Terry Larrier transferring

[mcs333]

I also agree with Businesslawyer. Had Drummond stayed another year then, he would have been a better pick up most likely. However each stayed one year and us Kromah had a much larger impact on UCONN basketball

 

[Sportsman5]

Have to be fair here. Using Larrier as a hypothetical example, he wouldn't even be considering coming to UConn if Shaka were still at VCU. Gibbs wouldn't be considering UConn if Seton Hall weren't a train wreck. Miller wouldn't be here if the Ivy League didn't have an antiquated rule.

So the influx of potential talent is more about getting lucky with guys leaving other programs that they initially chose over UConn. It doesn't matter in terms of what the roster looks like as a whole, but getting guys on the bounce-back isn't as sustainable as getting them straight out of high school. Especially if the grad transfer rule goes away.

And Kentucky wouldn't have super talented players if there wasn't a rule of not being able to go straight to the NBA. Circumstance creates opportunity. Its like Kansas state recruiting a bunch of juco players in football or cal recruiting one and dones. Its not developing talent for 3-4 years, but it works.

 

[UChusky916]

. 4 pages for this thread and we don't have a single report of UConn being mentioned with this kid. Only speculation of a kid that looked like a basketball player on campus with Miller, who could legit be anyone.

Everyone needs to relax and let things play out.

 

[Gurleyman]

. 4 pages for this thread and we don't have a single report of UConn being mentioned with this kid. Only speculation of a kid that looked like a basketball player on campus with Miller, who could legit be anyone. Everyone needs to relax and let things play out.

Your rant would make a lot more sense if a majority of the posts in this thread were actually related to Larrier.

 

[pnow15]

You put together a team for a season whatever way you can and go for it.
Nobody is going to have a plugin repeat team or even tournament team.
The last guy who did(Donovan) is trying to get into the NBA.
Of course, this is does not include UConn woman.

 

[3uconn]

He was NOT on campus today.

 

[Gurleyman]

He was NOT on campus today.

Clearly not, since he was photographed courtside at an Oakland University game.

 

[CL82]

Assuming that we're going to get two players that we do not currently have, trying to make a living off of other programs' misfortune is not a sound long-term strategy.

The fifth-year players are nice band-aids to cover the failings of the recruiting trail, but it really just kicks the problem down the road by a year.

Better a band aid than a gapping bloody hole.

 

[UConn990411]

Well this thread isn't at all cringeworthy...

 

[UCfor3]

He was NOT on campus today.

It was Diarra.

 

[Pudge]

Let me summarize:

We aren't Kentucky or Duke. Not UNC either. Maybe Texas rises & Kansas churns through of top kids. Depending on your parameter, we are undoubtedly more successful than the majority of those in the last 15.

Fred Hoiberg & (I guess) Steve Fisher showed the way. Re-boot with transfer; regularly. In a shaky few years, this is the NEW paradigm for a team that's chiming it's way continuously to stay NC competitive. It has to be done with plugs - somewhat because we still saw unique inexperience which shown up last season ... and 2012-2013.

Drummond - I love. I love his UConn shoutouts & everything we've seen. But there's no debate I'd listen to suggesting he was a better piece than Kromah.

We've always been a Program that had to adapt. We get top kids ... but it's always a story. The biggest brightest 5 Stars can go to UK or to K's program.

 

[Danzz]

Opinion, obviously. But what is it based on? That team underperformed its talent level by more than any team in UConn history. Why? It's chemistry sucked. Kids didn't play together or always hard. Why? Without Drummond, we returned 4 starters and the sixth man (Bazz) from a championship team, and added Boat and Daniels. We would have started AO, Tyler, Roscoe, Lamb and Bazz. After 5 minutes, like the year before, Tyler comes out (for Boat instead of Bazz), Roscoe slides up to the 4 and Lamb the 3, and we still have Giffey (if not DAniels). When Drummond comes, not enough minutes and not at the right positions. AO feels disrespected and can't figure out how to coexist with Drummond on the floor (and all year, AO when Drummond was out was more effective than when Drummond was in), Roscoe now is stuck at the 3 where he's not nearly as effective, almost drops out of the rotation completely and wants out. Daniels doesn't have minutes available for him, doesn't get better as the year progresses and drops out of the rotation. And you have too many players sulking and not playing with the fire and heart and D that had already won them a championship.

Was that Drummond's fault. Almost entirely not. Did it utterly end up destroying the morale and chemistry of what was easily a Top 20 team? Yup.

People are free to disagree -- you can't prove what would have happened -- but that's how I see it.

It wasn't Drummonds fault but by adding him we screwed up the chemistry. Alex just stopped playing and then the transfers happened.

 

[stick]

It sounds like he's heading to St. John's.

 

[James]

there is no doubt larrier would fit extremely well in replacing hamilton, who is most likely entering the draft after next season. We need some 6'6-6'8 skilled recruit to replace him. eyes on kegler

 

[FartMan69]

Who isn't rumored to St Johns these days?

 

[aceboon]

It sounds like he's heading to St. John's.

Based on what?

 

[gtcam]

Business lawyer you have got to be kidding me. A year of kromah over a year of Drummond. What drugs are you on we all need some

MDK - which team won it all?
Was Drummond a bigger fixture than Kromah on respective teams? Yes but Kromah shined when the national spotlight was on him.
Who helped win a championship and who helped in playing a part of what some could consider a fragmented team?
Neither Drummond was the sole cause for disappointment nor was Kromah the sole reason for success BUT I'll take the Kromah year over the Drummond all day.
IMO Drummond disappointed me more than Kromah delighted me over the two respective seasons
Drummond has turned into a rebounding machine in the NBA and has, I hope, great years ahead of him.

 

[mdkhusky]

you are comparing 2 very different teams. in that sense theres no way to measure who had more value but if you were picking players to make a team would you really pick kromah over a freshman drummond? drummond put up big numbers on a team with not much chemistry and maybe he wasnt shaq like some people expected but he was one of the top freshmen weve had

 

[johnhuskies95]

Opinion, obviously. But what is it based on? That team underperformed its talent level by more than any team in UConn history. Why? It's chemistry sucked. Kids didn't play together or always hard. Why? Without Drummond, we returned 4 starters and the sixth man (Bazz) from a championship team, and added Boat and Daniels. We would have started AO, Tyler, Roscoe, Lamb and Bazz. After 5 minutes, like the year before, Tyler comes out (for Boat instead of Bazz), Roscoe slides up to the 4 and Lamb the 3, and we still have Giffey (if not DAniels). When Drummond comes, not enough minutes and not at the right positions. AO feels disrespected and can't figure out how to coexist with Drummond on the floor (and all year, AO when Drummond was out was more effective than when Drummond was in), Roscoe now is stuck at the 3 where he's not nearly as effective, almost drops out of the rotation completely and wants out. Daniels doesn't have minutes available for him, doesn't get better as the year progresses and drops out of the rotation. And you have too many players sulking and not playing with the fire and heart and D that had already won them a championship.

Was that Drummond's fault. Almost entirely not. Did it utterly end up destroying the morale and chemistry of what was easily a Top 20 team? Yup.

People are free to disagree -- you can't prove what would have happened -- but that's how I see it.

I'm pretty sure people who know the team well(like the beat writers and connected posters like Fishy) would tell you that there are probably 5 other things that hurt that team's chemistry more than Andre Drummond's mere presence on the roster, namely the head coach being out for 10 games in the middle of the season.

Any AO-Drummond rift seems way overplayed on here. I think Oriakhi supporters like to bring it up because it takes the blame off of his last season's performance, and Oriakhi detractors like to bring it up because it makes it look like he took the team down singlehandedly.

I'm way more inclined to believe the nature of the timing of Drummond's arrival had more to do with chemistry issues than him just being on the team in the first place. But a late arrival like that isn't at all typical for a high school one and done.

As for your positioning hypothesis, I think you're putting a lot of weight onto Drummond as to his impact on other players. Maybe I buy that Roscoe was better at the 4, but Drummond was still one of the top 3 players on that team, you're better off with him than without him.

 

[OkaForPrez]

@johnhuskies95 AO supporters?

 

[johnhuskies95]

@johnhuskies95 AO supporters?

Maybe not so far as supporters, but at least guys that don't see him as being just short of a villain.

 

[Jaybo]

I guess I could un-hate him just this once.

 

[champs99and04]

Recruiting is almost entirely hypothetical, and, as @businesslawyer states, applying anecdotal observations to a process that can only be evaluated in totality is senseless, particularly when recent history has vindicated a variety of different recruiting methods.

There is no such thing as sustainability in recruiting, especially not in today's climate. One great class earns you that one great class and only that one great class, whether they're from high school, college, or preschool. I don't disagree that KO and the staff have a ways to go in regards to refining their recruiting skills, but much of the time it feels like they being evaluated on an arbitrary, unreasonable set of standards. Here, we tend to process KO's recruiting ability - or lack thereof - by who he missed on, and not who he hit on. No other coach is held to this standard, and likewise, it matters not that you led a recruitment for 99 laps but only that you crossed the finish line first.

Long point short, many of us are imposing a moving scale as it relates to how we are viewing this stuff. Just as easily one could say recruiting grad transfers is not a sustainable model, you could also say that KO has been undone by bad luck in plenty of other recruitments.

IF Diamond Stone is affiliated with Nike, and not Under Armor, he is a Husky.

IF Prince Ali blew up later in the signing period, rather than when he did, he is a Husky.

IF Shaka Smart had left VCU two years earlier, Terry Larrier is a Husky.

IF Hamilton and Purvis weren't entrenched in their positions, some combination of Mack, Jones, and Clarke would be Huskies.

We seem to have no problem indicting the staff for recruiting misses when variables beyond their control undoubtedly influenced the final decision, but when the variables beyond their control do swing in their favor, its "we can't always rely on these kids falling into our laps."

IF, and that's a big if, KO manages to sign Gibbs, his horse finished the race in first place. Whether he led in lap ten or whether he projects to win next years race is immaterial.

 

[businesslawyer]

I'm pretty sure people who know the team well(like the beat writers and connected posters like Fishy) would tell you that there are probably 5 other things that hurt that team's chemistry more than Andre Drummond's mere presence on the roster, namely the head coach being out for 10 games in the middle of the season.

Any AO-Drummond rift seems way overplayed on here. I think Oriakhi supporters like to bring it up because it takes the blame off of his last season's performance, and Oriakhi detractors like to bring it up because it makes it look like he took the team down singlehandedly.

I'm way more inclined to believe the nature of the timing of Drummond's arrival had more to do with chemistry issues than him just being on the team in the first place. But a late arrival like that isn't at all typical for a high school one and done.

As for your positioning hypothesis, I think you're putting a lot of weight onto Drummond as to his impact on other players. Maybe I buy that Roscoe was better at the 4, but Drummond was still one of the top 3 players on that team, you're better off with him than without him.

Good, well reasoned post. We will agree to disagree. I agree fully that Drummond gotten there earlier -- or had Calhoun not missed time -- the chemistry might have been better. And no doubt Drummond was one of the better players that year. But you will never convince me a team with AO, Roscoe, DAniels, Giffey, Lamb, Boat and Bazz couldn't have beaten RPI top 30 teams -- and made at least a Sweet 16 -- had Drummond never shown up.

And by the way -- what happened that year should show us that what the squid does every year in terms of keeping egos from overrunning chemistry is not as easy as it looks.

 

[sdhusky]

Good, well reasoned post. We will agree to disagree. I agree fully that Drummond gotten there earlier -- or had Calhoun not missed time -- the chemistry might have been better. And no doubt Drummond was one of the better players that year. But you will never convince me a team with AO, Roscoe, DAniels, Giffey, Lamb, Boat and Bazz couldn't have beaten RPI top 30 teams -- and made at least a Sweet 16 -- had Drummond never shown up.

And by the way -- what happened that year should show us that what the squid does every year in terms of keeping egos from overrunning chemistry is not as easy as it looks.

You really suck as a BY poster. Too reasonable.

But the best FB of all-time? Maybe.

I really want to win some fb games this year.