Upside potential

[RuffRuff]

A lot of proving has to happen this year, but I can't help but think the team with the most "upside" to be absolutely special this year is this Uconn team. What you hear every year around March is the team with the most "NBA Talent" wins in a one and done scenario. It's why the Pitt's of the world never seem to go anywhere. With UNC, I think we know what we are getting - they are the clearcut preseason number one and deservedly so because they have the most established talent going into the season. But is the upside there - how much room is there for growth?

With Kentucky, clearly, they have great upside. That comes with being extremely young, as is the case every year at Kentucky. But as we've seen in the past, it's hard to win the big one when you're core is built around freshman. Freshman are great, but usually best when you can plug them into momentum of solid returning contributors who know the ropes. Kentucky may yet again be over-reliant on frosh. This year is a bit different in that they have Terrance Jones returning - although the guy has to recapture what he showed early in last season.

The Cuse have talent, but seem to be missing the X factor. There just seems to be a missing intanglible with that team.

OSU - I just don't feel it. It's Sullinger and a nice cast, but they lose some outside firepower from a team that really thrived on the 3. And I can't help that Sullinger could be neutralized going up against a guy like Drummond. I don't see the athletecism.

Now with Uconn - the perfect recipe. A fantastic core of sophs/Oriakhi coming back that want to prove they can win without Kemba. Let's not forget how young Shabazz was last year - a year of growth will go a long way. A secondary cast that can't be underestimated. And an injection of amazing extremely talented freshman in the right spot that will break up and kind of complacency. AND, what I might think is technically the most talented team in the country when it comes to pure high level NBA talent potential. I don't like setting expectations too high, but I just feel really good about this team come March.

 

[orangehomer]

The Cuse have talent, but seem to be missing the X factor. There just seems to be a missing intanglible with that team.

OSU - I just don't feel it. It's Sullinger and a nice cast, but they lose some outside firepower from a team that really thrived on the 3. And I can't help that Sullinger could be neutralized going up against a guy like Drummond. I don't see the athletecism.

have you watched some games that no one else has?

 

[champs99and04]

It's called speculation-that's what message boards are for.

 

[mauconnfan]

have you watched some games that no one else has?

In what way homer??

The Huskies haven't hit the court without Kemba so despite the press they are receiving many questions need to be answered. Anyone assuming this team will find the chemistry and be able to replace the points and leadership have been guessing all along. There's no doubt the talent is in place and if they play to the potential the press and other have laid upon them, they'll be very very good! But it's a long season...........

The Cuse......I believe they have a lot more to prove. First of all no true point who can take care of the ball. Scoop is very inconsistent. Triche is better and improved, nice player, not great but strong and tough. Waiters, lot to prove. Fab sucks - long way to go there. 10 good minutes in the BE tourney and people believe he turned it around? Not.........but Christmas can be the answer and I think the big skinny dude Keita is a very nice athlete and can block some shots. CJ Fair has a very nice upside I believe .................. Joseph is the key. Can't just be a good player needs to step it up to his potential which is very good. All in all this team is much like many of JB's teams..............a 2-3 zone team which plays itself out of many games with shockingly stupid plays and showboating which keep lesser teams in games. If they grow up and mature they can be special. If they play typical, they will be a good NCAA team leaving early again!

 

[61cygni]

I love our upside, but I think Kentucky is right there with us. Jones/Lamb/Miller is a great core they're adding too. Doron really seems to be flying under the radar, poised for more of an offensive role and some big numbers.

Craft/Buford are enough to keep the pressure on at the perimeter I think.

Matta and Cal, great recruiters, but overrated as coaches.

Cuse is a big question mark to me.

 

[DieHardHusky]

The upside potential for our squad is unbelievable right now. We have so much youth but talent to accompany it. We may have the #10 recruit in the nation coming off our bench!

 

[huskyharry]

I think people forget how great Lighty and Diebler were. Lighty was a very experienced all around player/great defender and Diebler was a phenomenal outside shooter. I only saw them play two or three times last year but I think Craft is somewhat overrated...solid ball handler, average perimeter shooter and above average defender but I don't really see the pro potential there[/quote]

 

[hungry husky]

Imagine if Kemba had stayed lol....

 

[PRHusky]

I just don't get why people are so high on Syracuse this year. They lost IMO their best player (Rick Jackson) and their backcourt is very inconsistent at best. Granted, we also lost our best player (Kemba) as did UK (Knight), but when you take into account what both of these teams have coming back, as well as what teams like UNC have coming back, I just don't see how Syracuse can even be in the conversation as a Top 5 team. Having said that, they are a Top 25 team.

 

[DogMania]

Interesting observations RuffRuff. I would give UNC the early edge since they return most of their key pieces, including Marshall who seemed to solidify their backcourt last season after a rocky start.

They're adding some very good young talent that won't be relied up greatly compared to UK.

As for UK, two of their key returning players are just sophs and neither are the type that make those around them better. I have a feeling their season will go much like the last, where at some point in the NCAA tournament, one of their freshman shoots them right out of tournament.

I do like our chances and it has nothing to do with being a homer. Their still awfully young with no seniors and just one junior (Oriakhi) who has starter's experience. But you can't ignore the fact that they're sophs are typical ones. Many of them played a prominent role on a National Championship team, including some starter experience. Only 2 (AD & RB) of the 3 freshmen they added will need to fill important roles and neither needs to be called upon as impact performers. Not saying they won't have a big impact. The 3rd, DD, is very talented and will push and be pushed by a bunch of returning wings. We all know they did lose a huge portion of their offense, in Kemba Walker, which is why most rank them between 3rd and 4th behind UNC, UK, and maybe behind OSU.

IMO, perception plays a big role in all this. Those who see UConn's unlikely run as a fluke and that last year's team is no better than a top 10 team at best that had a fortuitous draw and just got hot at the right time. Those same people believe that without Kemba this group of returning players are good but not great. But IMO, I think they are underestimating a whole bunch of things.

1. How good Lamb will be this season.
2. How good defensively this team was last season and the likelihood that they'll be even better defensively this season.
3. How much upside some of the returning players have such as Lamb, Bazz, Alex, Giffey, Roscoe and even Olander.
4. How dominating AD will be once he learns to do what JC expects. Note I'm not saying we need him to dominate most of the time to win. But having a player like him who will be able to dominate at times is huge!
5. Hard to believe they'll overlook this one, but how great JC is at getting the most out of the players he has and he's got a whole lot to work with this season.
6. How talented Boatright is, who will be called upon to solidify the backcourt with the departure of Kemba.
7. The depth of talent. This team has the makings of a team that can beat you in many ways. If they're struggling to score, JC has the depth to throw out waves of players who will be asked to defend their butts off. Granted their will be a drop off offensively with some combinations, but not necessarily defensively, if the talent is as good as I anticipate.

Like most years, I find any Roy coached team soft defensively. They tend to expect to beat you by outscoring you. JC's teams beat you by outwilling you.

As much as we don't like the Squid, he usually gets his players to play hard. Though I've noticed that the more talent he gets, the less his team tends to buy into that refuse-to-lose attitude that his overachieving teams in the past demonstrated. Add to that the challenges that young freshman have where they tend to look like dear in the headlights when the wheels begin to fall off and/or the pressure mounts during a win-or-go-home tournament setup. Yeah, I pretty much expect the same result again. Wouldn't it be sweat if we are the ones again that send them home early?

Keep in mind that the teams that make -4 and the one that wins it all are often not the best teams on paper or the teams that were playing best going into the NCAAs. You need a lucky bounce or two along the way. Based on our coach and collection of talent, I certainly like our chances.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I just don't get why people are so high on Syracuse this year. They lost IMO their best player (Rick Jackson) and their backcourt is very inconsistent at best. Granted, we also lost our best player (Kemba) as did UK (Knight), but when you take into account what both of these teams have coming back, as well as what teams like UNC have coming back, I just don't see how Syracuse can even be in the conversation as a Top 5 team. Having said that, they are a Top 25 team.

Syracuse is one of the deepest and most experienced teams in the country. Several of their players are pretty polarizing (especially Jardine and Waiters) and you can make fun of Fab Melo all you want, but there is talent up and down their roster. Kris Joseph and Brandon Triche are very good. As disappointing as some of their freshman were, Keita and CJ Fair were better than expected. I haven't seen Carter-Williams play, but everyone raves about him as being a big time scorer with great length. Rakeem Christmas, at the very least, should be a very good player defensively for them. And Dion Waiters clearly is a very talented kid (as evidenced by his performance at the XL Center last year), who's to say he won't figure things out this year?

 

[RuffRuff]

When stacked amongst the top 4, I'm still not convinced the Cuse has that piece(like a Melo) that get you to the next level. And that is very hard to find amongst freshmen - as good as Carter-Williams is, unlikely that he steps in as the man. To me, the chemistry in that unit doesn't smell of NC. They are very good, but unfortunately for them, there are a few loads at the top of the food chain this year that get in the way. And the flame out after consistent NCAA tourney flame out lends no confidence to suggest otherwise.

I'm def not trying to be a homer on this one - I just think this team has the right blend of talent in the right slots to be able to turn this unit into a special team. A lot of that has to do with Drummond coming aboard. When you can go out and add a kid that is as physically dominant as him and put him alongside a very talented junior who seems to be hitting his stride, that is a nice blend. He will learn from Alex. The pecking order is set up nicely - outside of Andre, there won't be huge expectations from other freshman, a lot will be gravy, but have upside to bring quite a bit to the table if they work hard and produce and inject some youthful competetiveness.

It's going to take a little while for them to figure it all out with Kemba gone, but the pieces are very much there.

To add, looks like Gottlieb's recent tweets are suggesting something similar. The dude is an hornery little pr#ck sometimes, but he does know his stuff. And with the mini-bias against Uconn, you know if he's going in that direction, he means it.

 

[DieHardHusky]

Imagine if Kemba had stayed lol....

No AD/DD/RB. One of them wouldn't be here.