The 2024 Portal Conundrum

[superjohn]

Folks are ripping the sophomore group for not making the expected leaps. While there’s definite validity to that, can we say that Alex and Samson have played to the levels we hoped for and anticipated? Has Nowell even as a freshman? Have Mahaney (other than last night) and Reed as portal transfers? Don’t put all of this on Stewart’s and Ross’ shoulders, folks.

Alex is a little worse than I thought he would be, I never believed the over the top hype on him though. His counting #'s are still good but I didn't expect him to ghost for 20 minute stretches like he has in a bunch of games. Great connector, not a star player.

Samson is where I thought he would be, he's improved.

I didn't think Nowell would be in the rotation.

Reed is better than I thought he would be but we stopped using him.

I was a Mahaney fan at St. Mary's and thought he would be way better here than he has been.

I never had Jaylin in the starting lineup like a lot of people did (Liam was always going to be the starter) but I thought Jaylin would be significantly better than he has been.

I never expected much of anything from Ross going into the season but I bought into some of the hype from Hurley and after his debut in the New Hampshire game.

Our depth has been wildly disappointing.

 

[TheHorde]

How is talking about next year giving up on the season?

I doubt they’re talking significantly about specific players, since most players will enter the portal after the season. The staff likely is discussing the players currently on the roster, their projections and fit for next year, and areas that they feel the team needs upgrading. I doubt they’re spending an inordinate amount of time focused on next year, but I’d wager they’re spending some time discussing it in the context of individual players’ growth, who is meeting expectations, etc.

 

[TheHorde]

Alex is a little worse than I thought he would be, I never believed the over the top hype on him though. His counting #'s are still good but I didn't expect him to ghost for 20 minute stretches like he has in a bunch of games. Great connector, not a star player.

Samson is where I thought he would be, he's improved.

I didn't think Nowell would be in the rotation.

Reed is better than I thought he would be but we stopped using him.

I was a Mahaney fan at St. Mary's and thought he would be way better here than he has been.

I never had Jaylin in the starting lineup like a lot of people did (Liam was always going to be the starter) but I thought Jaylin would be significantly better than he has been.

I never expected much of anything from Ross going into the season but I bought into some of the hype from Hurley and after his debut in the New Hampshire game.

Our depth has been wildly disappointing.

I was wrong at least thus far on Stewart. But I don’t think these kids are finished products yet either, and their stories have been fully written yet. Stewart’s play is emblematic of the entire team…flashes of brilliance and great potential, but maddeningly inconsistent with plays and stretches that just get you shaking your head.

 

[ctchamps]

This. Healthy, we were a dynamic offensive team. The problem is that on the defensive end of the court none of the sophomores contribute anything at all. ANYTHING AT ALL.

In this Xavier game Ross guarded Foster for most of his twenty five minutes on the court. Foster made 5 points this game.

With 1:31 left in the game Xavier up five Hunter gets free and had an easy bucket but Ross cuts to the basket and and caused him to miss. Johnson rebounds, Ball gets fouled shooting the three, makes all three free throws and lead gets cut to two - a five point swing.

Solo had 11 rebounds, eight on the defensive end. His man to man defense was significantly better in this game.

In the Nova game Stewart guarded Dixon well.

Singare came in and gave good minutes when Samson was out for the concussion protocol.

They are developing and contributing. The problem is they have not developed fast enough to give us everything we need. That's to be expected given how few minutes they played as freshmen.

 

[Zonepress]

I doubt they’re talking significantly about specific players, since most players will enter the portal after the season. The staff likely is discussing the players currently on the roster, their projections and fit for next year, and areas that they feel the team needs upgrading. I doubt they’re spending an inordinate amount of time focused on next year, but I’d wager they’re spending some time discussing it in the context of individual players’ growth, who is meeting expectations, etc.

In the portal era would be foolish to make any firm
Assumptions on what players would return
Next year either by their choice or the coaches

 

[ctchamps]

Alex is a little worse than I thought he would be, I never believed the over the top hype on him though. His counting #'s are still good but I didn't expect him to ghost for 20 minute stretches like he has in a bunch of games. Great connector, not a star player.

Samson is where I thought he would be, he's improved.

I didn't think Nowell would be in the rotation.

Reed is better than I thought he would be but we stopped using him.

I was a Mahaney fan at St. Mary's and thought he would be way better here than he has been.

I never had Jaylin in the starting lineup like a lot of people did (Liam was always going to be the starter) but I thought Jaylin would be significantly better than he has been.

I never expected much of anything from Ross going into the season but I bought into some of the hype from Hurley and after his debut in the New Hampshire game.

Our depth has been wildly disappointing.

Pretty much my assessment as well. Disappointing yes but expected. At least I did.

Solo has been better than I expected. Same with Liam at least as to how quickly he integrated.

I'm with @TheHorde with regards to our players. I'm hoping they become the players we want them to be.

 

[UConnSwag11]

Our sophomores haven’t developed and made the jump as expected. That’s the main problem. Mahaney isn’t the problem. Not using Reed correctly is a problem though

 

[HooperScooper]

They got Spencer in like August after the ‘23 title. Not to mention trying to get Timberlake before Spencer - who ended up going to Kansas and was a major flop. I don’t think the tournament has anything to do with it.

If I remember correctly, because Spencer graduated and it was his 5th year he didn't need to enter the portal. He decided kind of late to transfer. He committed to UConn in early June.

 

[Gurleyman]

I don’t think this is it at all. We got Reed who we seemed to identify as a target.

Rumors are we pulled back from Brea so we wouldn’t lose Ross (oooof)

And Aiden was a big target of ours that didn’t pan out. Plus we got Liam.

I think this is mostly the players we got (or kept) aren’t living up to it.

The jury is still out on that Brea-Ross decision, if that’s the case. Brea had a big game against Florida - but this is what he’s done since. Also one assist and one turnover combined in the last 5 games. He never gets to the line, he doesn’t even try to create anything for others, and he’s not a great defender.

He’s capable of a big shooting day, and there are times I wish we could have had that extra weapon in our arsenal, but most of the time he’s giving you a three or two a night. He’s probably even less skilled than Joey C.

Ross still has time to develop and perhaps we’ll think “thank goodness we stuck with him”. But he has to take a legitimate gameday leap and not a practice leap.

 

[RuffRuff]

Hardest part of building great teams is getting the right players. Great players are 100% the key indicator to success, far more than culture and development. JC knew this, and sold his soul a little bit on it later into his career. For some of today's great coaches, what stands in their way is typically player selection/roster building.

Gutt here is that staff was riding a little too high off the B2B, over-valued current group and their ability to develop, under-valued straight up talent. Nothing else explains Mahaney as a PG.

 

[bendm]

I said I’d never complain about guys being recruited over again so this is the 10 man rotation I’m hoping to see next season:

Transfer PG / Nowell
Ball / Adams
Mullins / Abe
Transfer PF / Stew
Reed / Reibe

Bench: Mahaney / Furphy / Ross / Singare

 

[AllHusky]

I said I’d never complain about guys being recruited over again so this is the 10 man rotation I’m hoping to see next season:

Transfer PG / Adams
Ball / Transfer CG
Mullins / Furphy
Transfer PF / Stew
Reed / Reibe

Bench: Nowell / Mahaney / Ross / Abe / Singare

Tampering has been a big topic in FB. Gotta think it goes on in Hoops similarly. In that spirit, look around the country, and pick the athletes you'd like in the 3 transfer spots you have. Why wait for someone to pop up. Just develop your back channel agent/HS Coach/guy at the carwash network and go get the athletes you want. Name names!

 

[CL82]

When Liam decommited from Indiana we reached out to him. If he was in the portal and expressed interest in UConn we would have reached out to him. Distinguishing whether he's a high school player that we took or a player from the portal is not the salient point. He was taken and the position he fits on the team is the three. He was recruited over Ross. (Sophomore 1)

Reed was recruited over Singare. (Sophomore 2)

We held off on recruiting a 4 until we knew what Karaban was going to do. If Karaban had not returned Hurley said we would look for the best possible 4 if there still remained a player who could contribute. Karaban's indecision (and his return) prevented the staff from recruiting over Stewart. (Sophomore 3)

And @campcalhoun2009, the rumor that we avoided going after Brea was because there was a concern Solo would leave. Ross did not have the leap in development that Hurley proclaimed until this past summer, long after the portal ended. It's this type of misremembering that I hope to dispel.

Mahaney was recruited over Hassan. In essence the staff did everything possible to shore up the weaknesses they perceived in this last portal.

His commitment to the sophomores was using the NIL to retain them. He still values them but not at the expense of winning this year.

I've always thought of "recruiting over" someone means taking a better player at the same position in the same class. You seem to suggest that if we have more than five roster positions, it's because we've recruited over those five. Of course you're going to have more than one player at each position. That's not recruiting over someone.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Our sophomores haven’t developed and made the jump as expected. That’s the main problem. Mahaney isn’t the problem. Not using Reed correctly is a problem though

I have to ask:

How should they be using Reed?

 

[alphasigko]

I have to ask:

How should they be using Reed?

There is a whole active Tread discussion on this:

"Tarris Reed not being utilized" that was started on Jan 9th by SuperJohn

 

[jibsey]

It’s too early to say we whiffed on Mahaney, he seems to be emerging. Let’s see the effect of Liam back with the team for 3 games because his returning could make a lot of other players better.

 

[bendm]

It’s too early to say we whiffed on Mahaney, he seems to be emerging. Let’s see the effect of Liam back with the team for 3 games because his returning could make a lot of other players better.

What about On defense?

 

[husky429]

It’s too early to say we whiffed on Mahaney, he seems to be emerging. Let’s see the effect of Liam back with the team for 3 games because his returning could make a lot of other players better.

We expected a starting PG and got a guy who has been barely playable 95% of the season. It is a huge whiff.

I don't really feel bad saying this stuff like I would have 5 years ago. He got paid plenty to wear our uniform

 

[HooperScooper]

I've always thought of "recruiting over" someone means taking a better player at the same position in the same class. You seem to suggest that if we have more than five roster positions, it's because we've recruited over those five. Of course you're going to have more than one player at each position. That's not recruiting over someone.

I always say the same thing. If you have 5 starters coming back and 4 bench guys leaving are you supposed to only recruit 4 players you think are going to be worse than the 5 starters you have coming back? What kind of nonsense would that be?

 

[CTBasketball]

We expected a starting PG and got a guy who has been barely playable 95% of the season. It is a huge whiff.

I don't really feel bad saying this stuff like I would have 5 years ago. He got paid plenty to wear our uniform

That’s the key though, he was never a PG. He had large shoes to fill and forced him into a role he’s never played.

 

[RuffRuff]

That’s the key though, he was never a PG. He had large shoes to fill and forced him into a role he’s never played.

We don’t need a 6 1 off ball guard that can’t defend. Most team don’t.

 

[auror]

That’s the key though, he was never a PG. He had large shoes to fill and forced him into a role he’s never played.

Well he did play PG for St. Mary's last season. But he was not very good at it and got pushed off ball halfway through the year and Marciulionis took over most of the on ball duties. So more accurate to say a role he's never played well.

The staff aren't going to miss a detail like that. They brought him in expecting him to be a Spencer-like player. But then quickly realized he would not be able to defend 2s because he was smaller than expected and Ball had a good Fall. Which left him stuck as either a PG or a bench player.

 

[Deleted at users request]

That’s the key though, he was never a PG. He had large shoes to fill and forced him into a role he’s never played.

I was saying that all summer. It was always going to be a huge adjustment for him especially because of what we were asking of him.

 

[Deleted at users request]

Hardest part of building great teams is getting the right players. Great players are 100% the key indicator to success, far more than culture and development. JC knew this, and sold his soul a little bit on it later into his career. For some of today's great coaches, what stands in their way is typically player selection/roster building.

Gutt here is that staff was riding a little too high off the B2B, over-valued current group and their ability to develop, under-valued straight up talent. Nothing else explains Mahaney as a PG.

I think one of the more underrated parts about JC teams is that guys had very clear roles that he developed players in. Outside of maybe 2012 because the roster just wasn’t a fit, most years guys knew what their jobs were when they went on the court and the jobs made sense to get the most out of guys.

This season I don’t think there were any clear roles going in because there was competition at almost every position. Things are more settled at this point when Liam comes back, but players like Nowell, Ross, and Stewart still don’t seem to have roles and responsibilities they are comfortable giving to the team consistently. Mahaney seems like he has a clear role at this point and is just about him becoming comfortable excelling in it.

It’s especially disappointing for Nowell because he should be on a Marcus, Kemba, Shabazz, Boatright style freshman secondary ballhandler plan but that’s not happening currently.

 

[ctchamps]

Well he did play PG for St. Mary's last season. But he was not very good at it and got pushed off ball halfway through the year and Marciulionis took over most of the on ball duties. So more accurate to say a role he's never played well.

The staff aren't going to miss a detail like that. They brought him in expecting him to be a Spencer-like player. But then quickly realized he would not be able to defend 2s because he was smaller than expected and Ball had a good Fall. Which left him stuck as either a PG or a bench player.

Interesting. So the staff were going to roll with Nowell and HD as our point guards coming into this season?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You guys act as if NIL is an infinite resource and we can just keep adding top tier talent. Most teams seem to be able to afford 8-10 deep of legitimate high level talent. In the old days, a UConn team might go 12 deep with the last two being 50-150 ranked freshmen who may or may not have been able to step up. This has not really changed, but I think the older talent pool is deeper and better than it was in the past.

Injuries are always a huge problem in basketball because the rosters are smaller and every team is dependent upon a couple of scorers. So, UConn builds a team that is a little young to begin with in an era of older teams, then loses its leading scorer. This January stretch is what happens next.

We aren’t the only team that got into trouble because it lost its best player. Kalkbrenner didn’t miss many games, but he was nowhere near 100% for the stretch in November and December where Creighton lost 5 games in 3 weeks. Kalkbrenner stays healthy and they are 18-2 or 17-3 right now and Top 10. Xavier lost its best inbound transfer, Traore (sp?) for the season and Freemantle for 3 games. Those two stay healthy and Xavier is a 15 or 16 win team right now.

Teams have a little less depth and there are more and better older players, so an injury really throws a season off the rails.

Basketball is a game of millimeters, where a couple of shots are just a little off or a little more on target changes a game and a season. That Colorado loss was a terrible, terrible loss, followed by a pretty bad Dayton loss. UConn beats Colorado, its next game is Iowa State, and win or lose that game, the trajectory of UConn’s season feels very different.

 

[CTBasketball]

We don’t need a 6 1 off ball guard that can’t defend. Most team don’t.

So where does Solo Ball fit in at 2” taller? He’s clearly worse defensively. He is one of the best off ball 3-pt shooters in the land, but can’t create his own shot.

We have two huge deficiencies in both Mahaney (size) and Solo (defense, shot creation). Tough to live with both and both on the court at the same time.

Well he did play PG for St. Mary's last season. But he was not very good at it and got pushed off ball halfway through the year and Marciulionis took over most of the on ball duties. So more accurate to say a role he's never played well.

The staff aren't going to miss a detail like that. They brought him in expecting him to be a Spencer-like player. But then quickly realized he would not be able to defend 2s because he was smaller than expected and Ball had a good Fall. Which left him stuck as either a PG or a bench player.

Eh I watch a ton of west-coast late night hoop, Marcuulionis was always the guy who stirred the drink. Mahaney was primarily SG and was used to get into the paint and shoot.

I was saying that all summer. It was always going to be a huge adjustment for him especially because of what we were asking of him.

If you want to be tough on Hurley, at the current moment the miss was trying to force him into a PG. I’m not ready to give up on him like most are.

 

[RuffRuff]

So where does Solo Ball fit in at 2” taller? He’s clearly worse defensively. He is one of the best off ball 3-pt shooters in the land, but can’t create his own shot.

We have two huge deficiencies in both Mahaney (size) and Solo (defense, shot creation). Tough to live with both and both on the court at the same time

Exactly the point - don’t need two of them. Solo offsets his deficiencies with shooting. If we have a tough defensive matchup out there I want a Swiss Army knife of a roster, not a bunch of guys with the same holes.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

So where does Solo Ball fit in at 2” taller? He’s clearly worse defensively. He is one of the best off ball 3-pt shooters in the land, but can’t create his own shot.

We have two huge deficiencies in both Mahaney (size) and Solo (defense, shot creation). Tough to live with both and both on the court at the same time.

I meant to mention the Mahaney/Ball/Diarra size issue in my post. An A-10 team can get away with playing 3 players like that at the same time, but a Big East team can not. I think Mahaney has been fine this season offensively, and his defensive issues do not stand out on a team with a lot of defensive issues, but one of those 3 has to be a backup, and it is Mahaney this season.

 

[freshler40]

We expected a starting PG and got a guy who has been barely playable 95% of the season. It is a huge whiff.

I don't really feel bad saying this stuff like I would have 5 years ago. He got paid plenty to wear our uniform

Expectations change with all the money around. Players have moved from development to expected pro level, likely beyond what most can produce. Were in an adjustment period for fans and players.