So who is our best player so far?

[UConnSwag11]

Akok and it’s not even close

 

[fatlucy]

RJ Cole hands down.

 

[BNich]

The frosh are too inconsistent (with the exception of Akok's D).

Carlton has been a massive disappointment coming off of last year. Whaley has improved and gives his all but still has a limited skillset.

Adams has improved, but he's not our best player. Sid is like Whaley (limited skills) with less consistent effort but loads more athleticism. Polley had improved but was still largely one-dimensional.

Gilbert flashes brilliance and plays great D but mixes those with poor shooting (Someone teach the kid to square his shoulders. Please!), poor decision making ("I can split this double team." "I can get my shot among all these bigs."), and average passing.

That leaves CV. He stuffs the stat sheet. He can get his own shot. He can knock down 3's. Hits his FTs. He rebounds amazingly well for his size. He is great reading plays and making steals. But he too can be inconsistent. And then he decides to take over, and it all goes down the tubes. As has been said before, he would be a great complimentary guy. A great Robin if we had a real Batman. But we don't.

He yet again leads the team in scoring and rebounding. As a 6'2 guard.

 

[BNich]

Akok and it’s not even close

This must be a joke. He's the most disruptive defensively.

 

[superjohn]

Backup QB syndrome up in here. It's CV, always has been and will be until he graduates. You put him in the lineup with Kemba, Bazz, or Emeka and he is an all-time great. He is the one guy every team is trying to stop. He's not the one man show that Kemba or Chris Smith were, that's not a crime.

lol, put Vital on any of those teams and he's lucky to be the 8th man.

 

[Huskygamble19]

The best player on this team is Mr defense. If we didn't have the defense collectively, we would not be in many games so far because of the horrendous shooting. There is not a real step out best player on this team,but because the defense is solid for the most part, Mr Defense is the winner.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Bouk has faded but still seems to be the one we all believe in the most. All have had at least one game where they made us say great job. All have had many games to make us say what the heck was that

 

[jayteeman]

It's a box of chocolates missing the absolute favorites. The ones left are still good, but at the end of the day, you really wish you had one of those favorites.
Someone else is eating those favorites. And it's been like this for a while.
For sure, the box is coming with a better assortment, we just need a few more favorites.

 

[willie99]

Vital

 

[Huskygrad88]

Last game BAdams had ten more minutes than Sid. I would like Hurley to reverse that and am surprised he has not realized this yet.

sid helped limit his own minutes by fouling out. And there are two ends to the court, and as JC once famously said, he can’t guard a couch

 

[HuskyHawk]

Sadly it has been Vital. Many predicted this. I only said that if he’s our best player, we won’t be very good. I stand by that. to make matters worse, Vital was better last year. More efficient.

If this season is to be saved, others need to step up. Akok needs to start scoring. Bouknight needs to find his short. Carlton needs to regain his efficiency. Gilbert needs to play smarter on offense, his defense is excellent. Gaffney needs to force his way into the lineup by making an impact.

 

[mauconnfan]

Funny how much CV's crap gets overlooked and AGs doesn't. Neither deserves to be on there front of this list. quite honestly although who does more to help the team have a chance? CV's turnovers vs WSU last week were horrible, in bounds passes were gross those are game changing plays just like AG. But both play defense really well, AG has been tremendous on that end while others have not. Akok blocks shots and rebounds the ball pretty well he's going to be a good one, but he also missed some very key open looks in that last couple of games.

Honestly it's not even worth discussing who's our best player no one deserves that award from what I see.

 

[mauconnfan]

sid helped limit his own minutes by fouling out. And there are two ends to the court, and as JC once famously said, he can’t guard a couch

Amazing what Sids fouling rate is, wow. He had a couple bad breaks from the whistle but he reaches too much and is always a step behind the guy he is defending. Would like to see him hang around and get more minutes.

 

[freescooter]

Backup QB syndrome up in here. It's CV, always has been and will be until he graduates. You put him in the lineup with Kemba, Bazz, or Emeka and he is an all-time great. He is the one guy every team is trying to stop. He's not the one man show that Kemba or Chris Smith were, that's not a crime.

This 1000%

 

[mauconnfan]

This 1000%

Let's not get crazy with the all-time great stuff lol. He'd be John Gwynn or Albert Mouring if he was in those lineups and that would be it, which is still pretty good. That's what he should be. Teams are doubling Bouk more they are concerned with him also. Vital’s a good player on bad teams there's no doubt.

 

[freescooter]

One interesting thing about the yard is that people believe things despite the evidence. Akok has no offensive game at this point. He is a shot blocker. That’s fine and on a good team he Would be a huge asset. Bouknight has frankly been something of a disappointment. Not a great score. You see signs but he has had 1 really dominant game. Our greats And even near greats were taking over games at this point whether off the bench or as starters. I think Vital is Craig Austrie but he’s our best. Kinda tells you where this program is today. Oh and can we please stop with the Sid cheerleading. Only reason he is even in the game is Polley’s injury. Gwynn is probably a better example for Vital. But really good player with a limited role. Still shows how far we have fallen.

 

[UConnSwag11]

This must be a joke. He's the most disruptive defensively.

He runs the floor better than anyone on the team. He can spread the floor, he finishes at the rim, he can drive to the basket. Just bc he went 1-9 doesn’t mean he’s bad offensively. His looks were clean and several were in and out. There is more to judging a player than just the box score

 

[HuskyFich]

He runs the floor better than anyone on the team. He can spread the floor, he finishes at the rim, he can drive to the basket. Just bc he went 1-9 doesn’t mean he’s bad offensively. His looks were clean and several were in and out. There is more to judging a player than just the box score

He can do all those things...but he really hasn’t yet...a couple oops and baseline 6-8 footers. But drive to the basket...really?

 

[ARIDE]

Weird its mid season and I'm really not sure.

Vital production is somewhat negated by his bonehead superman plays and decision making. Akok is a candidate but he only a defensive player at this point. Bouk is potential yet manifested and may rise to the top by end of this season. Carlton well he's not in the running. AG . . . . . nah.

I guess the reality is that Vital is probably our best player and that means we are going to go as far as he takes us. Not sure of our remaining season with that.

At least with this group they do play hard and should be able to get more W's in spite of our lack of an elite player. This type of roster seems so unfamiliar for us though.

Does it really matter!

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

lol, put Vital on any of those teams and he's lucky to be the 8th man.

8th man or better on either 2011 or 2014 NC teams would be neither implausible nor warrant your dismissive lol, unless that was solely to rebut the "all-time greats" term.

Use of the word "lucky" is just ignorance of its meaning combined with needless puffery.

Thanks, though, for prompting me to take an enjoyable look at those 3 teams. It provided a healthy perspective.

I also liked that others after your post recalled Gwynn, Albie, and Austrie. CV deserves to be appreciated for what he can & does do, cheered mightily for the balance of the season, and, down the line, fondly recalled for his evident contributions.

No sense in implying his imperfections, especially in this thread.

 

[JB75]

1000% CV

That’s not saying much. Remember for every 2 good things CV does, there’s 3 bad-well maybe 2 bad this year

 

[BNich]

He runs the floor better than anyone on the team. He can spread the floor, he finishes at the rim, he can drive to the basket. Just bc he went 1-9 doesn’t mean he’s bad offensively. His looks were clean and several were in and out. There is more to judging a player than just the box score

So the box score doesn't matter, got it. He's the best all around complimentary player on the team. But far from the best so far. Too many of you get hard ons for Akok and Bouknight. Yes they're talented FRESHMEN, but they both have a long way to go.

 

[imno1]

Funny how much CV's crap gets overlooked and AGs doesn't. Neither deserves to be on there front of this list. quite honestly although who does more to help the team have a chance? CV's turnovers vs WSU last week were horrible, in bounds passes were gross those are game changing plays just like AG. But both play defense really well, AG has been tremendous on that end while others have not. Akok blocks shots and rebounds the ball pretty well he's going to be a good one, but he also missed some very key open looks in that last couple of games.

Honestly it's not even worth discussing who's our best player no one deserves that award from what I see.

We are grading on a curve.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

That’s not saying much. Remember for every 2 good things CV does, there’s 3 bad-well maybe 2 bad this year

I'll rebut that it's not even 2 bad for every 3 good.

Yes, his ill-advised plays range from frustrating to infuriating, but that doesn't relieve you or anyone else from posting as well as you can. Be an inspiration to other fans, and by extension to the players.

 

[superjohn]

8th man or better on either 2011 or 2014 NC teams would be neither implausible nor warrant your dismissive lol, unless that was solely to rebut the "all-time greats" term.

Use of the word "lucky" is just ignorance of its meaning combined with needless puffery.

Thanks, though, for prompting me to take an enjoyable look at those 3 teams. It provided a healthy perspective.

I also liked that others after your post recalled Gwynn, Albie, and Austrie. CV deserves to be appreciated for what he can & does do, cheered mightily for the balance of the season, and, down the line, fondly recalled for his evident contributions.

No sense in implying his imperfections, especially in this thread.

He wouldn't have been on the '04 team, he might have been on the '11 or '14 team as a late spring signing if we needed an extra guard. He would've been lucky to be an 8th man on those teams.

Subba's post is lunacy. The idea he would've started on any of those teams is dumb enough on it's own but to say he would be an all-time great is just beyond.

He's an undersized high volume shooter, very good guard rebounder, with a shaky handle and poor decision-making who will have a losing record at UConn. It is what it is.