Too High Expectations

[Chin Diesel]

Rudy Johnson, great athleticism I thought he could be a 15 & 8 ish guy for huskies and loved him filling the lane on break. Lost time to health then never fully put it back together.

Yeah, injuries robbed him. Really liked him as a recruit.

Put me in the Doug Wrenn and Toraino Walker column. Wish those guys would have taken advantage of the opportunity to use basketball to get them through college.

Toraino was Jeff Adrien 15 year before Jeff Adrien.

 

[lange10]

I thought Sam Cassell Jr. was going to be a stud after his performances in the two exhibitions to start the '14-15 season.

 

[Nick2005]

Not sure how to put this but what player did you have high expectations for but for whatever reason they did not reach 'your' expectation?


For me I would say Jalen Adams. In high school he was the shizzle (liked him over Briscoe), and he did had a good college career. I just felt he was AA material coming in.

Just Drummond, not even close.

 

[Shabizzness]

Yeah, injuries robbed him. Really liked him as a recruit.

Put me in the Doug Wrenn and Toraino Walker column. Wish those guys would have taken advantage of the opportunity to use basketball to get them through college.

Toraino was Jeff Adrien 15 year before Jeff Adrien.

Speaking of Doug Wrenn, I stumbled across his name recently checking out NBA combine measurements.

His wingspan was the longest in his class at 7’7.5”! Just insane. Longer wingspan than Hasheem Thabeet, Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis.

And he was a small forward. So much potential.

Draft Combine Anthrometric | Stats | NBA.com

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I was too intimidated to say Rudy Gay aswell....Definitely did not live up to hype..32% 3 pt shooter Soph year after 40% plus as frosh...did not help being on the 05-06 team that lost in SHOCKING and SICKENING fashion to George Mason

I considered him bc I felt like he played most of his sophomore season like he didn’t want to get hurt before entering the draft. He was good and maybe he just made it look easy….and 15ppg is nothing to scoff at. But coming into that year, all I’d read about was how he was head and shoulders above everyone on the US U21 team talent wise. So I had ultra high expectations for him that season. Be he was still really good.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Rudy Gay was a first-team All-American his sophomore year. Gotta think that’s enough to not be labeled a disappointment.

If Denham Brown hits the stepback 3 to beat George Mason, nobody even considers Rudy Gay.

 

[HooperScooper]

If Denham Brown hits the stepback 3 to beat George Mason, nobody even considers Rudy Gay.

You're probably right.

I find it amusing that 2 of the players mentioned in this thread (Rudy and Hasheem) were consensus 2nd team All Americans (both were 1st team on some of the All American teams). Tough crowd here.

 

[Waquoit]

If Denham Brown hits the stepback 3 to beat George Mason, nobody even considers Rudy Gay.

That shot wasn't going in, in a million years.

 

[slepers]

Why do we want to have a thread that “trashes” our players. Maybe too”low”expectations would serve us better.

 

[Captbluefin]

Andre Jackson’s NBA career

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

I know this will not be popular but Rudy Gay. With the level of talent he had he shouldve been a one and done national player of the year once a generation type player. Maybe im wrong about what i saw but i really think he shouldve been an NBA superstar and he just never became anything near that. He had some good seasons but never even made an All Star team. Really believed he couldve been a lot more both in college and NBA.

I was going to say Rudy Gay as well. With his athleticism and size, he should have been able to dominate whoever was guarding but a lot of times he just settled on 3s instead of taking it to the rim. He was a great finisher on a breakaway dunk or what not but the guy never took over games. Have to give him kudos for the NBA career he's had.

A few more:

Marcus Johnson: a guy who seemed like another freak athlete who never really materialized.

Scottie Harrelton: guy was supposed to be a great 3 point shooter. He was off more than he was on.

 

[Letsgohuskies11]

*Scottie Haralson

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I was going to say Rudy Gay as well. With his athleticism and size, he should have been able to dominate whoever was guarding but a lot of times he just settled on 3s instead of taking it to the rim. He was a great finisher on a breakaway dunk or what not but the guy never took over games. Have to give him kudos for the NBA career he's had.

A few more:

Marcus Johnson: a guy who seemed like another freak athlete who never really materialized.

Scottie Harrelton: guy was supposed to be a great 3 point shooter. He was off more than he was on.

It’s funny with the game on the line all throughout the tournament Rudy never had the ball. It was Shad, Brown, or Marcus taking the shots with the game on the line.

It’s funny cause yeah, in the NBA Rudy was pretty good at hitting game winners.

I remember wondering why Marcus Johnson never made much of an impact too.

 

[mauconnfan]

Stanley Robinson
Curtis Kelly
Doug Wiggins

So much so that the cat we got in 2006 is named Stanley Curtis Wiggins - or Scwiggins for short. He's 17 now and still alive. Can't be said for all the guy mentioned above (RIP Stanley)

I'm ok with the last 2 but I have no idea how Stanley is on that list? He was a very good player who fought through some personal and academic issues and ended up improving throughout his career. Think his years, his teams sometimes seemed to frustrate us but he was hardly the main reason. One of my favorites ever, Stanley RIP!

 

[SaeHusky]

Michael Leblanc - but at least his unheralded high school teammate Jake Voskul way a key to helping us win our first title.

 

[Ratso]

i had no idea kevin freeman was any good until i listened the knuckleheads podcast with tim thomas. apparently he was a beast @ a chicago showcase? patterson’s finest

 

[Tenspro2002]

You're probably right.

I find it amusing that 2 of the players mentioned in this thread (Rudy and Hasheem) were consensus 2nd team All Americans (both were 1st team on some of the All American teams). Tough crowd here.

Thabeet is a ludicrous inclusion here.

At the time it was fair to question Calhoun, who seemingly hitched an entire development cycle to Thabeet which in some ways seemed like a vanity project so that he could prove he could develop anyone. Making the Final Four in 2009, with Thabeet going #2 overall (albeit as a bust that everyone could see coming) validated that project.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

Thabeet is a ludicrous inclusion here.

At the time it was fair to question Calhoun, who seemingly hitched an entire development cycle to Thabeet which in some ways seemed like a vanity project so that he could prove he could develop anyone. Making the Final Four in 2009, with Thabeet going #2 overall (albeit as a bust that everyone could see coming) validated that project.

2007 was an ugly year, but 2008 and 2009 were pretty good years because of the chemistry that was built.

Who knows how our tournament would’ve went in 2008 if AJ Price didn’t go down in the first round.

 

[wingsfan055]

Rudy gay was so hyped up with his skillset and athleticism. He was on 2 very talented UConn teams, and should have made a Final Four. Not all his fault, but he never stepped up as he should have in the big games. His overall stats also never lived up to his hype. The word disappointing comes to mind when I recall the Rudy gay era.

 

[Waquoit]

The word disappointing comes to mind when I recall the Rudy gay era.

That's fine. As long as it's not, aw crap I forget now. You know, when you open the mouth wide with a deep inhalation, usually involuntarily from drowsiness, fatigue, or boredom.

 

[BattersonB]

Drummond. Ajou Deng.

Drummond got a late start. I don’t know what the problems were with his grades, etc..but it took until almost the start of fall practice to get him into school. Not enough time for him to gel with the other players; especially since he only stayed one year and booked to the NBA.

 

[Ratso]

Rudy gay was so hyped up with his skillset and athleticism. He was on 2 very talented UConn teams, and should have made a Final Four. Not all his fault, but he never stepped up as he should have in the big games. His overall stats also never lived up to his hype. The word disappointing comes to mind when I recall the Rudy gay era.

100% dude was gifted and that was good enough. emoni bates?