UCONN Players you thought would be Real Good BUT.............

[hungry husky]

Thought Rudy was very good but didn't hit his stride until the NBA. Would have liked to seen be more of a force in the college game.

 

[DogMania]

I'd put Josh Boone on the list. I think we saw how good he was his freshman year and were spoiled by the way Emeka developed, but Boone never really improved from there, and had a tendency to be very passive.

A few people have mentioned Denham Brown. I struggle to include him because he was a good player, but I always felt that he could have developed an offensive game similar to Rip's, but he never seemed get over his tendency for sloppy ball handling or develop the feel for when he could get his shot off.

I don't quite understand why people had higher expectation on what DB delivered. He was a good scorer but simply not a great athlete. I thought his handle was adaquate for a 3. He simply wasn't the type of athlete that could create his own shot against the quicker wings. Now not all teams have big atheletic wings, but he had a tendancy to struggle against the longer and more athletic ones. He could barely get above the rim. Throwing down a dunk only happened when he had a really good head of steam. I always suspected that he was stuggling with some leg issues his senior year making him look even less athletic than he really was.

With that said, DB was a solid scorer. When JC abandoned the idea of Rudy being his go-to-guy, realizing he simply didn't have the killer instincts and confidence to be that type of player, JC went to DB and Shad more late in games to knock down big shots. What might have influence some in thinking he was a dissapointment was that he and Shad were forced to play out of position at the 2 due to the huge need that UConn had for a 2G. AJ Price (AVM and Latptop-gate) missing time late in DB's and Shads career, forced JC to play them often at the 2, which had them often in mismatches that were often not in their favor. I thought both were very good 3s, but not elite. They both turned out what I expected. Shad had a very tough final season due to that horrible staph infection. I would have liked to see how good he could have been if he was healthy his final season. He always struggled with his handle and was not very good at creating his own shot off the bounce...but I digress...this was about Denham.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I don't quite understand why people had higher expectation on what DB delivered. He was a good scorer but simply not a great athlete. I thought his handle was adaquate for a 3. He simply wasn't the type of athlete that could create his own shot against the quicker wings. Now not all teams have big atheletic wings, but he had a tendancy to struggle against the longer and more athletic ones. He could barely get above the rim. Throwing down a dunk only happened when he had a really good head of steam. I always suspected that he was stuggling with some leg issues his senior year making him look even less athletic than he really was.

With that said, DB was a solid scorer. When JC abandoned the idea of Rudy being his go-to-guy, realizing he simply didn't have the killer instincts and confidence to be that type of player, JC went to DB and Shad more late in games to knock down big shots. What might have influence some in thinking he was a dissapointment was that he and Shad were forced to play out of position at the 2 due to the huge need that UConn had for a 2G. AJ Price (AVM and Latptop-gate) missing time late in DB's and Shads career, forced JC to play them often at the 2, which had them often in mismatches that were often not in their favor. I thought both were very good 3s, but not elite. They both turned out what I expected. Shad had a very tough final season due to that horrible staph infection. I would have liked to see how good he could have been if he was healthy his final season. He always struggled with his handle and was not very good at creating his own shot off the bounce...but I digress...this was about Denham.

If a player is under 6'5 and doesn't have a great handle, they tend to look unathletic. Brown was a good athlete, albeit a little slow, but his handle was terrible and there was no place to play him. Coming out of high school, I had heard from guys that knew these things that he was expecting to be 2 and done.

 

[noeynox]

Nantambu Willingham. Thought we were getting someone who could match up with Mourning and Mutimbo. Thought wrong.

 

[gapere]

Yeah, he never came close to scoring 111 points in a game at UConn. Good grief! What expectations did you have?

Well with the hype surrounding that 111 point game and Denham himself talking about leaving for the NBA after a season or two when her first got here, yea I had rather high expectations.

Not that he wasn't a good player but hype didn't match reality.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Deng and Majok are 1a and 1b. They're basically the same person as far as I'm concerned.

Drummond is definitely up there. For a guy we in the fan base salivated over for years, he was basically a wash on the court -- the occasional highlight-reel dunk or block sullied by the more-frequent lack of instinct or touch around the rim.

I'd also add the list of "long, athletic wings" JC paraded out there ever since Rudy Gay. Sticks was supposed to be Rudy 2.0, and then Roscoe was supposed to be Rudy 3.0. Neither of them lived up to it. Even Rudy wasn't the stud we needed him to be -- though that may have more to do with how the coaching staff utilized that type of player than the player himself.

We've also had some disappointments in terms of guys who were supposed to be lights-out shooters: Haralson and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel come to mind in recent years.

 

[Horatio]

Scottie haralson was the worst recruit to come to Uconn in my opinion . I'm basing that on the fact that this kid did not live up to the hype ( the next Rashad) and from what I saw , He came to Uconn out of shape and could barely run. It looked like he came in with a gut and a bum knee.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Nantambu Willingham. Thought we were getting someone who could match up with Mourning and Mutimbo. Thought wrong.

One of the few posts on this board to make me laugh out loud.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

By the end of Majok's only season at UConn he was starting to show some talent, and I think he would have had a big year if he came back. He had staggering financial problems that obviously influenced his decision. I definitely regretted losing him.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, Haralson and some others were only considered good recruits because of the Boneyard positive feedback cycle building them into superstars when they didn't even have other major college offers that I remember.

Tony Robertson was a guy that could have been one of the best UConn players ever if he cared enough. Some of the most spectacular plays I have ever seen a Husky make were made by Tony Robertson. He had a 4th gear that even top athletes only dream about, and looked like something out of a roadrunner cartoon when he decided to use it. He had the highest "game vertical" I have ever seen. He exploded off the floor, in traffic, and his dunks were awesome. I can't remember the exact game, but I can picture him making a ferocious block from behind on a star center. He had one of the sweetest outside shots of any Husky in history. He shot over 40% from 3 his last two years, and was a 50% shooter for the 2002 Final 8 team while averaging 11.3 ppg. And he had that shooting percentage with Taliek as a Sophomore at Point, who wasn't exactly feeding the players easy shots.

Then other times he clearly didn't even want to be on the court. Marcus Johnson was unable to put the pieces together to be the star that he could have been. Tony Robertson was unwilling.

 

[swami7774]

Anthony (Big Jim) Moye.

 

[Kemballin']

Strong bump man.

Anthony (Big Jim) Moye.

 

[swami7774]

Strong bump man.

As I recall, we "stole" him from U-Hartford. Those were the days when stealing a guy from U-Har was consider a coup.

 

[swami7774]

Nantambu Willingham. Thought we were getting someone who could match up with Mourning and Mutimbo. Thought wrong.

I'll never forget attending the BE regular season clincher vs Pitt at HCC in '94. Willingham was in there for garbage time. He managed a huge dunk, then picked up a midget(had NO idea where the guy came from) and shook him like a salt shaker.
Stuff like that sticks in your mind.

 

[CTBasketball]

Enosch Wolf.

 

[joober jones]

You're all going to laugh at this one, but honestly, I thought Dove had potential. He was an excellent shot blocker and positional defender who was very raw offensively. As JC put it, he "showed flashes, but then HT came and his career was over."

 

[tentoes4rings]

Richie Ashmeade

 

[RichZ]

I thought Kirk King was going to be more than he was. The flashes of brilliance were something else. People may know of his 22 consecutive field goals over 3 games, but most think it was all dunks and layins. In reality, a lot of of it was 12 to 15 foot jumpers. But Ray's magic bucket in the BET never would have happened without #13. Kirk scored 8 consecutive points to erase almost all of the 10 point deficit we faced with 5 minutes to go. Of course Ricky had a few stops on AI in there, too, so Kirk didn't get us into position for Ray's runner single handedly, but damned near. I expected a huge senior season from Kirk. But it wasn't until 10 or 12 games in that he started to show some of the previous season's form. And then his career ended with the suspension for the remainder of his senior season, and that was that.

 

[joober jones]

I thought Kirk King was going to be more than he was. The flashes of brilliance were something else. People may know of his 22 consecutive field goals over 3 games, but most think it was all dunks and layins. In reality, a lot of of it was 12 to 15 foot jumpers. But Ray's magic bucket in the BET never would have happened without #13. Kirk scored 8 consecutive points to erase almost all of the 10 point deficit we faced with 5 minutes to go. Of course Ricky had a few stops on AI in there, too, so Kirk didn't get us into position for Ray's runner single handedly, but damned near. I expected a huge senior season from Kirk. But it wasn't until 10 or 12 games in that he started to show some of the previous season's form. And then his career ended with the suspension for the remainder of his senior season, and that was that.

I still remember when Kirk King had a shot rattling on the rim that would've extended his consecutive field goals made streak that was tipped in by Travis Knight. It was probably the only time I was upset by a put-back from a UConn player. I had the good fortune of meeting Kirk once and you'd be hard pressed to find a nicer guy.

 

[intlzncster]

I disagree on Rash. Nobody gave up more of his game to be a team guy(glue guy). Remember his sophmore year he was leading the team in scoring until he hurt his ankle at Seton Hall. He deferred to others for the good of the team.

Typed the exact same thing, but deleted on reading this. Dude was nasty coming out, and basically sucked it up in deference to better players so we could win a Natty C.

 

[UCweCONN]

Edmund Saunders. He was a solid player but I thought he would have done more.

 

[Kitaman]

Andre Drummond. I naively thought he was going to dominate in his freshman year. I never saw him play prior to joining us but with all the hype I fed in to, I had too high expections of an AA performance. I would have loved to see him one more year.

 

[John]

Loved the kid, but my vote goes with Sticks. Every game I'd wonder if this would be the one that would serve as the launching pad. Second vote would go for Rudy Gay - same scenario. Both were like a severe case of basektball spectator blue balls - lots of tease, but no money shot.

 

[SubbaBub]

The fact that Dickie V spent the entire 1999 championship run slobbering over him, the winner going away is Ajou Ajou Deng.

Honorable mention to Ater Majok, Doug Wrenn, and Nate Miles.

There are guys who didn't live up to their hype and guys who never improved and guys who never fixed the holes in their games, but putting a player who played significant minutes from a final four team on this list is nutso.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Vancat]

ANDRE DRUMMOND!

i was waiting for that!