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How do you think Rashool Diggins, Sampson Davis and Jordan Hawkins will do in the freshmen season at UConn? Who do you think will be the best of the three freshmen?
 
Chosen said:
How do you think Rashool Diggins, Sampson Davis and Jordan Hawkins will do in the freshmen season at UConn? Who do you think will be the best of the three freshmen?
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Mood when they don’t get your name right smh.

*Samson Johnson
 
Diggins: 10-15 mpg as Cole's backup. I can't see Cole and Diggins sharing the court much, if at all.

Johnson: 8-10 mpg as the fourth "big" behind Whaley (27 mpg), Sanogo (25 mpg), Akok (20 mpg)

Hawkins: Biggest ??? in terms of minutes. Could very well be the starter at the 2 by the middle of the season depending on how Gaffney and Jackson play.
 
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Hey Adrien! said:
Diggins: 10-15 mpg as Cole's backup. I can't see Cole and Diggins sharing the court much, if at all.

Johnson: 8-10 mpg as the fourth "big" behind Whaley (27 mpg), Sanogo (25 mpg), Akok (20 mpg)

Hawkins: Biggest ??? in terms of minutes. Could very well be the starter at the 2 by the middle of the season depending on how Gaffney and Jackson play.
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If there are 10 minutes a game for Johnson, either he's much better as a frosh than I'm anticipating, or (my fear) Akok Akok isn't the player I'm hoping he will be. Because I'm hoping that even sharing time with Sanogo and Whaley his play is requiring 27 minutes a game.
 
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From most to least in terms of minutes.
Hawkins
Johnson
Sool
Hard to give specific minutes for each. Hawkins will provide the most offensive production. AJ and Reese can play the 4 if we go small. I would like to think of Hawkins as a "baby Ray" and we all know how great he was.
I think Johnson will surprise people. He can stretch the floor and be a menace inside. This will depend on Akok's development since his injury.
I think Sool will have to fight more for minutes. RJ and Gaffney are seasoned. RJ has gained more confidence at this level. Gaffney is the wild card. Will he play like he did in the Maryland game or disappear like he did in other games? AJ could play pg given his elite passing.
 
Hey Adrien! said:
Diggins: 10-15 mpg as Cole's backup. I can't see Cole and Diggins sharing the court much, if at all.

Johnson: 8-10 mpg as the fourth "big" behind Whaley (27 mpg), Sanogo (25 mpg), Akok (20 mpg)

Hawkins: Biggest ??? in terms of minutes. Could very well be the starter at the 2 by the middle of the season depending on how Gaffney and Jackson play.
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I’d actually be really intrigued to see Cole off ball with Diggins in at PG. If Diggins is the lead guard he’s touted as it could make things a lot easier for Cole on the offensive end and increase his efficiency.
 
Hopefully we have a lot of blowouts so Johnson can get some serious minutes but I think he will only get spot minutes in conference games with the exception of a couple games when bigs are in foul trouble. I think when the rotation shortens in the big east he will get couple DNP's. If any of our bigs get injured he will be in the rotation and playing more than 15mpg.

Hawkins and Diggins will play in every game. Neither will start but Hawkins has a chance of starting later in the season. I think Cole is solidified as someone who is going to start and play a lot but Gaffney isn't. Gaffney's minutes are there for Diggins and Hawkins to take.

I think Jackson and Polley will both be playing the 3.

A lot of coaches would use them at the 4 and go small with one of our bigs at the 5 but Sanogo, Whaley, and (hopefully) akok are going to be so good that I think we will go big more often than not, despite the very real uconn spacing problems.
 
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From what I’m hearing Hawkins is looking the best from day one. Very good. Samson raw but a lot of potential, not afraid to shoot the 3 ball. Diggins good floor general but needs to work on his physicality more.
 
I'm hoping Hawkins gives us decent minutes as a microwave scorer off the bench.

I'm not sure how many minutes the other two will see. Sool may get a little run.

I always love when the Boneyard runs wild in the offseason, making confident proclamations that the freshman will come in and be starting at some point in the season or seeing significant minutes early on over more established players. It's the backup QB effect, where we wildly overrate the incoming kid and downplay what we've seen already. Gaffney is by no means a first round pick, but he was just the best player on our team in an NCAA tournament game and people and already writing him off. Much more likely a seasoned kid becomes a little more consistent than a freshman guard comes in and really contributes (though not altogether out of the realm of possibility, I just think the ceiling on their impact is what kemba/bazz did as freshman).
 
Given shooting is at a premium, I suspect Hawkins will be the first to be placed in opportunities to show that he can be reliable. Hopefully, the time will come early and often against the softer portion of the schedule so that he is clicking and getting significant minutes by the beginning of BE schedule.

Generally, outside of shooting, rebounding and hustle can garner court time early in your college career. Coaches can't afford not to have this sort of added value on the court. If Samson shows consistent rebounding activity and the occasional three, it's likely the staff will have to find time for him, and yes this factors in Akok.

Samson gives you great length, added possessions potentially with his offensive rebounding ability and has demonstrated rim running ability in his HS and AAU career. I'm looking forward to when we trot out a once again healthy and armed with the 3 Akok at the four, and Samson, the same type of athlete, with a similar skill-set, just bigger and longer, at the five.

And in agreement with others, Sool has the toughest path this year towards significant minutes. Cole will be vying for Big East honors ( we hope), so reserve minutes at pg will be shared with Gaff and probably Jackson, which would not surprise me at all. Sool has an it factor which in the past has translated into nothing but winning and I expect that to continue as he learns and competes for PT as a Big East pg.
 
PAHusky said:
I'm hoping Hawkins gives us decent minutes as a microwave scorer off the bench.

I'm not sure how many minutes the other two will see. Sool may get a little run.

I always love when the Boneyard runs wild in the offseason, making confident proclamations that the freshman will come in and be starting at some point in the season or seeing significant minutes early on over more established players. It's the backup QB effect, where we wildly overrate the incoming kid and downplay what we've seen already. Gaffney is by no means a first round pick, but he was just the best player on our team in an NCAA tournament game and people and already writing him off. Much more likely a seasoned kid becomes a little more consistent than a freshman guard comes in and really contributes (though not altogether out of the realm of possibility, I just think the ceiling on their impact is what kemba/bazz did as freshman).
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Really surprised this post didn't get torn apart. Hawkins will absolutely start at some point this upcoming season.
 
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superjohn said:
Really surprised this post didn't get torn apart. Hawkins will absolutely start at some point this upcoming season.
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and guys in the last couple of years like Akok, Bouknight and Sanogo started as freshman. If anything, Sanogo started even earlier on than the BY predicted. Its definitely not a stretch to say that highly ranked guys are going to play a lot early on.
 
businesslawyer said:
If there are 10 minutes a game for Johnson, either he's much better as a frosh than I'm anticipating, or (my fear) Akok Akok isn't the player I'm hoping he will be. Because I'm hoping that even sharing time with Sanogo and Whaley his play is requiring 27 minutes a game.
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I don't think Johnson is ready enough that any scenario where he gets 10+ mpg means he's overperforming more than it means there's a problem with the other guys.

In an ideal world he gets similar minutes to what Brown-Ferguson got last year.
 
Kenny11 said:
and guys in the last couple of years like Akok, Bouknight and Sanogo started as freshman. If anything, Sanogo started even earlier on than the BY predicted. Its definitely not a stretch to say that highly ranked guys are going to play a lot early on.
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True, but they took minutes from guys like Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton and Brandon Adams. Our roster is better and deeper today.

Hawkins has the easiest path, because he's the only pure 2 guard on the roster. Whether he's ready to grab the role, we'll see.
 
businesslawyer said:
True, but they took minutes from guys like Tyler Polley and Josh Carlton and Brandon Adams. Our roster is better and deeper today.

Hawkins has the easiest path, because he's the only pure 2 guard on the roster. Whether he's ready to grab the role, we'll see.
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Brendan Adams
 
Hawkins hands down. He will be a 2 year player at most. He is special and will be the best Dan Hurley has ever coached to date No doubt at all.
 
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If all the freshmen are as good as some here believe, the real challenge will be for Dan Hurley to figure out how to keep so many quality players happy so they don't sulk about playing time and transfer.
Commitments today are easy to lose to the dreams of riches being found at the next place........add in NIL and we probably can't imagine the turmoil we're likely to see in roster upheavals everywhere.
 
gtcam said:
Hawkins hands down. He will be a 2 year player at most. He is special and will be the best Dan Hurley has ever coached to date No doubt at all.
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He's better than Bouknight? That's quite a projection.
 
Different players..Very skilled scorers/bucket getters..Will be a fun ride with the Hawk..

Eye of the Tiger.
 
PAHusky said:
I always love when the Boneyard runs wild in the offseason, making confident proclamations that the freshman will come in and be starting at some point in the season or seeing significant minutes early on over more established players. It's the backup QB effect, where we wildly overrate the incoming kid and downplay what we've seen already
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Did he just call us Palentine? I think he called us Palentine.
 
Watchdog said:
If all the freshmen are as good as some here believe, the real challenge will be for Dan Hurley to figure out how to keep so many quality players happy so they don't sulk about playing time and transfer.
Commitments today are easy to lose to the dreams of riches being found at the next place........add in NIL and we probably can't imagine the turmoil we're likely to see in roster upheavals everywhere.
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Same challenge every other great bball school has. In other words it's a rich person challenge.
 
Hawkins will take Martin's spot eventually. Sool will be Coles primary backup, but I'm not convinced they can play together defensively, that'd be a lot of pressure on the bigs. I'm not sure Johnson beats out Springs for those Carlton minutes, I think we were too fast to write him off.
 
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