Three predictions after one game

[jleves]

Two good - one bad

Brimah will be a lottery pick after three years.

Napier will have the highest 3pt shooting % for one season at the end of the year.

Boat will never play in the NBA.

caveat I really like Boat and he's a great 2nd guard in college. He just doesn't have the PG skills to be an NBA player.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Two good - one bad

Brimah will be a lottery pick after three years.

Napier will have the highest 3pt shooting % for one season at the end of the year.

Boat will never play in the NBA.

caveat I really like Boat and he's a great 2nd guard in college. He just doesn't have the PG skills to be an NBA player.

agree about boat, he's just not good

 

[TheChamps990411]

I thought Boat played terrible tonight. Really hope he gets it together and starts making better decisions. Watching him i couldnt help but think that he could problably beat any player on the court in a 1 v 1 pickup game but when hes put in a team concept he just doesnt seem to understand how to get people involved or take better shots. I cant imagine at this point seeing him in the nba.

Giffey might challenge Napier for best percentage.

Brimah could end up being better than Thabeet but not as good a Mek in a uconn uni but he could end up a better pro than both. This kid has some serious ability and hustles.

 

[caw]

Boat actually played great as a second facilitator when with Napier. He also played solid defense except for a few possessions. He had a bad shooting night though.

He had serious trouble without Napier out there.

 

[CAHUSKY]

agree about boat, he's just not good

99.9% of the teams in the country would like to have Boat on their roster. Don't let the fact that he's not a top nba prospect fool you in to believing he's "not good". He will win games for us this year.

 

[OklahomaUconn]

I thought Boat played terrible tonight. Really hope he gets it together and starts making better decisions. Watching him i couldnt help but think that he could problably beat any player on the court in a 1 v 1 pickup game but when hes put in a team concept he just doesnt seem to understand how to get people involved or take better shots. I cant imagine at this point seeing him in the nba.

Giffey might challenge Napier for best percentage.

Brimah could end up being better than Thabeet but not as good a Mek in a uconn uni but he could end up a better pro than both. This kid has some serious ability and hustles.

I have to disagree on him not being better than emeka ...ive never seen a guy his size run so fast/fluid and he isnt awkward and unlike a lot of big freshman hes not wearing boxing gloves on his hands when he catches passes ...he has huge long arms...nice lil hook (only sample size of 2) if he can get stronger in his time at uconn and is able to rebound he might be a drummond type prospect

 

[sparky]

Don't count Boat out. The NBA is a different league and many more teams are running. He didn't have a great night, but damn is he quick. Bazz's tech really hurt and changed the game from a double digit win to a one point hold your breath win. I hate the impede rule. I think the ref's did a good job calling it, but it slows the game down. It will expose poor interior defense and foul shooters . Brimah is going to be a lottery pick down the road. I hope he stays, but he may be a 2fer. Thanks to T.O.'s clutch 3 we are 1-0 and he hustled his butt off too.

 

[boog204]

Agree on Brimah and Boat. Brimah is miles ahead of where Hasheem was at the same point. Defensively he could be a monster although he was exposed in straight post up situations due to his lack of strength. He has to bulk up and avoid the ticky tac fouls.

Boat is a perplexing player. He is incredibly quick and athletic but he seems to get beat off the dribble quite a bit. He (and Bazz) constantly are gambling for steals. Offensively he can be a bit selfish and dominate the ball. We lost the lead in part b/c our offense became stagnant/sloppy and Bazz and Boat were content on taking contested jumpers. I don't think there is any way he becomes a pro.

 

[Kitaman]

Napier 'Senior' speaking didn't have his best game either. No need to be critical or single out Boat if you don't speak on the others, including DD, especially on a one (i.e. first) game performance.

 

[boog204]

I didn't Napier played that well either. His numbers are great but Boat and Bazz are to blame for our offense getting so stagnant. For 30 minutes we were running, moving the ball, penetrating, etc. We then reverted to the Boat and Bazz jump shot show down the stretch. Bazz can get away with this as he can shoot and he did hit a big 3 to give a little breathing room, but he took some very poor shots and the ball movement simply stopped. Olander's 3 was a bail out shot b/c Boat overpenetrated.

 

[Nnocu]

I would (100% of the time) take last night's Brimah over the Chukwu i've seen in youtube highlight reels.

 

[B1GEast]

Two good - one bad

Boat will never play in the NBA.

caveat I really like Boat and he's a great 2nd guard in college. He just doesn't have the PG skills to be an NBA player.

If boat makes it to the NBA, which I think he will, it's because he has the heart of a lion.

 

[Inyatkin]

The bad impression Thabeet made as a freshman still seems to cloud people's memories of how dominant he was as a junior. If Brimah approaches how good Thabeet was as a college player we'll be in good shape.

 

[djct1999]

My 3 predictions:
1. napier is first team all-american.
2. giffey gets drafted in the 2nd round by the spurs then gets stashed overseas for a few years.
3. brimah is on the all-aac freshman team.

 

[Huskyforlife]

boat needs a chance to play pg next year. he played horrible defense against there sgs but played really good defense against their pg at the end. the problem is we heard how he supposedly refined his pg skills but i didn't see anything he didn't do last year.

 

[James]

Dudes hate boatright for no reason haha. He's on our team why are we trying to declare if he'll ever be a successful pro? it's quite clear many on here don't identify with his persona, not only his game.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Another "down" prediction, that might not be so down for us -- Daniels will not be a lottery pick (and maybe not even in the first round).

Going into the year, I kind of had in the back of my mind that his breakout games at the end of last year were more due to circumstance (i.e. injury to others, forcing him to be the focal point of the offense) than due to a huge increase in his skill and assertiveness. The first game seems to have confirmed that.

Don't get me wrong, Daniels is a great complementary player for this team, who's capable of creating bad matchups for opposing 4's and can get 20 on any night. But he's not going to get 20 on every night. He still can't really create for himself; his handle is somewhat suspect, so he's not super effective driving on his man. But on this team, he doesn't need to be. Bazz will do an excellent job finding him on spot-up 3's, cutting along the baseline, flashing to the foul line, and in transition. However, he's not going to be the Durant Lite that I think a lot of us were hoping/expecting he would be.

And maybe he'll be back for his senior year at a position where we haven't found a true replacement for his combination of size/skill set.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Another "down" prediction, that might not be so down for us -- Daniels will not be a lottery pick (and maybe not even in the first round).

Going into the year, I kind of had in the back of my mind that his breakout games at the end of last year were more due to circumstance (i.e. injury to others, forcing him to be the focal point of the offense) than due to a huge increase in his skill and assertiveness. The first game seems to have confirmed that.

Don't get me wrong, Daniels is a great complementary player for this team, who's capable of creating bad matchups for opposing 4's and can get 20 on any night. But he's not going to get 20 on every night. He still can't really create for himself; his handle is somewhat suspect, so he's not super effective driving on his man. But on this team, he doesn't need to be. Bazz will do an excellent job finding him on spot-up 3's, cutting along the baseline, flashing to the foul line, and in transition. However, he's not going to be the Durant Lite that I think a lot of us were hoping/expecting he would be.

And maybe he'll be back for his senior year at a position where we haven't found a true replacement for his combination of size/skill set.

why don't we just keep him as the focal point then? i'm not buying this post

 

[ctchamps]

This team is a work in progress. The only three true veterans or SN, NG and TO and TO is a reserve player. The other major components on this team primarily have only one season of major playing time or less.

RB had some sloppy turnovers but he limited them. He actually had some decent open looks which, had he made them, would have had a very similar game to SN on the offensive end. RB was beaten by Wells, but with the hand check rules players like Wells and Smart will have a definite advantage at getting to the rim this season.

DD will go only as far as his confidence allows him. The last two 3 pt shots he took it appeared his form was off as if he was forcing the shot.

I was most surprised with how much difficulty SN and RB seemed to have had in trying to dribble past the defense in the half court set. Last season against Cuse, they shredded the defense. In this game against Maryland's zone, with the hand checking rules, I would have thought they would have penetrated the defense easily in the half court.

My guess is that the two exhibition games were a benefit to the newer players and a detriment to SN and RB. All in all there is a lot of positive that this game demonstrated.

 

[Inyatkin]

Another "down" prediction, that might not be so down for us -- Daniels will not be a lottery pick (and maybe not even in the first round).

Going into the year, I kind of had in the back of my mind that his breakout games at the end of last year were more due to circumstance (i.e. injury to others, forcing him to be the focal point of the offense) than due to a huge increase in his skill and assertiveness. The first game seems to have confirmed that.

Don't get me wrong, Daniels is a great complementary player for this team, who's capable of creating bad matchups for opposing 4's and can get 20 on any night. But he's not going to get 20 on every night. He still can't really create for himself; his handle is somewhat suspect, so he's not super effective driving on his man. But on this team, he doesn't need to be. Bazz will do an excellent job finding him on spot-up 3's, cutting along the baseline, flashing to the foul line, and in transition. However, he's not going to be the Durant Lite that I think a lot of us were hoping/expecting he would be.

And maybe he'll be back for his senior year at a position where we haven't found a true replacement for his combination of size/skill set.

How many college players get 20 on every night? Not a whole lot.
I don't get why anyone wants to draw conclusions from one game. Hey, remember the first game of 03-04 when we trailed at the half against Yale? That year was a total bust.

 

[EricLA]

It's hard to make a serious assessment after one game. The team played terrific for about 30 minutes and had a horrible 10 minute or so stretch after Shabazz's technical. Before the start of the season, people were talking about Boat jumping to the NBA. At this point are we putting that to rest? Very few people on here at that time said they didn't think he'd get drafted and that a 5'9" of 5'10" 2 guard just was not a desirable commodity in the NBA.

But it seems many have changed or altered their assessment of his game and how it would translate to the next level. So I hope he plans on coming back for his senior year. If not of course I wish him luck, but perhaps being the primary PG next year will help raise his draft stock...

 

[Vuce]

I have to disagree on him not being better than emeka ...

Whoa whoa there. Remember, Emeka was a National Player of the Year. Don't get me wrong I would love it if Brimah turned into the best player in the country in a couple years but that is a little much after watching one game.

That being said......Uconn has a LOT to work with in Brimah. Great motor, runs like a deer, timing to block shots, etc. Also, Facey was our highest rated recruit this year and he didn't even play. Lots to look forward to. I am really going to enjoy this season.

 

[Tenspro2002]

How many college players get 20 on every night? Not a whole lot.
I don't get why anyone wants to draw conclusions from one game. Hey, remember the first game of 03-04 when we trailed at the half against Yale? That year was a total bust.

I think it's reasonable to look at a veteran player after 1 game and see to what degree their skills or role have changed. And what I see from Daniels is incremental improvement over last year, but not the "blowing up" that might have been inferred on the basis of the last 4 games in 2012-13.

I just don't see the offense running through him or him completely taking over in the way that, say, Caron did in 2002 (this is a comparison that many around here made in the offseason). As it has for the last 5-6 years, our offense will continue to lean heavily on our point guard and best player, namely Bazz.

 

[UConnSwag11]

that statement about boat is horrible based on one game, defensively he was an animal and offensively he had to run the game without bazz in and for the most part not really anyone else could beat their player off the dribble, boat did a good job just needs to work on it

 

[Kembacity]

Dudes hate boatright for no reason haha. He's on our team why are we trying to declare if he'll ever be a successful pro? it's quite clear many on here don't identify with his persona, not only his game.

Truthfully what I've liked about boatright since his start is that he is not an NBA player. I like getting great guys who are undersized because it counts against their chances in the pros, and keeps them in a uconn uniform longer, generally speaking