The Case for Kentan Facey

[ThabeetDown]

With Hamilton now gone, he is likely to be the starter at the 4 next season. I, for one, am VERY happy with this. He will be a senior, took a huge cut in playing time last year yet continued to work hard. That indicates to me he is a good team guy -- not many would be happy with getting minutes nearly halved yet he worked his butt off when saw playing time.

He does have a few things to work on offensively, but he is just as good a rebounder as Hamilton, which will be the biggest hole that departure leaves. For example, Facey's per 40 min rebounding stats last year were 11.4 RPG, compared to DHam's 11.2 RPG. His offensive boards per 40 were a whopping 5.39 RPG! He led the team with 60 total offensive boards in 444 minutes played -- Brimah had 46 in 526 min, Miller 44 in 924 and our boy DHam with 33 in 1,147. He rebounds at the same rate as DHam but with more offensive boards...who doesn't love offensive boards??? His 16.7 Offensive Rebound Percentage (percent of ORB chances a player converts into a ORB) would have ranked him 4th nationally this year if he had played enough minutes. The team also would improve defensively down low as Facey blocked 2.7 per 40, compared to Brimah's 5.1 and Miller's 1.3.

With that said, he has shown next to nothing on offense (minus a few jumpers here and there) but in all fairness, if him and Brimah can average a combined 17 PPG, I think that is just fine. With Rondey figuring to average 17 and Jalen 10-12 (maybe more with DHam gone), that's already 44-46 points. Remember, Brimah averaged 9.1 PPG in 14/15, I think he can hit double figures and Facey can hit 6-7 PPG. If you can find another 8-10 from Larrier, I'm sure you can find ~15-17 points from everyone else (including any grad transfers besides the mostly freshman bench).

All in all, DHam's departure opens up major minutes for Facey, which allows for the best rebounder on the team to make a larger impact. He is experienced as a senior and a better shot blocker than both DHam and Shonn Miller. What he lacks offensively he makes up for in other areas on the court, but frankly, with weapons such as Rodney/Jalen/Gilbert/Larrier, do we really need him scoring THAT much?

TL;DR: Facey is the best rebounder on the team, and with starters minutes will no doubt lead the team in boards. He is an exceptional offensive rebounder and has the potential to be one of the best in the entire country. More offensive boards = more scoring opportunities = more points = more wins (I hope).

 

[mauconnfan]

Love your enthusiasm and agree with some of this. If he's starting or playing over 20 minutes I'm only guessing we're not that good next year or at least not an NCAA tourney team. If we start him and AB and they play a lot of minutes together we will be a terrible man to man team. He gets lost, consistently for 3 years, on D and is hardly ever ready to defensive rebound. Can he improve? Maybe but so can AB although I wouldn't throw my house on it. I believe KF has improved dramatically on the offensive boards as well as the occasional nice move around the rim but he would need to really improve his defense dramatically.

Would love for KF to get 14-18 minutes off the bench and be a major part of 2016-17 and think he will be.

 

[Danzz]

First of all Facey is not as good a rebounder as Hamilton. If he starts or gets major minutes it would mean that he has improved his game and that would be a good thing for us. My problem is Facey playing consistent defense and we haven't seen that from him. He will look good for a few minutes than he turns invisible. Maybe next season will turn out to be a breakout season for him but if he doesn't improve over the summer I would expect a similar role for Kenton next season.
Our strength next season will be guard play and I'd like to see us sign a JC transfer PG who can play 10 minutes a game to relieve Jalen and Gilbert.

 

[Palatine]

Facey works his tail off. Offensively, he seems much more comfortable facing the basket.

The downside is that he doesn't seem to have much natural explosion and he needs to get stronger. He can work on both but he needs to.

 

[RichZ]

Love the enthusiasm, but I'm a little iffy on the conclusion.

 

[3rdbass]

OP I love the enthusiasm but any starting lineup with both AB and KF in it really scares me. We will be playing 3 on 5 offensively and definitely not looking like an NCAA tournament team. I like Facey as a rebounder off the bench. I hope Diarra is as good as advertised by some on the site or we can find a good Grad Student who start next year. KF though better blocking shots this year was horrible on man to man defense and like AB gets totally overpowered by anyone with any size. Teams will just back down our two string beans and score easily inside if they have real strong guys.

 

[Waquoit]

I want to see the Facey who played against Duke last season. Even this season he made plays that made you say wow. I agree he needs to eliminate the invisible moments. The is a ton of PT available for him if he can carpe diem.

 

[Marat]

Facey is ready for that Hilton Armstrong improvement.

Here he was just a couple years ago:

 

[shakes65]

I see Larrier being the best fit to replace DHam. Same size, good shooter and athletic. As much as I like Kenton as a person, he has not developed into player I anticipated (He was NYS Gatorade POY). Yes he can rebound, but has trouble with really big strong guys....think Kansas, etc. and is not a scorer. Need to bring in another 5thbig man---some one even bigger than Miller who can get 9-10 rebounds a game.

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

This is completely irrelevant but funny, I saw Kentan along with Christian Foxen and a quite a few ladies at husky pizza at like 2 am last weekend. He was wasted and asked my friend if she could buy him a cheeseburger because he was broke. Fun times.

 

[Bryan Lord]

This is completely irrelevant but funny, I saw Kentan along with Christian Foxen and a quite a few ladies at husky pizza at like 2 am last weekend. He was wasted and asked my friend if she could buy him a cheeseburger because he was broke. Fun times.

We should just self impose the ban now.

 

[Silk31]

This is completely irrelevant but funny, I saw Kentan along with Christian Foxen and a quite a few ladies at husky pizza at like 2 am last weekend. He was wasted and asked my friend if she could buy him a cheeseburger because he was broke. Fun times.

I thought The Hungry Huskies were being fed now ever since Bazz's PSA at the title game podium?...

 

[CL82]

This is completely irrelevant but funny, I saw Kentan along with Christian Foxen and a quite a few ladies at husky pizza at like 2 am last weekend. He was wasted and asked my friend if she could buy him a cheeseburger because he was broke. Fun times.

Ah the old buy me a cheeseburger line. You gotta love the classics.

 

[Uconn77Duke74]

the fact that he is Hungry is the best thing I've read in this thread. Mojo

 

[uchusky32]

Ah the old buy me a cheeseburger line. You gotta love the classics.

. . . And I'll gladly pay you Tuesday!

Never worked to well for Wimpy. Guessing KF didn't get any.

 

[JimHurley]

Facey will make a big jump, I guarantee it. Look at players like Rakeem Christmas. He was a high recruit but averaged <6 PPG his first 3 years. Then as a senior he exploded, averaging 17PPG and 9RPG. Not saying Facey will average 17 and 9, just saying he can definitely improve and be an impact player next season. I'd be 100% comfortable going into the season with KF as our starting 4 man.

 

[mauconnfan]

Facey will make a big jump, I guarantee it. Look at players like Rakeem Christmas. He was a high recruit but averaged <6 PPG his first 3 years. Then as a senior he exploded, averaging 17PPG and 9RPG. Not saying Facey will average 17 and 9, just saying he can definitely improve and be an impact player next season. I'd be 100% comfortable going into the season with KF as our starting 4 man.

I am comfortable with him starting too, he's a good guy. But when he does I will also know we are building for following year because if he plays 28 minutes at the 4 he will score 10 a game and give up 20. No one turns their back on their man or the ball as much as he does on defense. He has to be a bench player in order for us to have som expectations of next year. I think he can be a very key bench guy too.

 

[gtcam]

Let's give him a shot
Just keep him out of the bars and off the road at 2AM

 

[sledog]

What about PFs / min (or min / PF)???? Big issue up front.

 

[david]

What about PFs / min (or min / PF)???? Big issue up front.

Exactly. Was just going to bring this up. Kentan averaged 6.7 PF per 40 min last year. He needs to bring that way down so he can actually stay on the court and help us.

 

[Lefty2one]

Lot to like with his athleticism and activity but he still gets lost far too often on the defensive end of the floor, plus, as it was just posted, foul trouble is a problem.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Starting him would just be a showing of appreciation and respect. If he can't hack it on defense ollie can yank him. I like the idea though. He has paid his dues and showed promise. Give him a little time and treat him like a leader and he just might surprise us.

 

[JMick]

As much as I loved Shonn and appreciated SG, Grad Transfers can really hurt the in-game development of our players. We don't make the tournament or win that first game without either of them this year, and I will be forever grateful to them for that. But it really acts as a band-aid to bigger problems and it will curb development down the line. If Facey can keep his fouls down and play consistent minutes early in the year, I see no reason he can't be a solid starter for us

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

I would really like if we can spread the floor this year a bit more. Obviously this is tough to predict now, because we haven't seen them play yet, but im really hoping that Jackson and Larrier can be the 3/4 combo, with a Adams/Purvis, or Adams/Gilbert back court.

I know this leaves a little vulnerable on D, but i think in that case we would be athletic enough to make up for it by the time the games became important enough.

my 0.02

 

[pnow15]

No doubt in my mind that midway through the season Facey will only be one semester from graduating.