Xavier Johnson

[Hans Sprungfeld]

...ten Terrence Samuels'.

Actually, if there are ten of him, they are simply Terrence Samuels. Not really different from if you referred by first name only to ten Terrences.
To take it further, it would be ten Carlos Daniels, though ten DeAndre Danielses (just as it would be ten minuses).

 

[Mooch82]

I feel like the bump happened right when Jalen announced he was coming out with a video, and many assumed that meant he was leaving. Now that he's back, I think we can probably unbump.

 

[kansashusky]

I feel like the bump happened right when Jalen announced he was coming out with a video, and many assumed that meant he was leaving. Now that he's back, I think we can probably unbump.

I think this has more to do with the uncertainty behind Christian Vital.

 

[champs99and04]

Actually, if there are ten of him, they are simply Terrence Samuels. Not really different from if you referred by first name only to ten Terrences.
To take it further, it would be ten Carlos Daniels, though ten DeAndre Danielses (just as it would be ten minuses).

Haha...I'll try to keep that straight, but this might be holding me to too high a standard. Am I wrong in noticing some progress from (paraphrasing) "these errors are ruining you" to "you're making some common mistakes" or is that just wishful thinking?

I have to say, you nearly made me more confused with your last example because I always thought it was Carlos Daniels.

 

[Huskybass]

Nobody has bashed him.

I always liked Taliek and never understood all the complaints about him. He was tough and a warrior and knew how to play winning basketball. I would take him again in a heartbeat.

 

[David 76]

I always liked Taliek and never understood all the complaints about him. He was tough and a warrior and knew how to play winning basketball. I would take him again in a heartbeat.

So would all the idiots who trashed him throughout his time at UConn.

 

[pj]

I always liked Taliek and never understood all the complaints about him. He was tough and a warrior and knew how to play winning basketball. I would take him again in a heartbeat.

He was a tough warrior who couldn't shoot. He did play winning basketball but it was remarkable to see a guy who would have 10 feet of open space every time he was behind the three point line, and refuse to take a shot, because if he did Jim Calhoun would scream at him. He took 5 three pointers his senior year, making 1. That was the year we won the national championship. It was tough for Taliek and for fans to learn that not taking shots was the key to winning!

 

[superjohn]

So would all the idiots who trashed him throughout his time at UConn.

I never trashed him but wouldn't want him back. He was okay but his game is incredibly outdated, need some sort of a jumper as a point guard today.

 

[businesslawyer]

I never trashed him but wouldn't want him back. He was okay but his game is incredibly outdated, need some sort of a jumper as a point guard today.

You can make up for not having a jumper if you can take the other team's PG's jumper away. Two sides of the same coin.

Taliek was a 4 year starter who won a national championship for a reason.

 

[superjohn]

You can make up for not having a jumper if you can take the other team's PG's jumper away. Two sides of the same coin.

Taliek was a 4 year starter who won a national championship for a reason.

He won a national championship because we had by far the best roster in the country. No knock on Taliek but at times he was the weak link on that squad.

 

[businesslawyer]

He won a national championship because we had by far the best roster in the country. No knock on Taliek but at times he was the weak link on that squad.

No. He might have been the least physically talented of the starters, but other than Okafor he might have been the toughest mentally. He simply was not a weak link. If he was, Calhoun would have brought in another starting PG to challenge him.

 

[superjohn]

No. He might have been the least physically talented of the starters, but other than Okafor he might have been the toughest mentally. He simply was not a weak link. If he was, Calhoun would have brought in another starting PG to challenge him.

In my opinion he was. I love Taliek but we won the Duke game in spite of him. He played with the best player in the country and the best guard in the country. When you are playing with the #2 and #3 draft pick and Charlie Villanueva is coming off your bench you just have to be adequate. Taliek was adequate for that team.

Also, Calhoun brought in Marcus Williams.

 

[businesslawyer]

Also, Calhoun brought in Marcus Williams.

To succeed him. Not to replace him.

Ben Gordon was an incredibly talented basketball player. Who played with one fifth the day to day intensity that Taliek did, which was why Ben even his junior year got pulled and lectured all the time while Taliek stayed on the court.

I'm not saying Taliek was a better player, or more important to the team, than Ben Gordon was but you are giving too little credit to being able to defend and play mistake free basketball, with leadership, for 35 minutes a game night after night after night.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

I think if we have a crappy 2018, none of those great kids will want to be here in 2019. It’s hard enough with 2 back to back losing seasons. Three?

I think Hurley’s main job is to put butts in seats.
To do that playing exciting competent and mostly winning basketball is a must.
I agree it has to happen from the start.
JC had more leeway because of the status of the opponents in our league
Georgetown
Cuse
Nova
St Johns
Even Seton Hall were all national names In the late 80’s
Their coach’s were iconic media stars.
Even
BC
Pittsburgh
and PC had success.
I remember how great it was when we got a chance to see these teams close up.
But being competitive in that crowd was not easy.So JC had much more slack
His first year was an understandable disaster when he lost his two best players for 14 games . But even the NIT championship team was near the bottom of that group.
I think the year we had 3 teams in the FF and 4 in the final 8 was the most remarkable achievement by a conference in BB. Not being successful against that bunch immediately
Is nowhere near the same a being unsuccessful in our current league.

 

[businesslawyer]

I think Hurley’s main job is to put butts in seats.
To do that playing exciting competent and mostly winning basketball is a must.
I agree it has to happen from the start.
JC had more leeway because of the status of the opponents in our league
Georgetown
Cuse
Nova
St Johns
Even Seton Hall were all national names In the late 80’s
Their coach’s were iconic media stars.
Even
BC
Pittsburgh
and PC had success.
I remember how great it was when we got a chance to see these teams close up.
But being competitive in that crowd was not easy.So JC had much more slack
His first year was an understandable disaster when he lost his two best players for 14 games . But even the NIT championship team was near the bottom of that group.
I think the year we had 3 teams in the FF and 4 in the final 8 was the most remarkable achievement by a conference in BB. Not being successful against that bunch immediately
Is nowhere near the same a being unsuccessful in our current league.

That's all true, but the far bigger factor is expectations. Before JC came, our dreams in the Big East were just not to suck. Just not sucking no longer cuts it at UConn.

 

[superjohn]

To succeed him. Not to replace him.

Ben Gordon was an incredibly talented basketball player. Who played with one fifth the day to day intensity that Taliek did, which was why Ben even his junior year got pulled and lectured all the time while Taliek stayed on the court.

I'm not saying Taliek was a better player, or more important to the team, than Ben Gordon was but you are giving too little credit to being able to defend and play mistake free basketball, with leadership, for 35 minutes a game night after night after night.

35 minutes a game of mistake free basketball? Against Duke his line was 4 points, 3 boards, 3 assists, and 7 turnovers.

Sorry but I just see this as revisionist history. He was solid, plated good D, and was good enough for what we needed on that incredibly stacked team but no I wouldn't want him on this next year's team. I was only responding to the post that everyone, even the Taliek haters would want him back.

 

[champs99and04]

To succeed him. Not to replace him.

Ben Gordon was an incredibly talented basketball player. Who played with one fifth the day to day intensity that Taliek did, which was why Ben even his junior year got pulled and lectured all the time while Taliek stayed on the court.

I'm not saying Taliek was a better player, or more important to the team, than Ben Gordon was but you are giving too little credit to being able to defend and play mistake free basketball, with leadership, for 35 minutes a game night after night after night.

Taliek had a few things going for him. His assist rate was very high (above guys like Kemba and Shabazz), he played very good defense (it might be somewhat of a stretch to say he took the other pg's jumper away, but I get your point) on a team with some suspect perimeter defenders, and he didn't turn the ball over.

Unfortunately for him that last part didn't always hold true in our biggest games, which complicates his legacy a bit. While his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 3 his senior year, he turned it over 19 times (including 7 in the one competitive game) against 33 assists in the '04 tournament.

To his defense, he can't be held responsible today for the ways in which the game has evolved since, and in a different universe where Marcus Williams is starting alongside Ben Gordon, we may have been more talented but not better. He was a winning player who did what we needed him to do, maybe not quite as good as a player like Aaron Craft but of that same mold.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I keep thinking there might be something about Xavier Johnson whenever this thread bumps, but that's on me, and I'll take this as my opportunity to note that Taliek had a Wall of Honor smile.

 

[ctchamps]

I keep thinking there might be something about Xavier Johnson whenever this thread bumps, but that's on me, and I'll take this as my opportunity to note that Taliek had a Wall of Honor smile.

Had turf toe and lost his best friend to a shooting. Kid pushed hard that year in spite of it.

You could criticize him on his skills. But he was a JC blue collar player through and through.

 

[Fishy]

Taliek Brown would never come out of the game if he were on our current roster.

He’d have to wear one of those drink hats to avoid dying of dehydration because he’d never see the sideline.

 

[businesslawyer]

Taliek had a few things going for him. His assist rate was very high (above guys like Kemba and Shabazz), he played very good defense (it might be somewhat of a stretch to say he took the other pg's jumper away, but I get your point) on a team with some suspect perimeter defenders, and he didn't turn the ball over.

Unfortunately for him that last part didn't always hold true in our biggest games, which complicates his legacy a bit. While his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 3 his senior year, he turned it over 19 times (including 7 in the one competitive game) against 33 assists in the '04 tournament.

To his defense, he can't be held responsible today for the ways in which the game has evolved since, and in a different universe where Marcus Williams is starting alongside Ben Gordon, we may have been more talented but not better. He was a winning player who did what we needed him to do, maybe not quite as good as a player like Aaron Craft but of that same mold.

Your numbers show he had a bad game against Duke. He was a four year starter. You think finding a game where his numbers were dreadful tells the story of a four year starter?

 

[businesslawyer]

Taliek had a few things going for him. His assist rate was very high (above guys like Kemba and Shabazz), he played very good defense (it might be somewhat of a stretch to say he took the other pg's jumper away, but I get your point) on a team with some suspect perimeter defenders, and he didn't turn the ball over.

Unfortunately for him that last part didn't always hold true in our biggest games, which complicates his legacy a bit. While his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 3 his senior year, he turned it over 19 times (including 7 in the one competitive game) against 33 assists in the '04 tournament.

To his defense, he can't be held responsible today for the ways in which the game has evolved since, and in a different universe where Marcus Williams is starting alongside Ben Gordon, we may have been more talented but not better. He was a winning player who did what we needed him to do, maybe not quite as good as a player like Aaron Craft but of that same mold.

Of course he didn't literally take the other team's PG's jump shot away. That doesn't even mean anything. I was just using the original posters words.

The point, which you got, was that everyone talks about how critical a PG's offense is for a team, but doesn't seem to release that interfering with the other team's PG's offense is just as important.

 

[auror]

Taliek had a few things going for him. His assist rate was very high (above guys like Kemba and Shabazz), he played very good defense (it might be somewhat of a stretch to say he took the other pg's jumper away, but I get your point) on a team with some suspect perimeter defenders, and he didn't turn the ball over.

Unfortunately for him that last part didn't always hold true in our biggest games, which complicates his legacy a bit. While his assist to turnover ratio was nearly 3 his senior year, he turned it over 19 times (including 7 in the one competitive game) against 33 assists in the '04 tournament.

To his defense, he can't be held responsible today for the ways in which the game has evolved since, and in a different universe where Marcus Williams is starting alongside Ben Gordon, we may have been more talented but not better. He was a winning player who did what we needed him to do, maybe not quite as good as a player like Aaron Craft but of that same mold.

His assist rate was good, but his turnover % was actually legitimately bad for a starting PG his whole career. Part of that is a fluke of the formula (our good offensive rebounding limiting his actual # of poss used), his style and lack of jump shooting, and the era, but mostly just on him.

He also shot FT at 55% for the year and for that reason he actively attempted to not get fouled (pretty comically low foul rate for a lead guard). His TS% was 44%, which is pretty abysmal.

He had good intangibles and his defense was well above average, but we'd have been better in '04 with just about any other PG in recent UConn history during their last years with the team (Kemba, Shabazz, AJ Price, Adams, Boatright, El Amin, Kevin Ollie). Of course you can make the point we've been blessed in the PG department and it is hard to argue that.

 

[superjohn]

Your numbers show he had a bad game against Duke. He was a four year starter. You think finding a game where his numbers were dreadful tells the story of a four year starter?

You seem to have a higher opinion of his game than I do. Just curious which UConn point guards do you think he was actually better than since the start of the Calhoun era?

 

[businesslawyer]

You seem to have a higher opinion of his game than I do. Just curious which UConn point guards do you think he was actually better than since the start of the Calhoun era?

He was better defensively than any other than Ricky Moore (who didn't really play the 1 in our offense). On offense, Taliek as a senior was probably less effective offensively than any of our other multi-year starters in their last year from Sheffer on (other, probably, than Tate George). Where you rate him as a 4 year starter depends entirely on how you balance offense versus defense. As big as the gap was offensively between, say, Marcus and Taliek, or KEA and Taliek, in each case the gap between them defensively was every bit as large. Marcus especially was really a poor defensive player. I have for years been convinced that point guard defense is the most underrated part of winning.

I'll tell you this -- we would not have been a better team in '04 by subbing in Marcus or KEA for Taliek because we needed the perimeter defense, and a PG who didn't need to be taking shots, more than that team with the firepower it had needed additional scoring.