Long time reader, first time poster and I am really struggling to see how anyone who watched UConn's first 8 games would ever consider Lubin over Facey. Every UConn player has the talent to contribute this year, except Lubin. Facey, some might say, has been the biggest bright spot on the entire team. The one position we thought was up for grabs, where we were replacing a guy who dropped 20/10 in the FF and was a top 3 player on a title team, is now occupied by a guy going for 7-7 without having a single play run for him.
Facey is tall, is athletic, is a "double leaper" and has a nose for the basket. On most of his points, he is either in the air with the ball again before the defender has landed, or uses a quick move to seal his man and go back up. The kid apparently has a decent shooting stroke, on display last year in the USF blowout where he hit a few 12 foot zone busters and even knocked in 2 threes. He is adjusting to both the level of play and the amount of time he is seeing on the court. If all he does the rest of his career is improve his defense and can contribute 9/9 or 10/10 he is getting 20 min/game. If he gets to the point that Ollie allows him to shoot the ball or runs a play for him, good god. He is not one of our top 4 most talented players and will never be a conference player of the year, but my god in terms of development what more do you want?
Coming off three seasons of down recruiting due to violations/bans/coaches/conferences, finding Facey and Brimah and developing them are HUGE COUPS that keep the cupboard from going bare. Do you realize how many teams in America would love to have a 6'10" player with the potential of KF? The answer is a lot. You cant teach size and you cant teach athleticism-you also cant teach the "feel" that this kid has. As raw as he is and bad as he's looked on some plays, those put backs and rebounds take feel. You have to be able to just react in the moment and find a way to score. Of all the things to complain about, Kentan Facey is not one of them, ESPECIALLY if your trying to elevate the only player who clearly wont contribute this year.