The Legacy of Alex Karaban

[HailUConn]

He is already one of my favorite huskies. He is an essential piece to our last 2 championships.
What he's done (not yet finished) to our program as a whole is beyond what everyone here could've imagined. For starters, the fact that Hurley called him about Laker's coaching job says a lot.


Lots of us fans opined last night that Alex disappeared in 1st half and should not be the one that took lots of shots late in the second half of Creighton game. But I saw it completely differently:

1st half: He tried to involve everyone on the team, and set them up and be a facilitator. that's what a good player/captain does for the team as he understands perfectly basketball is team game. Bazz and Kemba for example, they only take over when they absolutely have to. but this year's team is a work in progress, 2 backup players (Diarra/Samson) from last year and a crop of sophs who've never been integral part of Hurley's offense schemes.

2nd half: He tried to step up and take charge in scoring. at one point, he banged up knee and he was in pain but he did not come off the court. After that, He missed a few close shots in front of rims and a reverse layup (halfway in but rimmed out), Such is the nature of the game. he would've been hero if his shots went in.


A message to AK: keep your chin up.
I'd love nothing more if he come back next year.

 

[Marat]

Wait, what???

Fun fact: Karaban is averaging career highs in points (15.6 ppg), 3P% (41.7%), assists (2.8 apg) and blocks (1.8 bpg).

Sounds good to me!

I think it's the recent team successes and expectations of his return to carry the team forward to continued success as an all American. Since it appears the current team is not top 10 at the moment, it's easy to blame him. As Dan said, AK got 2 rings and whatever happens going forward nobody can take that away from him.

Great comments by HaiUConn above.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I'm a little bummed he hasn't lived up to his preseason all-american billing. But that's more an issue with my expectations than his legacy

Yup. It’s not his fault if people put unrealistic expectations on him. He's always been an elite role player.

Expecting anything more is a setup for disappointment and failure.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Guess it depends how you define lore. He’s on a similar level as Niels Giffey. Of course he will be remembered. But not as one of the greatest of all-time. And that’s ok!

On the scale of top 10 in program history to Niels, Karaban is much closer to the top ten than he is to Niels (no offense to Niels, without whom we have one less championship). I think you’re massively underrating Karaban’s contributions the last two seasons (and this season).

 

[REB1094]

There is an argument to be made that this team was good enough to win with or without AK last year, as easily the 5th best player in our starting lineup. Not worth diving into.

I think it is definitely worth diving into. Without Karaban, Jaylin Stewart or Samson Johnson starts at PF. That changes the entire dynamic of the team in only negative ways

He played the third most minutes, scored the third most points, had the third most rebounds, and made the second most threes. Scored 20+ points 8 times (tied with Cam for second most behind Newton's 9). 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks in the Final 4 including the dagger 3

He's not what we wanted him to be this year, but that's because we wanted him to be literally one of the 5 best players in America

If we don't 3peat (which is the most likely outcome as of today), it will be so heartbreaking if anybody sees his career as "Alex Karaban was a good role player" and not "Alex Karaban was an irreplaceable piece of multiple title runs"

 

[Dove]

So far, his legacy is absolute winner and leader. Alas, this year has been challenging. Proud to have him here and love his game.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I think it is definitely worth diving into. Without Karaban, Jaylin Stewart or Samson Johnson starts at PF. That changes the entire dynamic of the team in only negative ways

He played the third most minutes, scored the third most points, had the third most rebounds, and made the second most threes. Scored 20+ points 8 times (tied with Cam for second most behind Newton's 9). 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks in the Final 4 including the dagger 3

He's not what we wanted him to be this year, but that's because we wanted him to be literally one of the 5 best players in America

If we don't 3peat (which is the most likely outcome as of today), it will be so heartbreaking if anybody sees his career as "Alex Karaban was a good role player" and not "Alex Karaban was an irreplaceable piece of multiple title runs"

Eh, we don’t know what Jaylin Stewart does or becomes being thrusted into a big role with 30 minutes a game. Maybe with the consistent playing time he performs like Karaban did his freshman year with the extra freedom and confidence.

Not trying to downplay Karaban’s impact, but we just don’t know these things. There’s no way Jeremy Lamb becomes Jeremy Lamb if he wasn’t given all those minutes his freshman year to figure things out. That just goes for any young, talented player.

 

[Spaceman213J]

Karaban is a guy who is smart and instinctual. Those type of guys tend to do better with similar types of players, which the team had in spades in the last two seasons.
Aside from McNeeley, who on UConn is a multi-level threat. The closest thing is Ball, but he isn't great at the rim. Spencer, Newton, Hawkins, Joey C. could all shoot lights out from 3 and all drive to the hoop. Sanogo and Clingan ate up space and added the 3 point shot (much more Sanogo though), but Clingan was a great passer.
On offense, Johnson, Reed, Diarra, Ross and Mahaney have underperformed or are pretty one dimensional. Ball at least has a midrange shot. The loss of McNeeley makes it really easy for teams to take away the things that Karaban does well. There have been times when they get mismatches and instead of dumping down low to Karaban (even Reed a few times) Diarra decides to try and take the big on the outside. For how great he is at defense and running in open floor, Diarra is awful at feeding the post. Reminds me of a few guys we had under Ollie who just threw it in with no thought or purpose (w/exeption of CV).
Also, I mentioned in another post. Hurley's and the staff's offense doesn't work if you don't actually constantly hit people with the screens. A few of the younger players show screen, but then fade and rarely ever body somebody. Karaban did a lot of the 'dirty' work. He looks to hit somebody and when floor opens up or guys turn their heads, he'll cut then. Some of these guys just go through the motions.
If we can get McNeeley back fully healthy and keep him healthy and Stewart continues to take the next step, which he appears he may be doing, the team will be fine. They need to realize they have a far less margin for error than the last few years and need to play a full 40 minutes every time out. Even yesterday, there was a play where AK rotated to Kalkbrenner, but neither Diarra or Reed dropped down from the double team/hedge after to the 3 point shooter. Kalkbrenner then found the guy for a wide open 3. If everyone pays attention to detail, and AK ends his shooting slump, this team could still be very dangerous.

 

[Gurleyman]

I think we need to see how it plays out. The final chapters are still going to be written. Maybe we have a great run in March - if we don’t win it all but go down swinging in a great game where he plays well, it’d cement a really positive legacy. Or even if maybe this year is a struggle and he decides to come back as a senior and next year we are dominant again (FF or NC), then we’re talking 3 great tourney runs in 4 years, which would be new territory too.

A lot of a player’s legacy comes from circumstances, too. KEA and Napier are considered among our greatest winners and have great legacies - but they both were bailed out. KEA was 0-12 from the floor in what would have been the most disastrous loss in our history against Gonzaga (George Mason x10 - at least we had 2 titles when that one happened). Then he made tons of plays in the FF. Napier was having a really rough night against St. Joe’s before Brimah put back his miss for a three-point play. Then he was money the rest of the way. But if we lose to St. Joe’s, he’s maybe seen a role player on a national champion and is appreciated for staying with the program through probation, but probably not seen as much of a leader after being the starting PG on two first round loss teams.

Even Kemba - he was already a legend for bringing us back from the depths of 2010 - but if that Horne three in the corner goes in for Arizona, he’s probably in the same boat as Caron. Beloved and transformational, but in tier two.

Ben Gordon also had his ups and downs before the title run. Felt like he was struggling with the burden of being our main scorer and had some rough nights.

But AK’s baseline is two-time champion, who wasn’t ever just along for the ride. We never had a close game - but his buzzer beating threes at the half against Gonzaga and Miami were big for momentum. He had a couple other key moments - beating Illinois to the rim three times in that 30-0 run, a basket and foul to stop Miami’s final push. A three against Purdue when we separated.

 

[yungdowork]

I think the lack of pure athleticism and a sharp handle just forces him into a situation where his role on the team isn't matching his skillset at the moment. In previous years, he was able to keep things simple and limit mistakes. As one of the leaders on this team, he's had to try to shoulder the load a few times to try to get things going, and it's resulted in some bad shots and some uncharacteristic turnovers. The good news for him is that NBA teams were never going to ask him to do the things he has to do on this team.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I think we need to see how it plays out. The final chapters are still going to be written. Maybe we have a great run in March - if we don’t win it all but go down swinging in a great game where he plays well, it’d cement a really positive legacy. Or even if maybe this year is a struggle and he decides to come back as a senior and next year we are dominant again (FF or NC), then we’re talking 3 great tourney runs in 4 years, which would be new territory too.

A lot of a player’s legacy comes from circumstances, too. KEA and Napier are considered among our greatest winners and have great legacies - but they both were bailed out. KEA was 0-12 from the floor in what would have been the most disastrous loss in our history against Gonzaga (George Mason x10 - at least we had 2 titles when that one happened). Then he made tons of plays in the FF. Napier was having a really rough night against St. Joe’s before Brimah put back his miss for a three-point play. Then he was money the rest of the way. But if we lose to St. Joe’s, he’s maybe seen a role player on a national champion and is appreciated for staying with the program through probation, but probably not seen as much of a leader after being the starting PG on two first round loss teams.

Even Kemba - he was already a legend for bringing us back from the depths of 2010 - but if that Horne three in the corner goes in for Arizona, he’s probably in the same boat as Caron. Beloved and transformational, but in tier two.

Ben Gordon also had his ups and downs before the title run. Felt like he was struggling with the burden of being our main scorer and had some rough nights.

But AK’s baseline is two-time champion, who wasn’t ever just along for the ride. We never had a close game - but his buzzer beating threes at the half against Gonzaga and Miami were big for momentum. He had a couple other key moments - beating Illinois to the rim three times in that 30-0 run, a basket and foul to stop Miami’s final push. A three against Purdue when we separated.

Man, those guys you put him with were stars. I didn’t watch much of KEA because he was before my time so someone else would have to speak on that. But even without those tourney runs everyone else had moments where they completely took over games and put the team on their backs as one of the best players in the country.

Karaban has made some great plays throughout his run here. But he is not those guys. He’s much more in the Josh Boone, Jeff Adrien, Rashad Anderson category of players (role wise not winning wise).

 

[Gurleyman]

Man, those guys you put with were stars. I didn’t watch much of KEA because he was before my time so someone else would have to speak on that. But even without those tourney runs everyone else had moments where they completely took over games and put the team on their backs as one of the best players in the country.

Karaban has made some great plays throughout his run here. But he is not those guys. He’s much more in the Josh Boone, Jeff Adrien, Rashad Anderson category of players (role wise not winning wise).

Yeah - I’m comparing him to guys on a different level. You’re right. More that was just to show how fickle “legacy” can be. It can affect role players too. There was a kid on the KEA team - Rash Jones - who more or less is going through what Mahaney is this year. He was a program guy and stuck with it, but he more or less lost his mojo halfway through his career, and his legacy would have been a guy who never panned out, except he ended up a key component of a national championship team and the ball ended up in his hands as the clock hit zero. Another guy - Ricky Moore - didn’t pan out as a point guard - but changed his role and became a legendary defensive stopper.

Was thinking yesterday that another guy who lost his mojo halfway through his career - after transferring - was Stephen Ashworth. But he battled through it and now is now indispensable to Creighton. Hoping we see something similar from Aidan.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Yeah - I’m comparing him to guys on a different level. You’re right. More that was just to show how fickle “legacy” can be. It can affect role players too. There was a kid on the KEA team - Rash Jones - who more or less is going through what Mahaney is this year. He was a program guy and stuck with it, but he more or less lost his mojo halfway through his career, and his legacy would have been a guy who never panned out, except he ended up a key component of a national championship team and the ball ended up in his hands as the clock hit zero. Another guy - Ricky Moore - didn’t pan out as a point guard - but changed his role and became a legendary defensive stopper.

Was thinking yesterday that another guy who lost his mojo halfway through his career - after transferring - was Stephen Ashworth. But he battled through it and now is now indispensable to Creighton. Hoping we see something similar from Aidan.

Agreed, and I don’t think this season hurts Karaban’s legacy at all as a two time national champion still.

Aiden is going through what almost every transfer here except Cam Spencer did so this isn’t very surprising to me at least. He should be much better next year once he’s more comfortable and familiar with what his role will be. Just like Cole, Martin, Newton, and Diarra did before him.

 

[Gburyhusky]

Husky of Honor (no brainer)

 

[RuffRuff]

Agreed, and I don’t think this season hurts Karaban’s legacy at all as a two time national champion still.

Aiden is going through what almost every transfer here except Cam Spencer did so this isn’t very surprising to me at least. He should be much better next year once he’s more comfortable and familiar with what his role will be. Just like Cole, Martin, Newton, and Diarra did before him.

If he’s content coming off the bench again.

Ashworth wasn’t asked to play a non natural position. Mahaney has one potential role at UConn and it’s as a PG. He is and will always be a liability at 2G. He’s not growing or getting faster.

With a group of 6’5”+ combo guards we have coming in that far better align with the staff strategy, not sure what his place is next year. I’m sure they’ll sit down after this season and figure out what makes sense.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

If he’s content coming off the bench again.

Ashworth wasn’t asked to play a non natural position. Mahaney has one potential role at UConn and it’s as a PG. He is and will always be a liability at 2G. He’s not growing or getting faster.

With a group of 6’5”+ combo guards we have coming in that far better align with the staff strategy, not sure what his place is next year. I’m sure they’ll sit down after this season and figure out what makes sense.

I’ve said since the summer he’s more Joey C than Cam Spencer. So we’re in agreement there.

 

[superjohn]

Great player, all-time winner and one of our best connectors ever but as a player below our other all-time winners Bazz, Clingan, Newton. If he wins a third he's our winningest of all-time but below those other three as a player. He's a little better than Freeman and a lot better than Giffey.

 

[UC95-Duke00]

Great Player!