Yakwe Commits

[Danzz]

Disagree. It's critical to any rational assessment of how Ollie did here.

No, it isn't . Ollie won a NCC with a team that was a 7 seed. He deserves all the credit for that. The following years were a different story.

 

[temery]

Basically, you want him to be just average enough to keep on the floor offensively

What?

 

[UConnStats]

What?

As a floor

 

[pj]

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.

And we have Sid Wilson, and the frontcourt is a year older and has Yakwe rather than Onuorah. If Gilbert is healthy I expect us to make the tourney.

 

[businesslawyer]

And we have Sid Wilson, and the frontcourt is a year older and has Yakwe rather than Onuorah. If Gilbert is healthy I expect us to make the tourney.

I don't think you can count on Freshman Wilson being better than last year's Larrier (for all his faults). if he is, great.

 

[joober jones]

I'm late to the party. What number will Vital be wearing now?

 

[JimHurley]

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 people are greatly underestimating the guys we have on the roster. They've been playing under a coaching staff that can't develop players and didn't have them prepared to play. This year will be much different. If Hurley can get these guys to play to their potential, this is easily a tournament team.

 

[temery]

As a floor

So our goal now is to have players just good enough to be on the floor?

 

[UConnStats]

So our goal now is to have players just good enough to be on the floor?

He’s never even been average offensively, so I don’t think him being a star in his senior year is all that likely. If he’s just an average offensive player, he’d be a good asset considering his defense. Realistically that’s what they’re hoping for.

 

[Paesano]

See your point, but KO coached them 2 years. He gets some credit for that, right?

Yes, absolutely. I am not sure Calhoun would have won it with that team. It was a perfect combination of their respective strengths. Calhoun was a better coach when he had a guy like KO on the staff.

 

[Paesano]

No, it’s not. As I’ve hashed out with you multiple times, folks like you and Paesano come at this topic from a place of emotion and irrationality.

Yes, it is. It is you, auggie and mau that are emotional and irrational. The personal attacks prove it. Mau loses his mind whenever one of us "Ollie haters" posts anything about him. He is LOLing like a crazy man.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I'm late to the party. What number will Vital be wearing now?

Not sure how long since you've gotten back on, but welcome back. Hope you're feeling better.

 

[David 76]

Joober, welcome back!

I think it will be a good year if we win 17-18 games. As someone said earlier, we have a frontcourt that is lacking and we no really good outside shooters. That same frontcourt issue exists that has been a problem since 2012.
I welcome Yakwe. For all we know he could turn out to be one of our better defensive bigs and hold his own offensively.

Mostly I am happy to see a well planned strategy being well executed. From our AD getting Dan Hurley. Dan Hurley putting a strong staff together to Dan Hurley handling a difficult recruiting situation, basically, in a weekend.

That is all I need to see and it is more telling than the number of wins next year.

 

[intlzncster]

And we have Sid Wilson, and the frontcourt is a year older and has Yakwe rather than Onuorah. If Gilbert is healthy I expect us to make the tourney.

Wilson can't shoot like Terry from the outside. He's better at going to the rim, but that replicates what we already have. Given how much we need outside shooters, this is a loss in that department. He might be able to make up for it with midrange game idk.

On the other hand, Wilson will probably be a better defender/rebounder even as a freshman.

 

[mauconnfan]

Yes, it is. It is you, auggie and mau that are emotional and irrational. The personal attacks prove it. Mau loses his mind whenever one of us "Ollie haters" posts anything about him. He is LOLing like a crazy man.

No I don’t I do not defend the man for anything other than his 1st 2 years and I do that against posters who are clueless and irrational about those years like you. People who refuse to credit him for the 2 years he seemed to be capable of doing his job yet they feel the need to say “with JCs kids”, like you.

It’s the Hurley era now I’m good with that. For those who feel the need to beat people down I may react, I may not. Most of the jabs are fine he’s earned some but not all.

 

[mauconnfan]

Wilson can't shoot like Terry from the outside. He's better at going to the rim, but that replicates what we already have. Given how much we need outside shooters, this is a loss in that department. He might be able to make up for it with midrange game idk.

On the other hand, Wilson will probably be a better defender/rebounder even as a freshman.

I know Terry could make shots and no one else could it seemed so often but if Sid can defend pretty well, rebound a little, block a couple shots while scoring a little I think we improve. TL really was that bad on the defensive end it hurt.

 

[Danzz]

I know Terry could make shots and no one else could it seemed so often but if Sid can defend pretty well, rebound a little, block a couple shots while scoring a little I think we improve. TL really was that bad on the defensive end it hurt.

We have points to make up with Larrier moving on. Everybody needs to get a little bit better.

 

[ctchamps]

I'm late to the party. What number will Vital be wearing now?

Just glad your posting. Do yourself a favor and fully recover before reading threads.

 

[Jaker]

Do anyone any of these kids have traditionl names anymore?

 

[UConnDan97]

Do anyone any of these kids have traditionl names anymore?

Yeah, because in Mali, the kids are normally named Ted and Frank...

 

[ctchamps]

Do anyone any of these kids have traditionl names anymore?

Which traditional - American traditional or Mali traditional?

 

[Fishy]

Do anyone any of these kids have traditionl names anymore?

At the Pearly Gates, I am going to have to answer for this message board and it’s not going to go well for me.

 

[pj]

Wilson can't shoot like Terry from the outside. He's better at going to the rim, but that replicates what we already have. Given how much we need outside shooters, this is a loss in that department. He might be able to make up for it with midrange game idk.

On the other hand, Wilson will probably be a better defender/rebounder even as a freshman.

Agreed, but I think overall Wilson may be as good as TL in a team setting. Defense is more important than offense, you need 5 defenders but only 1 scorer on any given possession. Wilson was an effective scorer at Brewster and it seems he's scored well in UConn practices. I think Hurley has enough tools to make an effective offense, at least one better than what we had last year, and can significantly improve defense. Yakwe and Wilson are a huge defensive improvement over Onuorah and Larrier, and the defensive philosophy and coaching will be better too.

Last year we were #171 on offense and #178 on defense by Kenpom. If we can be top 100 on offense and top 40 on defense, that gets us in the vicinity of teams like Providence (100/36), Boise St (82/42), Alabama (106/20), Nebraska (75/44), Miss St (76/40), i.e. on the tourney bubble. I think that's eminently achievable. Rhode Island was 69/46 without appreciably better talent.

 

[huskiesouth]

Do anyone any of these kids have traditionl names anymore?

Do you mean like Kassoum Kayentao renowned medical researcher from Mali, or Kassoum Denton, the Minister of Agriculture of Mali, or Kassoum Coulibaly, economist and President/CEO of Global Institute for Women’s Employment?

 

[Paesano]

At the Pearly Gates, I am going to have to answer for this message board and it’s not going to go well for me.

Are you sure you will even make it as far as the gates?