In the early season in Novembrer when they were struggling, they were kind of operating as co-PG (which is something Bennett likes to have). In the first 7 games, Marciulionis had games with 5 assists, and three games with 0 or 1 assist (in up to 29 minutes). From December on, he only had less than 3 assists in 1 out of the 26 games.
There are some very good portal players. Broome is out of the portal, coming from Morehead St a couple years ago. PJ Haggerty on Memphis, Chaz Lanier at Tenn, Walter Clayton at UF, Michigan has multiple. The list is long.
Smaller than expected? They measure height differently out west?
Staff played against him in 2023-24 so I’m sure they knew what they were getting. I was surprised at how small he was when I saw him for the first time. He is not his listed height, but I know most aren’t. I’m 6’4” and stood next to him in Texas and he’s a stretch at 6’2”, probably in the 6’1” and change neighborhood.
The times we've had Diarra, Ball, and Mahaney on the floor at the same time, I've cringed because of the height we're giving up on defense to pretty much any power conference team. Last year, we usually had Newton (6'5), Castle (6'6) and Spencer (6'4) 1-3, who were all taller than their counterparts for the vast majority of opponents. We haven't had the Diarra/Ball/Mahaney combo on the floor much and usually it only gets deployed when we're in foul trouble, but just underlines how good we had it on the perimeter the last couple of years.
It’s a good point. This recent portal season felt rushed and incomplete. I thought going in 3 was the target. The number of players gotten, the players gotten and number of players entertained felt light. In 2023, Calc, Alleyne, Hassan, Newt were all portal and key contributors. This last one felt incomplete, with the reasoning being belief in the rising sophs.
Spot on. This is where the real conundrum is. There is going to be a real logjam next year as well. Those guys aren't coming here for garbage minutes next year.
I'm fine with Tarris, but he's certainly not the type of profile that we lost in a rim protector. There were a lot of bigs in the portal. The way this offense/defense runs, the 5 needs to rebound, set picks, pass out high and rim protect. Offense is gravy. Hard to know if Hurley wanted to give Samson his chance all along. There is no way you're rolling out a contender you feel confident in with Samson as your starting 5. You have to constantly compensate, like expecting guards to be key rebounders.
Yeah I can’t see us hitting the transfer portal and keeping the sophomore group.
Dan Hurley has been very open that they're not going to use all 13 scholarships so I don't see that changing next year. Even Kentucky only filled 12 scholarships, and the last 3 spots were with freshmen who are barely playing
Man I can't see AK coming back. He already feels like he overstayed. Time to push him out of the nest as his value at the pro level isn't getting any higher with another year.
Nonsensical.
If we find the right one I’d be okay with it. I wouldn’t want to bring in say, an Ashton Gibbs just to bring one in. Preferably a true PG that can make guys around him better and not a combo guard either.
"irregardless"? No such word exists!
Karaban has overstayed, looking forward to Johnson being gone. You know, being a UConn fan means rooting for the players, right? Not some hypothetical future players who might make you happier?
Yeah, my computer didn't like it either. How about "no matter what position"?? Can I get partial credit now?
I just cannot see us rolling into next season with Solo/Mahaney as our 2Gs. We'll be facing the same defensive issues. If Hurley brought Mahaney in to be a PG, I have a hard time thinking the play now is to shift him to backing up Solo as a senior, keeping that position small & lacking defense. Does Mahaney even want that role in his senior year? Do we want to dish out NIL for that?
AK overstayed to his own benefit, not the team/fanbase. Anyone here would like him back, it wouldn't seem best for him. I root for every kid, I talk about the team construct more matter of fact as it comes to winning at the highest level. Sampson is playing a position he's not meant for as a starting 5 in high D1 - great bench kid, not a foundational 5. My satisfaction first and foremost comes with seeing this program win, along the way I pull for and appreciate every kid. We all have our own ways of being fans. I find the easily offended blue blinders tribalism fairly annoying. To each their own.
He brought it to this thread.
We're all set at shooting guard. Solo is going to be an 18 ppg guy, and we have the #3 shooting guard and #4 combo guard in the country coming in. We need a big time big sized starting point guard in the portal. Shooting guard and center are totally locked up.
The problem is that Samson is hardly ever playing drop coverage, but rather, is either hedging at 30 ft from the basket, or rushing back from the hedge to try preventing a layup by the guy he left open to perform the hedge at 30 ft from the basket.