Terry Larrier transferring

[mdkhusky]

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

 

[Stainmaster]

The Bronx borders Connecticut.


Here's a pic of Ollie, Miller and K-Free on the recruiting trail.

Technically, it only borders Westchester County and Marble Hill. But still plenty close enough.

 

[nomar]

Technically, it only borders Westchester County and Marble Hill. But still plenty close enough.

That was one of those posts that got aborted before finishing and then when I replied to someone else, it got swept into it. (You managed to reply in the 10 seconds it took me to edit the post.) Yeah, I was going to say "practically" borders CT, but then I thought, who cares?

 

[partyATkemba]

Can't forget part of recruiting is perception. It's nice and easy for Ollie to use X, Y and Z as examples of players that have come through the system and has had success at the next level. So despite the "NBA Talent" and wanting players to stay 4 years, you still have to attract these players through perception.

 

[Inyatkin]

RJ Evans, at a high Major level, was outmatched physically. On the other hand, if you want to ask whether RJ Evan's presence in 12-13 make us a materially better team than we would have been without him, the answer is absolutely yes. He contributed to some wins (against lower level competition and then at the end against Providence) with his play, but his leadership all year was a key part of what made that team exceed expectations.

Oh I'm not knocking the guy. He did good work for us. He's not Gibbs, but that's OK.

 

[OkaForPrez]

That was one of those posts that got aborted before finishing and then when I replied to someone else, it got swept into it. (You managed to reply in the 10 seconds it took me to edit the post.) Yeah, I was going to say "practically" borders CT, but then I thought, who cares?

Yeah I wasn't ruling us out in the process of throwing St. Johns out there. More like, who are we competing with if he's staying close to home?

 

[businesslawyer]

Not to derail this thread even further, but what exactly is the basis for this?

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.

 

[Huskybass]

I am going to have to agree with Businesslawyer. Kromah was a vital piece of the 2014 championship team. Despite Drummond's immense talent and potential, his presence didn't make the 2011-12 team better.

 

[Matrim55]

I am going to have to agree with Businesslawyer. Kromah was a vital piece of the 2014 championship team. Despite Drummond's immense talent and potential, his presence didn't make the 2011-12 team better.

+1

That said, Drummond would have helped last year's team far more than Kromah would have. There's almost never a one-size-fits-all answer.

 

[Pmurph678]

Well when you can't get the one-and-dones, you have to make do with what's around. It bothers some that we're scrounging for spare parts, but given the circumstances what else should we do? "Get the top targets" isn't an option -- they're signed to play elsewhere.

Duke won a title this year with major contributions from one-and-done freshman. That is not a trend, and you should not treat it as such. If Wisconsin had pulled it out, would that mean that one-and-dones don't work?

The key to winning in college basketball is to have good players on your team. Whether those players are one-and-dones or veteran players, and whether those veteran players are transfers or were recruited out of high school, does not change your ability to win games.

I don't disagree with anything in your post, all i was saying is that i would prefer an elite high school player to a grad transfer.

Not that I want to become Kentucky or that i don't want any grad transfers. I want us to get the best players available, right now that is grad transfers.

 

[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?