Who will surprise us the most?

[ucp990411]

Jaylin Stewart. In limited minutes last year I became a believer. Potential is thru the roof. First round pick next year. Also, I disagree with people who say Solo won’t start. Kids gonna be a stud this year. Needs to relax and let the game come to him.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Great post! I'm in the Nowell camp. Will watch his highlights any chance I get. Look forward to his highlights in the next 10 months or so.

Kid just knows how to play, his physical ability combined with court savvy that will make him a handful for opponents. Him combined with either of Diarra or Mahaney will be dynamic duos. All 3 on the floor together?? Triple smalls, the little known brother of double bigs!!

Agree with you completely. Of the newcomers I think Nowell will fit our culture best. He seems positive, upbeat and 100% bought in.

 

[superjohn]

I like our players and have confidence in their abilities. I'm afraid my only important surprises would be on the down side.

I'd be surprised if:
Liam wasn't a 'go to' star out of the gate
Solo was less than an impact player
Johnson & Reed didn't give us what we need at center
Stewart & Ross weren't solid sophomore leap contributors

On the other hand, if Singare has a meaningful role on the court, that would surprise me with Reed & Johnson & small ball available.

Similarly, if Abraham has a meaningful freshman role that would surprise me with Stewart, McNeeley, Alex, Ross, and 3 guard lineups.

That's where I am. This is our most talented team ever from top to bottom. All these guys would be getting major minutes at other programs but it's just a numbers game with this much talent throughout the roster and some guys are going to get squeezed. We have an embarrassment of riches at the wing so Abraham will likely be low on minutes. Singare is still probably a year away from being a valuable gametime contributor at UConn and as talented as Nowell is I see us having multiple guards ahead of him. The practices are going to be battles.

 

[AllHusky]

Looks like everyone is going to be rooting for their faves to see the floor. Gonna be like proud obnoxious parents bragging about their kids. Way too much fun.

 

[Lambeau]

Solo Ball is extremely talented, but can he conduct he orchestra--or does he just flash his skill?
This offense requires judgement, "BBIQ", and the maturity Aiden and Ahmad have demonstrated--and they are 40% 3-pt shooters.

 

[superjohn]

Solo Ball is extremely talented, but can he conduct he orchestra--or does he just flash his skill?
This offense requires judgement, "BBIQ", and the maturity Aiden and Ahmad have demonstrated--and they are 40% 3-pt shooters.

Hassan?

 

[HuskyInfinity]

I think Ross, Stewart and then Reed.

But as an aside how fun and insane is it that our team is so deep and diverse that you can easily make a case for just about any player on this roster for this question.

 

[Lambeau]

Hassan will surprise us by being picked as 6th man of the year for the Big East.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Agreed. But shining in Danny’s office is way less impactful than on the court.

If he's shing some of the trophies I'm not sure. If he's shing Danny's shoes, well, that won't impress me.

 

[dogpause]

I think the guy who is going to surprise us the most is Ahmad Nowell. With all of the things that have happened since his commitment last year, particularly with McNeeley in addition to Reed and Mahaney as well as how deep our backcourt looks again, I think many have forgotten just how much of a baller this young man is.

I believe he will play above his ranking and force his way onto the court as the year progresses. He has that Hurley balls out, fearless leader mentality that we are all going to fall in love with... and so will Dan.

You made me look. Just watched some highlight clips and he looks like he would have fit in on last years team, so that makes hiom perfect for this year's team, IMO.

 

[dogpause]

After reading this discussion I am just so excited about the coming season. It's going to be so much fun seeing this roster develop and learn to play Danny Ball. Can't wait.

 

[7774]

Hassan will surprise us by being picked as 6th man of the year for the Big East.

I think Hassan will surprise you by not being eligible for that award.

 

[444JR]

Man this team is so deep. Literally every guy on the roster 1-12 has been mentioned with valid accompanying points. Exciting!

1. Karaban - 1st All Big East, potential All-American level year
2. Hassan - Does he start and take another leap offensively as a floor general
3. Samson - Senior, but last season was the first year he played any minutes. Could be a huge jump incoming
4. Stewart - Highly touted Freshman to Sophomore leap incoming, could he be a go to scorer for us and lockdown defender
5. Ball - see above
6. Mahaney - Does he come in and perform at an efficiency level that rivals the value Cam Spencer brought
7. Reed Jr. - My pick for the OP's question. I think Reed Jr. will be the reason, once the season gets rolling, all the talking heads are picking UConn for a 3peat on top of everything else this team has. He is going to be legit. UConn's anchor and continuation of the dominance we have seen at the center position over the last two championship runs.
8. McNeeley - I continue to look at his game like he is a 6'7/6'8 version of Cam Spencer. Pure shooter, good athlete, great positional size, cerebral operator from the perimeter and in the lane. Yet another 1-and-done lottery pick coming through Storrs, looking to bring home a championship.
9. Nowell - Prototypical lead guard and next up in the line of iconic UConn guards like Khalid, AJ Price, Kemba, Shabazz etc. From watching his game, I sense he comes in ready to contribute in a similar way as Jalen Adams his freshman year. The caveat being Nowell gets to benefit from Coach Hurley and the program's back to back championship winning staff and culture.
10. Ross - This kid looks so ready to breakout. If he can play minutes at the 2 and defend at a high level and be a reliable shot maker, we are in for one hell of a ride. If Ross shows a reliable handle with his shooting it will calm a lot of my nerves about this team's smaller backcourt.
11. Abraham - This kid is a stud and future pro. He's going to have a nightmare of a time finding meaningful minutes because of the strength in depth of this year's team but he will be a star by the time he leaves campus and I'm confident in his ability to make winning plays if he's called on at any point due to foul trouble or injuries. He has had a winning pedigree at the highest levels playing team first ball.
12. Singare - This young man is a ray of sunshine and looks like he shows up to work his tail off every day. At 6'10 with loads of dynamic athleticism, it's only a matter of time before it all clicks and he's ready for showtime. Needs to work on his defensive footwork, especially post defense. He will get plenty of reps against Tarris Reed Jr. and Samson Johnson that I'm positive will force fast improvement.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Which player will surprise you most and why?
There doesn't need to be a concrete reason for why you're choosing who you choose.
It can be a gut feeling, or it can be metric based. I don't care

I think everybody has a chance to really make a step up this year, but the person I'm voting for is Singare.

His attitude is infectious. He is one of the more popular guys on the team. And he's learned under 2 of the best centers in college ball and the best big men coaches in the league.

We've never been truly "surprised" by anybody this staff recruits and retains, but the term is convenient.

Also can't wait to see Ross in the rotation.

Ah, finally, a normal thread!!!

 

[Samoo]

I think what will surprise us most is the hockey style substitution pattern that Hurley implements; it will completely mind-frik our opponents.

With quality two-deep at every position the coaches can mix and match first and second lines depending on who's been best at practice and the opposing line-up.

They can play like maniacs knowing the get a 5-minute breather after 5-minutes on the court. The other team will be overwhelmed.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

Which player will surprise you most and why?
There doesn't need to be a concrete reason for why you're choosing who you choose.
It can be a gut feeling, or it can be metric based. I don't care

I think everybody has a chance to really make a step up this year, but the person I'm voting for is Singare.

His attitude is infectious. He is one of the more popular guys on the team. And he's learned under 2 of the best centers in college ball and the best big men coaches in the league.

We've never been truly "surprised" by anybody this staff recruits and retains, but the term is convenient.

Also can't wait to see Ross in the rotation.

I'm going with Ball and Abraham. I suspect they will both outperform expectations greatly.

Abraham has a nice mid-range touch, is athletic and competitive, and I see him breaking into the 2023-24 Stewart role expanding his usage as the year goes on.

There were many on this board who wrote Ball off when he lost his playing time to ... a 5 star one-and-done and an experienced backcourt backup who played great defense, didn't turn the ball over, shot amazingly well from 3 and brought energy every time he stepped on the court. Ball is a specimen, and I like his outside shot a lot.

 

[bendm]

I don’t know if this is the biggest surprise but I think Hass is going to be the starting pg.

i expect he will be our starting PG and i think he's going to be the barometer of our success.

but whether he makes another leap this year, or becomes a less efficient player in his increased minutes next year, i will be equally surprised.

 

[Scottobot]

Solo Ball. I think he will score 15 ppg and will be the guy really pushing the ball on fast break.

Stewart. I think he will be one of our best defenders and will be they guy who gets the defensive rebounds in traffic.

 

[bendm]

I think he will score 15 ppg

15ppg would have led the team in scoring last year. i dont see it especially for a guy that will prob be coming off the bench. AK and Mahaney and McNeeley should be our top 3 scorers.

edit- i guess this would certainly count as a surprise and that was the exercise

 

[navery12]

Stewart and Ball shouldn't be answers to this question, it should be obvious the sophomore jump that's coming for them. But for a large portion of the board I think it will be shocking.

As for who's going to surprise a lot of people I'll go with Mahaney. I know most people expect him to start and be really good, but I expect him to be much closer to a Cam Spencer impact than many here expect

 

[AidanFan20]

Being a Mahaney guy, it's hard for me to figure out in an unbiased manner what he'll do on this team. I just hope he can contribute... But overall, this UConn team (and the last couple) remind me very much of a high-D1 version of a SF Bay Area team I watched a lot last year.

Salesian College Prep of Richmond had this amazing team that played an extremely tough schedule and went 31-2, losing to Harvard-Westlake (Bunch of D1 guys, including Nikolas Khamenia) by just 5 in the Open state title game.

Salesian averaged close to 80 points a game yet had no double-digit scorers. Eight guys averaged over 7ppg, and the ball never "stuck" on offense. Player and ball movement was amazing to see, and they played their asses off on the defensive end. Sound familiar? If it doesn't, watch a Huskies game...

One thing about Aidan.., I think he may have been frustrated by Randy Bennett's insistence on practically always slowing it down and going into the halfcourt offense after beating a press. In this respect, he might reallllllyyyyyyy open things up at UConn!

 

[superjohn]

Being a Mahaney guy, it's hard for me to figure out in an unbiased manner what he'll do on this team. I just hope he can contribute... But overall, this UConn team (and the last couple) remind me very much of a high-D1 version of a SF Bay Area team I watched a lot last year.

Salesian College Prep of Richmond had this amazing team that played an extremely tough schedule and went 31-2, losing to Harvard-Westlake (Bunch of D1 guys, including Nikolas Khamenia) by just 5 in the Open state title game.

Salesian averaged close to 80 points a game yet had no double-digit scorers. Eight guys averaged over 7ppg, and the ball never "stuck" on offense. Player and ball movement was amazing to see, and they played their asses off on the defensive end. Sound familiar? If it doesn't, watch a Huskies game...

One thing about Aidan.., I think he may have been frustrated by Randy Bennett's insistence on practically always slowing it down and going into the halfcourt offense after beating a press. In this respect, he might reallllllyyyyyyy open things up at UConn!

I wouldn't worry about Mahaney, Hurley and staff will unlock his full abilities. I could see him being all-Big East next season.

 

[RedStickHusky]

I’m going Solo Ball.

This. I'm kind of past the point where anyone's improvement will surprise me. I expect it at this point. But I think Ball's development, as a shooter and as a defender, is potentially the most impactful. Roll out the Ball and let 'em play.

 

[NickDanger]

Which player will surprise you most and why?
There doesn't need to be a concrete reason for why you're choosing who you choose.
It can be a gut feeling, or it can be metric based. I don't care

I think everybody has a chance to really make a step up this year, but the person I'm voting for is Singare.

His attitude is infectious. He is one of the more popular guys on the team. And he's learned under 2 of the best centers in college ball and the best big men coaches in the league.

We've never been truly "surprised" by anybody this staff recruits and retains, but the term is convenient.

Also can't wait to see Ross in the rotation.

For someone to surprise you, wouldn’t you have to not know they’re going to surprise you?

 

[Ewekon]

Solo and Samson.
Solo showed at times what he is capable of doing and I think he will step up his game.
Samson has learned and improved a lot in successive years and I really think he knows that he needs to stay on the floor and I expect much better numbers offensively and defensively from him.

Samson needs to use those Hilton Units to the max