That's an incredible endorsement.
Why is it one or the other? Obviously Steph was major talent going into college. But to suggest Hurley and the staff had no impact is a bit unfair. Coaching is not always about the Xs and Os but teaching a kid to mature, be a teammate and be coachable. Plus, UConn doesn't get a lot of top 10 guys to begin with. So the fact that one of the few we've gotten is the presumptive ROTY is at least, somewhat, a complement to the UConn staff.
Well said - the only applaud Hurley gets with Steph is that he was able to recruit him. Are we going to congratulate Scheyer for developing Flagg? The positive is that we may have an NBA star attached to the program that will ultimately attract more of the them.
Castle wasn't even our best player last year. This would be a significant testimony for coach and player and UConn.
It doesn’t help when everyone else looks unprepared in one way or another.
When you're that good and highly rated there is only so much basketball-specific development a college coach can make. I think we can all agree on that. Before March 2024 guys left Steph open for 3s because he couldn't hit them. Then by the tourney he could. Not sure if that's coaching technique or mentality but it's something.
Wasn't it his knee?
He was only in shape his Freshman year. He looked out of shape last year too and bit slow at times. I wonder what happened for him to gain that weight and not work to get in better shape again.
In fairness to last year, he looked GREAT over the summer in Europe. Then terrible when he was coming back off injury. Which could’ve still been on him because I think the second time he came back he did what he needed to to stay in good shape.
Hell, you could have started this topic first Spurs game he played.Kia Rookie Ladder: Stephon Castle, Jaylen Wells continue to battle at top
With 5 weeks left the season, Stephon Castle and Jaylen Wells are leading the pack in an intense pursuit of rookie hardware.www.nba.com
He'd be the first UConn alum since Emeka in 2004. His March has been awesome so far, dropped 25 in 24 minutes last night.
His long term conditioning concerns me - seems to drop in and out of shape really quickly, even for a big guy. Need to keep that guy on grilled chicken salad.
I was at some early Nov/December games Clingan's frosh year and he was NOT in shape. He was very slow and plodding initially. Clingan's development at UConn from Nov freshman year to spring of sophomore year in terms of athleticism and basketball skills was phenomenal.
He looked more athtletic in his Freshmen year and with more highlight dunks and rejections. He definitely looked leaner. His Sophomore year when he first came back he was noticeably bigger and slower. I think he did get better at the end of his Sophomore year but still thought he was slightly larger compared to Freshmen year. It definitely showed in his awful draft agility measurements
You're misremembering. Clingan came into UConn in great shape for his freshman season, Hurley praised him over and over for how good a condition he came in. His first 11 games as a UConn player before the Big East season. He averaged 10.5 ppg, 7 rebs, 2.1 blocks per game over that span with wins over Oregon, Bama, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Florida. He also was MVP of the Phil Knight Invitational. He was all over the court his freshman season and he was ready to go right away.
