Yakwe Commits

[KingAG]

We're a team of penetrators and our bigs are anchored in the paint. We have 0 spacing. We actually have less spacing than last year (assuming Wilson doesn't shoot better from 3 than TL did).

We need all our guards to make 5+% better from 3 this year to even have a shot to have a top 100 offense, let alone a tournament caliber one.

And that's before considering that none of our bigs have shown anything at all on defense, we have no consistent rim protector, and we lost our best perimeter defender.

If Gilbert stays healthy we'll be better than last year, but we finished 4 games below .500 in the American last year. Tulsa went 12-6 and didn't really sniff the Dance. We're going to need 6 or 7 more wins in conference to even get on the bubble.

If Yakwe is anything he’s a consistent rim protector

 

[3rdbass]

The one player who I think could change the dynamics of the team is Sid Wilson. If he can add a consistent outside shot to the repertoire of moves like he has slashing and going inside we might have another scoring option next year. The problem with Larrier is who could only score on people setting him him up. From what I have seen of Sid is he can create his own shot and dribble the ball better than TL. I think he can be x-factor or maybe I'm just trying to find something to hang my hope on for next year. LOL!

 

[auror]

If Yakwe is anything he’s a consistent rim protector

I don't think he's anything, but we'll see.

 

[3rdbass]

I don't think he's anything, but we'll see.

I agree. I rather have gotten a shooter but like I said in another post maybe he is actually over recruiting for some other big on the roster and plans to bring in a shooter.

 

[BLUEDOGHOUSE]

I don't think he's anything, but we'll see.

He has potential to help quite a bit. The national scene will become clearer soon. Basically until you realize what other teams have it is hard to gauge where we stand.

I had Tech at 400/1 last year and if WV beat Nova I think Tech wins it all playing in Texas.

 

[selles]

We're a team of penetrators and our bigs are anchored in the paint. We have 0 spacing. We actually have less spacing than last year (assuming Wilson doesn't shoot better from 3 than TL did).

We need all our guards to make 5+% better from 3 this year to even have a shot to have a top 100 offense, let alone a tournament caliber one.

And that's before considering that none of our bigs have shown anything at all on defense, we have no consistent rim protector, and we lost our best perimeter defender.

If Gilbert stays healthy we'll be better than last year, but we finished 4 games below .500 in the American last year. Tulsa went 12-6 and didn't really sniff the Dance. We're going to need 6 or 7 more wins in conference to even get on the bubble (aka double our win total).

Coaching matters. I thought our coaching was terrible last year. I think our coaching will be good this year. Good coaching can change a whole lot of elements all at once.

Also, if you're referring to Anderson as our best perimeter defender, I don't think he was all that great. He was a lot of kinetic motion on defense, so it looked like he should be good...but when the rubber met the road I didn't think he was. Certainly replaceable.

 

[Towney007]

He's big. He's a proven defensive presence. The team lacks both, honestly. I don't see how people are trying to poke holes in this.

He's a low risk, duct tape guy, but again - should be a useful one. Just the way this roster is put together - they should be better.

 

[Mokum]

Not much information on the St John's board. That place seems like it has a real toxic vibe.

Yakwe Transferring

Happy to have this kid! It's nice to have some experience up front. Hopefully he does more than DO.

Bigfoot could have done more than DO. Yakwe was a 4* recruited to the big east. DO played at Cornell.

 

[Stinger92860]

With a healthy AG and the addition of Wilson we are immediately better at 2 spots. With Hurley’s tougher practices I expect everyone to be stronger, in better shape. This and a focus on D should result in better defensive efforts. Add coaching up what we have, I think the all 5 spots will be better. We still need outside shooting and I’m not sure where that comes from. Maybe Polley who showed a nice stroke, but that’s one guy. Can this translate into 5-6 more wins is the question.

 

[MattMang23]

Bigfoot could have done more than DO. Yakwe was a 4* recruited to the big east. DO played at Cornell.

So did Shonn Miller. You can't always tell by the school, player has to be evaluated on his own. Ollie failed when evaluating DO, but they're both gone so thanks for choosing UConn DO and good luck KO.

 

[HawkHusky]

3 years under Mullin would negatively impact anyone's game. Give him a chance with a real coach.

 

[Paesano]

If everyone stays healthy, this team could be pretty good by the end of the season. I expect a rough start but gradual improvement. Unlike last year where the team took 2 steps forward and 3 back, I hope to see 2 forward and 1 back.

 

[Mokum]

So did Shonn Miller. You can't always tell by the school, player has to be evaluated on his own. Ollie failed when evaluating DO, but they're both gone so thanks for choosing UConn DO and good luck KO.

Yeah your correct. Miller was a good player.

 

[Marty Jackson]

Two grad transfers who don’t eat up schollies for next year and come in to be service players and people are complaining. Idk why we take their bait

because the expectation was Hurley would bring in Jordan, Kareem, and a guy who goes by Shaq.
didn't happen, so people are up in arms at Hurley's incompetence.
that's how it is here.

 

[lange10]

Our offense was supernaturally bad last year.

Of course, the coaching was lousy, but so was the talent and that has not been significantly improved.

We are bad. It will take time to stop being bad.

Disagree. Jalen, CV, Sid, Mamadou, Carlton, Alterique is a very talented core.

If all 6 of them stay healthy I’d be pretty surprised if we’re not a top 3 AAC team.

 

[TopDogs]

Honest question: Does this team have more talent than last year's Rhode Island team? Disregard how the perceived UConn talent appeared on court last season and just look at the individual pieces and what we've seen them able to do. Is it a more talented core group than URI's?

If it is, I would think that with the addition of better coaching, there should be no reason why this team couldn't reach the tournament.

(Fun aside, my autocorrect changed "better" to "beer." So , with the addition of beer, this team should be watchable as well.)

 

[boog204]

While I do not think we are a super talented team, I think the coaching change will get guys to buy in once again. There seemed to be such a disconnect between the players and KO the last two years and they echoed that in both sides comments. I'm not sure if the players truly respected KO as a coach anymore. We saw the effort wane, we watched the absolutely horrendous execution in terms of sets (if there were some), spacing, and basic fundamentals (screening, player/ball movement.) I think if nothing else, Hurley will get them to play hard and be able to at least execute to an average level. I'm not expecting us to be a 25 win team, but I think we could win 20 games and be a bubble team. If Gilbert is 100% (huge if, I know), we could be pretty dangerous.

 

[mauconnfan]

It's crazy to think anyone who has seen him in the past or just watched the video would even think of comparing him to DO. With all due respect to David, this guy is athletic, strong, blocks shots at a high rate and is lefty which always is a good thing because defenses forget to play his strong side. I really like this piece if he can get back to being the player for 10-15 minutes (maybe more when playing well) a game for us. Seems to fit Hurley's type as stated too, can play smaller at times and run a bit more. This is a nice addition.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

because the expectation was Hurley would bring in Jordan, Kareem, and a guy who goes by Shaq.
didn't happen, so people are up in arms at Hurley's incompetence.
that's how it is here.

Not really seeing that, and I've just added a couple dozen folks I didn't used to see.
I think expectations and performance are, on balance, pretty aligned.
I'm seeing evidence of hard work and prioritized needs met.
Next year will show us what coaching can do.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

At best, I wouldn't want Yakwe to be any more than the 4th big man. Carlton HAS to have major minutes next year, and then Diarra and Whaley are the next two. Yakwe profiles a lot like Diarra and Whaley: not a lot of skill or height, but a lot of effort.

Unfortunately, the team this year is direly missing skilled big men, but with guys like Yakwe, Diarra, Whaley and Williams, there's a lot of energy in this group, so I fully expect the defensive intensity to increase this year.

 

[businesslawyer]

Slow down.

This is still a team with a well-below average front court and no true outside threat.

If Jalen goes nuts, we might have a fringe bubble team.

I think that's realistic. I would expect Jalen to be much, much better if he didn't have to do literally everything by himself for 40 minutes a game. That is the single biggest thing the Gilbert we thought we were signing originally would bring.

 

[EricSD]

The coaching was bad (and that goes for player development), and I believe the team CAN be better than some think with the pieces we have. Not saying we are an NCAA team or top 3 in the conference yet, but with better coaching, maybe some of the question marks might be better. Having said that, it's not even like Hurley will have these guys for a year. He'll have them for a couple of months before the season starts. Hopefully we see good improvement throughout the year, but I expect it to be bumpy.

For reference, Ollie won it all in his 2nd year mostly with JC's guys. Then he led the team into the tter. Hurley now has mostly Ollie's guys and while we all believe the new staff is better, it will take several years. I just hope to see noticeable improvement each season...

 

[mauconnfan]

The coaching was bad (and that goes for player development), and I believe the team CAN be better than some think with the pieces we have. Not saying we are an NCAA team or top 3 in the conference yet, but with better coaching, maybe some of the question marks might be better. Having said that, it's not even like Hurley will have these guys for a year. He'll have them for a couple of months before the season starts. Hopefully we see good improvement throughout the year, but I expect it to be bumpy.

For reference, Ollie won it all in his 2nd year mostly with JC's guys. Then he led the team into the tter. Hurley now has mostly Ollie's guys and while we all believe the new staff is better, it will take several years. I just hope to see noticeable improvement each season...

Drop the "JCs guys" thing ok it's old, the year prior and the NC he deserves to be commended on.

And as far as Hurley having them for just 2 months that's all KO had last year too, it's not legal to work with them in the offseason except for stipulated times. Expectations are Dan will be a better coach but these guys will also have a year and another summer under their belts in maturity. They should be better just for that reason alone but if he can instill some hard work ethic as well as some kind of winning personality in the air then he will have a fun year. The only question remains will these young men work hard on what they need to in the summer to come ready to work for him so he can just teach and mold? If not he will need to get his kind of roster together with who he likes from the roster as well as 2019. I have hope he can work with this group as well as the recent additions to keep us excited all year about potential post season, that's all we can ask of him as he. It would be unfair to judge him much on this coming year other than maybe a 4-5 win improvement but anything else would be gravy.

 

[Scrutineer]

Poor DO. He was really bad last year, but that's not really on him. He came here and did his best, and loved being a Husky from what we can tell. Feels bad to pile on him this much still.

Agreed. My brother-in-law, former high school coach, thought he did a nice job on defense against ECU (we were there) and if I recall correctly someone noted his plus/minus for the game was very good.
He seems like a thoughtful, nice, kid so why are all the All-Americans on this board piling on him? Why aren't they getting ready for the draft or for their next in-home visit with Coach K or Calipari?

 

[EricSD]

Drop the "JCs guys" thing ok it's old, the year prior and the NC he deserves to be commended on.

I did say "mostly with JC's guys" in my post, but point taken. Ollie still had to coach the team and he did win the NC, deservedly so. I was only trying to determine what expectations are realistic based on the guys we have, the coaching they received, and the coaching they will be getting.

 

[Husky68]

Our offense was supernaturally bad last year.

Of course, the coaching was lousy, but so was the talent and that has not been significantly improved.

We are bad. It will take time to stop being bad.

Either Ollie was a bad coach or he wasn't. Bad coach re team roster make up (to degree - Jalen and Gilbert should have been pretty good together but not to be, TL not efficient nor Vitale [was it more coaching than them], DO and AA just not good enough), bad offensive scheme, bad defensive scheme, bad playing time decisions, bad interviews, bad posture, could go on.
So TL out, AA out, DO out; 3 new guys, Gilbert (hopefully), Wilson, plus does anybody get better (how could better coaching and year older not improve everyone).
Better offensive scheme.
Better defensive scheme.
Better player substitution and game management decisions.
Better referee management (one of big complaints by some posters).

How these changes do not impact 14-18 record to make it much better is hard to come up with Ollie being so bad and Hurley being so good.

A better coach last year wins maybe 17 games (UConn gave away at least 3 games), maybe few more but not less than 14 and must/should have been more.

UConn last year per BPI had 59th SOS, NC State at 21-12 had 51st SOS and got in NCAA tournament. Getting to 20 wins (not that big a leap from what a good coach would have done with last years team) and UConn is not a BAD team, not great or even good, not an NCAA lock but definitely not BAD. Anything more than 20 wins and a bubble team.

My prediction is UConn will not be BAD next year. Expect nothing less from a better coaching staff and I'm confident it is better.

 

[mauconnfan]

I did say "mostly with JC's guys" in my post, but point taken. Ollie still had to coach the team and he did win the NC, deservedly so. I was only trying to determine what expectations are realistic based on the guys we have, the coaching they received, and the coaching they will be getting.

I think he will be judged more on discipline, effort and improvement on the kids next year more than wins losses. It should be that way but we all know how that changes. If he's as good as people think or say he should win near 18-20. If he's just a solid coach who's getting better, which is fine, then maybe we just see it on how this team plays next year and realize like most coaches he still needs some studs to be really successful. Will be interesting no matter.

 

[Paesano]

Drop the "JCs guys" thing ok it's old, the year prior and the NC he deserves to be commended on.

Why? It is either true or it isn't. If it is, and it is relevant to the discussion, people should be free to express it. The truth doesn't care about your feelings. For me, Ollie deserves credit for taking those guys and winning with them. He proved he can do that. What he never proved is that he can win with guys he picked and then coached from day 1. He isn't the first guy that happened to. If people are going to insist on comparing Hurley to Ollie, these points will continue to be raised.

 

[Towney007]

I'm with Fishy in that this is a bad team until proven otherwise. It has players who have talent but really haven't put anything together - but tbh - haven't shown an ability to outside of Ollie's total incompetence. And until they show that, it's really hard to get excited about anything. I want a step forward next year and a shot to play some competitive post season basketball. I'll take that first.

That being said - all of the recruits theoretically make the team better. First off, whoever compared DO to Yakwe needs to take a walk. This is a guy that led a top-5 hoops conference in blocked shots. DO led the AAC in most minutes given to a guy who should be in a DII program. There's no comparison. If all DO's minutes go to Yakwe only, then we're a better team.

We'll be really unskilled and raw upfront, but with upside. Teams won't be able to just effortlessly penetrate and not get touched. We may foul plenty, but we'll have guys who can really play defense with energy down low and more often than not, that's good enough to get the job done and even be hopeful that they out kick their coverage.

The rest of the team is basically guards and mobile swing guys who were stuck in the world's worst half court offense, ever last year. This time there's actual ball handling depth, so no more point guard Hamilton, Adams, etc. No more NBA style offense for a lot of players who lack the basketball IQ to run it (and talent, mind you... and physical makeup.... and mental makeup.. and..)... those things should make them better.

There's talent in this group; but again - until we can see it teased out (I think Hurley stands a good chance of doing this) - then it's just a bad team that's been upgraded. The rest of the upgrade is going to have to come from the bad players. Again - odds are better than not this happens, but we'll see. Ollie's eye for talent was horrifically bad by any measure... it's going to take a while to get out from under that. The real piece is Brandon Adams this year and then what 2019 starts to roll in.

 

[Towney007]

comparing Hurley to Ollie

I'm honestly just tired of talking about Kevin Ollie. He's no the coach at UConn anymore. The people that can't get over him being fired need to get over it, or throw their tantrum somewhere else. It's exhausting to have to sift through off-topic nonsense like DO = Yakwe which is really a passive aggressive dig at Hurley and a quiet foot stomp over Ollie getting fired. There's points where Ollie's totally worth talking about - but stuff is getting tiring at this point. And I ran out of energy watching him coach the team all year...