Tarris Reed East Regional MOP | The Boneyard

Tarris Reed East Regional MOP

This guy has put together an all time run. Amazing stuff from another guy who I’m sure has gone through a lot mentally and emotionally trying to figure things out. Really impressed with his toughness and resilience more than anything
 
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He and Malachi Smith are the only reasons we were not down 30 at the half yesterday.

Duke had no answer for Reed and Smith just seems to have an internal "F *** It" mode where if he senses that no one is doing anything, he'll try to do everything. It's kind of impressive, to be honest.
 
One of the things that most of us, myself included, enjoy most about college sports, when the coaches are really good and they also have the best interest of their players at heart (thankfully Calhoun, Auriemma, Hurley and even Ollie have all been this way) is watching them grow both mentally and physically from the time they arrive on campus as teenagers to when they leave as young men and women.

Tarris is a perfect example of this. He came as an ultra-talented guy who was arguably in the wrong system at Michigan for two years under Juwan Howard. As a result he played and had the label of being a great physical specimen who at times played like Karl Malone, but too often drifted into passive, uninspired play.

But Hurley and the coaching staff saw something in him, and made it known immediately right after the 2024 national championship game that Tarris was their guy to be the next flag bearer in our two-headed monster center rotation.

For the better part of the last two seasons we have seen flashes of how good he could be (Villanova last year and in a lot more games this year, St. John's at home in particular) but wondered what he would look like if he took that next step up in maturity and started to bring all his talents and smarts to bear consistently, play in and play out, game in and game out.

Then, somewhere over the last couple of months the light went fully on and he has blossomed into one of the best big men who has ever donned a UConn uniform. It has been great to watch his growth; not just as a player, but as a young man.

I believe it is why I love watching UConn sports more than any pro team. Because our coaches and our school do not just build great players... they help to mold teenagers into young men and women that we as fans can be proud to root for.

Congratulations and thank you Tarris! You have earned every accolade and award you receive. You have done yourself, your family, your team, your coaches, this university and us fans very, very proud!
 
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About as easy a decision as you can make. Congrats to Tarris!

Now someone please explain how AK is not on there over either of cayden boozer or Evans...

will say it is hilarious how the trending joke is folks saying it's absurd the team that won the regional only got 1 player on the team, and then they see cayden...
 
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Fishy said:
He and Malachi Smith are the only reasons we were not down 30 at the half yesterday.

Duke had no answer for Reed and Smith just seems to have an internal "F *** It" mode where if he senses that no one is doing anything, he'll try to do everything. It's kind of impressive, to be honest.
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This is why the best coaches like Danny never, ever bury guys who have a stretch of bad play, as Malachi did during the conference season. Because as long as they are putting in max effort, as I am sure Malachi has been doing, Danny knows a time will come where a guy like Malachi, who has been through the wars at the highest level of college basketball for 4 years, will be called upon to help right the ship when it is sinking.

As I wrote on Malachi's thread, he and Reed were the only two who did not play flustered or passive in the first half. They saved our asses. They gave us a shot for the amazing comeback that ensued in the second half. If not for them, we would have been too far down to come back. Thank God for both of them.
 
CL82 said:


Well deserved.
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Choosing the East Region's Most Outstanding Player is a cynch, an open and shut case, and a slam dunk. There's nothing difficult about this decision which should have taken all but about 5 seconds to decide.

Congrats to Tarris Reed Jr. and his family. He deserves this and more importantly he earned this.

Keep unleashing the Kodiak Attack, Tarris.
 
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Congrats. Played aggressive. What was so impressive was the ball security patience and passing ability when being double triple teamed. He has shown us his ceiling when dialed in. One more weekend, dialed in, and become a UConn Legend.
 
I recall at the start of the season people were projecting what kind of season Tarris would have, and somebody said and Emeka type of year. I said - if we get 80 percent of Emeka, I’d be thrilled.

I did not envision him running point for significant stretches of games, against real competition.

I would not have trusted him to guard the player of the year down the stretch without picking up the 4th foul.

What incredible growth.

What patience by Hurley and staff - to get Tarris to understand what he didn’t know and what he didn’t see in himself and his importance to this team.
 
MJKI said:
Does anyone have the video of his behind the back pass to Silas for 3? That was incredible
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Was that actually behind the back? I was trying to figure out how he threw that.

That's a tall mom, by the way.
 
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DRBackup said:
That and I don't think he was really 100% healthy for much of the year
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It would have been a real shame if that was Tarris’s last game became he has blossomed this tournament. I want to see more.
I agree it took time for Reed to get in game shape after he came back from injury. And once he started to pass out of the double teams he became much more a weapon
 
Fishy said:
He and Malachi Smith are the only reasons we were not down 30 at the half yesterday.

Duke had no answer for Reed and Smith just seems to have an internal "F *** It" mode where if he senses that no one is doing anything, he'll try to do everything. It's kind of impressive, to be honest.
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For better or worse, Smith seems more of an instinct player than a cerebral one. That might seem antithetical to our designed offense, but helps shake things up when its starts to stall.
 
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