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Slam 16 Showcase ft. Sool, Samson Johnson, Zion Cruz, Roddy Gayle, and other targets
- Thread starter k-walk
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A very pleasing watch. I agree with @husky429 that Samson Johnson did not play like that last winter. When I saw him at Hoophall he was a spot up 3 point shooter that ran well end to end, but only made a few other plays intermittently. Now he has more strength, oodles more confidence, runs with purpose, finished play after play, caught the ball in traffic, finished Brimah lobs, rebounded strong, blocked numerous shots, and got co-player of the game. He jumped and missed a block, and was immediately higher than everybody on a quick second jump getting a rebound. He was doing this against Dereck Lively and Trey Patterson. We got a player.
Diggins will facilitate scoring. He got up and dunked 1 break but he controls the team under the rim and with pace. He threw a bunch of long distance fast break passes over the defense a la Doron Sheffer to Donny Marshall, (60 ft chest passes). He also drew the defense and threw Hamilton to Brimah lobs to Johnson. Hit a 3 as well.
Diggins and Johnson played with Corey Floyd which can't hurt our chances there. Floyd didn't own the game like our guys, but he played well, shot well, scored at the rim with power, and looks strong. Evaluating UConn, Corey will already know our team well, playing together with these guys, and, last year vs Sanogo.
The Villanova kids, Trey Patterson and Nnanna Njoku, are also great. Patterson reminds me of Wilkes from UCLA years ago. Very smooth and hit from all levels. Njjoku I had seen before but he is more impressive now. He and Sanogo will be beast on beast. It was nice to see Johnson compete with these guys, (same team as Njoku but Johnson was quicker and got to balls they both went for).
I had only seen Jordan Riley highlights and liked what I saw, Georgetown is getting an athletic stud that will put Georgetown back on the map if he doesn't get stuck having to do it alone. He played like his highlights.
Zion Cruz had some moments, but he and Roddy Gayle were underwhelming for the most part. Gayle was high on my 2022 wish list, far above Corey Floyd, but maybe I was over estimating him and under valuing Floyd. I need to rewatch most of the early part of the first half where some plays were made before I caught on who was who.
A general comment is that the broadcast team gave UConn a ton of love. They talked at length about us a half dozen different times. Rejoining the Big East where we belong, recapturing dominance of regional recruiting with Villanova, Hurley and The Patrick School, Diggins, Johnson,... They were real cheer leaders for us as heavy hitters returning to glory, and can't wait to see UConn play this year.
I think I can even watch this game again. Didn't get a sloppy all star game dunkfest till the last 3 min.
Diggins will facilitate scoring. He got up and dunked 1 break but he controls the team under the rim and with pace. He threw a bunch of long distance fast break passes over the defense a la Doron Sheffer to Donny Marshall, (60 ft chest passes). He also drew the defense and threw Hamilton to Brimah lobs to Johnson. Hit a 3 as well.
Diggins and Johnson played with Corey Floyd which can't hurt our chances there. Floyd didn't own the game like our guys, but he played well, shot well, scored at the rim with power, and looks strong. Evaluating UConn, Corey will already know our team well, playing together with these guys, and, last year vs Sanogo.
The Villanova kids, Trey Patterson and Nnanna Njoku, are also great. Patterson reminds me of Wilkes from UCLA years ago. Very smooth and hit from all levels. Njjoku I had seen before but he is more impressive now. He and Sanogo will be beast on beast. It was nice to see Johnson compete with these guys, (same team as Njoku but Johnson was quicker and got to balls they both went for).
I had only seen Jordan Riley highlights and liked what I saw, Georgetown is getting an athletic stud that will put Georgetown back on the map if he doesn't get stuck having to do it alone. He played like his highlights.
Zion Cruz had some moments, but he and Roddy Gayle were underwhelming for the most part. Gayle was high on my 2022 wish list, far above Corey Floyd, but maybe I was over estimating him and under valuing Floyd. I need to rewatch most of the early part of the first half where some plays were made before I caught on who was who.
A general comment is that the broadcast team gave UConn a ton of love. They talked at length about us a half dozen different times. Rejoining the Big East where we belong, recapturing dominance of regional recruiting with Villanova, Hurley and The Patrick School, Diggins, Johnson,... They were real cheer leaders for us as heavy hitters returning to glory, and can't wait to see UConn play this year.
I think I can even watch this game again. Didn't get a sloppy all star game dunkfest till the last 3 min.
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Forgot to mention 1 team coach was Book Richardson !!! Really? Isn't this the same guy allegedly involved with recruiting violations, money, steering recruits, and the sleeze of recruiting? Arizona? Gatorade thinks he's the right guy to be involved on their behalf with heavily recruited high school stars? That floored me.
Huskyforlife
Akokbouk
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Anyone have full highlights from our guys? Had work.
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Akok Akok - Men's Basketball - University of Connecticut Athletics
Akok Akok (11) Forward - While at UConn: After a semester, plus a spring and summer of practicing with the Huskies in 2019, broke into the starting lineup with
uconnhuskies.com
i clarified that i was not asking if samson would be better than akok next year
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Mr. French
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The more I see, the more I love the personalities of the kids DH recruits. I think that means a LOT. There may be more than four banners hanging by the time he's done here. It's going to be fun either way.
In the near term, I've got the Pats Bills game to look forward to
Yes, Bills Mafia looking forward to it too!
Mr. French
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I don’t know who will be better between Floyd and Gayle, but I’d just say not to let too many judgments get made on players based on a game like this.
UconnU
If he blocks 100, he blocks 100
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He’s got to be a husky. He is a prototype Hurley guard. Broad shoulders, athletic, uses the jump stop. He’s much smaller than he’s listed at though, I think he’s much closer to 6’2 than 6’4. He’s an undersized 2 guard.
Yes
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I'm sure I missed some stuff because my attention drifted, but I had:
Johnson 12Rb / 12pts/ 5 Blocks/ 1 Assist / 0-1 3pt
Diggins 1Rb / 2 TO/ 4 Asst / 15 pts / 1-4 3pt
Paterson 22 pts w 3 threes
Riley 18pts
Floyd 11pts
Cruz 14pts but 6 were in garbage time
Brantley 21pts
Njoku 11 pts
Gayle Possibly 0 points / I noted 3 misses
Lively Possibly only 2 pts - but had a couple blocks and rebounds
Johnson 12Rb / 12pts/ 5 Blocks/ 1 Assist / 0-1 3pt
Diggins 1Rb / 2 TO/ 4 Asst / 15 pts / 1-4 3pt
Paterson 22 pts w 3 threes
Riley 18pts
Floyd 11pts
Cruz 14pts but 6 were in garbage time
Brantley 21pts
Njoku 11 pts
Gayle Possibly 0 points / I noted 3 misses
Lively Possibly only 2 pts - but had a couple blocks and rebounds
formerlurker
www.stjude.org
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I noticed the same thing, Kit. The way he speaks is way beyond his years and I'd build a team/program around kids like that all day every day. He's pretty nifty with the rock, too!
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Rahsool and Samson, our recruiters.
"Diggins and Johnson had never really met until Saturday’s game. The two not only hooked up on a pair of alley-oops, but also joined forces in trying to recruit Corey Floyd, Jr., a Class of 2022 shooting guard from Roselle Catholic in New Jersey, to join them in Storrs in a couple of years. (Floyd didn’t have much to say about it, mainly because Diggins was mic’d up during the game)."
www.ctinsider.com
"Diggins and Johnson had never really met until Saturday’s game. The two not only hooked up on a pair of alley-oops, but also joined forces in trying to recruit Corey Floyd, Jr., a Class of 2022 shooting guard from Roselle Catholic in New Jersey, to join them in Storrs in a couple of years. (Floyd didn’t have much to say about it, mainly because Diggins was mic’d up during the game)."
Future UConn players Rahsool Diggins, Samson Johnson already teaming up for high-flying fun
When Rahsool Diggins hit Samson Johnson for a pair of alley-oop dunks on Saturday, it was...
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Joining forces to be in Corey Floyd's ear is interesting. I wonder whether that is because of their evaluation of him as a player, a personal relationship, a result of them knowing the level of UConn's interest in Floyd, knowing the level of Floyd's interest in UConn, or if they were just throwing it out there. I am curious because Zion Cruz is playing with Samson Johnson at the Patrick School. I'd assume he has a relationship with Samson, and was there to 'recruit' as well. If we had a good shot you'd think they'd be in his ear too, (and maybe they were). Roddy Gayle is a significant UConn target that was also in the game. With 3 UConn targets and kids talking, perhaps the guys know our best chance is with Floyd.
The article also mentioned some game stats which I found puzzling. I've now watched the damn game 3x and this time wrote down the game clock for each Samson RB, Block, and Diggins assist. Samson had 13 RB, not 8, Diggins did not get 9 assists, 7 if an assist by accident counts. The points were right but the official scorer not so much on other things. Writing down the times of certain plays made me notice that the clock didn't move for a 2 minute stretch at 8:43 of the first half, and 2-3 times or more the player at the foul line was misidentified on the screen, so I'm sure there was confusion.
The article also mentioned some game stats which I found puzzling. I've now watched the damn game 3x and this time wrote down the game clock for each Samson RB, Block, and Diggins assist. Samson had 13 RB, not 8, Diggins did not get 9 assists, 7 if an assist by accident counts. The points were right but the official scorer not so much on other things. Writing down the times of certain plays made me notice that the clock didn't move for a 2 minute stretch at 8:43 of the first half, and 2-3 times or more the player at the foul line was misidentified on the screen, so I'm sure there was confusion.