We Essentially Have The Same Players Next Year

[7774]

We're doing our damndest to sign a 3-star point guard who wouldn't have sniffed the court on one of our teams 10-15 years ago.

Riiiiiiight. I'm sure if we could go back 10-15 years we would find many posts from you talking about what amazing players the Antonio Kellog's and Mike Hayes's of the world were.

 

[mauconnfan]

Riiiiiiight. I'm sure if we could go back 10-15 years we would find many posts from you talking about what amazing players the Antonio Kellog's and Mike Hayes's of the world were.

Mike Hayes never helped?

 

[TheRogers]

I'm not sure if this means we're at rock bottom, but I'm happy to report that Ollie offered me a scholarship today.

I'm 5-10 and haven't played organized basketball since the mid-90s, but I'm ten toes in.

That's close to it. Rock bottom is if you told us you declined and walked-on at VCU.

 

[7774]

Mike Hayes never helped?

He did. That's the point. People acting like you had to be a top 20 recruit to get minutes on our teams 10-15 years ago are delusional.

 

[SubbaBub]

It's not a ratings thing. As JC used to say, it's a ticker thing.

 

[mauconnfan]

He did. That's the point. People acting like you had to be a top 20 recruit to get minutes on our teams 10-15 years ago are delusional.

Kellogg had me reading it wrong as he did very little. Could have been a nice bench guy if he could have kept his head on straight, you're right. Hayes was a nice piece of the puzzle

 

[Cheeky]

Ball handling.
Last year, nice assist/TO ratio. 2 excellent ball handlers. DD, Giff, respectable.
This year, horrid assist/TO ratio. 1 excellent ball handler. 1 respectable BH. Everybody else is weak with the ball.

Next year - lose 1 excellent ball handler. Keep 1 respectable BH. Everybody else weak with the ball. Bring in 1 unknown commodity JA.

A dice throw at best.

It will not matter how much Facey and Brimah and DHam improve if we are weak with the ball at the 1 and 2.

What was the last team that went deep into the NCAAs without a solid point and a solid 2 guard?

 

[uconnfan68]

We have 2 new, how many more can we sign?

We'll only be missing the only good player we have. Boat didn't deserve this year, but I'm glad he'll get a degree.

 

[pnow15]

Adams should be 20 when he gets here? So, he should be able to handle the 2 guard. We need to get one of these young points or Juco to run the show so that DHam and Adams can score. Ollie needs to use all of his scholarships. Purvis is a heat check guy. If he is hitting his non-jumper let him play, same with Omar. TSam needs to go back to change up man. A 5th year big would help.
Jahshire Hardnett? was supposed to be at the game. Let's hope he fell in love with DHam. Weight room for Brimah and Facey.
Lubin should be the left defensive end. Hope he wakes up soon.

 

[mauconnfan]

Ball handling.
Last year, nice assist/TO ratio. 2 excellent ball handlers. DD, Giff, respectable.
This year, horrid assist/TO ratio. 1 excellent ball handler. 1 respectable BH. Everybody else is weak with the ball.

Next year - lose 1 excellent ball handler. Keep 1 respectable BH. Everybody else weak with the ball. Bring in 1 unknown commodity JA.

A dice throw at best.

It will not matter how much Facey and Brimah and DHam improve if we are weak with the ball at the 1 and 2.

What was the last team that went deep into the NCAAs without a solid point and a solid 2 guard?

You forgot to add: We know Rodney will suck.

 

[Gurleyman]

Our 2002 Elite Eight team had five reaches: Hayes, J Brown, Wise, Swain and Tooles. And a guy highly regarded who was a bust (Hazelton) - offset by a guy lightly regarded who was not (Okafor). Our 2009 Final Four team had Beverly, Haralson, Okwandu, Mandeldove, Edwards, and Austrie

Often our depth has been guys we reached for to fill roles. This isn't a new phenomenon. Our studs this year just haven't been as good 1-6 as those teams, beyond Boat. Next year we need Hamilton-Adams-Brimah to be the Caron-Ben-Emeka nucleus, which involves big improvements from two of them and fulfilling high expectations for the other. Hopefully, they can come close.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Our 2002 Elite Eight team had five reaches: Hayes, J Brown, Wise, Swain and Tooles. And a guy highly regarded who was a bust (Hazelton) - offset by a guy lightly regarded who was not (Okafor). Our 2009 Final Four team had Beverly, Haralson, Okwandu, Mandeldove, Edwards, and Austrie

Often our depth has been guys we reached for to fill roles. This isn't a new phenomenon. Our studs this year just haven't been as good 1-6 as those teams, beyond Boat. Next year we need Hamilton-Adams-Brimah to be the Caron-Ben-Emeka nucleus, which involves big improvements from two of them and fulfilling high expectations for the other. Hopefully, they can come close.

The difference is that the "reaches" you describe in 2002 accounted for maybe 10-20 minutes per game, total. This year, that same caliber of player is receiving 10-20 minutes per game each. (The 2009 comparison isn't quite as apt -- Edwards is better than Facey and Austrie is better than TSam/Cassell.)

 

[ctchamps]

The difference is that the "reaches" you describe in 2002 accounted for maybe 10-20 minutes per game, total. This year, that same caliber of player is receiving 10-20 minutes per game each. (The 2009 comparison isn't quite as apt -- Edwards is better than Facey and Austrie is better than TSam/Cassell.)

At least at this point in their careers.

 

[7774]

The difference is that the "reaches" you describe in 2002 accounted for maybe 10-20 minutes per game, total. This year, that same caliber of player is receiving 10-20 minutes per game each. (The 2009 comparison isn't quite as apt -- Edwards is better than Facey and Austrie is better than TSam/Cassell.)

Just more revisionist history.

 

[Jerry1714]

The difference is that the "reaches" you describe in 2002 accounted for maybe 10-20 minutes per game, total. This year, that same caliber of player is receiving 10-20 minutes per game each. (The 2009 comparison isn't quite as apt -- Edwards is better than Facey and Austrie is better than TSam/Cassell.)

You obviously have no memories of Edwards as a sophomore. None.

Facey's and TSam's efficency ratings on both offense and defense are much higher than Edwards and Austrie as a sophomore.

Austrie and TSam are at least somewhat comparable.

Facey and Edwards are not at all.

 

[60'sfan]

Adams should be 20 when he gets here? So, he should be able to handle the 2 guard. We need to get one of these young points or Juco to run the show so that DHam and Adams can score. Ollie needs to use all of his scholarships. Purvis is a heat check guy. If he is hitting his non-jumper let him play, same with Omar. TSam needs to go back to change up man. A 5th year big would help.
Jahshire Hardnett? was supposed to be at the game. Let's hope he fell in love with DHam. Weight room for Brimah and Facey.
Lubin should be the left defensive end. Hope he wakes up soon.

I would like to see us find another Kromah.

 

[Shabazzkets]

The team's play after Boat went out last night was somewhat encouraging. Hopefully fewer guys will defer, and will instead be as aggressive as Daniel was last night. If Hamilton returns to school, and Adams is as advertised, I think UConn will be better. Not great, but much better. Another shooter would help too. And maybe a big who isn't useless to spell Brimah (sorry Nolan, but you've been pretty bad).

 

[UCweCONN]

Ok, I'll address the pink elephant in the room. Are we so sure DHam doesn't go to the NBA after this season? If so, we are totally fudged.

 

[Shabazzkets]

Ok, I'll address the pink elephant in the room. Are we so sure DHam doesn't go to the NBA after this season? If so, we are totally fudged.

That is a rather large, duck**** ugly elephant. Don't even want to think about it, but I guarantee he will think about if hard--especially if he plays the rest of the season as he did last night.

 

[Gurleyman]

The difference is that the "reaches" you describe in 2002 accounted for maybe 10-20 minutes per game, total. This year, that same caliber of player is receiving 10-20 minutes per game each. (The 2009 comparison isn't quite as apt -- Edwards is better than Facey and Austrie is better than TSam/Cassell.)

Edwards was benched on his high school team and his coach said there was no way he was playing at UConn. Obviously a personality conflict, since he was a pretty decent player. But he was never supposed to be a starter or significant factor based on his profile coming in - we hadn't even heard of him when be committed. Facey was a top 100 four star guy who was a NY POY and was expected to be a guy who would either start or at least contribute as an energy guy off the bench. Austrie was a little bit of a reach (probably going to UMass) based on AJ's health concerns, but a good pickup - he got the most out of his ability.

As I alluded to, the reason our reaches are playing 10-20 minutes each is that we aren't getting the high level of play from our top six to soak up most of the available 200 minutes. The 2002 team was really six deep with quality (with Hayes as a stopgap big when we had foul trouble). We have Boat, Purvis, Omar, DHam, Facey and Brimah (who was the one of the six who exceeded recruiting expectations) that on paper could be good enough to be a very good team, even leaving Cassell out of the picture (who was a disappointment - he seemed to have the potential to be a solid seventh guy). But only if all six played at a level that they were supposed to be. Boat, Hamilton and Brimah to a large degree, I think are fine. Purvis is sort of a Tony Robertson (scores a little, but can't play point) when I think there was hope (perhaps misguided) that he'd be closer to an all-conference level player. We won a lot of games with Tony, but with TB and BG, he never had to play point and with CB dominant, he could get us his 10-12 a night as a supplemental weapon. Omar's injuries/confidence slide have downgraded him from a probable key wing scorer into a role player, and Facey's potential as something maybe in between a Boone '04 and below KFree '99 type role player hasn't materialized since there isn't enough talent around him to give him chances to attack the glass. Probably safe to say he and Brimah (both of whom are raw) aren't a great pairing at this stage of their careers. Maybe next year when they have a little more polish.

Samuel and Cassell are asked to do more because we aren't getting much from Omar, and Purvis can't run the offense when we want to move Boat off the ball, and Facey isn't commanding minutes at the 4, forcing us to play DH there a lot and opening up more minutes 1-3. We won in '04 with only four perimeter guys at 3 spots (TB, BG, RA, DB), but Emeka, Boone and CV had all the minutes at the 4-5. In a perfect world, TSam could maybe be a part time defensive stopper when a guard was giving us trouble, or an energy guy like in the tourney last year, and Cassell maybe just in a zone buster role against certain teams when we were searching for a hot hand. But they wouldn't be guys we counted on for heavy minutes.

 

[Tenspro2002]

You obviously have no memories of Edwards as a sophomore. None.

Facey's and TSam's efficency ratings on both offense and defense are much higher than Edwards and Austrie as a sophomore.

Austrie and TSam are at least somewhat comparable.

Facey and Edwards are not at all.

Well, the comparison was to 2009, when we had Edwards as a junior and Austrie as a senior. Those guys made meaningful contributions as 10-20 mpg guys (Austrie more after Dyson got hurt).

The issue isn't that Facey is behind Edwards and Samuel is behind Austrie on their career trajectories -- they are likely to end up comparable as seniors, probably even better.

The issue is that sophomore Edwards and sophomore Austrie were end-of-the-bench guys, while sophomore Facey and sophomore Samuel are starters and 25 mpg players. We're counting on guys to do much more than their "heyday" counterparts did at the same stage in their career.

So the failure isn't in getting guys like Edwards/Facey and Samuel/Austrie. The failure is in not having the "Thabeet/Adrien" or "Price/Kemba" who relegated that caliber of player to the bench for the early part of their career.

 

[mauconnfan]

You obviously have no memories of Edwards as a sophomore. None.

Facey's and TSam's efficency ratings on both offense and defense are much higher than Edwards and Austrie as a sophomore.

Austrie and TSam are at least somewhat comparable.

Facey and Edwards are not at all.

The problem with that comparison is that Edwards wasn't going to get a chance to play as a soph so he didn't. Not sure but I think he would be at least as worthy if not better if he was were to have been force fed to this team like Facey.

 

[superjohn]

Ok, I'll address the pink elephant in the room. Are we so sure DHam doesn't go to the NBA after this season? If so, we are totally fudged.

Zero chance, his jumper and ball handling aren't even close to NBA standards not to mention his body.

 

[bobbygt]

Our 2002 Elite Eight team had five reaches: Hayes, J Brown, Wise, Swain and Tooles. And a guy highly regarded who was a bust (Hazelton) - offset by a guy lightly regarded who was not (Okafor). Our 2009 Final Four team had Beverly, Haralson, Okwandu, Mandeldove, Edwards, and Austrie

Often our depth has been guys we reached for to fill roles. This isn't a new phenomenon. Our studs this year just haven't been as good 1-6 as those teams, beyond Boat. Next year we need Hamilton-Adams-Brimah to be the Caron-Ben-Emeka nucleus, which involves big improvements from two of them and fulfilling high expectations for the other. Hopefully, they can come close.

If only because their surnames are the same, I'm hoping next year can resemble 97-98: Hamilton can become a second or third team AA like Rip, Adams is an immediate force like KEA, and Brimah can just be a solid player low like Jake.

Then Facey can dip into his inner KFreeman and then all the other guys just throw in what they can.

There, it will work perfectly!

 

[3rdbass]

Zero chance, his jumper and ball handling aren't even close to NBA standards not to mention his body.

We really don't know as these are young kids with big dollars on their minds. I just don't see it happening yet as he does need some more seasoning and work on his outside shot. He will be the leader of the team next year and if he progresses as many feel he will than he will be gone after the 2016 season.