Tremont Waters

[Pudge]

Carlton>?

WE are a Program that thrived with kids that came in ... ranked >80 at a Big ... like Rod Sellers, Jake Voskhul and Emeka Okafor ... and they took control of the spot. Maybe this is hoping and praying; but, this is not science and rankings are not done by Gods.

So ... not nothing interior. We do need a surprise. (and before you say Facey or Enoch or Brimah, check yourself ... my view is they met their fate ... and only Facey looks to be on the upward curve)

 

[NielsisGood]

I wouldn't worry too much about that place, full of wannabe die-hards who have no idea what they're talking about. Seems like half the people in that sub started following college basketball in the last three years.

Stepping outside the bubble for some perspective is harder for some, I guess. Doesn't even matter if those people are right, you'd never see the Duke/UNC/UK/KU/Louisville/MSU/etc type programs be disregarded like that. I'd love to be able to pop up and win a title every few years like in 2011 and 2014, but you can't expect that to be sustainable if the program is so completely mediocre in those other years.

 

[Chief00]

Tremont and Vital both played for the same aau team at a point in time hes 10x better Vital knows that. Tremont comes hes starting and everyones minutes go down. Vital knows he only played because of AG injury.

I recognize it may appear to be a zero sum game to a casual fan, however if they sign Waters they will play a 3 guard line up - plenty of minutes for guys.

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

Just a little nugget:

Tremont is at the jordan brand classic practice today and Ray Allen is in attendance. Maybe this is a good omen

Ray Allen should wear the throwback #12 Kevin Ollie UConn jersey to the practice today!

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

I recognize it may appear to be a zero sum game to a casual fan, however if they sign Waters they will play a 3 guard line up - plenty of minutes for guys.

I don't see how anybody would disagree -- we don't have enough big men to even play a 2-guard lineup with any consistency.

 

[upstater]

Carlton>?

WE are a Program that thrived with kids that came in ... ranked >80 at a Big ... like Rod Sellers, Jake Voskhul and Emeka Okafor ... and they took control of the spot. Maybe this is hoping and praying; but, this is not science and rankings are not done by Gods.

So ... not nothing interior. We do need a surprise. (and before you say Facey or Enoch or Brimah, check yourself ... my view is they met their fate ... and only Facey looks to be on the upward curve)

I am really optimistic about Carlton. He seems to have real skills down low. The only issue in the videos is that he sometimes falls asleep down there. It puts him in the Enoch category. Let's see if Ollie can light a fire under him, because if Carlton plays hard, he has the potential to be our best big since Oriakhi/Adrien.

 

[upstater]

Stepping outside the bubble for some perspective is harder for some, I guess. Doesn't even matter if those people are right, you'd never see the Duke/UNC/UK/KU/Louisville/MSU/etc type programs be disregarded like that. I'd love to be able to pop up and win a title every few years like in 2011 and 2014, but you can't expect that to be sustainable if the program is so completely mediocre in those other years.

In 2011, they were not mediocre. They were actually very good, undefeated in OOC, were ranked in top 10 prior to the tournament.

2014 caught everyone by surprise. But, Daniels came on very late in the season after being injured in late January. He was the difference maker.

 

[ctchamps]

Stepping outside the bubble for some perspective is harder for some, I guess. Doesn't even matter if those people are right, you'd never see the Duke/UNC/UK/KU/Louisville/MSU/etc type programs be disregarded like that. I'd love to be able to pop up and win a title every few years like in 2011 and 2014, but you can't expect that to be sustainable if the program is so completely mediocre in those other years.

The next time perspective puts a basket ball through the hoop will be the first time.

Not sure what the purpose is to get people to see your perspective. Right or wrong it accomplishes nothing. Not censoring you or saying it's silly to post but everyone is aware that winning brings positive attention and losing does the opposite.

This past season was a combo of factors that really hurt including but not limited to a degree of injuries very few programs have suffered and when they do very few programs do well.

We can dwell on the past or start to look forward to a better future. I'm hoping the coaches have put this season past with the significant exception that they learn from their mistakes.

 

[tykurez]

In 2011, they were not mediocre. They were actually very good, undefeated in OOC, were ranked in top 10 prior to the tournament.

True - they were ranked #5 as late as January 25th. But then they lost 7 of 11 at the end of conference play with a deflating loss on senior night to ND that left them 9-9 in conference. The team appeared exhausted, especially Kemba. He'd carried those frosh all year and gotten a lot of criticism thrown his way for "disappearing" in the 1st half of games for much of the year. Most of that was opposing teams throwing three guys at him constantly, but he'd also try to force facilitate for his guys.

 

[upstater]

The next time perspective puts a basket ball through the hoop will be the first time.

Not sure what the purpose is to get people to see your perspective. Right or wrong it accomplishes nothing. Not censoring you or saying it's silly to post but everyone is aware that winning brings positive attention and losing does the opposite.

This past season was a combo of factors that really hurt including but not limited to a degree of injuries very few programs have suffered and when they do very few programs do well.

We can dwell on the past or start to look forward to a better future. I'm hoping the coaches have put this season past with the significant exception that they learn from their mistakes.

This past season no doubt hurt UConn's luster, but I will remind people that those same posters being mentioned here said UConn was done in 2005, and in 2010, and again in 2012. Maybe eventually they will be right. But so far, they haven't been right.

 

[Chief00]

I am really optimistic about Carlton. He seems to have real skills down low. The only issue in the videos is that he sometimes falls asleep down there. It puts him in the Enoch category. Let's see if Ollie can light a fire under him, because if Carlton plays hard, he has the potential to be our best big since Oriakhi/Adrien.

Actually, I think our Bigs will have a whole different attitude now with our new S&C Coach. Durham and Steve would have really benefited - what a shame!

 

[upstater]

True - they were ranked #5 as late as January 25th. But then they lost 7 of 11 at the end of conference play with a deflating loss on senior night to ND that left them 9-9 in conference. The team appeared exhausted, especially Kemba. He'd carried those frosh all year and gotten a lot of criticism thrown his way for "disappearing" in the 1st half of games for much of the year. Most of that was opposing teams throwing three guys at him constantly, but he'd also try to force facilitate for his guys.

My point-of-view on it is a bit different. I think the BE refs swallowed their whistles during the regular season. Suddenly, offensive output dropped by 10 points a game. Outside the conference regular season, UConn excelled.

This is why I was optimistic the whole year. Based on what I saw outside the BE regular season, I thought they had a chance to do it.

After the BET, UConn was the 4th most popular pick to win it all on tens of millions of ESPN brackets.

Kemba was highly impacted by not getting the calls he was getting earlier.

 

[auror]

The next time perspective puts a basket ball through the hoop will be the first time.

Not sure what the purpose is to get people to see your perspective. Right or wrong it accomplishes nothing. Not censoring you or saying it's silly to post but everyone is aware that winning brings positive attention and losing does the opposite.

This past season was a combo of factors that really hurt including but not limited to a degree of injuries very few programs have suffered and when they do very few programs do well.

We can dwell on the past or start to look forward to a better future. I'm hoping the coaches have put this season past with the significant exception that they learn from their mistakes.

But in a sport with transferring and recruiting, perception does really matter.

It's reversible obviously, but some of the keys to us reversing the perception were casualties of it. And this makes the perception even worse. This is the downward spiral people are worried about.

We need to break the cycle. A few recruiting wins (Waters, Diarra, and a JUCO/Grad) or a few players achieving their potential (like Adams becoming All-American, Vital All-League, Larrier League POTY) leading to more wins than expected, could definitely work.

 

[businesslawyer]

In 2011, they were not mediocre. They were actually very good, undefeated in OOC, were ranked in top 10 prior to the tournament.

2014 caught everyone by surprise. But, Daniels came on very late in the season after being injured in late January. He was the difference maker.

The difference maker was the ramp up in defensive intensity from Boat and Bazz (and Samuels) 40 feet from the basket. We did not play that way all year.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

My point-of-view on it is a bit different. I think the BE refs swallowed their whistles during the regular season. Suddenly, offensive output dropped by 10 points a game. Outside the conference regular season, UConn excelled.

This is why I was optimistic the whole year. Based on what I saw outside the BE regular season, I thought they had a chance to do it.

After the BET, UConn was the 4th most popular pick to win it all on tens of millions of ESPN brackets.

Kemba was highly impacted by not getting the calls he was getting earlier.

This is very much how I saw it. Thank you for posting.

 

[UConnStats]

The difference maker was the ramp up in defensive intensity from Boat and Bazz (and Samuels) 40 feet from the basket. We did not play that way all year.

The way they denied entry passes and took the ball from underneath taller guards was out of this world. A coaches dream.

I think that would have to be the focal point of a 3 guard defense next year.

 

[businesslawyer]

True - they were ranked #5 as late as January 25th. But then they lost 7 of 11 at the end of conference play with a deflating loss on senior night to ND that left them 9-9 in conference. The team appeared exhausted, especially Kemba. He'd carried those frosh all year and gotten a lot of criticism thrown his way for "disappearing" in the 1st half of games for much of the year. Most of that was opposing teams throwing three guys at him constantly, but he'd also try to force facilitate for his guys.

While it's true that they went 9-9 in conference and hit a dry spell in February, you have to balance that against the fact that we were playing an unbalanced Big East schedule, and the Big East that year may have been during the regular season the best conference that had ever been.

 

[upstater]

This is very much how I saw it. Thank you for posting.

And when you look at the talent on that team, it is not highly surprising they were such a good team.

Kemba, Lamb, Shabazz--3 NBA guys.
A solid frontcourt with Roscoe Smith and Alex Oriakhi.

This was a very talented UConn team.

 

[Storrs South]

none of those high profiled kids taking that bs

None of us high profiled posters are taking your bs

 

[businesslawyer]

1 if they play a 3 guard line up they will suck
2. JA is already pissed off hes playing the 2g and now you want to move our nba guy to the 3?
3. Tremont waters is NOT playing the two see AG the mcdonalds all american is going to be ok playing the 2g?

come on man use your head..... we are in the american and sucked last year none of those high profiled kids taking that bs

You are right. We can only get good players if we let them run the team for themselves, and you can't have a good team if the players run it. So we will suck forever.

O.K.? You've won. Now will you quit pretending you're a UConn fan and go away?

 

[HuskyHawk]

Larrier is a guard. He's not a rebounder or post defender. He plays on offense with the ball in his hands. Ignore his height, think about his skills. That's modern ball.

He is not a guard. Small forwards and wings are expected to have the skills he has. He's 6'9", so for the college game, a big SF. For NBA, he'd be average size at that position.

 

[BenGordonfan]

You are right. We can only get good players if we let them run the team for themselves, and you can't have a good team if the players run it. So we will suck forever.

O.K.? You've won. Now will you quit pretending you're a UConn fan and go away?

So im not a uconn fan because im not delusional? have you followed Tremont waters at all guy? you realize that kid has played on a different elite aau team every year since 7th grade? Do you realize he started at south kent as a freshman instead of going to a powerhouse like brewster and sitting on the bench? Lets be realistic if AG is as good as advertised we should be fine if not vital needs to step up period. What sane kid would come to sit on the bench on a team that had a losing record that was nationally ranked?

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

And when you look at the talent on that team, it is not highly surprising they were such a good team.

Kemba, Lamb, Shabazz--3 NBA guys.
A solid frontcourt with Roscoe Smith and Alex Oriakhi.

This was a very talented UConn team.

Let's not forget Tyler Olander, who has more NC rings than Jim Boeheim.

 

[auror]

My point-of-view on it is a bit different. I think the BE refs swallowed their whistles during the regular season. Suddenly, offensive output dropped by 10 points a game. Outside the conference regular season, UConn excelled.

This is why I was optimistic the whole year. Based on what I saw outside the BE regular season, I thought they had a chance to do it.

After the BET, UConn was the 4th most popular pick to win it all on tens of millions of ESPN brackets.

Kemba was highly impacted by not getting the calls he was getting earlier.

Your point holds up mostly, although he also shot much worse during BE play (potentially tired).

OOC     6.2    7.3    84.09%
REG     5.2    6.9    75.81%
TOURN   8.2    9.4    87.38%

 

[Chief00]

So im not a UConn fan because im not delusional? have you followed Tremont waters at all guy? you realize that kid has played on a different elite aau team every year since 7th grade? Do you realize he started at south kent as a freshman instead of going to a powerhouse like brewster and sitting on the bench? Lets be realistic if AG is as good as advertised we should be fine if not vital needs to step up period. What sane kid would come to sit on the bench on a team that had a losing record that was nationally ranked?

Respectfully, I don't even think you reach the casual fan standard.