Tyler Dorsey

[superjohn]

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 Kelis Fisher? 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.

Great post, I hope you continue to post around here.

 

[David 76]

I think the problem is that Purvis really is just a better version of Samuel who isnt playing very well while Samuel is struggling with the increased expectations that come with more minutes and a bigger role. Yes, Purvis hit 38% from 3 freshman year, but both are big guards without a great handle whose best assets should be their D, transition speed and ability to get to the rim.
It was possible to hide Samuels deficient shooting with Bazz/Daniels/Giffey on the roster even when he was called upon for big minutes and with a super small lineup he excelled. That isnt the case this year. In the next two years, Samuel will obviously improve and settle into himself. He may never be more than a 3rd guard, but this year, bc his problems are similiar to those of purvis/cassell/calhoun things are exacerbated.

As for Purvis, he has played 8 games. 8. Before that he last played in march of 2013. Part of the problem is rust. Part of it is not knowing exactly where he fits with new teammates. Part of it is I don't think he has a ton of confidence and part is he's trying to do too much. Part of it is that I dont think Kevin Ollie is the type of coach to limited a kid with the potential of purvis in November. KO

is going to give people a leash. He is going to see what they can do and how they respond to different situations. I believe that eventually KO will make Purvis the best Purvis he can be, for both himself and UConn. Maybe it will happen this March and we make a run, maybe not until next year. What does best purvis mean? I think it means a bulldog on D encouraged to push the ball every chance he gets and in the half court driving the basketball from the off-wing, shooting the 3 if he is wide open. It will mean he understands that the long-2 is not in his repertoire. I also think, that eventually, KO gets this team to make the extra pass.

Pretty much agree with what you say, that is why I started the sentence with "To date," But I expected more from the All American Ferrari and even SC2. Hope it comes, it has to improve. Based on last year, I thought TS would be better not worse but I like your explanation

 

[nyhusky89]

Pretty much agree with what you say, that is why I started the sentence with "To date," But I expected more from the All American Ferrari and even SC2. Hope it comes, it has to improve. Based on last year, I thought TS would be better not worse but I like your explanation

I just don't see any reason to panic with this team-i did after games 1 and 2-but the way they defended texas and duke made it pretty clear that even with Hamilton/Facey making youth mistakes, they'll be top 30 defensively, which means you can win any game you play. EVERYONE has a new role and I am confident that in another month or so, KO will have one of Purvis/Calhoun/Cassell, playing in a way that complements the rest of the team. Its not like these are raw kids that can't play basketball, they just aren't used to playing with each other and don't fully understand their roles bc their roles havent been determined yet.

If the team looks like a mess on O in another month, failing to make the extra pass, taking early clock shots not in transition, having Purvis/Cassell force up 17 footers, then yea, we may be sunk. Until then, we dont have the talent to dominate every team every game November to March, so enjoy watching the team be put together and hope the finished product can win some games in the tournament. Hopefully in a year or two, recruiting is back to top ten status and we are steamrolling people while figuring out who can do what.

 

[Danzz]

I'm pretty sure adams can come in here and start from the jump at the 1. He is a scoring pg but so is boatright. Getting dorsey would be pretty awesome, just because he already has chemistry with hamilton and is a big time shooter.

There is no choice next year on Adams because we have no other PGs. Getting Dorsey changes things but we are going to be inexperienced at PG no matter what happens.