Starting 5 next year? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Starting 5 next year?

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tzznandrew said:
RP had a lot of good games against some of our toughest opponents at the end of last year. I'm with @Fishy , and have been since the end of the year, in thinking that, scoring-wise, RP is going to be our leader. I think something clicked with him, especially as March rolled around. Expecting big things from him.
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I agree. It especially "clicked" when Boat was out for some stretches of those last games and Purvis knew he was "the guy" to carry the offense (ie: SMU). I believe it was psychological for Purvis and the only thing that could be a temporary set back is Rodney deferring to Gibbs more than he should. I suspect KO gives Purvis the green light to be the scoring lead (or co-lead) .. So no psychological set-backs!!
 
We absolutely need Gibbs to spend minutes at shooting guard. That means we need Adams to play significant minutes at PG.

I agree we start Gibbs, Purvis, DHam, Miller and Brimah.

But we should also see a lot Adams, Gibbs, Purvis, DHam and Miller as the "small" line up. Both Miller and DHam are very good rebounders and this should be a fun line up to watch.
 
Jalen seems like a great kid and I'm guessing he will do whatever it takes as a freshman for UConn to be great. I also hope everyone else is on that same page because this will be the chemistry they will require. And as far as a "starting lineup" I doubt Jalen has thrown in the towel just because he's a freshman on if he can break the starting lineup or not as well as we should hope Kentan and others are thinking along the same lines. The more people improving and looking for minutes the better this team will be and the deeper it will be.

I don't have a prediction yet on starters, it all depends on how people improved and how the frosh/grads are fitting. Good news is the guys coming off the bench will be talented.
 
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Ollie with his NBA background now has the luxury of working Adams to his highest potential. In other words Adams does not have to do it all, run the team and bail the team out of close situations.

Adams can learn the Div 1 pace, similar to Bazz' NBA situation in Miami. The overall benefit is the confidence Adams will accumulate with little pressure. Had Gibbs not signed then the pressure on Adams would have been humongous, especially with the fan base.

Imagine now that Adams can 'freestyle' (positive way) and make freshman mistakes with impunity. Also Purvis and Gibbs are there to mentor the young star. I envision when the oppenents guards are gassed, our new and improved 'John Gywnn' will overwhelm other teams.

All of this is to say Adams does not need to start, and he may be better off coming in off the bench. On the bench, Boat and Kemba used to study the flow, opponents and tendencies giving them a ready advantage when their number is called. This is a very positive situation we have.
 
tzznandrew said:
I think it makes most sense to start a traditional team

PG - Gibbs
SG - Purvis
SF - Hamilton
PF - Miller
C - Brimah

And treat Adams the way UConn has traditionally treated some of its more talented scorers; Allen, Gordon, Villaneuva, Walker, Napier, Boatright all came in as change of pace guys, and got key minutes throughout the year.

I'd be happiest with that.
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Just looking at that gives me chills. That is a whole lot of fire power, especially if Hamilton makes the typical frosh, to soph jump and if Brimah benefits from his first big man camp, both of which I think are likely.

We're doomed.
 
The thing I'm most excited about next year is seeing how Brimah does when he's surrounded with more talent that can score and defend. I think it's going to free him up quite a bit. That, combined with his very high end work ethic and passion, and a summer of development, will result, IMO, in him having a huge year.
 
RP is going to do BIG things this year. KO didn't call him a Ferrari for no reason.... IMO, the problems that RP went through last year were almost completely due the fact that he hadn't played in a game for 18 months! Getting back into the flow of things takes quite some time and with that time comes confidence.

He finished the season on the highest of highs, we've heard he's working extremely hard in the offseason (hopefully on his handle) and has been tweeting left and right about his excitement for the upcoming season. This kid is going to be unreal.
 
HuskyFich said:
RP is going to do BIG things this year. KO didn't call him a Ferrari for no reason.... IMO, the problems that RP went through last year were almost completely due the fact that he hadn't played in a game for 18 months! Getting back into the flow of things takes quite some time and with that time comes confidence.

He finished the season on the highest of highs, we've heard he's working extremely hard in the offseason (hopefully on his handle) and has been tweeting left and right about his excitement for the upcoming season. This kid is going to be unreal.
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Could not agree with you more. I think he leads the team in scoring next season.
 
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This lineup seems tailor made for the 30 sec shot clock. Fast scoring and harassing defense.

I alway like to see who is on the floor at the end of the games (close ones).
Gibbs, Adams, DHam, Miller and Brimah or Facey.
 
PG: Gibbs/Adams/Purvis
SG: Purvis/Gibbs/Calhoun/Cassell
SF: Hamilton/Calhoun/Cassell
PF: Miller/Hamilton/Facey/Enoch
C: Brimah/Nolan/Enoch

There is your 11 man rotation subject to change as guys performances demand. This season will hinge of everyone buying in and playing together for the name on the front of the jersey. Bringing in two top recruits and two top transfers has change to spoil the locker room. I am quite comfortable with the depth here and the guys abilities to fill the minutes they will be asked to contribute. The lack of quality depth last season forced too many guys into roles they weren't capable of fulfilling for stretches that were too long. If a couple guys shoot better and everyone rebounds a little better the addition of Miller to the post fixes a lot of what went wrong last season.
 
It makes no sense to start a lineup with Gibbs, Adams and Purvis. You need a good guard off the bench that you can actually trust. I'm sure we can play small for small stretches, but the lineup is pretty obviously going to be what most of you are suggesting.
 
With all said about the great players Ollie has put together, let's not forget about Kenton Facey. He will become a critical player to spell AB and Miller. Nolan will also be a key Big but I think we will all see a significant improvement from Facey next season. Enoch is a tremendous upside. It will be interesting to see how KO utilizes his skills as well.
 
tjhusky said:
This lineup seems tailor made for the 30 sec shot clock. Fast scoring and harassing defense.

I alway like to see who is on the floor at the end of the games (close ones).
Gibbs, Adams, DHam, Miller and Brimah or Facey.
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KO has been saying he's wanted to play fast for a while, but we really haven't been able to. Even when we won our title, we weren't especially strong or deep: Napier, Boat, Giffey, Daniels, Brimah, Nolan, Kromah (7 players, really) got the bulk of the minutes, with Calhoun and Olander falling out of the rotation early, and Samuel only making more than spot appearances in the NCAAs. It's hard to run an up-tempo offense when you have to worry that much about fouls and exhaustion.

Now, maybe KO has merely been paying lip-service to that style of ball, but if not, he really does have a number of players who can give more than spot minutes off the bench if given the right role.
 
The starting line-up is often a moving target throughout the season, though I think the rotations will settle in sooner rather than later. Starting out, the following is the most likely:

Gibbs, Purvis, Hamilton, Miller and Brimah

I could see that changing once Adams settles in if he's as good as most think. I could see KO going with Adams at the point, Gibbs the 2, along with Ham, Miller and Brimah. And bring Purvis off the bench as an instant offense type of impact.

The nice thing about either line-up, is that KO can go small with a 3-G set if Ham, Miller or Brimah get into foul trouble and not necessarily have to go deeper into the bench where the talent drops off quite a bit. Now match-ups and need at the time in the game will likely dictate the personnel. If we need to go big, KO will counter with Nolan, Facey or Enoch, depending which of them is coming along the best and giving the team what it needs. DHam has shown he can man the boards, though has been prone to being moved off the blocks or driven by more physical players. It would be a huge boost to this team if Enoch develops into a 4 or spot-5 that KO can trust when Miller and/or Brimah need a rest or are in foul trouble. Maybe Nolan and Facey have good summers, and come next fall give us a lot more than they did last season.

As the saying goes, it's not who's on the floor at the start of the game, but who's there during winning time. I have a strong feeling, as most of you do, that the 6 players we're all talking about are the ones that will be on the floor in various combinations depending on what is needed and who's still available. What is most exciting is that I think we'll have a few that KO can count on taking the last shot, while last season Boat was the only one we all felt a tad optimistic with in that situation. I have a feeling that Gibbs, Adams, Miller and DHam will all knock down some big winning time shots, sending Husky Nation home in celebration...maybe you can add Purvis to that, though he scares me a bit. I'd like to see him work hard on his mid-range game. He's so strong that it's hard to prevent him from getting a good shot off if he can continue to learn to use that strong body of his to create space and square up for good shots and floaters.
 
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tzznandrew said:
It's hard to run an up-tempo offense when you have to worry that much about fouls and exhaustion.
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It's less that than it is rebounding. Each of our last three teams have had to rebound with all 5 guys on the court, which basically means you can't run.

With Miller & Hamilton as our forwards, we should be a dominant defensive rebounding team. And that means at least one of our guards can get down court early.
 
Matrim55 said:
It's less that than it is rebounding. Each of our last three teams have had to rebound with all 5 guys on the court, which basically means you can't run.

With Miller & Hamilton as our forwards, we should be a dominant defensive rebounding team. And that means at least one of our guards can get down court early.
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Not to mention we will (finally) be playing 5 guys who are no shorter than 6'2".
 
the starting 5 don't matter, it's about who gets more minutes and even that is situational. They all better be ready to contribute.
 
DogMania said:
The starting line-up is often a moving target throughout the season, though I think the rotations will settle in sooner rather than later. Starting out, the following is the most likely:

Gibbs, Purvis, Hamilton, Miller and Brimah

I could see that changing once Adams settles in if he's as good as most think. I could see KO going with Adams at the point, Gibbs the 2, along with Ham, Miller and Brimah. And bring Purvis off the bench as an instant offense type of impact.
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Agreed generally, but if RP isn't a starter for any reason other than injury I think you kill chemistry.
 
tzznandrew said:
RP had a lot of good games against some of our toughest opponents at the end of last year. I'm with @Fishy , and have been since the end of the year, in thinking that, scoring-wise, RP is going to be our leader. I think something clicked with him, especially as March rolled around. Expecting big things from him.
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He's not just the scoring leader, he seems like "the leader", or he did for the last 5-6 games of the year. It's his team. No chance he doesn't start. I think it's comical that people think Adams would start over a guy who was just as highly rated out of highschool and has played for two seasons in the ACC and at UConn.

Regardless, with Miller and Gibbs, this team just got much stronger and more importantly deeper. I feel much better about Facey and Nolan as role players off the bench. I don't like freshmen starting at PG, Calhoun never liked it, and I doubt Ollie does. Adams will have time to adjust and become a stud in 16-17.
 
8893 said:
WTF is going on here? Did I miss the stupid pills?
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They were handed out last night. Doubt we see much jalen at the four unless he grows six inches this summer and turns into magic.
 
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CL82 said:
Agreed generally, but if RP isn't a starter for any reason other than injury I think you kill chemistry.
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I think if Adams out plays him in practice and Ollie feels this team is better with RP as instant offense off the bench then RP will have to deal with it and still be a leader of this team. I woul def not go as far and say this is RP team. He hasnt proven at all he is capable of leading a team yet. The one game without Boat in the NIT we lost.

Also everybody loves to bring up the SMU game for Purvis but what did he do the very next game? 0-7 and 2 points in a key game. Thats what scares me about him the inconsistent play. The BY did the same thing with DD at the end of the 2012-2013 season said that he was going to domintae the next year finally turned the corner because of the last 4 games. Yet he was still up and down all year until the Tourny.
 
Candyman34 said:
I think if Adams out plays him in practice and Ollie feels this team is better with RP as instant offense off the bench then RP will have to deal with it and still be a leader of this team. I woul def not go as far and say this is RP team. He hasnt proven at all he is capable of leading a team yet. The one game without Boat in the NIT we lost.

Also everybody loves to bring up the SMU game for Purvis but what did he do the very next game? 0-7 and 2 points in a key game. Thats what scares me about him the inconsistent play. The BY did the same thing with DD at the end of the 2012-2013 season said that he was going to domintae the next year finally turned the corner because of the last 4 games. Yet he was still up and down all year until the Tourny.
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Why is this even being brought up?

There's a 100% chance of Purvis starting at the 2.
 
UConn990411 said:
Why is this even being brought up?

There's a 100% chance of Purvis starting at the 2.
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I wouldn't say 100% but yes I believe he will start when the season begins but my point is if Ollie feels Jalen is better served starting and RP off bench why would this kill chemistry?
 
The starters on day 1 of practice almost certainly will be Brimah, Miller, DHam, Gibbs , RP.

But the icing on the cake is that there will be more experience, talent and depth coming off the bench than I can remember.

From a pure talent standpoint there's Jalen Adams. Then, there are the three junior/senior players who were starters at various points during their careers: Omar, Facey, and Nolan.

Add in the promising Enoch who appears, size and skill-wise, to be able to play both the 4 and 5 positions, and the (hopefully fully healed) Sam Jr, who was a big-time scorer before UConn, and the bench will be as good as some of the starting 5's of the teams we play.
 
Gibbs, Purvis, Hamilton, Miller, and Brimah will start 90% of the games. Adams, Cassell, and Enoch will round out the regular rotation. Omar will spell Hamilton, but sadly he may have played his way out of the 8 man over the last couple years. Facey and Nolan will probably only come in to play when the front court faces foul trouble.
 
RipCity said:
It makes no sense to start a lineup with Gibbs, Adams and Purvis. You need a good guard off the bench that you can actually trust. I'm sure we can play small for small stretches, but the lineup is pretty obviously going to be what most of you are suggesting.
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It would make a lot sense if we didn't have Hamilton or Miller. Purvis would make a better college 3 than a 2, but with Hamilton at the 3 and Miller here solidifying the 4, there's not much sense in moving either of those guys out of the starting 5 - especially since, as you point out, that would leave SCII as our only guard off the bench (I consider Omar a 3 only).

I still suspect we'll see Gibbs-Adams-Purvis out there a lot together. Could even be our crunch time lineup with DHam at the 4, if Adams shows some late game moxie that belies his freshman status. Don't know if that would mean Miller or Brimah comes out late, but that's a better problem than trying to find five guys who belong out there.
 
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