Zags: Boatright Helped His NBA Stock Against Duke

[tcf15]

“He showed great speed and quickness,” one NBA scout in attendance told SNY.tv. “He did not have enough help. He plays both ends. He’s an off-the-bench, change-of-tempo guy in the NBA.”

A second scout said Boatright, who won an NCAA championship alongside Shabazz Napier last season, could be a second-round pick in 2015.

“I think he’s a second-round pick,” he said. “I think he’s better than [former Louisville guard] Russ Smith. He’s playing with no one. He’s doing all that [stuff] by himself. Someone will give him a chance.”

http://zagsblog.com/articles/uconns-boatright-helped-his-nba-stock-against-duke/

 

[Marat]

That's great to hear . Boat deserves a shot in the NBA., and sounds like he's on his way.

 

[husky99]

Dam you are fast

 

[Fishy]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status.

The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm convinced that TCF is a bot.

 

[8893]

“He did not have enough help.”

“He’s playing with no one. He’s doing all that [stuff] by himself.”

Great to hear about Boat. Pretty damning for the rest of the team.

 

[tcf15]

Dam you are fast

I'm convinced that TCF is a bot.

Really? This article was posted by Zags almost half hour ago and I didn't post it until 5 minutes ago. I thought I waited long enough lol.

 

[Marat]

Great to hear about Boat. Pretty damning for the rest of the team.

Isn't that what many said last year - "UConn is just Napier" .... then Daniels blew up and Boat became Boat.

Here's hoping several of Facey/Brimah/Hamilton/Purvis/Calhoun become big-time too (without Boat there next season).

 

[Inyatkin]

Seems pretty clear Boatright will keep us in the game against anyone this year. We just need a little help to get us over the top.

 

[8893]

Isn't that what many said last year - "UConn is just Napier" .... then Daniels blew up and Boat became Boat.

Well, there was also the Giffey being the best 3-pt shooter in CBB thing, for starters.

And no one ever accused us being thin in the back court. We were widely acknowledged to have one of the best back court tandems in the country from the start.

 

[upstater]

SI also did a roundup of the game and they were talking about how Jones/Winslow/Okafor don't play like freshman, while Boatright had no help. That's the difference between top recruiting teams and others.

The host then asked what makes them more ready to play than the great freshman top recruits of the past. And the analysts said the level of play isn't new to them; they've all played for top AAU teams on the circuit.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hamilton is going to have to step it up, but again, he's just a freshman. I can tell Ollie likes him a lot. He rides Hamilton harder than any other player. I recall that Giffey was Ollie's whipping boy the last two years. Hamilton is getting the treatment now.

 

[prankster]

Really? This article was posted by Zags almost half hour ago and I didn't post it until 5 minutes ago. I thought I waited long enough lol. I'll up the wait time to 30-minutes now.

Spoken like a true, self programming, bot.

 

[aceboon]

Well, there was also the Giffey being the best 3-pt shooter in CBB thing, for starters.

And no one ever accused us being thin in the back court. We were widely acknowledged to have one of the best back court tandems in the country from the start.

Boatright was barely able to crack dbl figure scoring games against legit teams for most of the season, it was a struggle shooting and scoring for him for the majority of the season before the light went on for him. As for Giffey, those wide open looks dried up for him after about a month once teams realized he was now a shooter. I understand the high percentages, but "best" 3 point shooter is kind overstating things, maybe best when wide open, but when you don't shoot with any kind of resistance, you can't be in the conversation. The team last year had plenty of games against real teams where the offense stalled outside of Bazz because Boat and DD weren't stepping up on their end.

 

[Gurleyman]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status. The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

Honestly, I wish the signing period was in December so we could re-recruit some of the guys we missed out on - I know the wings we recruited still would have had Hamilton in front of them, but the guys who can shoot (Briscoe, Mack) might have looked at our situation in a different light now that our weaknesses are blatant. Although Briscoe had UK stars in his eyes, so that might have been out regardless, so maybe it's just Mack.

I'm also wondering about the early effort we put into more non-shooters/athletes (Ali, Clarke, Jones) and then the late push on Mack - we maybe needed to find Mack (or someone else like him) earlier on and not keep looking for folks with redundant skillsets. Shooting is going to be an Achilles heel for a couple of years now, unless we find someone in the spring (the odds of finding a lights out shooter who will be able to get after it defensively is minimal - would probably have to be a specialist we'd would hide on D). The fantasy would be Stone, then Newman follows, but the Newman part seems highly, highly doubtful even if you think Stone will come. I'm not sure Dorsey is that type of shooter, either, and I don't think he'd come to a place he didn't visit (although DD did).

As for Boat, I wish we had a guy willing to spot up yesterday (I.e. Cassell against Texas), because he perhaps didn't convince some of those scouts that he could pass or run an offense (Cassell missed all those shots against Texas, but Boat was looking for him constantly). He was so quick to some loose balls, though, that hopefully some of them could see his value as a second unit hustle guy.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status.

The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

Depending on who else is added, next season could be bizarro world in Storrs. The (starting) frontcourt could be a real strength while there could be big question marks in the backcourt for the first time since...who knows when?

 

[8893]

Boatright was barely able to crack dbl figure scoring games against legit teams for most of the season, it was a struggle shooting and scoring for him for the majority of the season before the light went on for him. As for Giffey, those wide open looks dried up for him after about a month once teams realized he was now a shooter. I understand the high percentages, but "best" 3 point shooter is kind overstating things, maybe best when wide open, but when you don't shoot with any kind of resistance, you can't be in the conversation. The team last year had plenty of games against real teams where the offense stalled outside of Bazz because Boat and DD weren't stepping up on their end.

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree that this season's supporting cast around Boat is significantly thinner in all respects than last season's supporting cast around Bazz. I understand fully the ebb and flow of the season and the non-linear progress we had to endure, but imo the average talent and maturity level of that team was much higher than this one.

 

[uchusky32]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status.

The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

I said it last night . Scared for next year. JA a freshman could be our best guard. We need to give a RP a chance but the NBA Scouts aren't that impressed.

 

[aceboon]

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree that this season's supporting cast around Boat is significantly thinner in all respects than last season's supporting cast around Bazz. I understand fully the ebb and flow of the season and the non-linear progress we had to endure, but imo the average talent and maturity level of that team was much higher than this one.

Oh I'm not disputing that this supporting cast is thinner, I said in your Boat post yesterday that he has to do even more than Bazz and Kemba. Just saying that this issue has been there before with Bazz last year and you could argue the same with Kemba once the BE schedule chewed up the young guys. Hopefully guys emerge and develop but they are at a significantly worse starting point than either of those 2 teams in both skill level and IQ.

 

[tcf15]

Spoken like a true, self programming, bot.

 

[Kitaman]

I said it last night . Scared for next year. JA a freshman could be our best guard. We need to give a RP a chance but the NBA Scouts aren't that impressed.

This is unfair to JA. I hope we recruit another point. A while back I felt we didn't need Briscoe. Now that we are exposed, and after two recent Championships a two guard lineup with ballhandlers/shooters is our culture. I am now kinda cautious about next year especially for Jalen.

 

[housekeys]

Really? This article was posted by Zags almost half hour ago and I didn't post it until 5 minutes ago. I thought I waited long enough lol.

You posted about an hour ago and not a single 'like'. I can't consciously let that go on any longer.

 

[Wise2]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status.

The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

If he was two inches taller, he wouldn't be on the team this year. So, we should be thankful for that.

 

[HuskyBballFan]

I said it last night . Scared for next year. JA a freshman could be our best guard. We need to give a RP a chance but the NBA Scouts aren't that impressed.

Hey, in some ways that's not necessarily a bad thing. If our underclassmen stick together for a couple of years (Hamilton staying that long might be a stretch), I think they have a run in them despite the obvious warts.

A couple of reinforcements (in addition to Adams) that can actually put the ball in the basket wouldn't hurt either.

 

[RayRay19]

I hope boat stays one more year I think he's gone after this season.

 

[Kembacity]

If Ryan was two inches taller, we'd never stop reading about his draft status.

The "he's playing with no one" line is something that's scaring me about next season.

if he were 2 inches taller he'd probably be playing for Indiana right now or something