The Ross Enigma

[Waquoit]

The “Fab 5” label has not aged well. Castle was the only one that turned out to be fabulous. Ball is probably meeting expectations as a sophomore but Ross and Stew are not. Singare gets a pass I suppose. Certainly no comparison to the original Fab5

So what? Who cares?

 

[bendm]

So what? Who cares?

we should all be concerned that the '23 recruiting class is not living up to its lofty expectations.

 

[ctchamps]

we should all be concerned that the '23 recruiting class is not living up to its lofty expectations.

One of the members of that class contributed a lot to number 6.

 

[Scottobot]

The “Fab 5” label has not aged well. Castle was the only one that turned out to be fabulous. Ball is probably meeting expectations as a sophomore but Ross and Stew are not. Singare gets a pass I suppose. Certainly no comparison to the original Fab5

Castle was a top 15
Ball was a top 40
Stewart and Ross were in 70 to 100 range.
Singare was 100+

I would say both Ball and Castle met or exceeded expectations. Ball averaging 12+ points a game as sophomore is pretty good.

Guys in the 70 to 100 range often don’t pan out or take a while to develop. Hasaan Diarra was ranked in that range coming out of high school and it took him a few years to hit his stride.
You should not expect anything out of players who are not top 50 coming out of high school in their first 2 years. Sometimes you get lucky and they were underrated coming out of high school (eg Lamb, Napier, Boukknight), but for every player in that range who makes it, there are probably 5+ who don’t

 

[Scottobot]

Stewart looked good last night. It’s his 3rd good game. I think he has earned to get some of Ross’s minutes and more PT. he played well on both offense and defense last night. Best defense he has played all year in my opinion.

 

[DogMania]

Stewart looked good last night. It’s his 3rd good game. I think he has earned to get some of Ross’s minutes and more PT. he played well on both offense and defense last night. Best defense he has played all year in my opinion.

Agree 100%. Stewart deserves more run. I'd still give Ross some minutes, but only spot duty and only give him some extended run if he's productive. He needs to learn to make plays and the right decisions to earn PT. He's got a lot of talent, but Stewie has outplayed him and earned a bigger role.

 

[3rdbass]

Agree 100%. Stewart deserves more run. I'd still give Ross some minutes, but only spot duty and only give him some extended run if he's productive. He needs to learn to make plays and the right decisions to earn PT. He's got a lot of talent, but Stewie has outplayed him and earned a bigger role.

Stewart has more basketball talent than Ross as far as on the offensive side and right now is probably better than Ross on the defensive side. Stewart can create his own shot off the dribble and is a good passer. There is no way Ross should be getting any minutes over Stewart. Stewart just need more minutes so he can have more even play. I haven't seen any great skill from Ross right now that giving him more time on the floor will do much for his game. Ross needs an off season to work on his basketball skills and shot.

 

[RuffRuff]

Stewart has more basketball talent than Ross as far as on the offensive side and right now is probably better than Ross on the defensive side. Stewart can create his own shot off the dribble and is a good passer. There is no way Ross should be getting any minutes over Stewart. Stewart just need more minutes so he can have move even play. I haven't seen any great skill from Ross right now that giving him more time on the floor will do much for his game. Ross needs an off season to work on his basketball skills and shot.

Ross is one gear - frenetic. He never looks in control or calm. It’s not a productive freneticism, it looks like it’s about to implode, and it makes you feel something bad is going to happen soon, and often does. The fact that he goes flying on all pumps is a symptom of it. He has to know it’s not working, yet can’t help himself. Maybe it will come with time.

He’s the anti-TNewt, who always looked like he smoked a bong before the game, and it worked. Maybe Jayden needs a gummy.

 

[jibsey]

Ross can make spectacular plays at times, steals, blocks, rebounds, plays that open our eyes but it must be weighed against the negative. I’m sure the staff is trying to figure out how to get the best out of him and reduce that negative.

 

[TheShot1990]

Our Fab 5 have an NCAA Championship ring (well...at least 1 so far). The other Fab 5....not such much.

 

[uconngb]

I thought Stew would step up a little more because he played some meaningful minutes for us last year, but anyone who thought Ross would go from zero minutes to becoming an NBA prospect is high as a kite. I think the early season cupcake schedule caused a lot of high expectations when in reality, all of those teams were fantastically terrible. I scored double digits against LeMoyne when they were DII back in the day for crying out loud…

But he was a baby Reggie Lewis against UNH......

 

[uconngb]

Stewart has shot better than Ross, but played worse on defense. Neither has been good on defense in my opinion, but Stewart has had some real lapses. Stewart is clearly better on offense in my opinion, and I think if he can improve defense and rebounding he will ultimately win those minutes.

Both of these guys need to learn that consistently playing above average on defense is better than making some fantastic defensive plays and completely blowing assignment on on other plays. Ross in particular is trying to block every shot and steal every o pass and that often leaves him out of position

Not sure what you've been watching, but Ross has been a turnstile. Plus, he just jumped at the headfake I just laid on him.

 

[AllHusky]

Just posted about anticipation and quicker decisions for Solo. Ross is lightyears behind both Solo and Jaylin in that regard. In Hoop years, I'd say Ross is still a freshman, while Solo and Jaylin are well into their soph year developmentally, and by years end might be considered grizzled veterans. Should they both be considered experienced veterans by March, could be a heck of a year for the Huskies!!

 

[ctchamps]

Just posted about anticipation and quicker decisions for Solo. Ross is lightyears behind both Solo and Jaylin in that regard. In Hoop years, I'd say Ross is still a freshman, while Solo and Jaylin are well into their soph year developmentally, and by years end might be considered grizzled veterans. Should they both be considered experienced veterans by March, could be a heck of a year for the Huskies!!

Makes sense given the number of minutes these three played prior to this season.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Makes sense given the number of minutes these three played prior to this season.

And this is why I had the complaints I did last season. Not necessarily because it impacted winning that year.

Just because we needed guys to be more ready for this year. And it’s why we need Nowell to carve out a role this year too while continuing to work with Ross.

If our system is good enough for guys like Diarra to average 6-8 assists as a starter. Just imagine Nowell after a few years of only learning this system as Danny’s first recruited PG for it. But he’s got to get hands on experience running it.

 

[AllHusky]

How many minutes does Ahmad Nowell get against Georgetown? Care to hazard a guess? I bet under 10(hoping for 15 or more)

the only thing no one seems to know is how impactful and what Ahmads injury was.

 

[lateralous]

And this is why I had the complaints I did last season. Not necessarily because it impacted winning that year.

Just because we needed guys to be more ready for this year. And it’s why we need Nowell to carve out a role this year too while continuing to work with Ross.

If our system is good enough for guys like Diarra to average 6-8 assists as a starter. Just imagine Nowell after a few years of only learning this system as Danny’s first recruited PG for it. But he’s got to get hands on experience running it.

I agree with the premise but I kind of feel like Ross has worked himself so far down the rotation that there are a lot of other guys we need to be prepping for both March 2025 and next season before him. Assuming Karaban and McNeeley are going pro after this season, I think Stewart has shown enough that he needs to get the bulk of the remaining minutes at both forward spots because he will be our Karaban next year. Mahaney, for all his struggles, brings a scoring skillset from the two that compliments what Solo isn't as good at and you're absolutely right that we need to integrate Nowell at PG ASAP to protect against a Diarra injury while also setting us up for next year.

I was completely on-board with seeing if Ross could grow into the stopper the team needs this year until I saw him up-close in person on Wednesday. IMO, he's not even close to being an effective player at either end of the floor and outside of a good defensive half against Gonzaga, it's not even like he's showing many flashes against decent competition to make you think the light is about to go on in any meaningful way. If Danny wants to give him a few minutes here and there, so be it but at this point I think Nowell, Mahaney and Stewart need to be taking all available minutes from spots 1 thru 4

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I agree with the premise but I kind of feel like Ross has worked himself so far down the rotation that there are a lot of other guys we need to be prepping for both March 2025 and next season before him. Assuming Karaban and McNeeley are going pro after this season, I think Stewart has shown enough that he needs to get the bulk of the remaining minutes at both forward spots because he will be our Karaban next year. Mahaney, for all his struggles, brings a scoring skillset from the two that compliments what Solo isn't as good at and you're absolutely right that we need to integrate Nowell at PG ASAP to protect against a Diarra injury while also setting us up for next year.

I was completely on-board with seeing if Ross could grow into the stopper the team needs this year until I saw him up-close in person on Wednesday. IMO, he's not even close to being an effective player at either end of the floor and outside of a good defensive half against Gonzaga, it's not even like he's showing many flashes against decent competition to make you think the light is about to go on in any meaningful way. If Danny wants to give him a few minutes here and there, so be it but at this point I think Nowell, Mahaney and Stewart need to be taking all available minutes from spots 1 thru 4

I agree there’s other to prioritize over him. If Ross doesn’t figure it out by the time Liam comes back he may take the cut from the 9 man rotation that it currently is at the moment.

Mahaney also has to pick it up because if he isn’t giving us much tangible it may be worth giving Nowell minutes over him too.

It’s show time for him and Ross right now. Stewart seems to thrive whenever he’s given extra responsibility.

 

[ctchamps]

I agree with the premise but I kind of feel like Ross has worked himself so far down the rotation that there are a lot of other guys we need to be prepping for both March 2025 and next season before him. Assuming Karaban and McNeeley are going pro after this season, I think Stewart has shown enough that he needs to get the bulk of the remaining minutes at both forward spots because he will be our Karaban next year. Mahaney, for all his struggles, brings a scoring skillset from the two that compliments what Solo isn't as good at and you're absolutely right that we need to integrate Nowell at PG ASAP to protect against a Diarra injury while also setting us up for next year.

I was completely on-board with seeing if Ross could grow into the stopper the team needs this year until I saw him up-close in person on Wednesday. IMO, he's not even close to being an effective player at either end of the floor and outside of a good defensive half against Gonzaga, it's not even like he's showing many flashes against decent competition to make you think the light is about to go on in any meaningful way. If Danny wants to give him a few minutes here and there, so be it but at this point I think Nowell, Mahaney and Stewart need to be taking all available minutes from spots 1 thru 4

Ross was very effective last 6 minutes of the DePaul game. But otherwise I agree with you.

 

[walski]

One of the oddest but most obvious problems I've seen over and over w JR is not throwing passes with pace. Often loopy, lazy, either tipped or picked off, or not putting his teammates in a good position to shoot/drive/finish. This was one of Andre's strongest skills. I guess more than anything shows nerves, not inability.

 

[alphasigko]

One of the oddest but most obvious problems I've seen over and over w JR is not throwing passes with pace. Often loopy, lazy, either tipped or picked off, or not putting his teammates in a good position to shoot/drive/finish. This was one of Andre's strongest skills. I guess more than anything shows nerves, not inability.

And high BBIQ