UConn, top 30 team next year. | Page 3 | The Boneyard

UConn, top 30 team next year.

UofCT2009 said:
We witnessed the same thing when Kemba left. We looked GREAT on paper but we lost the emotional heart and soul. The same can be said for other heart & soul departures

1) Post AJ/Adrien = NIT
2) Post Kemba = Bubble
3) Post Shabazz = NIT
4) Post Boatright = Bubble

I hope the same thing does not happen with Vital but we are losing a lot more than his statistics.
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If we lose heart and soul after this season then they are enrolled in the wrong school.
 
Son of Robert said:
I think it is very possible that Tyler Polley starts at the 3 or the 4, Dude has started every game since he's been here. Hurley wants to play 4 out and Tyler is a 40% 3 point shooter which opens the floor up. I think Tyler had finally grabbed hold of playing tough and aggressive, grabbing rebounds, playing more physical ball. We have that one game snapshot of him putting it all together and then BAM he was gone, but to repeat, I think he finally put it all together, which he needed to do in order to stay on the floor. If, he comes back the same player I see him starting.

1 RJ Cole
2 Gaffney or Bouknight
3 Bouknight or Jackson or Polley
4 Polley or Whaley
5 Carlton ( need to establish rim protection and scoring inside
and he has the best size and post moves)

Definite starters:

RJ Cole at he 1
Bouknight at the 2 or 3
Polley at the 3 or 4
Carlton at the 5


Gaffney, Jackson, or Whaley may earn a starting position, but I think just one of these players with the four listed above.

This is based on the roster we have today, we'll have to wait and see what happens. Sure do like the prospect of Landers Nolley joining the team.

Boneyard speculation to while away my time.
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If Polley plays like he did in his final game, anything is possible.
 
superjohn said:
Vital was great the last 3 weeks of the season but I think you're underestimating how good Bouknight is going to be, how much Gaffney is going to improve, how much better all our additions and having a full roster instead of 8 players is going to make us.
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Vital was great the last 3 weeks of the season. A lot of people on here are prisoners of the moment. Vital was extremely frustrating for a large portion of his career. He finally fell into his own as a leader towards the end, but he was absent in times where we needed him as well. Indiana game, St. Joe's game, and multiple other games where we needed a leader to step up and bury a game winning shot.
 
UofCT2009 said:
We witnessed the same thing when Kemba left. We looked GREAT on paper but we lost the emotional heart and soul. The same can be said for other heart & soul departures

1) Post AJ/Adrien = NIT
2) Post Kemba = Bubble
3) Post Shabazz = NIT
4) Post Boatright = Bubble

I hope the same thing does not happen with Vital but we are losing a lot more than his statistics.
Expand ...

In Boatright’s senior season, we finished 20-15, 73rd in KenPom. We made a nice run the in AAC tourney, but we were not even a bubble team, and we lost in the first round of the NIT. In the following year, partially carried by two grad transfers and a freshman guard, we won an NCAA tournament game and finished 26th in KenPom. Despite talk that we might not have made the tourney without Jalen Adams’s shot against Cincy, we were solidly a top-30 team. I love Boat, but I don’t think including h him is helping your argument.
 
tcf15 said:
Just want to let you know that only two guys from high major conferences put up numbers like that in the last 10 years...

2017-18: Kansas’ Devonte’ Graham
Accolades: Consensus first-team All-American, Big 12 Player of the Year, First-team All-Big 12​

2015-16: Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine
Accolades: AP Player of the Year, NABC Player of the Year, Consensus first-team All-American, Julius Erving Award winner, Lute Olson Award winner, Big Ten Player of the Year, First-team All-Big Ten​

I sincerely hope that you are right.
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Didn’t realize these numbers were that rare. But that’s absolutely what I’m expecting from RJ. The dude can shoot and he’ll have space at UConn that he never had at Howard. That’s why I think he’ll shoot a better percentage. He’ll also have pieces around him that he didn’t have at Howard.
 
JimHurley said:
Didn’t realize these numbers were that rare. But that’s absolutely what I’m expecting from RJ. The dude can shoot and he’ll have space at UConn that he never had at Howard. That’s why I think he’ll shoot a better percentage. He’ll also have pieces around him that he didn’t have at Howard.
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Maybe you should hope for those numbers rather than expect them? The sensationalism in your recent posts regarding next year is a little overboard.

We're a good team trending in the right direction. We have a ton of new pieces to the puzzle and potentially another player or two being added as well. A lot of unknowns right now to accurately forecast next season.
 
.-.
lange10 said:
Maybe you should hope for those numbers rather than expect them? The sensationalism in your recent posts regarding next year is a little overboard.

We're a good team trending in the right direction. We have a ton of new pieces to the puzzle and potentially another player or two being added as well. A lot of unknowns right now to accurately forecast next season.
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I’m not bold enough to proclaim my optimism for next season because if the last half decade has taught us anything it taught us what can go wrong will go wrong. But in the comfort of my head.....I think we’re going to be REALLY good next season.
 
AntG168 said:
I’m not bold enough to proclaim my optimism for next season because if the last half decade has taught us anything it taught us what can go wrong will go wrong. But in the comfort of my head.....I think we’re going to be REALLY good next season.
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I also think we’re going to be really good and tournament bound. But for a team that didn’t once finish top 3 in the AAC to now be a “lock” or “guarantee” to finish top 3 in NBE, regardless of all the talent we’ll have, is a bit premature in my opinion. That’s all I’m saying.
 
JimHurley said:
Didn’t realize these numbers were that rare. But that’s absolutely what I’m expecting from RJ. The dude can shoot and he’ll have space at UConn that he never had at Howard. That’s why I think he’ll shoot a better percentage. He’ll also have pieces around him that he didn’t have at Howard.
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The 6 assists is a pretty high bar, as is 40% 3pt on the volume required of a 16+ per game scorer (for example Vital only got to 35% after slumping midway in year). 15 with 4 assists and 36% is still pretty rare stuff that would be a nice bar to aim for.

There's about 20 guys per year (out of 353 point guards/primary playmakers) that get to that statline per year (193 guys in last decade). So that's a top 95th percentile statline. Of the 18 last year, only 6 were 6+ assists per game, and 12 were above 40%.
 
ToolzieFan said:
With only one true center (I see Whaley as a 4/5 who might struggle against bigger players, even though I loved his improvement this year) and Akok possibly out for the year, I don't see any way Brown-Ferguson would redshirt. Even if is only a role player, he will be valuable off the bench.
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We will probably need his 5 fouls more than anything else.
 
JimHurley said:
RJ Cole is going to blow the doors off what a lot of people are expecting on this board.

I fully expect 16-17 PPG shooting 40% from 3 and 6 APG. Anyone who calls this prediction crazy can feel free to call me out this time next year. This man is the truth.
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Dude, you got the scrappyvirus.
 
.-.
JimHurley said:
I’m not into arguing over a guy who hasn’t played a minute for UConn yet. Time will tell.
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You won't get any argument from most people by saying he'll be good. When you claim he'll have one of the 3 best seasons for a PG in the last decade that's a Scrappy prediction
 
JimHurley said:
I’m not into arguing over a guy who hasn’t played a minute for UConn yet. Time will tell.
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Can you share one quote or article about RJ dominating practice this year? Anything at all?
 
Son of Robert said:
I think it is very possible that Tyler Polley starts at the 3 or the 4, Dude has started every game since he's been here. Hurley wants to play 4 out and Tyler is a 40% 3 point shooter which opens the floor up. I think Tyler had finally grabbed hold of playing tough and aggressive, grabbing rebounds, playing more physical ball. We have that one game snapshot of him putting it all together and then BAM he was gone, but to repeat, I think he finally put it all together, which he needed to do in order to stay on the floor. If, he comes back the same player I see him starting.

1 RJ Cole
2 Gaffney or Bouknight
3 Bouknight or Jackson or Polley
4 Polley or Whaley
5 Carlton ( need to establish rim protection and scoring inside
and he has the best size and post moves)

Definite starters:

RJ Cole at he 1
Bouknight at the 2 or 3
Polley at the 3 or 4
Carlton at the 5


Gaffney, Jackson, or Whaley may earn a starting position, but I think just one of these players with the four listed above.

This is based on the roster we have today, we'll have to wait and see what happens. Sure do like the prospect of Landers Nolley joining the team.

Boneyard speculation to while away my time.
Expand ...
I can’t see Carlton starting or getting a lot of PT other than to keep Whaley out of foul trouble or get a big heavy line-up on the court for certain situations.
 
Like I said before, we re pinning a lot on cole. Hope he’s the truth.
 
.-.
navery12 said:
You won't get any argument from most people by saying he'll be good. When you claim he'll have one of the 3 best seasons for a PG in the last decade that's a Scrappy prediction
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UofCT2009 said:
Can you share one quote or article about RJ dominating practice this year? Anything at all?
Expand ...

Time will tell my friends. Time will tell.
 
UofCT2009 said:
Wait, there really isn’t anything on him?
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There is a video of him putting up 28 points and 6 assists against Georgetown as a Soph. That should give you a good feel for his game.

Things that jumped out at me are how comfortable he looks with the ball in his hands, and how he defends immediately after a made basket. Now he has real talent to work with. I wouldn't be surprised if he averages 5 or 6 assists per game next season, he averaged over 6 per game his first two seasons totaling 415 assists. The kid is a baller.
 
UofCT2009 said:
Wait, there really isn’t anything on him?
Expand ...

Yeah, nobody has heard anything. Hurley hasn’t even mentioned his name since he transferred here. Take care. You’ll feel foolish when he’s putting up 1st team all BE numbers.
 
UofCT2009 said:
We witnessed the same thing when Kemba left. We looked GREAT on paper but we lost the emotional heart and soul. The same can be said for other heart & soul departures

1) Post AJ/Adrien = NIT
2) Post Kemba = Bubble
3) Post Shabazz = NIT
4) Post Boatright = Bubble

I hope the same thing does not happen with Vital but we are losing a lot more than his statistics.
Expand ...

Seriously? That's a weak post. Only your #2 is a case where losing emotional leadership meant much more than losing the talent. Post AJ and Adrien was actually post AJ, Adrien, Thabeet and Austrie. We lost four starters from our tournament run, three of home were all conference level. Post Shabazz was post Shabazz, Daniels Giffey and Kromah. Again, we lost 3 of our best 4 players and the next year was more about lack of talent than lack of an emotional leader, which presumably you know because of your #4. And as for your #4 below, we weren't any good the year Boat was the heart and sole of the team.

Vital was absolutely the emotional leader on this team as we got better, as well as its best player. Guess what? Most teams have seniors provide emotional leadership. Most teams lose their emotional leadership most years. And most teams, in most cases, replace it. In decades, the only time UConn lost its heart and sole and couldn't replace the emotional leadership where there was still as much or more talent on the roster was 2011--2012.
 
.-.
businesslawyer said:
Seriously? That's a weak post. Only your #2 is a case where losing emotional leadership meant much more than losing the talent. Post AJ and Adrien was actually post AJ, Adrien, Thabeet and Austrie. We lost four starters from our tournament run, three of home were all conference level. Post Shabazz was post Shabazz, Daniels Giffey and Kromah. Again, we lost 3 of our best 4 players and the next year was more about lack of talent than lack of an emotional leader, which presumably you know because of your #4. And as for your #4 below, we weren't any good the year Boat was the heart and sole of the team.

Vital was absolutely the emotional leader on this team as we got better, as well as its best player. Guess what? Most teams have seniors provide emotional leadership. Most teams lose their emotional leadership most years. And most teams, in most cases, replace it. In decades, the only time UConn lost its heart and sole and couldn't replace the emotional leadership where there was still as much or more talent on the roster was 2011--2012.
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I disagree
 
JimHurley said:
Reread the last sentence of my previous post. Never thought I’d see this forum discussing how bad one of our transfer will be.
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Nobody is discussing how bad he will be, everyone is being realistic with their expectations and then there is you.
 
UofCT2009 said:
Nobody is discussing how bad he will be, everyone is being realistic with their expectations and then there is you.
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For the 3rd time, time will tell. I won’t be the one looking like a fool this time next year.
 
.-.
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