Why can't we find and develop good big men?

[sled dog]

Great games this weekend and almost every team has bigs who can move with the ball, get good position, receive a pass, finish around the basket, rebound and defend. I can't understand why we have not been able to find and develop them in recent years.

 

[BlueDogs]

That and many other questions loom large. Next season better answer many of them. Time to perform.

 

[jibsey]

One of the reasons was that Brimah and Facey who took us to a national championship year one were projected to improve every year and were handed the keys to the front court by KO. He's loyal. That plus we had no one better this year. Was very pleased with Miller last year though you can hardly call him a big, we forced him to play the post. There are talented bigs on teams in this tourney that are mid major or teams without our national profile. It is a failing in recruiting and I hope we have enough next year.

 

[Ewekon]

Glad you raised the point and great question. We've never really discussed that here.............

 

[superjohn]

One of the reasons was that Brimah and Facey who took us to a national championship year one were projected to improve every year and were handed the keys to the front court by KO. He's loyal. That plus we had no one better this year. Was very pleased with Miller last year though you can hardly call him a big, we forced him to play the post. There are talented bigs on teams in this tourney that are mid major or teams without our national profile. It is a failing in recruiting and I hope we have enough next year.

Facey taking us to a national championship? Pretty sure he didn't play a single minute in the tournament. Ollie tried to recruit 5 star big men and got burned, missed out on a couple of very good players who would have come here.

 

[King Husky]

Great games this weekend and almost every team has bigs who can move with the ball, get good position, receive a pass, finish around the basket, rebound and defend. I can't understand why we have not been able to find and develop them in recent years.

And something you left out... they all pretty much seem to be between 6'7 - 6'8, strong guys.

 

[intlzncster]

This seems like a thread from 20 years ago.

 

[King Husky]

This seams like a thread from 20 years ago.

Well that's cause the seam was threaded 20 years ago

 

[intlzncster]

Well that's cause the seam was threaded 20 years ago

Your post gave me a chance to edit with about 1 minute to spare.

 

[MexicoHusky]

To me the answer is simple and it's been the same answer for 30 years. At least, the recruiting portion of the question is.

We dont pass to or run plays for the bigs. They rebound, block shots, play defense, etc... and I'm fine with that.

If i were recruiting against us i would say, dont go to UCONN, they never pass to the bigs. And they wouldn't be too far off.

 

[husky8273]

To me the answer is simple and it's been the same answer for 30 years. At least, the recruiting portion of the question is.

We dont pass to or run plays for the bigs. They rebound, block shots, play defense, etc... and I'm fine with that.

If i were recruiting against us i would say, dont go to UCONN, they never pass to the bigs. And they wouldn't be too far off.

some announcer's quote about big men tonight - "if you want the horses to run, you've got to feed them"

 

[Jaker]

We need to start looking at some corn fed mid west boys.

 

[HuskyWarrior611]

I think Facey turned into one of those big men this year. Our team just wasn't that good around him this year.

 

[Huskybass]

Our coaching staff is not up to par when it comes to bigs. Simple truth.

 

[mauconnfan]

Our coaching staff is not up to par when it comes to bigs. Simple truth.

Has to be this. It just can't be our bigs weren't up to par in their learning and abilities.

Need better players and coaches immediately get better at what they do. Pretty simple, get smarter and better players and suddenly you have the best bigs coach in the business.

 

[gtcam]

Our coaching staff is not up to par when it comes to bigs. Simple truth.

Pure hogwash
This place is not known for bigs
When did a UConn team ever go through a big? UConn isn't wasn't and my never be built like that
Yeah Okafor touched the ball more than any other big but he fought and got 50% of those balls himself

 

[Vancat]

There are not that many good bigs, and we don't get the pick of the litter.

 

[Huskybass]

Pure hogwash
This place is not known for bigs
When did a UConn team ever go through a big? UConn isn't wasn't and my never be built like that
Yeah Okafor touched the ball more than any other big but he fought and got 50% of those balls himself

Look at that, you pull the strings and the puppets dance.

 

[huskyrob1]

Facey taking us to a national championship? Pretty sure he didn't play a single minute in the tournament. Ollie tried to recruit 5 star big men and got burned, missed out on a couple of very good players who would have come here.

Colson of Notre Dame wanted to come here, even called Storrs, KO and his staff pretty much ignored him at first. So after a while Colson bought into ND and Mike Bray, and when KO and staff finally realized that they might have to go and recruit Colson, it was too late.

 

[Greathusky]

One of the reasons was that Brimah and Facey who took us to a national championship year one were projected to improve every year and were handed the keys to the front court by KO. He's loyal. That plus we had no one better this year. Was very pleased with Miller last year though you can hardly call him a big, we forced him to play the post. There are talented bigs on teams in this tourney that are mid major or teams without our national profile. It is a failing in recruiting and I hope we have enough next year.

Interesting how Miller was arguably one our best bigs over the past few years but was brought up through the ranks by non-UCONN coaches.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

First we recruit every 6' PG in New England then we don't have a lot of scholarships left.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We do not recruit guys who have the successful college big man body type. We keep trying to find Serge Ibaka and we end up with Ajou Deng. KO does not go after the 6'8 guy with BBIQ and tree trunk legs. Every time I hear we signed a new big I hold out hope then I watch his highlights and he's 6'11" and 165lb. We finally recruited the kind of guy I've been hoping for and he has the knees of an 85 yr old who played catch in the MLB for 25 years.

 

[polycom]

We do not recruit guys who have the successful college big man body type. We keep trying to find Serge Ibaka and we end up with Ajou Deng. KO does not go after the 6'8 guy with BBIQ and tree trunk legs. Every time I hear we signed a new big I hold out hope then I watch his highlights and he's 6'11" and 165lb. We finally recruited the kind of guy I've been hoping for and he has the knees of an 85 yr old who played catch in the MLB for 25 years.

Comedic gold. How long have you been sitting on this one?

 

[MexicoHusky]

We need to start looking at some corn fed mid west boys.

We had good luck in TX in years past

 

[intlzncster]

We dont pass to or run plays for the bigs. They rebound, block shots, play defense, etc... and I'm fine with that.

If i were recruiting against us i would say, dont go to UCONN, they never pass to the bigs. And they wouldn't be too far off.

Dunno, I thought we tried to go through Brimah far too much this year!

Ollie wants to play inside out, but personnel made that very difficult, to the detriment of the team.