team went out on their shield and made UConn and UConn fans proud.

I feel bad for Hass because he was not close to being healthy, you could see he lost his explosion on the floor and it impacted his ability to drive, to finish near the hoop, and to play defense up to his usual standards. I will always wonder "what if he was healthy?".
 
Didn't Hurley say Samson had "wall" potential coming out of HS?

Well he was partially right.

Samson quite never made that step into becoming a star but was integral for our back to back championships.

Looks to be a quiet and thoughtful young man too.


Hassan will be missed for his grit and heart.

One of the best lob passers in UConn history.
 
Boost'ED said:
Didn't Hurley say Samson had "wall" potential coming out of HS?

Well he was partially right.

Samson quite never made that step into becoming a star but was integral for our back to back championships.

Looks to be a quiet and thoughtful young man too.


Hassan will be missed for his grit and heart.

One of the best lob passers in UConn history.
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They will be surely missed. I am absolutely gutted by the loss to Florida. Any UConn loss in the NCAAT will always have me feel downtrodden, but I am disappointed in the loss, not in the players-the players made UConn Nation proud by going out on their shield and that applies to Samson and Diarra.
 
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Should have started Tarris today.

Looks like I have to add the /s
 
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Samson nearly had his career high in rebounds in the first half alone (7). Including that one highlight rebound that he went sky high for. Really wish he didn't pick up his 3rd so quickly early in the 2nd half because he was having a career game.

Hass was so steady this entire season. He battled through his knee injury and was so important for us on both ends of the ball. His spin move pass to a cutting Karaban today was a thing of beauty. And his first half buzzer beating 3 had shades of Taliek from the 2002 Big East Tournament championship game vs Pitt in 2OT. He really bothered Clayton. He would have been even more effective if his usage was lower, and it seemed like we were actively trying to manage that today, with Liam and Solo taking the ball into the frontcourt on numerous occasions. Hass was a DAWG in the best way as exemplified by the way he confronted Neal of Creighton despite being much smaller... We absolutely need to find more competitors like him in the portal. Or clone him.

Def gonna miss these seniors. Double NC winners, they won't be forgotten anytime soon.
 
Say what you will about this team, they scratched and clawed all season for everything they earned. This trio of seniors just didn't have enough support to upshift the team to the next level this year. Their contributions to two of the best NCAA teams ever will never be forgotten.

Hass' boxing stance will be etched in my mind forever. They should make it a statue in the entrance of the facility, because that mentality is absolutely what it takes to win these championships. We certainly didn't back down today.
 
UCan3 said:
He reminds me of Taliek Brown which many on this board don’t remember. The dude took so much flack for parts of his game but decided he would be the best version of himself - shut out the noise.
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The takes on Samson were fair. We hadn't seen the growth needed offer 4 years to be a starter. People didn't unfairly attack him. His improved free throw shooting all season was great. Clearly he worked hard on that.

He still had a tendency to give up bad folks but we're all giving him credit for putting things together late. Something click. But the hustle he does today was the hustle we were hoping for from the beginning of the season.
UCan3 said:
Taliek and Samson very similar and 2 of my all time favorite Huskies.
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I don't see it. Taliek was obviously talented. He played at a crazy pace and needed to settle down on offense. Can't remember specifically but I feel like he always played hard on defense. His major weakness was glaring, he had no jump shot. People unfairly criticized he weakness instead of acknowledging the strengths that he brought. At no point in time could you question his heart and toughness though.

Samson finally learned that he had to leave it all out there on the court over the last 5-10 games. For that he deserves credit and our respect.
 
caw said:
The two seniors played their balls off and almost carried UConn to a victory. And they did that while observing Ramadan.
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Yeah they were crucial. Diarra with his D and running the offense and Samson Johnson with 10 big rebounds and scoring on alley oops. I will miss both of them. Too bad we didn't have a healthy Diarra. It could of been the difference in the game.
 
jibsey said:
Samson massively improved in his final season. Injuries early career held him back along with limited playing time but with the PT and experience this year we all saw it. If he could actually shoot long range he could have an NBA career in some way.
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NBA he could be a rim runner and rim protector. Not all NBA bigs can shoot. LA Lakers could use him as a backup to Hayes.
 
3rdbass said:
Yeah they were crucial. Diarra with his D and running the offense and Samson Johnson with 10 big rebounds and scoring on alley oops. I will miss both of them. Too bad we didn't have a healthy Diarra. It could of been the difference in the game season.
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FIFY
 
I get the vibe that Hassan will be coaching in a few short years. He's always been a connector even when he wasn't playing much 2 years ago and I have a feeling, for instance, he can be a great recruiter.
 
BuffaloHusky said:
I get the vibe that Hassan will be coaching in a few short years. He's always been a connector even when he wasn't playing much 2 years ago and I have a feeling, for instance, he can be a great recruiter.
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Well, his brother seems to do be doing well in his stint as part of the staff. I could definitely see it with Hass.
 
Samson was on the Whaley trajectory. After playing for Ollie and playing 540 minutes Isaiah played four seasons under Hurley. His first season he played about sixty minutes. The next three seasons he played around 600 minutes in each. Samson played four years under Hurley. His first two seasons he played 68 minutes and then 47 minutes. The achilles heel injury set him back two seasons. Last season Samson played 640 minutes. This season he played 660 minutes.

Game time experience matters. Samson had three strikes against him. The most devastating was the injury. The second was having to play behind two incredible centers during his tenure.
The third was having to play with a severely flawed team when he was finally given his opportunity.

I don't know what bignight3 in post 37 is talking about. Samson always hustled. His problem earlier this season was he was still learning to get himself under control.

Less we forget Samson was paired with Solo, Mahaney, Liam and Alex early in the season. That was three starters who were very bad at defense and no matter how quick Samson was he couldn't make up for that bad trio. Meanwhile Reed would be subbed in with Hassan. When Hurley finally started Diara Samson finally began to get into rhythm. But a third of the season was lost.

Diarra was really the only player that could lob the ball accurately enough to feed Samson. But that pretty much ended when Hassan had problems with his knee. His lessened ability to drive to the basket effectively shut down that option. There was a thread created to feed the Bear. I agreed with that thread. But why not a thread to lob to our leopard. Samson's offensive weapon was far more effective than even Tarris. Unfortunately both were the victims of a poor passing team.

This thread is mostly a tepid response to just how good Samson has become. Hurley was ridiculed at the beginning of this season because of how he claimed Samson was NBA material. Over this last third of the season we can see that potential. He "finally clicked" is more of a tragedy of what happened due to his injury. I wish we had him for one more year.
 
UCan3 said:
Taliek took so much grief early on (Frosh - Jr year) He was a bad FT Shooter, and had a terrible jumper - missed lots and lots of shots.
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This could have described Hass in his first year.
UCan3 said:
But Taliek shut out the noise and played harder and harder and became a beast on defense, got better at the FT Line and better finishing around the rim.
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I don't think anybody anticipated his second year jump, including a portfolio of key 3-pointers over the past 2 seasons.

This year he stepped into a role that had not been planned, and I was concerned that he'd be asked to do too much and would catch flack for being able to do "(almost) anything but not everything." I can think of several other lead guards whose senior seasons showed out this way.

Ultimately, it was his body that most limited him, and still he performed with grit & heart & skill up to his capabilities. I'm grateful that his contribution is so widely recognized on this board.

As someone who always looked for & saw the best of Taliek Brown - and grandly celebrated the triumph of his Senior season - I never imagined I'd claim Hassan Diarra as my favorite Husky guard from Queens, but I do. And I still love Taliek.

The best of Samson Johnson has also received its proper due here, and that too is wonderful.

Samson & Hassan earned two NC rings and contributed well to 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins. Bravo.
 

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