Strangely optimistic

[Nebraskan18]

I'm feeling very shaky for next year

 

[tykurez]

But we need Rodney back big time.

This can't be understated. We basically lose 75% of our production if he also leaves.

 

[3rdbass]

This can't be understated. We basically lose 75% of our production if he also leaves.

I love seeing our best returning rebounder is AB. We are doomed!!!!

 

[Husky25]

Unless we get a late addition or grad transfer, I imagine it is less likely that Durham redshirts. Even if he isn't ready at the start of the year, we may need the reinforcements when he is ready.

I doubt Durham redshirts, regardless. He got hurt in October. Back when I tore my ACL over 20 years ago, the recovery timeframe to 100% stretched to about 12 months. Nowadays (and for a high class athlete) it can be as short as 6 months, but usually is in the 8-10 month time frame.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I can only assume you think the team would be better with Hamilton's shaky handle monopolizing the ball ? The kid, for all his talents, is not the point guard he thinks he is. His rebounding will be missed FAR more than his ball handling.

Who else on the team is going to create their own shot?

Adams? Freshman Gilbert?

 

[upstater]

Daniels is on another planet than DHam when it comes to offense. Shot selection, 3pt shooting, athleticism, posting. Hamilton has a better handle, and creator. But give me Daniels over DHam every day.

Now compare them at similar points in their careers.

Does anyone remember this board and what we were saying about Daniels early in his junior year?

 

[tzznandrew]

This can't be understated. We basically lose 75% of our production if he also leaves.

True. We also lost Nolan, so the total loss is 43.4 points and 19.5 rebounds without counting Purvis. Meaning we lose 58% of our points and 56% of our rebounds. Add in Purvis and its 76% and 65%, respectively.

 

[JimHurley]

Yeah I think most of us can agree that if Purvis leaves we are no longer strangely optimistic. That will leave us with 2 guard - Adams and Gilbert. God forbid one of them gets in foul trouble or injured. We need Christian Vital.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

And yet, absolutely 100% accurate

No it's not. He's a jack of all trades who isn't great at any one thing, but is good at a lot of things. He's a solid rebounder, a solid passer, very solid free throw shooter, a good defender, average from three, slightly below average overall shooting %, average driving ability, average shot creation ability, and average finishing around the bucket. He is not outstanding at any one thing outside of perhaps his free throw shooting. He has the ability to blossom into a great player, and showed definite improvement from his freshman year, but still needs to improve to play at the pro level. Unfortunately, the pros aren't where you go to become a pro-level player.

 

[mauconnfan]

Who else on the team is going to create their own shot?

Adams? Freshman Gilbert?

Ok I agree Daniel can create his own shot but we can't dismiss his 8-12 game slump where he shot 25% and killed us. I realize the upside but it wasn't always there. There's creating and there's making shots. These guys will get guys open on the wings by penetrating and kicking - having the ball in Adams and Gilberts hands often will be more profitable in the end.
Daniel comes back he's The Man right, they give it to him more than they should if he is here. I like these 2 guys doing stuff with the ball than him and now they don't feel the pressure of looking for him, I'm ok with this.

 

[ctchamps]

The list of UConn players in our history who could get nine rebounds a night is small.
The list of UConn players in our history who could get five assists a night is small
The list of UConn players in our history who could get both is one.

No arguing those stats. They are incredible.

Wish they kept stats on how many times he left his player totally open to get defensive rebounds and that player torched UConn.

Wish they kept stats on how many times he lost his player.

Wish they kept stats on how many times his player drove past him resulting in a score or foul on AB.

Wish he had DD's strength to have allowed KO the option to play him at the four against teams like Cinci and Temple and not get manhandled (a role KO was able to employ DD frequently and thus go small).

Wish he wasn't the Jinx guy freshman year whose player hit the buzzer winner in two games and the guy who bricked three free throws that could have prevented a loss. That was the difference between UConn to the NIT versus the NCAA.

Wish he didn't sulk the way he constantly did this season. But he wasn't alone. This team had to be the all time leader with regards to sulkers and whiners. Only player I felt kept his head up most of the time was Rodney. And for that reason alone I favor Rodney more than DHam returning.

 

[willie99]

after Mojak bailed late in August, who thought we would win a national championship?

 

[Gurleyman]

No arguing those stats. They are incredible.

Wish they kept stats on how many times he left his player totally open to get defensive rebounds and that player torched UConn.

Wish they kept stats on how many times he lost his player.

Wish they kept stats on how many times his player drove past him resulting in a score or foul on AB.

Wish he had DD's strength to have allowed KO the option to play him at the four against teams like Cinci and Temple and not get manhandled (a role KO was able to employ DD frequently and thus go small).

Wish he wasn't the Jinx guy freshman year whose player hit the buzzer winner in two games and the guy who bricked three free throws that could have prevented a loss. That was the difference between UConn to the NIT versus the NCAA.

Wish he didn't sulk the way he constantly did this season. But he wasn't alone. This team had to be the all time leader with regards to sulkers and whiners. Only player I felt kept his head up most of the time was Rodney. And for that reason alone I favor Rodney more than DHam returning.

There are some fair points in there, particularly with his defensive liabilities which sprung up a lot, but there are some positive points that I didn't mention that I could too (i.e. how the coaches were able to allow Brimah to feel comfortable selling out on blocking shots because there was a decent defensive rebounder behind him, how he helped save a lot of energy for Boat last year by being able to bring the ball up the floor and push it after rebounds). When was the last time a big threw a good outlet pass to ignite a break? Once in a while, you might have seen one from Miller, but Facey and Brimah usually hold it and hand it off. DHam was our easiest and quickest route from defense to offense that spared a little bit of energy from Boat (and a little bit of pressure from Adams). DD also played the four as a sophomore because we had no other choices, and we got obliterated on the boards a lot (we famously once won somehow at Providence despite getting outrebounded 55-24).

DHam always struck me as someone who got the "sulking" label unfairly because he didn't show much emotion during games - the worst he would do was cross his hands over his head after a mistake, but he generally moved on to the next play pretty quickly. Personality-wise, he was a Ben Gordon clone, who people thought was indifferent or sulky because he didn't show emotion. There were times he showed some resolve -- DHam had a train wreck home game against Temple (starting 0-10), but shook it off and hit a big shot or two late, and then went to the line down by two in the same gym against the same team shooting at the same basket that he missed the FTs against the year before (his third miss was on purpose last year down by two, so saying he missed three. while true, isn't really a fair description of what happened and only people with a predisposition to make him sound worse to prove a point say he missed three). He stunk that day, but showed something knocking those two FTs down, as he did playing well against Temple in the AAC Tournament to shake off his Temple demon (after playing 55 minutes the night before).

Last year, Yale won when Cassell didn't switch quickly enough on a cross-screen with Boat (despite Boat pointing at him). Hamilton was alert and rushed into the play to try to bail him out, but it wasn't his responsibility. I always thought the Texas one looked like Boat's fault trying to be overaggressive going over the top of a screen to deny the ball on a play he should have been switching. But I could be wrong. It all depends on if they were supposed to switch - if they were, it was on Boat being overaggressive, if they weren't, then DHam made a freshman mistake not understanding what he was supposed to do because he didn't even try to fight over it - he stayed with the screener. I suppose Occam's Razor would say that it was more likely the freshman screwed up, but that's something only the coaching staff knows.

I guess the bottom line for me is that I felt if DHam could have spent an offseason with lots of shooting reps and improved as a rhythm jump shooter (no given, but certainly possible), he would have plugged in the major hole in his game we could have been looking at a guy next year capable of 20-10-5 almost every night and being in the National Player of the Year race. Instead, we will likely see guys (Adams, Gilbert, Larrier) having some of the growing pains next year that DHam did this year. I'd rather have seen the rewards of this year's growing pains first. But two years from now, we may be saying it was a good thing that Adams and Gilbert had this coming year to have a heavy burden and learn to mesh, so it was it is. We'll go to war with who we got.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Not when staying just one extra year likely greatly improves your chances at playing in the only league that matters. And by the way, it is far more likely he ends up in a hell-hole than in Australia.....ask Khalid

Too many &@$€#¥%€* Aussies (duh) ... oy oy oy, but Australia's very few cities are very far removed from hell holes. You've spent a lot of time in Oz, eh mate?

On the other hand, far more hell holes can be found with equivalent or worse leagues. And, getting paid to play some hoops for several years may not be the worst gig for some young guys - especially if they're smart enough to bank a good chunk of earnings. Yup, it would really psukk to have toplay hoops and chase skirt in Oz.

 

[intlzncster]

Not when staying just one extra year likely greatly improves your chances at playing in the only league that matters. And by the way, it is far more likely he ends up in a hell-hole than in Australia.....ask Khalid

Hell hole? It's not a top level BBall league, but he'd make between 100 and 180k there. And Australia itself is awesome. As good or better standard of living than in the US [Lived there 8 years].

 

[Thirty Three]

I doubt Durham redshirts, regardless. He got hurt in October. Back when I tore my ACL over 20 years ago, the recovery timeframe to 100% stretched to about 12 months. Nowadays (and for a high class athlete) it can be as short as 6 months, but usually is in the 8-10 month time frame.

He isn't expected to be cleared to even step foot on a basketball court until September and he will not have played ball for somewhere around a year and a half (he was still rehabbing from his first ACL tear when he tore the other one).

KO is optimistic about him playing next season, I'm not quite so confident based on his situation and the timing. Really hope he can play, we could use him, but there's still some questions and hurdles there, and I really don't think anyone wants to see him rush it and hurt himself any worse.

 

[Husky25]

He isn't expected to be cleared to even step foot on a basketball court until September and he will not have played ball for somewhere around a year and a half (he was still rehabbing from his first ACL tear when he tore the other one).

KO is optimistic about him playing next season, I'm not quite so confident based on his situation and the timing. Really hope he can play, we could use him, but there's still some questions and hurdles there, and I really don't think anyone wants to see him rush it and hurt himself any worse.

I read as early as June and rehab on the other knee was less than 2 months from it's scheduled completion. Obviously, tearing the "good" ACL is a setback, but with the limited info I had come across, it seemed they staff is not worried.

 

[Stainmaster]

Get some facts and come back and see me.....he played in Turkey, the Ukraine and Lithuania. Not exactly vacation spots. And certainly not where any aspiring basketball player wants to be. Khalid didn't have much choice, Hamilton potentially did.

Not exactly "hellholes" either.

 

[gtcam]

He isn't expected to be cleared to even step foot on a basketball court until September and he will not have played ball for somewhere around a year and a half (he was still rehabbing from his first ACL tear when he tore the other one).

KO is optimistic about him playing next season, I'm not quite so confident based on his situation and the timing. Really hope he can play, we could use him, but there's still some questions and hurdles there, and I really don't think anyone wants to see him rush it and hurt himself any worse.

Not being cleared doesn't mean he isn't working on key skill development
Coached soccer for many many years - had tons of players who tore acls
Many times they were told not to participate with full intensity for 10-12 months but must through PT were skill building and when they came back they were a more skilled player - in most cases. Plus they can peddle a stationary at 6 months and run after 8-9 months so they wont suffer a huge deficit in breathing capacity but still, game/action shape is better than lack thereof.
If he works on what has been laid out - he will just concentrate on getting his competitive legs back

 

[David 76]

I wonder about chemistry. I keep thinking about the Cinci game with 0.8 seconds left and Adams and Hamilton each wanted the other to inbound. Could've been nothing. Could've been the freshman exerting himself.
The end of game shot Purvis was supposed to take the shot but Gibbs took it (and missed)
We will miss DHam for sure (I guess drop from preseason rank of 16 to about 30). But Gibbs & DHam being gone certainly gives more shots and touches to others. Could really change the chemistry.

 

[Dogbreath2U]

I wonder about chemistry. I keep thinking about the Cinci game with 0.8 seconds left and Adams and Hamilton each wanted the other to inbound. Could've been nothing. Could've been the freshman exerting himself.
The end of game shot Purvis was supposed to take the shot but Gibbs took it (and missed)
We will miss DHam for sure (I guess drop from preseason rank of 16 to about 30). But Gibbs & DHam being gone certainly gives more shots and touches to others. Could really change the chemistry.

One way the chemistry could change would be a reduction in the turnovers, unfortunate decisions, missed bunnies that plagued last year's team with the hopefully increased ball control from having 2 dynamic point guards. I have a feeling that dham and Purvis were too much alike in their weaknesses or weaker areas which made it harder for the team to compensate. Like, times when we had contagious turnovers and panic seemed to set in a little. I think that Rodney will be helped by more players around him that can handle the ball securely and keep the ball moving. That's one reason why we need another solid guard (with good shooting an awesome add-on).

I would really love to see Alpha D. come to UConn. He sounds like the kind of player who can adapt to meet different needs, but who can also step-up in big spots. Plus a young Karl Malone (stolen suggestion) would be decent. Whenever Durham is ready to go (and assuming he is good to go), he could be really good. Maybe not right away ( and he will need to get stronger), but I saw some "it" in this kid. I mostly hope he takes it slow and is extra cautious-including using a redshirt year if a good idea.

 

[dennismenace]

Not saying Hamilton was a lights out shooter, but the field goal percent being low was certainly brought down by having to put up bail out shots towards the end of the shot clock (at least anecdotely it seemed).

I get everyone trying to rationalize this but this is terrible news if we wanted to really contend next season.

It wasn't just bail out shots. He had an awful stretch for a bunch of games when he couldn't buy a shot. It was quite a lot of games if I remember right.
I kind of felt bad for him because there was so much inconsistency with others (Gibbs, Purvis and at times Jalen) ball-handling that maybe it was all too much for him to be the point, the rebounder, the shooter etc. We have to remember that he was still just a sophomore. If this is it for him (and I wish it
wasn't) we will just have to move on and hope others can and will step up. We have a lot of talent, they will make mistakes but if they just keep hustling
and not get down I think they can have a decent if not very good season. Take a look at the talent J. Ollie mentioned above plus whatever else KO can
land for additional signings including transfers. I think it is going to be challenging but very interesting season with a lot on the upside for the future years.

 

[Chief00]

Not being cleared doesn't mean he isn't working on key skill development
Coached soccer for many many years - had tons of players who tore acls
Many times they were told not to participate with full intensity for 10-12 months but must through PT were skill building and when they came back they were a more skilled player - in most cases. Plus they can peddle a stationary at 6 months and run after 8-9 months so they wont suffer a huge deficit in breathing capacity but still, game/action shape is better than lack thereof.
If he works on what has been laid out - he will just concentrate on getting his competitive legs back

Please don't get me started on how soccer isn't a cross over sport with basketball. Actually though you made some good points that I agree with.

 

[Chief00]

One way the chemistry could change would be a reduction in the turnovers, unfortunate decisions, missed bunnies that plagued last year's team with the hopefully increased ball control from having 2 dynamic point guards. I have a feeling that dham and Purvis were too much alike in their weaknesses or weaker areas which made it harder for the team to compensate. Like, times when we had contagious turnovers and panic seemed to set in a little. I think that Rodney will be helped by more players around him that can handle the ball securely and keep the ball moving. That's one reason why we need another solid guard (with good shooting an awesome add-on).

I would really love to see Alpha D. come to UConn. He sounds like the kind of player who can adapt to meet different needs, but who can also step-up in big spots. Plus a young Karl Malone (stolen suggestion) would be decent. Whenever Durham is ready to go (and assuming he is good to go), he could be really good. Maybe not right away ( and he will need to get stronger), but I saw some "it" in this kid. I mostly hope he takes it slow and is extra cautious-including using a redshirt year if a good idea.

I agree a healthy Durham is very good.

 

[IMind]

Not exactly "hellholes" either.

Exactly right... using Khalid as an object lesson as to why you shouldn't go over seas is stupid. The guy made millions in Europe... was in Istanbul in Turkey and Vilnius in Lithuania... he now plays in Germany.. Most of the cities in the NBDL are hell holes compared to where he played.